[A version of this blog post was sent to D:F/M Members Regarding the March 14 Faculty Meeting]
This rebuttal addresses comments of Colleagues Isabel Pinedo, Kelly Anderson, Larry Shore, Peter Parisi, Karen Hunter, Ricardo Miranda and Jay Roman at the last faculty meeting, especially the attack victimology embraced by several Colleagues and threats about censoring the WORD.
The Usual Suspects
1) Isabel Pinedo & Savage Humiliation
At the meeting, Colleague Pinedo, power smirking as she spoke, said she was the victim of an attack regarding a visit to my office a while back. She didn’t provide details. Here they are. The setting: Several years ago there was talk of Regime Change and rumors that the Chair was to be deposed, academically speaking of course, after his first ruinous tenure as a Chair. Colleague Pinedo, rumors of the anticipated power shift on her mind, rushed into my office one day hissing that I was an un-collegial Colleague and in the same breath whimpered that Colleague Peter Parisi was harassing her and Colleague Steve Gorelick. The rumors feeding her imagination was that I was to be the next department chair.
As I was wondering why Colleague Pinedo, a tenured associate professor, was so intimidated by a peer, I realized that Colleague Parisi towers over her, standing more than 6 feet while she comes in under 4. Nevertheless, I listened patiently to her lament and suggested she throw Colleague Parisi a curve: What-About-Those-Mets. I told her I had use the idiom successfully on occasions. And I explained why I believed it would stop him in his tracks, so to speak.
She eventually left my office in what seemed good spirits, though I don’t know if she made sense of the wisdom imparted to her. [I once used the Obi Wan Kenobi on a Distinguished Colleague – “Gregg Lives on the Edge” – but don’t want to clutter up this narrative with that account but I have to say this: The Obi Wan can be a powerful mojo for dealing with certain Colleagues.]
Colleague Pinedo and I stopped speaking forever after I emailed her a follow-up about her collaboration with another Colleague in the savage humiliation of a former Colleague who didn’t get tenure. Colleague Pinedo responded in a subsequent email that she was shocked at my residual anger. There was no anger on my part, however. I was indulging my contempt for D:F/M rabid attacks and those who engage in them (especially those seeking pats on the backs for a savaging well done).
Years ago, at the first attempt to censor the WORD, Colleague Pinedo was a designated hitter for the Great Minds’ plan to make me do what they wanted me to do with the publication. She showed up at my office, saying she was visiting in my best interest because she was my friend, and told me I was guilty of abusing my power as a professor regarding an op ed I published in the WORD about this White Racist identified with the editorial sobriquet JEDU (a buddy of the PSC Chapter Chair, everyone should know).
I milked her for all the information I could get regarding the stratagem of the Great Minds at the time and allowed her to leave unmolested. There were several minutes when she seemed to be shaking nervously. But I wasn’t growling or acting provocatively. I was in Reporter Mode.
JEDU was a notorious campus thug (closely associated with Colleagues in the department) and the op ed, suffused with savage wit, seriously contributed to the ending of his reign of campus terrorism – I kid you not. Etcetera.
Anyway, the former Colleague who underwent the savage humiliation: Christine Nochese.
I never corroborated, nor was I provided corroboration of, allegations that Colleague Parisi was intimidating her and Gorelick. Gorelick never said anything to me about being intimidated. I only know what Colleague Pinedo told me. Colleague Parisi can bring this up at the next department meeting but he should keep in mind that someone might invoke W-A-T-M if necessary.
However, I would not think of trying the W-A-T-M or the Obie Wan on Gorelick if he chose to address the episode of long ago.
PSC Hunter College Chapter Chair Trying to Intimidate Colleague at a Department Meeting
End Part 1
Tags: Academic Bullying, academic dishonesty (faculty), academic integrity, bullying, Isabel Pinedo, Jay Roman, Karen Hunter, Kelly Anderson, Larry Shore, Peter Parisi, Ricardo Miranda