[Vision2020] A challenge to Donovan

[Nick Gier]

Greetings:

I would like to challenge Donovan to show where I disclosed any private 
information about Wilson's UI performance in my post.  There is a judgment 
implied in my claim that his MA thesis is a pretty good piece of 
scholarship.  That should be taken by anyone as a compliment.  Professors 
say such things about their students all the time without breaching 
confidentiality.

Here is how my article "The Wilson Story: A Personal Account" 
(www.class.uidaho.edu/ngier/WilsonStory. htm) begins:

One day in 1975 a nice young man came up to me after a session of my 
“Introduction to Philosophy.”  He introduced himself and asked me one 
question: “Is it OK if I defend the faith in this class?”  I answered a 
fate-filled Yes, and thus began my history with Douglas Wilson.  We had 
friendly theology debates on a regular basis, in and out of the 
classroom.  He wrote a fairly respectable M.A. thesis on free will and then 
took on his local ministry.  He had defended the faith well and we only 
hoped that he would use his degree responsibly. Sadly, this appears not to 
have been the case.
       In the early 1980s we team taught (along with two other people) a 
course on 20th Century theology, and then we had a debate on abortion in 
February of 1983.  Canon Press may still have tapes of the debate, or 
anyone can borrow my cassette.  Wilson had a regular column in what was 
then called The Idahonian, and Wilson came out with a piece that listed 
points that I tried to refute in the debate.  (For the specifics see my 
article at www.class.uidaho.edu/ngier/abortion.htm.)  In a letter to the 
editor, I cried foul, not because I could claim that my refutations were 
sound; rather, because Wilson did not mention my responses at all.  It was 
at that point that I began to question Wilson’s intellectual integrity and 
honesty, and that has been my main point of criticism in the current 
controversy.

OK, Donovan, where have I broken any confidentiality?  I've used the 
"defending the faith" story several times in Wilson's presence and instead 
of objecting he laughed along with everyone else, including the entire NSA 
student body in the spring of 2000 in the Nuart Theatre.

Try reflecting just a little bit before you hit the keys,

Nick Gier¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯

"The god you worship is the god you deserve."
~~ Joseph Campbell
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