Re: [Critical-Realism] FW: DePaul Rejects Tenure Bid byFinkelstein andSays Dershowitz Pressure Played No Role

["Mervyn Hartwig" <mh@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi David,

I expect a Jew can be anti-Semitic, but this sounds like a case of misuse of
anti-Semitism to de-legitimise criticism of Israel's human rights record in 
the
Occupied Territories, which Finkelstein's *Beyond Chutzpah* documents.

There's evidence that there has been a campaign to drive Finkelstein out of
the academy ever since in the eighties he exposed Joan Peter's, From Time
Immemorial -- which claimed that there aren't really any Palestinians,
they're just recent immigrants --  as a fraud (it is a fraud).
I'm impressed by the fact that his peers voted for tenure, and by the
testimony of many distinguished scholars as to his academic ability, e.g.:

http://www.normanfinkelstein.com/article.php?pg=11&ar=1011

Mervyn



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "David Scofield" <D.Scofield@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: "Continuation of the Spoon Bhaskar List" 
<critical-realism@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>; "Mervyn Hartwig" 
<mh@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: "Continuation of the Spoon Bhaskar List" 
<critical-realism@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Monday, June 11, 2007 12:21 PM
Subject: Re: [Critical-Realism] FW: DePaul Rejects Tenure Bid byFinkelstein 
andSays Dershowitz Pressure Played No Role


>I have to say I don't understand the support expressed here for 
>Finkelstein. He
> is renowned for slandering those who challenge his views as frauds, 
> plagiarists
> and Nazis. His publications, Holocaust Industry and Reality of the
> Israel-Palestine Conflict have both been roundly criticised, not just for 
> the
> obvious anti-Semitism - the NYT described Holocaust Industry as a novel 
> version
> of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion - but for extremely sloppy 
> analysis. He
> has been further criticised for relying largely on secondary sources in 
> both
> books, and has tendency to bend and contort other's points in order to fit 
> them
> to his agenda. He does have his defenders though, like Ernst Zundle 
> (Holocaust
> denier and Hitler enthusiast) who says of Norman:
>
> "...That doesn't mean that Finkelstein isn't exceedingly useful to us and 
> to the
> Revisionist cause. He is making three-fourths of our argument - and making 
> it
> effectively. Never fret - the rest of the argument is being made by us, 
> and
> will topple the lie within our lifetime. We would not be making vast 
> inroads in
> Europe with our outreach program, were it not for his courageous little
> booklet, "The Holocaust Industry."."
>
> Finkelstein was fired from two NY universities (New York University and 
> Hunter
> College) for what the chairman of one department asserts was 
> "incompetence",
> "mental instability" and "abuse" of students with politics different from 
> his
> own.
>
> I'm very happy he was denied tenure. Being 'controversial' should never be 
> a
> substitute for good scholarship.
>
>
>
> Quoting Mervyn Hartwig <mh@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>:
>
>> Outrageous. He's very well published (in fact, can doubtless freelance if
>> he's forced out). Note that it's the mandarins (slaves of the masters) 
>> who
>> are calling the shots, not his college peers.
>>
>> Mervyn
>>
>>
>> ----- Original Message ----- 
>> From: "Tim Murphy" <info@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>> To: "Continuation of the Spoon Bhaskar List"
>> <critical-realism@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>> Sent: Sunday, June 10, 2007 8:20 PM
>> Subject: [Critical-Realism] FW: DePaul Rejects Tenure Bid by Finkelstein
>> andSays Dershowitz Pressure Played No Role
>>
>>
>> > Forward
>> > Another rightwing academic witch hunt
>> >
>> > See also
>> > http://www.normanfinkelstein.com/
>> >
>> > ---
>> >
>> > June 8, 2007
>> > Chronicle of Higher Education
>> > www.chronicle.com
>> >
>> > http://chronicle.com/news/index.php?id=2462
>> >
>> >
>> > DePaul Rejects Tenure Bid by Finkelstein and Says Dershowitz Pressure
>> > Played
>> > No Role
>> >
>> > Norman G. Finkelstein, the controversial political scientist who has 
>> > been
>> > engaged in a highly public battle for tenure at DePaul University, 
>> > learned
>> > today that he had lost that fight. In a written statement released to 
>> > The
>> > Chronicle, the university confirmed that Mr. Finkelstein had been 
>> > denied
>> > tenure.
>> >
>> > Mr. Finkelsteins department and a college-level personnel committee 
>> > both
>> > voted in favor of tenure, but the dean of the College of Liberal Arts 
>> > and
>> > Sciences wrote a memorandum against it, and the University Board on
>> > Promotion and Tenure voted against granting tenure. The final decision
>> > rested with the universitys president, the Rev. Dennis Holtschneider, 
>> > who
>> > said in the statement that he had found no compelling reasons to 
>> > overturn
>> > the tenure boards recommendation.
>> >
>> > I played by the rules, and it plainly wasnt enough to overcome the
>> > political
>> > opposition to my speaking out on the Israel-Palestine conflict, Mr.
>> > Finkelstein said in an interview.
>> > This decision is not going to deter me from making statements that, so 
>> > far
>> > as I can tell from the judgment of experts in the field, are sound and
>> > factually based.
>> >
>> > Mr. Finkelsteins case has excited widespread interest, in part because 
>> > of
>> > the involvement of Alan M. Dershowitz, a professor of law at Harvard
>> > University. The two scholars have sparred repeatedly in public. Last 
>> > fall,
>> > Mr. Dershowitz sent members of DePauls law and political-science 
>> > faculties
>> > what he described as a dossier of Norman Finkelsteins most egregious
>> > academic sins, and especially his outright lies, misquotations, and
>> > distortions.
>> >
>> > Informed of the news this evening, Mr. Dershowitz said, 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.
>> >
>> > In the DePaul statement, Father Holtschneider decried the outside 
>> > interest
>> > the case had generated. This attention was unwelcome and inappropriate 
>> > and
>> > had no impact on either the process or the outcome of this case.
>> >
>> > Jennifer Howard Posted on Friday June 8,
>> >
>> > ===========
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > _______________________________________________
>> > Critical-Realism mailing list
>> > Critical-Realism@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>> > http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/critical-realism
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Critical-Realism mailing list
>> Critical-Realism@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>> http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/critical-realism
>>
>
>
> -- 
> Doctoral Researcher
> Commercial Property Research
> Department of Town and Regional Planning,
> University of Sheffield,
> c/o 197 Trentham Court
> Victoria Road
> London, W3 6BT
>
> T: +44 (0)208 993 0092
> M: +44 (0)772 590 5032
> Department website: http://www.shef.ac.uk/trp/ 


_______________________________________________
Critical-Realism mailing list
Critical-Realism@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/critical-realism