Word: thompson
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...would Thompson possibly have an animus against Berkowitz? The embattled Berkowitz related a story of the critical review he published of a Thompson book in The New Republic on Nov. 25, 1996, just around the time the tenure deliberations in the government department began. Interestingly, the book in question, which was co-written with the liberal theorist Amy Gutmann '71 was called Democracy and Disagreement: Why Moral Conflict Cannot Be Avoided in Politics, and What Should be Done About It. The book argues that democratic societies should engage in substantive deliberation over serious moral issues in order to achieve "mutually...
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...
Thus the published 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...
...part, Thompson says, "I am in a difficult position because I cannot speak about the substance of the case because of the general departmental policy that tenure deliberations are confidential. But I will say this: my actions in this case were limited to the usual role I play as a member of the government department as a part of the 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...
This forthrightness on Thompson's part, saying that he did not in fact recuse himself from the process of testifying before the President--even under the allegation of a readily-apparent conflict of interest--seems to undermine the claim of the Berkowitz camp that Thompson secretly intervened at the top levels of the administration to bias the ad hoc committee against Berkowitz. Thompson has made clear his professional disapproval of Berkowitz (through his negative department vote and this comment), and therefore had no need to subvert the process in order to affect the Berkowitz tenure decision. We will never know...