Time of Need - USM Forum -- Message Board

Date: Aug 29, 2005

Time of Need

Date: Sep 4, 2005

You're right ,everyone on that list has played a significant role in our recovery.

Date: Sep 4, 2005

Except for college professors. They whine about no power and run off to far away states instead of staying and pitching in. It's little wonder why the community has no use for us.

Date: Sep 4, 2005

I just came from a POD (point of distribution) at University Baptist Church on Arlington Loop in Hattiesburg where there are plenty of faculty standing in the sun helping to load ice, water, food, diapers and clothes into the cars of folks from all around the area. By the way, there are also students, car dealers, missionaries from Georgia, lawyers, and lots of other good folks doing the same.

Talonical, if you want to go over and help unload 18 wheelers full of supplies, I'm sure you would be welcome. What they really need is someone to help with crowd control. Anyone with security experience would be a special help.

Thanks.

Date: Sep 4, 2005

Thanks, ram, for reminding us that everyone can do their part, regardless of profession.

Truth

Date: Sep 4, 2005

Talonical:

I will have you know that my husband, who is a faculity professor at USM and currently teaching out of state, spent the entire week gathering supplies here in AL and brought them down to hurricane victims in our hometown of Hattiesburg because he knew there were people suffering. He spent days in the hot sun along with my father helping people cut down trees and distributing supplies to people in need and then the very next day took off for the same mission in LA. He went into the "war zone" even though we are safe and comfortable in AL with A/C and food.

I don't want to hear another word about whining faculty members from you EVER again because you don't know the half of what they do from day to day. My husband is not alone on this task. I have heard of so many out of town faculty pitching in to help in what ever way they can as well as faculty who are sticking out the heat in Hattiesburg along with everyone else. Get your facts straight. If you have a particular person you are complaing about then complain about them, DO NOT bunch the entire faculty as a whole because you are wrong!!!!!

Date: Sep 4, 2005

Jill wrote:

I don't want to hear another word about whining faculty members from you EVER again because you don't know the half of what they do from day to day. My husband is not alone on this task. I have heard of so many out of town faculty pitching in to help in what ever way they can as well as faculty who are sticking out the heat in Hattiesburg along with everyone else. Get your facts straight. If you have a particular person you are complaing about then complain about them, DO NOT bunch the entire faculty as a whole because you are wrong!!!!!

Go, Jill! Thrash this self-righteous thug. I remained in the 'Burg throughout the storm and for all the waterless, powerless days since. I am looking at my window darkened by the wreckage left of my house. But, since I am mobile, and have resources, I have spent most of my time trying to help others. I shouldn't have to point this out to anyone--it is only what is decent and expected--but this vacuous moron Talonical needs to have things spelled out for him. No wonder making progress is so difficult--we spend so much time trying to counter disinformation from retrograde sources like this one.

Date: Sep 4, 2005

Voter wrote:

Jill wrote:

I don't want to hear another word about whining faculty members from you EVER again because you don't know the half of what they do from day to day. My husband is not alone on this task. I have heard of so many out of town faculty pitching in to help in what ever way they can as well as faculty who are sticking out the heat in Hattiesburg along with everyone else. Get your facts straight. If you have a particular person you are complaing about then complain about them, DO NOT bunch the entire faculty as a whole because you are wrong!!!!!

&nb

Go, Jill! Thrash this self-righteous thug. I remained in the 'Burg throughout the storm and for all the waterless, powerless days since. I am looking at my window darkened by the wreckage left of my house. But, since I am mobile, and have resources, I have spent most of my time trying to help others. I shouldn't have to point this out to anyone--it is only what is decent and expected--but this vacuous moron Talonical needs to have things spelled out for him. No wonder making progress is so difficult--we spend so much time trying to counter disinformation from retrograde sources like this one.

Don't feed the trolls

Date: Sep 4, 2005

Jill,

Your nice little story doesn't erase the whining by others here. Bravo for your husband. He did a good thing. Your husband's coworkers who don't want to start back school because of "no power" are showing their true colors: gold (as in gold diggers).

I know what professors do from days to day, and I know enough not to call a faculty member a faculty professor. Your husband is a professor. He is a faculty member. Your use of the phrase faculty professor calls your credibility into question.

Date: Sep 4, 2005

Talonical,

My wife made a typo in her response to you. That does not call her credibility into question. If you wish I can rip apart your post for writing errors -- please learn to use commas. What do you mean by "days to day"? If all you have to use in response to her post is questioning a typo -- well your case must be rather weak. Or you must be rather stupid. Your choice.

Date: Sep 4, 2005

One chair saw fit on the Sunday before the storm to fire off a series of emails to "her" people placing demands on them for the following week (meetings etc.). She obviously doesn't get the weather channel or watch CNN. Guess she's a real worker, that one. I couldn't for the life of me figure out how our colleagues on the Coast were going to begin to make the meetings. As it turns out, neither could we. I'm hanging onto emails - hope everyone else does too.

Date: Sep 4, 2005

I'm all for free speech, but this Talonical character is being just plain abusive to good people.

If you have a way to track his IP address and block it, I'd be happy to see that.

Date: Sep 4, 2005

Andy wrote:

Talonical,
My wife made a typo in her response to you. That does not call her credibility into question. If you wish I can rip apart your post for writing errors -- please learn to use commas. What do you mean by "days to day"? If all you have to use in response to her post is questioning a typo -- well your case must be rather weak. Or you must be rather stupid. Your choice.

Her mistake was not a typo in the same sense as mine. I've made my points in other threads and on this one. Too much whining about having to go back to work. Crofts supports reopening. You supported Crofts and held him up as your savior against Thames. Now he supports Thames' decision. Must sting a little to know that Thames has the ability to make a good decision.

Date: Sep 4, 2005

Talonical wrote:

Too much whining about having to go back to work.

Mr. T-

I have been in touch with quite a few faculty in my unit via e-mail and phone, and we have been working--trying to figure out a time this week to meet and deal with displaced students, dealing with destroyed internship and placement sites, re-adjusting syllabi, and a whole bunch of other issues. This activity is happening in between the hurricane related activities that must be dealt with in a timely manner. All faculty I know are anxious to get back to work and experience a little degree of normalcy in their lives. Opening the university as soon as possible to our work activities is important for a variety of reasons. However, Katrina wasn't a minor interruption. It is for many a life changing experience, whose psychological, social, economic, and health effects will be fully understood only with the passage of time. It will clearly have an effect on students and our classroom activities and discussions this year, no less than 9/11. The university leaders must at some point acknowledge and respond to this reality.

In addition to being a faculty member, I have a daughter who is now a senior at USM. She is so frustrated with the university's information flow and response to Katrina that she is considering finishing her last year elsewhere. Maybe she is "whining." Another way to look at it is that she is a customer who is considering taking her tuition money to Rutgers.

Date: Sep 4, 2005

Talonical, my boy, you need to remember your humanity, for you have surely forgotten yours.

On the broader point of campus reopening: we need to remember that many, many students will not be there that first week and maybe after that and we, as faculty, will gladly work with them to get them through this semester. I think the few faculty who have posted to this thread are just saying that they would like a little of the same consideration. If that is a crime or being "whiny" and "lazy" then so be it. Fairness is a basic American value in the United States that I was raised in.

Talonical wrote:

Her mistake was not a typo in the same sense as mine. I've made my points in other threads and on this one. Too much whining about having to go back to work. Crofts supports reopening. You supported Crofts and held him up as your savior against Thames. Now he supports Thames' decision. Must sting a little to know that Thames has the ability to make a good decision.

Date: Sep 4, 2005

Mitch wrote:

Talonical wrote:
Too much whining about having to go back to work.

Mr. T-
I have been in touch with quite a few faculty in my unit via e-mail and phone, and we have been working--trying to figure out a time this week to meet and deal with displaced students, dealing with destroyed internship and placement sites, re-adjusting syllabi, and a whole bunch of other issues. This activity is happening in between the hurricane related activities that must be dealt with in a timely manner. All faculty I know are anxious to get back to work and experience a little degree of normalcy in their lives. Opening the university as soon as possible to our work activities is important for a variety of reasons. However, Katrina wasn't a minor interruption. It is for many a life changing experience, whose psychological, social, economic, and health effects will be fully understood only with the passage of time. It will clearly have an effect on students and our classroom activities and discussions this year, no less than 9/11. The university leaders must at some point acknowledge and respond to this reality.
In addition to being a faculty member, I have a daughter who is now a senior at USM. She is so frustrated with the university's information flow and response to Katrina that she is considering finishing her last year elsewhere. Maybe she is "whining." Another way to look at it is that she is a customer who is considering taking her tuition money to Rutgers.

Sorry, Mitch, but your daughter is NOT a customer of USM. USM's customers are the State of Mississippi and its component concerns, such as the education community and the business community as well as the rest of the population our students will serve. Your daughter is a product that we turn out to meet the needs of our customers.

Your view of the student as customer is what Thames has been pushing all along. That's why we have "Customer Service" hotlines. That's why zone parking isn't enforced. That's why "retention" is such an issue.

Our job is to educate the youth of Mississippi so that they can make Mississippi a better place. It's not to give the student what they want because they say so. We, the educators, know to what standard we should hold our students to make them the best members of society possible.

The student as customer is the line of thinking that has led to USM's downfall.

Date: Sep 4, 2005

Mitch,

Sorry for the harshness of my last post. I'm just more than a little irked with the "soft" attitude I perceived when this discussion began. I'm glad to hear that your faculty are ready to go back to work. Return to normalcy and routine is what we all need. I have adjusted my syllabi mentally and will do so formally as soon as I get access to my files.

Date: Sep 5, 2005

Note to webmaster wrote:

I'm all for free speech, but this Talonical character is being just plain abusive to good people.

If you have a way to track his IP address and block it, I'd be happy to see that.

Looks like Talonical softened up a bit further down thread. He's on notice, so take heed, friend T.

WM

Date: Sep 5, 2005

Web Master wrote:

Note to webmaster wrote:
I'm all for free speech, but this Talonical character is being just plain abusive to good people.

If you have a way to track his IP address and block it, I'd be happy to see that.

Looks like Talonical softened up a bit further down thread. He's on notice, so take heed, friend T.

WM

Yes, and there's only room for ONE Queen of Grammar around here, Mr. T., so back off!

Queen OG

Date: Sep 5, 2005

Obviously,the owner of this board or his designated webmaster can block or delete anything they wish. You should first remove your pious statements about free speech. The comments against Thames and his supporters have bee many times more abusive,personal,and virulent than the ones posted above.If I have one main objection to the USM faculty,it is their hypocrisy. If you don't think the comments against Thames,Lawrence Warren,Roy Klumb,etc. have been much worse than the ones above ,you've been reading a different website than me.

Date: Sep 5, 2005

Talonical wrote:

Mitch, Sorry for the harshness of my last post. I'm just more than a little irked with the "soft" attitude I perceived when this discussion began. I'm glad to hear that your faculty are ready to go back to work. Return to normalcy and routine is what we all need. I have adjusted my syllabi mentally and will do so formally as soon as I get access to my files.

No apology needed. My "customer" metaphor was tongue in cheek--those who know me know that I believe it to be a faulty and non-productive way to view a university.

We have all been occupied, directly and indirectly, by one of the greatest catastrophes of our time. I mentioned to my family that even our cats now have PTSD (actually Acute Stress Disorder because they seem to be recovering rapidly). The lucidity and usefulness of many of the posts on this board in a moment of great stress has been impressive. Thank you all.

Date: Sep 5, 2005

Independent Observer wrote:

Obviously,the owner of this board or his designated webmaster can block or delete anything they wish. You should first remove your pious statements about free speech. The comments against Thames and his supporters have bee many times more abusive,personal,and virulent than the ones posted above.If I have one main objection to the USM faculty,it is their hypocrisy. If you don't think the comments against Thames,Lawrence Warren,Roy Klumb,etc. have been much worse than the ones above ,you've been reading a different website than me.

Go start your own message board if you don't like how this one is run.

Date: Sep 5, 2005

Independent Observer wrote:

Obviously,the owner of this board or his designated webmaster can block or delete anything they wish. You should first remove your pious statements about free speech. The comments against Thames and his supporters have bee many times more abusive,personal,and virulent than the ones posted above.If I have one main objection to the USM faculty,it is their hypocrisy. If you don't think the comments against Thames,Lawrence Warren,Roy Klumb,etc. have been much worse than the ones above ,you've been reading a different website than me.

I don't know about LW, but Shelby and Roy have earned whatever harsh criticisms they've received. Now, though, is probably not the time for a full discussion of this.

Date: Sep 5, 2005

Just an opinion wrote:

Independent Observer wrote:
Obviously,the owner of this board or his designated webmaster can block or delete anything they wish. You should first remove your pious statements about free speech. The comments against Thames and his supporters have bee many times more abusive,personal,and virulent than the ones posted above.If I have one main objection to the USM faculty,it is their hypocrisy. If you don't think the comments against Thames,Lawrence Warren,Roy Klumb,etc. have been much worse than the ones above ,you've been reading a different website than me.
I don't know about LW, but Shelby and Roy have earned whatever harsh criticisms they've received. Now, though, is probably not the time for a full discussion of this.

I agree with you on their performance.However that doesn't address the issue of free speech. If you delete comments you don't agree with and also have a stated policy advocating free speech that is hypocrisy.The comment of "whatever" is so juvenile that it defies logic.If he is part of the USM faculty,it is a very poor reflection on the school In summary ,if you want free speech,don't delete comments that you disagree wih.

Date: Sep 5, 2005

Begging to differ, but the owner/webmaster is well within his or her rights to delete commentary that falls into the area of abusive. That does nothing to abridge the first amendment rights of the poster whose post is deleted. Indeed, he or she is free to start their own message board and spout whatever he or she wants to.

In a sense, this board would fall more under free press. And that, whether you like it or not, belongs to the person with the ink. Talonical and others can say what they want. Whether they can get a newspaper to print it, CNN to cover it or the webmaster of this board not to censor it is another matter entirely.

Free speech is not an unlimited right.

Date: Sep 5, 2005

Judge Roberts' Risk Manager wrote:

Begging to differ, but the owner/webmaster is well within his or her rights to delete commentary that falls into the area of abusive. That does nothing to abridge the first amendment rights of the poster whose post is deleted. Indeed, he or she is free to start their own message board and spout whatever he or she wants to.

In a sense, this board would fall more under free press. And that, whether you like it or not, belongs to the person with the ink. Talonical and others can say what they want. Whether they can get a newspaper to print it, CNN to cover it or the webmaster of this board not to censor it is another matter entirely.

Free speech is not an unlimited right.

If you censure only "abusive" commentary that you disagree with and do not censure "abusive" commentary you agree with this is not free press. Any reasonable person would say that the comments about Thames,Klumb,etc have been much more "abusive" than those of Talonical. It is at best an uneven application of freedom of the press and is another reason why USM professors are held in low esteem. By the way, many of the anti Thames comments I am in complete agreement with

Date: Sep 5, 2005

You failed to address the ownership of the message board. This message board was set up for a specific purpose and, even though the public has access to it both to read and to post, that purpose should govern.

Clearly there are people here who disagree with the focus of this board and/or the politics of many of its posters. To the extent that such discourse and disagreement is conducted reasonably, the webmaster has largely left the posting alone. It should also be noted that he has deleted posts from both those supportive of the President/Governor and those opposed to them.

So far as I can see, the only posts that have been removed are those that are abusive in nature on both sides of any given issue. I maintain that no breach of the first amendment has occurred. In any event, the owner/webmaster of the board has the right to publish what they see fit. If that makes it a "liberal rag," or a "conservative rag," that's the way the world works.

Date: Sep 5, 2005

Independent Observer wrote:

If you censure only "abusive" commentary that you disagree with and do not censure "abusive" commentary you agree with this is not free press.

No, this is not the free press. This is an independently-run MESSAGE BOARD. See the difference? Again, if you have a problem with the way this message board is run, please feel free to start your own. "Whatever" is not a faculty member nor is he even a "he." But, "she" approved this message.

Date: Sep 5, 2005

Judge Roberts' Risk Manager wrote:

You failed to address the ownership of the message board. This message board was set up for a specific purpose and, even though the public has access to it both to read and to post, that purpose should govern.

Clearly there are people here who disagree with the focus of this board and/or the politics of many of its posters. To the extent that such discourse and disagreement is conducted reasonably, the webmaster has largely left the posting alone. It should also be noted that he has deleted posts from both those supportive of the President/Governor and those opposed to them.

So far as I can see, the only posts that have been removed are those that are abusive in nature on both sides of any given issue. I maintain that no breach of the first amendment has occurred. In any event, the owner/webmaster of the board has the right to publish what they see fit. If that makes it a "liberal rag," or a "conservative rag," that's the way the world works.

You are incorrect on two points. First,,mainly comments anti-USM faculty are removed. Second,this board must give fair and equal access to all sides regardless of the ownership or it violates its stated policy of free speech.If it wants to selectively censure one side,it has every right to. It should simply remove the hypocritcal free speech statement at the top of the board. Please cite specific instances of anti Thames postings that have been deleted..because of "abusive" language.

Date: Sep 5, 2005

IO, please go clean up your yard or volunteer to hand out supplies or some other worthy cause (if you are in MS. If you are not, then please spend your time writing checks to relief organizations or collecting supplies to send). This is the silliest thing to be worried about at a time like this. Jeez.