Response to the Westhues Essay
on the Dismissal of Stephen Berman

Edward D. Tymchatyn, University of Saskatchewan

Thank you for your article, "Stephen Berman: Scapegoat". This is a case that needs to be known.

I think you have made a good assessment of the case documents. I agree that Berman's punishment is disproportional to his crime as outlined in the case documents.

In this case one should not assume that the case documents tell the complete story. One should not assume Berman was a saintly academic. There was much in Professor Berman's behavior, long before his postings on ratemyprofessors.com, that was reprehensible. However, the Administration could and should have corrected that behavior before it established a pattern. The firing of Berman is unjustified. Unfortunately, it is just one of administrative actions at U of S that is in violation of academic precepts.