D:F/M sobriety was also blown away when it became known that D:F/M was not represented on the AAC Committee that had been formed.

As apprehension  increased, the Uh-Duh became apparent when it was brought to the attention of the most outspoken (about what they considered a slight and an insult to D:F/M) that invitations to join the committee had been sent to all departments and full-time faculty.  Those grumblers, it had become clear, had ignored or had somehow were rendered oblivious to their email invitations.

Exasperation, incredulity and pique were directed at Meyers-Kingsley who deflected them well. QMfE: “I was warned about how some faculty would respond.” That produced a smirk from some of the crowd and she eventually exited stage right. [She should be happy that the Hunter College PSC Chapter Chair didn't whip out her teenie-weenie video camera and record MK as she was leaving.]

Nevertheless, there was still time for more shock: The new curriculum, which I have often described as the Antediluvian Curriculum, and which my Colleagues had been promoting as the best thing since the  Ford Model-T [academic equivalent, thereof ], and probably as old, was more than likely to be scuttled because of plans by CUNY administration to institute Pathways.

For several minutes before the end of the meeting, there were discussions and considertionsalong the lines of insurrection, civil disobedience, etcetera.

The Uh-Duh was strong.

[Soon to be a Major Motion Picture — ]

Also, posted on Hunter-L

Attention D:F/M Colleagues Tami Gold***Ricardo Miranda***Bernard Stein***Kelly Anderson***Isabel Pinedo***Tim Portlock

OCCUPY D:F/M, Part 2
A Public Service Announcement 

As a result of Hunter Alumnus Jed Brandt – of Envoy & SLAM Ill Repute – being identified as one of the co-founders of the OCCUPY Newspaper, this came to mind: Colleagues proselytizing students to join the Z-Revolution should remind them to beware of nefarious, opportunistic, carpetbagging, ersatz Freedom Fighters posing as liberals, super-liberals and super-super-cool-liberal-radical-whatevers.

We don’t want our students exploited and mislead? We want them informed, right? Ersatz Freedom Fighters are worse than Barnacles. Would you not agree? I am considering a Beware List for students in my classes. How about you? Yet, I stand prepared to join you in a Zuccotti Tribute after we:

OCCUPY D:F/M and end the tyranny. End the flimflamming. Stop The Comatose Journalism – Comatose Media Studies Movement (TCJ-CMSM). Spare the department increasing dollops of ignominy. Provide students The Skinny they so rightfully deserve since they have to pay increasing tuition and we don’t want to stand accused of phony promises that D:F/M can’t deliver the goods, so to speak, that students need to compete for the best internships and grad schools.

 Remember: True Democracy Begins at Home. OCCUPY D:F/M

G Morris
D:F/M

— “Need to Know the Skinny” and “True Liberation Begins at Home” and “The Bard Had It Wrong,  But We Can Get It Right: Out with the Barnacles” posters and T-shirts could be soon in the making.

Writer’s Note: This post contains minor corrections and slight changes not included in the original post on Hunter-L.

[Soon to be a Major Motion Picture — ]

The following screed was posted on Hunter-L, a Hunter College listserv, in response to a petition posted to support OCCUPY WALL STREET. Hunter-L is used by faculty and students and staff for disseminating information and has a long history of turbulence and relevance . The petition  can be found much further down in this blog.

 >
>Democracy only can flourish if all voices are both heard and heeded …”
>

Attention D:F/M Colleagues Tami Gold***Ricardo Miranda***Bernard Stein***Kelly Anderson***Isabel Pinedo***Tim Portlock.

OCCUPY D:F/M! Part 1

A Public Service Announcement

 Yes, liberate America from those voraciously greedy, ravenously anti-Democratic, money-grabbing financiers but True Democracy begins at home. Would you not agree? For example: Who was the SlumDogVigilante who ripped down the students’ Klemente Soto Velez posters last year? Should other students be concerned about SDV stalking their projects?

OCCUPY D:F/M can address these other daunting, haunting issues as well: The cancelling last year of the Klemente Soto Velez Screening because of “hurtful” emails? Where was the Democracy in that decision? Are there more “hurtful” emails in the works? Colleagues still trying to enforce a no-flunk policy on non-tenured Colleagues: Adjuncts be wary? Allegations of Grade Appeal decisions so despicable that they can’t be posted on this listserv? There have been some lulus, right? The D:F/M Academic Freedom Mavens should have been all over this, right?

Nevertheless, together, we can address: The skeletons rattling in the closet. The ones beating on the door to get in? Should some Colleagues be concerned about their public personas going the way of the Dodo?

God(s) forbid!

Democracy begins at home. OCCUPY D:F/M! Bring Democracy home.

End Part 1.

G Morris
D:F/M

October. 24, 2011

STATEMENT BY FACULTY MEMBERS OF HUNTER COLLEGE, CUNY,
IN SUPPORT OF THE OCCUPY WALL STREET MOVEMENT

We, the undersigned faculty and staff of Hunter College of the City University of New York, express our support as professionals and citizens for the protest movement, “Occupy Wall Street.” We see it as a new, creative awakening about the need for social justice that reflects the best traditions of American democracy and resonates with democratic protests across the globe.

This movement emerged in response to the continuing economic crisis in our country and much of the world, starting with “the economic meltdown” of September 2008.  When that crisis occurred, our governmental leaders told us that the livelihoods of all Americans were threatened if we did not respond immediately with massive taxpayer support for our country’s biggest financial institutions.  They were “too big to fail.”  Since then, the endangered big banks have recovered; corporate profits have skyrocketed; executive bonuses continue unabated; thousands of small banks have been forced out of business, and millions of Americans have been put out of work.  Yet the response by our elected leaders to the many Americans who have suffered because of the irresponsible and dangerous behavior of a few has been meager.  Since 2008, thousands of families have had their homes taken from them; students are increasingly burdened by colossal debt to pay for their college education; New York State’s governor remains intent on lowering taxes for the richest New Yorkers while cutting back on education and health care, and economic inequality has reached its greatest heights in this country since the Great Depression.  These economic and political phenomena evidence a continuing policy that regards most Americans as “too little to help.”

Democracy only can flourish if all voices are both heard and heeded and if the political order is understood.  The Occupy Wall Street movement has given voice to citizens from across the political spectrum that have been neither heard nor heeded; it has shed light on the way in which the economic and political system in our country unfairly, but really, works.  In this vein, it honors free speech, intellectual inquiry, and human well-being.  It also has found common ground with economically and politically disenfranchised persons throughout Europe, the Middle East, Latin America, Africa, Asia, and Australia–all protesting corrosive inequalities.

As civic intellectuals and professors at a great public university, we hereby declare our support for this important movement.  In so doing, we join our colleagues in colleges and universities across the nation and the world.  May it grow.

SIGNATORIES

John R. Wallach (Political Science/Human Rights)
Ros Petchesky (Political Science/Women & Gender Studies)
Tami Gold (Film & Media Studies)
Bernard Stein (Journalism, Film & Media Studies)
(continued)
Gregory Johnson (Anthropology)
Isabel Pinedo (Film & Media Studies)
Rupal Oza (Director, Women & Gender Studies)
Diana Conchado (Spanish, Romance Languages)
Ricardo Miranda
Sarah E. Chinn (English)
Tim Portlock
Cheryl Harding
Kelly Anderson

The Usual Suspects

True Liberation Begins at Home: A reminder to my Colleagues after several of their names appeared in a petition being circulated on Hunter-L, a principal Hunter College listserv, in support of OCCUPY WALL STREET. A copy of the petition is just below this note included in an Hunter-L post response about the petition:

As a result of Jed Brandt – of Envoy & SLAM Infamy – being identified as one of the co-founders of the OCCUPY Newspaper, this came to mind: There are Colleagues who like to proselytize, and are already exhorting students to join the Z-Revolution, thus, we need to remind students to beware of nefariously opportunistic, carpetbagging ersatz Freedom Fighters (posing as liberals, super-liberals and super-super-liberals) who will exploit and mislead them (the way that SLAM did many Students of Color on this campus).

STATEMENT BY FACULTY MEMBERS OF HUNTER COLLEGE, CUNY, IN SUPPORT OF THE OCCUPY WALL STREET MOVEMENT

We, the undersigned faculty and staff of Hunter College of the City University of New York, express our support as professionals and citizens for the protest movement, “Occupy Wall Street.” We see it as a new, creative awakening about the need for social justice that reflects the best traditions of American democracy and resonates with democratic protests across the globe.

This movement emerged in response to the continuing economic crisis in our country and much of the world, starting with “the economic meltdown” of September 2008. When that crisis occurred, our governmental leaders told us that the livelihoods of all Americans were threatened if we did not respond immediately with massive taxpayer support for our country’s biggest financial institutions. They were “too big to fail.” Since then, the endangered big banks have recovered; corporate profits have skyrocketed; executive bonuses continue unabated; thousands of small banks have been forced out of business, and millions of Americans have been put out of work. Yet the response by our elected leaders to the many Americans who have suffered because of the irresponsible and dangerous behavior of a few has been meager. Since 2008, thousands of families have had their homes taken from them; students are increasingly burdened by colossal debt to pay for their college education; New York State’s governor remains intent on lowering taxes for the richest New Yorkers while cutting back on education and health care, and economic inequality has reached its greatest heights in this country since the Great Depression. These economic and political phenomena evidence a continuing policy that regards most Americans as “too little to help.”

Democracy only can flourish if all voices are both heard and heeded and if the political order is understood. The Occupy Wall Street movement has given voice to citizens from across the political spectrum that have been neither heard nor heeded; it has shed light on the way in which the economic and political system in our country unfairly, but really, works. In this vein, it honors free speech, intellectual inquiry, and human well-being. It also has found common ground with economically and politically disenfranchised persons throughout Europe, the Middle East, Latin America, Africa, Asia, and Australia–all protesting corrosive inequalities.

As civic intellectuals and professors at a great public university, we hereby declare our support for this important movement. In so doing, we join our colleagues in colleges and universities across the nation and the world. May it grow.

SIGNATORIES

John R. Wallach (Political Science/Human Rights)
Ros Petchesky (Political Science/Women & Gender Studies)
Tami Gold (Film & Media Studies)
Bernard Stein (Journalism, Film & Media Studies)
(continued)
Gregory Johnson (Anthropology)
Isabel Pinedo (Film & Media Studies)
Rupal Oza (Director, Women & Gender Studies)
Diana Conchado (Spanish, Romance Languages)
Ricardo Miranda
Sarah E. Chinn (English)
Tim Portlock
Cheryl Harding
Kelly Anderson

There be phonies among the SINATORIES. Guess which ones?

More later.

The Usual Suspects

More to come, obviously.

This is an introduction of sorts to a six-part series. A few years ago, I invited the New York Time’s first Ombudsman to my journalism ethics/responsibility class. That position, now occupied by Clark Hoyt, is primarily known now as the New York Times Public Editor. I’m speculating that the presence of a Public Editor is more preferable to Ombudsman which sounds akin to a lawman enforcing the law in a lawless community (at least, that’s how I imagine the NYT natives perceive the position when it was announced in the wake of the Jason Blair scandal and other journalistic ignominies which didn’t get as much attention but contributed to marring the public image of the Times).

Nevertheless, I was pleasantly surprised that Okrent accepted the offer, though it needs to be pointed out that there are a lot of high profile personalities and professionals who relish guest lecturing at Hunter, if asked, because of the College’s reputation for being a stellar higher ed institution. The invitation was extended even before the adulation in recent years about Hunter, the most ethnically diverse four-year college in the CUNY system, being a gem of an affordable public higher ed institution.

I did a two-day prep of the ethics/responsibility class: I wanted to make sure the students looked good and, of course, that the instructor looked good and the class was told, in so many words, that this impending moment should be regarded with pride for them (and I ignored the spectre of the D:F/M Hogoblin). I eventually announced Okrent’s scheduled Guest Lecture on the Hunter-L listserv (it was a boast as well as an attempt to prove a point) and wrote something like, QMfE, “It’s first come, first serve for visitors.”

One or two Hunter-L subscribers showed up. They would like the affair. I wouldn’t.

Okrent walked from his New York Times office (then on 43rd Street 7th Avenue then) and strolled into Hunter North 504 one afternoon. He looked professorial and was casually dressed. I introduced him. The class began. He was stellar before, during and after the class and clearly indicated that he was impressed with the students and pleased that he was invited. For me, the PUSHBACK was obvious but passively aggressive, the class insipidly lame, the students poorly prepared (and clearly exhibiting those signs of academic fatigue by not asking questions in general, looking bored with the one or two who did try to engage in a class discussion and other stuff that made me feel embarrassed for them as well as me. But Okrent would have nothing to do with that.).

And after the lameness swept over me, I had this thought: This will never happen again. This instructor will not allow lameness to be infused in his class.

End of Introduction

I whisked through questions to complete the survey even as the questions were raising more questions. Like this one, Question 5f: Level of Respect Shown to Faculty by College President. Should there have been a similar question about department chairs?

A study by Hunter’s Faculty Delegate Assembly supporting a position that incivility regarding Academic Freedom really takes place at the department level was released just about the time a few senior faculty members at Hunter, like D:F/M’s former chair and still Distinguished Professor Stuart Ewen, were publicly spearheading an effort taking the College administration to task for alleged violations of Academic Freedom and vicious encroachment on faculty rights and privileges and perceived perks and whatnot.

There was suppose to be this climate of fear being generated, cascading from the 17th floor of Hunter East where the offices of the top administrators are located, innundating every nook and cranny of academic life [for professors, was the concern, not students]. This was a few years ago when all manner of Academic Freedom violations and transgressions were taking place in D:F/M. And D:F/M, according to a former Hunter Senate Chair and former Hunter Ombudsperson who visited D:F/M for some talks with the chair who succeeded Ewen, was no better or worse than several other departments in the College.

It was in the middle, they estimated. Was D:F/M a microcosm for the rest of the middle road departments at Hunter? At the University? The following question should have been on the survey: Level of Respect Shown to Faculty Colleagues by Department Chairs. Or, Rate Your Department Chair. And possibly this one, Level of Respect Colleagues Show Colleagues.

But no gripe here about them not being asked there. Nevertheless, one should have been there and others should have been considered. [The survey could could have included an addendum at the end saying something like, Questions Considered But Were Tossed Out.]

Questions 9d of the survey seemed, in light of what goes on in D:F/M, was milktoast-esque for this instructor’s tastes: My department takes steps to enhance the climate for faculty of color.

Plans are in the works by this writer to revisit, several times, this Faculty Experience Survey in an attempt to intuit the politics and realpolitics involved with this survey.

If institutions of higher learning desire academic honesty, they must be institutions of obvious integrity, places where students, faculty, and administrators seek truth and wisdom and technical expertise in an environment marked by trust, honesty, respect, fairness, responsibility, and courage. — Peg Hogan, Former President, The Center for Academic Integrity.

“Bullying academic departments tend not to allow assistant professors to follow their own bliss, either in the classroom or in their research agendas. This is sometimes the very motive for the bullying: Many departments really don’t want anything – or anyone – new or innovative around. And scrutinizing other people’s work.” Historiann.

I recently completed the survey from the University Faculty Senate. I pdf-ed and png-ed files of the questions. It’s 2009 and I am suspicious of entities wanting to survey me about how I feel.* Also, the survey pinged some buttons.

In the meantime, lest “we” forget:

If institutions of higher learning desire academic honesty, they must be institutions of obvious integrity, places where students, faculty, and administrators seek truth and wisdom and technical expertise in an environment marked by trust, honesty, respect, fairness, responsibility, and courage. Peg Hogan, Former President, The Center for Academic Integrity

“Bullying academic departments tend not to allow assistant professors to follow their own bliss, either in the classroom or in their research agendas. This is sometimes the very motive for the bullying: Many departments really don’t want anything or anyone new or innovative around. And scrutinizing other people’s work.”Historiann.

*Trick questions? Obvious agendas? Hidden agendas? Why now? Several years ago, journalism faculty from around the University were invited to 80th Street (CUNY HQ where the offices of the Chancellor and Trustees are located) where it was implied that all were summoned because of concern about the needs of  their journalism programs and j-efforts. Actually, it was about collecting intel for the then undisclosed plans of what was to become the graduate journalism school.

My concern at the time was that the D:F/M undergraduate effort was floundering, and this instructor was looking for something better. The UFS certainly is not 80th Street. But …

If institutions of higher learning desire academic honesty, they must be institutions of obvious integrity, places where students, faculty, and administrators seek truth and wisdom and technical expertise in an environment marked by trust, honesty, respect, fairness, responsibility, and courage. Peg Hogan, Former President, The Center for Academic Integrity

“Bullying academic departments tend not to allow assistant professors to follow their own bliss, either in the classroom or in their research agendas. This is sometimes the very motive for the bullying: Many departments really don’t want anything or anyone new or innovative around. And scrutinizing other people’s work to belittle it is one of the pleasures of academic bullying.” Historiann.

“Lest we forget.”

More thoughts.

The faculty meeting that was suppose to mark D:F/M’s new trajectory – stratospheric if not mesospheric, up, up and away, into a new mind-blowing orbit – not Crash and Burn, Cha-Cha-Cha. Solicitations, giddy, of Farce & Mediocrity were never so open.

So: This Colleague refused to put the John Hancock on the draft for the proposed journalism curriculum. A faux pas ever there was one. Colleagues Karen Hunter, Peter Parisi and Professor Stein have inked theirs, so to speak.

Sample babble from October 7: QMfE: “Sure, any student interested in being a sports writer should take Media, Sports and Society,” says Colleague Larry Shore who teaches the lecture/discussion class. “And any student who wants to be a political reporter, should take D:F/M’s lecture/discussion class on politics.” That’s tantamount to slipping the students a mickey.

And: Deputy Chair Kelly Anderson, whose many signature comments and signature moments are ensconced in permanent archives of the College library [to Professor Bernard Stein], QMfE, “You guys should really consider adding public relations … it’s really popular with students.” That’s tantamount to slipping hemlock to the Journalism Concentration.

Cant thou reading this blog see the obvious?