Begin forwarded message:

> From: Glenn McGee <[log in to unmask]>
> Date: Tue Oct 1, 2002  8:18:04  AM US/Eastern
> To: [log in to unmask], [log in to unmask], [log in to unmask],
> [log in to unmask]
> Cc: Stolberg Sheryl <[log in to unmask]>, [log in to unmask]
> Subject:
>
>
>
> Dear Administrators and Scholars of Catholic University of Brasil,
>
> I am writing to protest what has been reported to me: the firing of
> your very prominent bioethicist, Debora Diniz, at nearly the exact
> moment when her impossible dream of bringing the International
> Association for Bioethics to Brasil was to be realized.  That you
> would fire   It is incredible to me that it would be tolerated, in the
> 21st century, that a Catholic university would show such poor judgment
> as to fire someone for their view on abortion.  Perhaps you have not
> noticed that Notre Dame, Boston College, and Villanova Universities,
> among others in the U.S. of MUCH greater prominence than your own,
> respect professors with what we call TENURE, designed to protect what
> was essentially a Jesuit invention: the freedom of inquiry within a
> religiously-affiliated institution.  That Diniz should be fired for
> her position on abortion is shameful, and you have picked an
> extraordinarily stupid time to do so. Diniz represents a huge
> constituency of bioethics scholars - if only for this moment - in that
> she insisted that the FAB and IAB spend a huge amount of money to
> bring people from all over so that they could see Brasil and
> experience not only its beauty but the importance of its many
> perspectives on difficult issues, including abortion and stem cell
> research.  Diniz represented an opportunity for your institution to
> offer its perspective to scholars from Harvard, Oxford, Cambridge,
> Yale, Penn, Lisboa and other leading universities, in open forum.
> Instead, what will happen in Brasil is that those universities'
> representatives will verbally desecrate - in a long-lasting and very
> harmful way-your institution in open sessions.  You will read in the
> Washington Post or New York Times about the terrible state of academic
> freedom in Brasil, and hear of the matter on BBC and of course the
> many news agencies of   How much common sense does it take to see
> this?  Not much.
>
> A few weeks ago I spoke to a group of the top 50 business leaders of
> Brasil at a session on stem cells at the Wharton School of Business,
> part of Penn.  For more than an hour I argued that the key problem
> with the debate about stem cells in Brasil is that there is not enough
> involvement by the Church in educating priests so that they can
> moderate discussion and debate about stem cell research in cities
> across the nation.  Most of the leaders agreed, and in fact promised
> to promote such an effort when they returned to Brasil.  One or two
> approached me after the talk to say that they feared that leaders in
> the Catholic church in Brasil were too short-sighted to see the value
> of open debate, that they would fear that Catholics might not agree
> and would thus stop any effort to foment discussion.  I laughed off
> such comments, having been recently to Brasil and having spent a great
> deal of time talking with media and others there.  Surely, I said, in
> a nation that has pushed so hard to become an international leader in
> bioethics there much be a willing and intelligent Church leadership
> behind the scenes, pressing for such debate.  Clearly I was wrong.
>
> I hope you will exercise some tiny amount of good sense and reconsider
> your move, if not for the principle involved than because you are
> making a very poor political decision.  No serious university would
> fire an internationally-recognized scholar, who is bringing such
> credit and notoriety to Brasil in the next month, for giving a talk
> about abortion.  Please reassure me that I have been misinformed and
> that you are not in fact committing international academic suicide.
> Please reassure me, and those in the international bioethics
> community, that you would rather show the tolerant - indeed leadership
> - role of the Catholic church in promoting debate of the most
> important issues of the day.  Surely the dark ages have not descended
> upon Brasil.
>
> Best,
>
> Glenn McGee
>
>
>
>
> ________________________________________________________
> Glenn McGee, PhD
> Associate Director for Education
> & professor (Philosophy, History & Sociology of Science, Bioethics)
> University of Pennsylvania Center for Bioethics
>
> Editor-in-Chief, The American Journal of Bioethics
> Editor, Basic Bioethics Book Series, The MIT Press
>
> 3401 Market Street, Suite 320
> Philadelphia 19104-3308
> (215) 573-8103 * fax (267) 200-0034
>
> The American Journal of Bioethics:
> http://www.bioethics.net
> The Center for Bioethics:
> http://bioethics.org
>
> Office: mailto:[log in to unmask]
> ________________________________________________________

_________________________________
glenn mcgee phd
associate director for education, center for bioethics
& professor, dept. of medical ethics, school of medicine
university of pennsylvania  - http://bioethics.org
3401 market street suite 320
philadelphia 19104-3319

Editor-in-Chief, The American Journal of Bioethics
The MIT Press - http://bioethics.net

215.573.8103 Administrative Asst Brooke Wilson
267.200.0034 eFax
_________________________________