Branded at Brandeis

Professor Donald Hindley of Brandeis U is the latest victim of liberal fascism:

A professor at Brandeis University says his rights to free speech and due process were violated after he was disciplined for using the word "wetback" during a political science class.
The link above is to the tell-both-sides Boston Globe story, and is a good overview of the controversy. The university's administration assigned a "monitor" to sit in on Professor Hindley's classes. They demanded that he attend "antidiscrimination training;" he refused. Unsurprisingly, there's lots more:
  • Inside Higher Ed first reported on the controversy last November; they provided an update yesterday on how the controversy has proceeded since; the faculty, at least, seems united in outrage. (For, yea, 'tis one of their oxen being gored.)

  • The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) is also on the case, at Professor Hindley's request. They have a pageful of links to their own materials and media coverage. In their press release, FIRE states that Hindley "has neither been granted a formal hearing by Brandeis nor provided with the substance of the accusations against him in writing."

  • But my absolute favorite link in this matter (so far) has been the hilariously scathing analysis from the "University Diaries" blog at Inside Higher Ed of the letter sent to Professor Hindley from Provost Marty Wyngaarden Krauss.

    For example, when Provost Marty writes:

    The University will not tolerate inappropriate, racial and discriminatory conduct by members of its faculty.
    The Diarist adds the comment:
    A bit confused there. inappropriate, racial and discriminatory conduct... What is racial conduct?
    Indeed. As one of the commenters remarks, lapsing into ungrammatical nonsense is a signal that the writer is issuing an "automated, catechistic response, like repeating a prayer in Latin without knowing or caring what the words mean."

  • And I will quote Instapundit's reaction in full: "They told me that if George W. Bush were re-elected, academic freedom would be threatened by the whims of unaccountable bureaucrats. And they were right!"

  • Brandeis previously came to our attention for hounding a campus humor magazine out of operation, and censoring a Palestinian art exhibition.

Oh, and another irony that the Boston Globe couldn't help itself from adding to the tail of its story:

Brandeis University is named for former US Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis, who was famed for his defense of free speech.
It's pretty clear that any prospective student who values free speech will want to cross Brandeis off his or her list.

An Appropriately Short Kucinich Retrospective

Dennis Kucinich has pulled out of the presidential race. His candidacy was an occasional source of amusement here at Pun Salad. A brief look back:

  • We requoted a particularly loony passage from Dennis's campaign book here; also quoted in full was his 2002 "Haiku of Hegemony".

  • One of my all-time favorite posts—we don't go for false modesty here at Pun Salad—was my transcription of Elizabeth Kucinich's brief speech at RiverRun Bookstore in Portsmouth New Hampshire last February.

  • Post-primary, I found DK to be a "yellin' lunatic demagogue" in his concession speech which you can still watch here.

The Kucinichs' great contribution to the campaign was their ability to make the others look sane in comparison.

Let me repeat: in comparison.


Last Modified 2008-01-29 9:20 AM EDT