Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Texas Professor Slandered Over Lecture On Islam

A grave injustice has occurred at Tarrant County College in Texas. If this situation is allowed to stand, it sets a bizarre precedent for future attacks on an increasingly rare breed: truthful college professors!

Read the following account from Professor Paul Derengowski:

My name is Paul Derengowski, and I was hired by Tarrant County College in 2008 to teach Great World Religions, Bible History I & II, and Introduction to Philosophy.

On November 8, 2011, I gave the second of a two-part lecture on Islam, as I've been doing Spring, Fall, and sometimes twice in the Summer, dealing with Islamic history and doctrine, and more particularly Muhammad's move to Medina. A question had been raised by two Muslim students in the previous the lecture concerning the sources I used to discuss the raid at Nakhlah. At the start of the second lecture I provided my sources (The Life of Muhammad by Haykal and the Qur'an), which included reading Sura 2:216-217. That is when all hell broke loose.

Both Muslim students, for an hour, berated me, my sources, and my credentials. When other students in the class attempted to ask questions or make comments, then the Muslim students would interrupt them as well. Finally, toward the end of the class period, a student made a comment on how "scary" the person of Muhammad seemed to be. That's when the male Muslim blurted out "you ought to be scared," and then bolted for the door in a fit of outrage. I subsequently filed a campus police report on him out of concern for the safety of students and myself. The female followed suit as well, claiming later in a libelous email she passed around unbeknownst to me—that is, until one of the students forwarded the diatribe to me later—that she was not going to sit there and listen to me slander her religion, even though all I did was quote from Islamic sources.

It was the libelous email that really started the wheels in motion leading up to my resignation. The female Muslim student not only stealthily sent around the email to all the rest of the students in the class to (1) defame me behind my back, but also to (2) try and gather support for her reckless behavior. She ended up with zero support from anyone. In it she made the same baseless claims of slandering Islam, but included some selective quotes from a couple of Mormon bloggers who had done what she was doing, and that is malign me in a malicious way, as well as a portion of blog I had written in 2009 on the Abdulmuttalab idiot who tried to blow up the plane over Detroit.

Both Muslim students then turned to TCC administration to make their specious complaints. The sad thing is, as if what these students did was not sad enough, is that the administration kowtowed to them, called me in and questioned everything from my syllabus (which was already approved and essentially the same ever since 2008) to my motives for teaching, to the banner on my website dealing with Islam. I was informed that I was to teach "neutral" in my views on religion, my opinions and insights were not welcome, that the remainder of my syllabus would be nixed, and that I was to strictly abide by the department approved book (which in reality, I was the one who even selected it for the course). None of the other students were called in and questioned as to what happened. After a veiled threat concerning my employment for failure to abide by the neutrality mandate, I subsequently resigned.

Since my resignation on Nov. 15, I've received several letters of support from the remaining students, as well as notes of encouragement from past students for standing my ground. There are currently, at least, three grievances that have been filed by the students in the class with the administration, yet the administration continues to drag its feet. It has done NOTHING! TCC administration claims that an investigation is ongoing, but no one has ever been spoken to on the matter.

As of today, I've been interviewed by CBS, FOX, KLIF-Dallas, and The Collegian, as well as have several of my students, but as much as I appreciate some of the effort, the two Muslim students have gone unscathed in this whole matter. Grades have been overturned in their favor, which is a clear violation of TCC policy, as well as another slap in my face for acting in an appropriate manner when students are insubordinate, and they've been allowed to return to class, without repercussion, while several of the students in the class are now suffering discrimination, disrespect, forfeiture of return on money invested by their companies for taking certain classes, and lower grades. It is truly a despicable thing the TCC administration has allowed at what I termed a "terroristic act of jihad."

This is the Cliff Notes version of what has transpired. There are many more details and the story only keeps getting uglier. I hope this helps you to understand just a little of what has gone on, and is going on, these past weeks, as the "religion of peace" and its followers wreak havoc once again upon American soil, education, and freedom.

If you need to speak to me directly, you may contact me at apologetics@capro.info. Thank you.

After reading the account above, please call to register your “respectful outrage” to the office of the President of the Southeast Campus:

President Bill Coppola

Phone: 817-515-3001

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