Brombert, Victor

Heilbrun, Carolyn G.

Lehmann, Winfred

Miller, J. Hillis

Stimpson, Catharine R.

Valdés, Mario J.

Ziolkowski, Theodore

English

DigitalCommons@URI

University of Rhode IslandDigitalCommons@URIIannone, Carol: News Articles (1991) Education: National Endowment for the Arts andHumanities, Subject Files I (1973-1996)1991Iannone, Carol: News Articles (1991): Letter to theEditor 03Carolyn G. HeilbrunMario J. ValdésSee next page for additional authorsFollow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.uri.edu/pell_neh_I_36This Letter to the Editor is brought to you for free and open access by the Education: National Endowment for the Arts and Humanities, Subject Files I(1973-1996) at DigitalCommons@URI. It has been accepted for inclusion in Iannone, Carol: News Articles (1991) by an authorized administrator ofDigitalCommons@URI. For more information, please contact digitalcommons@etal.uri.edu.Recommended CitationHeilbrun, Carolyn G.; Valdés, Mario J.; Brombert, Victor; Lehmann, Winfred; Miller, J. Hillis; Stimpson, Catharine R.; andZiolkowski, Theodore, "Iannone, Carol: News Articles (1991): Letter to the Editor 03" (1991). Iannone, Carol: News Articles (1991).Paper 27.http://digitalcommons.uri.edu/pell_neh_I_36/27AuthorsCarolyn G. Heilbrun, Mario J. Valdés, Victor Brombert, Winfred Lehmann, J. Hillis Miller, Catharine R.Stimpson, and Theodore ZiolkowskiThis letter to the editor is available at DigitalCommons@URI: http://digitalcommons.uri.edu/pell_neh_I_36/2784 • THE CHRONICLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION • May 22, 1991 LmERS TO THE EDITOR In Defense of the MLA s Executive Director To THE EDITOR: Although I do not believe that any-thing Peter Shaw writes deserves a response. I cannot let his grossly un-just attack on Phyllis Franklin in The Chronicle pass unremarked ("How Non-Ideological Has the Op-position Been to Nominee to Nation-al Humanities Council?" Opinion, May 1). Peter Shaw. like his comrade-in-arms. George Will, who has written with similar inaccuracy in News-week. feels compelled to come to the support of Lynne V. Cheney because Carol Iannone does not seem. to the academic community. qualified for the position to which she is nomi-nated .... The Chronicle has. there-fore. printed an attack on Phyllis Franklin not unlike the "Willie Hor-ton" sound bite. Neither Shaw nor Will has time for facts or moderation. The Chronicle has, I trust. noted that both Gertrude Himmelfarb and Rob-ert Hollander were approved with no problem by the Modern Language Associatioq. Ideology is not the is-sue. First, please note that Franklin, writing on behalf of the M.L.A., has never taken any but a scholarly stand in objecting to the qualifications of Carole Iannone. The M.L.A. Execu-tive Council voted that objection; Franklin. as executive director. car-ried out their orders and wrote the letter. Second, Shaw. before his shameful personal attack on Frank----lin. might better have learned some-thing about the organization of the M.L.A. In the past. the executive director was a senior scholar whose main task was editing P.M.L.A .. the organiza-tion's journal. Before Franklin was chosen as executive director. howev-er. the Executive Council decided to separate the editorship of P.M.L.A. from the running of the organization. Franklin was chosen to run the orga-nization and has, indeed. greatly im-proved its operating efficiency and its finances. The editor of P.M.L.A. is a highly qualified scholar from Cor-nell University. But sound bites, as Lee Atwater confessed on his death bed, are the cruel work of desperate and immoral people. Franklin was personally attacked, because no ra-tional objection to the M.L.A. 's ex-pressing its opinion about scholarly qualifications is possible. Shaw's assault on Phyllis Frank-lin, who was carrying out the wishes of the Executive Council and. there-fore, of the M.L.A., was not only scurrilous. It is. alas, characteristic of the tactics of those who cannot openly argue the merits of a case without irrelevant accusations. CAROLYN G. HEILBRUN Professor of Humanities Columbia University New York City • To THE EDITOR: In addition to providing an irrele-vant and partial description of Phyllis Franklin's record, Peter Shaw's Opinion presents the misleading sug-gestion that Franklin. as M.L.A. exec-utive director. made the decision to question the nomination of Carol Ian-none to the N.E.H. National Council on the Humanities. The decision was made by the M.L.A. Executive Coun-cil. I serve as chair of the council; the executive director reports to the council and implements council deci-sions. Shaw speaks of everything but the one relevant thing-the legislative criteria for appointments to the N.E.H. National Council on the Hu-manities that call for: individuals who ( I) are selected from among pri-vate citizens of the United States who are recognized for their broad knowledge of. expertise in, or com-mitment to the humanities; and (2) have established records of distin-guished service and scholarship or creativity. . .. These criteria were not established by the M.L.A.; they were established by the Congress of the United States. Shaw's failure to address this issue and his effort to substitute a discus-sion of irrelevancies are disturbing because, as a member of the N.E.H. National Council on the Humanities, he should know and respect the legis-lation governing the N.E.H. MARIO J. VALDES President Modem Language Association of America New York City • To THE EDITOR: ... To our regret, Professor Shaw distorts the record and character of Phyllis Franklin, the executive direc-tor of the Modem Language Associa-tion. The writers of this letter differ among ourselves in terms of our in-tellectual and professional interests. All of us. however, are past presi-dents of the M.L.A. who have worked directly with her. As executive director. Dr. Frank-lin earned our great respect and that of a wide variety of the more than 30,000 members of the M.L.A. She did so for many reasons, among them her acute judgment, integrity. hard work, and thoughtful administration of the policies that the M.L.A. Execu-tive Council and Delegate Assembly established. As spokesperson for the association, she is always careful to represent, not her own opinions. but the decisions that these groups and the membership as a whole have reached. Dr. Franklin's record can speak for itself, but we also want this letter to speak on her behalf. VICTOR BROMBERT Princeton U nivenity Princeton, N .J. CAROLYN G. HEILBRUN Columbia University New Yortt City WINFRED LEHMANN University of Texas at Austin Austin. Tex. J. HILLIS MILLER University of California at Irvine Irvine, Cal. CATHARINE R. STIMPSON Rutgers University New Brunswick, NJ. THEODORE ZIOLKOWSKI Princeton University Princ:etoa, N .J. Research /inili1lJ!.S: THI!. CHaONICLE OP HlGHEa EDUC A TIOfil "It's just your life story. You'1 research journal but that is gene1 inadequate to allow other scien to verify and build upon the 1 lished scientific research result~ deed.journals are reluctant to a~ articles where the biological m• als covered in the article are made freely available to other scientific purposes. This Scripps agreement als1 quires that Scripps obtain a ro> free. non-exclusive license to provements or modifications or c materials," with the right to license, and a "90-day right of refusal to obtain an exclusiv• - cense." The rights that Scripp~ quires are understood to be solel the benefit of a single company. • though the majority of Scrippi search is funded by N.l.H. We then can note that the 1 majority of biomedical researc the United States also is condu using N.l.H. funds. Thus, most r ients of the Lerner materials ~ be researching under public funG the benefit of a single commerci< tity. If the Lerner combinational tor technique is as revolutionary is purported to be. this situatiOll ates. it seems to me, interesting lie-policy questions. It is ironic that the Stratacyte POration. a for-profit company v 

Iannone, Carol: News Articles (1991): Letter to the Editor 03

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Iannone, Carol: News Articles (1991): Letter to the Editor 03

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