Author Says Profs' Protest Propels Book Sales Skyward
by Jim Brown
April 21, 2006
(AgapePress) - - The author of a controversial, edgy, conservative book about what's happened to America is thanking liberal professors at Ohio State University's Mansfield campus for effectively publicizing the book. By a 21-0 vote, with nine abstentions, faculty at OSU-Mansfield voted to have the school launch a formal investigation into the actions of librarian Scott Savage. Professors accused the devout Quaker of sexual harassment for recommending a book -- The Marketing of Evil by David Kupelian -- as required reading for the incoming freshman class. It was one of four recommended by Savage. (See earlier story)
Reportedly the charges against Savage have since been dropped -- and his attorney has not ruled out a lawsuit over the attack on the librarian's reputation. But the faculty vote apparently has had some unintended consequences. Author Kupelian says the almost two dozen professors who voted for the investigation have done him a big favor.
"It's a great irony -- a wonderful irony, from my point of view -- that these professors were so concerned about the possibility that their freshmen might read my book, that outside of the rarified air of the college campus the rest of America has heard about this story and has gone in droves to buy [the book]," he says.
Kupelian's book was published almost a year ago -- but because of the controversy on the OSU-Mansfield campus, sales have "skyrocketed," says the author. "Right now it's [number] 30 or 40 on Amazon.com -- and it's been the number-one current events book for the last three or four days," he says.
And what about the nine faculty members who abstained from voting? Kupelian says he has a theory.
"You have to wonder: why did they not vote on this matter? It can't be because they didn't have an opinion," he speculates. "I say it's because they knew that this was bogus [and] ridiculous to bring a guy up on charges of sexual harassment for recommending a book."
Consequently, he says, those professors could not vote in favor of the investigation against Scott Savage -- but at the same time they could not vote against it. Otherwise, says Kupelian, they would run the risk of being characterized along with him as "a homophobe and a bigot and a hater."
Kupelian, who is managing editor of WorldNetDaily.com, sees another irony in the whole ordeal: his book is available for purchase in the Ohio State University bookstore.
Jim Brown, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
