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Memorable Students 

Did you ever wonder how life looks from the other side of the desk?  This is your chance to find out. 

During my last semester, my wife suggested that I prepare two farewell lectures discussing my career.  One would focus upon Memorable Students, one upon Memorable People I have encountered.  This is the talk on Memorable Students.  

This was a zoom lecture for my classes.  It was recorded on my computer so the sound is not perfect.  You may have to turn up the volume to hear well.  

A couple points of clarification.  

For those who are not familiar with Dearborn, Henry Ford Community College (now College) is just next to my campus.  I make reference to two colleagues who taught there.  

I discuss two students who were upset and disappeared but then returned later.  Both are success stories. 

I discuss two students that I did not like but who got in touch with me later.  

I mentioned an incident in which there was a bombing of the La Belle Discotheque in Berlin in 1986. That was a place where American soldiers would hang out.  Three died and 229 were injured, some seriously.  One of my students was in that place when the attack occurred.  After September 11 he began to have PTSD flash backs.  

The NSA had intercepted communications indicating that Libya was behind that attack (presumably in revenge for the earlier U.S. bombing of two Libyan  ships).  The U. S. conducted retaliation bombings into Libya.  One of those hit Muamar Ghadafi’s house and killed one of his children. Libya later acknowledged responsibility and  paid a settlement to the victims and their families in an effort to improve relations with the U. S.  In the end, we participated in his overthrow (and death). 

The more complex story is of my strangest student.  I will avoid her real name and use her preferred pseudonym, Ms. Montezuma.  She called herself The Daughter of The South because she believed she was the daughter of Montezuma, the famous Aztec ruler killed by the Spanish in 1520.  In discussing this student, I mention the Book of Revelation in the Bible.  She saw herself as a part of things mentioned in that book.  I also use the term exquisite sensitivity, meaning the ability to read people’s psyche and to feed back to them what they need to hear so as to convince them to trust you and give you what you want. (For those who know how the human mind works, I apologize for my armchair analysis).  

Note that my talk on September 11 has its own podcast.  In fact two, with the talk being in the second one focusing on September 13 and after. 

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Biography of a Graveyard 

Back in 2001 I had just published a book and had no projects on my plate.  I decided to use part of my summer to create an inventory of all of the gravestones in my home town graveyard.  This is Horse Prairie graveyard in Sesser, Illinois about 500 miles south of Detroit.  It is a very lovely graveyard, surrounded by farmland and rolling hills.  It is where many of my relatives are buried  -- grandparents, great grandparents, aunts and uncles and cousins, and now parents.  I also have a gravestone there waiting for my arrival.  

When I got back home my wife noticed that I had birth and death dates from most of those stones and could easily create an Excel  spreadsheet that would help me detect patterns. 

 Indeed!  

That was what I did.  In the end I produced three publications from this project, one in an academic journal, one in a collection of writings on how professors do research, and one a full book on everything I learned about these people and their history. 

What I learned covered history, culture, religion, personal stories, mortality, gender differences, age differences, disease and inoculation,  human tragedy, and so much more. 

I also learned what every researcher learns, that many of your beginning assumptions are wrong.  

 I think you will enjoy this. 

Two Notes 

Jane was invaluable in this project.  After I had  typed up a draft of everything I had recorded from the gravestones,  she returned with me to walk the graveyard and to go through the stones one last time, stone by stone, to make sure I had all the facts and inscriptions correct. 

Not only is she a very precise person but she has an amazing ability to read faded stones. 

And a slightly sad update:  My collaborator on this project, Clara Crocker Brown, died in mid-2021.  She was just a couple of weeks short of 100 years of age.  She died at home.   She came to our town when she was a little girl and married a local man but she always felt she was new.  Still, she devoted many years of her life to walking graveyards and recording the information that she found.  So much that she found would have been lost had she not done what she did.  

There are many good things in life that will never get done unless someone says, "If nobody else is going to do this, I will do it myself."  

She was a remarkable woman. 

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Rerum Novarum

For those of you who are Catholics, I have bad news for you.  There was a time in the 1800s when your church went over the edge, in terms of what you value today.  It renounced reading of unapproved books, it renounced what you would think of as education, it renounced curiosity, and it even renounced the existence of Germany and Italy.  (The pope had a vested interest in the non-existence of Italy given that he was the ruler of his own state, which got absorbed into Italy.  Anyone who voted in an Italian election or served the Italian state in any way was excommunicated.  To be honest they made themselves irrelevant, so that large numbers of Italians marched away from the church.   This is called anti-clerical).  

This 1891 encyclical, by Leo XIII, one of the great popes, reversed that disastrous tendency, and tried to drag the Church into the modern age. 

An encyclical is important not because it repeats what the Church has already said – the rich should give charity to the poor.  That's not new – but because it says something the Church has never said before.  These are called New Teachings.  This encyclical has three new teachings.  Those are identified along the way. 

An encyclical is an official teaching by the pope.  The word means Letter and borrows from the epistles (letters) of Paul in the New Testament.  

Encyclicals have numbered paragraphs to make it easier to discuss.  The podcast makes reference to those numbers throughout. 

It is possible to listen to this podcast without the text in front of you, but this is a case where I would recommend that you download the encyclical and read along.  I will attach a link. 

This was a class lecture.  

How would we classify this pope?  He is definitely a classical conservative in the sense of Disraeli.  He clearly has Lockean impulses.  He is a cultural conservative in the sense of gender issues.  He is NOT a Ronald Reagan conservative. (“The most frightening words in the English language are, I’m from the government and I’m here to help”).   He clearly wants to save the capitalist system and to reinforce the power structure and make it work more effectively.  He feels a bit of nostalgia for the past but is realistic that we cannot turn back history.  He wants the Church to play a role in the future in terms of creating and shaping parties and unions.  

Would you call him a paternalistic Disraeli cautious reformer?  That is an awkward term but I can’t think of any that is better. 

Note:  I think the Pope was answering the Communist Manifesto, even though he never mentions Marx.  See if you agree. 

http://www.vatican.va/content/leo-xiii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_l-xiii_enc_15051891_rerum-novarum.html

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Some decades ago, I was involved in a church that had a destructive conflict.  Congregational and regional officials mismanaged the conflict in a way that escalated it.  The conflict went through an ecclesiastical court system. (Few members even knew such courts existed, much less that individual members could file accusations against other  members).  There were formal accusations, and counter-accusations.  Ultimately the conflict ended up in the civil courts.  The damage was deep and serious. 

Let me repeat something reported in the podcast:  Even though gender issues were central to this case, there was not a single report of any exchange of fluids.  In a sense, that makes the case even more interesting.  Sexual misconduct without physical sexual contact.  

The story of this project is interesting. I am by nature a pack rat so every time some document appeared I threw it into a folder.  This included even monthly newsletters or an annual report but also policy documents and official rulings.   When the formal processes had exhausted themselves and the pastor was gone, I decided to write a Briefing Document to send to the national headquarters to describe what had happened.  I thought that might do some good. That initial report was 40+ pages long, single spaced.  But something unexpected occurred. 

My friend John, a fellow political science professor in another college, had a heart attack.  As he was recovering, I went by to see him.  When I walked in, I said, “John, how are you doing?”  John was delightfully blunt in his manner and so was his response:  “I am doing fine.  What the hell is going on in your church?’  It turned out that someone in the congregation who was his friend had stopped by and told him everything she knew.  John and I  sat for two hours discussing the details.  Then he said, “This deserves a book, and you would be able to write it.”  

With John as my advisor, I set out on the project.  The more I wrote, the more I realized I needed additional information.  I read extensively about Presbyterian polity,  sexual misconduct policy (including federal court cases),  feminist writings, Presbyterian political history and governance issues (a branch of law), and quite a bit of administrative law (how policy is implemented in local institutions). After three years, I produced a book, “Decent and in Order:  Conflict, Christianity and Polity in a Presbyterian Congregation.” 

This was a time when sexual misconduct issues in the Catholic Church were exploding and the Church was paying  hundreds of millions of dollars in settlements.  On one point, there is a fundamental difference between Catholic and Protestant cases.  Catholic misconduct typically involves a priest and a  same sex minor. Protestant cases typically involve a male pastor and an adult female.  However, patterns of cover up and denominational malfunction are similar. As the distinguished Catholic scholar Father Andrew Greeley noted in his introduction to the book Bad Pastors, “I want to thank Professor Stockton for showing me that another denomination can mishandle a problem as badly as my own.” 

I think some observations in this analysis  go beyond religious bodies.  As someone who has followed sexual misconduct issues in universities for decades, the same malfunctions are there – redefine the problem, blame the victim, guilt-trip and try to buy off those harmed.  And focus upon the good things the institution achieves, things that might be damaged if these stories got out, and payments were extracted.  Mona Hanna-Attisha’s superb book on the Flint Water Crisis (What the Eyes Don't See) notes the same patterns.  It is as if there is a shared mindset 

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General Powell was one of the great men of his age.  He could have been President. 

He made one serious mistake in his career and it tarnished his reputation.  Every single comment on his life will mention it. 

These are my thoughts. 

Note:  Factual error. Sorry about that.   It was 1996 that General Powell announced that he would not be a candidate.  He had appeared ready to declare but then he backed off.  He would have been running against Bill Clinton who was trying for his second term.    Apart from Alma's doubts, there is no clear explanation for his decision.  

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These are four stories, just for fun. 

I call them

Bad Hair Day
Crazy Lady on the Phone
A Halloween Misadventure
Gato's Halloween

The stores are all ahead of the curve in terms of selling Halloween decorations so I figured I might as well get ahead of the curve with stories about Halloween. 

I hope you like them. 

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Suppressing Dissent                              

This is not an easy topic.  It was a lecture delivered to my class on the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict in November, 2020. It focuses upon how difficult it is to engage in serious discussion of the conflict and of how there are organized efforts to disrupt or silence debate.  

One issue is that there are groups trying to define the word anti-Semitism in a way to weaponize it for use in political struggles.  That will require a different podcast. However, if you are interested in the article by Nathan Thrall, it is in the New York Times, March 28, 2019, “How the Battle over Israel and anti-Semitism is Fracturing American Politics.” 

I wrote three articles in Middle East Policy on the three Presbyterian debates on whether or not to sell their shares in five companies that cooperated with the Israeli occupation.  Those can be found in the University of Michigan virtual archive called Deep Blue.  There is a separate (short) podcast on how to find that, if you need some help. 

I mentioned that I headed a Task Force that wrote a policy on faculty being required to write letters under circumstances that raised moral issues.  Here is that policy:  Point I.   Faculty Obligation to Support Students: Faculty should endeavor to support their students in the pursuit of their aspirations.  This includes writing letters of recommendation whenever possible.  Point II.   The Case of a Faculty Member Declining to Write a Letter of Support.  Given the right to acts of conscience as a part of academic freedom, faculty members are not obligated to write letters of recommendation for participation in programs if they judge that doing so would compromise their moral principles.  Point III.  Working with the Student:  In the event that a faculty member declines to write a letter covered by this policy, the faculty member should consider meeting with the student to discuss the reasons for that decision.  Such a discussion can be beneficial and educational for those students who may not understand the issues involved.  Point IV.   Due Process in the Event of a Formal Complaint: If there is a complaint under this policy against a faculty member, that matter should be referred to the department grievance committee.  In such an event, there should be an initial assumption that the faculty member behaved appropriately.  There should be strict adherence to due process for the faculty member, including a right to appeal an adverse finding.  In the event of an adverse finding, the matter should be referred to the appropriate  promotion and tenure or other review committee for consideration during their assessment of the individual’s performance of duties.   There should be no sanction beyond whatever comment the committee chooses to include in their review letter. Point V.  Letters for Undeserving Students: This policy affirms the established right of faculty to refuse a letter for an individual  student who is academically or otherwise undeserving. 

 Note that I was Faculty Ombudsman for 17 years so faculty rights are a big deal for me. 

 There is another podcast called Thoughts of a Former Terrorist that might be of interest. 

 Some terms:  Canary Mission, existential threat, BDS, PAC, megadonor, Anti-Semitism. Human Rights Watch.  Standard Practices Guide (SPG), Ombudsman. Apartheid, double standard. 

Names:  John Cheney-Leopold, Lucy Pederson, President Schlissel, President Duderstadt, Norman Finkelstein, Alan Dershowitz, Steve Salaita, Juan Cole, Nathan Thrall, Ihlan Omar, Benjamin Ne

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How a Pope is Elected   

This is a discussion of a papal election, with special attention to the election of John Paul II.   This was a classroom lecture and is an hour and ten minutes long.  

There is a discussion of the ideological factions in the church, and the regional divisions.   The successful candidate is able to put together a coalition of votes that incorporates the ideological factions and the geographic divisions.  The candidate also has to be able to address the issues facing the church.  Sometimes those issues are within the church, sometimes they are global or international issues.  

This was originally a zoom lecture, one of the first I delivered.  There were some bumps along the way so I had to delete some sections.  Sorry abut that. 

Popes mentioned:  Pius XII, John XXIII/Roncalli, Paul VI/Montini, John Paul I, John Paul II/Wojtyla, Benedict XVI/Ratzinger, Francis I, Alexander (1600s) 

Names Mentioned:  Hans Kung, Sunens, Kroll,  Ottaviani, Siri, Bernardin, O’Conner, Kennesaw Mountain Landis, Zbigniew Brzesinski, 

Terms:  Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (Note glitch:  Not Defense of the Faith). “Roman,” curia, papabili, habemus papam, heresy, Tubingen University, College of Cardinals, Conclave,  St. Peter’s Square, Constantinian Donation, Temporal power, “radical,” ostkardinalaat. 

 I think it is hard to overstate how proud people were that there was a Polish pope.  The Italians had dominated the papacy for perhaps 400 years.  But there he was, a Polish pope.  Would you like a joke?  When JP II visited St. Louis he was introduced to the legendary baseball player Stanley Musial, then retired.  Musial said to the pope, "We have two things in common.  Would you like to know what they are?"  The Pope said he would.  "We are both Polish and we are both former cardinals."   

Films:  

Two Popes:  a dialogue between Pope Benedict and Cardinal Bergoglio (Francis) 

We Have a Pope (about a reluctant pope, chosen over his objections) 

The Good Pope.  The story of John XXIII.  I have not seen this film but it said to be good. 

Eight Men Out:  The story of the Black Sox Scandal and Kennesaw Mountain Landis. 

The Shoes of the Fisherman.  Pure fiction about an unexpected election. 

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This podcast has two parts.  The first part is a discussion of the Scopes Trial of 1925 in Dayton, Tennessee.  Tennessee had passed a law restricting the teaching of evolution and a science teacher named John Scopes decided to challenge it.  The second part is a talk I delivered at a conference on Religion and Science. 

Interesting Factoid:  Those who argue against evolution say that there is no way natural evolution could have produced the human eye, for example.  There must have been an "intelligent design" behind what happened, i.e., God.  This curious phrase comes from a story in the McGuffey Readers.  George Washington, then a young boy, is walking through the garden with his father.  His father points to a pattern in the plants that spell out "George Washington."  His father asks how he thinks there can be such a thing.  Young George says  he thinks there must have been some 'intelligent design' behind it.  There the story ends.  I would put my money on George's father, but that is not the conclusion of those who believe in divine creation.  

 There are references to the Leopold and Loeb Trial, Clarence Darrow, William Jennings Bryan, John Scopes,  the Fundamentals of the Faith, H. L. Mencken, Nietzsche, Malthus, and the Bible. 

There is also a discussion of public opinion on relevant topics. 

Books:  
Clarence Darrow.  For the Defense by Irving Stone 
Summer for the Gods.  the Scopes Trial by Edward Larson. 

Film and play:   Inherit the Wind.  

Update:  Just reading the Larson book.  The Tennessee Supreme Court voted 3-2 to uphold the law.  One of the three justices said it did not prohibit "theistic evolution," i. e., the idea that God created evolution.  Also, Tennessee law specified that the jury should set the fine.  The jury had recommended that the judge set the fine at the minimum, i. e., $100.00.  The court ruled that this was out of order.  They vacated the conviction.  In the end, Scopes was NOT convicted.  Moreover, there was no appeal to the U. S. Supreme Court.  Scopes was offered scholarships to Harvard and elsewhere.  He went to the University of Kentucky to study engineering and became a petroleum engineer.  

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The Palestinian Refugees of 1948

This is an extremely important topic surrounded by false narratives and inflammatory rhetoric.  I have put off preparing a podcast for some time, but not because it is sensitive.  I deal with quite a few sensitive topics.  It goes with the territory.  But in this case, a reason for my hesitation is that I have a written briefing document that is the basis of this podcast.  It is very thorough and is fully available to anyone through Deep Blue.  (See the separate podcast on how to access Deep Blue).  It has the same title as this podcast.  But I have thought for some time that transferring that written document to a podcast would be a good thing.  My hesitation is that I will be reading and improvising from a printed text into the spoken word.  I am worried about jumps and stops and stumbles along the way.  I hope those who listen to this will find it useful. It will certainly introduce some information that is new to most of you. And if you also want to download the document from Deep Blue that is good given that it has additional information in it.  As of 1 September 2021 it has 13,000+ downloads worldwide.

 https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/handle/2027.42/110670

Note that there are previous podcasts on The Palestine War of 1948, and The Palestinians After 1948. 

Some People in order of being mentioned:  Menachem Begin, Simha Flappan, Benny Morris, Ilan Pappe, Avi Shlaim, Tom Segev, Joseph Weitz, Herbert Hoover, David Ben-Gurion, Abba Eban, Samuel Katz, Meir Pa-el, Mordechai Ra’anan, Yigael Allon, Yitzhak Rabin, Gold Meir, Abu Iyad, Aharon Cizling, Moshe Sharrett, Nahum Goldman, Walid Khalidi. 

Some terms, places, organizations  in order of being mentioned: The Partition Plan of 1947 (181), Haganah, Irgun, Stern Gang, Plan D/Plan Dalet, Peel Commission of 1937, Deir Yassin, Haifa/Jaffa, Absentee property and the Present Absentees law, “transfer.”