[Marxism] Juan Cole's own views on Yale rejection

[Russell Morse <russell.morse@xxxxxxxxx>]

http://www.juancole.com/2006/06/yale-affair-i-am-not-going-to-talk.html

Yale Affair - by Juan Cole

I am not going to talk about the Yale affair per se.

But I did want to clear up some misimpressions I've seen here and there.

First, it should be remembered that senior professors are sort of like
baseball players, and other teams look at them from time to time, as
recruitment prospects. It goes on constantly, formally or informally.
Such looking is never taken very seriously by anyone unless it
eventuates in an actual offer.

Second, it is important in interpreting these things to know who
initiated the looking. I am not actively seeking other employment, and
did not apply to Yale; they came to me and asked if they could look at
me for an appointment. I am very happy at the University of Michigan,
which has among the largest and oldest Middle East Studies programs in
the United States. It is like Disney World for a Middle East specialist.
To its credit, the University invested tens of millions of dollars in
creating positions and building library and other resources in this
field at at time when it was considered marginal by many other
universities. Michigan also has among the very best History Departments
in the country, characterized by diversity of area specialization and
innovative, interdisciplinary scholarship. It is a nurturing and
congenial intellectual environment. Many fine departments in the US have
a North Atlantic focus or bias, but Michigan for decades has had a
global emphasis.

The press has some out of date impressions about our major research
universities, imagining that the old hierarchy of Ivy League versus the
rest is still meaningful. It is not. Research universities, whether
state (Berkeley, the University of Michigan) or private, are much more
similar than they are different. Were I ever to go to another place, it
would likely be as a pioneer in a less well-developed Middle East
Studies program, for the purpose of building up something that we
already have at Michigan. That is, it would be a personal sacrifice for
some purpose, and not a decision easily made.

I was extremely fortunate to have been hired at the University of
Michigan right out of graduate school. I moved from UCLA to the pinnacle
of my profession at a young age. I am doing what I enjoy doing, which is
studying and teaching the Middle East and South Asia, and communicating
about it to various publics. I have not, and short of foul play cannot
be stopped from doing what I am doing, and what I enjoy. I welcome
critiques of my work. There are obviously some critics, however, who go
rather beyond simple critique to wishing to silence or smear me. In the
former, at least, they cannot succeed by mere yellow journalism. So I
have what I want, but they cannot have what they want. I win, every day.

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