Three cheers for Harvey

I can't resist telling about how excited I am about the appointment of Harvey Perlman as chancellor. I haven't been this excited since Pat Buchanan won the New Hampshire primary five years ago and I lost my voice in a Manchester hotel screaming "Go, Pat, Go!" and giving half-drunken interviews to everyone from MTV to a French Canadian television station.

To protect the innocent, I should state that my admiration for the new chancellor has nothing to do with his politics. At the law school, he was firmly identified with the law and economics school of legal theory, a movement that I believe to be crassly materialist and generally noxious.

According to former regent, Robert Allen, Mr. Perlman also is pro-gay, having gone so far as to organize a gay dating service at the law school. Although in my third year at the law school, I can neither confirm nor deny these charges, except to take note of Mr. Perlman's silence on the matter. Therefore, it is fairly clear that Mr. Perlman is a fifth-amendment pro-homosexual.

Why, then, my excitement?

First of all, Mr. Perlman is a man of ideas, and, more importantly, he is very good at articulating those ideas. Seeing him speak is an electrifying experience. His dry sense of humor is simply infectious.

One would think that strong-willed intellectuals like Mr. Perlman would ordinarily be sought out to lead institutions of higher learning. However, in recent history only, two such persons come to mind.

Both were men identified as political leftists or moderates. The first was Robert Maynard Hutchens, who instituted a curriculum centered on the "Great Books" and succeeded in banning football at the University of Chicago in the 1950s. The other is John Silber, who has tried to do much the same thing (minus the football part) at Boston University when he hasn't been running for governor.

The story of how the Great Books curriculum was considered radical and subversive when first proposed and is now considered the last refuge of reactionaries is one of the great mysteries of history.

There was a lot of talk about the "vision" of the very forgettable James Moeser when he was appointed, as well as of the even more forgettable Graham Spanier (circa 1992-1995). It seems the only "vision" these two ever had was of their next jobs.

With Mr. Perlman, all the media talked about was his "Nebraska connections." If there was ever a chancellor with vision, this is the man. His vision can pierce through b.s. from across the room.

The sad fact is that today, chancellors are usually chosen for their abilities at fundraising and mediation rather than for their intellectual capacities. Back in the 1960s, Clark Kerr, president of the University of California at Berkeley, said that his job consisted of providing sex for the students, athletics for the alumni and parking for the faculty.

Things haven't changed much since then, except perhaps administrators' candor about their job description.

Mr. Perlman will not likely do much to upset this holy trinity of the modern university. However with him at the helm, there is a real opportunity to forge a commitment to excellence and to become known for something other than football.

The second reason why Mr. Perlman's appointment is exciting is that he is from Nebraska. The very fact that a man of his caliber graduated from York High School is almost laugh-out-loud funny. But it should also fill native Nebraskans with pride and hope.

High-level jobs like chancellor aren't even advertised in Nebraska anymore. I can't even remember who the last chancellor or president (excluding interim ones) that had any Nebraska ties was.

Being from Nebraska doesn't just not help you get a job in this state, it is a positive hindrance, as my brother learned recently at a certain local radio station.

Compare, for instance, the academic and administrative accomplishments of Mr. Perlman with some of his out-of-state predecessors.

Mr. Perlman co-authored the Third Restatement of the Law of Torts. This means that he wrote what is essentially the law all across this merry land of ours on everything from slip-and-fall cases to product liability.

Mr. Spanier, by contrast, wrote his doctoral dissertation on wife-swapping. Mr. Perlman probably got the job only because he was head and shoulders above the competition.

When out-of-staters get nominated to prominent positions, they often appoint their out-of-state cronies to the plum jobs. This is what happened when Mr. Spanier became chancellor - suddenly there was a slew of powerful Oregonians in the city.

Mr. Perlman, presumably, will appoint a fair number of Nebraskans.

In sum, Mr. Perlman's appointment is enough to make champagne bottles pop from Omaha to Ogallala. Go, Harvey, Go!