Posted on 02/12/2005 6:09:16 PM PST by Pharmboy
Just over a week after the cancellation of Ward Churchill's visit to Hamilton, The Margaret Bundy Scott Professor of Comparative Literature Nancy Sorkin Rabinowitz has announced that she is stepping down as director of the Kirkland Project, effective immediately. Rabinowitz announced her decision in a press release sent to The Spectator late Thursday evening.
"Hamilton College finds itself in the midst of a crisis that is deeply rooted in the institution's history and set against a backdrop of increasing political and cultural tension. Much of the resulting media attack has been directed personally at me as Director of the Kirkland Project. This, in turn, has been destructive to the Project and to the educational mission of the College, in particular to its desire to create a more diverse and welcoming environment for all students," she stated. "In the interests of the College and its community, therefore, I am stepping down as Director, effective immediately."
Rabinowitz's announcement comes shortly after the College discovered that the Kirkland Project paid Ward Churchill for his visit, despite the cancellation of his speak- ing engagement.
When questioned about the payment on Wednesday morning, College President Joan Hinde Stewart and Executive Director of Communications Mike Debraggio stated that, to the best of their knowledge, Churchill had not been paid and that he had waved his fee.
Debraggio told The Spectator Thursday afternoon, however, that "It was President Stewart's belief that Ward Churchill had waived his fee...She has subsequently learned that the Kirkland Project initiated payment to Mr. Churchill. The College is looking further into the matter."
Debraggio and Dean of the Faculty David Paris stated Thursday evening that they believed the Kirkland Project had sent the check after the cancellation of last Thursday's panel, "Limits of Dissent."
Paris, however, warned against automatically associating the discovery of payment with Rabinowitz's decision to step down.
"I wouldn't want to make that particular connection because the temptation would be that those are cause and effect, which is not the case," he stated.
Debraggio stated that it's not unusual for the College to be unaware of payments authorized by College organizations, departments and programs, but he emphasized that the Kirkland Project "initiated the payment on their own." He was unaware of the current status of the payment.
Associate Professor of Art History Stephen Goldberg, who participated in Wednesday evening's HAVOC panel addressing academic freedom in the wake of the Churchill cancellation, would like to see the Kirkland Project examined more closely.
"I think this was the correct thing to do under the circumstances. We should now move ahead with a thorough review of the history of the operations and governance of the Kirkland Project, and an audit of its financial accounts and the expenditures of monies, to be conducted by an outside panel of reputable scholars," Goldberg said.
Professor of Government Theodore Eismeier, who has been a vocal critic of The Kirkland Project's invitation of Churchill and who initially alerted College administrators and later The Spectator of Churchill's comments, had praise for the work Rabinowitz has done at Hamilton.
"Although Nancy and I disagree about some issues, I admire her commitment to students and the College. Lost in recent controversies have been the many excellent events she has planned over the years," he stated.
The Elihu Root Peace Fund Associate Professor of Women's Studies and Director of the ACCESS Project at Hamilton College expressed praise for Rabinowitz and anger over the situation that led to her stepping down.
"Over the past three decades, Nancy Rabinowitz has done more to educate, challenge and inspire students than any single professor on the Hamilton College campus... Professor Rabinowitz's decision to step down as the director of the Kirkland Project represents a profound loss to our community," she stated. "Those who have worked so insidiously to hurt the Kirkland Project, Professor Rabinowitz, and by extension students and the college as a whole, should be ashamed of themselves. In my view they are quite simply not educators and not worthy of membership in this wonderful institution."
Paris was positive about Rabinowitz's work during her tenure leading the Kirkland Project.
"She's served the Project well for eight years, founding it and keeping it going. We're currently reviewing The Kirkland Project given the string of recent controversies going back to last semester. She believed it was in the best interest of the College to step away from the Project at this time. I respect the work that she's done in developing the Project and her decision," he stated.
The College's official position, as issued shortly before 11:00 p.m. Thursday evening by Debraggio, was more brief: "The College looks forward to moving ahead with the interests of the students foremost in mind."
It's about time. Get rid of the commie radicals, Hamilton. Replace them with some nice, smart folks who believe in the American Dream.
And wouldn'tya know it--"Comparative Literature"
the skinny on the "Kirkland Project"......
THE KIRKLAND PROJECT for the Study of Gender, Society and Culture is an on-campus organization committed to social justice, focusing on issues of race, class, gender, sexuality, disability, as well as other facets of human diversity. By sponsoring a lecture series, curricular initiatives, student research and community work, and faculty development seminars, the Kirkland Project seeks to provide the integrated, complex, rigorous intellectual analysis and engagement with ideas that is characteristic of a liberal arts education and necessary for social justice movements.
Our Goals are to: (these won't copy/paste....link below)
The Kirkland Project is named in honor of Kirkland College, from 1968-78 a college for women coordinate with Hamilton. The Project builds on Kirkland's twin legacies of women's education and innovative pedagogy, expanding on them to meet the global challenges that face contemporary male and female students, faculty and staff.
Calendar of Events Coordinating Council
Programming News
Curriculum / Hewlett Grant Newsletters
http://academics.hamilton.edu/organizations/kirkland/
Is that from Archy Bunker's lawyers office: Rabinowitz, Rabinowitz & Rabinowitz. LOL Every time I hear or read that name, I think of Archy threatening to call his lawyers! What a scream that show was! What an irony that Carrol O'Connor was such a liberal!
Thanks for finding and posting...at first I thought it had something to do with Costco (snort)...[that's their house brand in case you don't go there]
The left considers this to be a holocaust campaign, they're dropping all over the place.
Sept '04 Kirkland events:
The Kirkland Project
for the study of gender, society and culture
Events for SEPTEMBER 2004
2nd CLASS IN CONTEXT SERIES
Exhibit, "The Missing Story of Ourselves,"
Beinecke Village
Co-sponsor: ACCESS Project
2nd
CLASS IN CONTEXT SERIES
Kirkland Project Opening Panel, "Making Class Visible," and Reception
Fillius Events Barn
4 :10 p.m.; featuring Vivyan Adair (Hamilton), Joycelyn Moody (St Louis University--link), and Bonnie Urciuoli (Hamilton). Moderated by Nancy Rabinowitz (Hamilton).
9th
CLASS IN CONTEXT SERIES
9/9
Lecture by Dalton Conley (link): "The Pecking Order: Is the Family Home a Level Playing Field?"
Fillius Events Barn
7:30 p.m.; sponsored by the Sociology Department
11th
CLASS IN CONTEXT SERIES
Saturday Reading Group, a discussion with Vivyan Adair, women's studies and ACCESS Project
McEwen 104
1:00 p.m.; contact the Kirkland Project for more information.
16th
CLASS IN CONTEXT SERIES
“Savage Inequalities: Class, Race and Social Justice in the U.S. Public Schools,” a lecture by Jonathan Kozol (link)
Chapel
7:30 p.m.; co-sponsored by VPAA/Dean of Faculty and the Office of the President.
17th
CLASS IN CONTEXT SERIES
Conversation with Jonathan Kozol
K-J Aud
1 :00 - 3:00 p.m.; co-sponsored by VPAA/Dean of Faculty and the Office of the President.
18th
CLASS IN CONTEXT SERIES
"The Tests and Standards Juggernaut: How does it affect our teaching and our schools?" a workshop for educators with Jonathan Kozol
Fillius Events Barn, Beinecke Student Activities Village
10:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.; reservations requested by contacting the Kirkland Project (registration form); co-sponsored by VPAA/Dean of Faculty and the Office of the President. Refreshments available at 9:30 a.m.
22nd
NO-BROWN-BAG LUNCH TALKS
“Separate but Equal? Ethnicity as Social Class in Russian Law,” a talk by Matt Romaniello, visiting assistant professor of history
McEwen 104
12:00 p.m.; light lunch provided.
25th
CLASS IN CONTEXT SERIES
Saturday Reading Group, a discussion with Vivyan Adair, women's studies and ACCESS Project
McEwen 104
1:00 p.m.; contact the Kirkland Project for more information.
http://academics.hamilton.edu/organizations/kirkland/KPcalendarsep.html
"The Treatment of Women and Homosexuals in Moslem Societies vs. Their Treatment in Western Secular Democracies"
Sign me up for that one...
LOL!! (But it sounds so much better...)
from the article:
"Associate Professor of Art History Stephen Goldberg, who participated in Wednesday evening's HAVOC panel addressing academic freedom in the wake of the Churchill cancellation, would like to see the Kirkland Project examined more closely."
Based on the subject matter it presents to impressionable kids, I cheer Prof Goldberg on.
[phone ringing]
"Good morning. Rabinowitz, Rabinowitz, and Rabinowitz, attorneys at law"
"Let me speak to Rabinowitz, please."
He's in court. Sorry."
"OK. Let me speak to Rabinowitz, then..."
Sorry--he's on vacation."
All right then...let me speak to Rabinowitz."
"Speaking."
A whole months worth of garbage, developing victims for the next generation! And to think they are actually getting paid for this, it is an atrocity.
I like Michael Savage's idea. Leave tenure/tenure track jobs for the hard sciences. All non-science scholarship is at best wholly politicized and at worst a joke.
Personally, I've been having trouble reaching my lawyers at the firm of Rosenkrantz & Guildenstern lately.
OK, it's obvious that they have more than their quota of anti-American terrorist promoting extreme leftists. If they want to 'create a more diverse and welcoming environment' they should offer Ann Coulter or David Horowitz tenure. Then they can come talk.
In accordance with the Ann Coulter rule:
I am a sexist and am not interested in equal time, so I will NOT post a picture of David Horowitz.
They might not get that joke in Seattle...but that's ok. People in Brooklyn might not know what potlatch is.
Nice pic of Ann. Thnx.
Thanks for the ping.
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