Florida Atlantic University shows, once again, why it is #1,

#1 Winner of The College Stupidity Award, that is.

Earlier this year, we reported that  the school’s communications instructor Deandre Poole was placed on administrative leave after junior Ryan Rotela, a devout Mormon, was suspended from class because he complained about Poole’s Jesus-stomping assignment.  Now, the school is bringing back the Jesus-stomping instructor.

Florida Atlantic University on Friday announced that it was rehiring Deandre Poole — who was at the center of what was called the “stomping on Jesus” controversy — as an adjunct instructor in communications for the summer and fall terms.

The university administrator who made the decision, asked if Poole had done anything wrong, said — without hesitation — “No.” Further, the university is backing away from statements it made at the time the controversy broke out that said the exercise in question could never again be used at Florida Atlantic. University officials said that their guide for discussing future use of the exercise would be a Faculty Senate investigation of the controversy, released Thursday, that found that the class in question was entirely appropriate, and that senior administrators at the university had “dismally failed” to protect academic freedom.

For Poole, who had been placed on leave and barred from campus with the university citing threats against him, Friday’s news marked an abrupt reversal of fortune. He had been in one of the most vulnerable positions a faculty member can face — off the tenure track, with religious groups and political leaders in Florida attacking him and calling for his dismissal. In such cases, many an adjunct is simply not rehired. Poole, however, received strong support from the faculty union and Faculty Senate at FAU.

In an interview Friday, he said, “I’m ecstatic.”

The dispute over Poole’s February 25 class session quickly became the subject of much press coverage in Florida, with politicians firing off news releases and some members of the public angry enough to send threats to Poole. The class was in intercultural communications, and Poole asked students to write the name “Jesus” on a piece of paper. He then says he asked them to put the paper on the floor and to step on it.

The exercise is from a widely used textbook, and the Faculty Senate inquiry found that Poole used the activity in a way consistent with the idea from the textbook. Students hesitate to actually stand on the piece of paper, and this leads to a discussion of the power of certain words and the way that power is based on cultural values.