College official resigns after furor over guest speaker

[struggle4progress]

CLINTON, N.Y. The head of a gender studies program at a New York college has resigned after igniting a furor by inviting a controversial speaker.

Nancy Rabinowitz says she's stepping down "under duress." She will continue to teach comparative literature at Hamilton College.

Rabinowitz had extended a speaking invitation to Ward Churchill. <snip>

The appearance was ultimately canceled by the school because of death threats against college officials and Churchill. <snip>

http://www.volunteertv.com/Global/story.asp?S=2935906

[Eric J in MN]

1. Bill O'Reilly can be proud that he made a powerless

professor making a speech to a tiny number of people a national controversy causing decent people to resign.

(sarcasm)

[marmar]

2. Free speech ...

be damned!

:cry:

[DBoon]

4. Him and Joe McCarthy alike

Bullies who only attack the vulnerable

[stillcool]

5. Holy Sh*t!

This is insane. I got to stop going on the internets, my brain is going to blow.

[Erika]

3. Right Wing Fanatics like O'Reilly hate

the first amendment. They want their view to be the only view the public can hear. They incite the ignorant in an attempt to squelch the first amendment.

[LinuxInsurgent]

6. what the hell!

How is this woman...whose only crime was to INVITE another person, attacked and made to resign?

GUILT BY ASSOCIATION IS THE NORM NOW?!

I'm really angered...i'm an academic myself...and this REALLY angers me...and i'm sorry...but Nancy is being a little weak about it. She should fight the harrassment and any official calls for her resignation...she has done NOTHING wrong.

If Ward's words are nothing wrong (I don't merit them to be ill-intended, nor incorrect in their assessment), and shouldn't harm his teaching career, how are we supposed to think that this woman, whose only crime was to invite him to speak at another academic institution, should suffer with her career herself.

This is nothing but American Nazi practice....demonize intellectuals, make their lives hell...guilt by association.

I'm sickened...both for those harrassing this woman...and for this woman not having the strength to fight it...she's innocent.

[Name removed]

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[LinuxInsurgent]

8. slightly different...let me explain

If she would have brought a KKK lecturer to campus, I'd be angry with the KKK speaker, and would probably think LESS of her...but I wouldn't be harassing her or calling for her to resign. That's outrageous.

And I don't think that the "argument equality" viewpoint works with this one. The KKK stands for unadulterated hate...it's not my interpretation, this is what they themselves preach (we hate non-whites). Ward Churchill didn't stand for anything...he didn't preach support of the terrorists or support for the United States...what he did was use his intellectual faculties to analyze the post 9/11 situation and offer rationales for the attack, and what we can do to avoid another. How can we equate Ward's intellectual analysis of a particular event and its consequences...with the KKK's unanalytical, hate speech? Both maybe controversial and illicit hatred...but only one is designed to be hate...the other is legitimate academic research and conclusions.

I'm frankly BAFFLED that's she's resigning...i mean...SHE'S INNOCENT...this lady has done nothing wrong! If it was me...i'd fight them to the end...Ward himself is fighting...and defending his positions quite well, i might add...and this lady, who is totally innocent, folds like a napkin? I don't get it...

[Name removed]

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[LinuxInsurgent]

13. I saw the video of CU speech

he clarified himself...and he said "some have said that I should have used a different rhetorical device (reffering to Eichman statement)...well I don't think so...you've got a better one, go ahead and use it...I've got mine". I come from the same school of thought...but perhaps it is because Ward and I don't consider ourselves Americans...so perhaps it's easier for us to say things as we see it, without all the "i'm supposed to be patriotic" baggage.

Doing intellectual analysis need not be boring, neutered, or in academese...his essay has already done much more than a comparably neutered essay would...that is...it got media attention. If he would have been another academic...that essay would be languishing on some library archive...but because it was him...he broke through the media wall of silence and complicity with the "they hate us for our freedoms" mantra to posit an alternative (and correct, in my view) rationale for the 9/11 attacks.

We must be told the truth of why we are attacked...so we can make sound policy decisions to avoid future ones. The only problem I saw with the Eichman reference was that it was ambigiuos...only students of World War II would understand it...the rest would think he called them Nazis...it's a common affliction of academics (writing for other academics...or to hear themselves). But he's right...the WTC hosted some of the most powerful finance institutions that move the assets of our military-industrial complex...and the WTC had CIA offices as well...Our government routinely bombs foreign countries' civilian buildings because they house military/intelligence offices as well...and damn the civilians to "collateral damage". Why is Ward wrong to point out the obvious...and say that those financial parasites and CIA spooks working in that building are "little Eichmanns"? As for the rest of the innocent there...he clarified that he didn't mean them...that he had mentioned in his essay that he spoke about a "technocratic core"...

Makes sense to me...as an academic...and I'm a little thicker skinned that most...so maybe it's just me...in fact...i've heard the speeches of various of the most heinous world figures (Hitler, Hussein, etc.)...so maybe language doesn't inflame me anymore.

And come to think of it...if America IS moving toward a fascist state...is the reference to a Nazi - era economic technocrat so widely off the mark? Maybe to ignorant Americans who are shocked at being compared to the Nazi regime...but if our country today represents the closest approximation to the German Nazi regime (an industrial power with a domestic/foreign ideology of Empire and internal "monitoring" of its citizens), what's the best analogy then for those technocrats in the WTC? I'd love to know...I think Eichmann says it about as best as you can....without wasting more effort to write "technocratic core of the Empire". But we probably wouldn't be having this debate if the same discussion was being held in some Third World country...Third World people KNOW a fascist when they see one...and they are more apt to compare the U.S. to the Nazi regime than Americans are. Such is the temerity of even my most radical American friends...

We have a joke in my country...an American liberal is a Third World centrist.

[Name removed]

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[jedr]

9. would this have happened

if she had invited Ann Couler????? there's someone who doesn't let the facts get in they way of a bigoted opinions, and would be revered by a Conservative adiuance...few people would agree with Churchill but by damn he has the right to say it!!!

[LinuxInsurgent]

10. i don't know...something's fishy...

why is this lady hitting the canvas so soon...she didn't even fight...i mean...she's INNOCENT...totally innocent. She's just an academic who invited another academic to speak at an ACADEMIC institution...if I'm correct, the topic of his speech at her forum wasn't even related to 9/11...

When did this become a crime punishable by "harrassment designed to illicit resignation"?

[Name removed]

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[jedr]

15. good point!

but they did send their henchmen to shut him up

[Name removed]

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[Erika]

17. Free speech is a precious right

Unfortunately, we have a fanatic right-wing fueled by this administration to act as an arm of the government to silence any who does not agree with W. They do it through intimidation and harassment. They are nothing more than an extension of the W administration.

[Name removed]

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[harpboy_ak]

25. The right wingnut Colorado goobernater is trying to get Churchill fired

Unfortunately, we have a fanatic right-wing fueled by this administration to act as an arm of the government to silence any who does not agree with W. They do it through intimidation and harassment.

You can count the idiot claiming to be Colorado's gubernator as one of the fanatics. He's trying to get the the U of Colorado Board of Regents to fire Churchill, saying that he will veto state funding for the University (thankfully only about 5% of the budget) if they don't. A member of the regents (a Dem lawyer) was on the Lehrer News Hour last night saying that it would be illegal to do so because Churchill has tenure, and that the Gov wants them to commit an illegal act. He seemed to think that even the right wingnut regents probably wouldn't vote for such an illegal action, but that he can't be certain because he's the only lawyer on the Board.

[LinuxInsurgent]

14. I suspected as much...this prof. is a lightweight....

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/newyork/ny-bc-ny--speakerprotest0211feb11,0,6222674.story?coll=ny-region-apnewyork

"What the project needs now is someone more adept at the kind of political and media fight that the current climate requires. Therefore, it is in the interests of the mission of the project itself and for no other reason that I am yielding to requests that I resign," she said. "

I thought so...she sounds like a, pardon my words, but...pussy academic...most likely a bookworm who can't handle or won't handle the heat. She admits it "someone more adept at the kind of political and media fight that this current climate requires'.

I sent her an email and encouraged her to stay on...she shouldn't give up her life's work on the account of some Free Republic and Faux News bastards who are harrassing her.

[gottaB]

20. "pussy academic" --please, what's the point of the derogatory words?

Rabinowitz is a scholar. She studies Greek drama and culture from a feminist perspective. It's the kind of work that I find interesting, and would expect contributes to a rich educational environment. Her publications are featured on classical studies and gender studies syllabi across the country. She deserves respect as a scholar and an educator.

Note that she is not giving up her teaching position. She is giving up the directorship of Hamilton's Kirkland Project.

Here is her full statement:

Hamilton College finds itself in the midst of a crisis that is deeply rooted in the institution’s history and set against a backdrop of increasing political and cultural tension. Much of the resulting media attack has been directed personally at me as Director of the Kirkland Project. This, in turn, has been destructive to the Project and to the educational mission of the College, in particular to its desire to create a more diverse and welcoming environment for all students. In the interests of the College and its community, therefore, I am stepping down as Director, effective immediately.

I am resigning under duress, for I would have preferred to stay on until I took my long awaited sabbatical; however, my strengths have been in the intrinsic work of the Project itself, and what the Project needs now is someone more adept at the kind of political and media fight that the current climate requires. Therefore, it is in the interests of the mission of the Project itself and of the College and for no other reason that I am yielding to requests that I resign.

http://academics.hamilton.edu/organizations/kirkland/news.html

I say shame on Hamilton for allowing their students to be deprived of the full benefit of Nancy Rabinowitz's talents. But I certainly don't fault her for not being adept at political headbutting in such a climate. Most of the best academics, in my experience, simply want to be free to pursue their research and share it with their colleagues and students. It is the exceptional ones, like Rabinowitz, who also seek to prepare their students for a more meaningful engagement with the outside world, and develop their capacities to become agents of change. Rabinowitz' resignation does not show a lack of concern for such a mission on her part. On the contrary. To the extent that her genuine commitment to the students could be counted on, calls for her resignation from Hamilton administrators would seem to be purely and unfathomably insidious. The word "perfidy" comes to mind.

[rodeodance]

23. I agree, there is no need to berat Rabinowitz!!

[LinuxInsurgent]

24. you make some good points...

I guess I should admit that I'm more of the combative type of academic...research for action....

But...i can respect that other of my peers don't really wish to get rough and tough...and just do their research in peace.

I take back my "pussy" comment...

[keopeli]

21. kick

[rodeodance]

22. O'Reilly was taking credit for bringing Ward to the attention of the

Universites. Last night he was berating Gov. Doyal of Wisconsin, and the chancellor of UW-Whitewater for not speaking out. Whitewater is going to bring Ward to their campus in April. This is scary stuff when Right wing news organizations can chill speech (whether you agree with what Ward says is not the issue)--although Fox and the Right wing are making it the issue. Don't drink the Kool-Aid