Finkelstein Denied Tenure [compendium]

[richards1052]

http://www.normanfinkelstein.com/article.php?pg=11&ar=1070">Statement from DePaul's president:

"Over the past several months, there has been considerable outside interest and public debate concerning this decision," Rev. Dennis Holtschneider said. "This attention was unwelcome and inappropriate and had no impact on either the process or the outcome of this case."

Some will consider this decision in the context of academic freedom. In fact, academic freedom is alive and well at DePaul. It is guaranteed both as an integral part of the University's scholarly and religious heritage, and as an essential condition of effective inquiry and instruction. On a daily basis, DePaul faculty and students explore the most important ideas of our time, including difficult and contentious issues, and they do so in ways that adhere to professional standards of academia and respect the dignity and worth of each individual."

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/05/09/1514221&mode=thread&tid=25">Raul Hilberg, dean of Holocaust historians on Finkelstein:

"I am impressed by the analytical abilities of Finkelstein. He is, when all is said and done, a highly trained political scientist who was given a PhD degree by a highly prestigious university. This should not be overlooked...

However, leaving aside the question of style -- and here, I agree that it’s not my style either -- the substance of the matter is most important here, particularly because Finkelstein, when he published this book, was alone. It takes an enormous amount of academic courage to speak the truth when no one else is out there to support him. And so, I think that given this acuity of vision and analytical power, demonstrating that the Swiss banks did not owe the money, that even though survivors were beneficiaries of the funds that were distributed, they came, when all is said and done, from places that were not obligated to pay that money. That takes a great amount of courage in and of itself. So I would say that his place in the whole history of writing history is assured, and that those who in the end are proven right triumph, and he will be among those who will have triumphed, albeit, it so seems, at great cost."

http://www.suntimes.com/news/education/421003,CST-NWS-depaul09.article">Dershowitz's comment on the denial of tenure:

“It was the right decision, proving that DePaul University is indeed a first-rate university, not as Finkelstein characterized it, ‘a third-rate university.’ Based on objective standards of scholarship, this should not have even been a close case.”

http://english.sxu.edu/sites/kirstein/?cat=5">Peter Kirstein, who writes a blog on academic freedom has this to say:

"The university’s decision to deny tenure is basically a repetition of the Suchar Memorandum’s charge of inappropriate tone, collegiality and manners. I think this case will continue to be examined by national organisations that exist to protect professors from such arbitrary and egregious display of contempt for controversial research that may offend some but on its merits represent significant and valuable scholarship."

Kirstein also http://english.sxu.edu/sites/kirstein/?p=738">reports that another DePaul professor who prominently supported Finkelstein was denied tenure.

Finkelstein http://www.suntimes.com/news/education/421003,CST-NWS-depaul09.article">replies to his opponents:

“As it happens, I was just this past week teaching about Paul Robeson in my political science class. When Robeson was crucified for his beliefs, he said, ‘I will not retreat one-thousandth part of one inch.’ That’s what I say to the thugs and hoodlums who are trying to silence me. They don’t want to talk about what Israel is doing to the Palestinians. So they make Norman Finkelstein the issue.”

The http://chronicle.com/news/article/2462/depaul-rejects-tenure-bid-by-finkelstein-and-says-dershowitz-pressure-played-no-role?commented=0#txpCommentInputForm">Chronicle of Higher Education also has good coverage.

[Mojambo]

1. I have one of his books, but I haven't gotten around to reading it yet. n/t

[UndertheOcean]

2. This is really surprising.

n/t

[richards1052]

3. Black day for academic freedom

June 8th was a black day for academic freedom and a black day for free and open debate about issues of concern to the Jewish community like the Holocaust and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This is a banner day for the intellectual thought police represented by Alan Dershowitz who has triumphed with an intense, fiercely fought and ugly smear campaign entirely devoid of intellectual content. Instead the campaign was fought on overheated rhetoric and twisted arguments. And Dershowitz has won.

Regarding the good president's denial that Dershowitz and the pro-Israel hatchet-folk didn't have any impact on the internal campus debate surrounding tenure--all I can say is...Right.

I want to make clear that while I don't agree with Finkelstein's anti-Zionist position, I think he has much to say in his critique of the Jewish community's obsession with the Holocaust as the supposedly defining element of Jewish identity. And Prof. Hilberg's endorsement speaks volumes on that score.

The smug statement by Dershowitz makes me sick. Harvard should be ashamed that it gives academic cover to such a mendacious, overblown bully.

DePaul has made a very serious mistake. It has set a very bad precedent for American universities. Given the worldwide recognition that Finkelstein's academic books and articles have received it is ludicrous to say he has not met the threshold for publishing. And if you want to argue that he's not a nice person or collegial enough or that he has a sharp tongue--well, get in line with the tens of thousands of other tenured professors who share those qualities.

I an incredulous that DePaul would essentially deny a professor tenure claiming (though of course this is a smokescreen reason)--as Kirstein notes above--that Finkelstein's rhetoric toward his academic peers was overheated. The second denial of tenure to a Finkelstein supporter makes a laughingstock of the DePaul president's statement above.