Daily Dolt: The Frank Burns of the 10th District Strikes Again

Team America is getting his panties in a twist because, get this, Dan Seals includes where he works on his campaign site:

A group of NU students are not so willing to let Seals slide, however. In addition to less formal protests against Seals from NU students, a formal letter has been sent to NU President Henry S. Bienen, and a letter has also been sent to the Daily Northwestern student newspaper. TA will hopefully have a copy of the Bienen letter later today.

Among other issues, these students have noted:

The School of Continuing Studies recently appointed Seals to teach a Special Topics class in Federal Policymaking one night a week for two months in Spring Quarter. While NU faculty members certainly have run for political office in the past, we are aware of no situation where the university has hired an active political candidate. Not only does this create a questionable legal dilemma, but it appears to be in violation of the rules and regulations as outlined in the Faculty Handbook.

Pages 16-17 of the handbook state: “Outside activities must not interfere with University responsibilities. In no case may such activities be carried on either directly or by implication in the name of the University without the consent of the president of the University, who shall from time to time report such arrangements to the Board of Trustees. Consent should be requested through the appropriate dean’s office. Faculty members shall not use the name Northwestern University in connection with outside activities in a manner that implies the university’s sanction or support, unless the required consent has been obtained…”

When responding to inquiries in their fields of professional competence or acting as private citizens on issues of general public interest, faculty members may use their academic titles for purposes of identification but should make it clear that they speak, write, and act for themselves and not for the institution.”

Seals repeatedly uses the title of “adjunct professor” on his campaign material, in debates and in interviews with the media, even though the university has publicly responded that he is only a visiting lecturer. His own political Web site states, “Dan is a business consultant and adjunct professor at Northwestern University.”

Many media outlets throughout the area also have referred to Seals as a professor here at NU. Despite his use of a university title, Seals has never indicated that he does not speak or politick on behalf of the university, as the Faculty Handbook requires. Failure to issue this disclaimer results in using the NU brand to further his partisan pursuits.

First, if you are hired for a job while running for office at any university and the university knows, you explicitly have permission to keep running. It’s not that uncommon and while I have no idea if it has happened at Northwestern it’s happened at Washington University with some frequency including now State Senator Jeff Smith and former US Senator Jim Talent.

Second, telling people where you work does not imply university support or sanction. That’s like claiming a resume to a new potential employer is sanctioning or supporting the applicant to get the new job.

It’s hard to imagine focusing on more trivial matters than one line in campaign literature that tells people what Seals does for a living. There’s an administration that has deeply politicized the Justice Department, illegally spied on Americans, and gotten us into a war under false pretenses and without a strategy to actually win or get out of that war, but the biggest thing one can do to help Mark Kirk out is complain about a line in a resume.

Frank: I think it was Napoleon who said, “Without discipline, an army is no more than a bunch of guys all wearing the same colour clothes.”
Potter: Napoleon?
Frank: Could have been Mussolini.