Did Bill O’Reilly Doom a Tenure Bid?

by E Wayne Ross on May 19, 2009

Inside Higher Ed: Did Bill O’Reilly Doom a Tenure Bid?

In many academic circles, being attacked by Bill O’Reilly might be a badge of honor. A Syracuse University professor, however, charges that he was denied tenure last week in part because of the fallout over his on-air disputes with the Fox television star, who has branded him “a new Ward Churchill.”

Boyce Watkins said that the university has responded to attacks on him in ways that are different from how it handles other controversial statements made by professors, creating a stigma around his work because it does not conform to “white liberal” ideas about race.