Clintonite tone-policing does not have much business in academia. I hope I'm not the only one who feels this way.
Being expected to enable and coddle dysfunctional reactions to confrontational rhetoric (reactions that themselves seem borne of a generalised disorder, highly-mediated by alienating technology but that we're never meant to question) is a deplorable outcome for any person who takes freedom of conscience seriously. To be subordinated to those whims is to bare witness to the imposition of abusive & fundamentally dehumanizing affectual hierarchies that must be vigilantly patrolled & regulated against transgressors, with only a diffuse moralism and the "consumer rights/customer satisfaction" of their "badic income units" (what a Canadian university refers to its undergrad students as) guiding it, a.k.a. neoliberal tripe, a barely-disguised cover to evacuate all the "troublesome old lefties" out and replace them with centrist mediocrity. On Mon, Apr 2, 2018, 10:23 Scott MacDonald, <[email protected]> wrote: > *Here is a message the MassArt president sent out recently:* > > Dear MassArt Faculty: > > We’re in the news, as many of you have seen and heard. Some of you have > reached out with questions and concerns, so I wanted to send a personal > note to all of you to unequivocally express where I stand on some important > issues. > > We all share the conviction that academic freedom and creative expression > are essential to the identity of MassArt. Academic freedom is your right as > faculty. One of my responsibilities as president is to help you preserve > it. Please know that I will always stand with you in defending academic > freedom in the classroom and in your research and creative activity. > > I believe we also understand that with freedom comes responsibility. We > have responsibility to our students and to our staff and faculty > colleagues. Among the most basic of those responsibilities is to respect > the dignity of every person and to engage with one another in a collegial > manner. These values are not incommensurate with one another. Freedom, > creativity, respect, collegiality exist together at MassArt. That’s the > kind of community that welcomed me, and that’s the kind of community I > intend to nurture and preserve. > > As a campus community aspiring to justice and equity, we grapple with > many difficult issues. We will continue to grapple with many difficult > issues. And as the university enterprise attests, answers are often not > easy. Your role as faculty, engaging difficult issues in your classrooms > and leading by example, is the heart of MassArt, and I thank you for your > dedication to students and student learning. > > While I am unable to discuss the particulars of personnel matters, let me > clarify that no faculty member has had their academic freedom abridged in a > disciplinary action, nor has anyone been forced to retire over matters of > academic freedom. Any reports to the contrary, in the media or on social > media, are untrue. > > Sincerely, > > David > > David P. Nelson, President > > *Reading between the lines, I suspect that what may be at issue is not so > much the films (of course, teaching film seriously is all about disturbance > and always has been and should be), but Saul's tendency to--I'm quoting D. > H. Lawrence--“Be still when you have nothing to say; when genuine passion > moves you, say what you've got to say, and say it hot.” Many of us who have > known Saul for awhile have become accustomed to his saying things hot > (something almost de rigueur for activists a generation ago), but it may be > upsetting now to colleagues (and perhaps students). It may mean differently > now.* > > *Scott* > > On Mon, Apr 2, 2018 at 9:59 AM, Scott Dorsey <[email protected]> wrote: > >> >> Wait a minute. Students took a class about art that was intended to be >> disturbing and then they got angry because it disturbed them? >> >> This is nothing. When I was in school, they made me take differential >> equations _in spite of my express complaints that it made me >> uncomfortable_ >> and refused to allow me to graduate until I had taken it. >> >> I thought being disturbed by things was what university was all about? >> --scott >> >> _______________________________________________ >> FrameWorks mailing list >> [email protected] >> https://mailman-mail5.webfaction.com/listinfo/frameworks >> > > _______________________________________________ > FrameWorks mailing list > [email protected] > https://mailman-mail5.webfaction.com/listinfo/frameworks >
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