Richard Eugene Vatz (born December 21, 1946) is an American academic, lecturer and writer who is a professor of Rhetoric and Communication at Towson University.
Vatz is a Faculty Fellow at the Eastern Communication Association (ECA) and has been honored by the National Communication Association (NCA).
Vatz has been member of the Towson Board of Trustees for several years and an associate psychology editor for USA Today magazine[1] since 1987. He has been a member of the National Communication Association since 1969.
Vatz wrote The Only Authentic Book of Persuasion: the Agenda-Spin Model, (McGraw-Hill, 2017), and he is co-editor of Thomas Szasz: The Man and His Ideas (Transaction Books, 2017). He has also published articles, reviews and lectures on the preeminence of rhetorical study, political rhetoric, rhetoric and psychiatry and media criticism.
He is married to Joanne Pychock Vatz; the couple have two children and one grandchild.
Awards and honors
President's Award for Distinguished Service, 2004, Towson University
Maryland "Governor’s Citation" for Achievements in Higher Education and Service to Towson University, 2004
The Thomas Szasz Civil Liberties Award January, 1994
Winner, Teaching Fellow Award, Eastern Communication Association, 2004
Keynote Speaker and award-winner at first "Towson's Elite" Night, 2004
Towson University Faculty Volunteer Service Award, 2003
"Teacher of the Year," 2002, Towson University, awarded by the Student Government Association
University Merit Award 1984, 1988, 1990 (awarded to 30 faculty each year 1983-1990)
Won 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980 – Outstanding Teaching Grants (awarded to ten of approximately 500 full-time faculty each year 1976-1980); most of such awards on faculty
Appointed to Faculty of Honors College, Towson State University, 1982
Selected lecturing activity
Windham Fellow Lecture Series in Liberal Arts, "Rhetoric and Impeachment," Middle Tennessee State University, March 4, 1999
Maryland Governor Bob Ehrlich's addresses to Vatz's "Persuasion" class at Towson twice a year 1993–2022, ending with Vatz's Retirement
Moderated debates for U.S. House of Representatives election: 2004; Dutch Ruppersberger in 2006 for his attempt to win a Congressional seat and Ruppersberger vs. Helen Bentley for their House race, September 24, 2002. Vatz moderated a debate between state senate candidates Jim Brochin and Martha Klima, 2002
Featured speaker honoring Dr. Thomas Szasz on his 80th birthday; symposium was titled "Liberty and/or Psychiatry: 40 Years After 'The Myth of Mental Illness,'" April 15, 2000
Highlight Article on Vatz's public commentary: Vatz's Election Commentary, Towson Times, October 23, 2002
Subject of article in The Washington Post, May 6, 2004 on Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich's lectureships to his Persuasion class, 1993-2004
He has been a member of his Towson University University Senate for a record 38 (current term ends in 2020) years.[citation needed]
Some research highlights
Panel presented on Vatz's work at NCA convention, "Richard E. Vatz on Rhetoric and Psychiatry," 1999
Named as a major rhetorical theorist in an essay on "The Rhetorical Situation" in Twentieth-Century Roots of Rhetorical Studies and in essay on "Rhetorical Theory as Message Reception" in Spring, 2003 Communication Studies
Appointed Lifetime Member of Board of Trustees,[2]
Chosen by NCA Vice President to participate in a debate on President Bush's policies on Iraq for NCA national convention, 2002
Ad Watch Critic, WBAL Radio, September–November 2002: Printed Analysis of Campaign Ads in 2002 Campaigns
During the 1970s, Vatz published the article, "The Myth of the Rhetorical Situation," in the journal Philosophy and Rhetoric. In it, he critiqued Lloyd Bitzer's 1968 article "The Rhetorical Situation" in the same journal and this has served as the basis for his world view on persuasion; namely, that rhetorical study is conceived most advantageously for the field through a model of competition for agenda and spin, not as controlled by some objective view of reality. Vatz maintains that the latter view makes rhetorical study simply a copy and mouthpiece of other social sciences, fields that are anti-rhetorical.
In January 2009, Vatz published a follow-up piece to the "Myth" article in the NCA's January, 2009, Review of Communication. The article was titled "The Mythical Status of Situational Rhetoric: Implications for Rhetorical Critics’ Relevance in the Public Arena." Vatz argued there that the "Myth" perspective was the appropriate rhetorical approach to the study of persuasion. In contrast, the perspective offered in "The Rhetorical Situation" was anathema to the academic status of rhetorical study, as it implied that situations caused the production of rhetoric rather than high-ethos rhetoricians' choices. This caused what audiences perceived as dominant situations and their meaning.
In 2012, Vatz published The Only Authentic Book of Persuasion: the Agenda-Spin Model and a new co-edited book Thomas Szasz: The Man and His Ideas and others. He has also published articles on political rhetoric and media criticism in The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The Washington Times and The Los Angeles Times. Vatz has presented hundreds of convention papers and panels at the National Communication Association and Eastern Communication Association (ECA), the SSCA, and elsewhere, including regular analyses of political rhetoric in seminars at the NCA with progressive colleagues.
Media appearances
Vatz has appeared on CNN’s Crossfire, Larry King Live, The Phil Donahue Show, and William F. Buckley's Firing Line. He appeared for over forty years as a guest on WBAL Radio in Baltimore. He has recently appeared on Fox television in Baltimore and Washington.
Over his career Vatz published in The Washington Post, The Baltimore Sun, The Los Angeles Times and multiple other publications; he wrote and writes on conservative perspectives generally.
Vatz was a blogger for Red Maryland and blogged several pieces a year on national conservative perspectives on rhetorical theory, media criticism and contemporary political issues.
Controversy
Mental health and medical care
Vatz claimed that mental illness should be stigmatized when not caused by physical damage, claiming that destigmatizing mental illness is counterproductive for people with mental illness to seek help.[3] He is against medical insurance coverage for those with addiction or ADHD.[4] He claims that almost all insanity pleas are fraudulent.[5] Vatz claimed that most mental illnesses are not real.[4]
Youth for Western Civilization and Matthew Heimbach
Vatz was the advisor of the Towson University chapter of Youth for Western Civilization from 2011-2012, led by current Towson student, white supremacist, and neo-NaziMatthew Heimbach. In fall of 2011, the Towson Youth For Western Civilization chapter received criticism for chalking "America is a Christian Nation" on campus, but Vatz remained as the advisor.[6] Heimbach wrote on the Youth for Western Civilization website in January 2012 that "no longer will the homosexual, Muslim, and black supremacist groups be allowed to hijack our campus," with Vatz continuing to remain the advisor.[7] Once members of the chapter chalked "white pride" on university sidewalks in March 2012, Vatz resigned as the faculty advisor for the chapter, causing the chapter to dissolve.[8] Heimbach would then go on to form the White Student Union at Towson.[9]
Towson Chapter of Turning Point USA
Vatz later served as the faculty advisor for the Towson chapter of Turning Point USA, a far-right student organization. On October 3, 2022, Michael Peroutka, far-right politician, neo-confederate, and former member of the League of the South, was invited by the Towson Turning Point chapter to speak on campus. Approximately 60 Towson students, faculty, and members of the public protested the event in response.[10] In the wake of the protest, messages from a group chat were leaked that included homophobic, racist and ableist language, including slurs. Vatz claimed he would resign if there was evidence of racism or homophobia in the chapter, but refused to resign over the messages claiming the students showed remorse.[11] A letter written by almost all of the faculty from the Towson University Department of Instructional Learning and Professional Development, the department Vatz was employed in, condemned Vatz for not resigning from his advisory position.[12]
On December 10, 2022, Towson University dedicated an auditorium on campus to Vatz for his 48-year tenure and frequent donations to the university, despite his prior controversy. Several students and faculty members protested the event, claiming that his philanthropic contributions did not make up for his other actions. Students from the Towson chapter of the Young Democratic Socialists of America distributed mock programs to the event containing information about the leaked Turning Point messages and controversial quotes from Vatz from various editorials.[13] Vatz did not resign from the advisor position, and held it until his retirement. The Turning Point chapter is still present on campus, under a new advisor, George Hahn.[14]
