Writing in The Jewish Advocate, Shulamit Reinharz explains that she skipped the recent 40th Barnard College because its administration had refused to give her information about the tenure case of assistant anthropology professor Nadia Abu El-Haj, whose shoddy and slanderous scholarship I and others have criticized.
Reinharz comments:
As a Barnard alumna, I am understandably interested in the way my alma mater builds its faculty and teaches current students. Thus, I inquired repeatedly if El-Haj had received tenure. At first, I was told I should not meddle. I was not meddling, just asking a question, but my ivory tower was turning into an ivory fortress. Finally, I learned that a decision will be made in the fall. I’ll be watching.
You won’t be the only one, Ms. Reinharz.