"Princeton Fed Me to the Cancel Culture Mob - The university claims it fired me for a long-past offense—for which I was already punished—but the truth should worry everyone."
That is what former Princeton tenured professor in classics Joshua Katz wrote in his opinion-editorial in The Wall Street Journal.
Yesterday, The WSJ carried the story of his dismissal from Princeton. The article reported:
"Princeton University’s board of trustees voted Monday to fire longtime classics professor Joshua Katz, adopting the president’s recommendation and finding that the faculty member failed to cooperate fully in a sexual-misconduct investigation."
What Katz rails against is that misconduct incident - a consensual relationship with a 21-year-old student years ago - had already been dealt with. Back then he had been suspended without pay for a year. In the op-ed he refers to this second round of punishment for that "double jeopardy."
What Katz contends is that he is being penalized for controversial statements he has made regarding social and cultural issues. Some would classify the matter as one of free speech.
But given the complex dynamics of academic decision-making by the power structure, most of us really don't know what factors resulted in the termination. Of course, investigative reporters could dig and maybe they will. But the rest of us only have a They-Said and He-Said.
Since we don't know it is probably wise in this era of extreme turmoil not to adopt this as a cause. Not in advocacy of Katz and not in advocacy of Princeton.
Of course, it is sad for anyone to lose a job. Even if this were simply a reduction-in-force or a stealth layoff tragedy could stick to it. In America we are our professional identity. Katz has lost his.
In 1987, I was ever so gently laid off from a middle management corporate position. There was almost a year's severance, including health benefits. I went on to launch a successful executive communications boutique. However, the humiliation and hit to my confidence were sticky. To today I continue to play around in my head what I could have done differently.
Law and More has empathy for the blow of a job loss could be for Katz.
Connect with Editor-in-Chief Jane Genova at janegenova374@gmail.com.