I note with some amusement that my former employer, the University of Denver, has hired Michael Brown, one of the few miscreants pathetic enough to have failed out of the Bush administration. Brown will teach a class on the Patriot Act at DU’s law school. That said, given that John Yoo is still a member in good standing of the University of California’s faculty, there’s only so much chuckling to be done here.
On a more serious note, Fred Cheever, the associate dean quoted in the linked story above, is actually a great guy and very progressive politically. (He may also be John Cheever’s son. That was the rumor, at least, though I never had the guts to ask him.) I can’t imagine how much all of this pains him. Which suggests that one lesson here is about the Faustian bargains made along the administrative track. They’ll offer you a nice office and a salary bump, sure, but next thing you know, you’re defending the decision to hire Dick Cheney to teach a class on the rule of law.
17 comments
December 7, 2009 at 9:19 am
Kim
Would you rather Cheney be teaching a class on hunter safety?
December 7, 2009 at 9:23 am
ari
I contemplated that joke, Kim. Honestly, I struggled with the funny throughout the post, as you can plainly see.
December 7, 2009 at 9:24 am
ari
Which is to say, I feel certain that there’s funny lurking in the weeds of my post. But I could not find or capture it; the funny eluded me, alas.
December 7, 2009 at 9:41 am
Seth
As a DU employee whose tenure file is currently under consideration, I have absolutely no strong feelings one way or another about this hiring decision.
December 7, 2009 at 9:45 am
ari
Recognizing your neutrality — You’re just like Switzerland, right? Minus the minarets controversy, I mean. — are you able to report whether other people on campus do have strong feelings? And if so, are those strong feelings being expressed?
December 7, 2009 at 9:53 am
Sifu Tweety
Chris Edley is also a great guy by all accounts (maybe a bit conflict-averse), and he’s definitely very progressive politically. Which is a long way of saying that I rather see your point.
December 7, 2009 at 10:56 am
eric
the Faustian bargains made along the administrative track
They can happen to anyone.
December 7, 2009 at 11:23 am
Erik Lund
It is terribly sad that Michael Brown is “consulting.” How long do his UI benefits last?
Fortunately, he’s “willing to teach,” so there’s a job for him!
December 7, 2009 at 12:03 pm
Anderson
Still not as bad as hiring Alberto Gonzales.
He told The Toreador he encourages his students to “press and push convictions and positions.”
Just like he did. Capital convictions and stress positions, that is.
December 7, 2009 at 12:21 pm
bitchphd
Apparently he is also writing, according to one of my FB friends who’s in the publishing industry,
“a book called DEADLY INDIFFERENCE: Hurricane Katrina, 9/11, Disease Pandemics, and the Failed Politics of Disasters, “about the realities of both natural and man-made disasters as they impact the public.” ”
Friend’s wish is that Taylor Trade publishing, which is apparently responsible for the contract, should burn in hell. Or, preferably, drown.
December 7, 2009 at 1:14 pm
Bureinato
ugh! just checked to see if he was moving here (I live close enough to DU I don’t want him in my neighborhood) saw that he lives in Boulder. realized that’s a perfect fit for him.
December 7, 2009 at 3:10 pm
kevin
I think if I were an administrator there, my first priority would be figuring out why “the University of Denver” is abbreviated as “DU”
December 7, 2009 at 3:20 pm
TF Smith
“Colorado University, Denver” would be great for an ag school…
December 7, 2009 at 5:06 pm
Anderson
“a book called DEADLY INDIFFERENCE: Hurricane Katrina, 9/11, Disease Pandemics, and the Failed Politics of Disasters, “about the realities of both natural and man-made disasters as they impact the public.” ”
Is that like Albert Speer’s book about the vicissitudes of slave labor?
December 7, 2009 at 6:56 pm
politicalfootball
as they impact the public.
I’m quite certain that if Michael Brown writes a book, he will use “impact” as a verb, demonstrating that he brings the same professional standards to writing that he did to emergency management.
And he has a blog! If I knew how to edit a Wikipedia article, I’d amend the definition of chutzpah with a link to Brown’s post critiquing the competence of the Obama cabinet on the grounds that its members lack private sector experience.
December 7, 2009 at 8:17 pm
Jason B.
I think if I were an administrator there, my first priority would be figuring out why “the University of Denver” is abbreviated as “DU”
That’s what makes living in Norman so irritating. The University of Oklahoma should not be “OU.”
Okay, so that’s not the only thing that makes living in Norman so irritating.
December 7, 2009 at 9:19 pm
Seth
Ari, one of my colleagues posted the story on Facebook with the caption, “You can’t spell dumb without DU.” But I didn’t post that, since, as I mentioned, I am not yet tenured and thus have absolutely no strong feelings about this whatsoever.