(Part I is here.)
(I continue my summary and translation of parts of Prof. Huppauf's Tumult article, which was published last week and will be on-line September 4.)
After Ronell's coup and the movement of Ronell and Derrida to the center of the curriculum in the German Department, Professor Huppauf reports that there were now some "students who spoke English and French, but not a word of German." More alarmingly, Prof. Ronell solidified her dominance of the department through "absolute control of information," even having her secretary inform other members of the department that no one should contact any Dean "without her explicit approval"! The authoritarian environment carried over to the treatment of students: Students now "had to...learn submission to authority. Every contradiction, every doubt, drew punishment. Contradiction was heresy, and heretics were rebuked or expelled - not always with a smile, often ironic, mocking, sardonic."
The most remarkable revelation in this part of Prof. Huppauf's essay is an e-mail he reports was sent to Prof. Ronell by "an older student, a psychotherapist" who had wanted to write a dissertation under Ronell but "gave up disillusioned and left the department." Prof. Huppauf quotes from the student's e-mail (which is in English in the Tumult article as well, so this is not my translation):
From my interactions with you and observing you in various settings, you give the impression that you suffer from a well-known mental illness referred to as malignant narcissism in a borderline structure…
There are clear clinical descriptions of sadistic object relations. You may get some sense of why your criticisms of students are so often felt to be destructive and disillusioning: you appear to be unable to control your sadism. Don't you realize that the metaphor you expressed to me in front of other faculty, that you liken your role to that of a Procrustean bonsai master who prunes and places wires on her students, probably points to a destructive, violent and sadistic phantasy that is only worsened by the self-satisfied relish with which you related it? This disorder, were it found to be present, would also account for why you sometimes seem to me slightly unkempt. These comments are meant to be helpful. I hope you will seek out a proper professional evaluation to identify whatever the problems are and have them addressed. I am concerned for you and I hope you will take this caution seriously….
The plaintiff's lawyers will no doubt want to get ahold of this former student and the letter: if it is not unfair character assassination, then it is a damning assessment that would fit with the plaintiff's allegations.
Once again, I am happy to link to accounts contrary to Prof. Huppauf's.
Recent Comments