From the [Charlotte] News & Observer:

Ted Vaden, the paper’s public editor, analyzes the media storm around UNC Prof. Albert Harris, who told his embryology class that fetuses with Down syndrome should be aborted.

I still have a nagging uneasiness about this story. It is a piece about a single remark in a lengthy lecture that, the professor says, was intended for discussion, not indoctrination. I have qualms about the headline “Abortion remark angers students,” when only one student complained. Sam Spies, the reporter, said he found only one student in the class who objected to the comment, although at least one other has since voiced concern. On the first page of the article, the story reported only the offending quote and the criticism, saving explanation from Harris and his defenders for the “jump” page inside the paper.

And I’m concerned that perhaps the paper was manipulated by an interest group with an agenda. The N&O learned about the flap from a news release from Carolina Students for Life, a pro-life group on campus. It said, “This latest account follows several reports of professors intimidating students or teaching personal opinions as course curricula” — which suggests to me a separate agenda. The story didn’t tell us about the pro-life group’s role, which it should have.

Harris made an insensitive remark. I sympathize with the offended student, who has a brother with Down syndrome, and with families upset by the comment.

But the statement was ill-considered, not ill-intentioned, and I don’t think Harris deserves the national condemnation that has befallen him. (Where, I wonder, are fellow faculty and administrators standing up for academic freedom?)

I have doubts whether the story should have run at all, given its provenance. But if it had to — can we ignore a news release? — I’d like to have seen better context, higher in the story, that would have given readers a more nuanced understanding of a professor just trying to teach.

This entry was posted on Monday, February 25th, 2008 at 5:52 am and is filed under Down syndrome, NOT2BEMISSED, abortion, media, prenatal diagnosis. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.  Email This Post