The WORD Blog

I sent this message (way below) to Colleagues in the Department of Film and Media Studies as a response to comments sent to them by Colleague Bernard Stein, a Pulitzer Prize winning news essayist. One real piece de resistance he addresses concerns a strategy that Colleagues were considering, for example, to deal with the ethical journalism issues that Colleague Stein raised in his email memo: Pressure the Hunter College Administration into attacking me for the posts about the HC-PSC-CC, and if the Administration refuses, for Colleagues to attack the Administration (in some kind of public campaign, I assume) for not attacking me.

Absurd and bovine reasoning, symptomatic of the kind of thinking of those who assert leadership in D:F/M.

Bullying* and intimidation and harassment are core values in D:F/M, so much so that resolutions of serious problems affecting the department can’t occur. Serious issues pertaining to  principles of Academic Freedom or Journalism Ethical Issues or First Amendment Rights or Civil Liberties or Civil Rights, especially as those  pertain to behaviors and practices and customs in the department.

The message of my response is below.

(more…)