PROF DESERVES BETTER

RE: "Prof is Impaired," Letters to the Editor, Nov. 15,
2006

Dear Editor,

This letter is in response to Mr. Klaus Kaczor's editorial on the
professor that has been given permission to smoke marijuana on campus.

Some of those to whom I have spoken with question what the problem is
in the first place. I cannot agree with such assertions; marijuana is
still seen in the minds of many as an "illicit" drug, one that is used
merely for the sake of getting high. It is very much a politicized
issue, and so it is indeed a very relevant question to be asking
whether we should be allowing "impaired teaching" as Mr. Kaczor seems
to be saying.

Mr. Kaczor also declares that "intelligent students should soon be
protesting" the impairment of our instructor. He might have a point,
if Professor Maclean showed any signs of impairment.

It nears the end of the semester, and I only found that Professor
Maclean uses marijuana for medicinal purposes three weeks ago. It
would stand, then, that if I had any complaints or questioned his
knowledge or understanding of the material upon which he was
lecturing, this would give a valid explanation for such
incompetence.

Professor Maclean, however, has been very clear and erudite in his
lectures, presenting the material in a rationale, logical manner that
is relatively easy to understand. One might even claim that he is a
better lecturer than some on the campus who do not smoke marijuana for
medical purposes.

Perhaps the problem here is not whether Professor Maclean should be
allowed to teach, but whether Mr. Kaczor fully understands the level
of supposed impairment that Professor Maclean suffers. If, as Mr.
Kaczor so confidently asserts, impairment should not be hard to prove,
then either this assertion is incorrect, or we can safely conclude
that Professor MacLean is, in fact, not impaired.

The above editorial was written taking Mr. Kaczor's words literally.
If his editorial was written in an attempt at satirical writing (which
is possible considering his last paragraph), it was poorly done and
Mr. Kaczor would have served Professor MacLean's purposes and dignity
much better by simply being explicit about what he meant.

Jonathan Park