Dr, Barak is a criminologist. Left of Marx, he reconciled Modernism with Post-Modernism (almost). His long string of achievements and lifetime on a Freudian couch leave him with a strong sense of self-esteem that permits dissent, unusual n an otherwise monolithic and hegemonic leftwing department.

On the downside, arguing with him only gives him more opportunity to show off, but on the debit side of assets he grades on the basis of the work you do, the more original, the better, regardless.

From gymnastics and surfing to threats from the Las Vegas mafia to field work with Timothy Leary, he’s quick to cite his more interesting moments and never shy about having them.

Myself, I have held office here as a Republican and I earned an A in his graduate crim theory class. Our deal was that if my term paper was good enough to submit to a peer reviewed journal, he would wriite a letter to get me into the doctoral program of my choice, skilpping the masters. I fell short, I admit. He still graded the paper an A and noted the shortfall.

Among all of the commies and pinkos I have known on campus, he is intellectually honest and academically engaging. He is an example of the best that that Left has to offer.

I doff my hat.

“Shakespeare never made a lot of money so now he is only known as a writer”.