Professor Klocek’s Scourging Continues

John Ruberry of Marathon Pundit sent us an update on an old, sad story. What with today being Good Friday and all, this ongoing public crucifixion of an innocent man by a Catholic university resonates especially:

This one hurts. A lot.

On September 15, 2004, longtime DePaul University adjunct Professor Thomas Klocek took part in a spirited out-of-classroom discussion with some Muslim DePaul students over Palestinian-Israeli political issues. Klocek defended Israeli actions against terrorists; the students, unaccustomed to having their views challenged, complained to his dean and succeeded in having Klocek dismissed from the Catholic college after 15 years of service.

The Chicago native had always received high evaluation scores from his students.

Klocek filed a defamation and invasion of privacy suit against DePaul a year later. The first two judges assigned to the case ruled that it should proceed to trial. But last month--four years after Klocek sued--Cook County Circuit Court Judge Charles Winkler dismissed the case.

We did at least one post on this story back in 2006. It seems so long ago — it is so long ago. It is disturbing that this man’s torture by the “justice” system still continues four years after the incident. But that’s what happens when you’re fighting against the bottomless pockets of CAIR/Saudi Arabia. For Wahhabists, victory always trumps justice.

Back then I quoted from FIRE, ChronWatch, Front Page, and the American Thinker.

Here’s a partial digest of the professor’s torment I snipped from the American Thinker for my original post:
- - - - - - - - -

… Klocek, who is Catholic, not Jewish, confronted a group of 8 students manning two tables for the groups Students for Justice in Palestine, and United Muslims Moving Ahead. Klocek says he argued that the materials the groups were disseminating were one-sided. On this, he is indisputably correct. Neither group pretends to provide balanced information on the Israeli Palestinian conflict. That of course, is perfectly understandable and acceptable. These are advocacy groups.

[…]

During his cafeteria confrontation with the students, Klocek did not identify himself as a professor at the school. He did not know any of the students, and had not had any of them in a class. After realizing that the argument needed to end, Klocek started to walk off. One student then asked if he taught at DePaul, and if so, what classes. The students followed Klocek, eager to continue arguing with him. He signaled he was done with the debate by thumbing his chin, meant to indicate, he says, enough already. The Muslim students later claimed this gesture was obscene.

For his behavior in this brief debate with the students, Klocek, a popular long-time DePaul professor, has lost his job, his health benefits, and has been smeared and humiliated by the University administration.

It has gotten so bad that Klocek has even been told not to pray at the campus chapel, which he formerly did regularly during his DePaul teaching stint. Such is the retribution of a Catholic University for a [Catholic] professor who has taken the risk of challenging the established mindset at DePaul on the subject of Israel and the Palestinians. [my emphasis — D]

Please look at the original post written in 2006. There are links to other degrading things that De Paul has done — for example, the story of their censorship of students who protested Ward Churchill’s appearance on campus. And I compare the slant-by-omission that the MSM [in this case, the Chicago Tribune] did in reporting the story with the American Thinker’s full version of what really happened.

I’ve been checking with other outlets to see if this latest development is being carried. Perhaps Andrea Shea King will interview Professor Klocek again, as she did back then. Maybe bigger blogs will move the story along.

Academic jihad has continued apace since Professor Klocek first spoke up. The drive to shut up anyone who does not agree with the multi-cultural, Saudi-funded point of view is, if anything, in higher gear than it was during his fateful encounter with the Muslim students.

It is imperative that free speech not be suppressed any further in this country. Pajamas Media has an excellent video on the Politically Correct response to anything it finds scary, like maybe an opposing viewpoint. I urge you to watch it; while the delivery is funny, the message is crucial. And thank you to whichever reader it was that left the link in our comments.