<P>Dear Danny, </P><P> </P><P>Late in the day I actually went to Michael <FONT FACE="Monospace,Courier">Berube's blog and I wonder if you agree with his policy of getting rid of any 'conservative' applicants for the posts that are advertised? Surely academic departments should be in the business of appointing the best candidates for their needs? Does it matter who they vote for? I genuinely would like to know what everyone thinks about this. </FONT></P><P> </P><P> </P><P><FONT FACE="Monospace,Courier">(BTW Danny: I'm not a conservative, despite appearences - I just like to question everything.)</FONT></P><P> </P><P> </P><P><BR><BR><BR>Dr Jason Jacobs<BR>Senior Lecturer<BR>School of Arts, Media and Culture<BR>Griffith University<BR>Nathan Campus<BR>Queensland 4111<BR>Australia<BR>Phone: (07) 3875 5164<BR>Fax: (07) 3875 7730<BR></P><P> <BR><FONT SIZE=2 STYLE=font-size:9pt><B>Danny Butt <db@dannybutt.net></B></FONT><BR><FONT SIZE=2 STYLE=font-size:9pt>Sent by: csaa-forum-bounces@lists.cdu.edu.au</FONT><BR><FONT SIZE=2 STYLE=font-size:9pt>11/12/2004 09:44 ZE12</FONT><BR><FONT SIZE=2 STYLE=font-size:9pt>Please respond to CSAA discussion list</FONT><BR><BR> <FONT SIZE=2 STYLE=font-size:9pt>To:</FONT> <FONT SIZE=2 STYLE=font-size:9pt>csaa-forum <csaa-forum@lists.cdu.edu.au></FONT><BR> <FONT SIZE=2 STYLE=font-size:9pt>cc:</FONT> <BR> <FONT SIZE=2 STYLE=font-size:9pt>bcc:</FONT> <BR> <FONT SIZE=2 STYLE=font-size:9pt>Subject:</FONT> <FONT SIZE=2 STYLE=font-size:9pt>Re: [csaa-forum] Writing Cultural Studies Papers, and more</FONT><BR> <BR><BR></P><P><FONT FACE="Monospace,Courier">Hi Jason<BR></FONT><BR><FONT FACE="Monospace,Courier">1) It's not a course, but a selection of resources from someone who is<BR>*employed as a graduate adviser* at *New York University*, which would<BR>suggest to me that their knowledge of good teaching is at least reasonable,<BR>and probably better than mine. Or are the 1200 people who pay tens of<BR>thousands of dollars to pass through the Gallatin School of Individualized<BR>study being left in the hands of a raving ideologue, as you suggest? You may<BR>not like the material, and that's fine, but I'd suggest you get your ass<BR>straight before you start trashing people's professionalism. Or more to the<BR>point, show us your great teaching resources! We're *so* waiting for a good<BR>cultural studies curriculum that upholds the values of Western Civilisation<BR>and isn't dominated by feminist/Marxist claptrap, it sounds like you have<BR>it. Please share with us your teaching practices so I don't need to keep<BR>forwarding these misguided pieces of advice from the Internet.<BR></FONT><BR><FONT FACE="Monospace,Courier">2) If you want a debate about the merits of this work, at least you could<BR>define a) the relevant professional standards that you base your value<BR>judgements on, and b) the communities those standards operate in, rather<BR>than sprouting eternal damnation . If you give rants like the below to your<BR>students while telling them to read Frank Furedi, I've got serious concerns<BR>about your commitment to education (vs. opinion).<BR></FONT><BR><FONT FACE="Monospace,Courier">Danny<BR></FONT><BR><FONT FACE="Monospace,Courier">ps- On a related point, Michael Bérubé's "Keeping Conservatives out of<BR>Academe" is a good read this week:<BR></FONT><BR><FONT FACE="Monospace,Courier"><A HREF=http://tinyurl.com/3snf9>http://tinyurl.com/3snf9</A><BR></FONT><BR><FONT FACE="Monospace,Courier">On 12/10/04 11:38 PM, "Jason Jacobs" <j.jacobs@griffith.edu.au> wrote:<BR></FONT><BR><FONT FACE="Monospace,Courier">> This is a disgraceful attempt at teaching: no student could pass this<BR>> course unless they blindly accepted the ideology of the saddest 'left'<BR>> that's ever had the nerve to promote its empty nonsense to the<BR>> undergraduate community; why don't you try to recruit some political<BR>> support in the real world instead of punishing students who don't meet your<BR>> dull requirements?<BR>><BR>> _______________________________________<BR>><BR>> csaa-forum<BR>> discussion list of the cultural studies association of australasia<BR>><BR>> www.csaa.asn.au<BR></FONT><BR><BR><FONT FACE="Monospace,Courier">_______________________________________<BR></FONT><BR><FONT FACE="Monospace,Courier">csaa-forum<BR>discussion list of the cultural studies association of australasia<BR></FONT><BR><FONT FACE="Monospace,Courier">www.csaa.asn.au</FONT><BR><FONT FACE="Monospace,Courier">---- Replied to CSAA discussion list <csaa-forum@lists.cdu.edu.au> 11/12/2004 11:02:31 AM ZE10 -----</FONT></P>