Thursday, February 23, 2006
Martin Kramer examines Juan Cole's exploration of the "lawsuit option" -- as well as Cole's scholarship -- here: Cole and Yale:
...I would be surprised, and even shocked, if Yale appointed Juan Cole. The fact that he's under serious consideration (and that Princeton has considered Rashid Khalidi) is just more evidence of the enormous generation gap in Middle Eastern studies. For over thirty years, the best people have avoided the field, and mediocre people have flourished in it. Now that there's intense student demand for courses on the modern Middle East, provosts and deans are in a quandary. It's at times like this that our "great universities" earn the name. They do so by upholding scholarly standards and protecting their students from "professional harm."
I would love to see Juan Cole sue someone for defaming his scholarly reputation. He could end up like David Irving did when Irving tried to sue Deborah Liptstadt in a UK court -- countersued for costs+.
Kramer may be a little premature in saying that even if successful, Cole, as a tenured prof at U Mich, would not be able to demonstrate harm. The harm that Cole would be concerned about is if he lost that Yale appointment due to defamation (outing his bad scholarship isn't defamation) and if it costing him any lucrative speaking engagements or consultancies.
But how pathetic can you get -- actually posting on your blogsite to ask for a good libel lawyer to come forward. If he had half a brain he'd know that's not the likeliest way to find one. Going to the Bar Assoc, or his own university's law department for info is, but I guess that's not apparent to the nutty prof.