The following op-ed appeared in the News-Star,
daily newspaper for Monroe, LA on January 28, 2007. It was also on that newspaper's website
for several months, then eliminated perhaps, if not probably, due to
professorial complaint. Only two people openly responded to the op-ed.
Only one professor deigned to respond (see below). At Grambling State
University, I hung up the op-ed on the English Department bulletin board.
Only one professor, an elderly black woman, responded: "that takes guts!"
And how sad it is that in Academe "that takes guts!" Below, after the
op-ed, the email record bears witness to my assertion that I had to fight tooth
and nail to get a single op-ed published in the News-Star in response to
the 52 happy-face op-eds it wholeheartedly published by one University of Louisiana
at Monroe tenured professor... tenured, or is that tethered, to what, one must
ask...
Date: Mon, 11 Dec 2006
09:43:04 -0800 (PST)
From: "George Slone" <todslone@yahoo.com>
Add to Address Book Add Mobile Alert
Subject: Wandering over the
Bones of Democracy
To: knesel@ulm.edu
Dear Professor Arthur Knesel,
University of Louisiana at Monroe (and editors of The News-Star): It is
astonishing to me what gets professors to take up the pen in America these
days—in your case, wandering round the campus.
“Wandering. One could argue
that it is a splendid way to walk a path and find treasures on our campus. It
surely is one way to appreciate what a magnificent and awesome campus we enjoy.
Have a great day at ULM !”
It is perhaps less
astonishing, however, that the local press, right hand of the Chamber of
Commerce, would publish such innocuous essays written by local professors.
Indeed, “Wandering about ULM Continues to East Side ” (12/10/06), is the second
such essay published by you on, astonishingly, the same subject. How many more
such articles will The News-Star publish? How about “Wandering round My
Comfortable Tenured Office” or “Wandering down the Corridor in the Biology
Department” or “Wandering Past the Adjunct Instructors Who Have No Health
Insurance”?
Rarely, of course, will the
local press publish the hardcore criticism of the rare professor who’d dare “go
upright and vital, and speak the rude truth in all ways” (Emerson) with regards
the increasingly corrupt and money-oriented system that seems to characterize
higher education in America today. The article next to yours, regarding
Louisiana Tech University President Dan Reneau, “A Chat with Mr. President,”
illustrates this sad situation quite well. Democracy is greatly weakened by
it.
Higher education has, for
the most part, sold out to the capitalist paradigm thanks to you, that
president, and the thousands of other complicit professors and administrators
spread across the nation eagerly trading ideals and truth for money and
benefits. By the way, I include my university address for I do not give a damn
about retaliation for my speaking out in an “un-collegial” manner.
Now, do you think The
News-Star will publish this letter? Doubtfully, for I’ve already sent several
letters in the same vein… in vain. Put a happy-face pall over Democracy and, as
if by magic, it is suddenly no longer really Democracy. That seems to have
become the fate of America .
Sincerely,
Professor G. Tod Slone, Founding Editor
The American Dissident,
A Literary Journal of
Critical Thinking
In the Samizdat Tradition of
Writing against the Machine
www.theamericandissident.org
Dept. of Humanities and
Foreign Languages
Grambling State University
P.O. Box 4235
Grambling, LA
71245
Date: Mon, 11 Dec 2006 12:16:14 -0600
From: "John Knesel" <knesel@ulm.edu>
To: "George Slone" <todslone@yahoo.com>
CC: "James Cofer" <cofer@exchsrv.ulm.edu>, "Deborah Cofer" <dcofer@exchsrv.ulm.edu>,
"Sara Palazzo" <palazzo@ulm.edu>, "Laura Harris" <lharris@ulm.edu>, "Holly
Casey" <casey@ulm.edu>, jsavage@jsu.edu, "Spurlock, Kathy" <KSPURLOCK2@monroe.gannett.com>,
kstickney@thenewsstar.com
Subject: Re: Wandering over the Bones of Democracy
Dear Professor Slone - thank you for your note...it certainly presents a
different perspective. I have passed it along to those who might have an
interest in it.
jak
Subject: RE: Wandering over the Bones of Democracy
Date: Mon, 11 Dec 2006 14:22:18 -0600
From: "Spurlock, Kathy" <KSPURLOCK2@monroe.gannett.com>
To: "John Knesel" <knesel@ulm.edu>, "George Slone" <todslone@yahoo.com>
CC: "James Cofer" <cofer@exchsrv.ulm.edu>, "Deborah Cofer" <dcofer@exchsrv.ulm.edu>,
"Sara Palazzo" <palazzo@ulm.edu>, "Laura Harris" <lharris@ulm.edu>, "Holly
Casey" <casey@ulm.edu>, jsavage@jsu.edu, kstickney@thenewsstar.com
Dear Professor Slone,
I find it curious that you waited until week 49 of Professor Knesel's 52-week
series about the history of the University of Louisiana at Monroe to comment,
but maybe you missed the small print. Knesel's mission is to educate the rest of
us about the people and places that have made ULM what it is today. The occasion
is the university's 75th anniversary year.
His current weekly spot is hardly the forum for railing against the perceived
inequities of academia or otherwise speaking "rude truths," but if Professor
Knesel or any other area resident wishes to address such topics, we certainly
will entertain publishing them.
I'm not sure where you're submitting your writings against the machine, but
they're not making it to our offices, including the one forwarded to me by
Professor Knesel below. No one here who touches letters to the editor has ever
heard of you.
The appropriate email address for letters is letters@thenewsstar.com. Further
information about letters is available daily on the editorial page of The
News-Star.
We print every letter that is able to be verified and meets our published
criteria of word count, etc., -- including those expressing unpopular viewpoints
and those critical of mainstream media. Your letter below needs to meet the
250-word limit. Feel free to edit it and resubmit.
Certainly if Professor Gary Sloan -- who regularly promotes atheism here in the
Bible belt -- can get letters published, you can.
Regards,
Kathy
Kathy Spurlock
Executive Editor
The News-Star
P.O. Box 1502
Monroe, LA 71210
(318) 362-0261
Date: Mon, 11 Dec 2006 12:50:28 -0800 (PST)
From: "George Slone" <todslone@yahoo.com>
Subject: RE: Wandering over the Bones of Democracy
To: "Spurlock, Kathy" <KSPURLOCK2@monroe.gannett.com>
Hi Kathy,
Ah, an email from the executive director! I must have hit a nerve. That's
good, n'est-ce pas? Actually, being in Ruston, I am only an occasional reader
of your newspaper. Yes, indeed, and what precisely has ULM become today? Just
read that article you ran on the pres of Tech... business, business, and more
business. I'm certain ULM is not much different. But is that what an
institution of higher learning is supposed to be? If my letter is too long
(hell, it wasn't that long at all... and I bet some of your readers would like
to read it), promise you'll publish it and I'll cut it down. But was it really
over 250 words? If ULM and your newspaper are not, what precisely is the "forum
for railing against the perceived inequities..."? I have a hard enough time
getting critique published in The Gramblinite. It is no secret what the press
has become today, nor is it a secret regarding the inequities as you term them
in higher education. It is no secret that in higher education if a professor
opens his or her mouth, he or she will be eliminated... unless tenured.
Sincerely,
G. Tod Slone
www.theamericandissident.org
Subject: RE: Wandering over the Bones of Democracy
Date: Tue, 12 Dec 2006 10:07:39 -0600
From: "Spurlock, Kathy" <KSPURLOCK2@monroe.gannett.com>
To: "George Slone" <todslone@yahoo.com>
Hi Tod --
Not a nerve -- a dedication to my cause, perhaps? I respond to all
reader-related emails, usually within 12 hours.
My read on it is that institutions of higher education in this country always
have been businesses. They're little cities, and someone has to pay for all the
goods and services. In the public education arena, taxpayer and tuition dollars
haven't been enough to keep things going for many years. Alumni support and
grants have filled some of the gaps, but I honestly don't see how higher
education can possibly keep up with the enormous and rapidly changing technology
investments that are required these days without becoming more attuned to
developing a sales and marketing force to bring in more students, more money,
more sponsorships, more private investment.
And yes, I do believe that that environment should provide opportunities for
young adults to explore, be exposed to and be challenged by all kinds of
thoughts and experiences.
Re: The appropriate forum. I meant the slot we've been running "this is ULM's
75th history." We have plenty of other guest column opportunities elsewhere and
on other days for people to address anything they'd like to.
Re: Your letter. We usually offer the
writer the option of cutting it first -- yours was almost 400 words -- but I'll
be happy to do it.
Thanks,
Kathy
Date: Tue, 12 Dec 2006 08:18:23 -0800 (PST)
From: "George Slone" <todslone@yahoo.com>
Subject: RE: Wandering over the Bones of Democracy
To: "Spurlock, Kathy" <KSPURLOCK2@monroe.gannett.com>
Hi Kathy,
In a sense, I did not want to be insulting, though it seems increasingly
impossible not to be, that is, when one does not think and speak as a herd
member. Why not permit me one guest column? Read attached on higher
education. The problem is as I’ve already stated: criticize in higher
education and find yourself unemployed. That is the corporate autocratic model,
which, in a democracy, should not be the same model for our institutions of
higher ed. Hardcore civics courses are rare in higher ed today, whereas
business and tech courses have all but taken over. Free speech is a constant
battle in the ivory tower, though most professors aren’t even warriors in it.
Even lit mags like ULM ’s Turnrow tend to be wholly indifferent to it.
G. Tod
Date: Tue, 12 Dec 2006 08:21:13 -0800 (PST)
From: "George Slone" <todslone@yahoo.com>
Subject: RE: Wandering over the Bones of Democracy
To: "Spurlock, Kathy" <KSPURLOCK2@monroe.gannett.com>
Kathy,
I forgot to attach. ULM would be unique if it heeded the attached essay. But
it does not want to be unique. It wants to be business as usual like all the
other institutions of higher learning graduating students who can barely write
let alone read... just like Grambling State.
G. Tod
Date: Tue, 12 Dec 2006 08:26:26 -0800 (PST)
From: "George Slone" <todslone@yahoo.com>
Subject: RE: Wandering over the Bones of Democracy
To: "Spurlock, Kathy" <KSPURLOCK2@monroe.gannett.com>
PS: Wouldn’t it be wonderful to have a debate on
this? Democracy vs. Business/Technology as the scope of higher education in
America. Of course, it just won’t happen. And as time continues its march,
thoughts like mine on higher education will be viewed (by complicit professors
and administrators) as increasingly eccentric if not downright inane. Sorry, I
won't take any more of your time. I'm certain you're very busy, while I'm now
officially on vacation. Best,
G. Tod
Date: Fri, 15 Dec 2006 13:46:08 -0800 (PST)
From: "George Slone" <todslone@yahoo.com>
Subject: Silencing opinions: good journalism or good business?
To: "Spurlock, Kathy" <KSPURLOCK2@monroe.gannett.com>
Hi Kathy,
Am I to assume that my alternate opinion is lettre morte? If so, of
course I would not be at all surprised. BTW, I was kicked nearly unconscious in
Baton Rouge several weeks ago by three black wild children and robbed. Do you
think The Advocate, right-arm of the Chamber of Commerce, was interested in that
story? Definitely not.
None of those you CC’d responded. Most professors (99%) prefer silence to
hardcore, heated debate whenever that debate might concern them and their sacred
turf. Their silence is called "collegiality." That has been my experience over
the past 20 years as full-time professor… here and there. Why here and there?
Need I say.
BTW, I have written a 743-page autobio novel on my experience in academe (unpublishable
of course), as well as 1000 pages of essays, some of which have been published,
though rarely if ever by academic presses. Academics, including those at ULM ,
keep the agora of ideas closed hermetically to outsiders. Should that be
academe? As an experiment, I sent an essay regarding that to over 50 academic
literary journals over the past five years. All of them rejected it, including
ULM ’s Turnrow. I had a nice heated exchange with ULM Professor William Ryan
with that regard. The essay was just published this mont h by Modern-Review, a
non academic literary journal that paid me $150 for it. It is my humble opinion
that nothing is healthier for democracy than heated intellectual debate. Most
academics and newspaper editors would disagree, favoring by far “collegiality”
and “civility,” thinly veiled excuses for political rectitude uber alles.
G. Tod
Subject: RE: Silencing opinions: good journalism or
good business?
Date: Fri, 15 Dec 2006 16:01:03 -0600
From: "Spurlock, Kathy" <KSPURLOCK2@monroe.gannett.com>
To: "George Slone" <todslone@yahoo.com>
Sorry -- I've had a medical procedure that has kept
me out of the office the past couple of days and I have not dealt with it.
Date: Wed, 20 Dec 2006 09:10:44 -0800 (PST)
From: "George Slone" <todslone@yahoo.com>
Subject: RE: Silencing opinions: good journalism or good business?
To: "Spurlock, Kathy" <KSPURLOCK2@monroe.gannett.com>
Well, I hope you’re recovering okay. There is
nothing worse than a health problem. Anyhow, question: What makes the
headlines regarding institutions of higher eduation in The News-Star and so many
other clone-like newspapers across the nation? Football, of course (yesterday’s
headline)! I teach at Grambling State . What is football? It is team playing,
excellent training grounds for future army soldiers and corporate workers, not
at all for citizens of a democracy.
Dr. G. Tod Slone
Date: Sat, 20 Jan 2007 08:41:13 -0800 (PST)
From: "George Slone" <todslone@yahoo.com>
Subject: Your "cause"...
To: KSPURLOCK2@monroe.gannett.com
Dear Kathy Spurlock, Exec. Ed., The News-Star:
Several months ago you stated in an email to me: "Not a nerve -- a dedication
to my cause, perhaps? I respond to all reader-related emails, usually within 12
hours."
Well, it's been about a month since my last letter to you. Your silence
indicates to me that either you are dead, in the hospital (I did not see
anything in the News-Star with that respect), or simply decided to ignore me, a
virulent critic of the Chamber of Commerce, higher education, and the latter's
current state of co-optation by corporate America (via, I suppose, the Chamber
of Commerce).
Indeed, what precisely does "dedication to my cause" mean? Those are your
words. What precisely is your cause? All the news that's fit not to upset the
Chamber of Commerce and tenured professors at ULM? Indeed, is that not your
real cause?
You wrote: "Re: Your letter. We usually offer the writer the option of cutting
it first -- yours was almost 400 words -- but I'll be happy to do it."
Did you in fact do it? If so when did the letter appear?
BTW, I was not asking for a 52-week spot in your newspaper like Professor Knesel
got... to praise the Chamber of Commerce and his university, which is no-doubt
laden with cronyism, hypocrisy, image hype, PR, and everything else but
encouraged free speech and expression... like most every other university in
America today. I was asking for one single column as a counter opinion to
Knesel's 52 bland self-serving columns.
Sincerely,
G. Tod Slone
Grambling State University
Editor of The American Dissident
www.theamericandissident.org
PS: Well, I suppose it's time I get to sketching a
cartoon on you and your "cause." If I do not hear from you, I shall sketch it,
post it on my website, then will inform you. BTW, in case you're unaware, many
Americans don't believe in the free press any more. Many rightfully perceive
the press as the arm, not of freedom and truth, but rather as that of Big
Business. Indeed, the latter has become the real "cause" of most journalists
today.
Subject: RE: Your "cause"...
Date: Sat, 20 Jan 2007 10:49:49 -0600
From: "Spurlock, Kathy" <KSPURLOCK2@monroe.gannett.com>
To: "George Slone" <todslone@yahoo.com>
Mr. Slone,
I don't know the answer, but I will find out. Our Opinion Editor and Managing
Editor handle the editorial page. I forwarded the letter to them for
publication. Everyone has been on vacation, swamped and sick, and we have had
some technicial issues with email. So I will have to find out where your letter
has gone when we are all in the same building at the same moment.
ks
Subject: RE: Your "cause"...
Date: Sat, 20 Jan 2007 10:58:26 -0600
From: "Spurlock, Kathy" <KSPURLOCK2@monroe.gannett.com>
To: "George Slone" <todslone@yahoo.com>
Tod -- Just in case it's been lost, please send
again. With our email issues lately, I don't have your original. ks
Date: Sat, 20 Jan 2007 09:10:24 -0800 (PST)
From: "George Slone" <todslone@yahoo.com>
Subject: RE: Your "cause"...
To: "Spurlock, Kathy" <KSPURLOCK2@monroe.gannett.com>
Kathy,
I do appreciate your quick response here. Will you offer me a column? If not,
why will you not offer one column in contrast to the 52 columns written by
someone who thinks LSU is wonderful?
If you will not offer me a column, then just print the letter I just sent you,
the first one.
Thank you.
G. Tod
Subject: RE: Your "cause"...
Date: Sat, 20 Jan 2007 11:14:52 -0600
From: "Spurlock, Kathy" <KSPURLOCK2@monroe.gannett.com>
To: "George Slone" <todslone@yahoo.com>
Tod,
I don't have your original letter, the first one. Write what you want, send it
over. I'm weary, trying to get some project work done, fighting a bad cold and
not in the mood for debate today. Thanks, Kathy
Date: Sat, 20 Jan 2007 09:22:30 -0800 (PST)
From: "George Slone" <todslone@yahoo.com>
Subject: RE: Your "cause"...
To: "Spurlock, Kathy" <KSPURLOCK2@monroe.gannett.com>
The question is: will you accord me a column? If
so, what is the limit?
Thank you.
G. Tod
Subject: RE: Your "cause"...
Date: Sat, 20 Jan 2007 11:14:52 -0600
From: "Spurlock, Kathy" <KSPURLOCK2@monroe.gannett.com>
To: "George Slone" <todslone@yahoo.com>
Tod,
I don't have your original letter, the first one. Write what you want, send it
over. I'm weary, trying to get some project work done, fighting a bad cold and
not in the mood for debate today. Thanks, Kathy
Date: Sat, 20 Jan 2007 09:22:30 -0800 (PST)
From: "George Slone" <todslone@yahoo.com>
Subject: RE: Your "cause"...
To: "Spurlock, Kathy" <KSPURLOCK2@monroe.gannett.com>
The question is: will you accord me a column? If so, what is the limit?
Thank you.
G. Tod
Subject: RE: Your "cause"...
Date: Sat, 20 Jan 2007 11:24:19 -0600
From: "Spurlock, Kathy" <KSPURLOCK2@monroe.gannett.com>
To: "George Slone" <todslone@yahoo.com>
Guest columns are related to topics in the news. I
will be happy to take a look at a guest column from you. 500 words.
Date: Sat, 20 Jan 2007 11:01:28 -0800 (PST)
From: "George Slone" <todslone@yahoo.com>
Subject: RE: Your "cause"...
To: "Spurlock, Kathy" <KSPURLOCK2@monroe.gannett.com>
Would a rebuttal column to those 52 positive columns on ULM be a topic "in the
news"? If so I will begin writing the column which will include some of the
things state in my emails to you. I will include supporting evidence to my
assertions where possible. If not, please let me know.
Thank you.
G. Tod
Subject: RE: Your "cause"...
Date: Sat, 20 Jan 2007 13:18:46 -0600
From: "Spurlock, Kathy" <KSPURLOCK2@monroe.gannett.com>
To: "George Slone" <todslone@yahoo.com>
As I said, I'd be happy to take a look at it.
Thanks, Kathy
Date: Mon, 22 Jan 2007 09:13:48 -0800 (PST)
From: "George Slone" <todslone@yahoo.com>
Subject: RE: Your "cause"...
To: "Spurlock, Kathy" <KSPURLOCK2@monroe.gannett.com>
Hi Kathy,
Attached is the column I worked on this weekend. I am open to suggestion and
editing. If too long, I will cut. If there is a phrase in it that bothers you,
I will contemplate. If you do run it, please let me know. If not, perhaps you
will tell me why. Thank you for giving me this opportunity to write a column.
Sincerely,
G. Tod
Subject: RE: Your "cause"...
Date: Mon, 22 Jan 2007 11:32:08 -0600
From: "Spurlock, Kathy" <KSPURLOCK2@monroe.gannett.com>
To: "George Slone" <todslone@yahoo.com>
I don't understand the Turnrow reference.
Date: Mon, 22 Jan 2007 09:55:51 -0800 (PST)
From: "George Slone" <todslone@yahoo.com>
Subject: RE: Your "cause"...
To: "Spurlock, Kathy" <KSPURLOCK2@monroe.gannett.com>
Well, we could delete that if you like. I had been
in contact with Prof William Ryan, its editor, regarding a critique like the
column article. He rejected it.
Subject: RE: Your "cause"...
Date: Mon, 22 Jan 2007 12:07:21 -0600
From: "Spurlock, Kathy" <KSPURLOCK2@monroe.gannett.com>
To: "George Slone" <todslone@yahoo.com>
Oh. Might be a little to
insider-ish for general circulation readers.
I need a photo of you and a short (like one-sentence) bio, plus contact
information.
Date: Tue, 30 Jan 2007 08:29:31 -0800 (PST)
From: "George Slone" <todslone@yahoo.com>
Subject: Column
To: KSPURLOCK2@monroe.gannett.com
Many thanks for manifesting openness and allowing me
that column.
Sincerely,
G. Tod Slone
Subject: RE: Column
Date: Tue, 30 Jan 2007 10:37:57 -0600
From: "Spurlock, Kathy" <KSPURLOCK2@monroe.gannett.com>
To: "George Slone" <todslone@yahoo.com>
You're welcome.
The link to the column on the News-Star website was:
www.thenewsstar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070128/OPINION02/701280318/1014/OPINION.
But the article has since been removed from that site. The following are
the two responses to the op-ed also posted on that site, as well as my
responses.
1. Posted by: hha on Sun Jan 28, 2007 7:52 pm
My guess is that Dr. Stone has not a damn thing to
better his community. Dr. Stone, are you bitter for being where you are? Ivory
Tower not big enough? Too bad. Do what you have been trained, and hired, to do.
Perform scholarship and educate the community you live in. This does not include
lodging vitriolic, ad hominem attacks on a professor, who not only does not live
in your community, but also does even serve at your University. Dr. Knesel has
done more for the education and service to his community in one year, than you,
Dr. Stone, could summon throughout your cushy, tenured career. What a waste. It
is individuals like you, through a self-absorbed ego that is not warranted, that
give the profession of "professor" a bad name. It's too bad the community of
Grambling, and the students of GU, has to tolerate your presence.
Posted by: enmarge on Mon Jan 29, 2007 10:53 am
For Hha,
First, I am not tenured, nor will I ever be. That is my choice. I choose to
stand up and voice my opinion, as opposed to so many other professors who dare
not. And unlike you, I do not choose anonymity. Rather than demean any criticism
you do not like as vitriol and “self-absorbed,” why not try thinking a little
bit and opening your mind? Discussion and debate are the cornerstones of the
American democracy. Apparently, you are unaware of that? Thus, I educate you.
Best,
G. Tod Slone, Founding Editor
The American Dissident, A Literary Journal of Critical Thinking
In the Samizdat Tradition of Writing against the Machine
www.theamericandissident.org
1837 Main St.
Concord, MA 01742
2. Posted by: Armstrong on Sun Jan 28, 2007
11:36 am
Your comments on the importance of academics and
dissent are well-taken. However, you assume that "truth-telling" and
collegiality are mutually exclusive. This may be why other faculty are not on
your band wagon.
You also criticize faculty for being interested in developing their careers, and
seemingly, for needing to make a living. You're not going to get anywhere with
this. The average university faculty pay in La. is less than that of bus drivers
in Atlanta. For BESE teachers, it is less than that. People have to eat, their
children need shoes.
Have you considered a presentation of your arguments and ULM's Chautauqua Nexus?
This is an excellent forum under the direction of Dr. Magahan. You might get an
audience.
A couple of years ago I heard a Nexus presentation on "Zen and the Art of
Motorcycle Maintenance" by Robert Pirsig. One of the points was about Pirsig
writing about his faculty experience at a state university similar to one of
ours. Pirsig wrote:
"The school was what could euphemistically be called a "teaching college." At a
teaching college you teach and you teach and you teach with no time for
research, no time for contemplation, no time for participation in outside
affairs. Just teach and teach and teach until your mind grows dull and your
creativity vanishes and you become an automaton saying the same dull things over
and over to endless waves of innocent students who cannot understand why you are
so dull, lose respect and fan this disrespect out into the community. The reason
you teach and you teach and you teach is that this is a very clever way of
running a college on the cheap while giving a false appearance of genuine
education." The dissent that you call for is part of that genuine education, but
Louisiana's regional universities are not funded for that purpose. They are run
on the cheap.
Consider the paucity of response from our universities to the Ouachita Parish
School Board's recent proclaimation on teaching Creationism, or ID along side of
evolution. This is an issue that has not gone unnoticed at the national level,
it has been trumpeted on the Discovery Institute's website. It is an issue that
will likely bring additional unwanted attention to north Louisiana. A few
Biology professors at ULM mounted a defense, and we had a related column from
ULM's Philosophy professor, but we heard nothing from Grambling or La. Tech. It
would be very surprising if we were to hear some rebuttal from any president,
provost or VP for Academic Affairs. While their silence is probably an
abbrogation of their responsibilities, the pragmatics of the situation are easy
to understand.
While Pirsig's words speak accurately to the plight of the faculty, they also
speak to the environment of the administrations, which are so thinly staffed and
so badly funded, and so beset upon by the demands of reporting and
record-keeping and various other necessary facets of management that there is no
time for them to become involved in academic issues. For example, all of the
local universities had audit findings related to their inventories. They can’t
keep up with their stuff because they can’t afford to pay anyone to do it. This
is an embarrassment to the administrators. It is no wonder that the institutions
revert to a corporate model. There is no available alternative. Our local
universities (and all BESE schools) are badly underfunded, but just tell this to
the public at large, who are the ultimate source of funding via their taxes and
fees, and they will laugh in your face. Sales taxes are already among the
highest in the nation and La. State income taxes, at 8% are a burden. A repeal
of the homestead exemption would provide the funds to support education, but
without other tax relief, it’ll never happen.
Your idealism is laudable. You goals are lofty. But in the end, it is about
money, because money is inextricably linked to time, as Pirsig repeatedly notes.
Posted by: enmarge on Mon Jan 29, 2007 10:45 am
For Anderson,
Thanks much for your comments. Yes, my experience (20 years in higher ed in both
France and the USA) backs my assumption that truth-telling will more often than
not collide with collegiality… and that the large majority of academics will
choose the latter over the former when that occurs. Academics (and poets) should
and must be different (i.e., manifest the courage to truth tell) than the
employees of businesses. Yet they are not. Why should the citizenry look up to
them if in fact they are not different?
Well, I have heard the “poor” professor argument many times. I earn a
comfortable $40K per year at GSU and most (if not all!) of the professors at GSU
earn more than I do. But if a man wants to earn money, then let him choose
another profession. The university craves truth-telling professors (and poets),
not academics with monetary concerns. Indeed, let the latter become bus drivers
if they want to earn more money.
I shall look up Dr. Magahan, though would be surprised if he/she would prove
open to discussing my ideas and thoughts on the professorate. I did try this
with Dr. William Ryan, editor of ULM’s Turnrow, who wanted, it seemed to meet me
personally so he could punch me out physically. I am not joking here.
This is an excellent and albeit accurate description: “Just teach and teach and
teach until your mind grows dull and your creativity vanishes and you become an
automaton saying the same dull things over and over to endless waves of innocent
students who cannot understand why you are so dull, lose respect and fan this
disrespect out into the community.”
Regarding religion in the university, I wrote a tough article on prayer during
faculty meetings at GSU, a public institution, and published it in the
Gramblinite, the student newspaper. Not one professor or administrator
responded. Two students did.
More money will only make matters worse. It will serve to further stifle free
speech and expression in the university. It will further anchor faculty members
into the great academic herd.
Thanks again for your comments.
Sincerely,
G. Tod Slone, editor
The American Dissident
www.theamericandissident.org
todslone@yahoo.com
From: "MrFixit(Lonnie)"
<mrfixit@jam.rr.com>
To: todslone@yahoo.com
Subject: FW: Truth
Date: Wed, 31 Jan 2007 16:37:25 -0600
Here is another retired prof
who applauds you.
-----Original Message-----
From: Richard Fritsche [mailto:rfritsche@jam.rr.com]
Sent: Sunday, January 28, 2007 10:19 PM
To: MrFixit(Lonnie)
Subject: Re: Truth
The newspaper article in the
attachment contains more truth than my system is accustomed to handling. I say
"thumbs up" for professor Slone! And, "yes", I'd read 51 more such articles
with great pleasure. I read his article this morning with both surprise and
delight. I can hardly wait for the reaction.
Date: Sun, 25 Feb 2007 08:01:08 -0800 (PST)
From: "George Slone" <todslone@yahoo.com>
Subject: ULM et al
To: knesel@ulm.edu, "James Cofer" <cofer@exchsrv.ulm.edu>, "Deborah Cofer" <dcofer@exchsrv.ulm.edu>,
"Sara Palazzo" <palazzo@ulm.edu>, "Laura Harris" <lharris@ulm.edu>, "Holly
Casey" <casey@ulm.edu>, jsavage@jsu.edu, ryan@ulm.edu
Dear Professor Arthur Knesel,
Well, it took a lot of persistence and insistence to finally get the editor of
the News-Star to allow me to write one guest editorial. I hope you and your
colleagues read it, though have my doubts. (www.thenewsstar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/articleAID=/20070128/OPINION02/701280318/1014/OPINION).
As predicted in the last sentence, the interest in the article would be
essentially nil.
Sincerely,
Professor G. Tod Slone
Dept. of Foreign Languages
Grambling State University
P.O. Box 4235
REW Jones Drive
225 Woodson Hall
Grambling, LA 71245
[No response was ever received from Knesel or his
colleagues.]
ALL MATERIAL ON THIS SITE IS COPYRIGHT ©G. Tod
Slone, 2008, The American Dissident
www.theamericandissident.org.
