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The late Joseph Campbell, the teacher and philosopher, continues to make his presence felt at Sarah Lawrence College, where he taught for 38 years. Mr. Campbell was known for his work on mythology.
Under pressure from a small group of students and alumni, concerned that Mr. Campbell had made anti-Semitic and racist remarks, Sarah Lawrence has canceled a videotape presentation honoring Mr. Campbell. The event, scheduled for next Saturday, was to have been part of an alumni fund-raising weekend.

The college's commitment to minorities had been an issue in a debate over a teaching chair named for Mr. Campbell, which some students argued should be reserved for minority scholars. Late last month, the college president, Dr. Alice S. Ilchman, responded to the demands by revising the conditions for the chair, setting it aside for people of ''diverse cultures,'' including African, Asian, Native American, Latin American and Middle Eastern.
Students have taken the issue a step further, calling for more formal policies outlining the financing of teaching chairs and the conferring of honorary degrees. Mr. Campbell received an honorary degree in 1986, a year before he died at the age of 83.


'Questionable Merit'

''We should not confer high honors on someone of questionable merit,'' said Patrick Larvie, a student senator and senior.
Dr. Ilchman said in an interview last week that the controversy was over. The college, she said, has no way to prove the allegations against Mr. Campbell, and the administration knew little about the accusations of anti-Semitism and racism until the $1 million endowment for the Campbell chair was accepted two years ago.
''Joseph Campbell made an impact on the lives of many students who wanted to honor him with an endowment,'' Dr. Ilchman said. She said the accusations against him came from ''a few alumni and students.''

After the Public Broadcasting Service televised a series of interviews with Mr. Campbell in 1988, an alumna and a few faculty members, including two literature professors, Arnold Krupat and Daniel Kaiser, came forward to criticize Mr. Campbell as anti-Semitic and racist. Shortly afterward, Brendan Gill, in The New York Review of Books, questioned Mr. Campbell's philsophy of ''follow your bliss,'' and his use of anti-Semitic and racist remarks.
''Campbell's bigotry had another distressing aspect, which was seemingly ineradicable anti-Semitism,'' Mr. Gill wrote in September. ''By the time I came to know him, he had learned to conceal its gross manifestations. But there can be no doubt that it existed and that it tainted not only the man himself, but the quality of his scholarship.''

Graduate Recalls a Tirade

When Sarah Lawrence accepted the endowment from 60 friends and alumni, several students denounced the administration for holding a event honoring Mr. Campbell. The event showcased celebrities like the interviewer in the PBS programs, Bill Moyers; Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, and George Lucas, creator of ''Star Wars.''
When the video presentation of a the series, ''Celebration of Joseph Campbell,'' was announced, a Sarah Lawrence alumna and writer of children's books, Eve Feldman, of New York, was, she said, astonished to receive a flier about it.

In 1988, when the endowment was announced, Ms. Feldman said, she had recounted to the administration an anti-Jewish tirade Mr. Campbell delivered in a private conference session when she was a senior. She said she had been told that the teaching chair was already set up.
''He said that Jews were the cause of all that was bad with Western civilization,'' Ms. Feldman recalled, adding that faculty members had told her at the time that such remarks by Mr. Campbell were common knowledge. She dropped the course.

This semester, students petitioned the college to denounce Mr. Campbell's views.

Only Four Teaching Chairs

Dr. Ilchman questioned why there was concern, considering that Sarah Lawrence has few endowments and because few students and alumni have complained. Four teaching chairs and three honorary doctorates have been established since the college opened as a women's school in 1926, she said. It became coeducational in 1968.
Last March, 250 students conducted a sit-in demanding cultural diversity on campus, including the hiring of additional minority professors and recruiting students of diverse ethnic and economic backgrounds.

''Our concern was to increase students and faculty of color and diversify the curriculum,'' Megan Parke, a student senator and senior, said. ''But the Campbell controversy showed that they chose to capitalize on the money regardless of the students' views.''
Dr. Ilchman said the minority population had doubled since 1985, to 14 percent of the 950 students, of whom 5.8 percent are black, 4 percent Hispanic and 4.8 percent Asian. The 20 minority professors include 14 blacks, 4 Asians and 2 Hispanics.

ShinShinKid » Thu Jun 27, 2013 4:03 pm wrote:I've been keeping as up-to-date as I can. I tend to tune out some of the all caps screaming, the repeated links, and responses to said screaming and links.
I have seen more than one interview with Campbell, in my college days and a little more recently.

Is it possible to be so polished as to not come off as someone you are not? Of course it is. Politicians, actors, even we do it all the time. I would like to argue that every time we go out into society, even interact with family, we are, in the words of the great Thespian, "Acting!"
That is fodder for another thread, though.
Okay, so you focused in on the part where I said there was arguing, how about his take on his extensive travels in Japan? The only things I've found, as I've said, read like twitter before twitter was kewl.
Do you have access to his journals whereby we can see some actual journaling in the form of his interviewee personality. I guess what I am saying is that I am not able to find a journal entry that sounds anything like how he writes or presents. No biggie dah. We can all have our opinions and go our ways and be happy, right? At least, that's the hope!

ShinShinKid » Thu Jun 27, 2013 4:03 pm wrote:how about his take on his extensive travels in Japan?

We can all have our opinions and go our ways and be happy, right? At least, that's the hope!

After the Public Broadcasting Service televised a series of interviews with Mr. Campbell in 1988, an alumna and a few faculty members, including two literature professors, Arnold Krupat and Daniel Kaiser, came forward to criticize Mr. Campbell as anti-Semitic and racist. Shortly afterward, Brendan Gill, in The New York Review of Books, questioned Mr. Campbell's philsophy of ''follow your bliss,'' and his use of anti-Semitic and racist remarks.
''Campbell's bigotry had another distressing aspect, which was seemingly ineradicable anti-Semitism,'' Mr. Gill wrote in September. ''By the time I came to know him, he had learned to conceal its gross manifestations. But there can be no doubt that it existed and that it tainted not only the man himself, but the quality of his scholarship.''

Dr. Ilchman said in an interview last week that the controversy was over. The college, she said, has no way to prove the allegations against Mr. Campbell, and the administration knew little about the accusations of anti-Semitism and racism until the $1 million endowment for the Campbell chair was accepted two years ago.
''Joseph Campbell made an impact on the lives of many students who wanted to honor him with an endowment,'' Dr. Ilchman said. She said the accusations against him came from ''a few alumni and students.''
As for the Arnold Krupat been there done that again and again over and over and over again doesn't change a thing....even if you continue to psot the same crap..

In 1988, when the endowment was announced, Ms. Feldman said, she had recounted to the administration an anti-Jewish tirade Mr. Campbell delivered in a private conference session when she was a senior. She said she had been told that the teaching chair was already set up.''He said that Jews were the cause of all that was bad with Western civilization,'' Ms. Feldman recalled, adding that faculty members had told her at the time that such remarks by Mr. Campbell were common knowledge. She dropped the course.

POSTED ON PAGE ONE....REPEAT REPEAT REPEAT WILL NOT MAKE IT ANY DIFFERENT THAT THE FIRST TIME YOU POSTED IT

One woman saying something does not make it true......all gossip....

I wonder if you know anything about college politics?

brekin » Thu Jun 27, 2013 4:44 pm wrote:slad wrote:

One woman saying something does not make it true......all gossip....

Wow, just wow.


And we have at least 1 student (not counting the Kafka remark which could just be viewed as cold hearted) , a seminar attendee, and 2 or 3 colleagues who have gone on record. Also a "wtf are you thinking?" vis a vis Nazi Germany letter from Thomas Mann.
Do we still need the butler int he drawing room with a candle stick to come forward for this game to go anywhere?

I wonder if you know anything about college politics?

Oh trust me...I know...do I know...

Then maybe you know people lie

name all those people you are talking about I did up thread I got 4 names.....please do name names.....just cause you say all those people doesn't make it so