Behind the bulk of Dennis Lennox's actions has been a veneer of constitutional rights pushed with tactics that provoke a poor reaction from the other party.

Last week, when he called for CMU's state funds to be delayed until an investigation examines a single hiring at CMU, Lennox's argument had no freedom of speech implications, or anything resembling a constitutional defense.

To bring attention to his cause, Lennox called for the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Higher Education to withhold payments until they investigate a professor for (crime of all crimes) getting a job.

We'd say Lennox is throwing out the baby with the bathwater, but there's only room for one baby in this analogy and tattling on Peters to legislators is hardly the way for Lennox to prove he is otherwise

While testifying is certainly Lennox's right and makes for great political theater, his suggestions border on the ridiculous and the committee should be applauded for not laughing at him.

If CMU's payments are delayed, then tuition will go up or fewer services will be available. When funds were delayed this summer for budget reasons, tuition soared well above previous CMU Promise tuition hikes.

Holding payments as punishment should not be categorically discounted as a tactic. It's just uncalled for in this case. Even when EMU officials withheld information about a rape/murder, their funds were not called into question. This issue certainly pales in comparison.

Lennox has the right to crusade against anyone he wants, but campaigning against everyone at CMU is a step too far. Even the plurality of legislators in Washington, D.C., who are opposed to the war do not call for delaying all military funding until investigations are complete, with maybe one or two exceptions.

At least a dozen journalists, both on-campus and outside of CMU, have spent hundreds of hours trying and failing to find a "smoking gun" that would result in Peters' firing. That doesn't mean proof isn't out there, but Peters looks like he'll continue teaching until he steps down or his tenure ends.

There are certainly lingering questions about the decision to hire Peters and they deserve to be answered. But there are avenues Lennox could explore without calling for the delay of CMU funds.

He can file complaints with the Affirmative Action Office on campus and exhaust the extensive appeals process there. He can pay for an independent law firm investigation and hope CMU (or maybe some Republicans) will be forced to pick up the tab.

He can find someone who didn't get the Griffin Chair job and felt wronged, he can introduce and follow through with criminal or civil lawsuits or he could work with the Attorney General's office since Lennox alleges Gov. Jennifer Granholm held sway in the hiring process.

None of those options, even if students end up picking up the legal tab, would cost the university as much as delaying funding would. That is why Lennox's premature request to tie funding to investigating hiring practices is uncalled for.