"The Week," a recurring feature in National Review, is a quick, brutal, and unabashedly straightforward column. The Page 6 of the political world, it is equal parts Mike Lupica and The Daily Show. Like similar columns in other publications, it covers a lot of material, fast. With so much happening on campus, some of it serious, some not, let's give it a try.
Tenure Troubles Continued
According to an anonymous source within the anthropology department, chairman Dr. Brinkley Messick is playing favorites with troubled tenure candidate, professor Nadia Abu El-Haj. Messick named Abu El-Haj, the unreachable, aloof, and controversial "scholar," Director of Graduate Studies. The motives behind the move are clear—Messick bypassed far more deserving candidates for the position so as to cement Abu El-Haj within the department. The more responsibility she has, he reckons, the less likely it is that the objective academic committee will deny her tenure. Apparently positions and titles mean more than academic merit. This, however, should come as no surprise; those familiar with e-mails sent out on the AnthroDish listserv contend that Messick has repeatedly voiced his support for "Nadia" in "this difficult time." According to these sources, Messick once claimed that "we have seen this before." If the tenure committee can validate these conversations, they must not allow interdepartmental favoritism to weigh upon their reasoned decision.
"Don't Ask, Don't Tell" Revisited
Columbians have grown to accept the mobile blood bank that regularly sets up on College Walk. Nobody, not even Columbia's LGBT and progressive community, cares enough to call for their expulsion from campus. That's amazing, considering that homosexuals are barred from donating blood. Amazingly, the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy is more lenient and accommodating than those of the Red Cross and similar institutions. Why, then, have progressive students and an antiquated University Senate fought to ban ROTC from campus, but allowed the clinics to operate on campus freely? There's no denying that there would be hell to pay if that blood bank was a military recruiting or ROTC table. This blatant hypocrisy is proof positive that the anti-ROTC factions were not "anti-discrimination," as they claimed, but anti-military and nothing more. They have no right to deny students from two noble acts, whether that's donating their blood or serving their country while supporting their education.
It was 40 years ago today...
In the spring, Columbia University will "commemorate" the 40th anniversary of the '68 riots. Watch, just watch as the administration invites back that familiar cast of characters (delinquents) to celebrate where? Where else, Low. CLIO is a twisted and cruel mistress.
Business Gone Bad
Pinkberry, the popular and exorbitantly priced fro-yo chain, finally opened this week. It took the entire summer and most of fall, well over four months, for a small storefront shop with two ice cream machines, a few refrigerators, and a pre-fab interior to open. If it wasn't for the horde of hipster devotees, opening a frozen yogurt shop as the temperature drops into the high 40s would normally spell disaster.
Horowitz Unplugged
When in doubt, fall back on what you know. During his remarkably civil Islamo-fascism Awareness speech, David Horowitz, CC '59, did just that. An avowed partisan in the struggle for academic freedom, Horowitz railed against the state of the academy. The conservative, he said, graduates with a better education because he or she must confront opposing and distasteful ideas—day in and day out—in the classroom. A few students in the room laughed; others argued that, while liberal, they've had a great education. I'm sure other progressives would love to respond to Mr. Horowitz's claims, but they couldn't—they didn't show up. Rather than going to the event and engaging that which they considered disagreeable, they held "counter-programming" to simultaneously avoid and attack something they simply refused to listen to. Horowitz couldn't have come up with a better example of a stunted education if he'd tried.
Deal with the Devil
Finally, best of luck to all those folks going for second-round interviews. You'll be making more than me, your TAs, and your professors in six months' time. Ain't I-Banking grand?
Chris Kulawik is Columbia College senior majoring in political science. Chris Shrugged runs alternate Tuesdays.
Specopinion@columbia.edu.