President Obama has appointed Duke professor Cathy Davidson, a member of the “Gang of 88” who were champing at the bit to have the false-accused lacrosse players punished for a crime that did not occur, to the National Endowment for the Humanities. Jay Schalin comments on this in today’s Pope Center piece.
This brings to mind what the libertarian writer Frank Chodorov said at the height of the McCarthy frenzy: “If you’re worried about communists in government jobs, just get rid of the government jobs.” That sentiment is just as applicable here. The humanities would be no worse off if we stopped spending money on the NEH.