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Tenured Holocaust Denier at Northwestern
by Jill Sager, Northwestern University
 Northwestern University has on its faculty a professor, Arthur Butz, who is an outspoken Holocaust denier. Butz, an electrical engineering professor, first published his views in a book called The Hoax of the Twentieth Century in 1976, shortly after he received his tenure. He has since faded on and off of the student and university radar.
Butz recently generated outcries for statements he made to the Iranian Mehr news agency in support of comments made by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad describing the Holocaust as a myth.
While Butz may be a professor of electrical engineering, and not of history, status as an associate professor at a top university is used by him and others to try to add credibility and a sense of objective study to Holocaust denial. Despite calls by some for him to be fired, Butz’s position as a tenured professor remains secure.
The debate over whether Northwestern should fire Butz brings to the forefront some important issues regarding the institution of tenure and the American educational system.
The tenure system is an important component of America’s university system that, when used correctly, can provide the safety and support for innovative research and new, sometimes unpopular ideas. The theory is that if professors fear they will be fired for their beliefs, they will be afraid to speak the truth if their beliefs are unpopular. Universities also fear losing talented professors to other universities if they jeopardize the tenure tradition.
Nevertheless, in the world of higher education, just as sacred as the tenure system is the standard of honesty and academic integrity. When a professor joins a university, he or she signs an implicit contract to demonstrate academic integrity and honesty in all realms of higher education and in all enterprises with which his or her name is associated. Affiliation with a university provides a powerful stamp of legitimacy to all the opinions and writings of that individual and comes with a great responsibility to be truthful.
If Butz’s lies are ignored or forgiven in one realm, this jeopardizes the legitimacy of the academic work he was hired to do, even in the engineering department. Truth and integrity are not standards that should be met with subtle distinctions and caveats, such as that Butz is an engineering professor, not a history professor.
Academics are often called on to be experts on all sorts of issues; for example, the news media calls upon their expertise on a regular basis. The propagation by Butz of dishonesty and fabrications undermines the integrity of all academic research and expertise. While universities may be wary of endangering legitimate freedom of thought in higher education, allowing blatant and virulent lies to hide under the cloak of tenure suggests implicit acceptance of such falsehoods. Universities thus undermine the notion of truth associated with all higher education, which threatens the work of all professors everywhere as well as their ability to express themselves and to influence others.
There is no question that Northwestern students, faculty, and administration despise Butz and what he espouses. In less than 24 hours, more than 400 students, faculty, and staff signed on to a resolution condemning Butz and his views. Numerous petitions from faculty, including those in his own department, came out against him. The university community has isolated him.
Nevertheless, it is time to see the bigger picture and to sever all of Butz’s ties with Northwestern, because his association cheapens Northwestern and the academic world as a whole. Maintaining the tenure system is not worth diminishing the respect deserved by all truthful academics. To allow Butz to remain under the protections of tenure does a disservice to academic standards, expertise, and integrity.
Jill Sager is a June 2006 graduate of Northwestern University with majors in Political Science and Legal Studies.
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