« Is Allen West chopped liver? |
Blog Home Page
| Obama and the Jews »
May 20, 2008
Tragedy at Columbia University
Thomas Lifson
Virtually all of the elite higher education institutions in the United States have fallen into the hands of the left, but among them Columbia University may have fallen farthest. The New York Sun editorializes on a revolting appointment as the new dean of Columbia's School of International and Public Affairs, John Coatsworth.
Coastworth is a man who can only be described as an outspoken enemy of Israel and friend of far leftists, especially in Latin America, his area of specialization. The Sun details the problematic aspects of his history well. This is their summary:
No one, least of all us, is suggesting a political litmus test for the deanship of this school at Columbia. But a modicum of good judgment would be nice. The members of the search committee for the post included two of Columbia's foremost Israel-bashers, Rashid Khalidi and Mahmood Mamdani. The dean who preceded Mr. Coatsworth in the job, Lisa Anderson, is known for accepting a junket to Saudi Arabia from the state-owned oil company. The persons whose judgment is really called into question here is not just Mr. Coatsworth but the president and trustees of Columbia, who have now elevated to a deanship an Israel-hating apologist for the Communists who is on record as being willing to welcome Hitler to campus. They announced the decision just in time for Holocaust Remembrance Day. What an embarrassment for a university that has so many fine scholars and students associated with it and has so much to offer this city if it could only set its sights a little higher.
This appointment is tragic, in the Greek sense. The hubris of the Left in their domination of academia is leading to a debasing of institutions which took centuries to build. In the long run, the institutions will decline, and in the short run students and the public suffer. Apologists for tyrants and terrorists debase the ideals upon which Columbia University was founded. I feel this tragic appointment in my heart because for two years I was a Visiting Associate Professor of International Relations at Columbia in the 1980s. At the time, it was a much saner place. No longer.
Hat tip: Clarice Feldman
|
|
|
Comments
The liberal/leftist/socialist/communist blight not only presides at the university level, but the public school level as well. America is now promoting communist idealogy to our children. It's no wonder the youth are enthralled with Obama. Even the posters are Marxist in content. We are slipping and sliding our way into oblivian, surely the constitution will be negated and we will become an autocracy with a president, house, senate and court all dominated by communists.
Posted by: Dennis Schumann | May 20, 2008 11:58 AM
Far be it from me to argue with Mr. Lifson, but even in the 1980's Columbia was home to such anti-Israel luminaries as George Saliba and Edward Said.
Holding nothing more prestigious than a BA myself, I am hesitant to criticize the scholarship of men of such widely recognized reputation as these two. However, Edward Said is perhaps more responsible than any other person for having turned the academic study of the Middle East into what amounts, basically, to a pro-Palestinian, terrorism apologist, propaganda machine. His affection for revisionist history, hatred for Israel, and repeated dubious claims to being a "Palestinian" refugee [this, though it has been widely argued that he was born and primarily raised in Egypt-echoes of Yasser Arafat here] should lead any rational observer to the opinion that nothing but a liberal, anti-American, Anti-Israel trend at Columbia University would have ever lead to this man's hiring, much less the prestige heaped on him while spending decades at the University.
So, Mr. Lifson, I gladly acknowledge your superior insight regarding Columbia in the 1980's [especially since I was five years in 1985!], but it seems to me that Columbia was already plodding down that long path to disgrace and eventual marginalization. I can only hope that it either makes an abrupt U-turn, which appears unlikely, or that it more speedily dig its own grave.
Perhaps young Americans wishing a quality education should begin to seek out other options: maybe Patrick Henry College?
Posted by: Matthew-Jerusalem | May 20, 2008 05:19 PM
I don't see this as necessarily all bad. Brick and Mortar institutions may become dinosaurs anyway, with the new technologies coming online soon.
Posted by: Bruce J Rioux | May 20, 2008 07:34 PM
is this what I have to look forward to in 1 year
Posted by: ian c | May 21, 2008 06:42 AM
is this what I have to look forward to in 1 year when I graduate
Posted by: ian c | May 21, 2008 06:42 AM
I don't see a problem here. Columbia's international affairs school has a dean who believes his students should actually engage rather than ignore the world's despots, which is how it should be.
His views on Israel and Cuba differ from the author's, but the article doesn't even suggest that he indoctrinates his students.
I should add that even critics of Rashid Khalidi and Mahmood Mamdani -- the two search committee members mentioned in the NY Sun article -- acknowledge that they are scrupulously fair and evenhanded in the classroom. There is no reason to doubt that Coatsworth is, too.
American Thinker may find it convenient to demonize academics for disagreeing with its views, but a professor's (or dean's) personal views matter little unless he lets them determine how he does his job. Absent evidence that this is happening, Coatsworth's personal politics don't matter.
Posted by: CU Alum | May 21, 2008 02:32 PM
is this what I have to look forward to in 1 year when I graduate
Posted by: ian c | May 21, 2008 06:33 PM