Comments on: Mutiny!

By: Alum

Alum — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 03:06:46 +0000

Oh, please. Bollinger isn’t perfect, but on balance he’s doing a really good job. How the media feels about him just isn’t very important.

By: the bwog sucks

the bwog sucks — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 02:18:33 +0000

Really, it is not necessary to be flip about everything. It’s not charming anymore. It’s annoying.

By: Ahem

Ahem — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 01:51:41 +0000

To undergrads, trolls, and the politically naive-Grow Up!

I don’t care if you think that Bollinger’s behavior during the Ahmadienjad fiasco was ‘cool’, or if you think that Bollinger making decisions without faculty consent is ‘cool,’ or whatever, but it’s DAMAGING THE UNIVERSITY. INCLUDING THE BRAND EQUITY ON YOUR PRECIOUS LITTLE DIPLOMAS. Were you paying any attention to the media coverage Bollinger got on his stunt? Does it bother you that he was TRASHED by most of the media? That this humiliates a large portion of the student body who, for example, are going to Columbia to STUDY DIPLOMACY?

For example, the faculty isn’t necessarily attacking the Bush administration by saying that Bollinger’s actions de facto support a drive for war or punitive sanctions on Iran. IT’S SAYING THAT BOLLINGER IS A COMPLETE POLITICAL IDIOT AND EGOMANIAC WHO HAS BEEN HUNG OUT TO DRY BY PEOPLE LIKE #$%@ MICHELLE MALKIN.

Bollinger needs to go, folks. Hopefully this is the frst step towards a no-confidence vote so we can someone besides a DNC party hack running the University.

By: Ron

Ron — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 17:34:33 +0000

You are either intentionally mis-reading the quote you just posted or you are actually incompetent.

By: Charles Beard

Charles Beard — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 14:51:01 +0000

“In October 1917, Beard resigned from Columbia to protest the Board of Trustees’ dismissal of two professors opposed to World War I, even though he himself favored American involvement in the war.”

http://c250.columbia.edu/c250_celebrates/remarkable_columbians/charles_beard.html

By: Bollinger said

Bollinger said — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 14:19:20 +0000

“Twelve days ago you said that the state of Israel cannot continue its life. This echoed a number of inflammatory statements you have delivered in the past two years, including in October 2005, when you said that Israel “should be wiped off the map”, quote-unquote. Columbia has over 800 alumni currently living in Israel. As an institution, we have deep ties with our colleagues there. I have personally spoken — personally, I have spoken out in most forceful terms against proposals to boycott Israeli scholars (in/and ?) universities, saying that such boycotts might as well include Columbia. (Applause.)
[...]
My question then is, do you plan on wiping us off the map too?”
—
Yes, he did single out academics in particular as part of his shtick about academic freedom, but he also refers to “Alumni,” not “Alumni who are academics,” and to “Israel,” not “Israel’s academics.” If Columbia and Israel are so synonymous that wiping one off the map should entail destroying the other, it sure sounds like solidarity with the country, not just its institutions of higher learning.

By: please clarify

please clarify — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 12:56:22 +0000

“at a panel tonight lauding Massad’s Desiring Arabs, hosted by the Heyman Institute, the professor noted that he was “personally grateful for this intervention.”"

He strongly suggested that the panel was an intervention to help reverse the tenure decision? What was the context? Thanks.

By: re: famous

re: famous — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 12:43:22 +0000

what about Spivak? bwog you forgot her.

By: i too

i too — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 11:33:30 +0000

was a little surprised to not see his name on the list. maybe the letter didn’t get around to enough professors?

By: i

Tue, 13 Nov 2007 11:20:57 +0000

prezbo!

By: [citation needed]

[citation needed] — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 07:21:17 +0000

“During WWI the trustees and Butler fired anyone who spoke out too much.”

credible URL please?

By: bad press=bad press

bad press=bad press — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 07:20:31 +0000

“controversy means publicity and applications”

i dunno. it looks to me like CU doesn’t have its shit together / is full of whiners / has such a choking beauracracy that people feel the need to go outside the exiting channels for being heard + finding accountability

By: Ron

Ron — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 05:09:53 +0000

This is absurd. Bollinger did not unconditionally support Israel. He said:
—
As a citizen, I am profoundly disturbed by the recent vote by Britain’s new University and College Union to advance a boycott against Israeli academic institutions. As a university professor and president, I find this idea utterly antithetical to the fundamental values of the academy, where we will not hold intellectual exchange hostage to the political disagreements of the moment. In seeking to quarantine Israeli
universities and scholars, this vote threatens every university committed to fostering scholarly and cultural exchanges that lead to enlightenment, empathy and a much-needed international marketplace of ideas.

At Columbia I am proud to say that we embrace Israeli scholars and universities that the UCU is now all too eager to isolate as we embrace scholars from many countries regardless of divergent views on their government’s policies. Therefore, if the British UCU is intent on pursuing its deeply misguided policy, then it should add Columbia to
its boycott list, for we do not intend to draw distinctions between our mission and that of the universities you are seeking to punish.

Boycott us, then, for we gladly stand together with our many colleagues in British, American and Israeli universities against such intellectually shoddy and politically biased attempts to hijack the central mission of higher education.
–

That’s unconditional support for Israel? No, that’s support for academics, regardless of nationality.

By: interesting that

interesting that — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 04:54:42 +0000

Prof Richard Bulliet isn’t on the list, given his remarks RE: Prezbo following Ahmadinemania.

By: there's

there's — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 04:48:02 +0000

Thanksgiving in John Jay. A nice distraction, yet Columbia administration + colonialism + food is nonetheless apropos.