Oct 7, 2005

On Meritocracies ...

by Cliopatria

Income Distribution: Among all the world's large economies, after Mexico and Russia, the United States has the greatest disparity between the very wealthiest and all the rest of us. Thanks to Eric Alterman for the tip.

Ivy League Undergrads: Malcolm Gladwell,"Getting In: The Social Logic of Ivy League Admissions," New Yorker, 3 October, reviews Jerome Karabel's The Chosen. My favorite passage:

When the Office of Civil Rights at the federal education department investigated Harvard in the nineteen-eighties, they found handwritten notes scribbled in the margins of various candidates' files."This young woman could be one of the brightest applicants in the pool but there are several references to shyness," read one. Another comment reads,"Seems a tad frothy." One application -- and at this point you can almost hear it going to the bottom of the pile -- was notated,"Short with big ears."

Thanks to Jonathan Wilson at The Elfin Ethicist for the tip.

Fallen Historians: Alex Beam,"Doris Kearns Goodwin's Second Act," Boston Globe, 6 October, reflects, a little cynically, on the public relations campaign for Goodwin's new biography of Lincoln. He is as good a subject to redeem yourself with as I can imagine, though Lincoln didn't do anything to redeem Stephen Oates. Beam concludes:

Goodwin's publicity blitzkrieg includes a visit to ''The Daily Show." I would love to see Jon Stewart prop up her book on his desk, as he often does with authors, and then swivel his chair toward his guest, sitting demurely on the couch. In my imagination, Stewart asks: ''So, Doris, tell me -- how much of this did you write yourself?"
A man can dream, can't he?

Thanks to Hiram Hover for the tip.

Titled Professorships: So, you thought your department's round of on-campus interviews was a circus: There's a grand smackdown to decide who will become the Regius Professor of Classics at Cambridge in 1906. Peter Stothard's"Prof Idol," TLS, 6 October, reviews Christopher Stray, ed., The Owl of Minerva: The Cambridge Praelections of 1906 (Proceedings of the Cambridge Philological Society, 2005). [ ... ]

U. S. Supreme Court: David Greenberg,"Supreme Court Cronyism," Slate, 5 October, says that the Bush administration has rejected the Progressive Era's bureaucratic, meritristic, professional, and technocratic values in favor of the 19th century's spoils system. Thanks to Kevin Murphy at Ghost in the Machine for the tip. Charles Krauthammer,"Withdraw This Nominee," Washington Post, 7 October, puts it succinctly. The best place for primary and secondary sources on Harriet Miers is at The University of Michigan Law Library. Thanks to Orin Kerr and Jim Lindgren at The Volokh Conspiracy for the tips.

More Comments:

Ralph E. Luker - 10/8/2005

Grant, There was an extended inquiry into the matter, but there was not an official finding that he was guilty of plagiarism. In my opinion, he was, but you can read a good share of the back and forth at his "I Stood Accused of Plagiarism."

Grant W Jones - 10/8/2005

OK, Oates was accused of plagiarism, was the charge ever documented and are there links to such evidence? I really enjoyed Oates bio on Lincoln and I hate to think it is marred by plagiarism.

Caleb McDaniel - 10/7/2005

Rebecca, never underestimate my boldness in ignorance. ;-)

Rebecca Anne Goetz - 10/7/2005

Thanks Ralph. Unlike Caleb I was afraid to demonstrate my ignorance.

Ralph E. Luker - 10/7/2005

Oates's Lincoln biography was one of the works for which he was accused of plagiarism. One needs to say these things carefully because Oates threatens litigation at the drop of a footnote, but it's probably safe to say that the tempest over plagiarism charges in re Oates, which dragged on in official AHA channels for years, was the major prior experience leading AHA leadership to abandon all pretense at inquiring into and judging specific charges of plagiarism. I think they did so wrongly, but it's a done deal.

Caleb McDaniel - 10/7/2005

Ralph, could you fill me in on your allusion to Oates's Lincoln work? You say, "Lincoln didn't do anything to redeem Stephen Oates," but I'm unfamiliar with the backstory here and feel like I shouldn't be.

Jonathan Dresner - 10/7/2005

I particularly like the income distribution stuff. I need to find a good "tax system simulator" so I can test out my logarithmic tax plan. I don't think any less dramatic curve will do.

And the Ivy admissions stuff is good, too. I'm an alumni interviewer for my (non-Ivy) alma mater (I wouldn't do it if I thought there was someone else on the island...) so it's worth thinking about these things.

On Miers, I do find it interesting to see how fast the hardcore Bushistas (our neighbor Mr. Reeves, among others) have been pushing a sort of "doin' what comes nat'rally" argument that Miers almost complete lack of the experience and background that made Roberts such a strong candidate is a necessary "balance".... I thought "diversity" was a liberal thing.