God Bites Man at Yale

A thesis which can't stand open debate has fallen.

It's a sure sign of what I call "political excess," evidence that gigantic crises are about to change attitudes on a mass basis.

 For decades an essential part of the current Thesis was that a "political correctness" pushes major universities to the left. Exhibit A has always been Yale University in New Haven.

In fact this was never true. There were liberals there, always have been. But there were also conservatives there. George W. Bush and William F. Buckley are Yale people. The Clintons went to the Law School.

What really determines what happens at Yale is the eternal search for more money. Generally this doesn't determine who gets a job -- money tends to follow quality.

But when a Thesis reaches its peak, when the system is under the most peril, money (always a lagging political indicator) can triumph. While man usually bites God, sometimes God (in the form of Mammon) bites man.

Thus, a top committee there has rejected the appointment of Prof. Juan Cole of Michigan to its Middle East Studies department. This despite his overwhelming endorsement by an assortment of lower committees.

Cole happens to be the most expert of the Middle East experts we have. He can translate both Farsi and Arabic. He has studied the players for decades. He has no axe to grind.

And that's the problem. In his no-holes-barred blog, Informed Comment, he pulls no punches. And this is apparently what lost him the Yale gig. Yet by the normal rules of "publish or perish," Cole is more published than anyone. Thanks in part to his blog, he has built the kind of reputation you build departments around, not the kind you dismiss.

Frankly, Cole is better off. Any University that lets money or political influence trump its academics is, by definition, not an elite university. Elihu Yale has become Bob Jones.

The Yale Middle East Studies department has just erected  a giant "second rate" sign on its front door.

I wonder if Rice is hiring...

Comments

[Richard Bennett]

The article says Cole, who certainly does have an ax to grind, is a specialist on Bahai faith in the 18th and 19th centuries, not the contemporary Middle East. This would bely your claim that Cole was the best man for the job.

Perhaps he's too soft on net neutrality regulation.