{"id":5498,"date":"2017-05-23T19:58:55","date_gmt":"2017-05-23T19:58:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/2017\/05\/23\/why-i-resigned-from-duke\/"},"modified":"2017-05-23T19:58:55","modified_gmt":"2017-05-23T19:58:55","slug":"why-i-resigned-from-duke","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/2017\/05\/23\/why-i-resigned-from-duke\/","title":{"rendered":"Why I Resigned from Duke"},"content":{"rendered":"

Paul J. Griffiths explains<\/a> his resignation. <\/span><\/p>\n

Back story here<\/a>.  The e-mail message that got him in trouble:<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Sent: Monday, February 06, 2017 4:26 PM<\/span>
To: Anathea Portier-Young<\/span>
Cc: Divinity Regular Rank Faculty; Divinity Visiting Other Faculty<\/span>
Subject: Re: Racial Equity Institute Phase I Training\u2013March 4-5<\/span><\/p>\n

Dear Faculty Colleagues,<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019m responding to Thea\u2019s exhortation that we should attend the Racial Equity Institute Phase 1 Training scheduled for 4-5 March. In her message she made her ideological commitments clear. I\u2019ll do the same, in the interests of free exchange.<\/span><\/p>\n

I exhort you not to attend this training. Don\u2019t lay waste your time by doing so. It\u2019ll be, I predict with confidence, intellectually flaccid: there\u2019ll be bromides, clich\u00e9s, and amen-corner rah-rahs in plenty. When (if) it gets beyond that, its illiberal roots and totalitarian tendencies will show. Events of this sort are definitively anti-intellectual. (Re)trainings of intellectuals by bureaucrats and apparatchiks have a long and ignoble history; I hope you\u2019ll keep that history in mind as you think about this instance.<\/span><\/p>\n

We here at Duke Divinity have a mission. Such things as this training are at best a distraction from it and at worst inimical to it. Our mission is to think, read, write, and teach about the triune Lord of Christian confession. This is a hard thing. Each of us should be tense with the effort of it, thrumming like a tautly triple-woven steel thread with the work of it, consumed by the fire of it, ever eager for more of it. We have neither time nor resources to waste. This training is a waste. Please, ignore it. Keep your eyes on the prize.<\/span><\/p>\n

Paul<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2013<\/span>
Paul J. Griffiths<\/span>
Warren Chair of Catholic Theology<\/span>
Duke Divinity School<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Paul J. Griffiths explains his resignation.  Back story here.  The e-mail message that got him in trouble: Sent: Monday, February 06, 2017 4:26 PMTo: Anathea Portier-YoungCc: Divinity Regular Rank Faculty; Divinity Visiting Other FacultySubject: Re: Racial Equity Institute Phase I Training\u2013March 4-5 Dear Faculty Colleagues, I\u2019m responding to Thea\u2019s exhortation that we should attend the Racial … Continue reading “Why I Resigned from Duke”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5498","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-academia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5498","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5498"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5498\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5498"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5498"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5498"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}