256 Comments

Florida man........

Expand full comment

I always thought part of the philosophy behind "tenure" was that at a certain point, an academic person becomes so accomplished that if you didn't give them tenure, they could just leave and go start their own college somewhere. And many could. But somehow I don't think a lot of people would attend a college started by this guy.

Expand full comment

Would it be a college, or a diploma mill for people who want an MD but couldn't hack med school? I could see a lot of those types enrolling.

Expand full comment

Every time I see his name, I hear it in my head as Ladopa. Does this make me a bad person or just human?

Expand full comment

Every time I see his name, I hear it in my head as El Dope. Does this make me a bad person or just human?

Expand full comment

If nothing else, I guess it makes you bilingual.

Expand full comment

The AMA really needs to start cracking down on and speaking out against people like this guy, if they don’t want their entire profession to lose the respectability it gained since being derided as quacks.

Expand full comment

They can't exactly "crack down" on anybody, because they don't control licenses, but they sure can speak out and should.

Expand full comment

Yeah, I'm a tenured science professor myself. The facts as recounted here are infuriating.

Expand full comment

They are trying to burn American higher education to the ground.

Expand full comment

They're trying to burn America to the ground.

Expand full comment

Right down to the blood and soil.

Expand full comment

They missed a lot of red flags?

HOW?

You just google the name Joseph Ladapo and you get a whole forest of red flags!

Expand full comment

Easy to miss red flags if you never look for anything and just rubber-stamp the approval form "because he's a big name and that'll get us research money".

Expand full comment

"Don't touch me—I'm a doctor."

"Of what?"

"Music!"

"Can you fix a hi-fi?"

"No, sir."

"Then shut up!"

Expand full comment

Wow, being a quack sure is lucrative.

Expand full comment

Just read a report in the Globe & Mail. In Canada 2022 had the highest number of COVID-19 deaths since the start of the pandemic. 2023 shaping up to be worse still, yet the anti-vaxxers continue to spew. Anti-maskers also too. 💔

Expand full comment

This dude's getting $260k/year to NOT teach and NOT do research? Sure makes me look like a sucker for actually teaching and doing research for a fraction of that...

Expand full comment

you are obviously suffering from a crippling case of personal integrity, which is no way to get ahead in today's commercial environment.

Expand full comment

I've spent more than a little time in academic medicine and, frankly, appointments like this are not like clinical apppointments any more than a law firm hiring an ex-politician directly as a partner is for actual work on litigation. It is about schmoozing and funding.

If he had been good for business they wouldn't have cared about all the anti-vaxxery and research decimation.

(walks away, playing a sad tune for the University of Florida on the world's smallest violin...)

Expand full comment

This guy is the living embodiment of the fact that the axiom "those that can't do, teach" is simply not true. He can neither "do" OR "teach".

Expand full comment

I'm slightly more familiar with the typical tenure process than I ever wanted to be, as I am married to a full tenured professor who got stuck chairing the tenure and post tenure requirements committee for his directional university.

I am not surprised that the other profs at Florida are pissed off that a dude given a cushy lecturer position was not properly vetted. Most of them had to work at least 5 years without tenure and undergo some pretty ugly scrutiny by their peers before getting the tenured position. Sure, having a degree from Harvard is a nice bonus, but it's only when you transfer in from a tenured position at a previous (more prestigious) university that the waiver is granted for tenure, and even then it's usually not dropped down more than a year - assuming you did something splashy at your new school to warranty the reduction in time as an adjunct faculty member.

Expand full comment

I've been on tenure committees too, and the scrutiny hasn't been "ugly", just thorough.

Expand full comment

Although they do do it differently at Texas A&M

Expand full comment

Him being off campus is better than on it.

2023 Florida is basically the CSA in an alternative history novel.

Expand full comment