The original Why We Fight site with audio clips from March/April 2004 is still on-line. "C" remains one of the most chilling comments I've ever heard.
With the unprecedented faculty convocation of March 10, 2004, on my mind this week, I've also posted the speeches from that evening: site 1, site 2, site 3.
It was March 5, 2004. Two years ago. The day that changed our lives. We should have had some sort of memorial to our fallen breathern/sisters.
I strongly urge that those who were not here in March of 2004 listen to those speeches very closely in order to more fully understand what has transpired. Those audio-clips are powerful enough to turn the head of even a troll.
This site is going down. Can you preserve it for the future?
The sites may go over Geocities' hourly bandwidth limit from time to time, but the sites aren't going away. If there's a need for more mirror sites, let me know.
I took the time to listen to the first 4 audio clips. I hope to get around to the rest sometime later. I want to thank you for posting this information. While I understand that there are two sides to every story (trying to be objective), it is clear that SFT mishandled this situation as well as practically every other situation of magnitude in his administration. I feel even more sympathy for Drs. Glamser and Stringer after hearing their words and the words of their colleagues. I guess the point I'd like to communicate with this post is that while I disagree with the negative attitudes toward USM and Mississippi that many on this board seem to harbor, I have a better understanding now. Perhaps I would be of the same attitude if I were in your shoes. USM used to be a very good institution with a bright future. Today? Well, as an alumnus of USM who is now in academe, I hate to admit that I would not consider taking a position there for quite some time. So, perhaps I have been a little hypocritical in the past.
A side note: Dr. McMillen is the only speaker of those posted on the board that I had for a professor as an undergraduate at USM. It brought back some interesting memories. He taught my HIST 102 class in 1987. On the first day of class, he scared the bejezus out of the class by telling us that many of us did not belong at a 4 year college and that his class would weed us out. He undoubtedly had tenure at the time and/or didn't care about student evaluations
He was right. It was a difficult class, but he was very engaging and I learned a great deal. He was a great professor and that clip reminded me why. His standards were extremely high. He got my attention and I became a better student as a result.
“No great university wages war on its faculty. No world-class university uses fear as an instrument of leadership.”
Thanks WWF for maintaing the site. I am always deeply moved by Noel Polk's emphasis on how the mess affected the students, saying "They will never forget what we thought was worth fighting for."