Word: nesson
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...Nesson summarized the above-mentioned letter to the Joint Committee, which fails to mention Thompson, as follows: "One: Dennis Thompson is sufficiently antagonistic to Peter [Berkowitz] that he formally declared himself not to be a witness in the process, yet he had a deep influence on the outcome. Two: the President should have known that it was a conflict. The ad hoc process at Harvard was rigged to be a hanging jury. Three: Dennis Thompson has a great influence as a friend of Neil Rudenstine. His wife, Carol, works in the office that puts as hoc panels together." Carol...
What is captivating here is that Berkowitz wrote the review just before he went up for tenure in the government department, one of whose voting members in Thompson. Berkowitz explained his actions in Nesson's class as follows. Leon Wieseltier, the literary editor of The New Republic, suggested Berkowitz review the Thompson book after a prior Berkowitz review explored issues surrounding Alexis de Tocqueville, religion and civil society. Berkowitz had two (soundly politic) qualms--that Thompson is a colleague and that his own tenure review process was underway. After calling Martin H. Peretz, lecturer on Social Studies and owner...
...critique of Thompson that brought to light the partisan academica divide between the two men. And though Berkowitz knew of the potential intra-Harvard political consequences of his book review, he is now upset that his initial, negative predication might have come true. As evidence, he displayed-to the Nesson class a hand-written note from Thompson dated April 21, 1997, the same day he found out about the tenure denial, which read in part, "I have just learned that you were denied tenure...I was not able to support your candidacy...I hope to keep in touch...
...departmental discussion. I wrote a customary letter to the Dean [of FAS Knowles]. I don't normally [as a part-time University administrator] have any other role in FAS tenure decisions and I did not do anything other in this case either." In response to the statement by Nesson that Thompson "formally declared himself not to be a witness in the process," Thompson remarks, "I wasn't a witness because I wasn't there [he was giving a speech at Rice University in Texas at the time]. It wasn't because I didn't want to be a witness...
...question is whether this method of ad hoc review committees and secretive letters is the best way to determine if a candidate is fit for tenure. Berkowitz and his lawyers will most likely have to proceed with the circumstantial evidence that they have shared with the public in Nesson's forum and over the Internet. The Joint Committee, which has tremendous power and access, truly has the opportunity to look seriously into possible procedural wrongdoing in this case...