Singaporean University Snubs Lauded (But Anti-Censorship) Professor 48
New submitter nifty-c writes "Singapore has invested heavily in higher education partnerships with the U.S. and launched an ambitious program of high-tech research with Western countries, but recent events have opened these links to controversy. Prof. Cherian George at Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore, is a communication and information school professor and an outspoken critic of his government's censorship of the Internet. NTU recently fired him, sparking an outcry from critics who claim political interference. This week a group of faculty and affiliates at Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet & Society has 'strongly caution[ed]...colleagues working in the area of Internet and society in any dealings with Singaporean universities.'"
Wait a minute (Score:2, Interesting)
1. This article said the man was "fired". Actually he was an associate professor who was denied tenure, i.e. a substantial promotion. Lots of associate professors are denied tenure in every major university every year, and frequently there are cries of discrimination, favoritism, cronyism, etc.
2. In order to get tenure in a major university, a candidate should be distinguished in his or her field (being considered a great teacher is nice, but that and $2 gets a cup of coffee when it comes to tenure deci
Re: (Score:1)
Honestly Americans have made such a mess of English that at this point you're better off learning Mandarin which is a hen3 hao3ting1 de yu3yan2.
Re:Wait a minute (Score:5, Insightful)
1. You do realize that being denied tenure is closer to being fired at/before the end of a probationary period, not passed over for promotion from fry cook to shift manager? It is true that the ongoing trend toward permatemping higher education by stringing along assorted adjuncts and other cheap labor has eroded the traditional process a bit; but it is still generally the case that 'denied tenure' = 'pursuing opportunities elsewhere is exciting and mandatory!' rather than 'you will remain an associate professor'.
2."This guy seemed to be best known for his harsh criticism of the government of Singapore... which the university depends on in many ways! Yeah, that sounds likely that they would want that guy on board." If the state of Singapore is serious about 'academic independence', then sometimes they end up cutting checks to people who say mean things about them. It's the quieter and more bookish version of not having the majority party send the minority party to the firing squad. It's a neat concept. If they aren't up to that, well, their 'universities' are pretty much stuck being fancy vocational schools and nothing more.
Re: (Score:1)
It's a good thing that our universities here in America are so idealogically pure, they don't have that saying mean things problem as any kind of racism gets you fired quickly.
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
MIT gets hundreds of millions from the federal government in research grants and tuition aid. Yet, Chomsky is still there freely criticizing everything he sees fit for criticism.
I hope Slashdotters will take up this "immediately deflect to another country" tactic for everything else in the future. For example, when US corporations are fairly criticized, we get inundated with replies of "Well, it's not like Chinese companies are any better"
Only then will we see the fallacy of such an approach to debate.
Re:Wait a minute (Score:5, Insightful)
Tenure is an up-or-out system. He was fired. He was not denied "a substantial promotion." You don't know what you are talking about.
Re: (Score:2)
and he is an associate professor and not a professor. I guess I read somewhere that he was previously promoted to associate professor level by the same university.
I don't say that he does not deserve to get the promotion (because I think he deserves that promotion), but it is not proper to fabricate and bring out things out of order (to support someone).
On a side note, I have traveled to Singapore a few times and my impression is that it is a closed and highly controlled state. It is a small island and the
Re: (Score:3)
Well for better or for worse being denied tenure IS like being fired. I mean while you're not technically fired simply because you are denied tenure, it's basically a message to get out. The only professors you generally see stay around that are not tenured, are ones that are nontenure track. Some positions, like research assistant professors, are not tenure-track. No matter how long they work, tenure is not something they will receive. However in a tenure-track position, being denied tenure is more or less
Re:let's move the ivy league there (Score:5, Insightful)
I read the linked articles and I see that Freedom House, an NGO, says that Singapore has the same rating for political and civil freedom as Nigeria. The Economist compares the democracy in Singapore with that of Liberia. So that does beg the question... what genius sat down and said "this would be a great place to put a new campus for Yale!"
'Freedom' talks, money walks. It's pretty similar to the (on the whole practically hagiographic) coverage that Dubai gets. If the GDP per-capita is high enough and most of the violence is reserved for locals who get mouthy, rather than expats who don't give a fuck because they can always just fly home, you can have pretty much any western investors, corporate branch offices, or prestige institutions you are willing to buy.
If you have the sort of unfreedom that is bad for property values(like Nigeria), then you can still get extraction industries and CIA agents; but probably not a Yale branch campus...
Re: (Score:2)
It's pretty similar to the (on the whole practically hagiographic) coverage that Dubai gets.
That has to be the silliest word I've seen since "orthogonal" (come on; what's wrong with "tangential", ffs?).
holy + writing [wiktionary.org]. Pretentious much? :-P
I also resent your dissing Dubai. It's one of the few shining lights in the Arab world. I wish all of Islam was as happy as Dubai.
Re: (Score:2)
As with most words, the etymology is a pretty sketchy guide to the definition. Not unrelated; but words pick up(and lose) a lot of baggage over time.
In this case 'hagiography' is the genre of writings about saints and miracles and holy places and whatnot. It also tends to carry the perjorative assertion that the writing in question is somewhere between excessively uncritical and overtly fawning in its treatment of the subject. Would there be other ways to convey the same point? Sure. Does that particular wo
Re: (Score:2)
I'm generally in agreement that using 'orthogonal' outside of mathematical contexts is a bit off; but it's hardly a synonym for 'tangential'.
In a computer software context, "orthogonal" has the huge advantage that it's idiomatic. People will immediately understand your meaning... (with "tangential" they'd just go "huh?")
Most people I hear using "orthogonal" outside that context are involved in computers, so for them, it's perfectly normal.
Re: (Score:2)
Fair enough. I usually think of computer software as being a 'mathematical context'; but I suppose that it has such an enormous applied/engineering side at this point that it would be far from obvious that I meant to include software people in saying that.
Re: (Score:3)
Tangential != Orthogonal
What's wrong with "tangential" is that its meaning is orthogonal to "orthogonal".
Re: (Score:2)
What's wrong with "tangential" is that its meaning is orthogonal to "orthogonal".
Among mathematicians, I'd agree. However, to the average Joe (like me):
tangential
adj 1: of superficial relevance if any;
orthogonal
adj 1: not pertinent to the matter under consideration; "an
issue extraneous to the debate";
those look pretty damned similar.
Re: (Score:3)
Just because you don't know a word doesn't automatically make the poster using it pretentious. It does make said poster more erudite than you.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
I read the linked articles and I see that Freedom House, an NGO, says that Singapore has the same rating for political and civil freedom as Nigeria. The Economist compares the democracy in Singapore with that of Liberia. So that does beg the question... what genius sat down and said "this would be a great place to put a new campus for Yale!"
Consider Yale's proposal* for training US military to interrogate immigrants. [rt.com] As Singaporeans are already subject to degrading human rights conditions, [wikipedia.org] there should be little resistance from the populace should Yale decide to improve trainees' experience with interrogating natural-born Asians.
* Additional source: http://www.democracynow.org/2013/2/21/an_interrogation_center_at_yale_proposed [democracynow.org]
Re: (Score:2)
I think it's fair to say that Yale's research lead on that project, Charles Morgan III, may not be what we call a 'quick study' or a 'good learner from experience'...
His research specialty is stress and PTSD, so he has worked with the SERE program for quite a while. Back in 2007 [nytimes.com] he was oh-so-horribly-shocked to discover that we were using methods we had previously associated with the forces of commie aggression. Now, in 2013, he is seeking “someone they can’t necessarily identify with” in
Re: (Score:2)
Um the links you posted make it pretty clear that what he is training people for is NOT interrogation.
Re: (Score:1)
Erm, because it's a city state with one of the highest GDP per capita in the world ($60K/year)? One of the least corrupt countries in the world?
Nigeria is poor ($2.5K/year), corrupt and violent. There is no valid comparison to make between the two nations.
Singapore is a not a free country (Score:5, Insightful)
There are elections with opposing candidates, but it's also the case in Russia nowadays. As almost all media belong to the government or the prime minister's family. The election system is over-complicated to engineer a very predictable result. While a large portion of the housing is public housing, the government makes threats to remove state funding in constituencies that do note vote for the ruling party. It is said that there is no 'perception' of corruption in Singapore. On the individual level, it might be true, with upstanding public officers. But much of the country's economy is under the control of Temasek holdings, which belongs to the state, and is a pretty opaque company.
In the end you should not expect freedom if you go to work and live as an expatriate researcher in Singapore. Money, for sure. But as you're getting this money, you also are a pawn of the state to further its control of the population, and help launder the money hidden in the city by corrupt officials throughout Asia.
hold your horses. (Score:2)
Singapore a Guided Democracy (Score:1)