They Found 88 Problems, and the Dancer Was Just One

The Chronical On-Line (Duke) ^ | 16 March 07 (updated) | Steve Veres

[SkyPilot]

This is their story.

This is the story of professors who tried to listen to their students and sparked a shouting match that overpowered any original statement.

This is the story of how an 832-word advertisement in a student newspaper sparked thousands of vitriolic, misogynist and racist e-mails and became a national media spectacle.

This is the story of how faculty received phone calls in the middle of the night, endured mail fraud and overcame death threats for speaking out.

Many view the "Group of 88"--as the signatories were eventually dubbed by bloggers--as a symbol of the community prejudging the lacrosse team. Of the out-of-touch ideals of academia. Of hate.

They have been accused of damaging the very same campus culture they intended to address, of forcing President Richard Brodhead to cancel the remaining games of the lacrosse season, of spurring District Attorney Mike Nifong to indict.

How did it reach this point?

"When you take a political stance, this is what happens sometimes-people resist that," says Diane Nelson, associate professor of cultural anthropology. "None of us want pity."

"I, for one, did not think through all of the unintended consequences, nor did I believe almost a year later it would be dissected in the Chronicle of Higher Education and the subject of such acrimony," says Lee Baker, another associate professor of cultural of anthropology and chair of the Arts and Sciences Council.

[Neoliberalnot]

Hard to discern if this is a dyke or a queer. Which is it?

[FreedomPoster]

The typical private sector entry point would be "barista".

[SkyPilot]

Thank you. This is the first time I have seen the whole list of the Gang of 88.

Here is "Professor" Elizabeth Clark, also of the Women's Studied Dept.

She says her speciality is "Christianity" in her page.

I believe what she really means is she is an Christian-Hater.

Here is one of her publications:

"Rewriting the History of Early Christianity." The World of Late Antiquity: The Challenge of the New Historiographies (2004).

Robyn Wiegman is also on the list (Margaret Taylor Smith Director of Women's Studies and Professor, Women's Studies and Literature).

As is Anne Allison,Professor, Cultural Anthropology.

Wahneema Lubiano, Associate Professor, Literature and African and African-American Studies

Charles D Piot, Associate Professor, Cultural Anthropology & African and African American Studies

Karla FC Holloway, Professor, English

[BikerJoe]

When I'm elected King, the first thing I'm going to do is go through the universities and close down the useless departments, starting with Women' Studies.

The second thing I'm going to do is dust off my plans for a water-cooled electric chair.

[trappedinnj]

Just had to say thanks, first LOL comment of the day.

[SkyPilot]

You can view the entire Duke Women's (or is it Wymins?) Studies Dept at Duke and find them on the list of the Gang of 88.

http://fds.duke.edu/db/aas/WomensStudies/faculty/index.html

[FreedomPoster]

That group should be fired for signing a letter with blanant English mechanics errors, let alone the bogus PC bloviating.

[pabianice]

It's worse than you think.

[SoCal Pubbie]

You'd be wrong, of course. His BS is from Tel Aviv University and his PHD from Harvard.

[Ditto]

The second thing I'm going to do is dust off my plans for a water-cooled electric chair.

If it's solar powered, Al Gore will invest in it.

[Howlin]

I can't wait till this thing is dismissed and all these people start talking! I wonder what we don't know!

[FreedomPoster]

/blanant /blatant /

To fix mine.

[SkyPilot]

In defense of my profession, please note that only 2 of these leftists, one in math and the other in physics, are in the hard sciences. As I have stated on numerous occasions most scientists, engineers, and math professors are not subject to manipulation by the sniveling liberals on the left.

So true.

I studied Engineering at Syracuse University. My roommate was pre-med.

In the hard sciences, and in most business schools, you find true academics.

The "Queer Theory" majors are a joke - along with all the other so-called "Studies."

I told this story on FR before, but I remember trying to cram for my Thermodynamics final one Saturday, and my concentration was broken by this horrible moaning sound coming from the dorm day room.

I walked down there, and discovered a dozen "Women's Studies" majors lying on their backs, bent at the knees, and legs apart, moaning and chanting gibberish.

When I asked what they were doing, I was told they were simulating giving spiritual "rebirth to the Egyptian goddess Isis."

[twinzmommy]

Hey! no picking on that hairstyle! It sucks to always have it puled back in a ponytail -- it's variety darnit!

But then I have to wonder -- would you have been the man who mocked me when I voted in the last Presidential election saying he "knew I was voting Democrat?" (I was wearing black and had a nosering at the time).

Appearances aren't everything.

[SkyPilot]

Good grief!

[khnyny]

Interesting. Of the total 88, only one Math Professor. No sciences or engineering Profs. Just an observation.

Also, what in the world is "Romance Studies"?

[SkyPilot]

Thanks Howlin for pinging your list.

[Howlin]

Glad to; I can't believe we're almost at the end of this -- MAYBE; but then there is Nifong's trial, right?

Not to mention all the talk shows with the players, parents, and the 'ho's talking, right?

[Carolinamom]

friendsofdukeuniversity.blogspot.com has updated articles about the whole Duke mess. Well worth bookmarking.

[Neoliberalnot]

Thanks for the note of support. The problem is that the 80% of liberals/progressives give the 20% a bad name.

I don't have a clue why so many universities offer useless courses spouting political drivel. In my book it is a crime and scam to offer courses and degrees that have nothing to do with preparing students for the job market.

On another note; in my experience "cramming" for a thermo exam was a big mistake. I had thermo in physical chemistry and having an exam with 4 questions typically required at least 2-3 nights of hard study. I went from Chemistry to DVM with a specialty in toxicology.