Erin O’Connor has a disturbing post about the silencing of dissent at William & Mary.
The administration not only closed down an anti-affirmative action bake sale but is threatening its sponsors with disciplinary action. According to a letter the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (F.I.R.E.) sent to the William & Mary Board of Visitors, Assistant Vice President for Student Affairs Mark Constantine
accused Will Coggin [one of the sponsors] of “violating campus policy as stated in [W&M’s] handbook,” although he failed to state what policy had been violated. Ignoring Coggin’s repeated requests to specify the offense, Constantine replied on November 17 that “Referring to the Student Handbook at this point in time is counterproductive.” Subsequent e-mails to Vice President for Student Affairs W. Samuel Sadler also failed to produce a reason for the censorship.
But perhaps most disturbing is William & Mary’s insolently sophomoric response to criticism of its suppression of open debate and free speech. In response to a polite but critical email he had sent, Curtis Crawford of Charlottesville received the following reply:
Dear Mr. Crawford, Some fool has sent me an e-mail and signed your name to it. You should do what you can to discover the identity of the person. He or she is doing real harm to your reputation. I will help you if I can. Tim Sullivan
Timothy Sullivan is the president of William & Mary, but it appears that some fool has signed his name.
ADDENDUM
In a Convocation address on Sept. 1, 2000, President Sullivan stated that “The point of a William and Mary Education is simply this: to cultivate in you a capacity for independent and critical thought….”
But it would appear that if your thought is too independent and too critical of Sullivanian sacred cows, you get the rule book thrown at you. And if you have the temerity to ask what rule you’ve violated, you’re in effect accused of nitpicking.
In a Charter Day address on Feb. 6, 1999, President Sullivan wrung his hands in despair over the
stunning popular ignorance about our constitutional system and the defining events in our national history. In a 1996 Washington Post poll, only 24% of those surveyed could name their United States Senators, just 26% knew the length of a United States Senator’s term, and 6% could identify the Chief Justice of the United States.
And, it would appear, there is at least one college president whose ignorance of the values protected by the First Amendment is every bit as stunning.
An inspired gambit, to hoist Pres. Sullivan with his own rhetoric! Were you already aware of the trove of his speeches? I wasn’t, and am struck by the contrast between some fine heights reached there, and the vacuousness of his response to his cookie-selling students, and to me.
Not only is President Sullivan’s response inappropriate, it is unoriginal. Although I can’t remember the identity of the participant, I know I’ve heard a story(perhaps apocryphal) of some famous curmudgeon responding to a foolish letter in the same fashion.
Perhaps someone with a better memory than I recalls the details of the story President Sullivan borrows from. The best I could find online on short notice was the following nice anecdote about Henry Ward Beecher:
Arriving at Plymouth church one Sunday, Henry Ward Beecher found in his mail a curious letter containing a single word: “Fool.” During the service that morning, he related the incident to his congregation:
“I have known many an instance of a man writing a letter and forgetting to sign his name, but this,” he declared, “is the only instance I have ever known of a man signing his name and forgetting to write the letter!”
This anecdote illustrates that a response similar to Mr. Sullivan’s is not necessarily inappropriate if (1) you are not the chief executive of a major institution commenting publicly on a matter in dispute; and (2) the letter you are responding to is in fact rude and foolish.
I’m amazed that this sort of behavior could come from the president of school with such a rich history. Unfortunately, we’ve seen this before at other schools, but the virtue of any college or university should be its standing as a home for discourse, debate and discussion. President Sullivan’s actions fly in the face of that concept when he cannot and does not even site a single reason for his punitive actions. Intellectual tyranny, not intellectual community. It is even more unfortunate that the school which Thomas Jefferson attended is now being run by a man who obviously holds the concept of an “intellectual community” in contempt when he uses his position to end discourse on a topic that deserves much scrutiny.
I think the statment “sombody sent me a crank letter and sighned your name to it” came from Sen Young from Ohio . It happend during the Vietnam era
Bruce is right. I remember the story from Bob Dole’s book of political humor:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0767906675/thelonesomdovesa/104-6936279-6230319
In Sen. Dole’s version, as I recall, it was a mayor who recieved a profane and enraged letter from a local crank. His response was Sullivan’s, almost word-for-word.
Sullivan’s response to Mr. Crawford’s letter is no more original, or mature, than the old saw about sending someone a telegram stating: “Fuck you. (stop). Nasty letter to follow.”
I guess it goes without saying that had the students in question at W&M have been holding a pro-affirmative action bake sale, Sullivan would have been first in line to pick up a pastry. Ditto for any other of the myriad left-liberal causes that find succor in the humanities departments of America’s colleges and universities. Orwell was right: all the animals on the farm are equal. Some are more equal than others.
Plagiarism is a serious offense for a student. “President” Sullivan may or may not be guilty of plagiarizing someone else’s writing, but he comes uncomfortably close…
On top of that, if you plagiarize someone else in an effort to appear original and witty, isn’t that an admission (of sorts) that you are neither?
What a loser…
Plagiarism is a serious offense for a student. “President” Sullivan may or may not be guilty of plagiarizing someone else’s writing, but he comes uncomfortably close…
On top of that, if you plagiarize someone else in an effort to appear original and witty, isn’t that an admission (of sorts) that you are neither?
What a loser…
Plagiarism is a serious offense for a student. “President” Sullivan may or may not be guilty of plagiarizing someone else’s writing, but he comes uncomfortably close…
On top of that, if you plagiarize someone else in an effort to appear original and witty, isn’t that an admission (of sorts) that you are neither?
What a loser…
Plagiarism is a serious offense for a student. “President” Sullivan may or may not be guilty of plagiarizing someone else’s writing, but he comes uncomfortably close…
On top of that, if you plagiarize someone else in an effort to appear original and witty, isn’t that an admission (of sorts) that you are neither?
What a loser…
Plagiarism is a serious offense for a student. “President” Sullivan may or may not be guilty of plagiarizing someone else’s writing, but he comes uncomfortably close…
On top of that, if you plagiarize someone else in an effort to appear original and witty, isn’t that an admission (of sorts) that you are neither?
What a loser…
Plagiarism is a serious offense for a student. “President” Sullivan may or may not be guilty of plagiarizing someone else’s writing, but he comes uncomfortably close…
On top of that, if you plagiarize someone else in an effort to appear original and witty, isn’t that an admission (of sorts) that you are neither?
What a loser…
Plagiarism is a serious offense for a student. “President” Sullivan may or may not be guilty of plagiarizing someone else’s writing, but he comes uncomfortably close…
On top of that, if you plagiarize someone else in an effort to appear original and witty, isn’t that an admission (of sorts) that you are neither?
What a loser…
Plagiarism is a serious offense for a student. “President” Sullivan may or may not be guilty of plagiarizing someone else’s writing, but he comes uncomfortably close…
On top of that, if you plagiarize someone else in an effort to appear original and witty, isn’t that an admission (of sorts) that you are neither?
What a loser…
Keep your eye on the situation at W&M. I didn’t participate in the first sale, but I can guarantee there will be a second one before the end of January. If you thought Sullivan was mad in that letter, imagine him after this one.
Keep your eye on the situation at W&M. I didn’t participate in the first sale, but I can guarantee there will be a second one before the end of January. If you thought Sullivan was mad in that letter, imagine him after this one.
Keep your eye on the situation at W&M. I didn’t participate in the first sale, but I can guarantee there will be a second one before the end of January. If you thought Sullivan was mad in that letter, imagine him after this one.
Keep your eye on the situation at W&M. I didn’t participate in the first sale, but I can guarantee there will be a second one before the end of January. If you thought Sullivan was mad in that letter, imagine him after this one.
Keep your eye on the situation at W&M. I didn’t participate in the first sale, but I can guarantee there will be a second one before the end of January. If you thought Sullivan was mad in that letter, imagine him after this one.
Keep your eye on the situation at W&M. I didn’t participate in the first sale, but I can guarantee there will be a second one before the end of January. If you thought Sullivan was mad in that letter, imagine him after this one.
Keep your eye on the situation at W&M. I didn’t participate in the first sale, but I can guarantee there will be a second one before the end of January. If you thought Sullivan was mad in that letter, imagine him after this one.
Keep your eye on the situation at W&M. I didn’t participate in the first sale, but I can guarantee there will be a second one before the end of January. If you thought Sullivan was mad in that letter, imagine him after this one.
Apparently some view are signs of “exercising intellectual freedom” and others are “reactionary and offensive” and therefore must be silenced. Beats me who determines the “acceptable” amount of intellectual freedom.
Fire Tim Sullivan (Again)
Just to follow up on the blowback from the Bake Sale at William & Mary: a new letter to the College Board of Visitors from the FIRE discusses President Timothy Sullivan’s outrageous reaction to emails concerning the threat of censorship…
UPDATE: Another is sceduled for this Tuesday, January 25, 11-3 in the University Center. Wonder if this one will be shut down?
UPDATE: Another is sceduled for this Tuesday, January 25, 11-3 in the University Center. Wonder if this one will be shut down?
UPDATE: Another is sceduled for this Tuesday, January 25, 11-3 in the University Center. Wonder if this one will be shut down?
UPDATE: Another is sceduled for this Tuesday, January 25, 11-3 in the University Center. Wonder if this one will be shut down?
UPDATE: Another is sceduled for this Tuesday, January 25, 11-3 in the University Center. Wonder if this one will be shut down?
UPDATE: Another is sceduled for this Tuesday, January 25, 11-3 in the University Center. Wonder if this one will be shut down?
UPDATE: Another is sceduled for this Tuesday, January 25, 11-3 in the University Center. Wonder if this one will be shut down?
UPDATE: Another is sceduled for this Tuesday, January 25, 11-3 in the University Center. Wonder if this one will be shut down?
UPDATE: A second bake sale took place today. While the administration did not shut it down, Sullivan put out a press release saying that the College was right in suppressing our free speech rights at the first sale. This statement is absolutely ridiculous and unfounded. Looks like he wasn’t through blasting dissenters who stood up for free speech- we stand up for free speech at a second sale and are ‘inexcusably hurtful.’
http://web.wm.edu/news/index.php?id=3232