Prof. named to national post

Despite criticism from political opponents, History Professor Alan Kors was unanimously appointed by the Senate to the National Council on the Humanities. Nominated this July by President Bush, Kors' selection to the advisory board of the National Endowment for the Humanities was approved this August. Kors -- an outspoken defender of personal liberties -- will serve a six-year term which ends in 1998. The 26-member board advises NEH chairperson Lynne Cheney on who should receive NEH grant money. According to NEH spokeperson Cheryl Jackson, the endowment gave out $156,454,000 in grants in fiscal year 1992. Kors said last week that the NEH allocates funds to "various institutes and to individual scholars" and it runs programs for the general public. Recently, the NEH gave funding to the acclaimed television series The Civil War. Kors added that he had taught two NEH summer institutes for high school teachers as well as served on scholarly review panels for the organization. The intellectual history professor said that it is an honor and a privilege to serve on the council as well as an "enormous amount of work." "It gives me a real chance to try to neuter what needs neutering in the humanities and prevent political criteria from being used in the allocation of public funds in support of the humanities," Kors said. Kors said that his nomination, which passed the Senate Committee on Labor and Human Resources and the full Senate unanimously, met public opposition by people who equate his strong defense of free speech with anti-minority sentiments. "Often my opposition to mandatory requirements and programs are taken by people that don't know me as opposition to such programs," he said. "At Penn, I have been opposed to mandatory programs that I find politicized or mandatory requirements that remain ideologically charged." Kors said that upon hearing of his nomination to the Council, Eleni DiLapi -- director of the Penn Women's Center -- told the Chronicle for Higher Education that appointing Kors would be detrimental to women's interests. Kors replied that DiLapi's charge was "nonsensical" and "inane." "The Democratic members of the committee investigated my record extremely thoroughly," Kors said. "Any elements of the campaign against me were absurd." He added that Democratic Senators received letters and phone calls from people opposing his appointment and found them "scurrilous and false." Last night Microbiology Professor Helen Davies said she agreed with DiLapi's assessment that Kors' appointment is "bad for women's interests." She said that this conclusion was based on his "history at the University of Pennsylvania." "If he exhibits the absolutism that he does and an absolute need to trash women and minorities," she said. "And if Penn's contribution to the cultural elite had to be characterized by just one person, I would stick to Houston Baker's leadership of the Modern Language Association." DiLapi was unable to be reached for comment. Kors replied to Davies charges last night that she has personal animus towards Kors due to a "harsh exchange with her husband [former Faculty Senate chairperson] about two years ago regarding the harassment policy." "It makes sense to me that Helen would want to stand by her man," he said last night. Kors added that he is committed to the equal rights of all groups, citing his appointment to various University academic freedom committees, his chairmanship of the American Civil Liberties Union of Greater Philadelphia's commitee on academic freedom, and his co-founding of the college house system at the University which included his house mastership of Van Pelt College House -- "the most integrated educational residence ever" at the University. "I defy anyone to find a single act of mine that has not testified to an absolute commitment to the equal rights and dignity to all members of this University community," he said. History department chairperson Michael Katz said that he was "pleased" Kors was appointed to the council. "He's a fine scholar and I believe he will apply the appropriate standards of scholarship to proposals [for grants]," said Katz. "He has absolute respect for academic freedom which is of critical importance in that position." Despite the controversy around his appointment, Kors said that he was not surprised that his nomination passed the Senate unanimously. Kors added that he did find out that some of the Democratic Senators had been "clients" of his taped lectures that are sold through magazines across the country, but he said that this had nothing to do with his confirmation.

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