According to an anonymous source within the anthropology department, chairman Dr. Brinkley Messick is playing favorites with troubled tenure candidate, professor Nadia Abu El-Haj. Messick named Abu El-Haj, the unreachable, aloof, and controversial "scholar," Director of Graduate Studies. The motives behind the move are clear—Messick bypassed far more deserving candidates for the position so as to cement Abu El-Haj within the department. The more responsibility she has, he reckons, the less likely it is that the objective academic committee will deny her tenure. Apparently positions and titles mean more than academic merit. This, however, should come as no surprise; those familiar with e-mails sent out on the AnthroDish listserv contend that Messick has repeatedly voiced his support for "Nadia" in "this difficult time." According to these sources, Messick once claimed that "we have seen this before." If the tenure committee can validate these conversations, they must not allow interdepartmental favoritism to weigh upon their reasoned decision.