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Nothing against honorary societies…

… but their tendency toward insularity and self-regard is easy to satirize. By definition, they must be small lest admission cease to be an honor; but this very smallness – and the always somewhat obscure (and to some extent corruptible) business of how one gets in – represents a danger.

Todd Wallack, an enterprising Boston Globe reporter, broke the story of Lesley Cohen Berlowitz’s apparent fake credentials, as well as her very real obscene salary and perks as head of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She handles a tiny staff and budget and makes more than most university presidents.

Now the Massachusetts attorney general is looking into the matter (a law firm is already on the case), and of course I’ve already talked about the hydra-headed nature of almost all organizations — even small ones. So we can expect a Berlowitz blow-out pretty soon, in which rumors about her bullying of staff, use of a limo for the short trip between the AAAS and her apartment, etc., etc., are confirmed…

Looking ahead, we can also see that the AAAS will go from invisible (Les UD’s own a house fifty yards from the AAAS and knew virtually nothing about it) to notorious in the public eye. Notorious and ridiculous.

Margaret Soltan, June 7, 2013 7:25AM
Posted in: hoax

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3 Responses to “Nothing against honorary societies…”

  1. Bernard Carroll Says:

    These honorary societies are self interested clubs. Take the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences. A few years ago I fired a shot across their bow on the matter of conflict of interest. It turns out the IOM has no mechanism to get rid of members who become compromised. See PubMed ID 15812509: Can the Institute of Medicine Review the FDA? Nature Medicine 2005; 11: 369, and also http://hcrenewal.blogspot.com/2009/04/institute-of-medicine-report-on.html

  2. janet gool Says:

    Ms. Berlowitz attended the Ethical Culture School in New York, as did Andrew and Nicholas Delbanco. As did Roy Cohn. But obviously they weren’t all there at the same time.
    Best,
    Janet

  3. University Diaries » Greed goeth before another university presidency. Says:

    […] Wallack, Lesley Cohen Berlowitz’s nemesis at the Boston Globe, contributed to its detailed account of Dobelle’s doings. Wallack seems to be making a […]

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