From Ephblog: More on Moore

First, it should be noted that Moore's plea in 1987 to credit card fraud may not have constituted the extent of his illicit activities. The plea might have allowed him to escape more serious charges on his record, which would be why the maximum sentences are so much lower this time around, though more money is involved. On a purely curious level, I'm very interested in what he was doing prior to getting his Master's. Was all of this an effort to help his past self of 20 years ago? Did he see problems when in custody that motivated him to pursue this degree? I don't know. In fact, we can't be sure of anything from before 2003, except for his legal record and illegal activities.

Second, Moore was a polarizing figure on campus. Some people liked him; others did not. Most importantly, the line between these two groups wasn't racial. In my view, it was based on one's personal experience, which widely varied. For me personally, Moore was a good guy. He gave lots of advice on how DC worked, and answered my questions for a long time, even when I was just stopping by. I don't know what his motive was for doing so, but he treated me with respect. I will also admit that I looked to him for possible DC connections, though unlike other students, I did not benefit from those connections. In the many conversations I've had about this in the past two days, I've heard again and again that here, he brought something unique to the table, relative to other Williams professors, and people valued that.

Third, the above does not excuse him of being a poor teacher, but as comments from other posts have shown, visiting professors are not always good teachers. In fact, I had a poor experience myself freshman year, and students often advise each other to avoid visiting professors. Williams is such a place where there are bad and easy classes. Oftentimes, the students who want them end up in them. While this is an academic institution, students here challenge themselves in a myriad of ways, and Williams values that. We seek a social life, community, involvement, excellence in sports, excellence in the performing arts, and more. These other commitments can sometimes be greater than the aggregate of all of one's classes. Ask any theater performer here about tech-week. If that diversity of interests is, in its nature, counter to the best possible education, then Williams has chosen to sacrifice that purely educational experience for some students. Importantly, other students here do have a purely academic experience that works wonderfully for them. But ultimately, if a student chooses to go through Williams taking all easy classes, that's their choice, and I would argue against any attempt to manage our courses beyond what currently exists. For example, I think this blog and its commentators educate me in a way that is unique from my classes.

Fourth, we have to separate Moore's academic work from his professionally criminal behavior. The two are distinct, but people as using the latter to criticize the former. It just happens that in this case, complaints about Moore's teaching style are much more difficult to defend, given the fact that he was stealing money while in Williams's employ. That he betrayed us does not mean that anyone can draw conclusions about his worth as an academic. It does mean that we should examine his past degrees and history, to see what is true. It also means that any discussion of bad teaching at Williams, in this context, is going to be unfair. That may be desired by some of the people who were rightly upset about his teaching (I can corroborate most all of the negative comments), but this isn't the right place. Nor would it be fair to use this moment as the context for a discussion about hiring and race. The deck is stacked.

Lastly, I think his presence on campus detracted from the value of my degree, that his hiring made a farce of Williams's focus on teaching ability, and that even bringing Pelosi (which he mentioned, as well as Valerie Jarrett) would not have changed the first two statements. However, for many students, that was enough, and they are free to decide their own priorities. Williams is a place of diverse opinions, and I have hugely benefited from them in the past 36 hours. I will post any other letters from Wagner as they come.