Death of the Ayn Rand Scholar by Gray Cavender (classic literature list txt) 📕

Jillian turned back to Wes. “I hope that’s OK. There are a couple of things I want to ask her…about Professor Siemens AND about Professor Keefer. I thought I could double back here after the demonstration. And, after I talk with her, I’ll text Grace Wilson. By then, she should know who the new chair of English will be. I don’t know if that’s relevant, but still…”

“All good, Jilly. And after the demo, I’ll head back to HQ and talk with the Chief…she’ll want to be in the loop. I’ll also call Al to see if there’s any scuttlebutt on Davidos…as a womanizer…really, on any front. Al is usually an ‘in the know’ kind of a guy. I’d like to know what’s what before we schedule a follow-up interview…because, I suspect that this will generate some push-back. I’m not saying we shouldn’t re-interview Davidos…just that we want to get our ducks in a row first. Sound like a plan?

“Sounds like a plan.”

“By the way, Professor Szabo, where’s she from? I couldn’t quite place the accent,” he said, as he tugged at his earlobe.

“Yes, I know…it’s hard to pinpoint. OK, well, she’s originally from Hungary, but went to grad school in France—Paris, of course…”

Wes laughed, “Well, of course…”

She smiled and continued, “And this is interesting, Wes…she’s of Roma heritage—her dad, I think. She also lived in Spain for a while. I know she speaks Hungarian and Romani. But, she’s fluent in a bunch of languages.

“Romani, wow, that’s interesting. How’d she end-up at ASU?”

“I know some of the answer…but some is only hearsay.” She took a big sip of tea. “OK, several years ago, a few really well-respected scholars started writing about what they called ‘Southern theory.’

Wes gestured that he didn’t understand.

“So, most scholars who’ve written about society, about government and politics…whatever, have been from the northern hemisphere…the US, the UK, France, and so on—and really that’s what they’re writing about as well. Anyway, it was a big deal when some scholars started writing about theorists from the southern hemisphere, people whose ideas and research were about those regions.”

Wes nodded that he understood, so she continued. “Only problem was…almost all of the southern theorists these men wrote about also were men.”

“Oops,” Wes said.

“Exactly. Anyway, what ZZ did—Professor Szabo—is that her doctoral dissertation was about southern theories…from WOMEN in those regions. “

Wes asked, “And this was a big deal, why?”

“Well, in the first place, because she did it at all. She gave voice to some amazing women theorists whose voices had not been heard, at least not in the northern hemisphere. And second, she did a phenomenal job of it. She was thorough, she was thoughtful, and she discussed agreements and disagreements among these theorists, and, she contrasted them with the southern male theorists.”

Jillian ate her a last bite of her sandwich, took a sip of tea, and used her napkin. ”ZZ pretty quickly turned her dissertation into a book that was originally published in French, then translated into English and other languages, too, I think. She won a lot of academic awards for the book.”

“And that’s when ASU hired her?”

“Not yet. As soon as she earned her PhD, Wellesley College snapped her up…the book was published about the same time…and translated into the other languages.”

Jillian continued and was very demonstrative with her hands. “Then, almost immediately, she published a companion volume, an anthology of articles actually written by many of these southern hemisphere women. But, this was more than just a compilation of articles…ZZ introduced each theorist with a discussion that put them in perspective. It was very original…like her dissertation.

“I take it that you’ve read these books?”

“Yes, I had a graduate seminar with her, and we read them then.”

“But, when does ASU enter the picture?”

“Well, this is the part that’s more gossipy.”

“I’m all ears,” Wes said, and rubbed his hands together. “Talk on.”

“It’s my understanding that President Davidos heard ZZ speak at a conference, and he was really impressed. So, he set out to hire her. He had someone—a VP, a Dean, I don’t really know—put together a very attractive offer for her. She’d only been out of graduate school for maybe three years, and Wellesley had already tenured her and promoted her to Associate Professor, so, ASU promised her a quick promotion to full professor and a fairly large salary, which they justified by offering to make her the head of a humanities methodology center on campus. ASU could pay her a larger salary by making her an administrator, right?”

Wes nodded. “Administrators get a calendar year salary, not the 10 month salary that most professors earn.”

“Yes, exactly. Except…” Jillian paused for emphasis, “ZZ said no. She would not be an administrator. Someone told me that when ZZ turned-down the offer, she told ASU that Americans were fixated on being administrators. And get this, Wes, she cited Mick Jagger as her source for this criticism.”

Wes laughed so hard that he choked on his tea. When he finally stopped coughing, he said, “I love it.”

“Thought you would. Anyway, ZZ declined to be an administrator, but said that to come to ASU, she’d still want the salary that was originally offered, which threw a lot of people into a tizzy.”

“And yet, she is here. What happened to break the log jam?”

“The U of A.“ Jillian held up a hand before Wes could speak, and continued. “Apparently, President Davidos had cooled on ZZ when she declined the administrative post...until…” she paused, then continued, “…he heard that the U of A was actively recruiting her. As soon as he heard that, he waved his presidential wand, the original offer was reinstated and she was hired...on her terms…the higher salary, without the administrative duties.“

“It’s the Territorial Cup,” Wes laughed again.

“I don’t understand,” Jillian said. “What’s a Territorial Cup?”

“OK, every year, ASU plays the U of A in the last regularly scheduled football game of the season. And, the winner of the game is awarded the Territorial Cup…you know, our status before becoming a state…The