Gil-White's biggest obstacle: himself

Perhaps conspiracy theories are so attractive because they attempt to assign order to our chaotic world. Things happen as part of a large and sinister plan instead of being the random results of mere human shortcomings. While far-reaching international conspiracies may be possible, they are much more fun to think about than they are actually feasible. I mean, have you ever tried to plan a surprise party? Human beings are not so great at keeping a secret even if it only entails meeting at Olive Garden.

Unfortunately, a salacious conspiracy theory has obscured a possible violation of academic freedom here at Penn. And the person behind the obfuscation is not who you would expect.

Maybe you've read about controversial Penn Psychology professor Francisco Gil-White in newspapers or watched him on the Fox News show Hannity and Colmes. What makes him controversial is not his academic work, but rather the "investigative journalism" he does in his spare time for the online journal The Emperor's New Clothes.

Gil-White characterizes his work as "the documentation of facts." If you look on his Web site, you will find his documentation of the fabrication of the Kosovar Albanians' oppression by the Serbs, the origination of the Palestinian Liberation Organization with the Nazis and, finally, attacks led by the CIA on Israel.

Excited by his documented findings, Gil-White decided to share his journalistic work with his colleagues at the Solomon Asch Center for Study of Ethnopolitical Conflict here at Penn. His presentation was not well-received to say the least. According to his mentor, professor Paul Rozin, Gil-White as an associate professor became quite concerned that his work for Emperor's Clothes would be brought up during his review process. It should be noted that there are many things that either side claim never happened, and this is one of them.

Either way, Gil-White went on to use some of his Emperor's Clothes work in his course "Biocultural Psychology." When I asked Gil-White why he would risk being evaluating for his nonacademic work by bringing it into the classroom, he responded, "Because I have nothing to hide. I document facts."

Gil-White believes that the real reason his first reappointment process failed last year is that he defends Israel and his journalistic work proves that the United States government is actively trying to destroy Israel. Furthermore, he claims that Political Science professor and Solomon Asch Associate Director Ian Lustick had him fired "in so many words" and did so on orders from "U.S. intelligence."

Because this theory is so vast and all-encompassing, professor Gil-White has decided not to go to the University ombudsman or School of Arts and Sciences Dean Rebecca Bushnell and demand another, unbiased, evaluation. It is the job of these people to arbitrate and mediate, and Gil-White believes that there is "nothing to arbitrate or mediate." For these reasons he declined to participate in a second reappointment process. In a response to a bland five-sentence bureaucratic e-mail from the Psychology Department chairman, Robert DeRubeis, Gil-White wrote 4,600 words, finally concluding with a brief statement that the reappointment committee could not evaluate him fairly. Instead he is considering suing the University for his "job, an apology and an explanation."

At the end of my interview with Gil-White, he suggested that I contact Patrick Kerkstra, the reporter who wrote a Philadelphia Inquirer story about him. As I packed up my notebook, he commented that "the slant Kerkstra put on the story would lead one to believe that the University had paid him to write it."

I suppose the million-dollar question is not whether Lustick and "U.S. intelligence" fired Gil-White or if the University paid a Philadelphia Inquirer reporter to write a story. It is whether the Psychology Department did anything wrong in its handling of Gil-White. It is a question that I myself am not able to answer definitively.

However, if you go through Gil-White's Web site and page through the lengthy e-mails complete with extensive documentation, read the articles and talk to his current students -- who will repeat that same phrase "documenting facts" -- you will come to the conclusion that with every attempt to bolster his case, Gil-White actually does the opposite. In the end, the biggest obstacle to Gil-White's success at the University may have come not from U.S. intelligence or Solomon Asch, Professor Rozin or Professor Lustick, but rather from Gil-White himself.

Amara Rockar is a sophomore political science major from St. Louis. Out of Range appears on Fridays.

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