Date: Wed, 16 Mar 2005 11:32:04 -0600 Subject: Re: how to speak to the whole campus? From: Kate Hale <halecl@uwec.edu> Message-ID: <BE5DC9B4.3341%halecl@uwec.edu>
OK‹so who wants to organize the letter-writing campaign?
Kate
On 3/15/05 5:09 PM, "Welch, Karen A." <WELCHKA@uwec.edu> wrote:
> I firmly agree with Zoltan. We have an excellent opportunity, through
> media "coverage" of the Teach-In, to help Leader-Telegram readers see
> this war from a number of informed perspectives. Continual letters to
> the editor that offer those various perspectives will help educate
> readers more broadly and will prevent Ogden from becoming the issue.
>
> Thanks, everyone, for all your good work!
>
> Karen
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: sfpj-request@listserve.uwec.edu
> [mailto:sfpj-request@listserve.uwec.edu] On Behalf Of Grossman, Zoltan
> C.
> Sent: Tuesday, March 15, 2005 7:30 AM
> To: sfpj@listserve.uwec.edu
> Subject: RE: how to speak to the whole campus?
>
> I agree with letters to the editor,
> but many people who read letters
> by academics critiquing another
> academic may dismiss it
> as a fight in the elitist family.
> We don't want to make "us" or
> him the issue emerging from the
> teach-in, because that's want
> conservatives like Ogden
> would relish in the
> present atmosphere (Ward
> Churchill, "liberal" profs, etc.)..
>
> I feel that letters should relate
> to the daily lives of the readers,
> how they are affected by the
> war, offering FACTS on the war--
> not just anti-Bush rhetoric.
> Leave the UWEC debate to
> the pages of the Spectator,
> but reach out to the community
> in the L.-T. Use the criticism of
> the teach-in as an opportunity to
> keep teaching via the media.
>
> Emphasizing the
> role of veterans, military families
> and military-age youth in our
> movement shows that we are
> concerned about their well-being,
> and do not want to prevent them
> from speaking out. Where else could
> they express their concerns? Or
> should they remain silent?
>
> Zoltan
>
>
>
> ________________________________
>
> From: sfpj-request@listserve.uwec.edu on behalf of Richmond, Rick
> Sent: Mon 3/14/2005 10:10 PM
> To: Alarcon, Eberth G. Jr.; sfpj@listserve.uwec.edu
> Subject: RE: how to speak to the whole campus?
>
>
>
> while i'm not a particularly experienced screed writer, i'd certainly be
> happy to extend an invitation to BO and the YRs to participate in our
> next teach-in. list subscribers may recommend a title for the talk
> ('economic opportunities of war', etc), tho' in the end we'll let the
> 'ilk' choose their own.
>
> talk title suggestions may be sent to sfpj@listserve.uwec.edu
>
> rick
>
>
>
> ________________________________
>
> From: sfpj-request@listserve.uwec.edu on behalf of Alarcon, Eberth G.
> Jr.
> Sent: Mon 3/14/2005 9:51 PM
> To: Nowlan, Robert A.; SFPJ
> Cc: Tom Wilson; Will Fantle
> Subject: RE: how to speak to the whole campus?
>
>
>
> 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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