Barry Mehler
{{Short description|American scholar activist}}
Barry Alan Mehler is an American social researcher. He was a professor of humanities at Ferris State University, who founded the Institute for the Study of Academic Racism (ISAR).[https://www.pbs.org/inthebalance/archives/ourgenes/genes_on_trial/genes_meet_mehler.html "Barry Mehler profile"], Genes on Trial: Genetics, Behavior, and the Law, PBS. He earned his B.A. from Yeshiva University in 1970, his M.A. from City College of New York in 1972, and his Ph.D. from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1988. His dissertation was entitled, "A history of the American Eugenics Society, 1921-1940."
Committee to Free Russell Smith
In 1977, Mehler was the founder of the Committee to Free Russell Smith, later the International Committee to Free Russell Smith (ICFRS). The committee provided support for and advocated for the release of Russell Smith, an anti-prison rape advocate (founder of POSRIP, which became Just Detention International) who was imprisoned at United States Penitentiary, Marion at the time.{{cite book |title=Raped in Prison: A Horror Story |page=164 |last=Smith |first=Russell Dan |publisher=Rose Dog Books |isbn=978-1-6461-0300-3 |year=2021 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_e4lEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA164}}{{cite book |title=Sexual Crime: A Reference Handbook |last=Neumann |first=Caryn E. |pages=142–143 |year=2010 |isbn=978-1-59884-177-0 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=frpErXzWm_kC&pg=PA142}}
Cattell controversy
In 1997, Mehler was a driving force behind a successful campaign to have an American Psychological Association lifetime achievement award for Raymond B. Cattell postponed because of his "lifetime commitment to fascist and eugenics causes".Hilts, Philip J. (August 15, 1997). "Racism Accusations and Award Is Delayed", The New York Times Mehler's most cited article was written that year and examined Cattell's "Beyondism", in which Cattell thanked several high-profile supporters of scientific racism, including Roger Pearson and Revilo P. Oliver. {{cite journal |title=Beyondism: Raymond B. Cattell and the new eugenics |journal=Genetica |doi=10.1007/BF02259519 |volume=99 |year=1997 |pages=153–163 |last=Mehler |first=Barry |issue=2–3 |url=https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2FBF02259519 |pmid=9463071 |s2cid=29888044 |url-access=subscription }} Also available at the ISAR website: {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20220115215112/http://www.ferris-pages.org/ISAR/bios/Cattell/genetica.htm Beyondism: Raymond B. Cattell and the New Eugenics]}}
COVID-19 "Welcome Video" Controversy
In January 2022, Mehler posted an expletive-laden video{{cite web |title=Week I Gen Intro 010922 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RrOzY86YcEM|website=YouTube |access-date=14 January 2022}} to his YouTube channel to welcome students to his class. He discouraged students from attending class in-person due to the risk of transmitting COVID. In the video, Mehler referred to his students as "vectors of disease" and claimed he had given each one of them a grade before the class had even started. He further berated college administrators for requiring him to teach face-to-face classes in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.{{Cite web|last=White|first=Ed|date=15 January 2022 |title=Suspended professor made salty video to get 'juices flowing'|url=https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-health-education-michigan-detroit-aa68d8df6c6ce1074bcb06c5a6bf790c|access-date=2022-01-15|publisher=Associated Press|language=en-US |archive-url=https://archive.today/20220115211705/https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-health-education-michigan-detroit-aa68d8df6c6ce1074bcb06c5a6bf790c |archive-date=January 15, 2022 |url-status=live}}
Mehler was suspended while Ferris State administration investigated the video. In response, Mehler sued the university, seeking to be reinstated.{{cite web |publisher=Detroit Free Press |url=https://www.freep.com/story/news/education/2022/01/26/professor-suspended-covid-19-video-sues-ferris-state-university/9232818002/ |archive-url=https://archive.today/20220127022853/https://www.freep.com/story/news/education/2022/01/26/professor-suspended-covid-19-video-sues-ferris-state-university/9232818002/ |url-status=live |archive-date=January 27, 2022 |date=January 26, 2022 |title=Professor Barry Mehler suspended over COVID-19 video sues Ferris State University}} After a federal judge declined to reinstate him, Mehler settled with the university out of court and retired.{{cite web |url=https://fsutorch.com/2022/03/23/mehler-moving-forward/ |archive-url=https://archive.today/20220501221625/https://fsutorch.com/2022/03/23/mehler-moving-forward/ |archive-date=2022-05-01 |date=March 23, 2022 |title=Mehler moving forward |last=Vanderkooi |first=Rebecca |publisher=The Ferris State Torch |url-status=live}}
Selected bibliography
- {{cite book |oclc=318080890 |title=A History of the American Eugenics Society, 1921-1940 |last=Mehler |first=Barry A. |year=1988}}
- Mehler, Barry. "Controlling Human Heredity: 1865 to the Present by Diane B. Paul" (book review). Isis, Vol. 88, No. 2 (Jun 1997), p. 369
- Mehler, Barry. "The Rise of Statistical Thinking, 1820-1900", Journal of Interdisciplinary History, Vol. 19, No. 2 (Autumn 1988), pp. 294–296 {{JSTOR|204670}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20130608122437/http://www.ferris.edu/htmls/colleges/artsands/humanities/hist/barrya-mehler.htm faculty page]
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20060902013604/http://www.ferris.edu/ISAR/resume.htm Institute for the Study of Academic Racism website]
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Category:City College of New York alumni
Category:Ferris State University faculty
Category:Jewish American social scientists
Category:People involved in race and intelligence controversies
Category:University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign alumni
Category:Yeshiva University alumni
Category:21st-century American Jews
Category:Year of birth missing (living people)
Category:21st-century American academics
Category:20th-century American Jews
Category:20th-century American social scientists