Dear Editor,
The recent editorial "Calls for Ablow resignation too extreme" failed to acknowledge the implications of Professor Keith Ablow's offensive comments on transgender identity. While the editorial stated that "Ablow's inflammatory remarks…went against Tufts' environment of inclusiveness," the editorial's conclusion is that sacking Professor Ablow would amount to punishing a difference of opinion.
However, the editorial ignores that such an opinion is exactly why dismissal is appropriate and that his comments do not amount to a mere intellectual disagreement with university standards. His comments compare the transgender identity to someone who seeks to cut off their own arms and warns that parents should not let their children watch Chaz Bono for fear of putting their own gender identity into question.
Setting aside Ablow's astounding ignorance of questions of identity and apparent belief that "kids do what the TV tells them," such comments undermine Tufts' claims to inclusiveness and damage the university's ability to claim a climate hospitable to all kinds of students, their personal identity notwithstanding. Just as racist, homophobic or misogynist comments would be cause to dismiss a professor, I can see no reason that such comments against those with a transgender identity are any less serious.
The editorial noted that Ablow is not a full-time faculty member, his position at Tufts is not paid, and he has not given a lecture in five years. If anything, his tenuous relationship to Tufts should be that much easier to sever, and if his attachment to Tufts is that thin, that is all the more reason that his bigoted opinions should not be associated with the university as a whole. Of course his comments represent a difference in opinion from the "general Tufts consensus," but there exist differences of opinion that can actively damage the university's ability to maintain a safe academic and social environment. Professor Ablow's opinion would be one of them. His tenure at Tufts needs to be terminated. If the university wants to claim a commitment to tolerance, firing a staff member publicly spouting hateful remarks would be a good start.
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Sincerely,
Ben Van Meter
Class of 2013
