Comments on: CU(e) the sideshow clowns

By: David Lane defends constitution, appears at the Laugh Factory Tuesday nights : Historiann : History and sexual politics, 1492 to the present

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 15:22:30 +0000

[...] those of you who missed my commentary on Ward Churchill and can’t live without it, click here and revel in yet more trenchant commentary.) Cheers, friends: I’ve got a lot of leaves to [...]

By: Rad Readr

Rad Readr — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 04:38:23 +0000

Word to Sq..o on the reviews. Here it’s every two years after tenure, although at one point it becomes three. Files available to the entire dept and discussed at a faculty meeting.

Re: Churchill. Yes, they looked for a poster child and found one. I agree with you completely on the dangers of buckling to celebrity. And, if I remember correctly, there was something unusual about his hire. Few faculty came to his defense, and thus your silence (until now), because he raised a lot of eyebrows in the academy not because of his critiques but because some of the other things he did or did not do.

On an old friends note, we used to have some neighbors who were very friendly with him and had him out for a talk — not once twice, and my old employer did not cancel his appearance at a time when other colleges did because it got too hot.

By: Susan

Susan — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 01:59:23 +0000

Oh, I don’t think of it as a conspiracy; I just think that sometimes conservatives go along with things because of their contempt for the field. That is, “Students want this” — but he won’t require us to take him seriously. I think I’m just cynical.

By: Janice

Janice — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 22:02:16 +0000

One of our former students got into an academic conference confrontation with Churchill who virulently objected to her awesome research on the lives of First Nations children. This was where I first learned about him and his presumable allergy to facts or reality — it’s a pity, as you say, that his university chose to hire and promote him without actually demanding some scholarly bona fides!

By: Historiann

Historiann — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 21:02:10 +0000

GayProf–true enough, and I think the N. Mex. situations were even more clearly related to speech in the classroom (and that their records as faculty members were unsullied until they were bound up by the Patriot Police.)

The weird thing about the Churchill case was that the essay he wrote on 9/12/01 wasn’t “discovered” and promulgated until the winter of 2005, 3-1/2 years later. It was all so clearly manufactured–like people had to rummage at the back of the closet and through their sock drawers to find something to be outraged about!

Susan: you are even more of a conspiracy theorist than I am! But that’s a damned good one, I must say. Churchill was very popular with his students–I got the impression that he had a small but extremely loyal following. I wonder if some have fallen away, or if they’re as devoted as ever?

By: GayProf

GayProf — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 19:56:39 +0000

Churchill might have been the most publicized case, but several professors faced equally harsh scrutiny and termination after 9/11 (including a case at the University of New Mexico).

By: Susan

Susan — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 16:57:15 +0000

It’s always struck me that Churchill was there to satisfy students, but in a way that allowed people not to take Native American Studies seriously. Same thing goes for other “ethnic studies” positions.

By: Historiann

Historiann — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 16:24:47 +0000

Sq.–wow. I didn’t realize I had it so good! I don’t object to post-tenure review–I just think it’s largely unnecessary and adds another document and layers of stuff on top of a process we all go through annually, anyway (our annual review and salary exercise.) But I’m still grateful that it’s only once every 5 years.

And Indyanna–I saw that guy’s obit, too. The academy has no place for that kind of smart!

By: Indyanna

Indyanna — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 15:59:50 +0000

Yeah, “boutique” profs, who get lateralled into the academy on the basis of cultural mojo have always kind of irked me, although I suppose they liven things up for the students. This might be a place to note that according to the NYT obits yesterday, a guy died who a) invented the Bozo the Clown figure, b) tweaked the career of Frank Sinatra back into viability in 1952, c) scripted out the conceptual treatment for the “Bonanza” television franchise, and d) signed the Beatles to their first Capitol Records contract. For that kind of a diversified innovator, I could probably go with a tenure award based on street smarts. (And maybe a contract in hand for a first monograph…)

By: squadratomagico

squadratomagico — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 15:56:59 +0000

[Tangent: You're reviewed every five years?! Wow! We still get evaluated *every* *other* *year* after tenure, for about six years; then, if we've jumped through all the appropriate hoops, we move on to a three-year review cycle. I don't think even super-senior people at OPU ever get onto a five-year review schedule. Sounds lovely!]