In a move signifying a “win now” mindset, UW-Madison acquired aging superstar linguistics professor Noam Chomsky from M.I.T. yesterday in exchange for five professors and two draft picks.
Heading to Cambridge in the blockbuster deal will be English professor Richard Knowles, psychology professor Janet Hyde, journalism professor James Baughman, art history professor Nancy Rose Marshall and political science professor Howard Schweber.
M.I.T. will also receive the first round draft picks UW acquired last summer from U. Chicago and Princeton in the Jon Pevehouse and David Leheny trades, respectively.
Wisconsin Chancellor and General Manager John Wiley said Chomsky will propel the school into higher education’s upper tiers.
“Noam is a proven commodity who will provide us with a dominating inside presence,” Wiley said. “He immediately boosts our journal citation stats and will draw defenders away from the perimeter, freeing other professors to take the outside research grant shot.”
But some observers say Wiley is taking a huge risk with the 79-year-old Chomsky, who is in the final season of an eight-year, $153 million contract.
“The fans may keep voting Chomp into the All-Star Game, but there’s no question his skills have deteriorated,” ESPN academics analyst Donna Shalala said. “He still puts up respectable numbers, but his bandbox of a home lecture hall has some of the shortest dimensions in the college ranks.”
While it remains to be seen if Chomsky will be able to produce in UW’s cavernous class spaces, he sounded confident and upbeat about leaving M.I.T., where he taught for 53 years.
“M.I.T., Madison, it don’t make no difference as long as I be getting that cash,” the linguistics icon said at a Monday press conference. “Can’t no one hold Noam Chomsky down.”
If Chomsky plays up to his historical averages, UW-Madison should be the prohibitive favorite to win the Big Ten and advance to the World Series of Academia playoffs. But conference rivals are not sitting idly by, either.
Wisconsin fans have been spooked as rumors allege that Minnesota is close to a deal to acquire Cambridge physics professor Stephen Hawking.
Pundits say the complicated deal is unlikely to go through, though, as numerous salaries would have to be adjusted, Minnesota would have to reapply its Franchise tag, and Hawking would have to pass a physical.
