The Dougout

A series of e-mails from within the UHM poly-sci department was sent to my inbox by a little bird. The first begins with William J. King on the University’s poly-sci net:

From: "William J King"

Subject: Reaction to the ' vision statement' Sender:
owner-polisci-l@HAWAII.EDU

Regarding the latest next vision statement: Didn't we just re-conceptualize ourselves a few years back? I can not imagine the department producing employable graduates or attracting law school applicants with the approach of: "to become the premier department of alternative political studies. By alternative focus, I mean that we excel within the areas neglected by mainstream political science that appeal to our extant political and methodological interests in order to compound our present reputation..."While I have your attention: A PoliSci course which is drastically lacking is an undergrad class on the Politics of Health. This course would be intended to attract Nursing students and Med School wanna bees to see health, disease, and medicine from other than the germ theory/medical model perspective that they get in their programs. Modern history of medicine, competing models of medicine, comparative medicine, who becomes ill, who survives, politicsof health and medicine would be covered.

Indeed why should medical students sully their minds with all that pesky science when they can study herbs and crystals? Of course, every professor is going to want their pet area to be represented under the new dispensation. As professor George Kent chimes in:

From: "George Kent"

Subject: Vision for the Department's Future Sender: owner-polisci-l@HAWAII.EDU

Colleagues -- The Vision for the Department that Jon circulated on July 30 is very good. I like the idea of becoming the premier department of alternative political studies. However, there is a significant omission. The list of areas in which the department invests should include some form of international relations/world politics. The emphasis certainly could be on some fresh alternative approach (I like the idea of focusing on global governance), but no matter what specific form it may take, some variant of international relations should be on the list, and it should be high in the hiring priorities for the near future. Aloha, George

Department head Jon Goldberg-Hiller is not happy about public discussion on new hires and the change of format at this point so he is conducting an investigation to get to the bottom of this outrage:

Date: Sun, 06 Aug 2006

From: "Jon Goldberg-Hiller"

Thanks, George. I have been investigating something a bit upsetting, and I'd like to ask the help of the faculty. About three days after I sent this to you, an employee of ITS who is a former member of this department responded to the Polisci-Llist in opposition to this proposal. I hadn't sent him a copy (I don't even know him--though he has long been critical of me in this forum and elsewhere). Because he has access to email accounts, an investigation has commenced by ITS to find out how this access was achieved. The employee in question--William J. King--has responded to me that he found this document in the faculty lunch room some weeks ago, but I only completed it on the day I sent it to you and never showed a draft to anyone prior to that. If you forwarded this document to anyone off this list, would you kindly let me know so I can inform the investigators or stop this investigation. May I please request that materials of this sort remain within our orbituntil they are discussed. This is not an attempt at an end-run aroundgraduate students or even ITS personnel, but a plea for conversation within our own faculty about some issues before they are publicly debated in the usual forums. Many thanks. JON Jon Goldberg-Hiller, Ph.D.

Goldberg-Hiller followed up later the same day with this:

Date: Sun, 06 Aug 2006 From: "Jon Goldberg-Hiller"

Dear Department: In various ways on this list, an exploratory report that I had written as a thought-piece for an upcoming faculty retreat has been acknowledged though not disseminated. I am writing to calm worries; the substance of the faculty discussions will be made public for broader consideration at department meetings that will commence this Fall. The general subject is widely known and has been previously discussed in department meetings: with an extraordinary number of faculty retirements likely within the next few years, I have proposed, and the administration has encouraged, a long-term development plan that will guide faculty replacement and possibly permit early hiring in order to preserve institutional continuity. Discussions about a plan are likelyto take place in numerous venues during the coming year including among the faculty, among the graduate student community, and in departmental discussions that combine both; it will also involve the College administration at some point. This is a serious issue that this department needs to face, but it will not require decision making that will be concluded any time soon. There will be ample time for broad discussion and consideration of any proposals that are made. Thanks. JON

It’s all about finding “alternative” faculty. Goldberg-Hiller must have a problem if Commies are not “alternative" enough these days. As his website proclaims:

I completed my BA in political science at Reed College (1979) and my MA and Ph.D. at the University of Wisconsin, Madison (1991) with emphasis in public law, comparative politics, and Marxist theory…Research Interests: I have recently been studying the ways changing forms of identity, nationalism, political authority and political economy have modulated the mobilization of rights in various contexts. By starting with these dimensions of social life rather than with rights discourses themselves, I have tried to understand how rights are resisted and how they retain relevancy; in this vein I have researched such contemporary phenomena as the conservative reaction against same-sex marriage, opposition to the political recognition of indigenous peoples, and efforts by labor unions to boycott legal regulatory machinery.

Imagine, this PC litany is just not cool enough any more at UHM.

# posted by Grant Jones @ 8:16 PM