Pulitzer Fashions

Apart from their perennial value in the world of journalistic log-rolling, and as specimens of corporate self-love, the Pulitzer Prizes are almost always good for a minute or two of helpless laughter. This year we took special delight in the award of the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism to Robin Givhan of the Washington Post, who writes about fashion.

We confess that we were initially disappointed, since our first choice would have been the woman who writes the Hints from Heloise column, with its trenchant analysis and fearless debunking of common household appliances. Heloise has been speaking truth to powerful cleansers and disinfectants for decades, and her Pulitzer is long past due. But then again, the world of fashion and the accessory choices of the famous and obscure are of growing importance in our culture, and Robin Givhan certainly deserves this honor as well.

Imagine our surprise, then, to see a pair of photographs of Miss Givhan in the Post newsroom, accepting congratulations from smiling colleagues while wearing a "sensible," shapeless frock and white schoolmarm cardigan sweater with cinched sleeves, and a clunky Timex, which seemed to cry out, "I may chronicle the rich and powerful for the Washington Post, but I shop at T.J. Maxx!"

To compound the mystery, Miss Givhan's serpent-thin eyes were accentuated by awkwardly narrow drug-store spectacles, giving her the look of a water moccasin writing its master's thesis. On top of which her tight, industrial-strength, combed-back coiffure revealed a huge expanse of glistening forehead that would invite any hockey team to take to the ice.

Say, this criticism stuff is kinda fun. Look out, Pulitzer people, here comes The Scrapbook!

The al-Arian Verdict

Back in the winter of 2001-02, when University of South Florida professor Sami al-Arian's decades of clandestine activity on behalf of a psychotically violent terrorist organization were finally beginning to catch up with him, most of articulate America thought it an outrage that USF president Judy Genshaft would even dare think about firing the man.

Okay, so maybe al-Arian had an unsettling habit of hollering "Death to Israel!" and "Victory to Islam!" at pro-Palestinian pep rallies where he was introduced as North American director of "the active arm of the Islamic Jihad movement." And maybe the off-campus "charity" al-Arian managed in Tampa published an in-house magazine, al-Mujahid, that proudly carried the Palestinian Islamic Jihad's logo on each issue's front page. And maybe the on-campus "think tank" al-Arian had founded at USF employed as its original executive director one Ramadan Abdullah Shallah, who is of medium build and light complexion, has black hair and brown eyes, and "should be considered armed and dangerous," the FBI now warns us--on account of how for the past 10-plus years Shallah has been Palestinian Islamic Jihad's globally-most-wanted Terrorist-in-Chief.

Whatever. Judy Genshaft's critics did not care to know about such stuff, though all of it was publicly documented and beyond dispute. No, her critics cared only that Sami al-Arian was fully tenured and had never been convicted of a major felony. Therefore, enlightened people everywhere rushed to rain abuse on the heads of Genshaft and her board of trustees when at last they did take steps to terminate al-Arian's employment. USF faculty union president and philosophy professor Roy Weatherford called the move "manifestly repugnant to the academic profession and the world community." The American Association of University Professors voted to "condemn" Genshaft and her colleagues for "severe violations of academic freedom." The New York Times called al-Arian's dismissal a "groundless" act of "dishonor" and "betrayal."

Then, in February 2003, Sami al-Arian was arrested by the FBI and served with a mammoth, 50-count, 121-page terrorism-conspiracy indictment, and nearly all of the good professor's newly acquired friends suddenly remembered that they had better things to do.

Then, this past December, after a lengthy and complicated trial in Tampa (involving what appears to have been an unusually obtuse set of jury instructions from the judge), a federal court found al-Arian not guilty on eight of the original 50 counts, while deadlocking on nine others. Certain of his well-wishers began to speak up again. AAUP associate general secretary Jordan Kurland reminded President Genshaft that al-Arian still "had tenure as a member of the faculty, and unless or until cause is demonstrated for removing him, he has a right to be in that faculty." USF political science professor Harry Vanden went so far as to suggest that Genshaft and her trustees should "consider very carefully whether they might want to apologize to Dr. al-Arian and reinstate him."

Yeah, well. That's not going to happen. Last week it was revealed that Dr. al-Arian has pleaded guilty to the basic conspiracy count remaining against him and will cooperate with the government's effort to deport him, in return for a lenient jail sentence and the promise that he will not be retried. In his plea agreement al-Arian admits that for the past four years, almost everything he has been saying about himself--and, therefore, everything his defenders have been parroting on his behalf--is a lie. He was centrally involved in a scheme "to make or receive contributions of funds, goods, or services to or for the benefit of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad," with which he was closely "associated." al-Arian participated in this conspiracy "knowing [its] unlawful purpose," and "aware that the PIJ achieved its objectives by . . . acts of violence." al-Arian employed his think tank in the service of these objectives, and "falsely stated" that its officers were engaged "in only scholarly work."

Isn't it time somebody apologized to Judy Genshaft?

Modern Liberalism, cont.

There are many possible lessons to be drawn from the ongoing drama in Durham, N.C. The Duke University lacrosse team, you may recall, hired two strippers to liven up a March 13 kegger, one of whom says she was raped by three of the student-athletes. A grand jury has since indicted two of the accused; both maintain their innocence. It is, as we say, a cautionary tale, and The Scrapbook was all ears when its favorite sports radio host Tony Kornheiser asked Washington Post sportswriter Sally Jenkins for the "woman's point of view" on his April 21 show.

A woman, said Jenkins (and this is a paraphrase, as we were fighting morning traffic and not taking notes) " should be able to go into a room full of men, strip, and come out with her morals and character intact." We confess that was one lesson that had escaped us.

How Many Jews?

Despite this magazine's proud mem-bership in "The Lobby," we underestimated the Jewish population of America in last week's cover piece, "To Bomb, or Not to Bomb." Most estimates place the number at 5 to 5.5 million, not the 3 million we reported.