Turmoil at DePaul follows Finkelstein rejection

By Thomas Lifson

In the wake of rejecting tenure for Norman Finkelstein and one of his allies, the president of DePaul University is facing a possible ‘vote of no confidence' being discussed by left wing faculty members. Dave Newbart of the Chicago Sun-Times reports:

Separate faculty councils are meeting today and Thursday to discuss the rejections of assistant professors Norman Finkelstein and Mehrene Larudee despite strong support from their academic departments and a College of Liberal Arts and Sciences committee.

The job of a college president is to look out for the interests of the institution, not to cave in to every department wanting its nominees to gain a lifetime claim on the treasury. But as Lawrence Summers learned at Harvard, the job of college president depends on trustee support, and the eminences who grace such bodies are generally lily-livered in the face of activist factions of the faculty, of which there is no shortage nationally.

This could get very nasty. And the trend toward faculty insurrection could burgeon.

Hat tip: Ed Lasky