I would like to congratulate Chuck Shepherd for his efforts on behalf of the present Republican majority in Congress and all other enemies of the National Endowment for the Humanities and higher education in general. His September 15th report of the NEH grant to the American Association of Community Colleges [News of the Weird] managed to misrepresent and trivialize this source for academic stipends and badly needed scholarships in a manner that is worthy of the misleading zealotry of Senator Proxmire’s “Golden Fleece” awards. The grant was intended to promote the study of American pluralism, especially in terms of race, ethnicity, gender, and other considerations that are so important to the social development of this country. Despite his report, it was not directed towards the writing of civics-style essays on the topic of “What Is an American?”
Mr. Shepherd should be proud of the fact that his efforts have contributed to the smear campaign that has resulted in the loss of these funds, as well as a general gutting of the budget of the National Endowment for the Humanities. I hope that Newt Gingrich is appropriately grateful for his support.
James T. McHugh, PhD
Legal Studies Program
Roosevelt University