April 29, 2008...10:34 am
Pannapacker picks on people
William Pannapacker aka Thomas H. Benton writes a regular column for the Chronicle of Higher Education. I am usually underwhelmed. But today I was offended. In an essay musing about careerist name changes, he writes:
I wonder if there might be some advantages to giving devotional names to academics — at the time of tenure — the way the Roman Catholic Church does with priests and nuns, such as “Sister Mary Francis of the Five Wounds.” I could become “Professor William of the 1855 Leaves.” Or perhaps, following some Native American customs, we could have professional names granted to us by our colleagues: “Professor Drives-a-Volvo”; “Professor Went-to-Harvard”; “Professor Gives-All-As,” and so on.
Such stunning ignorance and disrespect. You would think that the Chronicle editors, at least, knew better than this.
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