Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : View from the Center and Left -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Ilaine who wrote (25137)	7/25/2006 4:10:25 PM
From: Lane3	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 541515

I don't know enough about Cole to have an opinion on him. I've never read his blog. So I just commented on a peripheral point, the notion that "excessive hostility" shouldn't be disqualifying for professorial posts. I haven't anything to contribute on the Cole question. I do, however, think that blogs are a suitable resource when recruiting professors or anyone else. It's one way to get to know the candidate.

To: Ilaine who wrote (25137)	7/25/2006 4:13:30 PM
From: JohnM	Respond to of 541515

I recommended the comments on Cole because I thought they are fair and much, much to the point. The lesson I saw was that an academic who wishes to take her/his views public via a blog has to learn to live with the consequences of such. No one knows for certain whether it's hard on a career. Drezner and Cole can talk the most specifically but will not do so publicly. The rumours were strong that Drezner was denied tenure at Chicago because of his blog (reasonably conservative on international policy) and Cole was denied a move to Yale because of his blog. I liked the accumulation of comments that said (a) there is absolutely no way to know whether the blogs played a role or not but (b), and this point is from Drezner, the most likely reason is the sheer risk aversion, traditionalistic embeddedness of senior faculty at major institutions. Take the Yale case with Cole. The two departments--history and sociology--voted to accept him. I know the latter is a mix of younger and older faculty and by and large is not traditional old Yale. I don't know about history. But, the next level is a senior faculty committee, which rules on all tenure judgments including hiring tenured in from the outside. I know it's membership is/was almost a caricature of the paragraph above. So I doubt it's blogs per se, or even Cole's politics per se. And I seriously doubt that group would think twice about the various campaigns to keep Cole from getting job offer. More likely to do so because of the campaigns. It's more that it's all just so unseemly.