Things Noted Then and Now
C. David Benson,"In Chaucer's Shadow," Weekly Standard, 20 August, reviews John M. Bowers' Chaucer and Langland: The Antagonistic Tradition.
Ivan Hewett,"The Dark Heart of German Culture," Telegraph, 25 August, reviews Jonathan Carr's The Wagner Clan. Hat tip.
Scott Jaschik,"Terminating the Terminal Year," IHE, 27 August, and Jennifer Howard,"DePaul U. Cancels Courses of Professor Who Lost Tenure Bid, But He Plans to Teach Them Anyway," CHE, 27 August, report that DePaul University has cancelled Norman Finkelstein's classes and will deny him office space in his terminal year. How's that for modeling"Vincentian norms"? Finkelstein vows that he will teach, use his office, engage in non-violent civil disobedience and go to jail, if necessary, even engage in a protracted hunger strike. I can't criticize him for that!
At Durham-in-Wonderland, our colleague, KC Johnson, has profiled some of the 88 Duke faculty members, who signed an early public statement that seemed to rush to judgment about the guilt of the members of the University's lacrosse team. The historians profiled include: William Chafe, Sally Deutsch, Joycelyn Olcott, Pete Sigal, and Irene Silverblatt. Fortunately, their professional reputations will not ultimately rest on what they said or did during the Duke lacrosse case. Some of their colleagues in the Group of 88 have done little other professional work to rescue their reputations.