06.15b. The Tenure Case of Economist James Smith at Smith College. . There are few enough cases of real-world politics affecting tenure cases in economics that I want to record this one. His vita shows not much research, but this is a college, not a university, and he is one of only two professors in the department with a website (the chaired professor, Prof. Zimbalist, is the other), so it seems likely he is ahead of his colleagues. In any case, an SAF case says,

Two of the letters explaining no votes in Miller's case refer to criticisms he has made of academia, though neither gives this as a main reason for a no vote. One letter cites part of his book Game Theory at Work, and the other cites an article he wrote for National Review Online entitled "Campus Colors."

The latter states, "I would also refer the committee to a piece included in Jim's 'Journalistic Articles' packet: the Guest Comment on NRO entitled 'Campus Colors,' in which Jim says, among other things, that 'professors are mostly left wing,' that '(t)he large number of non-U.S. citizens in American colleges necessarily makes these schools less patriotic,' and that '(p)ractically the only way for a women's-studies professor to get a lifetime college appointment is for her to contribute to the literature on why America is racist, sexist, and homophobic.' I find it extremely disturbingly [sic] that this could be Jim's image of academia."

"The person wasn't disturbed that it was poorly written or illogically argued, but rather she was disturbed by the conservative political views expressed in the article," Miller said.

It's amazing that people actually incriminate themselves by writing things like this. It says something that a tenured professor at Smith College thinks that if she writes down that an assistant professor ought to be denied tenure because he is conservative, that will help stop him from getting tenure. (It didn't in this case: the good news is that the grievance committee read this stuff and supported Smith instead.)

Another interesting story is this

During his talk, Miller, expanded on the first item of Parham's laundry list. He recalled the hostile reaction that ensued when Ann Coulter, the syndicated columnist, was invited by the Smith College Republican Club to give a lecture. "A large number of professors circulated a petition saying she should not be allowed to speak on campus," says Miller.

But "no one objected," he reports, when an 'anal sex expert' spoke at the college, two weeks before Coulter, and was paid approximately $2000.

Recall that Smith College is a women's college-- not a ladies' one, apparently.

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