Friday, June 8, 2007
News that will surprise some...Breaking at the Democracy Project: Norman Finkelstein Denied Tenure at DePaul?:
Norman Finkelstein, the son of Holocaust survivors who became an ardent critics of Israel, has been denied tenure at DePaul University in Chicago according to the blog of Prof. Peter N. Kirstein.
Here's a brief excerpt from Kirstein's blog, which was posted this afternoon:
I have learned that Norman G. Finkelstein on June 8, 2007 has been denied tenure at DePaul University. Professor Finkelstein, assistant professor of political science, had been recommended for tenure by his department and by the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences personnel commitee. According to A.A.U.P. guidelines, Dr Finkelstein will be given a year's notice and so can return under contract to DePaul for the 2007-2008 academic year. A professor may appeal a tenure denial and seek A.A.U.P. support. My hope is such will be the case and that there will be a Committee A investigation which could lead to a censure of DePaul University. This is speculation and is not a prediction of future course of events.
We'll be hearing a great deal about this in coming days...
Winfield Myers at the Democracy Project has some background on Kirstein, and Kirstein's blog post is also worth reading in full, as are the updates here and here.
Update: Links changed from Campus Watch to the Democracy Project.
Not everyone who lives in the Chicago area is nuts. Your area has half the population and maybe ten times the colleges, but we get more nuts teaching here at the univ. level. But you have Chomsky, though.
Absolutely amazing. Sanity on campus? Who woulda thunk?....
(I suppose he'll appeal, though. Ater all, he has all the right credentials: Israel basher, hates the US, lies unrepentantly, lousy researcher, complains shrilly about being a Zionist victim. Etc., ad nauseum. And I suppose Dershowitz is going to have to get round-the-clock protection....)
On the other hand, F. shouldn't feel too bad, since universities world-wide will likely be lining up to offer this arch victim of international Zionism the tenure he believes he so richly deserves.
He'll get tons of publicity (always useful) and he may get loads of money, since he'll sue for sure---as sure as Ward Churchill is his soulmate.
And while DePaul will wonder whether sanity is worth the price, other universities will be watching closely.
You lads should get a load of the Trust Fund Commies working like a conjoined twin: MacArthur Center for Justice/People Law Office ( Ward Churchill is a huge help to them); Northwestern Child Law Center run by Pardoned bomber Bernadine Ayers-Dohrn and the Chicago Tribune Editorial Board.
Rubes, Chicago is chock-full 'o Nuts!
F. will be offered a tenure track position somewhere significant in the world. When he does, DePaul will look like the schmucks they are.
F. will make an awful lot of money, though.
Your comments regarding Norman Finkelstein hating the U.S., lying unrepentantly, lousy researcher[sic]
and his shrilly complaining about zionist victimization are unfounded, and generally without merit. As was the claim of libel by Alan Dershowitz.
Said libel suit never materialized for the same reason that your comments lack merit. They are the sort of attack resorted to by individuals who cannot defend their position in a debate founded upon recognized standards. Legitimate criticism of the state of Israel is not anti-semitism. Legitimate criticism of Israel is precisely that, legitimate criticism. Its merits pass of fail based upon its contents and nothing more. Dr. Dershowitz is a plagarist and a small mind. The facts speak for themselves.
Edward said:
"Legitimate criticism of the state of Israel is not anti-semitism"
True.
ONLY criticizing Israel whilst ignoring present and past atrocities, barbarity, racism, imperialism in muslim countries and extra-territorial european outposts IS anti-semitism.