Below is a copy of the emailed I wrote in response to an email I receive from Colleague Tami Gold about the James Aronson Awards for Social Justice Journalism. T-Gold is the self-appointed director of the awards, replacing Erstwhile Colleague Peter Parisi who retired a while back. The Awards Ceremony has been moribund for years. T-Gold believes she can breathe some kind of life into it. She shares her position with an adjunct who asked that I not mention her name in any of Hunter-L postings. And, for now, I’m am following that adjunct’s wishes for now regarding this blog site.
… trying to intimidate a Colleague when she was Hunter College PSC Chapter Chair.
From Greggory w Morris
Sent: Sunday, February 21, 2016 10:46 AM
To: Tami Gold [tamigold@mindspring.com]; David Pavlosky [pav10023@gmail.com]; Anderson, Kelly [KellyJMAnderson@gmail.com]; Andrew Demirjian; Isabel c Pinedo; Ivone Margulies; Joel s Zuker; Joe McElhaney (joemcel@aol.com); Larry Shore [lshorel@optimum.net]; Martin Lucas [mlucas@igc.org]; Andrew Lund; Michael Gitlin [mgitlin@mindspring.com]; Michael Hurbis-cherrier; Prof. Karen Hunter [professorhunter@aol.com]; James Roman [drj5647@optonline.net]; Shanti Thakur [lucidafilms@earthlink.net]; Sissel McCarthy [sisselmccarthy@gmail.com]; Steven M Gorelick; Stu Ewen [drstu@bway.net]; Tag9090 [tag9090@aol.com]; Timothy Portlock
I’m not going to gloat that D:F/M Chimera is in full regalia like it was during the moribund years of the Aronson Awards when Erstwhile Colleague Peter Parisi was at the helm. But I am injecting a little history.Peter Parisi: Former Self Anointed Chaperone for the Aronson Awards for Social Justice Journalism says he believes in news censorship.
As Envoy Faculty Advisor many, years ago, James Aronson was snared in a libel suit filed against The Envoy because a ditzy editor who wrote and published an article that the editor knew would be controversial yet did so without giving Aronson an heads-up. The USG official who was the main subject of the article sued. The College refused to provide legal support for Aronson who had to pay legal fees – a betrayal ever there was one. Aronson stopped advising.
How many Colleagues, especially those who have been embellishing their tales of the good days of their relationship with and support of Aronson, rallied to his side back then? Nada.
Years and years later after the litigation, I and erstwhile Colleague Peter Parisi, who has a wrap-sheet for supporting news censorship just like one of the present heads of the awards, were hired for a Phoenix mission that was to resurrect the Envoy (which I did and he didn’t) as part of D:F/M’s J-mission, exciting the imaginations of so-called student activists – thugs AKA SLAM – who ganged-banged the publication into ignominy (with tacit support from #D:F/M Colleagues) and then – as if following a script plagiarized from an early Steven King throwaway – teamed up with #D:F/M Colleagues to try to force the WORD editor to do their editorial bidding. Truly frackin’ moronic.
Somehow, through hubris, ignorance and academic degeneracy on a level beyond beyond the pale of normal Academy hanky-panky, the morons – I don’t use that word lightly – believed they could humiliate a Colleague at a department meeting, making him feel so bad that he would surrender to the censorship of the college-funded publication he used for his classes. The SLAM thugs actually believe that they would be members of an oversight committee. And the rest is fucking history.
Before the Aronson Awards was noticeably sliding into ignominy, I persuaded the Center for Communication, Inc. to co-host one of those lavish journalism fêtes that it had been doing for LIU-Brooklyn’s Polk Awards. At that time, even as it was sliding into ignominy, the Aronson awards were still attracting a sizable crowd in the Lang. Nevertheless, CtC and I both regretted the decision, though CtC did host one more attempt, without me being involved (I saw the sleaze evolving and decided no longer to participate in any fashion).
And again CtC regretted the decision. But I had warned them so I wasn’t feeling guilty nor did I insult CtC with a I-told-you-so. By that time, D:F/M Chimera was actively employed to make the ignominy of the Arson Awards look sterling.
Too much smoke. Too many mirrors. Too many moronic spin jobs and the sleaze becomes indelible.
James Aronson never supported news censorship.
Best,
Gregg MorrisP.S. I have to get this off my chest in light of the most recent department meeting. The minds behind MEDP 201-202 – essentially the breaking up of former basic news reporting class into two sections – did a serious disservice to those students [who] may be serious about journalism.
Tags: Academic Bullying, Andrew Lund, Arnold Gibbons, Bernard Stein, Billy d Herman, campus bullying, Christa Davis Acampora, Dean Andrew J Polsky New York State Assembly, Eija Ayravainen, Faculty Delegate Assembly, Greggory w Morris, Gustavo Mercado, Harold Newman Dean of the School of Arts & Sciences, Hunter College, HUnter College Faculty Delegate Assembly, Hunter College Ombuds Office, Hunter College Senate, Isabel c Pinedo, Ivone Margulies, James B. Milliken, James Roman, Jennifer Raab, Joe McElhaney, Joel Zuker, Karen Hunter, Kelly Anderson, Larry Shore, LumpenGoombah, LumpenGoombahAwards, Martin Lucas, Mick Hurbis-Cherrier, New York Healthy Workplace Advocates, New York State Senate, Peter Parisi, Ricardo Miranda, Robert Stanley, S3863/A4965 – The NYS Healthy Workplace Bill, Shanti k Thakur, Steve Gorelick, Stuart Ewen, Tami Gold, The Peter Jackson Who Signed the Moveon.org Petition, Timothy Portlock, Tony Doyle, Vita C. Rabinowitz, workplace bullying