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Nazareth, Pa., United States

Monday, June 08, 2009

Lehigh University: We Love it Here! Honest!

Last week, I wrote about Lehigh's Nutty Professor. A supposed intellectual, she may very well have "too much integrity for the Lehigh Valley," a cultural wasteland. Several of you volunteered to help her move. I asked LU's President, Dr. Alice Gast, why any LV parent should spend $51,000 per annum to send a son or daughter to a teacher with that kind of bias.

I now have a reply from Joanne Anderson, the Director of the Office of the President. She's writing on behalf of Dr. Gast.

"The views expressed on Dr. Thiele's blog represent her own personal opinions and views and not those of Lehigh University. As stated on Dr. Thiele's blog: 'The views expressed...are those of the author only and do not necessarily represent the opinions of her employer...'. Lehigh University is proud to be a part of the Lehigh Valley community and believes that the area is a wonderful environment and offers great opportunities to students, faculty, staff, and residents to study, work, and live."

Thanks, Doc!

27 comments:

Sanctifying Grace said...

Does that reply answer your question?

Maybe I'm the naive one for thinking that the university would have answered your question. ~~Alex

Bernie O'Hare said...

Father Alex, They are politely telling me to go f--- myself.

Sanctifying Grace said...

f--- = find.

Go find myself. Right?

Anonymous said...

The irony is that when Asa Packer founded Lehigh, he wanted it in Mauch Chunk, but Mauch Chunk wasn't interested and wouldn't let Lehigh plant roots there. Bethlehem was second choice. She could be in Jim Thorpe right now.

Anonymous said...

My offer to drive the truck still stands. I'll even pay for it.

Fr. Alex, couldn't you put an obnoxious intellectual to work in a convent somewhere? A few honest days work would do wonders for her.

The Banker

Anonymous said...

Are you a Priest yet or what? Stop blogging and study your Latin.

Sanctifying Grace said...

Mr. The Banker,

Obnoxious intellectual? You haven't see the Catholic church recently, have you?

~~Alex

Anonymous said...

Fr. Alex, I was born/raised Catholic, and I've always had a soft spot for the Sisters - and bruises during my grade school years too. They work hard, and damn they hit hard too....

To this day I remember my favorite line from a nun - "Not for your sake. Not for my sake. But for Christ's sake will you shut up!"

The Banker

Sanctifying Grace said...

Anonymous of 12:43 AM,

John Vinnaey, the Cure d'Ars, was a seminarian for 19 (nineteen) years. They thought he was retarded. He couldn't pass his Latin. The Church put him in a small community in France. People travelled for miles to hear his sermons and have him as their confessor.

He died and was beatified. He body lies incorruptible.

He is the patron saint for priests.

Latin is over-rated. Try Syriac. If you are going to profess as Jesus did, might as well speak the language Jesus did.

Peace, ~~Alex

Sanctifying Grace said...

Banker,

I know a joke, kind of like that:

This young boy couldn't pass his mathematics class. He was enrolled in public school. His parents tried everything: tutors, staying after school, taking priviledges away from, and etc.

Finally, they enrolled him in Catholic school. When he came home from school, he went right to his room to study. He wouldn't even come down for dinner. He did this everyday. Then his report card came in.

He was passing math. His mom and dad sat him down and asked what happenned that made this positive change.

He exclaimed, "On the first day of school, I walked into the classroom and saw that they had this man nailed to the plus sign. I knew that they meant business!"

Peace, ~~Alex

Anonymous said...

Ah, brings back memories!

Well, the offer still stands - I'll drive the truck and deliver her to the convent of your choice. Maybe Bernie should ride shotgun so he can find himself along the way.

The Banker

Anonymous said...

My favorite Catholic story is that my great grandmother had 7 kids and thought that was enough and wanted to use birth control. My great grandfather asked the priest and he forbade it. They went back and forth but the answer was always that birth control was a mortal sin straight to hell. So he lost his wife. She divorced him. But the day he received the divorce papers, he went to the church and punched the priest right in the mouth and knocked him on his back.
Another family priest allowed the altar boys to serve way past their cut off years because he passed out drunk almost every morning during Mass and the boys had to be strong enough to carry him off when he lost conciousness. This story was a favorite one to tell until my grandfather on his deathbed told us that this priest had molested him and his brothers and friends for years at the turn of the Century.

Anonymous said...

Anti-Catholic bigotry alive and well.

Anonymous said...

Dare to write something that upsets the Fuhrer and he will try to get you fired from your job. Of course, that's after he tires of allowing his minions to post comments about your teeth. Sounds about right to me!
Hey Bernie, where does Casey work? The crew with the torches and pitchforks wants to know.

Anonymous said...

Let's review: This woman's blog explicitly states her views are her own and not her employer's, nonetheless Bernie decides to write her employer and blast her. Sounds like harassment to me!
In the spirit of full disclosure, Mr. O'Hare, why don't you post the message you sent this woman's employer? So we can all see what the heck you were thinking.

Anonymous said...

With professors like this, it is no wonder that the country is going to hell. Let's remember to praise God and not the catholic church. Thanks for pointing her out Bernie.
Bob

Bernie O'Hare said...

Anon 8:11,

LU officials should know exactly what one of its faculty thainks about the LV. So I sent her own words to them and asked my question, with a cc to the Nutty Professor. Her comments really should be enough to guarantee that she is denied tenure.

Sanctifying Grace said...

I am sorry that Anonymous of 1:56 AM and Anonymous Bob of 8:48 AM have had bad experiences with The Universal Church.

You remain in my prayers.

~~Alex

Anonymous said...

I think you should bring this to the attention of Lehigh Students- submit it to our school newspaper. Unfortunately students don't have too much time to blog/scope out professor's blog's, but we do care about the quality of professors that are at the institution that we're proud of. I am an active Lehigh Student and LV community member, and I enjoy living here, as do many of my fellow students. Community and college go hand-in-hand, so these matters should be, at the least, made aware of to the student body. We must remember, though, that these are opinions, and we have to respect them. As long as she maintains a good professional standing with the school, I'm not going to take any action against her. The role of the school is to allow opinions to be looked at from a logical point of view, and create a forum for discussion. See Prof. Behe for more on professors with opinions that differs than the school's: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Behe

Anonymous said...

At $51,000 a year, elitism is bred!!! Almost a quarter million for an education, it is no surprise that the students and staff are not of the sort typically found in the Valley. So what if the elites have issues with us common folk. No skin off my back so long as they don't litter and pick up after themselves.

Anonymous said...

She met Ron Angle, so just how is she wrong.

Anonymous said...

Let's review: This woman's blog explicitly states her views are her own and not her employer's, nonetheless Bernie decides to write her employer and blast her. Sounds like harassment to me!
In the spirit of full disclosure, Mr. O'Hare, why don't you post the message you sent this woman's employer? So we can all see what the heck you were thinking.
-

But given the "town-gown" circumstances over the past several decades, the university might like to temper some of the animosity. This is not the way to do it. (Nor is building that monstrosity prison wall on 5th street.)

Anonymous said...

At $51,000 a year, elitism is bred!!! Almost a quarter million for an education, it is no surprise that the students and staff are not of the sort typically found in the Valley. So what if the elites have issues with us common folk. No skin off my back so long as they don't litter and pick up after themselves.=

Please. They are regular people. Stop this "all academics are elite" nonsense. That's how we lost our way from science to begin with.

Anonymous said...

"Let's review: This woman's blog explicitly states her views are her own and not her employer's...."

Sorry - what you put online as a private citizen matters to employers, and it is legal for employers to take such information into account because once it's placed online it is in the public domain.

Many local schools are counseling students about what they should and should not post. This is part of the curriculum.

If you don't want your employer to see it, don't post it.

The Banker

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...
"Let's review: This woman's blog explicitly states her views are her own and not her employer's, nonetheless Bernie decides to write her employer and blast her. Sounds like harassment to me!"

So in keeping with this logic, a person who is employed at a welfare agency assisting the poor by day as part of her job, authors a blog on her own time and in it, is openly hostile and critical of poor people. She states that she can't stand the sight of them, that "they make her sick" to even be around. She signs it. That's somehow OK?

How about Bernie Kieklak, the knucklehead who worked for a female State Senator by day, but blogged about women by night, making some of the meanest, misogynistic statements ever seen in print. That's ok?

What the "professor" said is not ok, and free speech aside, once she signed this statement, she is open to second guessers, critics, etc...

Goes with the territory.

VOR

Anonymous said...

VOR: Those 2 examples are people on the taxpayer dole. Lehigh is not. It's a private employer. It's not a social service agency or a political agency. Think up another example.

Leopard Boy, on the "Hill" said...

Lehigh is a factory for ultra right wing crack pots!

It's also the place someone learned to make the biggest piece of auto crap ever, the K car.

And don't get me started with the KKK outbursts after Obama won. My lord a black man president. That scares the snoots at Lehigh University.