Open Season on "America's Top Academics"

The New Republic online has launched a new feature titled "Open University," in which "America's top academics" blog on the news of the day. As David Greenberg introduces the feature:

To the best of our knowledge, this blog is unlike any other out there. It's dedicated to thinking about not just the news of the day but also the news from the academy: Controversies in campus politics that warrant thoughtful discussion. Scholarship from our various disciplines that we think deserves a broader hearing. Ideas we had in doing our research that seem eerily relevant to something we read in The New York Times today. Our bloggers range widely over the political spectrum. They include both novices and old hands . . .

I implore the academics among my readers to check out TNR's list of contributors to the feature, and to weigh in here with any observations you might have about TNR's selection of "America's top academics" . . . Also, are we really to believe the mag's assertion that the series is "first-of-its-kind"? I'm dubious, though this particular academic is more concerned with being on top of her own courses (which start next week) than with marshalling the evidence to refute that claim (though I think you can expect me to pipe up at "OU" at some point, from the rear of the classroom, here up in Canada . . . ).

In the meantime, for those non-academics among my readers, I plan to make up for my recent (stress-induced) absence here by posting the recipe for my pasta salad. Will that do?

Update, Sept. 6 5:37 EDT: Jacob Levy, professor of political theory at McGill, just up the road, wisely calls Greenberg out on his specious boast. Greenberg eats crow, only somewhat. Pasta salad recipe still forthcoming.