Barry Alan Mehler is an American social researcher. He was a professor of

humanities Humanities are academic disciplines that study aspects of human society and culture. In the Renaissance, the term contrasted with divinity and referred to what is now called classics, the main area of secular study in universities at the t ...

Ferris State University Ferris State University (FSU or Ferris) is a public university with its main campus in Big Rapids, Michigan. It was founded in 1884 and became a public institution in 1950. Ferris is the ninth-largest institutions of higher education by enrol ...

, who founded the

Institute for the Study of Academic Racism The Institute for the Study of Academic Racism (ISAR) is an organization that monitors "changing intellectual trends in academic racism, biological determinism, and eugenics." ISAR states that in this capacity it "acts as a resource service for stu ...

(ISAR)."Barry Mehler profile"
''Genes on Trial: Genetics, Behavior, and the Law'', PBS. He earned his

B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

from

Yeshiva University Yeshiva University is a private Orthodox Jewish university with four campuses in New York City."About YU
on the Yeshiva Universi ...

in 1970, his

M.A. A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

from City College of New York in 1972, and his

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

from

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Univ ...

in 1988. His dissertation was entitled, "A history of the

American Eugenics Society American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

, 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 Prison rape or jail rape refers to sexual assault of people while they are incarcerated. The phrase is commonly used to describe rape of inmates by other inmates, or to describe rape of inmates by staff. China In February 2021, BBC News repo ...

advocate who was imprisoned at

United States Penitentiary, Marion The United States Penitentiary, Marion (USP Marion) is a large medium-security United States federal prison for male and female inmates in Southern Precinct, unincorporated Williamson County, Illinois. It is operated by the Federal Bureau of P ...

at the time.

Cattell controversy

In 1997, Mehler was a driving force behind a successful campaign to have an

American Psychological Association The American Psychological Association (APA) is the largest scientific and professional organization of psychologists in the United States, with over 133,000 members, including scientists, educators, clinicians, consultants, and students. It ha ...

lifetime achievement award for Raymond B. Cattell postponed because of accusations that some of his writings were 'racist'.Hilts, Philip J. (August 15, 1997). "Racism Accusations and Award Is Delayed", ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' Mehler's most cited article was written that year and examined Cattell's concept of "beyondism". Also available at the ISAR website
Beyondism: Raymond B. Cattell and the New Eugenics
/ref>

COVID-19 "Welcome Video" Controversy

In January 2022, Mehler posted an expletive-laden video 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 The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

. Mehler was suspended while Ferris State administration investigated the video. In response, Mehler sued the university, seeking to be reinstated. After a federal judge declined to reinstate him, Mehler settled with the university out of court and retired.

Selected bibliography

* *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

References

External links

faculty page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mehler, Barry Living people City College of New York alumni Ferris State University faculty Jewish American social scientists Race and intelligence controversy University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign alumni Yeshiva University alumni 21st-century American Jews Year of birth missing (living people)