U.S. Ambassador, NATO Leader Not Good Enough For Academia

Northwestern University academics were upset that the leader of a new global studies department was going to be headed by a non-academic, reflecting the Ivory Tower elitism of many professors.

The Buffett family donated a substantial sum of money to create a new institute at the school to study global issues. As the Chicago Tribune notes, the school thought they had a well-qualified pick in Karl Eikenberry. He served as Ambassador to Afghanistan as a three-star Army general and finished his career working with NATO.

Yet, for the liberal academics at Northwestern, his lack of a doctorate degree and his background in war disqualified him for the job and forced him to withdraw his application. While he does not have a doctorate, Eikenberry does have two Master’s in political science and global studies, and also served as a U.S. Ambassador and three star general.

Interestingly enough, Stanford had no issue hiring Eikenberry for a similar position as the “Director of the U.S.-Asia Security Initiative”.

Source: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-northwestern-drops-karl-eikenberry-20160531-story.html