So even though I too used the comparison of 9/11 and gay rights (see video) and agreed that explicit how-to sex posters (straight or gay) should not be posted publicly at the Campus Center, I’m not with the Young Republicans on this one.
The Stonewall Center is an official Umass RSO group and as such should have access to the listserve.
Yes, Ralph Hexter is President of Hampshire College but he’s acting as the keynote speaker for an official Umass event. But I’m sure the Stonewall Center will love all the extra press this angry release generates.
And of course, now Mr. Hexter has got me wondering, “What if the President were Queer?”
UMASS-Amherst campus leadership:
Regarding the below message:
Why is the enormous (1000+ student) UMASS Signature Responsibility email list AGAIN being used for these ridiculous purposes???
Let me state for the record that the UMass Republican Club finds these emails being sent on the UMass server a *criminal and incomprehensible waste of valuable taxpayer-funded IT resources and unconditionally absurd*.
I have cc'd 14 state elected representatives - 8 state reps and 6 state senators - for their perspective on this matter.
I don't care about a "queer graduation invite" and if these gay rights activists at Hampshire College have access to the entire school SR email list here at *UMASS*, then why don't I – a fee-paying and taxpaying UMass student and citizen of the Commonwealth, and leader of one of the largest and most well-funded groups on this campus – have this same access ???
Dean of Students Joanne Vanin has consistently denied me access to this list for matters of disseminating information of patriotic 9/11 Veterans Day Flag Displays and legitimate UMass events, yet gay rights activists at A DIFFERENT SCHOOL are allowed use of this huge email list to promote an obviously exclusionary event at Hampshire???
UMass campus leadership continues to let nonsense like this go and then cries to the state legislature about being under-funded and ignored - something has to give.
Someone in Whitmore must have granted the approval to send this extremely unnecessary email: can someone inform me who that person was?
This is an obvious misuse of power and boggles my mind.
We, as a campus community, need to do better and be more aware than this, or else I strongly urge the elected officials of this state’s General Court to continue to cut our funding as a campus.
With administrators like the ones we have in charge apparently asleep at the switch yet again, we clearly don’t deserve any more funding from the hard-working taxpayers of this state.
For efficient tax-dollar and resource use,
Brad DeFlumeri
President, UMass Republican Club
Petty Officer, United States Naval Reserve
-----Original Message-----
From: rso-information-bounces@stuaf.umass.edu [mailto:rso-information-bounces@stuaf.umass.edu] On Behalf Of Brett-Genny Janiczek Beemyn
Sent: Friday, April 11, 2008 11:27 AM
To: undisclosed-recipients:
Subject: [Rso-information] Queer Graduation invite
The Stonewall Center cordially invites you to The 10th Annual Queer Graduation & Awards Ceremony
Monday, May 12, 2008
Memorial Hall Lounge
6:30pm: reception, 7pm: ceremony
Keynote Speaker:
Ralph Hexter, “What If the President Were Queer?”
Ralph Hexter is the president of Hampshire College and one of the first openly gay college leaders.
Please RSVP to the Stonewall Center:
stonewall@stuaf.umass.edu, 545-4824
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3 comments:
These are confusing times. It is reason that will show us the way forward. It might take a little longer in the (People's) Republic of Amherst because good deed doers are so committed to their righteous indignation. Reason will show us the way forward. Nice job Larry.
-----Original Message-----
From: Richard B. Morse
To: AmherstAC@aol.com
Sent: Sun, 13 Apr 2008 12:26 pm
Subject: Sometimes I don't Listen So Good
Your appearances in front of Town Meeting are so fraught with tension that sometimes I don't listen "so good" to what you are saying. Now that I listen to your speech again posted on your website, I must say that you were quite eloquent on that evening. You may recall that I did vote with you on your resolution that night.
Despite our respective tendencies to antagonize our neighbors (and each other), you and I are well to the left of center on the political spectrum in this country. Although I don't want to see people bullied because they do not wish to display or pledge allegiance to the flag, I do share with you the disappointment that the rest of the left side of the spectrum seems unwilling or unable to take the flag back into its full embrace. I think that it's a mistake and a terrible political miscalculation, and we will see that mistake played out once again this fall.
With that in mind, I share with you the dissent of Justice John Paul Stevens in the flag-burning case, Texas v. Johnson, because I think that he had his head screwed on straight about the flag as a symbol. I especially like these words: "It is more than a proud symbol of the courage, the determination, and the gifts of nature that tranformed 13 fledgling Colonies into a world power. It is a symbol of freedom, of equal opportunity, of religious tolerance, and of goodwill for other peoples who share our aspirations. The symbol carries its message to dissidents both at home and abroad who may have no interest at all in our national unity or survival." I thought of you when I read these words, because Stevens now is part of the left-wing of the Supreme Court, who argued vigorously against the Court's decision in Bush v. Gore, for example. In other words, despite being a Ford appointee, given the way that the political spectrum has shifted drastically to the right since his appointment, he is a kindred soul politically, not just with the two of us, but with the residents of the Town.
I don't know how to post responses on your blog, so you have my permission to use this one in whole or in part.
ttp://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Texas_v._Johnson/Dissent_Stevens
Richard Morse and I have been engaged in discussion with Mr. Weiss on inAmherst.com Here is my latest comment.
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