Was This University Professor Fired for Global Warming Skepticism?

Students have called Oregon State University chemistry professor Nicholas Drapela a memorable instructor who was great at what he did. But Drapela says he recently lost his job with the university out of the blue, and the only reason he -- and some bloggers -- can think of as to why are his beliefs in global warming.

According to KVAL-TV, Drapela said he was "stunned" when his contract wasn't renewed for the fall -- and he wants answers:

"They did not provide a reason. I asked and they said this isn't the time to talk about it," he said. "I was stunned. Where else do you talk about it but in the office of the person that let you go?"

He said he went all the way to the Vice President of Academic Affairs looking for answers, but got nowhere.

"I'm not trying to challenge anyone, I just want to know," said Drapela.

KVAL states university officials have said Drapela's beliefs about global warming are in no way to blame for his contract not being renewed but still aren't providing more specifics on his situation.

Watch the report:

Speculation that Drapela was let go for his climate skepticism began on blogs. Here are a few of them:

• Watt's Up With That?
• Big Lick News
• Applied Climate Science LLC

Drapela has voiced his goal to "uncover as much factual information as I can" about global warming data on his page of the university website:

My goal in this arena is to uncover as much factual information as I can for the informed citizen and to make this knowledge readily accessible to the public.  Philosophically, it is problematic to consider any one group of society as keepers of Truth (whether they be clergy or scientists) and to consider their assessments as beyond the reproach of the "common" people.  It is to this end that I make an attempt on this site to publish facts which are accessible to all of society, and especially those facts which have suffered from remarkable underexposure in mainstream public outlets which have the most powerful effects on shaping public opinion, such as the media, Hollywood, and academia.

On this site, Drapela says that most data would answer "no" to the following questions: Is the Earth warming? If so if the warming potentially catastrophic? If so, is this warming primarily caused by CO₂ concentrations in our atmosphere?

Vice President of University Relations Steve Clark told KVAL though that the "university really doesn't care about an individual's personal views or their personal activities."

During his 10 years with the university, the Daily Caller reports, Drapela had published a number of books, was promoted to the senior instructor level and received an award for being an "outstanding and inspirational teacher." Drapela told the Daily Caller he is still "blindsided" by this news, which he was alerted to on May 29 while classes were still in session.

(H/T: Fox News)