Free Speech and Creepy Liberalism

U of I actually has a Middle Eastern Studies dpt - I was scanning through the faculty and I've actually read some of Pitard's work on the Ugaritic Baal Cycle. I wonder why he didn't try to work in the actual department that fits his area of expertise.

don't force boundaries on him man

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLoYFvbR0XY

bc that unit didn't have a line?

are arab americans americans? looks like that's who half of his books are about

idk how U of I works but i'd be surprised by any institution i've been involved w/ giving someone a spot in an unrelated department bc the correct department is filled up - it's pretty bizarre.

arab americans are not native americans

lol mordy I like you but you have no clue here

idk i have experience w/ a variety of NYC universities and departments so i'm not coming from complete ignorance. obv you feel it's not strange tho. i guess you've seen stuff like this before?

like, i have known ppl doing stuff in like German + French language departments that weren't German or French, but they always had theoretical basis in those languages. i've never seen someone literally doing another department in the wrong place.

like to lay it out: a unit gets a line, it advertises, it gets applicants, it chooses among those. they decide who "fits". they can't just send an applicant to another unit. in this case they judged fitness.

oh lol i missed that whole angle on this

maybe it's a ward churchill honorarium kind of thing

as in my eye missed the 'native' american part of all these articles

he has a book exploring parallels bw Native American and Palestinian issues. that's the basis for their judgment of fit

feels like they might have been able to find someone else who cared a little more about native american issues, somewhere in america

guess they didn't! maybe you should talk to them about it

did they post on craiglist that seems to be a good place to post jobs

you would know

feel like if I were someone really invested in illinois supporting its university system I wouldn't be so sad that tax dollars aren't going to the guy writing for electronicintifada.net, like gee, why are conservatives so bitter about area studies hmmm

again, you would know

http://utotherescue.blogspot.com/2014/09/the-order-of-civility.html

on the uc berkeley chancellor's civility/free speech statement, for the 50th anniversary of the free speech movement

"The demand for civility effectively outlaws a range of intellectual, literary, and political forms: satire is not civil, caricature is not civil, hyperbole and aesthetic mockery are not civil nor is polemic. Ultimately the call for civility is a demand that you not express anger; and if it was enforced it would suggest that there is nothing to be angry about in the world. The call for civility in discourse confuses the enforcement of administrative time, place, and manner restrictions with the genuine need to defend people from personal threat. The result is that the administrative desire trumps all else."

two very different threads there IMO and not entirely consistent with, for instance, how this discussion often plays out on ilx

in the case of the U of I "administrative time, place, and manner" includes flattering big donors, so indeed there are three different threads therein (as Chancellor Dirks no doubt intends to obscure)

well we do have mordy

i don't feel sufficiently flattered

fwiw i thought the contractual arguments for hiring salaita were strong enough that they should've reinstated him, but i'm still pretty pumped about the news that they voted him down

http://legalinsurrection.com/2014/09/u-illinois-board-of-trustees-votes-down-steven-salaita/

a victory for rich people, good job

except the boycotts suck and the u will lose the lawsuit

yay

i'm sure rich ppl all over the world are celebrating the news

legalinsurrection

I'm sure rich people are always celebrating. They're rich! This is just icing on the cake (albeit icing that will cost the Illinois taxpayer a lot). But hey! Civility! It's worth it!

http://linchpin.ca/?q=content%2Fallies-these-reflections-privilege-reductionism

http://utotherescue.blogspot.com/2014/10/free-speech-is-not-for-feeling-safe.html

wendy brown of uc berkeley

this will probably be great - loads of v smart ppl:
http://www.csgsnyu.org/2014/09/october-14-taking-offense-trigger-warnings-the-neoliberal-politics-of-endangerment/

I'm going to have to bookmark that for my debate class. There's a resolution of whether or not govt restrictions on threatening speech are desirable.

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/police-637732-council-meeting.html

SANTA ANA – Mayor Miguel Pulido canceled Tuesday night’s Santa Ana City Council meeting after a man in attendance refused to remove a cap with an anti-police expletive on it.

The chambers were filled as the City Council was scheduled to discuss a proposed homeless shelter, as well as meeting decorum rules after anti-police demonstrators interrupted a Sept. 2 council meeting in which police officers were being honored.

The man, who would not disclose his full name and only went by “Bijan,” was first approached by City Manager David Cavazos while he was sitting, waiting for the meeting to start. “He told me that he was going to give me the option to take it off. He didn’t ask me to take it off immediately when he was speaking to me,” Bijan said.

Bijan said he’s part of a group, CopWatch Santa Ana, and was arrested last week while he was filming police activity.

“I came here to talk about the police abuse that I’ve experienced with the Santa Ana Police Department,” he said. “I don’t feel like I have to take this off in this City Council meeting. It’s a meeting for the public and I’m allowed to be here with my hat.”

Pulido said he found the hat offensive and soon after, the public was asked to leave the City Council chambers because “we didn’t want to get into a big debate with a room full of people,” Santa Ana Police Chief Carlos Rojas said. He said police wanted the room isolated “in order to deal with the problem, whether it would lead to an arrest or not.”

Most left, but about 20 chose to remain inside.

“Start the meeting!” a woman shouted.

“You’re silencing people for a hat,” one man said.

Expletives in Spanish and English were thrown at the mayor.

Santa Ana police told attendees who chose to remain inside the council chambers that they risked being arrested if they did not leave.

Albert Castillo with Chicanos Unidos chose to stay and asked the mayor: “Explain to us, what actually are we doing wrong by sitting here? Just tell us what we’re doing wrong.”

At one point, demonstrators argued with Councilwoman Michele Martinez, who was surrounded by police officers, as she asked the man to take off his hat.

“Why don’t you just be respectful and take off your hat and we can resume the meeting. That’s all we’re asking,” Martinez said. “It’s disrespectful to the chambers. It’s disrespectful to our police officers.”

About 10 people remained inside the chambers when Pulido gave the man the ultimatum on to whether remove his cap or leave the premises. He did not leave, but was not arrested.

After Pulido announced the cancellation of the meeting, the attendees who had remained were greeted with applause as they exited the chambers.

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/police-637903-meeting-hat.html

jesus fucking christ

http://youtu.be/flaTrTJhkN8

what scares is i think we hear… violence

hadn't seen this before:
http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2014-05-15/dear-class-of-2014-thanks-for-not-disinviting-me

http://www.thetower.org/article/steven-salaitas-subpar-scholarship/

if you had any idea how much trouble that situation is causing me (like, as you post)

like I'm happy that you're happy for your team I guess, but for me this isn't some abstract thing, because the boycott fucks so much up

i'm sorry it's giving you personal trouble. academic boycotts stink.

so much time. & it's not like anything, one way or the other, is going to change anything. if the hire is reinstated, will this guy lead to the downfall of Israel? right. if he's not hired, will the university get better? the university has already suffered permanent damage from the chancellor and board of trustee's decision. like this is a game for a small group of very rich people, getting "their way" with an institution they care nothing about, except perhaps as a way to get tax exemptions (for the donors who threatened to withdraw funding) or as a point to brag about (for the board of trustees). for the people dealing with this everyday, it is not a game.

& I say all that as someone who will happily visit Israel for an academic visit whenever (if flights weren't so expensive I'd go this month, I was asked but there's basically no money in their university system to support).

http://www.thebaffler.com/salvos/able-bodied-kills-us

http://www.vulture.com/2014/11/when-did-the-art-world-get-so-conservative.html

One of art's great weapons is its bad taste — how something can seem ugly, wrong, or off but still help extend art. Art is for anyone; it just isn't for everyone. And we have to stop acting as if it is something to be domesticated, proper, good. Oscar Wilde thought that art is amoral, something first for itself; sometimes, it’s something you cross the street to avoid. Sometimes art is Muddy Waters' "Mannish Boy" blatantly howling a barbaric yelp. Come what may. Operating within rules isn't art. It's about acceptance. Being good. Moreover, if we're this bunkered in, what are we retreating from? What are we so afraid of? And why?

lol is that jerry saltz whining about people criticizing him for fawning over richard prince's gross, sexist, and incredibly boring new work?

what is the work and why is it gross, sexist AND boring?

http://news.artnet.com/art-world/richard-prince-sucks-136358
this review by paddy johnson is what saltz is responding to (also i guess where i got "fawning over"). imo it would be bad and embarrassing work even if it wasn't also gross and sexist

I'm a little torn on this one, I think Saltz is onto something but I'm not sure this is the art I'd be planting my flag in the sand over since it does actually sound like kind of obvious and bad art.