The issue of Ken DeBevoise’s status at the University has been around the figurative water coolers for several years now. For context, students becoming seniors in the fall have been here for as long as his tenure here has been in question. @@http://www.uoregon.edu/findpeople/person/Ken*DeBevoise*@@
And it has been quite an issue, indeed. A release from the Keep Ken Coalition from August 2010, the movement saw more than 500 students working for eight months to try to make sure DeBevoise got re-signed. And he did.
That’s what makes the fact that this is an issue so puzzling to us.
But now, looking to fall term, Ken does not have any classes scheduled for the fall on DuckWeb, and there are about 500 people fighting to keep him now.
For most of us at the Emerald, Ken’s been teaching in-depth classes for understanding countries in the Middle East since we started here. From all accounts, while rigorous, these classes have been challenging and highly informative.
Then
From the “About” page for the Keep Ken website (which is down as this is written): “Professor Ken DeBevoise does not lecture. He does not assign papers. He does not give exams. But he incorporates reading, writing and speaking into his classes every day in a way that is extremely engaging, educational and fun.”
Not traditional, to be sure. But engaging? You betcha.
Ken is the kind of professor that fits so clearly with the unique nature of our campus.
The original attempt to remove Ken was based in differences of opinion in the political science office, culminating with what the coalition called ‘Coffeegate’. DeBevoise’s attempt to take a class to a coffee shop off 13th and Patterson ended up sparking everything that ended up happening.
“This action was admonished by the political science department without reason, cause, or justification,” the coalition’s website read. “This demonstrates the political science department’s personal crusade against Professor Ken DeBevoise, regardless of his value to the department high student demand for his instruction.”
Now
As of now, DeBevoise has no contract for fall term, and, as said before, isn’t scheduled to teach classes in the fall. It’s a damn shame.
For all we pay the University, we have a right to expect someone more like Ken — less of the traditional and same old, same old — and more of the innovators and big-thinkers.