The Michigan Daily - Thursday, November 18,.1993-7 *Woman fights Columbia over dissertation failure HERO By MICHELLE FRICKE DAILY STAFF REPORTER 0 When Prof. Constance Benson gan investigating the life and work of Ernst Troeltsch for her Ph.D. dis- sertation almost eight years ago, she realized her work was controversial, but she never imagined she would end up in court. But that is exactly where she is headed as she challenges the failure of her thesis, which she completed as doctoral student at Columbia Uni- rsity. Litigation began this past June, butBenson---a religious studies pro- fessor at Fordham University - served a new round of papers against ColumbiaandUnion Theology Semi- nary three weeks ago, giving the insti- tutions until Nov. 24 to reply to her charges. Although Prof. Wayne Proudfoot, *e dissertation committee chair, had recommended her work for an aca- demic merit scholarship, Benson was failed after the dissertation was pre- sented in an oral defense. Benson and her lawyer, David Slater, argued she was failed for "arbitrary and capri- cious reasons" after Benson refused to revise her findings. Her case claims Columbia vio- its own procedural rules - form- g Benson's dissertation committee with six rather than five members and failing the work on the basis of a tie vote. Slater charges these were both "arbitrary and unprecedented," and believes the decision represents Columbia's "cajlous attempt to de- stroy Benson professionally." But Brian D'Agostino, Benson's husband, *lieves the case has had a reverse effect. "While they attempted to destroy her professionally, by fighting this, she's been turned into something of a celebrity for turning on this power structure," said D'Agostino, who is 'Research is an Important part of a student's life, and if you feel you can't speak or investigate freely it's like living in a reign of terror.' -Brian D'Agostino publicist handling Benson's publicity. He added that her manuscript is being considered forpublication by amajor publishing firm. Benson's research focused on the work of Troeltsch (1865-1923), an eminent German academic and a fa- ther of modern Protestant ethics. The attack on her work has been led by Prof. David Lotz of Union Theologi- cal Seminary and Prof. Fritz Stern of Columbia, who Benson claims had conflicts of interest with her research. According to Benson's disserta- tion, Troeltsch was an apologist for the power structure of Imperial Ger- many, endorsing the infamous racist and anti-Semite Paul de Lagarde, who professed the extermination of the Jews two generations before Hitler. The thesis also claims Troeltsch sup- ported racist theories that legitimized European colonization of Africa, at a time when these policies were being questioned in Germany. Benson charges the judgment of her presentation was clouded because Lotz is aLutheran minister and expert in the school of Protestant theology, which includes Troeltsch. She also claims Stem has close ties with the Niebuhr family, who professed Troeltsch's ideals in the English speaking world. Columbia officials defended the committee's decision, claiming the dissertation was "lacking in academic merit" and that the professors' asso- ciations did not affect Benson's fail- ure. Yet, after appealing to Columbia officials and the school's board of trustees for one year, Benson was unable to receive specific evidence for her research's failure from the administrators involved. But Benson has gained support from 20 outside experts and profes- sors in the form of letters and affida- vits. Cornel West, a theologian and director of Princeton University's Afro-American Studies Program, backs the publication of her work, calling it "the most significant cri- tique of Troeltsch's politics we have. "There is no doubt that the thesis is controversial - and harmful to Troeltsch'simageas aliberal thinker," wrote West in his letter supporting Benson. "I am not convinced that Connie's work was evaluated in a fair and impartial manner - even though those involved in the process are dear friends of mine in whom I have great trust." Others also fear Benson's case is part of an attempt to censor views which are not "politically correct." In a prepared statement, Prof. David Noble of York University, Ontario, and Leonard Minsky charge Benson's case "fits a disturbing trend in which universities in the U.S. are suppress- ing academically meritorious research that is not PC." D'Agostino echoed these senti- ments. "In graduate school, research is an important part of a student's life, and if you feel you can't speak or investi- gate freely it's like living in a reign of terror," the Columbia alum stated. "How can you do research under those conditions?" The future of Benson's academic career remains uncertain as a judge will be assigned to the case in the New York Supreme Court. While both schools' attorneys maintain the courts have little prece- dence in reviewing academic disputes such as this, Benson is confident the case will not be dismissed. Yet if it is, she maintains she will appeal the de- cision. As her husband stated: "There's no way you can put the ge- nie in the bottle now." APPHOTO Anthony Mojica talks to police after saving 11 people overcome by carbon monoxide fumes in a Chicago home. Progranuner addresses~ computer laws By YOSHI ORIBE back was notaccused ofcopying code without the permission of the patent FOR THE DAILY from 1-2-3, but of supporting com- holder. Since a computer program The Modern Languages Building patible user commands. Such copy- typically uses many techniques and bustled with more than 400 students ing wascommonpractice among soft- provides many features it can in- and professors last night who attended ware companies until court decisions fringe on several patents at once. aspeech by Richard Stallman, aworld- recently extended their rules on copy- "Until recently, patents were not renowned com- rights. used in the software field," he said. puter program- "A copyright on a user interface Copyrights used to cover the mer and one of means a government-imposed mo- implementation details of a particular the founders of nopoly on its use," Stallman said. program and did not cover the fea- League of Pro- The latter portion of the talk cen- tures of the program, or the methods gramming Free- tered on software patents. used. Because of this, software devel- dom, an organi- "Software patents threaten to dev- opment was extremely profitable and zation whose astateAmerica's computerindustry," reaped substantial investment with- goal is to protect Stallman said. out any prohibition on independent the freedom to Patents cover techniques that can software development. write programs. be used to build systems, or particular A change in government policy in The League Stallman features that systems can offer. the early 1980s, however, applied aims to eliminate Once a technique or feature is pat- patent laws to all software, and the two recently established legal con- ented, it may not be used in a system lawsuits are just beginning. cepts that it feels hinder the computer programmer's freedom to work - interface copyright and software pat- ents -both of which were the topics of Stallman's speech. Stallman spoke against user inter- face copyright. A user interface is the language used to communicate with the machine. When the machine is a computer program, the interface in- cludes that of the computer, its key- board, screen and mouse, plus aspects specific to the program. Stallman cited a case where Lotus Software won a copyright suit against Paperback Software, a small com- pany that implemented a spreadsheet utilizing the same keystroke com- mands used in Lotus 1-2-3. Paper- DIA OVERWHELMED 0 bi %L Y the never-ending demands? 76-GUID off-campus GUIDE (4-8433) on-campus 1 10 1 -mmo- TLASSFE ADS 764-0557 ADOPTION: ABUNDANCE OF LOVE is waitin for baby we yearn to adopt. Call col- lect 313-264-0244. ANN ARBOR COUPLE wishes to adopt a baby. Con idential, OPEN relationship w/ h parents. 1-800-484-8207 code 1155. I U - """' I *~ STUDENT * ORGANIZATIONS! If you'd like to submit a group photo for the 1994 Michiganensian Yearbook... 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