The timing of a decision by the City University of New York’s Brooklyn College to rescind the hiring of a graduate student to teach a course on Middle East politics this spring is prompting questions about political interference in academe, The New York Times reported. The college says it canceled the appointment of Kristofer Petersen-Overton to teach the master’s-level course because he has only a master’s himself. But Mr. Petersen-Overton, who is a doctoral candidate at the CUNY Graduate Center, says the decision came after a prominent politician wrote to leaders of the college and CUNY and criticized his work as slanted against Israel. Mark Ungar, a political-science professor at the college, said 10 professors in the department had signed a statement saying the college’s decision “undermines academic freedom and departmental governance.”
RSS
Follow The Ticker through your favorite RSS reader.
8 Responses to A Rescinded Hiring at Brooklyn College Prompts Questions
japplin - January 28, 2011 at 7:56 am
Oh good grief. At my institution you have to have a Masters to teach undergrads (except for supervised labs) and a PhD to teach grad courses. If the department hired this person without the proper qualifications they made a mistake. ‘Academic freedom’ does not allow you to thwart the rules. This was a win for the students.
physicsprof - January 28, 2011 at 9:59 am
Doubtless, had the “prominent politician” been a Republican as oppossed to what he actually is, the Chronicle would have little reservation about stating it outright.
mhigbee - January 28, 2011 at 10:19 am
Different institutions have different policies & practices for what degree is required to teach a course. I rather doubt that in NYC it’s easy to find a PhD qualified to teach Middle East politics, for an adjuncts’ pay, so the department’s willingness to employ an ABD to teach this course, on the face of it, seems reasonable; and the decision to withdraw that hiring does seem, on the face of it, motivated by political pressure. Were all the adjuncts in the CUNY system who lack PhDs also terminated? Or just this one who was targeted with political pressure. A threat, a violation, of academic freedom, indeed.
quidditas - January 28, 2011 at 11:29 am
“Were all the adjuncts in the CUNY system who lack PhDs also terminated?”
LOL. You’re kidding, right?
jamesh - January 28, 2011 at 11:42 am
The Chronicle seriously needs to do some more reporting on this issue. This is a really shoddy representation of what is actually happening.
1. Brooklyn College has long had a policy of allowing Graduate students at all stages in their career to teach Master’s Level courses at the college. This is because they do not have the funds to actually hire a sufficient number of tenured and tenure track faculty with PhDs to do the work.
2. Dov Hikind, who complained of Overton’s appointment has a long history of these kinds of actions and has essentially bragged about and been hooorahed on several Right wing Jewish blogs for successfully getting Overton fired.
3. The firing came just hours after the letter from Hikind was received.
4. Overton’s scholarship and his REQUIRED reading have been vetted by several respected scholars int he field who have been quoted as saying that the texts that were required actually represent a very mainstream take on conflicts in the Middle East.
Please get you facts straight guys. Inside Higher Ed is all over this and this is the best the Chronicle can do?
jamesh - January 28, 2011 at 11:43 am
Those who actually care and want to defend academic freedom at CUNY and within academia more broadly should sign the petition drafted by the GC Advocate in defense of Petersen-Overton.
http://www.gcadvocate.com/2011/01/defend-academic-freedom-at-brooklyn-college/
oscarw - January 28, 2011 at 8:46 pm
Dov Hikind is powerful in New York politics and Brooklyn politicians, from the District Attorney Charles “Joe” Hynes, on downward, are scared silly to do anything that is opposed by Hikind’s main constituency, ultra-orthodox jews. Hynes won’t prosecute anyone in that constituency, for anything, for fear of offending any part of that population.
That a politician got a scholar fired from Brooklyn College, part of the once-reputable City University of New York, means that even the tough-guy mayor, Michael Bloomberg would not buck Hikind’s will.
rsgassle - January 29, 2011 at 3:05 am
physicsprof: Woulda shoulda coulda; get your evidence straight before playing that game. Otherwise it is just a cheap shot.