Vandy Prof's Dirty Laundry

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past year and a half or so, you are at least somewhat familiar with the now infamous Duke lacrosse scandal. You are likely aware that former Durham DA Mike Nifong has been disbarred for, in the words of the North Carolina State Bar, “dishonesty, fraud, deceit and misrepresentation.” In April of this year, North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper not only dismissed all charges against Colin Finnerty, Reade Seligmann, and David Evans, but took the further and unusual step of declaring that “We believe these three individuals are innocent of these charges.”

I suspect that a smaller number of you are aware of an open letter to the Duke administration that former Duke professor of English Houston A. Baker, Jr. sent on March 29, 2006 entitled “Awaiting the Restoration of Confidence: A Letter to the Duke University Administration.” Included here are a number of excerpts:

“How is a Duke community citizen to respond to such a national embarrassment from under the cloud of a ‘culture of silence’ that seeks to protect white, male, athletic violence and which apparently prevents all university citizens from even surveying the known facts?”

“There is no rush to judgment here about the crime - neither the violent racial epithets reported in a 911 call to Durham police, nor the harms to body and soul allegedly perpetrated by white males at 610 Buchanan Boulevard.”

“Duke University's higher administration has engaged in precisely such a tepid and pious legalism with respect to the disaster of recent days: the actual harm to the body, soul, mind, and spirit of black women who were in the company of Duke University lacrosse team members as far as any of us know. All of Duke athletics has now been drawn into the seamy domains of Colorado football and other college and university blind-eying of male athletes, veritably given license to rape, maraud, deploy hate speech, and feel proud of themselves in the bargain.

“There can be no confidence in an administration that believes suspending a lacrosse season and removing pictures of Duke lacrosse players from a web page is a dutifully moral response to abhorrent sexual assault, verbal racial violence, and drunken white male privilege loosed amongst us.”
“How soon will confidence be restored to our university as a place where minds, souls, and bodies can feel safe from agents, perpetrators, and abettors of white privilege, irresponsibility, debauchery and violence? Surely the answer to the question must come in the form of immediate dismissals of those principally responsible for the horrors of this spring moment at Duke. Coaches of the lacrosse team, the team itself and its players, and any other agents who silenced or lied about the real nature of events at 610 Buchanan on the evening of March 13, 2006.”

To be fair, Baker was not the only one guilty of rushing who rushed to judgment in this matter. But what sets him apart is his complete unwillingness to apologize for anything he’s said, even now, as well as his blatant racism. Professor K.C. Johnson of Brooklyn College and the CUNY graduate center, and co-author with Stuart Taylor of the book Until Proven Innocent: Political Correctness and the Shameful Injustices of the Duke Lacrosse Rape Case forwarded me a number of emails, including one from May 24, 2006 addressed from Baker to Vincent Daniels, in which Baker writes: “Who is really concerned about whether a woman was actually raped or not? Are you a perfect idiot? I mean the fact is that a team of 46 white (and ONE) black men were underaged drinkers, racial epithet hurlers, urinators in public, beat up people who were gay before they were admitted to the lacrosse team, and were reported as bad actors in 2004.” In another email, he writes in response to an unidentified mother of one of the unindicted lacrosse players’ suggestion that “our paths may have been different, but I am sure all of us seek the truth and justice” with this: “LIES! You are just a provacateur on a happy New Years Eve trying to get credit for a scummy bunch of white males! You know you are in search of sympaathy [sic] for young white guys who beat up a gay man [sic] in Georgetown, get drunk in Durham, and lived like “a bunch of farm animals” near campus. I really hope whoever sent this stupid farce of an email rots in .... umhappy [sic] new year to you ... and forgive me if your really are, quite sadly, mother of a ‘farm animal.’”

One more thing bears mentioning. Former Duke professor Houston A. Baker, Jr. is now a distinguished university professor right here at Vanderbilt. I quote from the Vanderbilt news release announcing his hiring in May 2006: “Baker, who leaves Duke University to become a distinguished university professor at Vanderbilt, is one of the most wide-ranging intellectuals in America.”
I will leave it to you, the reader, to determine whether or not the man who wrote the above statements really is “one of the most wide-ranging intellectuals in America,” and to make your own judgment about Vanderbilt’s decision to hire him.

The full text of Houston Baker’s letter, as well as a response from Provost Peter Lange, is available at http://www.dukenews.duke.edu/mmedia/features/lacrosse_incident/lange_baker.html.

Comments

[MJ]

That's dirty laundry, alright. (Check out the new book UNTIL PROVEN INNOCENT and see how many others are carrying around dirty laundry and thinking no one will notice).

[Insufficiently Sensitive]

Vanderbilt triumphantly added Houston Baker to its staff - sixteen months ago.

Bravo to The Torch for taking a critical look at this 'intellectual'. And I'm not carping at the long delay between the hire and the critical look. Those of us who were interested in the Duke non-rape travesty knew of his crude and malicious opinions from KC Johnson's Durham-in-Wonderland blog. But in University circles, said blog was generally abhorred as not fitting a PC narrative, and obviously the news of Baker's emails hasn't come to general attention until the publication of 'Until Proved Innocent' last week.

So, better late than never, and I wish Vanderbilt great joy in attempting to defend the hire of Houston Baker.

[bobT]

WOW! Vanderbilt should be ashamed they hired such vile and hateful individual. Who is making these decisions to hire such low lifes.

[J Vincent Walker]

Apparently the English Dept. didn't check any references. The individual in question was the chief antagonist of the University of Penn "Water Buffalo" debacle of a few years back. There have also been allegations with sexual harassment leading to several changes of locale. Baker will evetually leave because VU isn't his type of environment. The character that should be terminated is the idiot that hired him.

Vince Walker
A&S 1973

[Joe Johnson]

"Who is making these decisions to hire such low lifes."

Hiring of the likes of Houston Baker is part of the new Shakedown. The diversity bean counters look at a place like Vandy and don't see enough of a certain group, so they shake the race rattle and, viola, people like Baker get hired, no scholarship required.

[Charles Bobrinskoy]

I am glad to see people at Vandy are waking up to this travesty. I am a Duke Alum and was surprised not to see any cotroversy at Vandy over his hiring. Baker's racism and leadership of the infamos "Group of 88" radical professors who rushed to judgement against the Duke Lacrosse players was, I thought, widely known on colege campuses. I couldn't understand why nobody at Vandy seemed upset. I am glad to see this is finally getting the attention it deserves.

[CHRIS DAVIS]

Houston Baker should be awarded the "Dr. Richard Kimble Chair" for trustwothiness and reliance. If you are a white male at Vanderbilt, DO NOT ENROLL IN THIS GUY'S CLASSES -- HE IS THE ENEMY.

[N. Phillips]

I suggest that some people show up to every lecture Houston Baker gives with signs, or maybe wearing T-shirts, that say, "Apologize!"

Among other things, it would be great publicity for Baker's disgusting character, and also any group that organized such a protest.

[SPQR_US]

Baker like a lot of the PC Professor crowd today seems to have worthless credentials. I ge the feeling that these parasites just pass one another along at Universities. They would not last an hour in the real world.

For all its faults corporate America makes quick work of frauds like Baker who hide among their fellow gutter snipes in America's Universities. Where are the good men and women of my college years? Those professors would not have stood for this, alas Babylon...

[kbp]

Thanks!

Have been hoping for quite some time now that the real Houston would be unmasked at your fine university.

[joanne]

Could someone post Baker's credentials. I'd like to see what so special about this racist

[Ron Morris, JD 1977]

Thank you for your article.

Baker's hiring is spittle on the memories of John Wade, Paul Hartman, Ted Smedley and so many other fine lawyers who taught the rule of law at VLS. My diploma will never again be publicly displayed.

[John]

Get job making "the truth be known" about a racist prof hired by such a distinguished university as Vanderbilt. Does Houston Baker have the guts to defend himself? If not he should be "expelled" from Vandy. Great job with the writing and research on this article.

[Rex]

I'm not a big fan of Baker, but he is a prominent scholar. He was president of the Modern Language Association (that's the MLA that makes the style guide people used to follow before blogs). He was also editor of American Literature, which is also supposed to be a big deal. As I said, I am not a fan of his, or, for that matter, very many "distinguished professors" that I know, but he definitely fits the bill. To say he has "worthless credentials" is ridiculously simpleminded.

[krddurham]

Thanks again, Vanderbilt!

Go Duke!

[hoosegow]

Baker should be run out of town on a rail. He shouldn't have been hired in the first place, but hiring him and then cutting him loose would be a very cool thing to see.

I like Chris's idea: show up for the scumbag's lectures with signs and T-shirts admonishing him to APOLOGIZE!

[bbking]

Please say hello to the racist farm aninal Baker for all of us at Duke that are happy to be rid of him

[mking]

Would someone at your fine school please take all the "return address" labels off Baker's luggage?
Thanks in advance.
mking

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