My letter to Vassar in support of Dorothy Kim

Here’s David Perry’s excellent letter. Here’s a summary of the present situation.  Here’s evidence of Fulton Brown’s creepiness.

UPDATE: President Bradley has issued a statement of support. Very happy to see this.

Dear President Bradley,

I’m sure you’ve become aware of the outrage directed at Dorothy Kim, an assistant professor in the Vassar English Department. As one of the co-editors of the blog, In the Middle, which has hosted much of her work describing the racial politics of medieval studies, I am, unsurprisingly, writing in support of her. I admire her work greatly, and am certain that the field is much better to have her in it.

While many medievalists have worked to undo racist misappropriations of our field, Dorothy Kim has been the primary target of one, tenured medieval historian, Rachel Fulton Brown, of the University of Chicago. This is telling, I suspect, because she could have just as easily gone after me: but I’m tenured, white, and male. Frankly, I find her focus on Kim suspicious.

Furthermore—and this is the primary reason I’m driven to write—Fulton Brown has enlisted the support of several right-wing personalities and websites with an enormous reach far outside the academic communities in which these debates typically take place. While Kim has addressed her fellow academics—experts in the field, with a particular duty to teach and tell the story of our field correctly and ethically—Fulton Brown has played to the crowd.

I fear the results may be unpleasant, and I urge your office, particularly your public relations people, to do what I would expect they’re already doing, which is not to mistake the voices of nonexperts for the voices of experts. Notably, several of the leading professional organizations in medieval studies, including the Medieval Academy of America and the New Chaucer Society, have recently issued statements on respect and professional ethics, all at least implicitly in support of Dorothy Kim. Fulton Brown has just as notably received no such support from professional, academic organizations, whether in or outside her field.

If the university is to survive as a vibrant and worthwhile place for the free exercise of intellectual inquiry, it needs to respect the expertise of its members and their communities. I write with that in mind.

Respectfully,

Karl Steel
Associate Professor
English Department
Brooklyn College and the Graduate Center, CUNY