Something that shouldn't have really needed clarification (anyone in academia could've told them the same and many of us did), but thanks for posting it anyways, astral66.

Remember the intended audience at which the Clinton campaign statement is aimed: folks without any post-high school education. All adjunct, tenure track, and tenured professors were professors wherever I've gone in colleges and universities.

If Clinton were to say that Obama wasn't a "real" professor because he didn't have tenure, her intended audience wouldn't know what the heck she's talking about. And the law school's explanation won't get across to this audience, not because they're stupid (at least not more than any other group of Americans) but because they have no experience with it.

Another effective Clinton maneuver. She may have a badly run campaign, but at least someone there is able to come up with the kind of damaging soundbites that stick in your head.

Ben Smith at Politico notes that the statement released by the university defends Obama's statement as being semantically true.

I guess that means technically, Obama statement is not true.

So if it's "semantically true" (i.e., it's true because of what the words mean) then you conclude ... that it's not true?

I went to the U of Chicago human resources site to look for jobs. The school does make the distinction between 'Senior Lecturer' and 'Professor', at least in the listings for employment.

I looked too. There are listing for various ranks. But what does this have to do with the proper use of "professor" as an inclusive term?

It's been adequately explained above, but here goes again: as a rank, there's really no such thing as "professor." You can be an "assistant professor" or "associate professor" or "full professor", and those have very specific meanings. But "professor" by itself isn't a rank. It's a general category. You don't find it in job listing because job listings are described in terms of the specific rank. They don't post a listing for "professor," because that's not specific enough to describe the type of position being offered. That doesn't mean that "professor" isn't a perfectly reasonable word to use in its general sense.

But I hope that there isn't a cascade of Obama supporters accusing the Hillary of lying.

This accusation from the Hillary team was more in the category of "grasping at straws" than out-and-out "lying".

Mr. Real Professor,

I didn't say you have to have tenure to be called professor. Adjunct lectures are just that lecturers (I was incorrectly called "professor" by my students and had to, felt the need to, correct them when all I had was an MA.) Adjuncts may, by common courtesy, be called professor, my wife certainly was, but only after she received her PhD. Assistant professors are, in the main, PhDs who have been hired into tenure-track positions and are rightfully called "professor". It goes then without saying that associate professors and full professors are also "professors".

And, by the way, associate professors don't always have PhDs, especially if they're working in the Fine Arts. Often the MA is the so-called terminal degree.

For Obama to call himself a "professor" (I wonder how many of his fellow Senior Lecturers at Chicago feel the need to puff up their resumes in a like manner) is a bit like someone who has a received an honorary PhD. calling himself Dr.

(For Ben Hocking, I don't appreciate being called a liar. My wife has a PhD in medieval literature and has been teaching for the past nine years.)

Aw hell, Louisville,

Being called a liar is gentle compared to being called a racist for supporting Hillary.

Alright Hocking,

If your wife is a "real" professor,----

If that isn't close enough to the real thing I don't know what is.

And, Obama isn't a liar, at least not on this issue. What I said was he's puffed up his resume.

I taught history for five years as an adjunct with only an MA. Never, ever would I put on my resume that I was a professor. It just ain't true.

This is getting ridiculous!

Log out and have a glass of wine - it's Friday night!

Hey Susie, Excellent idea! Actually, we wrapped this one up hours ago, but now it's popped up to the "recommended list". And now it's destined to sit here for hours and hours....

I'd just like to say to all the Clinton supporters on this thread: I think you're onto something here. This is it. The big one. This is how Obama goes down. As your boy Bubba said, "saddle up" because it's time to ride. Hasten down the wind. Grasp firm hold of this stra..er, I mean thread and yank just as hard as your precious little hands can yank. Say a prayer and, for Heaven's sake, yank as hard as you ever yanked anything in your life and don't you dare let go. Hillary is counting on you. To arms!

Astral,

Thanks so much for the info, but if you don't mind I'll point out a few things you didn't touch on. You are correct: the term for an individual is adjunct professor. Collectively, they're usually referred to as adjunct faculty. Adjunct as in temporary. Temporary as in part-time. And what differentiates a part-time faculty from regular, or tenure-track, or whatever term you choose to use: the compensation is nowhere near the same (most adjuncts, depending on the type of contract they sign, get paid by the course not the academic year); contracts for adjuncts are usually per semester, meaning no job security (most have to take a semester off after a couple of years to maintain the idea that they are peermanent faculty); no funds are available for academic development; adjuncts usually can't attend department meetings; they can't serve on department or university committees; no university service is usually required; they don't face publish or perish pressures. I could go on, but I reckon I've gotten the idea across. Adjuncts neither share in the benefits nor the obligations (especially the obligations) of being a professor. So, just what just the heck is it that justifies Obama, myself, or any other adjunct calling himself a professor. Teaching a class? Thatr barely scratches the surface of what a professor does. It just isn't accurate to pretend otherwise.

DF,
I haven't seen the Clinton supporters here at TPM flogging this issue. The only threads I've seen here regarding this have been started by Obama supporters.

One more question. Why this reluctance on the part of Obama supporters to even admit to the possibility of Obama committing such a minor, very minor political sin as fudging a resume? I simply don't understand this abject devotion to Obama. Has (can) Obama do anything wrong? It seems as if you all aren't willing to see Obama as Sir Lancelot (that is to say, the best man available); he has to be Galahad (pure, unblemished, the only man for the times, a child of destiny, so to speak). That kind of hero-worship, that certain kind of arrogance disturbs me. No politican is flawless, certainly neither Clinton, McCain, and certainly not Obama. I just don't get it.

If nothing else, I believe this whole thread reveals how anyone who has worked in academia, and has managed to live on a ridiculously low salary, has mastered the art of squeezing blood from turnips. Never have so many, quibled about so much, for so little.

One of my colleagues had a grandfather who taught at Columbia. He described the teaching profession as "A life of genteel poverty." I've always loved that line.

Jazki,

And just what the hell has your stupid, hate-filled, asinine, insulting post have to do with what's being discussed in this thread?

That's enough already. When the infantile hate-mongers start to intrude upon the discussion, it's time to leave you Obama supporters to call him professor as much or as little as you want.

Astral,

(Hillary has decided as supreme ruler of the world-

telling the world her husband is no sexual predator or womanizer on national television ... )

Sorry this this ain't my idea of cleverness or humor. I'm rather sorry to hear that it's yours.

anneeliz,

From Lynn Sweet (who's been writing about Obama longer than just about anybody),

"Marsha Ferziger Nagorsky, an Assistant Dean for Communications and Lecturer in Law at Chicago] said there is a major distinction between a lecturer and senior lecturer, though both are not full-time positions. She said the status of a senior lecturer is “similar” to the status of a professor and Obama did teach core courses usually handled only by professors. While Obama was also part of the law school community, his appointment was not part of an academic search process and he did not have any scholarly research obligations which professors often do".

As for Obama's colleagues:
Judge Richard Posner makes the distinction between professor and senior lecturer on his CV, listing past professorships as such and senior lecturer positions as such.