Smoke&Mirrors

"fascist demagoguery"
lol this prof deserves to be smacked.

Oh god, the students criticize me, engage in classroom arguementation, and question their teachers! I believe that that would made her the fascist for trying to suppress independent thought outside of her own.

Wontonforevuh

i hope other NU students give her hell next year

Sam Lee

If she's a post-doc (if that's what "research associate" means), I doubt she will be teaching.

hktk

Found this review of her book on Amazon - hilarious:

"I picked up a used copy of this text, because I was absolutely intrigued by the concept: French Literature based on Biological Principles -- And the other way 'round, too!

Following all the forms of both Literary deconstructionist criticism as well as Scientific Peer-reviewed journals, one might actually think this was a serious work -- and indeed, the sheer volume of dense text only adds to the realism. Happily, the content of the text seems to be some remarkably well-disguised trippy-hippy post-modernist anti-establishment pseudo-feminist rant taken directly from protest speeches from the sixties.

Well Done! This deserves a place on your shelf alongside your bound volumes of The Journal of Improbable Research and other 'Mad Scientist' Jokebooks!"

memake

She sure does sound like a nutjob. 'Research associate' in the humanities most likely means that she is being hired for a 1-3 yr contracted position to teach introductory courses (maybe Freshman writing-type stuff? or distribution requirements?). Suck it up, NU freshmen, the places where this woman aspires to get tenure are not dumb enough to hire her into tenure-track jobs (yet!) but they're willing to hire her to lecture you and grade your essays.

EtTuBrutus

Of course now Fox News Channel is all over this and trying to say that all students are suppressed intellectually by their extremist left wing professors and this situation is reflective of what goes on on campuses all over the country. (I guess they forgot about Samuel P. Huntington being a faculty member at Harvard). They had a graduate of Dartmouth who basically said students just go along with professors, who espouse "crazy theories" like eco-feminism to prevent from getting a bad grade. Another "pundit" chimed in and said the problem is that professors have a tough time making things "new" again so they apply post modernism to everything. Let the attack of the right begin.

hktk

I am certainly not right-wing in my politics, and I have not actually read her book, but its premise seems a little far-fetched. It does make you wonder why she was hired at Dartmouth and Northwestern - and why she was allowed to teach at Dartmouth. While I think this is mostly an isolated situation involving this particular person which should not be politicized, perhaps the right has a point when people like this get hired at 2 different prestigious colleges. Frankly, it concerns me because my daughter will be a freshman at Northwestern in the fall and I don't want her to waste her time with instructors such as this one.

hktk

More words of wisdom from Dr. Venkatesan:

Of Parts and Wholes

It may make sense to somebody, but it just gives me a headache.

gen-Y

I bet they hired her because she had Dartmouth on her resume. That happens all the time at my high school. We get these Ivy-Diploma teachers who are absolutely horrible, and then get fired in a year.

(note: This is not an attack. I am not trying to insinuate that NU said, "She worked at Dartmouth? She's hired!" I think that it helped though.)

EtTuBrutus

I am not defending her actions in the classroom because she undoubtedly had trouble connecting with her students, as some professors do, but her work is valid (having read Of Parts and Wholes thanks hktk) in terms of its intellectual viability. I don't particularly agree with where she is coming from and I think she owes a lot more to Thomas Kuhn's work then she thinks she does, but her arguments are properly sourced and interestingly (albeit very wordy) argued. I don't think she should be outright dismissed. It just seems a simple case of a particular situation getting out of control. But again right wing pundits such as those on Fox News are going to take this and run with it and make this case the rule and not the exception in their relentless attacks on the academy. In this way, she is doing much more harm than good. When I introduce concepts and ideas that are completely different from what students have been socialized to accept in this country, I tell them exactly that; "this is going to be completely different coming from a different worldview than your own" and most students actually enjoy the challenge. Again, that is what going to college is about, expanding one's intellectual horizons and challenging what we know and think we know to achieve an even greater understanding. IMHO all knowledge is sacred, whether I choose to agree or not. I never fear it.

hktk

Brutus - can you summarize "Of Parts and Wholes?" More importantly, can you explain the significance of her argument? In my view, she does neither effectively in her article. I found this particular article impenetrable. Perhaps it is because I am not particularly familiar with the subject matter. Perhaps it is because it is aimed at a different audience. It is certainly not because I am afraid to challenge my way of thinking. Unfortunately, there is hardly a sentence in this entire article that I can make sense of. It may be well-sourced, but it is not well-argued in my opinion. If that is how she taught, I can understand why her students rebelled.

By the way, who cares what Fox News and its ilk say? Free speech is about increasing the body of knowledge by letting all ideas out in order to determine which ideas survive scrutiny. Remember, all knowledge is sacred. Even Fox gets it right some of the time.

hktk

Apparently we do not have to worry about Dr. Venkatesan teaching at Northwestern:

Editorial: Tower not right for Evanston; Former Prof. harmless at NU - Forum