[lbo-talk] Cole denied job at Yale: Chuchill fallout?

[Sean Andrews]

[Juan Cole was turned down for a job at Yale due to outside right-wing
groups putting pressure on the administration, according to some
observers (including, it seems, said right-wing groups). Not sure what
to think of the situation and haven't read enough on it argue one way
or the other, but the Inside Higher Ed piece on the subject is
titled...]

http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2006/06/05/cole

BLACKBALLED AT YALE

One of the most closely watched — and criticized — faculty searches
this academic year is ending with Juan Cole apparently being rejected
for a post in Middle Eastern history at Yale University.

Cole is a professor of history at the University of Michigan and
president of the Middle East Studies Association. He also has one of
the largest audiences of Middle Eastern studies experts through his
blog, Informed Comment, on which he publishes numerous updates a day
about events in the Middle East. Cole is a tough critic of U.S.
foreign policy and of Israel's government — and his blog comments have
been used for months by opponents of his appointment to kill it.

Yale officials are not commenting on Cole's status as a potential
faculty member. Neither is Cole. A joint appointment in history and
sociology had already been approved at the departmental levels. But on
Friday, the blog Power Line reported that a senior appointments
committee at Yale has overruled those votes, scuttling the move from
Ann Arbor to New Haven. Power Line has been critical of Cole — it
declared its scoop to be "today's good news" — but the report was
confirmed by a professor with close knowledge of the search.

Zachary Lockman, a professor of Middle Eastern studies at New York
University, called the campaign against Cole "an assault on academic
freedom and the academic enterprise." Lockman is president-elect of
the Middle East Studies Association. He stressed that he was speaking
for himself, not the group, and that he didn't have firsthand
knowledge of the Yale search.

Lockman said that Cole is "one of the preeminent historians of the
modern Middle East and he's been attacked on political grounds —
because he's critical of the Bush administration and Israel." Given
Cole's reputation and the departmental backing for his appointment,
Lockman said of the decision to reject Cole: "Universities seem to be
willing to kowtow to pressure from outside interest groups."

Cole's critics — in The New York Sun, National Review, The Wall Street
Journal and elsewhere, several of whom are now praising Yale for not
hiring him — have maintained that they aren't using political tests,
but object to Cole's career on a variety of grounds. They point to
numerous quotes he has made (generally in his blog) that they say show
a willingness to blame the United States and Israel inappropriately
(Cole has said that some of the quotes are taken out of context and
that others represent legitimate opinion). Several have also
criticized his scholarship, saying that he is spending too much time
on blogging and questioning his output of serious scholarship. (His
supporters point to a long publication list.) Campus Watch, a
pro-Israel group, maintains a long list of articles about Cole, most
of which it endorses for their criticism of him.

Michael Rubin, a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute,
summarized the anti-Cole arguments in an opinion piece in The Yale
Daily News. "Cole is a major public figure. But the political
popularity and punditry should not substitute for research accuracy
and experience. Bush criticism may be trendy and perhaps even valid,
but the reputation of Yale's faculty ... should be based on more," he
wrote.

While it is unclear whether timing was a factor in Yale's decision, it
probably didn't work in Cole's favor. The university has been facing
considerable criticism in conservative circles since the publication
in March of a profile in The New York Times Magazine of a former
official of the Taliban government in Afghanistan who is studying at
Yale. The headline on the Power Line article about the apparent end to
Cole's candidacy at Yale was "No Teacher for Taliban Man."

Some of those expressing concern about the way Cole's candidacy was
handled aren't scholars of the Middle East or political allies of
Cole. Ralph E. Luker, who has criticized political litmus tests by a
variety of political views, wrote on Cliopatria Saturday that "if a
distinguished conservative scholar were denied an appointment at Yale
because of her or his conservatism, partisans on the right would be,
er, rightly outraged. Academic conservatives ... can't both take heart
from the denial of Juan Cole's appointment and continue their campaign
for a 'depoliticized classroom.' However ideological Juan Cole may be,
he is no Ward Churchill and conservative ideologues sullied the
decision-making process by their ideologically-motivated public
campaign against Cole's appointment."

As for Cole, in an e-mail exchange, he repeatedly declined to say
anything about the Yale search. But he did agree to comment on the
criticism he has received during the Yale search. "These vicious
attacks on my character and my views were riddled with with wild
inaccuracies," he said, adding that the criticism was "motivated by a
desire to punish me for daring to stand up for Palestinian rights,
criticize Israeli policy, criticize Bush administration policies and,
in general being a liberal Democrat."

Cole said that the experience will not lead him to change his views or
his public expression of his views. "The campaign has inspired me to
redouble my efforts. Attempts at blackballing and at making
intellectuals taboo always demonstrate the fear of ideas in one's
opponents."