[Vision2020] A challenge to Nick Gier

Donovan Arnold donovanjarnold2005 at yahoo.com
Sat Oct 1 20:13:00 PDT 2005


I apologize for the previous blank email. My computer
went haywire.

Mr. Gier,

You never cease to entertain me. Whether it be writing
a review of a local movie and getting the title wrong,
or getting voted down unanimously by the Faculty
Council to eliminate athletics at the UI.

Now you ask me where you violated the confidentiality
of a former student?

As I recall I did not state that you DID violate Doug
Wilson's confidentiality. What I said was that you
were boarding on it. Perhaps you should "try
reflecting just a little bit before you hit the keys."

Talking about a student in front of other teachers or
friends is one thing. But posting comments online in a
public forum is a different story. 

You only know of Mr.Wilson's performance as a student
because of your privileged position as his instructor.
And you are sharing that information publicly without
his permission. 

So my challenge to Mr. Gier is if he knows any other
professors or instructors at the University of Idaho
that publish to an online public forum information
about their students performance.

I am willing to bet that Mr. Gier, an ethics teacher,
will be unable to find this behavior in any of his
other professional colleagues at the University of
Idaho.

Take Care,

Donovan J Arnold

PS. Perhaps you can explain to your friend Tom Hansen
that medical and school records are confidential even
if you are President of the United States and that
their disclosure, in part or in full, to anyone
without the permission of the person involved is in
violation of federal law and can get the person(s)
barred from the medical and educational fields
indefinitely.



  


--- Nick Gier <ngier at uidaho.edu> wrote:

> 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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