Claptrap from Harvard interim president Alan Garber
Since I first arrived here as an undergraduate in 1973, I cannot recall a period of comparable tension on our campus and across our community. That tension has been exacerbated by concerns about how we address and combat antisemitism, Islamophobia, and other forms of bias; safeguard free expression; and foster a climate of mutual understanding. We have been subjected to an unrelenting focus on fault lines that divide us, which has tested the ties that bind us as a community devoted to learning from one another.
Note the balancing act that’s so prevalent on the left: one cannot mention antisemitism without immediately mentioning “Islamophobia.” We first heard about the latter, to the best of my recollection, right after 9/11. The terrorism attack supposedly spawned a wave of fear of Muslims and hate crimes against them, although in fact the reactions were surprisingly mild considering 3,000 innocent Americans had just been murdered by Islamicist jihadi fanatics.
Right now the Jews are the focus of the hatred, and Jew-hatred rather than “Islamophobia” is the problem on the Harvard campus.
Nor has Harvard been the least interested in “safeguarding free expression” in recent years, and Claudine Gay (whom the new president praises) has been instrumental in damping down the free expression of ideas if they are from the right – or if, for example, they include a black law professor being the defense attorney for Weinstein, a role for which Ron Sullivan lost his deanship.
And then there’s this: “We have been subjected to an unrelenting focus on fault lines that divide us…” . From whence does this focus come? Why would this focus be wrong (to me that’s what Garber’s words would seem to imply), if such fault lines do indeed exist and Harvard has many problems that need fixing? Why would Harvard be subject to that focus? Wouldn’t Harvard want to focus on such things and make them better? (Rhetorical questions, of course.)
And not a single mention of plagiarism.
It’s the ongoing bizzarro-world in which we live…Garber is Jewish, yes?
Yet gives no indication that he gets that one day the progressive left will come for him too. He keeps feeding the crocodile.
His second sentence gives away the whole purpose of this, as you have pointed out. By including both Antisemitism and Islamophobia in the list of tensions, Garber is trying to draw a moral equivalence that does not, and should not, exist. And (also as you have pointed out), totally ignoring the charge of plagiarism is a transparent effort to ignore what was the proverbial straw that broke Gay’s back. She might have weathered the antisemitism charge, but putting her scholarship in question was just too much. And Gay knew it, which tells me she knew the plagiarism charge was serious — and real.
Harvard has a real problem on its hands, and Gay’s resignation is only the beginning if Bill Ackmin decides to keep his pressure on the institution. I hope he does.
Mr. Garber reveals himself to be a third-rate bs artist in the tradition of Claudine Gay.
He’s plagiarizing her rhetorical style.
Cue the who:
https://www.dossier.today/p/harvards-interim-president-is-a-bill
As the great philosopher, Pete Townsend, said, ” meet the new boss, same as the old boss.”
Brings to mind this memorable observation in “Apocalypse Now”:
“Oh, man, the bullshit piled up so fast in Vietnam, you needed wings to stay above it.”
Substitute America for Vietnam, and . . . “there it is,” as grunts used to say in the Vietnam war.
Increasingly, I feel like “going Kurtz,” i.e., “splitting from the whole fucking program.” Splitting psychologically, to be sure; but also in part physically, which is to say geographically: namely, moving from Cook County Illinois to northwest Indiana.
F
It is not difficult to find Muslims in the US who by act or speech shown themselves to be anti-Semitic. It is much more difficult to find Muslims in the US who have been subjected to Islamophobia coming from Jewish people.
Fight, Fiercely, Harvard: Harvard gets worst score ever in FIRE’s College Free Speech Rankings
F.I.R.E points out that deplatforming, which is an attempt at punishing those who violate the accepted WOKE/Liberal/Progressive narratives de jour, have been generally successful at Harvard.
Res ipsa loquitur.
The problems were manufactured by the faculty and administration.
They lie as naturally as they breathe.
of course the lie extends itself by 73, most of the antiwar animus has expended itself, one might say the carter campaign was the carry over from mcgovern,
a high school classmate of mine went to rice,
https://twitter.com/claricefeldman7/status/1744383167723700460
the level of mind arson is extraordinary
I would be shocked to find any evidence whatever of actual anti-Muslim ugliness at Harvard. Anti-Jewish ugliness, on the other hand, is epidemic.
50 years ago colleges were trying to negotiate their way between radical students and the distinctly non-radical alumni, trustees, and wider public. This resulted in a lot of weaselly pusillanimity from administrators. Such is and has always been the way of bureaucrats. We have more freedom to be forthright and uncompromising than they do.
The line, “First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin” comes to mind; First we defund every public university, then we file charges of ‘crimes against humanity’.
Might just as well have a class in astrophysics?
Black Holes – Matter, Gravity and Antimatter. Singularity and racism, an all consuming hate. Not that dead white guy Hawking!
@miguel cervantes, I couldn’t quite believe that something like this could be true, so I checked. It is:
https://courses.rice.edu/courses/courses/!SWKSCAT.cat?p_action=CATALIST&p_acyr_code=2024&p_crse_numb=125&p_subj=CHEM
There is one section being offered this spring. The instructor is Brooke Johnson.
https://profiles.rice.edu/faculty/brooke-johnson
The intersection of science and social justice; sets that don’t overlap. One of these things is not like the other, …..
Piled higher and deeper. Was she a pole vaulter or long jumper? Leaps away from reality.
My guess is that the bulk of the Afrochemistry students will be athletes.
Brooke Johnson is likely reasonably intelligent, given her Ph.D. in chemistry from Princeton. I realize STEM is now heavily infected with the ‘woke’ plague (and given her presumptive age, STEM was so infected when she entered grad school), but still…if she were mediocre, she’d have gone into Africana Studies, Woman’s Studies, Queer Theory, etc.
That all said, she’s probably on a par with a white guy Ph.D in chemistry from a second rate state school* Even as STEM grows increasingly woke, she likely lacks any remarkable genius to establish herself in even a remotely significant way in academic chemistry. So….she found a manageable alternative, given her skill set.
I’m sure ‘Afrochemistry’ is an amazing course. I’m sure the 95% of the class that are athletes, stoners and humanities majors getting their ‘science’ requirement, will be truly enlightened.
*No offense intended. I’m a white guy who went to a second rate state school (although not in STEM).
Back in the day (late 70’s early 80’s) there were Rocks for Jocks geology classes; how the earth was formed! Comets! Asteroids! C1 Carbonaceous chondrites! Entertaining, engaging, interesting? Yes. But difficult? No.
A lower division class to fulfill a science requirement. But then it wasn’t furthering a political indoctrination either. The misuses of education.
Related (from one of the country’s two papers of record):
Glenn Reynolds on….
“Bill Ackman’s war to make universities accountable has the left panicked”—
https://nypost.com/2024/01/08/opinion/bill-ackmans-war-to-make-universities-accountable-has-the-left-panicked/
And two Bonuses:
1.
From the Democratic Party’s BULGING “Character Assassination of Political Rivals” File…
“Christopher Rufo Suspected of Being a Foreign Agent or Having Ties to the Mafia”—
https://twitchy.com/brettt/2024/01/06/christopher-rufo-suspected-of-being-a-foreign-agent-or-having-ties-to-the-mafia-n2391453
2.
From the Democratic Party’s similarly BULGING “Protecting Your Own” File…
“Prosecutor on Special Counsel Jack Smith’s Team Shut Down FBI Investigation into the Clinton Foundation in 2016”—
https://amgreatness.com/2024/01/05/prosecutor-on-special-counsel-jack-smiths-team-shut-down-fbi-investigation-into-the-clinton-foundation-in-2016/
H/T Instapundit (for all three links)….
Hmmm. Seems to be a distinct pattern…
I may have to get a bumper sticker that says “My kids didn’t go to Rice” — although that is where AesopSpouse and I met, and got engaged.
The faculty and students in the Seventies were trending left, but we still had an active Young Republicans chapter.
Bet they don’t have one now.
Powerline also covered the story.
https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2024/01/fried-rice-2.php
Voilà
https://babylonbee.com/news/proud-parent-installs-my-kid-didnt-go-to-harvard-bumper-sticker-on-car/
And I was wrong! There may be hope for the Alma Mater yet.
Although the Right/Left club count is 2 and 2.
https://ricevotes.rice.edu/student-organizations
Rice University College Republicans: https://www.facebook.com/RUCRTX/
As members of the Rice community, we believe that it is very important for multiple perspectives to have their voices heard, especially on a campus so diverse. As a result, the Rice University College Republicans club has been founded to give students and others within our community a chance to become active in campus-wide, local, state, and national politics. It is our belief that this organization should serve as a stepping stone into the political world while also fostering debate on issues to create solutions for our future.
Rice Chapter Federalist Society: https://fedsoc.org/chapters/TX/rice-student-chapter
The Rice University Federalist Society is an undergraduate student chapter of the Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies, a group of conservatives and libertarians interested in the current state of the legal order. It is founded on the principles that the state exists to preserve freedom, that the separation of governmental powers is central to our Constitution, and that it is emphatically the province and duty of the judiciary to say what the law is, not what it should be. Rice FedSoc seeks both to promote an awareness of these principles and to further their application through its activities. We are committed to bringing legal and policy experts of opposing views to debate on campus in front of the student body on the most important policy issues facing our nation.
Rice University Young Democrats: http://dems.rice.edu
Our club’s mission is simple: serve as a branch of the Democratic Party’s infrastructure on our campus. We do this in a variety of ways. Specifically, the Rice Young Democrats frequently registers voters, raises awareness about upcoming elections, connects students with quality internships at non-profits and campaigns, promotes progressive activism on campus, and coordinates with local campaigns to “get out the vote.”
Rice Left: https://www.facebook.com/riceleft/
An activist collective dedicated to leftist political values and action on campus. Our events and activities are aimed at building community, educating ourselves and others, and disrupting normative violence and a harmful status quo. Rice Left stands in support of oppressed and marginalized groups, organized labor, and ecology above profit, and ultimately desires the liberation of all from the bondages of capitalist exploitation, bigotry, and warfare.
Honestly, what did you expect?
The Rice U course:
Not surprising at all this course exists. Note how in the description it emphasizes black experience in interpreting chemical principles. As I mentioned many times before, way back in 2012 my small physics department was accused of having only a white men’s perspective on all things physics, and that the black perspective was needed and was probably more valid. The Rice course is just a logical outcome of such a push to “woke” STEM.
Garber’s baby food.
(Rice pudding….)
Fun Fact and great Houston story, the founder of Rice University, William Marsh Rice, was killed by his valet with chloroform. He was in cahoots with Rice’s New York lawyer to substitute a fraudulent will that named them as the beneficiary of Rice’s fortune. The scheme was pretty quickly discovered, so: The Butler Did it !
Rice’s Houston lawyer and executor who sussed out the scheme and exposed the murderers was none other than Captain James Addison Baker Jr., yes, of Baker, Botts & Baker – the grandfather of the James Addison Baker that we know of.
now the grown up Gerber Baby is John Morgan, local ambulance chaser impresario, change my mind,
I too have noticed (many years ago) that any mention of anti-Semitism must be coupled with the mythical “Islamophobia”.
If anyone accuses you of ‘Islamophobia’ or any other phobia, immediately ask them from where they got their degree in psychology, and if they have formally examined you.
A phobia is a psychiatric disease indicating an ‘irrational fear’. The fear of Muslims is not irrational.
Erronius