Charges of antisemitism and liberal bias and dismay over cuts to the opera budget have led to a small mutiny at Chautauqua Institution. And this was after the attack on Salman Rushdie.
The rebel leader believed success was in hand: An autocrat deposed, tyranny on the run, one of America’s oldest cultural institutions rescued from disaster.
“We used classic guerrilla tactics,” said Twig Branch, the rebel leader, savoring his victory. He and a small band of allies had successfully ousted the president of Chautauqua Institution, a 151-year-old resort and cultural center that every summer attracts authors, musicians, playwrights and public intellectuals to its 750-acre lakeside campus in western New York. “We established a sophisticated spy network. We carefully designed a cellular network of provocateurs.”