Huppauf on Ronell: 'student work would no longer be accepted [in the German Department] in which Derrida and Ronell were not cited'

Bernd Huppauf, the former Chair of German at NYU who hired Avital Ronell, has written a damning account of her tenure in the department for Tumult, a German publication (we mentioned this the other day).  The hard copies of Tumult have now shipped to subscribers, and I've received permission from the editor to translate excerpts for the blog.  The editor informs me that they will put Professor Huppauf's entire article on-line at their website on September 4 (I'll link to that as well when it goes live). In Prof. Huppauf's account, Prof. Ronell arrived at NYU and basically took over the department, including deposing him as Chair and turning the unit from a German Department into one in which, "We study, as a student said...French theory in English."  The program was, he writes, "sabotaged," such that "Avital Ronell and Jacques Derrida had to step into the center of research and teaching," a triumph, he says, of "narcissism" over the academic program.  Once Ronell took over, her secretary announced "at a department meeting that student work would no longer be accepted in which Derrida and Ronell were not cited." 

I'll begin posting more about Prof. Huppauf's account soon (once I finish some work connected to my real job!). 

ADDENDUM:  Needless to say, I will be glad to share any signed accounts by others disputing Prof. Huppauf's account.  Please send me links.