The Occasional Observer

Don't know the name? Well, read on and learn - this is probably the only time you'll find me on the same side of an issue as Noam Chomsky. Sherley is a bio engineering prof at MIT who started a starvation campaign two days ago outside the MIT president's office to protest his denial of tenure. He claims that the denial was based on racism, and ever since coming to MIT in '98 he claims he's been discriminated against.

The more likely reason that he was denied tenure is that his research focuses exclusively on adult stem cells; as a Christian he refuses to work with embryonic stem cells and challenges his colleagues to prove why one person's life is more valuable than another. I believe he knows this is why he was denied tenure, and is intelligently using the racist card here. That is to say, the liberal MSM would never support a professor who was scorned b/c he opposed use of embryonic stem cells, but watch how they'll flock to the story of someone denied a job b/c of racism. Smart play..

Now, maybe MIT is right, that at the end of the day his accomplishments just fell short of what they require for tenure. On the other hand, the last time I checked, people who have a bachelor's from Harvard, an M.D. and Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins, and are awarded a $2.5 M grant from prestigious NIH generally don't "fall short."