THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume XIII, Issue # 98, April 23, 2011
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
POLITICAL PAYBACK -- OREGON STYLE:
Oregon State University Tries to Expell Ph.D. Candidate Chrildren
of Scientist Who Ran Against Congressman Peter DeFazio
By Paul K. Driessen
PARTISAN POLITICS, POLITICAL IDEOLOGY, & POLITICAL RETRIBUTION AT AN AMERICAN INSTITUTION OF HIGHER
EDUCATION: THREE OUTSTANDING STUDENTS & DOCTORAL CANDIDATES AT OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY COULD
BE EXPELLED & DENIED THEIR PH.D. DEGREES, ALL BECAUSE THEIR FATHER, DR. ARTHUR ROBINSON, HAD THE TEMERITY
TO RUN IN THE 2010 ELECTION AGAINST INCUMBENT CONGRESSMAN PETER DEFAZIO, ENTRENCHED 12-TERM DEMOCRAT
IN THE U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES & GENEROUS EARMARK FUNDING PURVEYOR FOR OSU -- DR. ROBINSON,
A CONSERVATIVE REPUBLICAN, REJECTS THE LIBERALISM & ENVIRONMENTALISM TO WHICH DEFAZIO & THE LEFT WING
OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY ARE COMMITTED.
FULL STORY:
Confused visitors will be forgiven for thinking Oregon State University is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Congressman
Pete DeFazio and the Liberal, or “Progressive-Socialist,” wing of the Democratic Party. Or for likening what’s going on
there to political retribution, as practiced in Third World thugocracies.
The idea that three outstanding students – Ph.D. candidates at OSU – could face dismissal, and worse, shortly before
receiving their degrees, is simply shocking. That this could be happening because their father had the temerity to
challenge an entrenched 12-term Democratic congressman (and OSU earmark purveyor) could make people think the
university is in Zimbabwe, not America.
Dr. Arthur Robinson is President of the nonprofit Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine, on the family farm in
southwestern Oregon, 180 miles from Corvallis. OISM focuses on biochemistry, diagnostic medicine, nutrition,
preventive medicine and aging – and improving emergency preparedness and basic education.
After his wife died in 1988, Art Robinson raised and home-schooled his six children – all of whom became remarkable
scholars, collaborating on research and a popular DVD series on math and science for home-schooled students and
their parents. Five of the children have B.S. degrees in chemistry; one a degree in mathematics. Two earned
doctorates in veterinary medicine; one a Ph.D. in chemistry.
The three youngest are all at OSU, working on Ph.D.s in nuclear engineering. They entered the field at a young age,
helping their father write and publish the “pro-science, pro-technology, pro-free enterprise” newsletter, Access to
Energy, which explains and advocates nuclear energy.
Dr. Robinson is well known for the Oregon Petition Project, which says “there is no convincing scientific evidence”
that humans are causing “catastrophic heating of the Earth’s atmosphere” or disruption of its climate. It urges
Congress to reject the Kyoto global warming agreement – and has been signed by more than 32,000 Americans with
university degrees in physical sciences (including yours truly and over 9,000 Ph.D.s).
The petition, and Robinson’s support for DDT in combating the malaria pandemic, drew anger and outrage from the
political Left, climate chaos industry, and “mainstream media,” giving him his first brush with the politics of personal
destruction. But it did not prepare him for the lengths and depths his opponents would go to “discourage” his
political activities.
With our nation drowning in debt, energy prices skyrocketing, and unaccountable pseudo-scientific agencies like the
Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of the Interior hobbling economic growth with endless delays
and red tape, Dr. Robinson decided to run for Congress. As a scientist and thoughtful, Christian family man, with
proven math and budgetary skills – he felt he could bring much needed expertise and perspectives to the House of
Representatives.
He challenged DeFazio, who initially figured he would have a cakewalk against this political neophyte. But Robinson
raised $1.3 million from over 5,000 individual donors (against DeFazio’s $1.5 million from special interests,
MoveOn.org, and other contributors), gave numerous speeches, and ran a highly effective campaign. With polls
showing his lead narrowing, an increasingly desperate DeFazio struck back.
Bristling with a sense of entitlement, the congressman ran print, television and radio ads, painting Robinson as a
nutcase who would promote racism, put radioactive wastes in drinking water, end Social Security and Medicare, close
schools, repeal taxation of oil companies, and destroy Oregon jobs. With help from Rachel Madow and MSNBC,
DeFazio claimed Robinson lived off Social Security in a survivalist compound and was funding his campaign with
cash from money launderers and drug dealers.
Despite the libelous attacks, Robinson garnered a very respectable 44% of the vote – and promptly announced that
he would run for DeFazio’s seat again in 2012. If the soft-spoken father of six thought DeFazio’s campaign had been
in the sewers, what happened next beggared belief. Now the targets became Robinson’s three youngest children.
During the election campaign, OSU President Edward Ray and other faculty and administrators improperly used the
campus to campaign for DeFazio and against Robinson. Then, almost immediately after the 2010 election, they
launched a series of despicable and unprincipled actions designed to ensure that Joshua, Bethany, and Matthew
Robinson would never receive their degrees – regardless of their outstanding academics, examinations and research,
or the thousands of hours and tens of thousands of dollars they had invested.
Even though they have been working on their Ph.D.s for almost five years at OSU, and have about a year to go,
Joshua has been forbidden access to the equipment he built for his PhD work, while Bethany has been told she will
be dismissed from school. Matthew, who turned down a nearly “full ride” from MIT to go to OSU, has been there for
two years – but now is waiting for the ax to fall on his work, and on his thesis professor, Dr. Jack Higginbotham, who
came to the students’ defense.
Nuclear engineering professor Higginbotham has been at OSU 24 years; he is President of the OSU Faculty Senate
and director of a large NASA program on the campus. His inside knowledge of what the Department of Nuclear
Engineering and Radiation Health Physics deans and certain faculty were doing to railroad the Robinson children
made him Public Enemy Number One to the department Torquemadas who are trying to destroy his career and get
him fired for his impertinence.
Right now, Higginbotham’s salary and career hang by a thread, preserved only by attorneys he has hired to protect
himself from OSU attacks. The Robinsons’ studies have been severely disrupted. Meanwhile, however, public
outcry in favor of Higginbotham and the students has grown in intensity, especially in Oregon, and a group of
prominent alumni donors has offered to pay for the student’s remaining Ph.D. work and legal costs to settle the
dispute.
Rather than being chastened, though, President Ray and his staff have refused even to speak with the alumni group.
University administrators have become incensed that their actions are now public knowledge, and that alumni and
other donors are vocally supporting Higginbotham and the children. Ray and his entourage have circled the
academic wagons, stonewalled public inquiries, and refused to talk to the Robinsons.
They appear to think they own the university, and “academic freedom” means they are entitled to deny academic
degrees to children of parents whose politics differ from their own. As more alumni join this effort, however, and the
university’s reputation becomes increasingly radioactive, OSU appears to be wavering. Perhaps a dose of sanity
may yet take center stage.
Oregon State is a prime example of what happens when educational institutions fall under Progressive-Socialist, or
Liberal-Leftist, control, and dependency on taxpayer handouts from political overseers in Washington, D.C. DeFazio
and his fellow congressional Democrats gave OSU a reported $27 million in earmark funding during the last
legislative cycle alone. That’s $9 million per Robinson student denied a Ph.D.
No wonder President Ray and the Nuclear Engineering deans have given new meaning to “payback,” while DeFazio
smirks in silence in the congressional office that he seems convinced should be his for life.
In depressing testimony to how far America has strayed from its Federal Constitution and founding principles, we
have reached the point where congressmen can lavish key supporters with tax dollars – and, in return get votes,
campaign contributions, rallies and volunteers on our campuses, and be assured of vicious retribution against the
families of anyone rash enough to run against them.
If you want to read all the gory details in this sordid case, visit www.OregonStateOutrage.com. If you want
to tell OSU what you think of its actions, send a message to President Ray at pres.office@oregonstate.edu
and todd.simmons@oregonstate.edu in the OSU press office.
If you thought the last Robinson-DeFazio bout was a humdinger, stick around. You ain’t seen nothing yet.
LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
Political Environmentalism Versus Human Progress & Prosperity:
Policy Issues Relating to Energy, Environment,
& Natural Resources
Political Economy -- Philosophies, Systems, & Public Policies:
Government, the Economy, & Economic Prosperity
The American Political & Cultural Left:
Liberals, Statists, Socialists, Marxists, & Other Leftists:
The Democratic Party, Academia, & the Mainstream Media
Education, Training, & America's Schools:
Institutions of Elementary, Secondary, & Higher Education
Paul K. Driessen is senior policy advisor for the Congress of Racial Equality and Committee For A Constructive
Tomorrow, and author of Eco-Imperialism: Green Power, Black Death.
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THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
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Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
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