More on Emory Situation

From Dr. Dan Carlat:

In support of Dr. Doug Bremner, blogger supreme and Professor of Psychiatry and Radiology at Emory Medical School, I hereby proclaim my own academic affiliation--namely, Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Tufts University School of Medicine.

Recently, Emory University forced Dr. Bremner to remove its name from his blog because they didn't like things that he had to say. This has resulted in two things: First, Dr. Bremner's blog quadrupled in popularity, and second, Emory is in the midst of yet another PR fiasco. See yesterday's article in Emory's online newsletter Academic Exchange for a good rundown of this issue.

Here's my modest proposal. Between its poor handling of the Charles Nemeroff scandal and now its fumbling over Bremner, Emory should relinquish the use of its own name on any of its official academic material.

Sarah Goodwin, who is unenviably employed as Emory's director of media relations, made the best argument for Emory giving up its name, although she was referring to Bremner in her comments. To satirically adapt her statement for the issue at hand, "Emory has been bungling high profile issues for some period of time," and “if you read Emory's pronouncements over a long period of time, you can see comments it makes that may be of concern."

The university would still be allowed to function, to educate, and to bungle, but it simply would no longer be allowed to print the name "Emory" on its buildings or stationery. Perhaps, like Bremner's blog, the school will see a quadrupling of its enrollment.

In support of Dr. Doug Bremner, blogger supreme and Professor of Psychiatry and Radiology at Emory Medical School, I hereby proclaim my own academic affiliation--namely:

William B. Gleason, University of Minnesota
Associate Professor, Department of Laboratory Medicine & Pathology
Fellow, University of Minnesota Supercomputer Institute

(Having said that, I don't believe for the purposes of this blog that my affiliation is particularly important. My professional affiliation gives no special weight to what I have to say, so I really have not made a point to mention it. It is not too difficult to figure out who writes this blog and it is no secret at the U of M. People like Doug, our own PZ Myers, and Dan Carlat are what makes universities unique and valuable institutions.)