Item Type:  Appointment
Start Date:  10/04/2002  10:00 am Eastern Daylight Time  (Friday)
Duration:  1 Hour

Prof. Guy Capella
Chancellor
Catholic University of Brazil

Dear Professor Capella,

I am deeply distressed by the news that Deborah
Diniz has lost her position at the Catholic
University of Brasilia. It would be bad enough if
she were to lose her position because of views
she holds on a topic such as abortion. But for her
to lose her job after participating in a discussion
to which she was invited by the University is
unthinkable. Universities need to be places where
freedom of thought is protected, not destroyed.
Active debate on issues is impossible if those
on one side or the other face the threat of losing
their job.

I have worked with Professor Diniz as a member of
the Feminist Association for Bioethics and I know
how valuable her participation has been. Her
efforts to bring a major international conference to
Brasilia demonstrate her competency. And to fire
her only a few weeks before the conference is to
take place will result in widespread international
concern, and will lead to a diminishment of your
university's standing in the international
community.

While it is difficult balancing the many different
constituencies of a university, surely the central
importance of protecting the professor's freedom
to investigate controversial issues cannot be set aside to pacify other groups.
A university can
accurately call itself a place of higher learning only
if it is a place where real debate and disagreement
are possible.

I do not know what the upshot of this situation will
be, but I sincerely hope that Professor Diniz's
job will be restored and her position secured
against future challenges. Otherwise the university
is likely to lose one of its most promising bioethics
researchers, and gain a reputation for intolerance
and lack of academic freedom.

I hope for a better resolution.

Sincerely yours,

Ruth Groenhout
Carey Senior Fellow
Erasmus Institute
Notre Dame University