A Sense of Civility in 06 - USM Forum -- Message Board

Date: Dec 29, 2005

A Sense of Civility in 06

Date: Dec 29, 2005

So you mean we will continue to wage war--but it will be a civil war? Fine by me.

Date: Dec 29, 2005

"With reasonable men I will reason . . ."

One does try to be civil, but one is most distressed at times, and it is difficult.

Do not forget, cher ami,

C'est la guerre.

Date: Dec 29, 2005

Yes it is war, however, far too often the war spills over into faculty bashing other faculty. That will get us nowhere.

Date: Dec 29, 2005

Ripper wrote:

Yes it is war, however, far too often the war spills over into faculty bashing other faculty. That will get us nowhere.

Unfortunately there are still many "faculty" who do the will of Thames with a willing heart. There are also administrators and faculty who have no allegience to the noble cause and are using the guise of "academic freedom" and "shared governance" to further their own causes. These faculty and administrators should be publicly horsewhipped, shot, and then drawn and quartered. Since we are prohibited from these actions, it is proper and necessary that these individuals be derided, exposed, and humiliated whenever and wherever their agendas surface.

Too few have heeded my post from long ago. The "war" is not over. Further, this is not a "civil" war. This is a street fight. Minimal rules apply, and no weapons have been excluded. I find that wringing hands over harsh words to wormtongued administrators and other faculty who have hidden agendas is unacceptable.

Flame if you wish. Remember, however, that the only thing keeping these vile individuals at bay is the fear of Thames' wrath. He is far from a lame duck. What will happen to CoAL when Thames is gone and Pood remains? How will he reward those who have publicly opposed him? What about the CoB? The CoH? The others?

For the body to die, one must cut off the head...not just give it a headache.

Date: Dec 29, 2005

GWSA, you're assuming Pood et. al. will remain in place once Thames is gone. I give them about 15 minutes under any half-way decent president. At least they'll have a chance to move out of their offices and shake hands with people (if any will) which is more than G & S got.

Date: Dec 29, 2005

. . . which is more than G & S got.

Date: Dec 29, 2005

The next president will be told to keep the existing deans. Rationale: it will improve stability. Outcome: faculty will be screwed worse by the emboldened deans than by SFT.

Date: Dec 29, 2005

My intent with my original post on this thread was that "we" honest and legitmate posters be civil with each other. We are all in this game together.

I agree that the war is not over, and some parts of it may not need to be civil.

Again, those of us that need to be civil to each other should be civil. We owe no allegiance to others that have not been civil to us.

Date: Dec 29, 2005

To reply to the concern of "Dear Poster", I would hold that most of the long-term participants here do exercise civility, and tend to respect the differences of opinion. However, the 'civility quotient' does indeed decrease as a result of the recurrent activity of the trolls, whose entire "raison d'etre" is to stir up controversy and then disappear, thus lowering the communication by their flame-baiting.

On a parallel thread, I'm afraid that "Sansabelt" is correct:

The next president will be told to keep the existing deans. Rationale: it will improve stability. Outcome: faculty will be screwed worse by the emboldened deans than by SFT.

The 'alternate rationale' will be that "the current Deans are the only 'institutional knowledge' remaining on campus", or else it will be more of the same old tired rhetoric that "faculty are hired to teach, and know nothing about administration."

Of course, this ad hominem argument ignores the concept that administrators usually arise from the ranks of 'senior faculty' -- unless you count the current Deans who came from assistant professor directly to junior administrator status, and who would be extremely 'under-qualified' if forced to return to the faculty.

Date: Dec 29, 2005

Sure, civility in '06. I can dig it.

But that means I have about 50 hours to go. So...

Thanks, I needed that!