No. That’s not the reason NU’s English department (where UD was a student, and where she knew Epstein) quite consciously deleted Epstein’s name.
Turnabout is fair play. If Epstein is going to erase Jill Biden (not just her Dr. title, but anything other than the humiliating “First Lady,” for which he counsels her to settle), NU can do the same thing to Epstein. It’s all about (to use Jill Biden’s term for what Epstein tried to do) “diminishing.” You flatten another human being to nothingness; we’ll do the same to you. How does it feel to be diminished to some temporary nameless long-forgotten adjunct?
Epstein was strategic in his non-personing of Jill Biden; Northwestern will be equally strategic. Bruce Bawer unsurprisingly takes note of the diminishment. But he misreads its motive. Mentioning Epstein’s name would not be offensive; it would be unjust.
December 21st, 2020 at 11:59AM
What really frosts me is that Epstein attacked Biden for her supposedly inferior degree, but has never (to my knowledge) attacked male holders of worthless law degrees or MBA’s (wonder how many members of Congress have those?).
December 21st, 2020 at 12:54PM
Jane: For me what’s really striking is that Epstein goes after a perfectly respectable school, U Delaware. In his impassioned defense of Sarah Palin against all those mean elitist snobs, he had nothing at all to say about her U Idaho degree. Delaware is ranked 97th in the nation; Idaho is #170. Yet for all his concern about degraded schools, Epstein finds no place in his Palin paean for a mention of her very low-ranking school, and is happy to crap all over Biden’s much higher-ranking school.