triangle.com | Home

I am shocked at the reactions to this article. Not only are they completely unaware of what really happened, they are eager and willing to lash out at a dedicated professor without solid understanding of the facts.

I am a student in the embryology class. I sat through that lecture and KNOW that this reporter has not adequately represent the facts in this article. As everyone should know, all stories have more than one side. The side that this article presented fails in presenting them. Here is three facts that was neglected in the article:

First, ONLY TWO students voiced complaint against the professor out of a lecture hall of more than 100 people.

Secondly, I am a senior and have had professors voice their opinions on a variety of issues, some of which is just as controversial as abortion; some I agree with and some I didn't. But the thing that is similar with all these professors is that they all state that it is JUST THEIR OPINION, furthermore, they all ENCOURAGE discussion on the topic. ***Let me make a point that when Professor Harris made his OPINION on the topic of abortion, which by the way, was stated out of context in this article. The two student who made this ridiculous complaint did not say a word.

Lastly, Professor Harris had made it clear in his lectures that all life is valuable and it is because of this belief he enjoys teaching embryology. So for the accusation to be made that he believes that down syndrome children are less "equal" is unjustified.

Here is some points that I would also like to make from my opinion.

If you had sat through his class, you would know that he is constantly trying to educate not through a book, but also through current issues. He have always encourage discussion within the classroom.

When the statement was made, we were discussing birth defects. He was trying to teach our class about the difficult choices facing parents with children with birth defects, such as down syndrome, choices ranging from medical care, change of lifestyle, and abortion.

When he made his opinion, he never made it sound like he was advocating as to what we should do. IT WAS SIMPLY HIS OPINION. We are all adults. We know that it was an opinion; and like I mentioned before, we can either agree or disagree with it. That is OUR CHOICE.

If the two students had been so offended by his opinion, they should have said so. We, their classmates, would have also heard their opinion on the matter. AND again, we would chose whether or not to agree with what they had to say.

However, these two student did not chose this mature route of active discussion among peers. They chose to make it a controversy; one which they are the "VICTIMS" of a "BAD" professor.

Furthermore, they try to discredit a professor who has always placed his students first. (He advocated decreasing book cost, to the point that he posted entire lecture notes so that we didn't have to buy a book. He constantly tries to get funding for the embryology lab which still use slides made several DECADES ago and equipment that is far past its usefulness.) Of course, none of this was mentioned in the article.

This is beyond just simple acts of IMMATURITY. This act is harmful and it is shameful. These two students, along with the writer of this news article, owe Professor Harris and his entire class an apology. For: 1.) Disrupting our education. 2.) For undermining our ability to make decisions on our own. 3.) For intimidating us, to breech our right to speak freely on any matter of our choice. 4.) For disgracing our university, which pride itself on free thought.

I am throughly hurt by this incident. I am appalled at the immaturity of my two classmates. I am saddened by how strangers can mercilessly attack someone without fully comprehending a situation. I wish that this did not reach this point. But because it had, I hope that everyone can see this incident as what it is. Though I do not expect I would ever receive an apology. I just hope that this will not cause more damage than it already has.