For UD, the name ‘Hindley’ will always mean Hindley Earnshaw, the embittered alcoholic brother of Catherine in Wuthering Heights… Yet now there’s this other Hindley, Hindley of Brandeis, Hindley the latest martyr to the cause of free speech in the university.
Things have been conspiring to make this Hindley – a politics professor - pretty bitter too, for this Hindley made the mistake of using language in class that offended a couple of his students. Here’s the background on the case, from UD’s other campus at Inside Higher Education.
Professor Hindley responded to the university’s official denunciations and threats, its placement of a diversity overseer in his classroom to monitor his speech and humiliate him in front of his students, and its mandating that he undergo sensitivity training, by filing a grievance.
Mr. Hindley refused to participate in sensitivity training and filed an appeal of the university’s findings with the campus’s Committee on Faculty Rights and Responsibilities. On Thursday, after its own investigation, that panel ruled not only that the provost’s actions threatened Mr. Hindley’s academic freedom but also that the punishments imposed were “excessive” and that the university’s handling of its inquiry into the complaints was flawed. …[I]t recommended that the provost’s decision be withdrawn. …[The] Faculty Senate [also] adopted a resolution that said Brandeis administrators had violated the faculty handbook because they did not bring the case to the Faculty Senate before threatening to terminate Mr. Hindley’s employment..
That’s right. They threatened to fire him. Because he used — descriptively, pedagogically — words which in contexts outside the classroom can be offensive. They ignored due process. They caved to vindictive people…. All of which reminds UD to remind you that tenure and faculty governance certainly have their purposes.
November 30th, 2007 at 3:46PM
Personally, I would welcome administrators in my classes. For some of them, it would be their first real educational experience.
November 30th, 2007 at 4:02PM
"their first real educational experience"…but are they teachable?
November 30th, 2007 at 7:44PM
I don’t know if you saw this NYTimes piece claiming that a majority of faculty at American universities are now neither tenured nor on the tenure track…
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/20/education/20adjunct.html?em&ex=1195880400&en=bbbdf69be7ecd132&ei=5087
Anyway, it’s interesting. I’ve now had my wife and my doctor bring it up this article in conversation with me. It does seem like I picked a good time to start getting Canadian citizenship.
November 30th, 2007 at 7:56PM
I think I’ve seen the article, but maybe not. I’ll check the link — thanks. As for Canadian citizenship — If I weren’t so gung-ho an American (and I’m way gung-ho) I’d go Canadian in a minute.
November 30th, 2007 at 8:10PM
Well, I’m playing both sides of the fence really- dual citizenship. Also a big motivator for me was falling in love with and marrying a Canadian. They’re sneaky that way.
December 1st, 2007 at 6:00AM
Slightly OT, but for most Britons of my age and above (35+) the name ‘Hindley’ has much darker connotations.
December 1st, 2007 at 6:23AM
Myra Hindley! I knew there was another notorious Hindley, but I couldn’t recall who it was. Thank you. Americans, too — at least Americans like me — know all about Myra Hindley.
December 1st, 2007 at 7:29PM
Suffer Little Children – The Smiths/Words by Morrissey
Over the moor, take me to the moor
Dig a shallow grave
And I’ll lay me down
Over the moor, take me to the moor
Dig a shallow grave
And I’ll lay me down
Lesley-Anne, with your pretty white beads
Oh John, you’ll never be a man
And you’ll never see your home again
Oh Manchester, so much to answer for
Edward, see those alluring lights ?
Tonight will be your very last night
A woman said : "I know my son is dead
I’ll never rest my hands on his sacred head"
Hindley wakes and Hindley says :
Hindley wakes, Hindley wakes, Hindley wakes, and says :
"Oh, wherever he has gone, I have gone"
But fresh lilaced moorland fields
Cannot hide the stolid stench of death
Fresh lilaced moorland fields
Cannot hide the stolid stench of death
Hindley wakes and says :
Hindley wakes, Hindley wakes, Hindley wakes, and says :
"Oh, whatever he has done, I have done"
But this is no easy ride
For a child cries :
"Oh, find me … find me, nothing more
We are on a sullen misty moor
We may be dead and we may be gone
But we will be, we will be, we will be, right by your side
Until the day you die
This is no easy ride
We will haunt you when you laugh
Yes, you could say we’re a team
You might sleep
You might sleep
You might sleep
BUT YOU WILL NEVER DREAM !
Oh, you might sleep
BUT YOU WILL NEVER DREAM !
You might sleep
BUT YOU WILL NEVER DREAM !"
Oh Manchester, so much to answer for
Oh Manchester, so much to answer for
Oh, find me, find me !
Find me !
I’ll haunt you when you laugh
Oh, I’ll haunt you when you laugh
You might sleep
BUT YOU WILL NEVER DREAM !
Oh …
Over the moors, I’m on the moor
Oh, over the moor
Oh, the child is on the moor
In the 60’s, Myra Hindley and lover Ian Brady abducted and murdered several small children in and around Manchester. They buried several bodies on Saddleworth Moor, north of Manchester; when they were found out, the case became known as the Moors Murders. Steven Patrick Morrissey was the same age as several of the victims, like Lesley Anne Downey and John Kilbride. In interviews years later, he revealed the deep impression the murders had left on him as a child – a feeling of an intense malevolent spirit around Manchester that never really left him.
This experience was to turn into the lyrics for this evocative and highly moving song, with surely the best lyrics on the first album. The image of the children’s ghosts clamouring to be buried in the Moors, their promise of retribution, and the stern reminder "Manchester, so much to answer for" all add to the deep sadness of this tune, backed by Marr’s plaintive guitar parts.
Months after the release of "The Smiths", a relative of the murdered John Kilbride heard this song on a jukebox in a pub. Incensed by what he saw as a taking advantage of the murders, a chance hearing caused yet another scandal to hinder the rising career of The Smiths. After several communications from Morrissey himself, the relatives soon realised the sincerity of the song. In its early stages, this song was titled "Over The Moors".
This song was only played live once, at The Smiths’ first gig, The Ritz, 4th October 1982.
January 24th, 2008 at 3:50AM
Re 3,4: Maybe you should look before you leap (or speak): in Canada, the star chambers have escaped the academy to make it out into society at large, in the form of so-called "Human Rights Commissions", able to punish whatever they deem as unacceptable (offensive) speech.