Re: “Maine Republicans pressured USM to punish ‘rogue’ professor” (Feb. 27):

Susan Feiner, and the students who joined her, had every right to go to Washington to protest the Brett Kavanaugh nomination – but not to carry the imprimatur of the university with them. For students, studying social and political issues, and receiving credits toward graduation for this, is a part of university life. But this is meant to happen within the established norms and framework that are, in fact, what constitutes a university.

Taking such discourse outside that framework, turning it into a program of political activism to be conducted in the public arena – and at the same time giving academic credits for it – this crosses what University of Southern Maine President Glenn Cummings correctly calls “a bright red line.” It is the purpose of the university to study the world. If you want to change, you do it on the outside. Ms. Feiner knows this perfectly well; her mistake was not a minor error of judgment. It was a serious breach of academic values, and President Cummings was quite right to come down hard on her.

Accepting money from the National Education Association was a mistake. NEA is good at furthering the interests of its members, which is why I was active in it for 20 years. But it is heavily engaged in partisan politics, nationally and locally – invariably on the left. That’s their right, but USM has no business partnering with them in their political endeavors.

James Roberts

Portland

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