Those Stubborn Facts

Did Professor Crawford read the *faculty* committee’s report, which found substantial evidence of plagiarism, falsification, and fabrication?

Publius, at 7:30 am EST on January 2, 2007

Not All Illegal Aliens Work

Political correctness has run amuck with this group.

Undocumented worker is a separate class from illegal alien.

Will this definition change the mindset of the majority of the public who believe that those who are in this country illegally should be forced out as quickly as possible?

We have citizens who need jobs. Our goal must be to match the work with the people who are legally in this country.

Bill

William Sumner Scott, J.D.

Judicial Equality Foundation, Inc.

http://jefound.org

wss@jefound.org

William Sumner Scott, J. D., at 7:45 am EST on January 2, 2007

Undocumented?

So now they want to give lawbreakers a way to beat the system again. An illegal infiltrator is now an “undocumented worker"?Being rewarded for breaking the law is not the way this country was established. We are a nation of laws, and those who break them must not be rewarded in any way.

Craig C, political pundit at http://blogresponder.blogspot.com, at 8:16 am EST on January 2, 2007

The times, they are a changin’

I love our ability in academia to quickly adapt to changing circumstances:

“Like often in academia,” David Damrosch, a committee member from Columbia University, said in reference to the presumed lower cost of holding the convention around Christmastime, “something that may have been true in the 1800s is no longer the case.”

LOL.

Christian Anderson, Ph.D. Candidate, Higher Education at Penn State, at 10:22 am EST on January 2, 2007

John Crawford of the U of New Mexico commented, “They’re using this whole thing to question why there are even ethnic studies departments.”

His quotation didn’t say who “they” are but I’ll volunteer to be included. Why are there ethnic studies departments? Existing sociology and anthropology departments could study ethnic differences. The political effect of those differences could be studied by political science deparments.

Isn’t the proliferation of black studies departments, women’s studies departments, gay studies departments, and all the ethnic studies departments just a gimmick to placate various pressure groups? When you see how the grease is distributed, you know which wheels have been squeaking. Unfortunately, people are not wheels, in that when you grease one wheel the other wheels do not start squeaking, but when one ethnic group sees you start a department for another, it demands one, too.

So, why are there ethnic studies departments? If you want to study ethnicity, why not be an anthropologist?

Jack Olson, at 10:24 am EST on January 2, 2007

Of MLA resolutions, Ward Churchill, and other inanities

I found the article on the MLA resolutions truly laughable. Is it any wonder that academia is criticized for its Ivory Tower mentality? If the MLA wants illegal aliens to get in state tuition, let THEM pay for it.If the MLA wants to coddle racist nutcases like Ward Churchill, let THEM hire him.

feudi@earthlink.net, at 10:48 am EST on January 2, 2007

Undocumented workers

The tax money that suppports public education in California comes from three main sources: property taxes, state income taxes, and sales taxes. Undocumented workers buy things in California, so they pay sales taxes. Undocumented workers either own homes or rent, so they pay, directly or indirectly, property taxes. Undocumented workers work, so they pay state and federal income taxes (and if they don’t. it’s their employers who are cheating, not them).

People who come from outside the state have not supported our public educational system, so they pay higher out-of-state tuition fees. People—including undocumented workers—who work in California have paid to support our public schools, so they’re entitled to resident tuition fees. What’s hard to understand about that?

Philip Lopez, at 2:05 pm EST on January 2, 2007

Why Ethnic Studies?

I don’t agree with John Crawford that the MLA decision questioned the very existence of Ethnic Studies departments. To conflate Ward Churchill’s case with Ethnic Studies would be a great mistake since he in no way represents what the discipline of Ethnic Studies is about. He is a self-serving anti-scholar who has done harm to Ethnic Studies and particularly Native American Studies, a field which I helped establish and taught in for the past 35 years.

I do disagree with Jack Olson’s ignorance based question, “So, why are there ethnic studies departments? If you want to study ethnicity, why not be an anthropologist?”

Very few scholars in Ethnic Studies are anthropologists. Most, in fact, are, like myself, historians. The work of Ethnic Studies has had enormous postive effect on the fields of history, sociology, anthropology, law, literature, and political science, and continues to do so. No longer is it acceptable to study individuals and groups as objects to be disected, or as in the case of most of the above disciplines, not to study them at all, rather as historical subjects, actors in their own destinies, and most importantedly as resisters to projects of colonialism and genocide.

Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, Professor Emeritus at California State University, at 2:21 pm EST on January 2, 2007

“People—including undocumented workers—who work in California have paid to support our public schools, so they’re entitled to resident tuition fees.”

False. Their very presence is illegal and they are entitled to no rewards — financial or otherwise — based on it. We properly reserve those rewards for people who respect society and law governing it, not for those dedicated to reaping personal profit from violating law as whim strikes them.

, at 5:20 pm EST on January 2, 2007

Professor Dunbar-Ortiz, according to you, most ethnic studies scholars are historians. Yet, didn’t most colleges which created ethnic studies departments already have history departments?

You add that ethnic studies have improved history, sociology, anthropology, law, literature and political science. If so, then why not improve those departments instead of creating new ones?

Finally, you wrote, “No longer is it acceptable to study individuals and groups as objects to be dissected...or not to study them at all, rather as historical subjects, actors in their own destinies, and most importantly as resisters to projects of colonialism and genocide.” If the most important academic feature of an ethnic group, one which justifies the creation of a college department to study it, is its resistance to colonialism and genocide, then how can there be any Slavic studies departments, since the Russians were imperialists who conducted pogroms against Jews? And, why would there be no American studies departments, since in 1776, 1812, 1898 and 1941 the United States went to war against empires? If resistance to genocide is one of the most important features of an ethnic group which justify creation of a department to study it, then there should be an American studies department since the United States contributed heavily to the destruction of Nazi Germany.

Frankly, I don’t see much practical connection between what you say ethnic studies departments should be for and the kinds which are created. The University of Minnesota, for example, has a Scandinavian studies department even though the Scandinavians aren’t well known for resisting colonialism or genocide. On the other hand, some colleges have Middle Eastern Studies departments even though the Turks, Persians, and Egyptians were imperialists who sometimes committed genocide, as of the Armenians. I don’t see that your answer to my ignorance-based question squares with the facts I can observe.

Jack Olson, at 6:16 pm EST on January 2, 2007

I’ve read the academic report on Ward Churchill, and it didn’t find subustantial falsification by Mr. Churchil. First, the University of Colorado tried to fire Mr. Churchill for his unpopular speech, but failed. Second, they had an academic committee look at his scholarship under a microscope, but failed to find much problems there. What little they did find they stretched out, rather like CIA’s finding of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq before the warr. Yes, the MLA should pass the Radical Caucus’s resolution regarding Mr. Churchil. The basic point is you can’t fire a professor for unpopular speech, no matter how unpopular. That leads the way to massive witchhunts, blacklists. You might eventually wind up like Nazi Germany firing all dissenting professors from the universities.

To me attacking ethnic studies is just like attacking Jewish Studies in the academia. Who needs to learn about Jewish Studies? Isn’t it just covered by anthropology?

, at 11:10 am EST on January 3, 2007

The U.S. Code (main federal law) uses “illegal aliens” (tinyurl.com/vcbvv) and less frequently “undocumented aliens", but not “undocumented immigrants” or “undocumented workers".

, at 4:16 pm EST on January 3, 2007

Plagarism or censorship?

The new way for the elitist white professorship to control those uppity Indians and working-class and anyone else not welcome in academe——plagarism charges. So much for academic freedom000the freedom to burn trees saying nothing about nothing

michael w simpson, at 4:30 am EST on January 4, 2007

The shift of the MLA meeting date is a change that has long been overdue, but the first week of January is no real solution for scholars to whom Christmas (and the corollary private-professional clash) comes on January 7!

Anonymous, at 10:35 pm EST on January 12, 2007