2008 Woodie Awards
On Richmond's Respect for Research
Tom Jones
Issue date: 4/30/08 Section: Opinion
While the conclusions of Murray Sperber's research on The Great Researcher = Great Teacher Myth,
brought to the attention of the HSU community by Stone Brusca last month, should indeed have driven a
stake through the heart of the myth that comprised the study's title, the news itself should have surprised
no one. Seldom, if ever, has so counter-intuitive a proposition as this myth been taken up with such
unexamined enthusiasm by elements of academia, most of whom are otherwise quite sober in their
assessment of claims about reality.
To grasp the relevance of Sperber's research to HSU we should revisit the source of the controversy
recorded in the Lumberjack (my February 13 column quoting Richmond's 2006 invocation of the myth to
justify his public humiliation of Brusca; Dick Stepp's March 5 dismissal of the myth as "bullshit";
Richmond's defiant March 5 vow to continue repeating the myth; and Brusca's devastating April 6
presentation of research exposing its fraudulent claim), which was: first, that on December 2, 2005,
Brusca was named recipient of the Outstanding Professor Award, with Richmond summoning the
campus to join him in congratulating Brusca "on his accomplishments as a teacher and scholar"; and,
second, that upon learning from a North Coast Journal reporter that Brusca had lamented that the
president was leading HSU down a "publish or perish" path, Richmond chose to respond by casting
public doubt on Brusca's qualifications for the award and invoking his favorite slogan in justification,
"You can't be a good teacher if you are not a good scholar." But it should be noted that the award was
never intended for 'good' teachers; nor even 'excellent' teachers. It was meant to honor superlative
teachers, as the award's enabling document states: "The primary criterion for selection of the recipient of
Humboldt State University's Outstanding Professor Award is a record of superlative teaching." That
Richmond invoked his slogan to apply to the assessment of superlative teachers makes it clear that he
brought to the attention of the HSU community by Stone Brusca last month, should indeed have driven a
stake through the heart of the myth that comprised the study's title, the news itself should have surprised
no one. Seldom, if ever, has so counter-intuitive a proposition as this myth been taken up with such
unexamined enthusiasm by elements of academia, most of whom are otherwise quite sober in their
assessment of claims about reality.
To grasp the relevance of Sperber's research to HSU we should revisit the source of the controversy
recorded in the Lumberjack (my February 13 column quoting Richmond's 2006 invocation of the myth to
justify his public humiliation of Brusca; Dick Stepp's March 5 dismissal of the myth as "bullshit";
Richmond's defiant March 5 vow to continue repeating the myth; and Brusca's devastating April 6
presentation of research exposing its fraudulent claim), which was: first, that on December 2, 2005,
Brusca was named recipient of the Outstanding Professor Award, with Richmond summoning the
campus to join him in congratulating Brusca "on his accomplishments as a teacher and scholar"; and,
second, that upon learning from a North Coast Journal reporter that Brusca had lamented that the
president was leading HSU down a "publish or perish" path, Richmond chose to respond by casting
public doubt on Brusca's qualifications for the award and invoking his favorite slogan in justification,
"You can't be a good teacher if you are not a good scholar." But it should be noted that the award was
never intended for 'good' teachers; nor even 'excellent' teachers. It was meant to honor superlative
teachers, as the award's enabling document states: "The primary criterion for selection of the recipient of
Humboldt State University's Outstanding Professor Award is a record of superlative teaching." That
Richmond invoked his slogan to apply to the assessment of superlative teachers makes it clear that he
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