Tuesday, August 28, 2007

DePaul University fumbles again


I remember a Hogan's Heroes episode where wisecrasking POW and underground saboteur Colonel Hogan, played by Bob Crane, is put into a situation where he has to defuse an American bomb that's landed in the prison camp he is incarcerated in. At the fateful moment--which wire to cut, the black one or the white one?--Hogan turns to the camp's inept commandant, Colonel Klink, and asks the Luftwaffe officer which one to snip.

Klink makes his choice, but Hogan cuts the other wire--the correct one.

The German then asks Hogan, "If you knew which wire it was, why did you ask me?"

Hogan responds, "Well, I figured whatever wire you picked, it'd be the wrong one."

And that's Chicago's DePaul University, whatever decision its top brass makes, it seems to be always the wrong one.

It's my belief that by not granting controvesial Professor Norman G. Finkelstein, it's president, Father Dennis Holtschneider made the right decision. Oh, I've been fired from jobs, I know the hurt that follows.

Typically, professors who are denied tenure, which essentially amounts to lifetime employment, are given one more year to teach. Finding a job at another university is a difficult task, especially after being told by their present employer that they are no longer wanted. So a year with pay and essentially part-time employment makes the pain a little bit easier to contend with.

It's hard to figure out exactly what's going on at DePaul, which is nothing new.

From the DePaul web site, here is Finkelstein's page, which was last updated four days ago:

Courses Taught:

PSC 230 Classic Political Thought
PSC 231 Modern Political Thought
PSC 233 Political Ideas and Ideologies
PSC 234 Freedom and Empowerment
PSC 235 Equality and Social Justice
PSC 339 Topics in Political Thought: Utopia and Its Critics
PSC 349 Topics in World Politics: Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
PSC 390 Capstone
HON 201 States, Markets, and Societies
ISP 101 Focal Point Seminar: Palestine

Updated on August 24, 2007 (Emphasis mine)

But DePaul's Denise Mattson offers a different tale.

From AP:

DePaul officials declined Monday to comment on the case. Denise Mattson, associate vice president for public affairs, released a statement saying: "Finkelstein has been assigned to an administrative leave with full pay and benefits for the 2007-08 academic year. Administrative leave relieves professors from their teaching responsibilities. He was informed of the reasons that precipitated this leave last spring."

For certain, one Finkelstein class was being offered by DePaul for the fall quarter until last week, Political Science 235, "Equality in Social Justice." Ron Grossman of the Chicago Tribune this morning described that Finkelstein swan song as "standing room only." Click on the above link. Guess who's listed as the instructor? That PDF file is dated June 28, almost three weeks after Finkelstein's denial of tenure.

DePaul needs to explain what the hell is going on at DePaul. If Finkelstein was given the heave-ho right after he his tenure request was denied, how did one of his classes--or more--end up in the school's course catalog. An e-mail to Finkelstein from DePaul's provost obtained by Peter Kirstein, appears to contradict Mattson's statement. If circumstances have changed since early June, then say so--and Mattson or "Holt" needn't go into specifics, after all it is in the end a human resources matter.

Will DePaul do the right thing? Or will they choose the wrong wire--just as Colonel Klink did? My money is on the Klink option, based on the Thomas Klocek affair. Or the Ward Churchill fiasco. Or the "affirmative action bake sale."

Related posts:

More DePaul: Finkelstein to teach? Go to jail? Hunger strike?

CAIR-Chicago recommended that DePaul fire Klocek

DePaul President Fr. Holtschneider: "Academic freedom is alive and well at DePaul"

Fisk on Fink: Robert Fisk joins the Norman Finkelstein tenure debate as DePaul's "perfect storm" gathers strength

Extra credit reading assigment: A DePaul Guide to Managing Print and Electronic Media

Thanks for the link:

Pirate Ballerina

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