Professor Punished for Witty Remark

[Eric Cordian]

Peter Trei writes:

>> There's also a blacklist on the Web of people in academia who have
>> publicly stated less than glowing support for Bush's war against
>> "evil."

> Where is it?

It was released by ACTA, formerly the NAF, run by Lynne Cheney, formerly
arch-conservative Bill Bennett's heir at the National Endowment for the
Humanities, and the wife of the federal government's favorite cardiac
patient, Vice President Dick Cheney.

Imagine the joy of being a university professor, and waking up one morning
to find that a big powerful organization run by the Vice President's wife
has issued a report practically calling you a traitor.

from http://arizona.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=2175&group=webcast
 
<<Lynne Cheneys American Council of Trustees and Alumni, a well-financed
  conservative group devoted to curbing liberal tendencies on campuses,
  already has issued its first blacklist of professors it considers
  insufficiently patriotic. Many will be fired or eased out, many more
  will tone down their criticism -- as many journalists already have --
  and the message will be quite clear: Do not dissent too vocally.>>
 
and from APSCUF's Higher Education News Blits

<<* THE AMERICAN COUNCIL OF TRUSTEES AND ALUMNI, an organization that says
  American higher education plays down Western intellectual teachings, on
  Sunday issued a stinging report that condemns colleges and faculty
  members for what it calls a "blame America first" response to the
  terrorist attacks of September 11.>>

and from WebNetInfo.com

<<A conservative academic group founded by Lynne Cheney, the wife of Vice
  President Dick Cheney, fired a new salvo in the culture wars by blasting
  40 college professors as well as the president of Wesleyan University
  and others for not showing enough patriotism in the aftermath of
  Sept. 11. ''College and university faculty have been the weak link in
  America's response to the attack,'' say leaders of the American Council 
  of Trustees and Alumni in a report being issued today. The report names
  names and criticizes professors for making statements ''short on
  patriotism and long on self-flagellation.'' Several of the scholars
  singled out in the report said yesterday they felt blacklisted,
  complaining that their words had been taken out of context to make them
  look like enemies of the state.>>

You might want to wade through http://www.goacta.org/ and see if you can
find the report.  I took a quick look, but my javascript and .pdf
patience levels were quickly exceeded.

I saw one of the frightened professors bleating "but I'm not a traitor" on
CNN the other day, and a smiling ACTA droid saying that their list was
merely "academic criticism."  High drama.

-- 
Eric Michael Cordian 0+
O:.T:.O:. Mathematical Munitions Division
"Do What Thou Wilt Shall Be The Whole Of The Law"