KU College of Liberal Arts and Sciences releases letter in support of Prof. Dailey

The University of Kansas College of Liberal Arts and Sciences today released the following letter in support of Dennis Dailey, professor of social work, who has been criticized for his teaching of the course "Human Sexuality in Everyday Life."

May 2003

Letter of Public Support for Professor Dennis Dailey
From CLA&S Chairs, Directors and Deans

We the undersigned, chairs, directors, and deans of the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences, join our colleagues in the School of Social Welfare in expressing our unreserved support for Professor Dennis Dailey. We also reaffirm the unique and vital role of the University in a democratic society as a community of learners in which inquiry in all fields of knowledge is freely pursued and ideas exchanged without fear of suppression and censorship.

We deplore Senator Wagle's relentless attack on the teaching, the professionalism, and the character of one of KU's most highly regarded teachers, a respected professional in his field, who in twenty-five years of teaching his course on human sexuality has won the highest praise from generations of KU students. He is being condemned apparently because he believes that accurate knowledge and open discussion of such an important area of human life is better than ignorance and secrecy.

We are also disturbed by the wider implications of Senator Wagle's efforts to impose a form of censorship on what is taught and how it is taught at the University, with legal and monetary punishment for non-compliance. The principle of academic freedom exists precisely to protect those engaged in the pursuit and exchange of knowledge, as teachers and scholars, from the arbitrary external imposition of belief and ideologies held by individuals and groups in the larger society Ð in the present case, through the legislative and executive power of the state. The nature of Senator Wagle's attack on Professor Dailey leaves us wondering who among the faculty will be attacked the next time for what she or someone else decides is the þinappropriateú or þimmoralú content and conduct of their courses.

Signed,

Kim Wilcox, Dean, CLA&S
John Gronbeck-Tedesco, Assoc. Dean, CLA&S
Robert Weaver, Assoc. Dean, CLA&S
John E. Simmons, Director, Museum Studies Program
Marc L. Greenberg, Chair, Slavic Languages & Literatures
Victor Bailey, Director, Hall Center for the Humanities
Jim Mielke, Chair, Anthropology
Gregory B. Simpson, Chair, Psychology
Diane R. Fourny, Director, European Studies Program
James Woelfel, Director, Humanities & Western Civilization
David J. Ekerdt, Interim Director, Gerontology Center
Michael C. Roberts, Director, Clinical Child Psychology
Danny J. Anderson, Chair, Spanish & Portuguese
John M. Janzen, Director, African Studies Resource Center
A. C. Genova, Chair, Philosophy
Edward K. Morris, Chair, Human Development & Family Life
Burdett A. Loomis, Acting Chair, Political Science
Sara Thomas Rosen, Chair, Linguistics
Terry A. Slocum, Chair, Geography
Pamela Gordon, Chair, Classics
Linda Stone-Ferrier, Chair, History of Art
John F. Sweets, Chair, Theatre & Film
John T. Booker, Chair, French & Italian
Robert C. Rowland, Chair, Communication Studies
William Staples, Chair, Sociology
James Hartman, Chair, English
Barbara S. Romzek, Assoc. Dean, CLA&S
Elizabeth A. Kuznesof, Director, Center for Latin American Studies
Maria Carlson, Chair, Russian & East European Studies
Joe Sicilian, Chair, Economics
Mabel Rice, Chair, Child Language
Barbara Schowen, Director, Honors Program
Ted Wilson, Director, International Studies Master's Program
Don Worster, Director, Environmental Studies Program
Peter Ukpokodu, Chair, African and African-American Studies
Steven M. Barlow, Chair, Speech-Language-Hearing
John Nalbandian, Chair, Public Administration
W.R. Van Schmus, Chair, Geology
Norman R. Yetman, Chair, American Studies