Citations needed
There was a twitter post few weeks go asking “what is something that is known in your profession but never talked about because it would unravel everything” and I answered something that I had heard before: “Academics study marginalized populations because they find them interesting and not to enact actual change.”
I said that not to indict others, but because it is a fear of mine that I do this. There’s always conversations about academics being activists and if they SHOULD be, and I always say why not both? This instance is one of the most egregious: Not only did someone ask a person of color for advice about creating a new book on medievalism, but once they got the info they needed, they did not respond. Next, not only did they include non-white authors, but they didn’t even cite up to date research. It’s a fail that is baffling, when you have this many people looking at it, how did this happen?
Also, Clark dismisses a graduate student, but the issues are unclear. Is “being difficult” grounds for dismissal? It sounds like there are multiple options. If a student can’t find an advisor, that’s a problem, but WHY is that?
One common name on many of the dubious résumés: the Nigbel Group, whose bare-bones website describes it as an IT company in Houston. Zubairi says he's called its phone number and nobody has ever picked up. Nigbel did not respond to multiple Inc. requests for comment, nor is it listed in the Texas Secretary of State's database of taxable entities. To Mathews, the company sounds strikingly similar to fictional businesses he's seen created by other recruiters to help punch up fake résumés.
To create a website for a fake company- too much work.
Other things worth reading:
The Fight Over the 1619 Project Is Not About the Facts
How The 2010s Killed The Celebrity Gossip Machine
The Year in Yelling: "Catastrophe," "Marriage Story," "Moonstruck"
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