Professor Quits After U. of North Dakota Blocks Him from Teaching About Standing Rock

[G_j]

https://www.democracynow.org/2017/10/27/headlines/native_professor_quits_after_u_of_north_dakota_blocks_him_from_teaching_about_standing_rock

Native Professor Quits After U. of North Dakota Blocks Him from Teaching About Standing Rock

HEADLINEOCT 27, 2017



And award-winning indigenous journalist Mark Trahant has quit his teaching job at the University of North Dakota after the university blocked him from teaching a lecture series on the indigenous-led resistance to the Dakota Access pipeline. Professor Trahant is the author of multiple books on indigenous history and resistance and has been a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. He’s a member of the Shoshone-Bannock Tribe in Idaho and the former president of the Native American Journalists Association. He says he quit after his two separate proposals to focus on the professional and social media coverage of the resistance movement at Standing Rock were rejected by the university.

[Stuart G]

1. K and R. Blocking a professor from teaching the truth?..not good

No not good for North Dakota at all..

[G_j]

3. History is being rewritten

across the country. Which has always been an issue, but now days they actually forbid teaching certain facts.

[world wide wally]

2. Can't be teachin' no fancy bs here

[lpbk2713]

4. Keep political interference out of education.

At all levels.

I can't blame him one bit.

[oasis]

5. "Can't handle the truth". So much for higher learning.

[L. Coyote]

6. UND prof frustrated by rejected DAPL events rethinking departure

http://www.grandforksherald.com/news/4350655-und-prof-frustrated-rejected-dapl-events-rethinking-departure

A day after his disappointment in UND ricocheted across social media, a journalism professor says he's now re-evaluating whether he'll leave his post.

Mark Trahant, who holds an endowed professorship in UND's communications department, blasted UND in a Thursday Facebook post, calling himself "disappointed and disgusted that the university is not an institutional leader in this state." In the last two years, he wrote, two separate events that he'd suggested include discussions on the Dakota Access Pipeline were scuttled. After the rejection of the second, he wrote, "I learned about senior administration fears that the Legislature might retaliate."

But on Friday, Trahant said in a phone interview that he had spoken with leaders in the College of Arts and Sciences and now is being asked to coordinate a lecture that treats the DAPL protests "as a focal point."

"I was more concerned about the role of the university in public discourse. This is clearly a step that the university cares about public discourse, so I'm delighted to make it happen," said Trahant, who is Native American himself and is a member of the Idaho's Shoshone-Bannock Tribe. "The details aren't worked out, but I think it's a great step and we'll go from there."

Trahant's comments de-escalate a tense exchange over Native American interests that saw UND spokesman Peter Johnson issue a lengthy Friday statement. Johnson denied the university had been intimidated by the Legislature .................