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Hamilton's Assault on Dignity and Freedom, Part I
Recently ACTA wrote a letter to the Hamilton Board of Trustees, asking for its intervention in an issue of academic freedom. An outstanding young professor of history, Christopher Hill—also a well-known libertarian—was cut from consideration for a tenure-track position in the very earliest stages of the search.
When a distinguished senior professor of history, Robert Paquette, using public and non-privileged information, openly protested the apparent prejudice of the search, Hamilton's dean, Joseph Urgo (now President of St. Mary's College of Maryland) forbade Paquette's future service on search committees until his department vouched for his good behavior. Given the History Department's conduct of the search involving Professor Hill, one can reasonably expect them to vouch for Professor Paquette about the same time Hell freezes over.
ACTA asked the Hamilton Board to review this sorry affair, noting how badly it reflects upon the college and the damage it does to intellectual diversity on campus. Significantly, the issue and ACTA's correspondence received substantial coverage in Hamilton's newspaper, The Spectator on September 30. Yet for all of that, ACTA received but a four-line response from Hamilton's Board Chair, which assured us of the Board's confidence in the "principled and appropriate" actions of the History Department in its review of candidates ... and "its long standing commitment to academic freedom."
As ACTA awaits evidence of actions to support this bold claim, there is a distressing new issue that threatens freedom of thought and conscience at Hamilton. This time it is aimed specifically at all male freshman students. Please read the following, "Hamilton's Assault on Dignity and Freedom, Part II," by Heather Lakemacher.
Posted by Michael Poliakoff on October 13, 2010 at October 13, 2010 11:19 AM
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