The Academy

The News Gazette article goes on to say that the Academy is unlikely to have nearly as free a hand as it thinks, given how the university and the AAUP will still have quite a bit of say in how the money is spent.

"Faculty members have the right to establish any interest group they want on campus," said Cary Nelson, emeritus English professor with the UI and current president of the American Association of University Professors, an organization that works to protect academic freedom and shared governance. Nelson said he welcomed the Senate's intervention.

"If an entity is involved in supporting instruction, in making decisions about instruction, they should go through the process of shared government," he said. ... if a donor wants to endow a professorship or support research in a particular department, the departments or colleges would be involved, and a formal process would be set up to determine who would qualify and how the professor would be chosen. The Foundation and donors wouldn't make the decisions themselves, he said.

The same goes for when a donor wants to establish an institute on a campus. Campus agencies, such as the Senate, would be involved in reviewing the proposal.

In meeting with the Senate Executive Committee, Herman has said he has the right to approve what the fund sponsors. And the ad hoc advisory committee is intended to provide Herman with input on the proposals to receive funding from the academy fund's endowment, Burbules said.

Of course, poll after poll shows that young voters are now --thanks in large part to the disastrous incompetence of the Bush administration, from the Deciderer HIsself down to the lowest ideological Loyal Bushie minion-- looking very unfavorably on the GOP. Combined with the enormous slap in the face of Hispanic voters that the GOP immigration debate turned into, and things seem poised for a generational change.

In other words, the smackdown of 2006 was only the beginning, and the GOP is going to find itself in an ever-deepening hole even after The Commanderer Guy has left the stage and the nation's deep personal dislike of him -- demonstrated in his abysmal poll numbers -- isn't an immediate factor any more.

Y'all had your chance to run the country, and -- guess what -- you drove it into the ditch. And the American people have definately noticed. Which is why the GOP is headed back to permanent minority status, just like the good old days.

And a pile of bought-and-paid-for academics isn't going to turn that trend around.

I blame President Bush too!

Congratulations! You have joined the majority of American opinion.