Friday 8 March 2013

NZ FREEDOM OF SPEECH BEYOND THREATENED: PT 2



PETITION: TO THE UNIVERSITY OF CANTERBURY


In relation to the master's thesis of Joel Hayward at the University of Canterbury, we note the following events, of which the first five are detailed on the University's own website:
1. Joel Hayward was awarded a Masters degree by thesis, with first class honours, by the University of Canterbury in 1993, in accordance with the procedures that the University employed at the time.
2. It was subsequently argued by an external party that the degree should be revoked.
3. The University of Canterbury established a Working Party in 2000 to examine this claim.
4. The Working Party concluded that the thesis was not dishonest, and therefore could not be "amended, removed, downgraded or altered". It further concluded that the thesis was flawed and did not deserve the award of first class honours.
5. The University accepted these conclusions, apologised to those who were offended by the thesis, and stated that it did not support holocaust revisionism.
6. Dr Hayward resigned from his position at Massey University in 2002, apparently as a result of the ongoing hostility towards him arising from the previous events.
7. Recently, Dr Thomas Fudge of Canterbury's History Department wrote a review of these events, for inclusion in the University's journal 'History Now'. Although the journal was printed with this article, the Head of the University's History Department (Professor Peter Hempenstall) destroyed copies of the journal, with the concurrence of the University's Vice-Chancellor (Professor Roy Sharp). As a result of this action by the University, the editor (Associate Professor Ian Campbell) has now left that position, and Dr Fudge has indicated his intention to resign from the University.
Our views on these events are as follows. Notwithstanding any personal misgivings or objections that individual signatories may have as to the content of the thesis, we believe that certain fundamental principles have been breached by the University. First, we accept that a University has both the right and the obligation to revoke any thesis on the grounds of proven dishonesty. However, in the event of it not revoking a thesis on those grounds, we believe that it is totally inappropriate for any university administrator or sponsored body to issue negative public judgements about it, or to apologise to anyone who may be offended by it. No student should be subject to a de facto second round of assessment as to the quality (as opposed to the honesty) of their thesis, particularly after having just been exonerated of the charge of dishonesty.
Secondly, we believe that the Working Party's actions in criticising the quality of the thesis, and the University's public reiteration of that, constitutes the very 'downgrade' that the Working Party asserted to be unwarranted. We consider it inconceivable that the University and the Working Party did not understand the contradiction involved here.
Thirdly, we do not believe that it is the business of any university administrator to issue public pronouncements upon any historical issues that are unrelated to the University. This is a matter for individual academics in the relevant area, in the normal exercise of their professional duties.
Finally, whilst there may be a range of opinions concerning the University's action in destroying copies of 'History Now', we view the destruction of any published academic work with considerable concern. These concerns are not ameliorated by the University's earlier and clear breaches of the fundamental rights of a thesis student, of its own judgement that the thesis could not be downgraded, and of the proper boundary between academics and administrators in the issuing of public statements.
We further consider that the effect of the University's actions has been to send a clear signal to potential students and other researchers at the University as to the acceptable conclusions to be reached in a particular area of enquiry, and this is antithetical to the proper function of any university. Furthermore, the effect of the University's actions is likely to have contributed to the general climate of hostility towards Dr Hayward, and therefore to his subsequent resignation from Massey University.
These University actions are improper, and place an obligation upon the University of Canterbury to acknowledge its errors and to offer appropriate remedies to Dr Hayward.
Signatories
Martin Lally, Associate Professor of Finance, Victoria University, PhD (Victoria University)
Glenn Boyle, Professor of Finance, University of Otago, MA (Canterbury), PhD (University of Texas, Austin)
Beverley McNally, MBA (Henley), PhD student
Tim Beal, Senior Lecturer in Marketing, Victoria University, DBA, PhD (Edinburgh)
Benoit Julien, Assistant Professor in Economics, University of Miami, PhD (Western Ontario)
Vincent Orange, Reader in History (ret), Canterbury University, PhD (Hull)
Stephen Brewster, Accountant, Ministry of Economic Development, CA, BCA MBA (Victoria University), MTax student
Scott Chaput, Lecturer in Finance, University of Otago, MBA (UIC), PhD (Oklahoma)
Robert Mann, Senior Lecturer in Environmental Studies (ret), University of Auckland, PhD (University of California, Berkeley) Geoff Bertram, Senior Lecturer in Economics, Victoria University, D Phil (Oxford)
Bryce Wilkinson, Capital Economics, BSc Hons, MCom, PhD (Canterbury)
Rodney Hide, Member of Parliament, MSc (Canterbury and Lincoln), MSc (Montana State)
Richard Marriott, Managing Director, Altair Financial Consulting Pty Ltd, formerly Senior Lecturer in Finance at Victoria University, MCom, MBA, B.Eng (elec)
Alan Wilkinson, Company Director, BSc Hons, PhD (Canterbury)


Richard Martin, Lecturer in Economics, Victoria University, PhD (Simon Fraser University)
Stephen Burnell, Senior Lecturer in Economics, Head of School of Economics and Finance, Victoria University, PhD (Cambridge)
Clare Gardner, Lecturer in Accountancy, University of Otago, MCom
Arie Brand, Associate Professor, Dept of Sociology and Anthropology (ret), University of Newcastle (NSW), MA, PhD (Leiden)
Charles Corrado, Professor of Finance, University of Auckland, PhD (University of Arizona)
Anna Carr, Lecturer in Tourism. University of Otago, Postgraduate Diploma in Tourism Studies, PhD student
Bryan Sinclair, Strategic Adviser, LLB, BMS
Jerry Bowman, Professor of Finance, University of Auckland, PhD (Stanford)
Michael Naylor, Lecturer in Finance, Massey University, MSc (University of London)
Matthew Ryan, Senior Lecturer in Economics, University of Auckland, PhD (Yale)
Andrey Ivanov, Research Assistant, Dept of Economics, University of Auckland, BCom Hons, PhD student
Roger Kerr, MA (Canterbury)
Rhema Vaithianathan, Lecturer in Economics, University of Auckland, PhD (University of Auckland)
Stephen Poletti, Senior Tutor, Dept of Economics, University of Auckland, PhD (University of Newcastle, England)
Maureen Coulter, Teacher, MA, PhD student in English and French
Tony Chad, Musician/Poet/Editor
John Randal, Lecturer in Finance, Victoria University, MSc PhD (Victoria University)
Katie Drake, Postgraduate Diploma in International Relations and Security Studies, MA student
Andrea Bennett, Lecturer in Finance, Massey University, BSc Hons (Canterbury), MBS Hons (Massey)
John Jensen, Professor in History (ret), University of Waikato, MA, PhD (University of Pennsylvania)
Francis Jensen, BEd (University of Waikato)
Trevor Reeves, writer/publisher, Dunedin
Christopher Milne, BComm LLB (University of Otago), CA
Jeff Sluka, Associate Professor, Social Anthropology Programme, Massey University, PhD (University of California, Berkeley)
Tania Hinehou Butcher, Poet, GradCert ResAn, BA, PGmd Cert Def Start Studs
Mary Beth Taylor, Language Education Consultant, MA (University of Washington)
Rick Boebel, Senior Lecturer in Finance, University of Otago, MBA (Chicago), PhD (University of North Carolina) Blair Simpson, Student Teacher, BA (Massey University)
John Ross, Hon Research Fellow in English, Massey University, MA (VUW), PhD (University of London)
Joseph Tanner, Engineer, MA in Philosophy
John Irvine, Poet, Writer and Editor, Coromandel
Adrian Phillips, Director, Kanuka Grove Educational Resource Centre, Massey University
Carl Bradley, Masters student in Defence Studies, Massey University
Emma Hamilton, BSLT, Masters student in Speech and Language Therapy, University of Canterbury.
Doreen D'Cruz, Senior Lecturer in English and Media Studies, Massey University, PhD (University of Michigan) Brendan Judd, Engineer, BA Hons, MA (Massey University)
Ananish Chaudhuri, Senior Lecturer in Economics, University of Auckland, PhD (Rutgers)
Roger Openshaw, Professor of Social and Policy Studies in Education, Massey University College of Education, MA, D.Phil (University of Waikato)
Cary Nederman, Professor of Political Science, Texas A&M University, formerly lecturer in Political Science at Canterbury, MA, PhD (York University, Canada)
James Corum, Professor of Comparative Military Studies, School of Advanced Air and Space Studies, MA (Brown), M.LITT (Oxon), PhD (Queen's University)
Simonne Walmsley, Legal Secretary, BA (History) student
Alan Papprill, Teacher, Auckland, BA, Dip TCh
Kris Vette, General Manager in the National Health Service, UK, BSc, Dip Bus, Dip Bus. Admin, MPhil (Massey University)
Lazar Drazeta, PhD (Massey University)
Garth Martin, Manager, Rotorua
Paul Dunmore, Associate Professor of Accounting, Victoria University, BSc Hons, PhD MBA (McMaster University, Ontario)
Judith Lawrence, Copy Editor, formerly librarian at Massey University, MA Hons in English (Massey University)
Tania Lamb, Counsellor, B.Ed, MPhil, M.Management
Philip Meguire, Senior Lecturer in Economics, University of Canterbury, MBA PhD (University of Chicago)
Petition Organiser:

Martin Lally, Associate Professor, School of Economics and Finance, Victoria University of Wellington, PO Box 600, Wellington (martin.lallyt@vuw.ac.nz). Further signatories are very welcome, and should if possible be communicated to me by email. Contributions to the cost of this advertisement are also welcome."


NOTES
Philip Matthews, "In Denial: The continuing story of why a New Zealand university refuses to dishonour thesis denying the Nazi Holocaust" Listener (2-8 November 2002), pp. 26-30.
"We do not endorse or in any way condone Holocaust revisionism...," Daryl LeGrew, letter to university staff, 20 April 2000 and "Audit pans thesis on Holocaust" The Press (21 December 2000).
Tania Hinehou Butcher, "Relentless persecution of a respected academic" Manawatu Evening Standard (2 November 2002), p. 8.
Dov Bing, Professor of Political Science at Waikato University, raised the alarm as early as 14 December 1999 in an email to Vincent Orange. More specifically, The New Zealand Jewish Chronicle 56 (April 2000), pp. 1, 6. The New Zealand Jewish Council subsequently obtained official university documents that enabled it to make a formal submission on the thesis. David Zwartz made a formal request to Alan Hayward, University Registrar (and no relation to Joel Hayward), under provisions of the Official Information Act 1982 on 4 April 2000. In reply, Alan Hayward declined to release some materials. Acting on a request from the New Zealand Jewish Council, the Office of the Ombudsmen twice contacted Vincent Orange about the same materials on 19 June and 14 July. Orange declined to make public the requested documents. However, in his reply of 17 July 2000, Orange wanted to know how David Zwartz had knowledge of a letter dated 21 April that Orange had sent to the University Chancellor. Request for documents was again raised by the law firm of Macfarlane, Dougall, & Stringer, in a letter to Gerald Orchard, 9 August 2000, pp. 1-2.
The New Zealand Jewish Chronicle 56 (No. 6, 2000), p. 6; Sunday Star-Times (28 May 2000); The Press (31 May 2000); letter to the University of Canterbury Working Party, 25 September 2000, 29pp, passim; Listener (24 June 2000), pp. 5-6; Listener (9 November 2002), p. 8; Report by the Joel Hayward Working Party (University of Canterbury, December 2000), p. 34.
Dame Phyllis Guthardt, Chancellor of Canterbury University, letter to university staff, 20 April 2000; "Holocaust thesis investigated" The Press (27 April 2000); "Former High Court judge to chair Holocaust thesis inquiry" The Press (16 May 2000).
Barker: Chancellor of Auckland University from 1991 to 1999 and former Senior Puisne Judge of the High Court of New Zealand; Trotter: Emeritus Professor of History at the University of Otago; and Macintyre: Professor of History at the University of Melbourne. Suggestions were made that the Working Party permit observers at its proceedings, but they were held in private.
Report by the Joel Hayward Working Party, p. 86.
Some of that negative reporting is referred to in the notes of this essay. Telephone calls have caused Hayward several times to have his home telephone number changed and at times has received threatening or abusive email on a daily basis. Vincent Orange, letter to Miles Fairburn, 10 February, 2001, p.3.
Detailed in various documents and correspondence. For example, Joel Hayward, letter to Vincent Orange, 22 April 2000, pp. 1-2; W. David McIntyre, letter to Ian Barker, undated [2000], p. 2; W. David McIntyre, letter to Alan Hayward, 25 May 1992, p. 1; Kingsley McFarlane, letter to Alan Hayward, 5 May 1992, pp. 1-2; McFarlane, letter to Alan Hayward, 9 September 1992, p. 1; Ian Catanach, letter to Vincent Orange, 30 December 2000, p.3; and Report by the Joel Hayward Working Party, pp.17-19, 73.
The head of the History department at that time refused to consider the matter. W. David McIntyre, letter to Alan Hayward, 25 May 1992 wherein McIntyre stated "the interference they have attempted is intolerable."
Joel Hayward, Letter to the University of Canterbury Working Party, 25 September 2000, p. 3.
"Submission to the University of Canterbury Working Party on the Joel Hayward MA Thesis," by the New Zealand Jewish Council, undated, paragraph 40, p. 8.
L.L. Stevens, QC, "Memorandum for Members of the Working Party,"15 September 2000, p. 15.
Part XIV of the Education Act 1989 underscores the essential principles of academic freedom. Section 161(2) (a) states that students and academics have the freedom, within the law, to query and test received wisdom, to advance new ideas and to state unpopular or controversial opinions. Reprinted Statues of New Zealand (Wellington: New Zealand Government, 1996), volume 34, p. 167. Other relevant canons include the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990, Section 14. Grant Huscroft and Paul Rishworth, eds, Rights and Freedoms: The New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 and the Human Rights Act 1993 (Wellington: Brooker"s, 1995), pp. 500-4 at p. 501.
Statement adopted by the Council of the New Zealand Library Association, 15 May 1980. http://www.lianza.org.nz/censorship.htm and commented upon favorably by library personnel. For example, John Redmayne, letter to Daryl LeGrew, 20 April 2000.
Noam Chomsky, "The Faurisson Affair: His Right to Say It" Nation (28 February 1991), p.231. Chomsky is a prominent Jewish intellectual.
Quoted in D. D. Guttenplan, The Holocaust on Trial: History, Justice and the David Irving Libel Case, (London: Granta Books, 2001), p. 302. Hilberg is a well-respected Jewish historian.
These principles are urged for example by Frank Haden, "Holocaust denier should have freedom to upset" Sunday Star-Times (21 May 2000) and Tim Darlington, "Politics has no place in thesis arguments" Sunday Star Times (4 June 2000). After the Working Party Report was released supportive letters to the editor were published in The Press (21 December 2000) and (26 December 2000). Hayward"s students likewise expressed their support for him. "Backing for controversial ex-lecturer" Evening Standard (31 October 2002).
There are academics who oppose this. For example, Chris Connolly, "Submission on Joel Hayward"s Thesis," [undated, ca. July 2000] p. 4 where he states, "We have no business trying to "neuter" history at the postgraduate level, turning out students who shrink from controversy."
"Submission to the University of Canterbury Working Party on the Joel Hayward MA Thesis" by the New Zealand Jewish Council, undated, paragraph 23, p.5.
Elie Wiesel, "Words from a Witness," Conservative Judaism 21 (Spring 1967), p. 43.
David Cohen, "Revisionist history casts campus shadow" The National Business Review (22 November 2002), p. 4.
An irrefutable historical, social and political phenomenon. See for example the thorough and dispassionate treatment in Peter Novick, The Holocaust in American Life (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1999) and Norman G. Finkelstein, The Holocaust Industry: Reflections on the Exploitation of Jewish Suffering, (London: Verso, 2000).
J.S.A. Hayward, "The Fate of Jews in German Hands: An Historical Enquiry into the Development and Significance of Holocaust Revisionism," unpublished MA thesis, University of Canterbury, 1993, 360 pp.
Hayward, "The Fate of Jews in German Hands," passim but especially pp. 143-260.
See Christian Leitz, "Holocaust Research: The Current Position," History Now 6 (1) May 2000, p. 28: "the search for a written order from Hitler will continue as long as there are still files of the Third Reich hidden away in the archives of Russia and elsewhere."
Hayward, "The Fate of Jews in German Hands," p. 336.
Israel Gutman, ed., Encyclopedia of the Holocaust, 4 volumes (New York: Macmillan, 1990), vol. 4, pp. 1797-1802 projects a figure between 5.6 million and 5.9 million while stating the figures are "estimates," Estimated total deaths during and as a result of the Second World War are commonly estimated at between 50 and 60 million.
Yehuda Bauer, "Don't resist: A Critique of Phillip Lopate," Tikkun 4 (May-June 1989) p.67.
Cited in Barbara Amouyal, "Doubts over Evidence of Camp Survivors" Jerusalem Post (17 August 1986), p. 1.
A standard reference work, however, lists Neuengamme, Sachsenhausen and Ravensbrück as German camps where gas was used, but does not mention camps such as Dachau and Buchenwald which were formerly thought to have been primarily extermination centres. Encyclopedia of the Holocaust, vol. 2, pp. 539-41.
Hayward, "The Fate of Jews in German Hands," p. 336 and Appendix to the thesis, p. 2.
Hayward's discussion of gas chambers has sometimes been presented as concluding that no gas chambers existed at all. "POW angry over thesis" The Press (20 December 2000); "Audit pans thesis on Holocaust" The Press (21 December 2000) and "MP wants choice of tutor probed" The Press (9 January 2001).
Jean-Michel Chaumont, La Concurrence des Victims. (Paris: Editions le Doucouverte, 1997), pp. 137, 148-49, 156.
As argued by Elie Wiesel. See Irving Abraham, ed. Against Silence: The Voice and Vision of Elie Wiesel, 3 vols. (Washington: Holocaust Library, 1995). Others argue the uniqueness doctrine amounts to "intellectual sleight-of-hand", fetish and cult characteristics (Peter Novick, The Holocaust in American Life, pp. 9, 198) just plain silly (Jacob Neusner, The Public Side of Learning (Chico, CA: Scholars Press, 1985), p. 128) or "sterile" (Finkelstein, The Holocaust Industry, p. 47). The most systematic treatment of the doctrine of uniqueness is Steven T. Katz, The Holocaust in Historical Context, vol. 1. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1994) esp. pp. 28, 58, 60.
A reference to the outrage prompted by Hannah Arendt, Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil (London: Faber, 1963). It is noteworthy that "almost all scholars have come to accept Arendt's thesis," Novick, The Holocaust in American Life, p. 137.
Goldhagen says institutionalised hatred of Jews among Germans produced the holocaust. Daniel Goldhagen, Hitler's Willing Executioners: Ordinary Germans and the Holocaust (London: Little, Brown & Co. 1996). For a robust critique see Miles Fairburn, Social History: Problems, Strategies and Methods (London: Macmillan, 1999), pp. 263-80 and Raul Hilberg, "La Phénomène Goldhagen," Les Temps Modernes 592 (Feb-Mar. 1997), pp. 1-10. On the other hand, Stanley Milgram, a Yale psychologist, in the early 1960s carried out experiments which suggested that ordinary moral people under dictatorial influence could easily engage in atrocities. Stanley Milgram, Obedience to Authority: an Experimental View (London: Tavistock, 1974).
For example, "Hayward lacks the integrity necessary to hold a position of trust in the academic world," Comment by David Zwartz cited in "Thesis supervision angers Jewish group," The Press (3 March 2001), p. 1.
Hayward was criticised for having disseminated his thesis, while others condemned him for having embargoed it. It is true that Hayward did give copies of his thesis to two or three individuals. That does not constitute academic publication. While he has been criticized for this there is nothing unusual in it. Whether or not he was naive is hardly relevant. It is a common practice for people assisting research scholars with information to expect or even require a copy of the thesis in return for their cooperation. Hayward gave copies in this manner. "But I expressly forbade any use or publication of the thesis, in part or in whole, and even attached a clearly worded statement to the inside cover, which read: Copyright 1993 J.S.A. Hayward All Rights Reserved No reproduction, copy or transmission of any part of this MA thesis may be made without written permission from the author," Hayward goes on to say that as far as he was aware only Frederick Töben of the Adelaide Institute made any effort to further "holocaust denial" by using his thesis. As soon as this came to Hayward"s attention he "took immediate and successful steps... to prevent any mischievous or harmful use of my thesis being made by that man," Joel Hayward, letter to the University of Canterbury Working Party, 25 September 2000, pp. 3-4. It came to wider attention only after a copy apparently was removed from the Canterbury University library, illegally photocopied and distributed. This act of theft was apparently never investigated by the authorities.
David Zwartz, president of the New Zealand Jewish Council put it bluntly: "We lay full responsibility on the experienced professional historians at the university whose job was to guide and assess his [Hayward's] work," "Making History" The Press (20 May 2000), p. 2. Astonishment later was expressed that Orange had been appointed convener of the History department Research Committee which oversees all thesis proposals. "Historian in thesis post" The Press (10 June 2000), p. 8. Elsewhere, Orange's resignation was called for. "Shonky thesis a dire scandal" Sunday Star-Times (14 January 2001), p. A8. See also the New Zealand Jewish Chronicle 56 (No. 6, 2000), pp.1, 6, 7-8.
Lyall Lukey, letter to the editor of the Sunday Star-Times (19 January 2001).
Frank Jones, "Rabid Attack" Sunday Star-Times (21 January 2001).
Report by the Joel Hayward Working Party is 89 pages in length but also includes over two hundred pages of supporting materials.
A news media report claimed "amid tight security" the University Council "debated for two hours the findings...," The Press (19 December 2000). According to the Vice Chancellor, "At its meeting on Monday 18 December 2000 the Council adopted the... Report from the Working Party and approved its public release," Daryl LeGrew, letter to Vincent Orange, 19 December 2000.
For example, Ian Catanach and Marie Peters to Vincent Orange, 30 December 2000. A dozen other scholars from around the country expressed their disapproval, some in strident terms.
Vincent Orange, letter to the Working Party, 18 October 2000, 7pp and Orange, letter to Miles Fairburn, 10 February 2001, 18pp.
"A tale [...] full of sound and fury, signifying nothing!" "Comments by Professor (retired) John H. Jensen on 'Submission to the University of Canterbury Working Party on the Joel Hayward thesis' by the New Zealand Jewish Council and 'Report' by Professor Richard J. Evans," undated, 5pp.
For example, Martin Lally, Victoria University, letter to Daryl LeGrew, 1 February 2001, p. 3 but passim. On legal advice, L.L. Stevens, QC, letter to Ian Barker, 10 October 2000, pp. 1-2.
http://www.hist.canterbury.ac.nz/news/index.htm
Minutes of Special Departmental Meeting, 21 February 2001, p. 2.
At least three New Zealand academics (outside Canterbury) publicly calling for Hayward's disgrace admitted not having read the thesis. Certain individuals appeared on national television decrying the thesis but only afterwards read it. Elsewhere, "I have no hesitation in endorsing the New Zealand Jewish Council's condemnation of [Hayward's] University of Canterbury MA thesis," Greg Ryan, letter to the editor, The Press (5 May 2000), p. 4. A month later (6 June), Ryan, a lecturer at Lincoln University, admitted to a member of the Canterbury History department he had not read the Hayward thesis. See also Chris Connolly, "Submission on Joel Hayward's Thesis," p. 5.
Miles Fairburn, memorandum to History Department, 8 February 2001 and Vincent Orange, letter to Miles Fairburn, 10 February 2001, pp. 2-16. The dossier assembled formally by Orange in February 2001 consists of approximately 144 pages.
Vincent Orange, letter to Ann Trotter, 25 May 2000, pp. 1-2 referring to many of the documents eventually included in the dossier and attaches copies in advance of his own meeting on 26 July. Receipt of the documents also acknowledged by Stuart Macintyre, letter to Vincent Orange, 12 June 2000, p. 1. The documents again are referred to in some detail in Orange"s letter to "Ian Barker and Colleagues" on 16 July 2000, pp. 1-4.
Report by the Joel Hayward Working Party, p. 86 and Daryl LeGrew, letter to the academic community, 21 December 2000.
The materials evidently were placed in the University archives. Chancellor Phyllis Guthardt, letter to Vincent Orange, 30 April 2001.
"We feel that the Department should be 'closed lip' if approached by any media. Also we should wait until we have heard from the VC [vice chancellor], as to what we should say to the media," Judy Robertson (on behalf of Miles Fairburn, head of the department of history), letter to all history staff, 20 April 2000. This was the basis for Orange declining to appear in a proposed segment of the 60 Minutes television programme. Vincent Orange, letter to Melanie Jones, 5 August 2000. A similar communiqué was circulated throughout the History Department on 2 February 2001 and again on 23 October 2002: "We are to give 'no comment' and if anyone is persistent refer them to... the Registry."
Evans was supplied with the examiners' reports on Hayward's thesis as well as Vincent Orange's letter to the Canterbury Chancellor (21 April 2000) by Macfarlane, Dougall, Stringer, barristers and solicitors, and asked by David Zwartz to examine and comment on them. Richard J. Evans, letter to David Zwartz, 19 September 2000, p. 1. Evans concluded that all three documents are problematic, essentially repeating his arguments detailed in his report on the thesis.
"Submission to the University of Canterbury Working Party on the Joel Hayward MA Thesis," (undated) consisting of seventy statements.
There is some dispute over this last point. "Holocaust thesis investigated" The Press (27 April 2000) stated the Jewish Council wanted the thesis removed from the library but Mike Regan of the New Zealand Jewish Council denied it (Canta 3 May 2000), as did David Zwartz. "Flawed arguments" Sunday Star-Times (28 May 2000) and in his letter to Chancellor Phyllis Guthardt, 4 April 2000, p. 2.
Gerald Orchard, "To the Working Party inquiry into JSA Hayward"s MA Thesis," 13 October 2000, 4pp.
See Report by the Joel Hayward Working Party, pp. 36-37.
L.L. Stevens, QC, "Memorandum for Members of the Working Party," 15 September 2000, p. 21.
Journal of Social History 32 (No. 4, 1999), pp. 941-2; History and Theory 39 (No. 2, 2000), pp. 218-29; The Times Literary Supplement no. 4935 (31 October 1997), p. 10; History - Reviews in History (October 1999), and others.
Richard J. Evans, In Defence of History (London: Granta Books, 1997), pp. 121, 123.
Richard J. Evans, Lying About Hitler: History, Holocaust, and the David Irving Trial (New York: Basic Books, 2001), p. 248.
Report by the Joel Hayward Working Party, pp.3, 57, 70 and 86.
"An odious decision" The New Zealand Jewish Chronicle 57 (No. 3, 2000 [sic]), pp. 1, 7.
Comment by David Zwartz in Sunday Star Times (28 January 2001).
The cost of the enquiry has been reported at $200,000. "Thesis casts shadow" The Press (20 December 2000). Also in Daryl LeGrew, letter to Vincent Orange, 19 December 2000, p. 2 estimated at between $150,000 and $200,000 and in "An open letter to our community from the University of Canterbury", 22 December 2000.
"Varsity leader defends historian" The New Zealand Herald (15-16 April 2000) wherein Pro Vice Chancellor Barrie Macdonald of Massey University affirmed the high regard the university had for Hayward.
Joel Hayward, letter to Vincent Orange, 9 May 2000, p.1 wherein he refers to specific treatment by a physician. In 2002 Hayward again referred to continuing care.
Joel Hayward, letter, 6 December 2002, read publicly at Orange's retirement function at Canterbury University on the same day. The letter was an expression of gratitude and congratulations to Orange who devoted forty years to Canterbury.
"Second Holocaust thesis controversy" The Press (24 October 2002) and "Essay was revisionist" Waikato Times (23 October 2002). The suggestion was advanced by Dov Bing. Ironically, an editorial shortly thereafter dismissed Bing"s suggestions as "Trivial to-do" The Press (29 October 2002). One wonders why editors of a leading newspaper permitted a "trivial" matter to appear on the front page or composed an editorial on the same "trivial" subject?
Glyn Harper and Joel Hayward, eds, Born to Lead: New Zealand Military Commanders and their Style of Command.
Tony Fisk, letter to Joel Hayward, 29 November 2002. Fisk is the managing director of HarperCollins in New Zealand.
Joel Hayward, letter to Vincent Orange, 4 December 2002.
Joel Hayward, letter to Vincent Orange, 5 February 2003.
John H. Jensen, submission to the Working Party, p. 8; Hayward, letter to the University of Canterbury Working Party, p. 25 and Hayward, letter to Melanie Jones, 6 October 2000 declining to participate in the proposed 60 Minutes programme.
Alan Hayward, letter to Vincent Orange, 17 October 2002.
Vincent Orange, letter to Alan Hayward, 7 May 2000, p. 4.
Charles Liebman, "What should have been done?" Jerusalem Report 2 (9 January 1992), p. 37.
All of these are considered constituent aspects of holocaust denial in Deborah E. Lipstadt, Denying the Holocaust: The Growing Assault on Truth and Memory (New York: The Free Press, 1993). On what basis can these criteria be considered binding?
Elie Wiesel, "Trivializing the Holocaust," New York Times (16 April 1978), p. 2:1; Harry J. Cargas, "An interview with Elie Wiesel," Holocaust and Genocide Studies 1 (1986), p. 5.
Neither Joel Hayward nor Vincent Orange has been associated with the preparation of this article and neither has seen it prior to publication. 


 HOLOCAUST STIR HAUNTS FUDGE

23 April 2005

By KERI WELHAM
The former Canterbury University academic who resigned over a "book-burning" scandal says American universities will not employ him for fear of having "some sort of Holocaust-denier" on their staff.

Senior history lecturer Thomas Fudge left Canterbury in 2003 after his article in a university journal, revisiting the furore about a student's highly contentious thesis questioning key aspects of the Holocaust, sparked an emotional spat with university heads.

Copies of the article were destroyed and an extensive nationwide debate about academic freedom ensued.

Fudge, a Canadian, who is married with one child, yesterday told The Press he was running a research centre in the United States and doing consultative work. He had book contracts and was travelling internationally as a speaker on medieval history. But his preferred job, teaching, eluded him.

He believed American universities would not employ him because of "the New Zealand controversy".

"One speaks about the Holocaust at one's own personal peril."

Despite 13 years as an academic and two earned PhDs, he had had job interviews but could not secure a teaching position at a university. In one meeting to discuss job opportunities this week, the Hayward-Fudge controversy was raised and he was asked to explain his position.

"My defence of Joel Hayward has been something that has created some consequences for me.

"Institutions, in my view, are scared to death of being associated with me because I guess they are afraid of being accused of having some sort of Holocaust-denier in their faculty."

Fudge had been commissioned to write an article about the impact on Masters student Joel Hayward of the widespread condemnation of his 1993 thesis questioning the validity of the Holocaust. Hayward suggested the gas chambers used to systematically kill Jews and other minority groups could not have existed and questioned the number of people who died at the hands of the Nazis in World War 2. Hayward's mental health and job prospects suffered.

But university heads objected to Fudge's article, sacking the editor of department publication History Now and controversially destroying 500 copies that carried Fudge's article. Though the books were shredded, it became known as the "book-burning" scandal in academic circles. Fudge left New Zealand in November 2003, on leave, and later resigned. Hayward has also relocated overseas.

Speaking to The Press from Washington, Fudge said the Holocaust had become a modern taboo of such potency that any mention of it that was less than emphatically apologetic was unacceptable.

Fudge said he had read Labour MP John Tamihere's recent comments about the Holocaust, which Prime Minister Helen Clark indicated would not be tolerated.
"Obviously I wish that there were not consequences but I don't have any regrets for standing up for what I regard as academic freedom." Thomas Fudge, former Canterbury University academic".
Tamihere said he was "sick and tired of hearing how many Jews got gassed" and, although the Holocaust revolted him, he did not want to be continually made to feel guilty.

Fudge said Tamihere's comment was "much ado about nothing."
"That statement, I don't find anything offensive in it. I don't find it anti-Jewish." Fudge said Tamihere's other comments, about women and gays, were "unacceptable" and "offensive".

The Simon Wiesenthal Centre, a Jewish human rights organization, suggested Tamihere had a mental illness called Holocaust Fatigue.

"That is nonsense, a sad comment on New Zealand society. When some person in Jerusalem can create a form of mental illness and society accepts that," Fudge said.

Opposition leader Don Brash called for apologies to the Jewish community.

Fudge said: "Why? Obviously, he's not allowed to say how he feels.

"On the matter of human suffering, it's not necessary to privilege the Jewish experience."

Fudge attributed the Holocaust taboo to the reach of the more radical factions of the powerful Jewish lobby.

"There are some radical Zionist-types that bring a lot of pressure.

"The roads of the world should not, and do not, run through Jerusalem."

The Simon Wiesenthal centre estimates 5,680,000 Jews, and 5,000,000 people from other minority groups, were killed between 1933 and 1945 under Hitler's Nazi regime.

Fudge said, despite the consequences of his decision to write about the Hayward Holocaust scandal, he did not regret "the stand" he made
"Obviously I wish that there were not consequences but I don't have any regrets for standing up for what I regard as academic freedom.

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