Yasmin Alibhai-Brown: A male poet wouldn't have been blamed for rough tactics
Ruthless power plays in academia are as common as good wine
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Independent Minds
Dear oh Dear, shame and scandal in the faculty. The newly appointed Oxford Professor of Poetry, Ruth Padel, is beautiful, exceptionally talented, brainy, ambitious and a woman.
Her main rival, until he withdrew from the election, was the Nobel Laureate Derek Walcott, who is considered, with Seamus Heaney, to be one of our greatest living poets. Those who know him describe him as charismatic and proud. He is Caribbean.
At one level, this mirrors the fierce contest between race and gender represented by Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Only it is more unforgiving and is playing out in what is believed to be that otherworldly, cerebral, ancient place of learning, precious (in both senses), Oxford.
The story so far. Padel, Walcott and an Indian poet, Arvind Krishna Mehrotra were nominated for the prestigious position. Walcott was the favourite until journalists and anonymous campaigners, believed to be ardent Padel supporters, dug up his past misdemeanours. He was accused of sexually harassing one student, a charge he admitted and later another, a case settled out of court. The incidents go back a long time. He withdrew his candidature, saying he was disappointed the process had "degenerated into a low and degrading attempt at character assassination".
Padel, who was then duly elected to the chair, claimed she had nothing to do with the smears. Now emails have been revealed from her to journalists, in which she does indeed direct them to examine Walcott's past. She finds herself abandoned by many of the supporters who say they are shocked by her behaviour. Lord Melvyn Bragg and Sir Jeremy Isaacs are among those who are asking her to consider her position. It is all surreal. And phoney.
Sexual impropriety and ruthless power struggles can hardly be described as aberrant behaviours in academic or literary circles. They are as common as good wine and agreeable international conferences. Lecturers have affairs with their students, whether consensual or not. And they routinely behave unethically to reach goals they are aiming for. One historian I used to know told me that when he was going for a fellowship, he started a whispering campaign in the department, insinuating that the only other applicant was close to mental collapse and was on anti-depressants.
The sound and fury over this professorship is not unconnected to the fact that the protagonists are outsiders, not academic establishment gentlemen au fait with the rules of a game played with nods and winks and a minimum of public fuss. This unholy furore will have traumatised tranquil senior common rooms. It is not how things are done, and certainly not in Oxford where disgrace and dishonour are covered up with marvellous efficiency.
When Walcott stood down, he must have felt he was being "punished" for something that is widespread in higher education, even today when universities have anti-harassment policies. When in Oxford in the early Seventies, we all knew who the letch tutors were, so too the obliging wenches who happily gave themselves to the lotharios. I walked into the office of my "moral tutor" to find him and a young woman certainly not engaged in matters of the mind. His large 18th-century desk was clearly good at multi-tasking.
The tradition, may I humbly suggest, is alive and well today. Many an honoured academic and laureate in this country has a less than pristine record. Walcott was judged by uniquely high standards and I do wonder if that was because of his race.
With Padel too, the shockwaves set off by her emails suggests that ambitious women are not allowed to play hard. Men can and do use any weapons they have when battling against competitors, but not so the gentler sex. How many male professors across the land can honestly say they have always played fair to reach where they are?
This whole business of selecting Oxford's Poetry Professor has been unseemly. The two main candidates are brilliant poets yet flawed. Neither seemed to understand that for the first ever woman to get the position or the first ever man of colour, they would face exceptional scrutiny and impossible tests of worthiness. What has come to pass will only discourage others outside the magic circles. And so the status quo will remain for a good many more years.
y.alibhai-brown@independent.co.uk
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Comments
Abolish both. Then we'll talk about the royal family.
(source unkown)
''Why are acadaemic politics so bitter ?''
''Because they do not matter''.
University politics are vicious precisely because the stakes are so small. Henry A Kissinger
It seems to me that these claims reflect a feminist bias.
Anyone who indulges in underhand tactics and deceit is, and deserves to be, held in contempt for doing so. The fact that Padel is a woman does not excuse what she did.
The "case" against Walcott was a feminist one, based on the higher standards that apply when judging the alleged sexual misconduct of men. Can you imagine a 79-year old female academic being forced to withdraw from a competition because of allegations that she sexually harassed two male students decades ago? On the other had it is easy to imagine a white male counterpart of Walcott being forced to withdraw.
It is absurd to suggest that at 79 he might be a threat to female students. Even if the timid university authorities thought that there might be a danger, they could easily have arranged for female students to be chaperoned in his presence.
The result of the smear campaign is that students of poetry at Oxford have been denied the opportunity of listening to and interacting with a great poet. I think that the university should get rid of Padel and do what it can to persuade Walcott to reconsider.
A man behaves badly but is only condemned for it because he is non-white.
Grow up you silly sexist racist old woman.
Derek Walcott earns sympathy for having been the victim of a smear campaign on a matter irrelevant to the poetry professorship, and Ruth Padel ALSO gets sympathy for criticism of having participated in such a campaign? Does Yasmin really fail to see the lack of logic, let alone decency, in this?
So what if there has always been a lot of politicking and dirty dealing behind the scenes in academe? Does that mean it is right? Or, when discovered, it should not be punished? Does that mean she thinks there is nothing wrong with the row over MPs expenses, because it has been going on amongst so many people for so long?
And how does she know that Ruth Padel would not be criticised if she were a man? That is nothing but speculation. Surely any candidate for a position should be criticised for publicising irrelevant personal information about a rival. Padel's response, when her contemptible behaviour was exposed, was contemptible as well. She said that the material was in the public domain--yes, but that didn't mean she had to disseminate it and, in doing so, approve the idea that candidates for office should be judged by irrelevant personal matters. She also said she was "passing on the concern of a student." Oh, so she is concerned and caring and all that rubbish! It was her business to dissuade the student from contacting the press, but instead she did it herself so the media would be more likely to listen to her.
Derek Walcott's misbehaviour had nothing to do with his fitness for this post. Padel's does, and she should go--or, better, be pushed, so the university can show it has some standards.
Don't know why, by the way, why Padel's being "beautiful" is thought to be relevant. Isn't that a sexist criterion? Is Yasmin saying a beautiful poet is more deserving of an honour than an ugly one? Even so, many would disagree, regarding Padel as, rather, a stringy old piece of mutton dressed as lamb in a Seventies hairdo who has for aeons struck risibly affected attitudes of bohemianism and sensuality. Any real woman, beautiful or not, ought to laugh her out of town, not collaborate with her narcissism and hypocrisy.
Simply look at the glaring evidence of which gender has the greatest representation within our institutions, is this not sufficient evidence of the history of rules that decides which gender comes out tops?
Its the numbers game you see, so when a woman is judged ( by whom?)to have stepped out of line-- well the hounds come out in force do they not.
Are you saying that, as compensation for their inferior status, women should not be expected to play by the rules of fairness and honesty? What a fine world that would be! Isn't it bad enough already? And would you really enjoy the possession of something you had won by cheating? Well, if you would, you shouldn't.
Ruth Padel used dirty tricks because she knew that she would not have won without them. Res ipsa loquitur--by her actions she has condemned herself as an inferior poet.
You really are losing it. Balanced I suppose, ethnic majority on one shoulder woman on the other. As a black man I only get half benefit.
You must run in very strange circles to think this behaviour (including inciting your ex-bonkee to weigh in c/o the Independent) is acceptable. No none of my professorial colleagues (man or woman) think this acceptable. If it happened locally there would be two reactions - (a) a silly thing to do and (b) and she got caught!
Luckily Oxford alumni did not elect Padel for her intellect.
www.lorealprofessionnel.com/index.aspx - Cached
Ruth Padel used dirty tricks because she knew that she would not have won without them. Res ipsa loquitur--by her actions she has condemned herself as an inferior poet.
It even sooths the night singing bird that stops to sing and allows you to pass under the bridge and the rain that falls tap, tap, tap, on the trees and the horse sleep on the legs.
Then you are blind therefore you only can smell and abuse man and all the poets. So sad. I wish you all the best when you see the vet. Moreover, I am falling out of my sleep that is a good sigh the poet tells me. What is new Yasmin?
I thank you
Firozali A. Mulla
Even so, is it really necessary for The YAB to use quite so many cliches? This piece is incredibly badly styled, even for her.
I think she is employed as her presence ticks so many boxes- immigrant, Asian, Muslim, female, lefty, old and, of course, stupid. It certainly can't be because of the qulaity of her thought.
I know Boris Johnson in the Torygraph gets 250,000 pounds for his weekly blah, but I can't imagine YAB is on that, can you?
The thought makes my bowels shrivel.
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Yab-Yum - Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaYab-yum (Tibetan literally, "father-mother") is a common symbol in the Buddhist art of India, Bhutan, Nepal, and Tibet representing the male deity in sexual union with his female consort. Often the male deity is sitting in lotus position while his consort is sitting in his lap.
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You could spend the entire evening totally immersed in the Thoughts of Yasmin Alibhai-Brown !!!
tomatoes in London
You could spend the entire evening totally immersed in the Thoughts of Yasmin Alibhai-Brown !!!
"I had never danced with a celebrity before, so I felt delighted, privileged even, to meet her. But I really felt she was like a girl from back home."
- EDWARD SKVARNA, on meeting the film star Donna Reed as a young airman
during World War II.
I thank you
Firozali A. Mulla
tomatoes in London
You could spend the entire evening totally immersed in the Thoughts of Yasmin Alibhai-Brown !!!
"I had never danced with a celebrity before, so I felt delighted, privileged even, to meet her. But I really felt she was like a girl from back home."
- EDWARD SKVARNA, on meeting the film star Donna Reed as a young airman
during World War II.
I thank you
Firozali A. Mulla
you are confused
are you trying to defend Padel because of her gender and unfair treatment because of her sex
or her.... ethnic background..or that she is a female academic and that is an endangered species and that kind of dismisses the fact that she behaved badly full stop...or does it?
or Walcott's ethnic background , or his sexual harrassment behaviour and the fact that he is a man but let's see, that's not so bad because he's.....black but there again he is an aceademic and a man...and he lives in an ivory tower ..
and let's see, there's the issue of the snobbery and elitism of Oxford but there agian, if people from an ethnic background buy into it, then it is OK and cancels itself out by virtue of colour and background
Yasmin, you are A RAGING SEXIST RACIST SNOB WITH A MASSIVE CHIP ON YOUR SHOULDER AND YOU WILL USE ANYTHING TO TRY AND PUT YOUR POOR ME ACROSS!
the right thing was done by Padel,
she resigned,
about time.
No, i will not take the position of professor of poetry. i'm maybe over-qualified.
Get out into the world. There's a poet in every town, but they would never know because their humanity prevents them from adoring themselves.
How about an article on Phillip and Fern? Something meaty!
how infinite in faculty! in form and moving how
express and admirable! in action how like an angel!
in apprehension how like a god! the beauty of the
world! the paragon of animals! And yet, to me,
what is this quintessence of dust? man delights not
me: no, nor woman neither, though by your smiling
you seem to say so.
Why does the Indie keep this dreadful old woman?
Ruth Padel, a great-great granddaughter of Charles Darwin, insisted she had "acted in good faith" and had done "nothing intentional" to lead her rival Derek Walcott to withdraw from the election.
Oxford University sources said a new election would now be held.
Walcott, who had been the leading candidate for the job which is regarded as one of the most influential in UK poetry behind that of the laureateship, withdrew from the race following an anonymous letter campaign against him.
I thank you
Firozali A. Mulla
2) Ambitious women are, indeed, 'allowed to play hard'----in fact, they are 'cut more slack', both by males and females. Padel did not just 'play hard'---she played dirty.
3) Ruth Padel was Number Two in the three-way race, before Walcott was blindsided by Padel's email posts to journalists calling attention to his alleged sexual harassment, after which John Walsh's Independent article mimicked and elaborated on Padel's list.
4) Padel and Walcott, white female and black male, were not scrutinised more than previous academics----until Ruth Padel's email 'tips' to the journalists.
5) What nonblacks think about blacks---conscious and unconscious---is the major problem in this situation, and Ruth Padel's overweening ambition, not women-haters, took her down.
Jaffe 4 - CALM DOWN. Motion wrote a brilliant poem after the train disaster.
Congratulations
I thank you
Firozali A.Mulla
Mind you Universities are full of bitter and twisted social retards of both genders, all full of their own sense of self importance. I work at a University and most of the academics and senior management I have the misfortune to come into contact with are complete twats. Their gender is secondary to their innate pompous elitism, (some of which you display yourself Yasmin)
The most idiotic line of this article: "the shockwaves set off by her emails suggests that ambitious women are not allowed to play hard." what utter fizzle fazzle (to coin a cheezy academic phraze).