tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4900303239154048192.post6879207254067660988..comments2024-03-06T06:34:42.881-05:00Comments on EconoSpeak: Evergreen Looks in the Mirror and Says It’s OKUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4900303239154048192.post-10051585508178088682018-04-18T15:54:28.299-04:002018-04-18T15:54:28.299-04:00Wow, what a weak and milquetoast report. Hardly &q...Wow, what a weak and milquetoast report. Hardly "independent." And manages not to criticize the ill behavior of the students. And praises the actions of the college administration, when they essentially surrendered to the students. And improperly criticizes Bret Weinstein, for exercising his free speech rights. And doesn't mention the faculty member who threatened his wife. And doesn't mention that many faculty were intimidated into silence. <br /><br />Marc Brenman, former Executive Director, Washington State Human Rights Commission, and former instructor, TESCAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05651586435806481078noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4900303239154048192.post-79770838280511301072018-04-08T18:08:21.722-04:002018-04-08T18:08:21.722-04:00Dear anon and fellow Greener,
Thanks for these th...Dear anon and fellow Greener,<br /><br />Thanks for these thoughtful remarks. I'll use the opportunity to say a bit about the demand for mandatory faculty training, which has just moved forward with the Memorandum of Understanding agreed to by the college administration and United Faculty of Evergreen, my union. Blogger, in its wisdom, will not let me do this at length in the comment thread, so I’m going to have to put it in the form of a new post. It’s going up right now, so check out Econospeak’s home page.Peter Dormanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00093399591393648071noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4900303239154048192.post-68178802634406603292018-04-08T15:50:53.841-04:002018-04-08T15:50:53.841-04:00I've read all of your posts on the situation. ...I've read all of your posts on the situation. I've appreciated your intention to let the facts speak for themselves last Spring. I've been fascinated by comments by others determined to see what they want in your posts, rather than what you've written.<br /><br />I had heard from one of the equity council that they were specifically asked to remain quiet during the event and the debate of the events. I couldn't figure out why people who had been closest to looking at issues and recommended solutions that sought to change classroom culture would be completely silent about matters they had researched. I learned that they were asked to be silent. I found this extremely disappointing.<br /><br />I read the report and need to read it again more carefully. I do not agree that all sectors of the college did everything they could do to mitigate the fallout. I recognize the fact that those in charge of public relations were overwhelmed on several fronts by external noise and ugly underbelly of racist america. I dislike that I even have to qualify my opinion of how the college dealt with this issue and everything after. It is a custom at our college to ignore ineffective results because we are worried about overburdening or hurting the feelings of people whose professional responsibilities include promoting a narrative that reflects the real soul of the college. The response was tentative and overly aware of how unfriendly sectors would use actions and narratives to poke fun. <br /><br />As a person who is not white, I have a lifetime of experience in dealing with ugly actions, words, bias, etc. It's part of my reality. As a result I have no level of patience for a mealy response or this mealy report.<br /><br />I was surprised that the college's primary response was and is to cower and worry more about what people will say rather than stand up and claim a position. <br /><br />As for the case of diversity training for faculty, I believe faculty do not necessarily have the skills to negotiate classroom tensions around race when they occur. Ignoring the tensions is not effective, but neither is letting tensions overtake the curriculum. <br /><br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4900303239154048192.post-69176834817579214182018-04-07T13:15:25.823-04:002018-04-07T13:15:25.823-04:00I appreciate your information on this, Peter. I do...I appreciate your information on this, Peter. I don't know any current Evergreen students, so your words are as close to an insider's perspective as I see.<br />I agree with your assessment of TESC as a treasure, and it pains me to see these issues handled in such a seemingly clumsy way.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15025727965483438909noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4900303239154048192.post-85768923202213982132018-04-06T04:46:09.925-04:002018-04-06T04:46:09.925-04:00Thanks, Barkley. A few weeks ago I watched the Fr...Thanks, Barkley. A few weeks ago I watched the Frederick Wiseman documentary about UC Berkeley, "At Berkeley". I could have cried. It follows various threads, as his films always do, one of which was about the administration's response to a student protest. You could argue about this or that tactic they adopted, but overall they were so damned professional: there were clear goals, operations to achieve them, and real time assessment on how well the operations were meeting their goals. From deep in the Evergreen hole it looked like the Promised Land.Peter Dormanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00093399591393648071noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4900303239154048192.post-40788746817097061102018-04-06T03:29:32.888-04:002018-04-06T03:29:32.888-04:00I am very sorry that the Evergreen administration...I am very sorry that the Evergreen administration is so out of touch with both reality and how institutions of higher education should be managed, and that you have had to deal with this as a faculty member there. There have been several prominent US higher ed institutions that have had qualitatively similar problems, but I think the situation at Evergreen is probably the worst in the entire US. So sorry.rosserjb@jmu.eduhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09300046915843554101noreply@blogger.com