Fair enough, Louis, let's talk about it! I'll go ahead and start. I'd love for DCP, Kiwi57 and others to respond to me with their opinions, including ClintonKing, who downvoted my comments there. I made a few comments on Dr. Colvin's blog, but in the interest of length, I will consider just one of those comments, since Mr. Midgley specifically complained about it. If you check that link, he quotes me saying, "And "I did not complete the course work for my Phd [sic] in political science.""Mr. Midgley wrote:Those posting utter rubbish included Dr. VeloBurrinho, Nik_S, Gary, EV, Lance Hemmert, Dr. Detroit, Gadianton P. Robbers, Moksha, and, last and least, Moem on.
I urge those who tried to defend me, to report their experiences. And everyone else will be, I am confident, shocked at the filth directed at me.
"Rubbish!" says Mr. Midgley!
Here is my full comment that appeared on Dr. Colvin's blog:
Now, if you ask me, that already sounds a lot different than Midgley's redaction. But as it is, I embrace the opportunity to provide evidence for my claim. In a revealing post on Sic et Non several months ago, Midgley reminisces on his grad school days:Gadianton wrote:According to Mr. Midgley himself, he did not complete all the coursework required for a Phd in Political Science. According to his own account, several credits were considered filled by faculty for his missionary work. I'm not saying his Phd isn't valid, but it isn't without significant question, either.
Unbelievable! Please tell me where I'm going wrong: Midgley receives "remarkable and significant help" in the form of social status within his graduate department and at least one waived course requirement -- who knows what else as he "isn't going into details here" -- all because he's Mormon. Physicist Robert Lindsay thought Henrey Eyring was spectacular and that Mormon missions were cool, and Guy Dodge of the PoliSci department thought Robert Lindsy was spectacular. Midgley happened to be Mormon just like Eyring and had served a mission and so there you have it: "charmed life". Lucked out!Louis Midgley wrote:I will not go into the details, but the fact is that, with the Chair of the Political Science Department, my wife and I attended a reception with Robert Bruce Lindsay, who was the very distinguished Dean of the Graduate School and also Hazard Professor of Physics, for those just beginning work on the PhD. When Lindsay asked me where I had previously studied, I indicated that it was at the University of Utah. He immediately asked me if I knew Henry Eyring. I explained that I had heard him lecture many times. He asked me if I was a Latter-day Saint, and if I had served as a Latter-day Saint missionary. I answered in the affirmative. He then said that Henry Eyring was the very best scientist and virtuous person he knew. And they he ordered me to strive to emulate Henry Eyring in both my studies and as a human being was well as I could.
This simply stunned Guy Howard Dodge, who was hearing this exchange. And quite soon my wife and I were invited to a dinner that included the faculty of the Political Science Department, where I was asked to describe my missionary activities in New Zealand, which I very much enjoyed doing. While I was gabbing with the gents, my wife was holding forth about our having been married in Bern, Switzerland, and then being sealed in the newly dedicated Temple in Zollikofen.
I have just to my left the Bulletin of Brown University; The Graduate School, 1961-1962. This sets out what must take place to be awarded a PhD, with the qualification that some matters can be modified by the departments, with the approval of the Dean of the Graduate School. Professor Dodge soon invited me into his office and indicated that, with the approval of the Dean, and Graduate Council, my LDS mission to New Zealand would replace one of the course requirements for my PhD.
I have lived a charmed life. Since my wife passed away in February 2014, I have thought a lot about our life together. And I have discovered that my wife had saved bits of information that both refresh my own memories and also call attention to what I now see as gifts to me that I more or less took for granted as they took place. To paraphrase the famous German philosopher G. W. F. Hegel, the Owl of Minera flies only at dusk. The fact is that Henry Eyring played an important role in my life, even though I never met him. But I have just happened to have had two long conversations with his very gifted son. I have not, however, found the opportunity to tell him about the remarkable and significant help that his own father inadvertently gave me, all without ever knowing that I even exist.
One could downplay all of this and say it was just a single course, but the point is, Midgley isn't downplaying it. Either that single course was a very difficult course, or other gears on the way to that Phd also got a little more grease as in his own words, the help Henry Eyring inadvertently gave him was "remarkable and significant". If the favoritism midgley received didn't result in a material advancement toward his Phd that would have been difficult to otherwise reproduce, then I fail to see how we could call the help "remarkable and significant."
Some readers, no doubt, are thinking I'm a little too critical, and that tailoring a graduate program in this way isn't all all that uncommon. But I remind my readers that the Mopologists have a long track record of breaking out the microscope to inspect the credentials of critics, and trumpet every last flaw, ambiguity or possible anomaly they discover of their targets in their flagship academic publications, and Louis Midgley himself has been a big part of this tradition. Here is what Midgley wrote about Dr. Walter Martin:
https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/cgi/vie ... ontext=msr
For those who think I'm being unfair to Midgley, wouldn't you agree that I'm being no more unfair to Migdley than Midgley would be to a Midgley involved in the Christian countercult movement? So what if Shelton College wasn't accredited? New York University said it counted and so it counted. New York University said he got a Master's, even if it didn't require a thesis. Perhaps they were intrigued by his novel skillset? Back then, knowledge of cults such as Mormonism wasn't nearly as widespread as it is today. Perhaps Martin simply received the same kind of favoritism at New York University for his unique background that Midgley received at Brown for his unique background?Louis Midgley wrote:Martin holds degrees from Stony Brook School. Adelphi University, Biblical Seminary fof New Yorkl, New York University and California Western University." Impressive? Stony Brook School is a high school. Martin attended Adelphi University for one tenn. from 16 September 1946 through 31 January 1947. He attended a summer session at what is now known as New York Theological Seminary. He was awarded a bachelor's degree in 1952 from unaccredited Shelton College. New York University accepted those credits, and in 1956 awarded him a master of arts degree in something called "Religious Education" from the School of Education, Health, Nursing. and Arts Profession. His "Religious Education" program did not require a thesis, though he claimed that he wrote one on the Jehovah's Witnesses.
As I said on Dr. Colvin's blog, "I'm not saing his Phd isn't valid" but I would like Mr. Midgley to take a good and long look in the mirror and try to grasp how his own portrayed journey to a Phd looks to outsiders of his faith, and particularly, to biased outsiders holding the same relative bias against his faith that he held against Dr. Walter Martin.