Gordon Klein

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The links to news coverage of the 2021 lawsuit are at the end of this long webpage.

Basic links: <A HREF=" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gordon_Klein "> Wikipedia article on Klein </A> and <A HREF="https://reason.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/KleinvBernardo.pdf"> The Lawsuit Complaint </A> (Sept. 27, 2021, LA County Superior Court, West Judicial District, Santa Monica courthouse) and <A HREF=" https://www.lacourt.org/casesummary/ui/ "> the LA County court docket </A> (use case # 21SMCV01577) and <a href="https://rasmusen.org/special/gordonklein/LarryoConnorGordonKlein061120_11am.mp3">interview with Klein </a> on the Larry O'Connor show in 2020 that talks about his life history, and another uncopyrighted <a href="https://rasmusen.org/special/gordonklein/klein4_best.png"> photo of Gordon Klein </a> and <a href="https://d28htnjz2elwuj.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/12163228/Gordon-Klein-UCLA-FALL-2020-600x400.jpg"> the best photo </a>of him.

University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) accounting instructor Gordon Klein became the target of a progressive "cancelling" after he told a non-black student by email on June 2, 2020 that he would not let black students delay the course's final exam because of the national rioting that started after the May 25 death of George Floyd while under arrest. On June 3, the university suspended Professor Klein for three weeks without due process and launched a discrimination investigation into his action, even though the Administration had told instructors not to delay final exams on account of the rioting. (The investigation <a href="https://www.thefire.org/victory-ucla-reinstates-professor-suspended-for-email-on-why-he-wouldnt-change-exam-grading-for-black-students/"> closed on July 22 </a> without finding any evidence of misconduct by Klein.) On June 4, Dean Antonio Bernardo sent <a href="https://www.thefire.org/email-from-antonio-bernardo-to-the-ucla-anderson-community-june-4-2020/"> a letter to the business school community </a> accusing Klein of "abuse of power" and saying that the Dean wanted to "recommit to respect, equity, and compassion". Klein's email to the student is <a href="https://d28htnjz2elwuj.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/10211240/Screen-Shot-2020-06-10-at-9.05.46-PM.png"> here. </a> Klein said in <a href="https://www.thefire.org/ucla-reinstated-gordon-klein-who-will-reinstate-his-reputation/"> an October interview, </a>

Within hours, word of my email reached people outside of the university and a number of these outside individuals were organized to complain to the university’s higher-ups, including the chancellor and my dean.

And they appear to have overwhelmed my dean with accusations against me. But none of the people accusing me ever identified themselves as knowing me or being one of my students. Some were from elsewhere on campus and some were not even university students.

The dean asked me to call him that evening, which I did. Much to my surprise, the dean was on the phone with me for no more than approximately one minute, after which he hung the phone up on me.

He didn’t give me a chance to explain, and he didn’t want to listen to the context. He simply acknowledged we’d known each other for a long time and that he was sending the case to the so-called DPO, which I later understood to mean the Discrimination Prevention Office.

There was  a  touching <a href="https://rasmusen.org/special/gordonklein/LarryoConnorGordonKlein061120_11am.mp3">interview with Klein </a>  on the Larry O'Connor show in 2020.   He talks about how he grew up in Detroit and went to the public schools; how he was a professional keyboardist and has played gospel music in black churches; how he turned in a colleague for discriminating against hispanics; how the student email that sparked this was  part of a well-organized national campaign to go after a list of some 80 faculty; how he was thinking of retiring soon anyway and just volunteering time to help student clubs.... his liberal credentials are impeccable. And he describes how  Dean Bernardo hung up on him after only talking with him a minute.) 


 Somebody posted the spreadsheet Prof. Klein mentioned in his radio interview listing 80  professors that progressives were targeting to trap into refusing exam cancellation requests so they could be "cancelled".    It's at <a href="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1IX42mJZdzoi8q7iiiAWMqVpBi_3dCwn9X2xoKfnR6CI/edit#gid=1221560764." rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1IX42mJZdzoi8q7iiiAWMqVpBi_3dCwn9X2xoKfnR6CI/edit#gid=1221560764.</a> It shows how most faculty caved in and did things such as making the final exam optional. 

Dean Bernardo has issued <a href="https://www.anderson.ucla.edu/about/our-dean quite a number of"> "community updates"</a> with a critical race theory flavor. The one attacking Professor Klein is not listed there as of August 2021.

In September 2021, Klein filed suit against UCLA and Dean Bernardo in California state court.


Contact information for reporters

  • Daniel Burnett, Assistant Director of Communications, FIRE: 215-717-3473; <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection" class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="a1ccc4c5c8c0e1d5c9c4c7c8d3c48fced3c6">[email protected]</a>
  • Gene Block, Chancellor, UCLA: 310-825-2151; <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection" class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="e3808b828d80868f8f8c91a396808f82cd868796">[email protected]</a>
  • Klein's lawyers: Steven M. Goldberg and David S. Markun, MARKUN ZUSMAN FRENIERE & COMPTON LLP, 222 E. Marcy St., Suite #6, Santa Fe, NM 87501, (505) 603-3189, <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection" class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="6112060e0d0503041306210c1b020d00164f020e0c">[email protected]</a>, <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection" class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="61050c00130a140f210c1b020d00164f020e0c">[email protected]</a>,


 Eugene Volokh, <a href="https://reason.com/2020/06/30/ucla-academic-freedom-committee-statement-related-to-the-gordon-klein-controversy/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">UCLA Faculty Senate resolution.</a> This is ridiculously mild. "Chilling effects".  

The process of evaluating the situation is proceeding at the Anderson School, and our committee has no direct role in that process. Our concern instead is that any public announcement that an instructor is being placed on administrative leave for what appears to be a particular statement—whether the statement happened in class, in an e-mail responding to a student, on social media, or wherever else—creates a chilling effect for other instructors, especially untenured ones. It is the committee's role to try to prevent such chilling effects.

One commenter had a good historical comparison:

I’m thinking of this as a League of Nations statement about Poland, circa 1939.

Petitions

The petition to fire Gordon Klein with about 20,000 signatures is<a href="https://www.change.org/p/ucla-fire-ucla-professor-gordon-klein?use_react=false" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> here. </a> The petition to reinstate him with about 76,000 signatures is <a href="https://www.change.org/p/ucla-justice-for-ucla-professor-gordon-klein-titlevi?recruiter=1087816345&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=psf_combo_share_abi&recruited_by_id=bcbfd2a0-9223-11ea-9be7-dbedef852c60" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">here. </a>


  • <A name="Klein"> Professor </a>