Business First

Lucy Farmer
Fused staff writer
Jonathon I. Katz was removed from the group selected by the Obama Administration to find a solution to the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico due to controversial postings on his personal website this month. He reportedly included postings defending homophobia and questioning the value of racial diversity efforts. According to Energy Secretary Steven Chu, these writings have become a distraction to their efforts in repairing the Gulf. Chu was aware of Katz’s website before bringing him on board. When the department got wind of these remarks, sparks began to fly, eventually leading to Katz’s dismissal.
On the one hand, the department had reason to kick Katz out. There was no binding legal contract and he was affecting their work. On the other hand, Katz is entitled to the freedom of speech. His personal life should not be of concern to his coworkers.
Should his website have even been taken into account? Who felt the need to even bring this up? Why was it necessary? Were grown men incapable of putting aside their opinions in order to finish this important job? It takes tolerance and a certain level of maturity in order to execute the first amendment properly. Acceptance is crucial in any workplace. No one likes everybody that they work with. People are expected to be mature about their work. Everyone has skeletons in their closets.
The job of cleaning up the oil spill is crucial and requires the most experienced and well trained of people to complete. What if Katz was the man they needed? This was completely overlooked because of something as trivial as a website. The situation might be of less importance if Katz worked in a small office selling paper, but the work that Katz was doing was vital to our environment.
The workplace should be completely separate from someone’s private life. Katz’s coworkers needed to man-up and finish the job, putting aside their differences. Let’s be grown ups about this.