Prof. Rabkin Resigns After Lengthy Tenure (as only republican government professor at Cornell)

© 2007 The Cornell Daily Sun ^ | Mar 15 2007 | By Nate Lowry

[Behind Liberal Lines]

ITHACA--Prof. Jeremy Rabkin ’74, government, recently announced his resignation from Cornell, effective July 1. According to the government department, Rabkin has accepted a position teaching international law at George Mason School of Law in Washington, D.C.

Rabkin will finish teaching this semester at Cornell. Faculty, staff and graduate students have been notified of his departure.

During his time at Cornell, through debates, lectures and other speaking venues, Rabkin has developed a reputation as a dynamic, informative professor with a conservative viewpoint.

“It’s a terrible, terrible loss, not just for conservatives throughout campus, but for Cornell as well,” said Megan Sweeney ’07, a student in Rabkin’s GOVT389: International Law and president of the College Republicans. “He’s a wealth of knowledge and an institution at Cornell.”

Greg Clother ’07, another student in GOVT389, agreed. “I know he’s one of the few conservative professors on campus, and he has extensive knowledge on international relations. He really adds to the campus discourse.”

According to Prof. Allen Carlson, government, Rabkin’s departure will not only affect the government department, but the entire University.

“It is clear to me that Jeremy’s leaving is certainly a loss for Cornell. Professor Rabkin is an engaging lecturer, a productive scholar, and presents a relatively unique perspective on contemporary American politics within the University and Department,”

As a prominent conservative voice on campus, Rabkin often presented opinions that strayed from others in the government department, the majority of which are registered Democrats. Some students expressed their concerns that, with Rabkin’s resignation, the government department will no longer be as intellectually diverse.

“I think in general there is an overwhelming liberal bias in faculty at Cornell. As Rabkin was the only registered Republican in the government department, [the loss of Rabkin] is an extreme detriment that will be reflected in recruitment at Cornell,” Sweeney said.

Other conservative students agreed and believe that in choosing Rabkin’s replacement, the University should aim to add to the intellectual dialogue.

Whether the government department will consider political affiliations in finding Rabkin’s replacement has not yet been determined.

Rabkin began teaching at Cornell in the fall of 1980 shortly after receiving his Ph.D from Harvard. During his time at Cornell, he testified before Congress numerous times and has published several books and academic journal articles. In 1999 and again in 2001, he was named Cornell’s most influential teacher by Merrill Presidential scholars.

[Behind Liberal Lines]

Professor Rabkin, in addition to being a great professor, was mentor to many of Cornell's conservative students including, I believe, Ann Coulter.

In addition, as noted above, Rabkin's departure leaves Cornell, and Ithaca, even more monolithically left-wing.

Ithaca's politics are largely determined by the two biggest employers in the town, Cornell University (aptly nick-named "the Big Red") and Ithaca College (which flies the gay flag over its campus).

The September 2002 issue of American Enterprise had an article about how the nation's colleges are not merely overrun by liberals, but that there are so many liberals on campus that conservatives are virtually non-existent.

And one of the worst offenders? You guessed it: Cornell University (no wonder they call it "the Big Red"), of which only approximately three percent of its professors are "republican" or "conservative." (Ithaca college only had approximately six percent).

How bad is three percent compared to other colleges of note? Let's put it this way: not only is it lower than Harvard (recently in the news for ITS skewed faculty population), but is even lower than Berkeley!

Since these faculty members (and their spouses) (and like-minded grad students) comprise a major chunk of Ithaca's population, politics in Ithaca runs the gamet from "liberal" to "communist."

For years, the town had an openly socialist mayor. They later elected him to the school board.

Even today, the City and County governments are dominated by democrats and Green party members. Ithaca is so "Green" that Ralph Nader got more votes in Ithaca than George W. Bush, and the NYS Green Party held its 2002 nominating convention there. The current Chair of the County Legislature is a radical former anti-war protester, self-described hippie, who says "My values haven't changed, just my tactics."

Another local political figure, commenting on September 11, said >"I think the U.S. is starting to pay for the fact that it's been a rogue state for years."

As a result of its unfettered liberalism, Ithaca was voted most enlightened (ie, liberal) city in America by the ultra left Utne Reader. As a good, conservative Freeper, I'm sure you'll agree that, contrary to what Utne says, "liberal" is not "enlightened." Unfettered liberalism is, well, evil.

As the most liberal city in America,"Ithaca is the City of Evil".

[Behind Liberal Lines]

City of Evil bump:

[Shady]

Why would anyone send their kid there?

[Red Badger]

...the government department will no longer be as intellectually diverse.

1 verses a mob of morons is diversity?..........

[NonValueAdded]

And the faculty mourns the loss of diversity. Yeah, right. /tu

[Verginius Rufus]

Donald Kagan, now at Yale, taught at Cornell a long time ago. I think he left because of the way the university handled the radical activists in the late 1960s.

[silverleaf]

Isn't it ironic that the loss of one conservative is enough to totally tip the ideological swing of the faculty into "non-diversity"? LOL!

GodSpeed Dr Rabkin- you're going to like George Mason.

[JimRed]

27 years without ever being invited to a cocktail party (in the midst of a cocktail party culture) must be annoying.

[JimRed]

And the faculty mourns the loss of diversity. Yeah, right.

Crocodile tears.

[trimom]

Professor Walter E. Williams would be more than happy to see yet another conservative at George Mason. Granted, he has Emeritus status now......

[kittymyrib]

Cornell, typical of the Leftist universities in the US, doesn't believe in political diversity. They and the msm believe in the old USSR's model of indoctrination.

[Pharmboy]

My wife and daughter went there. Wife is pretty apolitical, daughter came out as a Republican and a defender of Second Amendment. I did my best to immunize my daughter from the crapola that spews out of the commies up there. I guess it worked.

[henkster]

Sometimes, a thinking person's exposure to the hypocrisy and fallacy of the far left is all you need to insure a lifelong committment to conservatism.

Worked for me at Indiana University in the late '70's.

[diggerwillow]

“It is clear to me that Jeremy’s leaving is certainly a loss for Cornell. Professor Rabkin is an engaging lecturer, a productive scholar, and presents a relatively unique perspective on contemporary American politics within the University and Department,”

Says it all.

[Pharmboy]

Couldn't agree more. And, she likely would have come out right-thinking even w/o me.

She's a mid-90's grad, and during that period the African Americans self-segregated themselves away from all others (it may still be that way, but I do not know). At that time, all the groups were siloed--it was quite awful.

Freshman year she was good friends with a another freshman, an African American lad. After a few months, he told her he could not be seen with her anymore as he would be shunned by most other AAs on the campus if he did. She never dealt with him again--and he was very sad about it as was she. True story.

[henkster]

I think your daughter discovered a truth about race politics in America. The only reason race has a place in American society any longer is that the far left African Americans don't want to let go of it. And ironically enough two generations after the great civil rights watershed in Brown v. Board of Education, the heirs to that legacy have SEGREGATED THEMSELVES. The last thing they want is for us to truly become a color blind society because they then lose their power, status and relevance. Power to keep their fellow African Americans in bondage to themselves. And the left and MSM exalt them for it.

That's exactly the sort of hypocrisy and fallacy of the left that galls me.

[NativeNewYorker]

FWIW, back in the late 70s, my best friend senior year was a black guy. We roomed together, rented a house together, and even hitchhiked cross-country together. The only time race became an issue was when we'd walk into a rural restaurant, and all the chatter stopped as folks turned to stare.

Oh, and he was a babe magnet.....

[NativeNewYorker]

Why be the only guy with an open mind in a small town surrounded by cretins, when you can be in a true academic environment a stone's throw from Washington?

[Jimmy Valentine's brother]

Bet they didn't concentrate in Poly Sci or Wyomyn's studies.

[Jimmy Valentine's brother]

The beauty part is one of the folks that brought guns onto the Cornell Campus now serves on the Board of Trustees.