In Inside Higher Ed, Jack Stripling notes that Owen Cargol, until recently head of the U.S.-funded “American University of Iraq,” left his position as head of Northern Arizona University back in 2001 in part because of the publication of an email from Owen to a NAU employee describing himself as “a rub-your-belly, grab-your-balls, give-you-a-hug, slap-your-back, pull-your-dick, squeeze-your-hand, cheek-your-face, and pat-your-thigh kind of guy.”
Nobody seems to really know how Owen got his job at either AUI or NAU, except for an apparent abundance of charisma. And nobody seems to know why no one bothered to check out Owen’s previous academic career before hiring him for the Iraqi job.
For more on AUI, which seems to be in Kurdish territory, see the NYT here
Via Matt Yglesias, who got it from Henry Farrell.
