New President look ahead

[retired711]

I have now read Holloway's book, Jim Crow Wisdom. It consists largely on his recollections of growing up as an upper-class black, the stories his family told him, and his reflections on both. I found it worth reading to get a better sense of the discrimination and humiliations even upper-class blacks go through. It wouldn't hurt anyone to read the book, even someone, like me, who is not convinced of some of his conclusions.

I didn't think it was a particularly "scholarly" book (although works based on personal narrative have become very well accepted in the academy); my hunch is that Holloway's earlier book, Confronting the Veil, is more of a traditional work of scholarship: there he profiles three prominent black social scientists at Howard between the world wars that Holloway thinks were the cutting edge of black radicalism in academe.

Holloway certainly supports black studies and similar programs, and probably will put stress on achieving greater racial diversity (i.e. more black and Hispanic students). He does not seem to be a fan of political correctness.

I think that probably his academic record of publication is less important than what he was like as an administrator. He was a house master at Yale, and so he got to work with a lot of students; that's all to the good. I don't know at all what he was like as a dean at Yale or a provost at Northwestern. He is certainly not a militant by ideology or by personality. I think he is a little young for the Rutgers job, but may just be because I am significantly older than he is.

He may turn out to be a home run hire, and he may turn out to be a bomb. Let's give the guy a chance to show us which he is.

P.S. I"ve ordered Confronting the Veil from Amazon Kindle -- I got it at a very cheap price -- , but it's not in my immediate reading plans.

I actually just read Holloway's first book -- the one that no doubt got him tenure at Yale. It's called Confronting the Veil. It is an account of three prominent black social scientists at Howard University in the 1930s and afterward. Howard was then considered the premier black university. The only name among the three I think anyone would possibly remember is Ralph Bunche, who went on to become a UN diplomat and negotiated the Palestinian cease-fire in 1949.

The three had in common that they all thought that black leaders were wrong in stressing "race" issues like civil rights and other "middle-class" issues. Rather, they thought, black leaders should hand over power to a new generation (theirs), which would emphasize economic issues and try to bring about a coalition with white workers for social change. The three thought that the capitalist system was why there was racism, and hoped for its overthrow. (One was a Communist briefly, but found that white Communists were racist and would not allow blacks to have positions of power). Eventually the three abandoned this ideological position as time went along.

Holloway describes the positions of the three and is fair in discussing them. Opponents of the three are also quoted at length. Holloway explains why he thought the three were so important. I wasn't convinced, but I would say this is a solid, well-researched piece -- which is what is needed to get tenure. It's not earthshaking, but that's why some professors become administrators -- they think that they are better at administration and enjoy it more than a solitary life of scholarship.

The work doesn't change my mind about Holloway. The most important thing needed in a university administrator is not scholarly ability so much as appreciation of good scholarship. The work doesn't make me think less of his teaching skills -- in fact, the clear writing makes me think more of them. I continue to think that Holloway has a reasonable chance of being successful at Rutgers.

 

[srru86]

MyCentralJersey.com
Rutgers' hiring of Jonathan Holloway through the lens of African American history