RE: how to speak to the whole campus?

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Alarcon, Eberth G. Jr. (ALARCOEG@uwec.edu)
Mon, 14 Mar 2005 21:51:31 -0600



Subject: RE: how to speak to the whole campus?
Date: Mon, 14 Mar 2005 21:51:31 -0600
Message-ID: <9CBE51C748FC4E469D447D1825C64A3C0A87D9@COKE.uwec.edu>
From: "Alarcon, Eberth G. Jr." <ALARCOEG@uwec.edu>

Colleagues,
  I can't second Bob's point more. What the right would do in the reverse situation is flood the Leader-Telegram with screeds attacking the traitorous liberal who dared to speak up. We can instead flood the Leader-Telegram with intelligent rebuttals which put Ogden and his ilk on the defensive. His point is simple-minded, boilerplate pro-administration rhetoric which requires a forceful, principled response.
  I suggest we directly address his "point" about balance. It relies on the myth that one cannot make a strong case for one's position without being forced to listen to the cheerleading for this administration for the umpteenth time, in the name of "balance." If Ogden wants his point heard (setting aside the observation that it is CONSTANTLY being heard) let him, his College Republicans, and like minded groups work as hard as we have and put together something approaching what we have, and make the case for their side, and let the chips fall where they may.
  Eberth

________________________________

From: sfpj-request@listserve.uwec.edu on behalf of Nowlan, Robert A. Sent: Mon 3/14/2005 9:22 PM To: SFPJ Cc: Tom Wilson; Will Fantle Subject: RE: how to speak to the whole campus?

In response to Kate questions below, I think a good start would be for as many people who have the time and the inclination to do so to write letters to the _Leader-Telegram_ making some of the exact points Kate suggests, and critiquing Ogden's position on the teach-in. I believe, in general, that we just have to keep working together to make these points in all ways and through all channels that we possibly can, undaunted by the dismissive responses of people like Ogden. I recommend pushing beyond simply responding to these ridiculous mischaracterizations of what we are all about toward reading critically what the people who make them logically stand for -- i.e., what are the logical implications of their positions -- showing _them_ as in fact the ones who are leading the way toward undermining that which has been and to some degree yet still remains of the greatest value in this nation. I think we should put _them_ on the defensive, and force _them_ to explain how and why their positions are not proto-fascist.

Bob

-----Original Message----- From: sfpj-request@listserve.uwec.edu
[mailto:sfpj-request@listserve.uwec.edu] On Behalf Of Hale, C. Kate Sent: Monday, March 14, 2005 6:23 PM To: SFPJ Cc: Tom Wilson; Will Fantle Subject: how to speak to the whole campus?

Colleagues,

I send this by way of follow-up to Zoltan's posting of his response to the questions about the teach-in; this is also by way of noting how one conservative faculty member characterized the teach-in.

How do we speak to the whole campus? (scan down to see the remark from one of our campus colleagues, advisor to the College Republicans) How do we help the community that surrounds the campus understand that to speak of the history of US interventions, to speak of the economic implications of war, to speak of the rise of fascism is NOT un-American?

If you want to see this article at the Leader-Tel web site, go to:

http://www.leadertelegram.com/story.asp?id=53432

In Solidarity,

Kate Dept of English

3/14/2005 1:41:48 PM

Residents worry about Iraq war?s effects Military parents, others voice concerns

Leader-Telegram Staff
   Staff Photo by Steve Kinderman

People concerned about the war in Iraq marched from Owen Park to UW-Eau Claire on Sunday for a teach-in about the effect the war has on the United States.

Bethany Jacobson of Osseo never envisioned having a child who served in the military.

She didn?t keep guns in the house. She thought her children would grow up to be organic farmers or teachers. Her hopes for the future began to change in 1999 when her son, then 19, called from a military recruiter?s office in Milwaukee.

Jacobson?s son, Elijah, now 24, is a U.S. Marine reservist now serving in Iraq ? living a long way from Wisconsin and a long way from Jacobson?s original plan for him.

?I wish I could tell you at what turn in the road we did become a military family because maybe then I could (teach) other families how not to become military families,? she said.

Jacobson, fellow military parent Steve Wagener and Navy veteran Brad Johnson led a panel on the effects of war on U.S. personnel at a teach-in on the war in Iraq Sunday afternoon in UW-Eau Claire?s Davies Center. Activities will run through Wednesday.

Bill Ogden, faculty advisor for the College Republicans and an accounting and finance professor at the UW-Eau Claire, dismissed the teach-in as something he wouldn?t be interested in attending because of its anti-war bias. The College Republicans were not asked to present at the teach-in.

Ogden, a veteran of the Vietnam War, maintains a conservative perspective of war, but says there are negative aspects.
?That?s the nature of war,? he said.

Jacobson said she is concerned about the mental condition her son will be in when he returns home next month. She said a recent conversation with her son particularly troubled her, when he said, ?I just don?t know how I?ll ever be the same.?
?I don?t know who?s coming home,? she said.

Wagener, of Eau Claire, shared similar concerns about the well being of his son, Nick, who recently left his Army post in Iraq, and is supposed to return home at the earliest by May.

However, Wagener?s primary concern was the order his son received in November of 2003, which held him in the Army, and forced him to go to Iraq, he said.

?That is how this war machine is being maintained today,? he said.

The conditions their children were placed in while in Iraq also concerned Jacobson and Wagener.

Jacobson said her son endured weeks without showering, living only on MREs ? the military?s ready to eat meals and living under a bridge in what is referred to as the ?death triangle,? of Iraq.

?I don?t even know how I can actively convey or imagine what it must be like for him day to day or minute to minute,? she said. Wagener said his son eventually became fed up with his situation enough to file papers to be a conscientious objector. The request was denied in three months, he said. While the request was being processed, Wagener said his son was forced into kitchen duty.

Johnson shared his concerns about the present war from his perspective as a Navy veteran of the Gulf War.

?We?re all shareholders here,? he said, comparing the meeting to a shareholders meeting of a corporation.

Johnson told audience members that they all had the responsibility of standing up and being an active ?shareholder? in the direction that the country is going in.

UW-Eau Claire junior Jeremy Behreandt said he came to the event to learn more about what was happening in Iraq.
?I think it?s important to be informed about what?s going on in the war especially since it?s lasted for two years now,? he said. ?I think it?s really the first step to learn about (the war), but the next step is to get involved.?

Sister Mary Frances Gebhard of Eau Claire said she wishes more people understood the devastating impact the war has had on Iraq.

?I sat here thinking how can I listen to any more of it,? she said. ?My heart is breaking.?

MacLaughlin can be reached at 833-9203, (800) 236-7077 or susan.maclaughlin@ecpc.com.



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