4Q & 4A
Four Q&A asks four faculty members - Robert P. George, McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence and Politics, and Director of the James Madison Program; Stanley A. Corngold, Professor of German and Comparative Literature; Ruben Gallo, Assistant Professor of Spanish and Portuguese Languages and Culture and Charles H. McIlwain University Preceptor; Dr. Ruth Westheimer, Lecturer in the Council of the Humanities, the Program in Judaic Studies, and the Program in the Study of Women and Gender - to answer four short questions that aim to incite, intrigue, surprise and inform. Respondents are free to interpret or willfully mis-read the questions to suit their interests and viewpoint.
- The Editors
Robert P. George
- If you were elected Miss Universe, what would you hope to accomplish during your one-year reign?
A. To embarrass the pageant sufficiently to cause its demise. In this, I am sure I would succeed. - What is sexual politics?
A. Harry and Matilda negotiating which of them will walk the dog tonight. - Who, in your opinion, are the “silent majority”?
A. English professors who secretly loathe “gender-neutral” language. - Have you ever participated in “street politics”? On which street?
A. The closest I’ve ever come to “street politics” is advocating on behalf of students accused of misconduct before the college disciplinary committee.
Stanley A. Corngold
- If you were elected Miss Universe, what would you hope to accomplish during your one-year reign?
A. I would send a message to all my cohorts, with all the youth and beauty at my disposal, recommending chastity, poverty and obedience to a higher calling — to thoughtful diary-writing. - What is sexual politics?
A. Politics without (having) sex: poor, neglected, bedraggled sex has to seek shelter in politics. - Who, in your opinion, are the “silent majority”?
A. The three or four students in my seminars who say nothing, who keep their own counsel all semester. - Have you ever participated in “street politics”? On which street?
A. West Ninth Street, Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, ca. 1940. We roasted potatoes over newspaper bonfires despite the foeters of incineration and the protests of our other-ethnic neighbors.
Ruben Gallo
- If you were elected Miss Universe, what would you hope to accomplish during your one-year reign?
A. To write “The Assistant Professor's Guide to Becoming Miss Universe.” - What is sexual politics?
A. The title of a forthcoming book by Kenneth W. Starr. - Who, in your opinion, are the “silent majority”?
A. Future readers of “The Assistant Professor’s Guide to Miss Universe.” - Have you ever participated in ‘“street politics”? On which street?
A. In a dream I handed out copies of The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Napoleon to passers-by on Wall Street.
Dr. Ruth Westheimer
- If you were elected Miss Universe, what would you hope to accomplish during your one-year reign?
A. One year would certainly not be enough to accomplish what I would like to be able to do, like find a way for peace, not only in the Middle East but other places on the globe, eradication of hunger, that every child that was born be wanted and should get the option to have a good life. Of course, I doubt a 4’7” grandmother is very likely to win this crown. - What is sexual politics?
A. Anything to do with sexuality, contraception and abortion to be taken out of political arenas and placed firmly in the hands of knowledgeable people in the field. - Who, in your opinion, are the “silent majority”?
A. In my opinion, the “silent majority” are all the people who don’t agree with me so that I have to convince them of my way of thinking. - Have you ever participated in “street politics”? On which street?
A. Yes, I participate every year at the time of the parade celebrating Independence of Israel. I ride a gold cart up and down Fifth Avenue and wave at all the people.