Integral Studies or Integrity free Studies?



Dear President Joseph L. Subbiondo and the Board of Trustees:

California Institute for Integral Studies (CIIS) has been the center of political propaganda in the name of "anthropological activism" for quite some time. Recently CIIS has created news with faculty member Dr. Angana Chatterji (Professor or Assistant Prof. or Assoc. Prof.?) taking credit for the US State Department's denial of a visa to Indian State Chief Minister Narendra Modi. This is the latest in a long line of vituperative sensationalism, usually directed at obstructing help to the neediest segments of the population in the poorest countries.

While she may choose to pursue a role in advocacy, as her right, one has to seriously question her ethics and her responsibilities toward scholarship and cultures she researches in and in which she claims to be a scholar.

It is perhaps time to oblige CIIS' desperate quest for the media limelight by examining some of their practices.

Angana Chatterji's (Professor or Assistant Prof. or Assoc. Prof.?) CIIS website claims that she is an Associate Professor of Anthropology. However, the publications that she lists there mostly claim to the outside world that she is a Professor of Anthropology. It appears that at CIIS, faculty simply put on academic rank and titles similar to kindergartners donning academic regalia, with no need for actual promotion processes or scholarly achievement.

This interesting fashion in academic integrity comes through in the faculty publications of CIIS as well. One reason for academic rank having to be arrogated rather than won is obvious - the publications cited on this faculty website are mostly articles in sensationalist newspapers of dubious credibility. That they do not check elementary facts is evident from their letting Chatterji inflate her credentials. Chatterji is certainly well reputed - not in Anthropology circles, but in Anarchist, Marxist Communist party circles and the Pakistani hate media.

Comparison of the practices in the Anthropology Department at CIIS with accepted practices published by American Anthropologists Association (A.A.A) or Society for Applied Anthropology (SfAA) or National Association of Practicing Anthropologists (NAPA) provides an interesting study of CIIS standards in academic integrity. CIIS Scholars of anthropology rarely disclose any research goals, methodologies or sponsorship. They do not report their qualifications accurately either in their public appearances/speeches or their publications.

Anthropology scholars are ascribed special skills in deciphering/interpreting socio-cultural systems. None such is evident in Chatterji's writings. The community expects scholars at a minimal level not to promote, encourage any harm even inadvertently in their writings, speeches or other scholarly activities. Chatterjis conduct is a study in hate-mongering for cash. Her writings falsify data to support false propaganda, and stereotype entire communities as "fascists", "genocidal" etc. She indulges in blatantly hate-inciting name-calling. She fudges the facts and misrepresents and abuses the scholarly platform she has been accorded, as outine modus operandi.

Her most recent "success" is itself a false claim. She has been going around the nation claiming completely false reasons for the US State Department declining the visa application made by the Indian government - in order to falsely claim "credit" for herself for creating divisiveness in the Indian-American community. That this is being done through a publication prominently advertised on the CIIS website, gives the lie to the CIIS' claim of being a holistic center for peaceful study and introspection.

Chatterjis funding sources are suspect. She is listed as a Trustee of the "Earth Island Institute" which is rated as one of the least transparent of extreme-left organizations. One wonders if the Foundation's supporters endorse her political vendettas that obstructed the delivery of drinking water to simple villagers in poor countries for several years.

What do the organizational culture and ethics of scholars mean to CIIS in monitoring and self-policing? Is intellectual dishonesty, so blatant even in stating credentials, as well as rabble-rousing activism the top priority of CIIS? Doesn't this jeopardize the reputation of the institution and the futures of the impressionable youngsters who come there expecting a holistic education?

Does CIIS not have a responsibility to provide faculty who can set impeccable moral examples and serve as agents of positive influence on their students and the broader community? Does blatantly false hate-propaganda constitute such an example? What does it tell students at CIIS about the worth of their degrees, when their faculty lie about their credentials, and everything else, just for a few dollars more of dubious sponsorship?

The CIIS introduction states quite boldly

"CIIS is an engaged-and-engaging-community of people committed to transforming themselves and the world. Here you pursue an education that connects the spiritual and practical dimensions of intellectual life, in a stimulating environment that fosters rigorous scholarship and supportive community. The Institute offers an integral, interdisciplinary educationa unique intersection between theory and practice, passion and reason. CIIS advances its mission by offering courses of study that are on the frontiers of knowledge, taught by faculty members who are recognized scholars and student-centered teachers".

A noble mission statement, but utterly absurd when viewed against the reality apparent on the website of their senior faculty.

The Academy is an important social institution whose faculty are agents of moral influence to guide students and the broader community. It is imperative that institutes and academic organizations strive to develop a moral and ethical culture that is conducive to individual and collective moral responsibility.

Academics are perceived as scholars, seekers, and purveyors of knowledge, thoughtful, analytical, tolerant, and respectful of diversity; fiercely independent producers and guardians of "truth" with insatiable curiosities about what we do not know and a critical and questioning attitude about what we do know. Their students are impressionable youngsters searching for careers and role models. Youngsters are also often experimenting with a system of values, beliefs, and moral standards. One looks up to academics as they have the persona of being autonomous and mature agents who have a broader view and analytical approach to morality and intellectual honesty. Thus, many academicians become influential forces in helping students to make critical life choices.

The irredeemable price of ethics failure in academia is the loss of public trust and faith in academic organizations. Apart from the destructive financial price, there are other non-financial aspects that ought to be considered. First, students, parents, and community develop a poor impression of the institute and of faculty who are supposed to be moral agents and honest. The lack of trust and faith in the integrity, honesty, and dedication of faculty undermines the foundation of any attempts to achieve excellence in teaching and training students.

Lest you think we are picking on Chatterji alone, let us point out that most of the other faculty in their Anthropology Department seem to be different mostly in that they have almost no publications to show. Perhaps they are at least honest enough to observe the "Do No Harm" part of their community's ethical standards and not bask in stoking and inciting communist / terrorist uprisings under the veneer and garb of scholarship using false credentials.

Sincerely,

Citizens Insisting on Integrity in Scholarship (CIIS)

Cc: Earth Island Institute
International Rivers Network
Asia Forest Network
Community Forestry International
Media