Joel Kovel
| Joel Kovel | |
|---|---|
Kovel at New York City's Judson Memorial Church in 2009
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| Born |
August 27, 1936 Brooklyn, New York, New York, U.S. |
| Occupation | Scholar, writer |
| Nationality | American |
| Website | |
| www |
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Joel Kovel (born August 27, 1936) is an American scholar and author.
In 1936, Kovel was born in Brooklyn, New York to an immigrant Jewish family. He received his B.S. Summa cum laude from Yale University in 1957. In 1961 he received his M.D. from the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and in 1977 was a graduate of the Psychoanalytic Institute, Downstate Medical Center Institute, Brooklyn, New York.
From 1977 till 1983 he was Director of Residency Training, Department of Psychiatry, Albert Einstein College of Medicine (where he was also Professor of Psychiatry from 1979–1986). From 1980 to 1985, he was an Adjunct Professor of Anthropology at the New School for Social Research and from 1986-7 a Visiting Professor of Political Science and Communications, University of California, San Diego. He also held short-term positions as a Visiting Lecturer at San Diego State University in the spring of 1990 and another Visiting Professor position at UCSD in Winter 1993.
In 1988, Kovel was appointed Alger Hiss Chair of Social Studies, a non-tenured position, at Bard College. In February 2009, he was informed that his position would not be renewed after the contract ended on June 20, 2009 and that he would be moved to "emeritus" status at that time. Kovel argued in a letter sent to the faculty of Bard College that his contract was not renewed due to his political views. He reiterated his argument in a statement posted on his official website that the "termination of service is prejudicial and motivated neither by intellectual nor pedagogic considerations, but by political values, principally stemming from differences between myself and the Bard administration on the issue of Zionism". The college president, Leon Botstein, responded in a letter sent directly to Kovel by arguing that his termination was not political but part of a larger move by Bard to reduce part-time faculty. Botstein stated: "To take what is self-evidently a result of economic constraint and turn it into a trumped-up case of prejudice and political victimization insults not only your intelligence but the intelligence of your readers." While Kovel called his dismissal illegitimate and vowed to fight the decision, he did leave Bard permanently per the university's decision in 2009.
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