Voltimand – you’re not way wrong re Identity politics and the slow death of the humanities. I had a niece who got out of a “good” school not knowing the difference between Dostoevsky and Ira Levin. Truth to tell, though, the humanities have never been all that alive in (what I’m guessing you think was)the Golden Age. New Critics weren’t much more responsive to humanity than post-structuralists. And, btw, if you’d been to English Dept gathering in the 50s/60s you would (I believe) been appalled by the sexism on diplay. Context counts for something – the Decline may be real but the rot was within as well as without..In any case, David H. isn’t the answer. He was a third-rate New Left historian back in the day and he’s a blowhard now – Check this respone to one of his PR moves –

http://www.firstofthemonth.org/archives/2000/08/horowitz_list.html

Please please don’t pollute a defence of the Liberal Arts with an apology for happy reactionary like Horo…

Buddy – I hear you re the Left’s failings – but fecklessness does seem to be the word to describe the Admin’s conflicted approach…What’s striking to me is not that Rummy was wrong – Anybody can be mistaken – what’s appalling is that no-one on top was willing to hash things through and deal with the apparent contradictions though the ship was sinking