Norman Finkelstein, a professor at DePaul University most famous for his vigorous (and some would say vicious) attacks on what he terms "the Holocaust Industry," has been recommended for denial of tenure by a DePaul dean, after winning departmental approval. I don't know enough about the specifics of the case to comment on the potential tenure denial, but I do know some good irony when I see it.

Inside Higher Ed notes, correctly, that while calling leading Holocaust scholars "hoaxters and huxters" and "criticizing people who invoke the Holocaust to justify political positions, he constantly identifies his parents [I've only seen him refer to his mother, as in this post] as Holocaust survivors."

But that's old hat. Peter Kirstein, a professor at Saint Xavier University and Illinois AAUP official, is apparently one of Finkelstein's most vocal supporters. The title of his blog post on the issue? "Exclusive: Norman Finkelstein, DePaul Scholar and Son of Holocaust Survivors, Struggles for Tenure." The reference to him being the son of Holocaust survivors is completely gratuitous, and is being used to justify Kirstein's strongly held political view that Finkelstein is a mensch who deserves tenure. You can't make this stuff up.

UPDATE: David French has more on the Finkelstein matter over at Phi Beta Cons.