Month: March 2001

Mary Daly and Boston College Reach Settlement, But Continue to Argue

Feminist theologian Mary Daly recently reached a settlement with Boston College over her strange exit from teaching. For 25 years, Daly had refused to allow men in her classroom, and to their discredit Boston College officials grudgingly accepted this arrangement.

But in 1999, a student threatened to sue Boston College if Daly refused to allow him in her classroom. When college officials informed Daly that her sexist policy was no longer tolerable, Daly said she’d rather retire than allow a man in her classroom.

Boston College took her at her word and announced that Daly had retired. Daly claimed she had never said she was retiring and sued Boston College for breach of contract.

And then things got even weirder. A few weeks before Daly’s case was to go to trial, Daly and her lawyer approached Boston College seeking a settlement. The college agreed, and the two parties entered into a settlement that included a confidentiality clause — neither side was to discuss the terms of the settlement.

Except Daly and her lawyer apparently couldn’t resist getting in a dig at Boston College and put out a press release falsely claiming that Boston College had come to Daly seeking a settlement and proclaiming, “We are confident that, after hearing all of the testimony, the jury would have ruled in our favor and found that Professor Daly’s tenure rights and academic freedom had been trampled.”

Boston College was outraged by the breach of the settlement as well as the false claim that it, rather than Daly, had sought a settlement. The college threatened to sue Daly for violating the terms of the settlement. Daly’s lawyer responded by issuing a retraction of the comments that admitted Daly had sought out the settlement.

Regardless of who did what, hopefully, other colleges and universities will get the message that sex discrimination is simply intolerable at higher learning institutions. Ironically, Daly insists that the principle of academic freedom gives her the right to discriminate based on sex in her classrooms. What a twisted view of academic freedom.

Source:

Suit settled, feminist and BC still arguing. Patricia Healy, Boston Globe, February 8, 2001.

ALF Founder — Victim of Violent Attack Got What He Deserved

Ronnie Lee, who founded the Animal Liberation Front but claims he is no longer associated with the group, this week sang the praises of the unidentified attackers who attacked Huntingdon Life Sciences
managing director Brian Cass with baseball bats last week. The Daily Telegraph reports that Lee had this to say about the violent assault on Cass,

This serves Brian Cass right and is totally justifiable. In fact he has got off lightly. I have no sympathy for him. I do not condemn this act. I condemn what Brian Cass does to animals. In fact, I would say I condone this. What surprises me is that this doesn’t happen more often

Robin Webb, a UK spokesman for the ALF, wouldn’t condone the act but did say he “understood” what motivated those who carried it out,

The Animal Liberation Front has always had a policy of not harming life, but while it would not condone what took place, it understands the anger and frustration that leads people to take this kind of action. Groups like the Animal Rights Militia and the Justice Department have said they are prepared to take this sort of action in the short-term for the long-term gain.

Whereas terrorism through arson and other acts of violence don’t phase Webb one bit.

Source:

Victim got what he deserved, says animal group’s founder. Richard Alleyne, The Daily Telegraph (UK), February 24, 2001.

Report: British National Health System Needs to Turn to Privatization

Great Britain’s National Health System has no choice but to privatize some medical treatment options if it is to survive. That was the conclusion of a recent report put together by representatives of the British Medical Association, the Royal College of Nursing, patients, private health providers and other stakeholders.

Barring some sort of privatization, the rationing which already exist informally within the NHS will have to be occur formally in order to avoid bankrupting the system.

Great Britain faces the same problem that all socialized medical systems face. When the cost of medical treatment is free to the end customers, the demand for medical treatment is extremely high. Since resources are not unlimited, something has to give.

Great Britain, like most socialized health care systems, keeps costs down informally through extremely long waiting periods. Surgical procedures that might take two or three months at most to schedule in the United States can keep a patient on waiting lists for a year or more in Great Britain. In addition many advanced treatments and expensive medications that are considered routine treatment in the United States are simply not available in Great Britain because they are simply too expensive.

But the bottom line is that delaying procedures and limiting treatment options has merely forestalled the day of reckoning. Without massive funding increases — which is a nonstarter politically — the system is in trouble.

And this is the system that folks such as Ralph Nader say the United States should adopt. No thanks.

Source:

Rationing ‘only option’ for NHS. The BBC, February 7, 2001.