KC JOHNSON TENURE CASE:
ARTICLES, EDITORIALS, AND POSTS

LENGTHY PROFILES

bullet Scott Smallwood of the Chronicle of Higher Education does a cover-story review of the case
bullet Dorothy Rabinowitz describes the "Battle of Brooklyn"
bullet The Harvard Crimson reveals what the former department chairman termed a "campaign of harassment"

ARTICLES

University of Pennsylvania's Erin O'Connor examines the latest--financial rewards for one of the "players in Brooklyn College's malicious and damaging little game" (7/9)

The Senate Digest issues a correction and apology; the Integrity Committee declines comment on the case (5/16)

Erin O'Connor of Critical Mass dissects the false statements regarding the case by UFS president Susan O'Malley in the latest Senate Digest (5/3)

Transcript of comments from Trustees Schmidt, Mastro, and Pesile regarding the decision to confer tenure and promotion

The New York Sun editorializes on the curricular agenda at the college, and the personnel aftermath of the tenure decision (4/2)

Christine Sciascia writes to the New York Sun regarding how "academic freedom" is defined at Brooklyn College (3/20)

The CLAS student government passes a resolution urging Chancellor Goldstein to appoint a select panel of distinguished CUNY scholars from outside of Brooklyn College, to investigate the college's personnel process (3/17)

Retired department member Jerry Sternstein, in an address at Washington, DC's Metropolitan Club, says, "The fact that nobody at Brooklyn College has been disciplined or sanctioned speaks volumes, I believe, for the need of trustees and alumni to get more involved in the governance of the institutions they're associated with. If nothing else, that's the least they can do to insure that politicized faculty and administrators under the guise of 'collegiality' do not succeed in their quest for ideological conformity." (3/14)

According to a New York Daily News editorial, "The chancellor has been striving to upgrade CUNY and its reputation. His actions in the Johnson case are testimony to that, sending the right message: Scholarship and teaching ability come first. And academic freedom is worth fighting for." (2/28)

Erin O'Connor at Critical Mass discusses the college's convening of the "Integrity" Committee (3/13); students Christine Sciascia and George Ioannidis inform CUNY Trustees about the action (3/14)

The Kingsman praises the student activism in the case, and calls for reforms in the college tenure process. (3/10)

Vice Chancellor Frederick Schaffer describes the procedures followed in the decision, and provides a brief history of CUNY's involvement in the case (2/28)

Coverage of Chancellor Goldstein's decision to overrule President Kimmich and award tenure and promotion to full professor:

bullet The New York Times: "Although collegiality is a factor that may be considered in connection with promotion and tenure decisions," Dr. Goldstein said, "I did not find compelling and objective evidence of a major problem in that regard sufficient to trump a truly outstanding record of scholarship, teaching and other aspects of service"
bullet Critical Mass: The Trustees' action was "a remarkable and much-deserved vindication of Johnson"
bullet New York Post: "Goldstein said he reached his conclusion after interviewing Johnson and the Brooklyn College president"
bullet New York Sun: "It's important to play nice with the other kids," said Trustee and Johnson supporter Jeffrey Wiesenfeld. "But it's not what defines how far you get."
bullet The Kingsman quotes student leader Dan Weininger: "'To claim that there is a new McCarthyism around that tries to shun the voices of progressive professors, I find interesting that those are the same professors who are using the tactics of Joseph McCarthy.'" (3/2)
bullet Chronicle of Higher Education
bullet History News Network

President Kimmich deems collegiality "an essential element in meeting the criteria of teaching, scholarship, and service" (2/8); the New York Sun responds: "The city and state’s taxpayers . . . and, just as importantly, Brooklyn’s students—deserve a college that’s run less like a poorly managed country club and more like a world-class university." (2/20)

The New Republic editorializes that the decision to deny tenure represents "a grave threat to Brooklyn College 's hope of ever being taken seriously as a scholarly institution" (12/30)

Erin O'Connor breaks the news of the spreading "uncollegiality" criterion at Brooklyn, looking at the case of Michael Cholbi from the Philosophy Department (2/11)

Commenting on the case to the Chronicle of Higher Education, Margaret King notes, "I t is no wonder that CUNY sometimes has difficulty convincing its critics that it has escaped from what Johnson's defenders call the culture of mediocrity" (2/14)

The New York Sun editorializes: "Fixing CUNY will require not just rectifying Mr. Johnson’s case but swiftly taking concrete measures to change the Brooklyn College history department and the atmosphere in the university as a whole" (1/24); BC Historical Society president Samantha Rosenblum expresses her appreciation for the Sun's efforts

Retired department member and PSC grievance counselor Jerry Sternstein, focusing on the conduct of Provost Roberta S. Matthews, tells the Wall Street Journal that "a talented historian and remarkable teacher is being told that Brooklyn College has no room for him because academic freedom is a scarce commodity there, limited to those with tenure or those who subscribe to the proper ideology du jour" (1/28)

The college spokesperson and David Orland discuss Orland's article (1/10)

Jerry Sternstein explicates how it's "reprehensible" to be perceived as a conservative in the BC History Department--and how the PSC's political agenda affected its conduct in the case (1/8)

Mellon Fellowship winner Martine Jean discusses the Matthews letter (1/12)

Erin O'Connor and BC grad George Ionnaidis respond to Provost Roberta S. Matthews' letter to the WSJ (1/9)

Herb London explores the case of the "academic terrorists at Brooklyn College" (1/8)

Ralph Luker lists the denial of tenure as one of the three biggest historical "scandals of 2002," adding that "the reigning authority in Brooklyn College's history department betrays its commitment to professional standards of good teaching and scholarship" (12/31)

David Orland examines how Brooklyn College "said ‘no’ to reasoned dissent" (12/19)

Erin O'Connor terms Brooklyn College's history department as "an exemplary instance of the sort of petty, internecine corruption that runs rife in academe, where accountability is minimal and the power to destroy careers is correspondingly high" (12/20)

Timothy Burke argues that "the logic of Johnson’s denial is the kind of logic that any grey-suited 'organization man' would cherish. It is the logic of the bureaucrat, of the worst and meanest impulses of professionalization" (12/19)

Adam Dickter writes on the "Tenure Tension," and the outpouring of support from Jewish students (12/24)

The New York Times profiles the case--and Leonard Gordon and Margaret King issue a clarification (12/18)

The New York Sun editorializes on the "Brooklyn College Breakdown" regarding the decision (11/14)

The New York Sun's "Furor at CUNY"--Trustees Wiesenfeld and Mastro comment (11/15)

The Brandeis Free Press notes that campuses need "true free speech" (11/25)

Jerome Burdi traces the evolution of the college's decision, and the immediate aftermath of the announcement of denial of tenure (11/18)

The New York Sun editorializes on "Cuddling in Brooklyn," criticizing the statement of Professor Bert Thomas that BC professors needed to cuddle our "barely literate" students (11/19)

Ron Radosh discusses how protesting against a college-sponsored teach-in that included no known supporters of either US or Israel contributed to the decision to deny tenure (11/21)

Over 40 students organize a protest march in favor of tenure, depositing over 450 student signatures at the office of President C.M. Kimmich (12/5)

The Kingsman also covers the march, and obtains the perspective of Trustee Jeffrey Wiesenfeld on the controversy (12/9)


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