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January 12, 2009

Behold the Fruits of "Academic Freedom"

Justin Katz

Ever have an educator explain to you that it is important to hear all sides of an argument and to engage the opposition in dialogue? Well, for many humanities professors, that may be a lesson preached more than practiced:

Anyone who needed evidence that the culture wars are far from over could find it here at the annual gathering of the Modern Language Association last week. As the response to David Horowitz's appearance on an MLA panel showed all too plainly, the culture wars haven't ended; they've just reached an ugly stalemate. ...

... In fact, Mr. Horowitz's appearance at the MLA meeting, he said, is the first time that he has defended his views in person before a scholarly group. ...

But members of the audience weren't having any of it. They wanted to challenge the panel about one thing: why Mr. Horowitz was there in the first place.

"Are you now proud that you are the only organization to invite Horowitz to speak?" an angry Barbara Foley of Rutgers University at Newark asked. "Did you do your homework" about Mr. Horowitz's blog, FrontPagemag.com? she continued, to audience applause. Grover Furr of Montclair State University and a self-described "victim" of Mr. Horowitz's book The Professors: The 101 Most Dangerous Academics in America, said he objected to Mr. Horowitz's being invited "not because of his views but because he is a liar." Another audience member complained that out of thousands of MLA members, the organization had picked "two FrontPage columnists" for the panel. ...

At one point, a member of the audience could be seen giving Mr. Horowitz the finger. Brian Kennelly of California Polytechnic State University at San Luis Obispo, who presided over the event, wrote on The Chronicle's Web site that he observed an audience member repeatedly mouthing an obscenity to Mr. Horowitz — behavior he called "troublesome" and "repugnant."

It's telling, and not very surprising, that a roomful of academics required the supervision of security guards. I wonder if they had their Tasers at the ready.

ADDENDUM:

It was Rhode Island's own Rocco DiPippo, by the way, who blew the whistle on Professor Furr. I suspect Grover would think twice before directing his spittle toward Rocco in person.

Comments

If Grover Furr didn't exist, I suspect that Tom Wolfe would invent him - and his name.

Wotta tool.

Posted by: chuckR at January 12, 2009 2:57 PM

I read one book by David Horowitz-"Radical Son".It took a LOT of balls for him to write that book.He revealed things in his personal history that must have pained him a whole lot.A liar?I don't think so.Some of these smug self righteous left wing academics need to have a long talk with themselves.

Posted by: joe bernstein at January 12, 2009 4:38 PM

I read one book by David Horowitz-"Radical Son".It took a LOT of balls for him to write that book.He revealed things in his personal history that must have pained him a whole lot.A liar?I don't think so.Some of these smug self righteous left wing academics need to have a long talk with themselves.

Posted by: joe bernstein at January 12, 2009 4:38 PM

It's high time we demand equal representation at STATE FUNDED colleges for conservative,Christian, libertarian, etc. faculty or simply STOP subsidizing these state creations.
Let the poverty pimps (yes Golilocks this means you) and communist scum support themselves.
I say again that Franco, the man who saved Spain, had a foolproof cure for progressives.

Posted by: Mike at January 12, 2009 10:33 PM

Grover Furr ... wasn't he a Muppet?

Posted by: Will at January 13, 2009 2:05 AM