Disclaimer #1: This is neither a defense nor condemnation of CU Professor Ward Churchill or the essay which has sparked the current hellstorm in Boulder. It is instead a reaction to the reaction, a comment on how the issue is being received and handled. I may eventually undertake a blow-by-blow analysis of what Churchill has to say, but for moment I’ll simply refer you to the Daedalnexus, where Brian Angliss has composed a solid examination of the issues in play.

Disclaimer #2: I do not know either Churchill or CU President (may the gods deliver us) Elizabeth Hoffman, although I know people who do.

So, that said, I just received this memo from Hoffman. This is the same woman, BTW, who kept Gary Barnett around; who failed to remove the chancellor and AD on whose watch the much-publicized excesses of CU jock culture ran amok, to the detriment of the school’s reputation nationally; and who, under oath, attempted to explain why the “C-word” can be a term of endearment.

Now, of course, we get to see how she’s going to manage the latest the uproar. As indicated above, I’m going to hold my observations on what Ward said for the moment. It might be more politic to wait until the rabble get distracted by some other manufactured outrage – perhaps an impending Sir Paul McCartney Super Bowl Halftime Show wardrobe malfuntion?

Anyhowdy, what follows is as a prime an example of doublespeak as you’re likely to see anytime soon (up until the point where Dubya explains that he’s slashing the education in budget in half in order to strengthen our commitment to education or somesuch). First, read the memo:

TO: Boulder Campus Teaching & Research Faculty, Staff, Deans, Directors, Dept Chairs, System Administration

FROM: President’s Office

SENDER: Elizabeth Hoffman

DATE: February 4, 2005

SUBJECT: Issues Surrounding Academic Freedom

Dear Colleagues:

In the wake of what has been a difficult time in the life of this university, I wanted to clearly state my position and the position of my administration on issues surrounding academic freedom. First, I want to thank the Regents for upholding the Laws of the Regents and the traditions of the academy. I have the utmost confidence in Interim Chancellor DiStefano’s leadership to handle this matter.

All of us are aware that the discussion surrounding recent events strike at our core values and the bedrock on which all higher education institutions in America are built.

Like all of you, I have relied on the principles and tenets of academic freedom as I pursued my scholarly work. But this ideal is not merely a set of rules and rituals; it is the heart that gives life to the body of any university. My administration is, and always has been, firmly committed to the protection of this lifeblood of scholarly debate and discovery.

According to the faculty handbook, a faculty member’s “efforts should not be subjected to direct or indirect pressures or interference from within the university, and the university will resist to the utmost such pressures or interference when exerted from without.” I pledge to you to do all within my power to uphold this important statement.

But the rights afforded those of us in the academic community to pursue our scholarly work come with a heavy responsibility to behave with integrity and professionalism and to meet the highest ethical standards our disciplines demand. These standards create the boundaries within which academic freedom rests. Our work does not happen in a vacuum, but rather is regularly put to the test of scholarly debate and dissection creating another set of boundaries within which our freedom to discover, research and write lies.

When faculty members meet the measure and the moral and ethical boundaries of their disciplines they do and should expect the full support of their university. This relationship between the faculty member and his or her university creates the environment necessary for the nurture of groundbreaking research, essential scholarship and educational advancement that modern society relies upon.

True higher education – the process of debate, discovery and learning – only functions when both sides of this equation uphold their responsibilities. It is my pledge to you today that this administration will do its part.

While this debate has been and will continue to be difficult as we work through issues involved with the situation before us, I believe it will ultimately prove beneficial to all of us in the university community and to those who view it only from outside. Rarely does the issue of academic freedom garner so much attention and reflection. Ultimately, it will be these painful conversations and buttressing of arguments that will ensure the long-term health of academic freedom for generations to come.

Betsy

Now let me translate this from Newspeak into English.

Dear Boulder Campus Teaching & Research Faculty, Staff, Deans, Directors, Dept Chairs, System Administration, and other friends and c$#ts of the university:

We’re committed to academic freedom so long as our professors don’t abuse the privilege by pissing off people who didn’t read the article but are damned aggrieved by the soundbites they’ve heard from their halfwit “leaders.” Ward behaved irresponsibly by saying something that upset the kinds of folks who wrap themselves in the flag at every opportunity, so we’re going to address the question of the responsible exercise of free speech by turfing him and taking our chances on stacking the jury with Patriots in the inevitable trial to follow.

Or something like that. Since I’m not fluent in Orwellian it may have lost something in translation.

[SIGH]

In any given controversial situation, regardless of whether the person causing the hullaballoo is right or wrong, good or evil, one of us or one of them, whatever, we have a couple of choices. We can have an intelligent conversation about it, or we can have a stupid conversation about it. Given the state of America in 2005 and considering the character of the media that so faithlessly disserve us, we pretty much always choose the stupid route. Of course, the more animated and the less intelligent our reactions, the more we insure that the press will, the next time something blows up, lower the intellectual level and jack up the sensationalism of the product they serve us.

Hence, the bottomless spiral of stupid that characterizes “public discourse” in America.

Now, I can get my snoot up and pontificate about the evils of “the media” all I want, but the truth is that none of this begins to surprise me. Or you, probably. We have very low standards and expectations for our information channels these days, and in most cases we probably consider ourselves comparatively well served if FOX doesn’t turn it into a reality show (and by the way, how about a new Strange Love featuring a triangle of Barnett, Hoffman, and Churchill? I smell ratings, baby!)

We ought to have the greatest possible expectations of university presidents. These people should be of the highest character. They should be landmarks of reason and intellect. They should be people that our communities can count on for thoughtful, intelligent leadership and guidance. They should be stewards for that which is best about us and beacons pointing the way toward all that we strive to be. They should be above reproach, above censure – and dammit, they should be above spin.

On these criteria, Betsy Hoffman is 0fer. In her tenure at CU Hoffman has accomplished little more than an across-the-board lowering of our expectations for what a university president is and ought to be. We never quite know what she’s going to say or do, but we can count on one thing – it will be wrong. The memo above is as cynical a lawyer-conceived, PR weasel-polished tongue-job as I’ve heard in awhile, and it makes me want to go take a shower. I’m appalled that it comes not from a corporate mouthpiece or political propagandist, but from the leader of the institution where I earned my doctorate. Yeah, I feel diminished, tainted. I feel like my degree is worth less than it was two days ago.

Lots of people in Colorado say they’re embarrassed by the fact that Ward Churchill is a professor at their flagship university, but I assure you, they’re not half as embarrassed as I am by the fact that Betsy Hoffman is its president.

If anybody reading this knows Betsy, please do me the courtesy of forwarding the URL on to her….