Here (subscriber access only, I'm afraid). An excerpt:
Critics -- including many prominent professors and traditional faculty groups -- say the [Academic Bill of Rights] seeks to purge liberals from the academy and to create quotas for hiring conservative professors.
"It's Orwellian," says Roger W. Bowen, general secretary of the American Association of University Professors. "He's trying to create an atmosphere in the classroom where faculty are not treated like the professionals that they are."
Although it's called an academic bill of rights, "it's really an academic bill of wrongs," Mr. Bowen continues. "The intent is to take away academic freedom...."
[A]lthough [Horowitz] contends his bill of rights is not a political document, it is large conservative foundations that make sure he, and the handful of people helping him, have plenty of cash for the fight....
If he were liberal, [Horowitz] contends, he could be an editor at the Times or a department chairman at Harvard University. And his life story would have already been told on the big screen. Radical Son: A Generational Odyssey, his autobiography, has been out for eight years. "Someone would have made a film out of it if I was a leftist," he says bitterly.
He claims he would make more money as a liberal, too, "at least three times," what he earns now. According to the center's most recent available tax form, Mr. Horowitz received an annual salary of $310,167 in 2003. He declines to give his current income, but in addition to his salary, Mr. Horowitz receives about $5,000 for each of the 30 to 40 campus speeches he gives each year....
For the AAUP's Mr. Bowen, Mr. Horowitz is less of a concern than the legislators who are taking his bill of rights seriously. "David Horowitz himself has little power," he says, "but state legislators do."
Mr. Bowen fears that if those legislators do pass the bill, it will "put a monitor in classrooms," increase the role of government, and make litigation at the college and university level more frequent and more prevalent....
Mr. Bowen of the AAUP says that none of the foundations that contribute to Mr. Horowitz's center [promoting ABOR] give to his association [the AAUP]. "If they really were supporting academic freedom, they should be sending money our way," he says.
The board of Mr. Horowitz's center is similarly conservative. David Keene, chairman of the American Conservative Union; Wayne LaPierre Jr., executive vice president and chief executive officer of the National Rifle Association; and John O'Neill, spokesman for the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, are members, as are Bruce H. Hooper, president of the Elizabeth S. Hooper Foundation, and Norman Hapke, a member of the board of the Jacobs Family Foundation, both of which contribute to the center....
Mr. Horowitz concedes that he seeks people for his board for whom he has an "affinity," and that he has never invited liberals to join. "I've tried to keep on the board people who will raise money for me," he says. "The center is a personal campaign of my agendas...."
"Of course it rankles," [Horowitz] says of the books never assigned, the invitations to speak never sent. "But it would be a complete distortion to say that this is about one man."
UPDATE: The full text of the article is here. Siva Vaidhyanathan (Culture & Communication, NYU) comments on the Chronicle's portrayal of Horowitz here.
ANOTHER UPDATE: A scientist at a midwestern research university writes:
A couple years ago, Horowitz appeared at [my school] and libeled a faculty colleague, in person and on his website. She went thru a month of hell until the (anonymous) charges were shown to be baseless, and the Faculty passed a resolution commending her and reprimanding the ones (in the legislature and elsewhere) who had joined in the attack. Unfortunately she didn't want to sue the bastard. Hopefully, he will overreach and get smacked hard, but it's going to be a pain until he does.
Lessons learned: 1. Push back at once. 2. Don't count on your administration for help - they will stand like deer in the headlights to avoid offending the bullies, donors, legislators, etc. 3. Strong public statements from the faculty really do have an influence, especially if they are upholding academic principles.
Recent Comments