Deconstructing Crucial Emails in the Fiasco at CMU and Beyond

Introduction: This fiasco much like the fiasco I have been following at Emory University and beyond the fiasco at CMU involves several twists and turns. Thus, anyone that picks the story up in the middle is likely to get caught in the maze. Thus, if you are having trouble following, I suggest you use this summary as a guide. Now, here is a quick summary. At the beginning of the current school year, CMU hired Gary Peters to a fellowship position. Peters was a controversial choice because he subsequently decided to run for Congress as a Democrat in a district hundreds of miles away. Besides questions of how much time his run for Congress would take away from his duties as a fellow, there were other questions about whether or not his run would create a conflict. Now, enters CMU student Dennis Lennox. He decided to get some answers himself, and he began to engage in so called ambush journalism. He would show up with video camera in public places and confront Peters with several confrontational questions. Rather than protecting Peters first amendment rights, the administration began to circle the wagons around Peters. They even went as far as trying to create rules banning video equipment from public areas of the University and threatening to expel Lennox. The latest in the fiasco involves the release of 174 pages of internal emails and other communique from administration officials about Peters hiring.

The most intriguing email I have taken a look at it is this one...

I think there is a growing impression that CMU is a Conservative Republican baseand I and several others have heard this over and over from folks in our own administration, the faculity, and from Lansing politicians. The Department of Political Scinece has had top rate policy analysts in the first effort to fill the Griffin Chair and they percieve that they were overridden because of Ranny Ricker's call regarding (name blacked out). In the second search to fill the Griffin Chair the Department received a hassle when they found a moderate Republican to have cleared al the hurdles and a political ally and close associate of John Engler was almost foisted upon them even though the person lacked the same excellent qualifications as Bill Ballinger...

I have recently grown fond of the Latin phrase, Res Ipsa Loquitur (the facts speak for themselves) and I believe that upon analysis this Latin phrase will play a critical role regarding this email in the fiasco. First, there are only three ways to treat this email: either the author is entirely truthful, lying entirely, or is mixing lies and truth. Now, in order to invoke Res Ipsa Loquitur I will just take the author at their word and assume everything in the email is true. The email is from Political Science Department Chairman Delbert Ringquist and its contents indicate to me that Ringquist must be removed from the position. If you take Ringquist at his word, the department he runs is in chaos and it is corrupted. If you don't, he is lying and misleading in emails in order to affect a hire. Either way, he can't remain in place. Beyond that, the emails reveal several things about CMU and the powers that be there and beyond.

If we are to take Ringquist at their word, then the department he chairs is going through a professional civil war that pits folks choosing sides based on ideology. First, Ringquist indicates that the department is too conservative...

I think there is a growing impression that CMU is a Conservative Republican baseand I and several others have heard this over and over from folks in our own administration, the faculity, and from Lansing politicians.

He then follows up by accusing other elements within CMU of forcing conservative thinkers into the department...

In the second search to fill the Griffin Chair the Department received a hassle when they found a moderate Republican to have cleared al the hurdles and a political ally and close associate of John Engler was almost foisted upon them even though the person lacked the same excellent qualifications as Bill Ballinger...

In other words, we clearly have a department that is split along ideological lines and hiring all too often becomes a power play between factions that are Conservative and others that are Liberal.

Furthermore, who are these folks that have told Ringquist that CMU is too conservative and what are their motivations? Ringquist mentions a political element. Are these folks primarily Democrat, like the state? Would it be appropriate for Democratic politicians to indicate to university officials that they believe their faculty too often represents folks that occupy the ideology? How did these officials come to such a conclusion? Wouldn't such statements, true or not, corrupt future hiring searches? After all, these very statements are now being used politicize this search.

According to the Peters Report, Ringquist made a few other interesting statements regarding the hiring of Peters.

“We were looking for political diversity … another prominent Republican in the chair will create problems.”

Thus, we have a Department chair that feels the department has an ideology that is too conservative and that the hiring of the Griffin Chair (the post Peters was eventually hired to) needed to be "politically diverse". Of course, all of this is code for Ringquist seeing the post go to a liberal. Again, Res Ipsa Loquitur. If we are to take Ringquist at his word, the hiring of the Griffin Chair turned into a power play in a battle of political ideology within the Department of Political Science within Central Michigan University. A corrupted and poisoned department, as described by Ringquist himself, is the responsibility of its leader.

There is yet another interesting email that Peters Report has also publicized.

As close as he (Gary Peters) is to the governor (Jennifer Granholm), it might look bad for CMU if he is not offered the position after such a recommendation."

Now, he is referring to Governor Granholm having a close relationship to Peters and also giving Peters a high recommendation. Ringquist indicates that not hiring Peters after such a recommendation would make CMU look bad. Now, this is interesting on several levels. First, let's compare what Ringquist sees with this governor's recommendation to that of another governor...

In the second search to fill the Griffin Chair the Department received a hassle when they found a moderate Republican to have cleared al the hurdles and a political ally and close associate of John Engler was almost foisted upon them even though the person lacked the same excellent qualifications as Bill Ballinger...

John Engler is the former Governor of Michigan up until 2003 in fact. Clearly, in this case Ringquist felt a candidate was forced down the department's throat because they were close to the governor. In this case, Ringquist feels obligated to hire Peters because Peters is close to another governor. To me this is a distinction without a difference. The only conclusion I can draw is that Peters views each slightly differently only because one governor's ideology mirrors his own and the other's doesn't.

Finally, here is another email that is of note...

Furthermore, this continued diatrobe from (again name blacked out) and his friends does not represent the majority of CMU students nor does it present accurate facts to the public. This is an Endowed Chair- not one that is supported by student tuition dollars. To allow (again name blacked out) the power to dictate who will or will not serve as the Griffein Endowed Chair for American Government is not a precedent I believe we should support.

(This email is from another member of the faculty at CMU, Pamela Gates, associate Dean of Humanities) Isn't it interesting how much weight, deference, and power the faculty treats recommendations and relationships of certain governors, and contrast to how quickly they dismiss the concerns of students. I don't believe that either students or Governors should be making hiring decisions for a University. I do believe that genuine concern from your student body should carry at least as much weight as any recommendation from the Governor of your state.

On the one hand, if the governor has recommended someone, then the faculty feels an obligation to hire that person. Whereas, if a student's concerns are heeded then that is

a precedent I believe we should not support.

Of course, giving the Governor de facto hiring power is a precedent the same administration whole heartedly embraces.

A while back I said this about this story...

If the decision to hire (Gary) Peters had anything to do with political favortism then the whole search was corrupted."

If we are to take the emails that Ringquist authored at face value, we are only lead to conclude that in fact that is exactly what happened. To me, given what has been discovered in these emails, I can only conclude that Ringquist is no longer fit to serve the post he occupies. Either they are overseeing a department in such chaos that it has been split into ideological factions with hiring decisions taking on political power plays, or Ringquist is lying and mischaracterizing the situation to make it look that way. Either way, Res Ipsa Loquitur and I believe Ringquist must go.