[Frameworks] Saul Levine - resources

[Alan Sondheim]

Wow, the message seems like doubletalk; if the case isn't what it appears 
to be, the president should clarify - the phrase "with freedom comes 
responsibility" is utterly loaded -

On Mon, 2 Apr 2018, Scott MacDonald wrote:

> Here is a message the MassArt president sent out recently:
> Dear MassArt Faculty:
> 
> We?re in the news, as many of you have seen and heard. Some of you have
> reached out with questions and concerns, so I wanted to send a personal note
> to all of you to unequivocally express where I stand on some important
> issues.?
> 
> ?We all share the conviction that academic freedom and creative expression are
> essential to the identity of MassArt. Academic freedom is your right as
> faculty. One of my responsibilities as president is to help you preserve it.
> Please know that I will always stand with you in defending academic freedom
> in the classroom and in your research and creative activity.?
> 
> I believe we also understand that with freedom comes responsibility. We have
> responsibility to our students and to our staff and faculty colleagues.
> Among the most basic of those responsibilities is to respect the dignity of
> every person and to engage with one another in a collegial manner. These
> values are not incommensurate with one another. Freedom, creativity,
> respect, collegiality exist together at MassArt. That?s the kind of community
> that welcomed me, and that?s the kind of community I intend to nurture and
> preserve.?
> 
> ?As a campus community aspiring to justice and equity, we grapple with many
> difficult issues. We will continue to grapple with many difficult issues.
> And as the university enterprise attests, answers are often not easy. Your
> role as faculty, engaging difficult issues in your classrooms and leading by
> example, is the heart of MassArt, and I thank you for your dedication to
> students and student learning.?
> 
> While I am unable to discuss the particulars of personnel matters, let me
> clarify that no faculty member has had their academic freedom abridged in a
> disciplinary action, nor has anyone been forced to retire over matters of
> academic freedom. Any reports to the contrary, in the media or on social
> media, are untrue.?
> 
> Sincerely,
> 
> David
> 
> David P. Nelson, President
> 
> Reading between the lines, I suspect that what may be at issue is not so
> much the films (of course, teaching film seriously is all about disturbance
> and always has been and should be), but Saul's tendency to--I'm quoting D.
> H. Lawrence--?Be still when you have nothing to say; when genuine passion
> moves you, say what you've got to say, and say it hot.? Many of us who have
> known Saul for awhile have become accustomed to his saying things hot
> (something almost de rigueur for activists a generation ago), but it may be
> upsetting now to colleagues (and perhaps students). It may mean differently
> now.
> 
> Scott
> 
> On Mon, Apr 2, 2018 at 9:59 AM, Scott Dorsey <kludge at panix.com> wrote:
>
>       Wait a minute.? Students took a class about art that was intended
>       to be
>       disturbing and then they got angry because it disturbed them?
>
>       This is nothing.? When I was in school, they made me take
>       differential
>       equations _in spite of my express complaints that it made me
>       uncomfortable_
>       and refused to allow me to graduate until I had taken it.
>
>       I thought being disturbed by things was what university was all
>       about?
>       --scott
>
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> 
> 
> 
>

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