Re: [Frameworks] Saul Levine - resources
That MassArt president speech sounds just like words by Dean Wormer. Maybe S. Levine was under double secret probation. In 40 years parody has turned to fact. I wonder where we are heading... ___ FrameWorks mailing list FrameWorks@jonasmekasfilms.com https://mailman-mail5.webfaction.com/listinfo/frameworks
Re: [Frameworks] Saul Levine - resources
Wow, the message seems like doubletalk; if the case isn't what it appears to be, the president should clarify - the phrase "with freedom comes responsibility" is utterly loaded - On Mon, 2 Apr 2018, Scott MacDonald wrote: Here is a message the MassArt president sent out recently: Dear MassArt Faculty: We?re in the news, as many of you have seen and heard. Some of you have reached out with questions and concerns, so I wanted to send a personal note to all of you to unequivocally express where I stand on some important issues.? ?We all share the conviction that academic freedom and creative expression are essential to the identity of MassArt. Academic freedom is your right as faculty. One of my responsibilities as president is to help you preserve it. Please know that I will always stand with you in defending academic freedom in the classroom and in your research and creative activity.? I believe we also understand that with freedom comes responsibility. We have responsibility to our students and to our staff and faculty colleagues. Among the most basic of those responsibilities is to respect the dignity of every person and to engage with one another in a collegial manner. These values are not incommensurate with one another. Freedom, creativity, respect, collegiality exist together at MassArt. That?s the kind of community that welcomed me, and that?s the kind of community I intend to nurture and preserve.? ?As a campus community aspiring to justice and equity, we grapple with many difficult issues. We will continue to grapple with many difficult issues. And as the university enterprise attests, answers are often not easy. Your role as faculty, engaging difficult issues in your classrooms and leading by example, is the heart of MassArt, and I thank you for your dedication to students and student learning.? While I am unable to discuss the particulars of personnel matters, let me clarify that no faculty member has had their academic freedom abridged in a disciplinary action, nor has anyone been forced to retire over matters of academic freedom. Any reports to the contrary, in the media or on social media, are untrue.? Sincerely, David David P. Nelson, President Reading between the lines, I suspect that what may be at issue is not so much the films (of course, teaching film seriously is all about disturbance and always has been and should be), but Saul's tendency to--I'm quoting D. H. Lawrence--?Be still when you have nothing to say; when genuine passion moves you, say what you've got to say, and say it hot.? Many of us who have known Saul for awhile have become accustomed to his saying things hot (something almost de rigueur for activists a generation ago), but it may be upsetting now to colleagues (and perhaps students). It may mean differently now. Scott On Mon, Apr 2, 2018 at 9:59 AM, Scott Dorsey wrote: Wait a minute.? Students took a class about art that was intended to be disturbing and then they got angry because it disturbed them? This is nothing.? When I was in school, they made me take differential equations _in spite of my express complaints that it made me uncomfortable_ and refused to allow me to graduate until I had taken it. I thought being disturbed by things was what university was all about? --scott ___ FrameWorks mailing list FrameWorks@jonasmekasfilms.com https://mailman-mail5.webfaction.com/listinfo/frameworks New CD:- LIMIT: http://www.publiceyesore.com/catalog.php?pg=3&pit=138 email archive http://sondheim.rupamsunyata.org/ web http://www.alansondheim.org / cell 718-813-3285 current text http://www.alansondheim.org/vg.txt ___ FrameWorks mailing list FrameWorks@jonasmekasfilms.com https://mailman-mail5.webfaction.com/listinfo/frameworks
Re: [Frameworks] Saul Levine - resources
Clintonite tone-policing does not have much business in academia. I hope I'm not the only one who feels this way. Being expected to enable and coddle dysfunctional reactions to confrontational rhetoric (reactions that themselves seem borne of a generalised disorder, highly-mediated by alienating technology but that we're never meant to question) is a deplorable outcome for any person who takes freedom of conscience seriously. To be subordinated to those whims is to bare witness to the imposition of abusive & fundamentally dehumanizing affectual hierarchies that must be vigilantly patrolled & regulated against transgressors, with only a diffuse moralism and the "consumer rights/customer satisfaction" of their "badic income units" (what a Canadian university refers to its undergrad students as) guiding it, a.k.a. neoliberal tripe, a barely-disguised cover to evacuate all the "troublesome old lefties" out and replace them with centrist mediocrity. On Mon, Apr 2, 2018, 10:23 Scott MacDonald, wrote: > *Here is a message the MassArt president sent out recently:* > > Dear MassArt Faculty: > > We’re in the news, as many of you have seen and heard. Some of you have > reached out with questions and concerns, so I wanted to send a personal > note to all of you to unequivocally express where I stand on some important > issues. > > We all share the conviction that academic freedom and creative expression > are essential to the identity of MassArt. Academic freedom is your right as > faculty. One of my responsibilities as president is to help you preserve > it. Please know that I will always stand with you in defending academic > freedom in the classroom and in your research and creative activity. > > I believe we also understand that with freedom comes responsibility. We > have responsibility to our students and to our staff and faculty > colleagues. Among the most basic of those responsibilities is to respect > the dignity of every person and to engage with one another in a collegial > manner. These values are not incommensurate with one another. Freedom, > creativity, respect, collegiality exist together at MassArt. That’s the > kind of community that welcomed me, and that’s the kind of community I > intend to nurture and preserve. > > As a campus community aspiring to justice and equity, we grapple with > many difficult issues. We will continue to grapple with many difficult > issues. And as the university enterprise attests, answers are often not > easy. Your role as faculty, engaging difficult issues in your classrooms > and leading by example, is the heart of MassArt, and I thank you for your > dedication to students and student learning. > > While I am unable to discuss the particulars of personnel matters, let me > clarify that no faculty member has had their academic freedom abridged in a > disciplinary action, nor has anyone been forced to retire over matters of > academic freedom. Any reports to the contrary, in the media or on social > media, are untrue. > > Sincerely, > > David > > David P. Nelson, President > > *Reading between the lines, I suspect that what may be at issue is not so > much the films (of course, teaching film seriously is all about disturbance > and always has been and should be), but Saul's tendency to--I'm quoting D. > H. Lawrence--“Be still when you have nothing to say; when genuine passion > moves you, say what you've got to say, and say it hot.” Many of us who have > known Saul for awhile have become accustomed to his saying things hot > (something almost de rigueur for activists a generation ago), but it may be > upsetting now to colleagues (and perhaps students). It may mean differently > now.* > > *Scott* > > On Mon, Apr 2, 2018 at 9:59 AM, Scott Dorsey wrote: > >> >> Wait a minute. Students took a class about art that was intended to be >> disturbing and then they got angry because it disturbed them? >> >> This is nothing. When I was in school, they made me take differential >> equations _in spite of my express complaints that it made me >> uncomfortable_ >> and refused to allow me to graduate until I had taken it. >> >> I thought being disturbed by things was what university was all about? >> --scott >> >> ___ >> FrameWorks mailing list >> FrameWorks@jonasmekasfilms.com >> https://mailman-mail5.webfaction.com/listinfo/frameworks >> > > ___ > FrameWorks mailing list > FrameWorks@jonasmekasfilms.com > https://mailman-mail5.webfaction.com/listinfo/frameworks > ___ FrameWorks mailing list FrameWorks@jonasmekasfilms.com https://mailman-mail5.webfaction.com/listinfo/frameworks
Re: [Frameworks] Saul Levine - resources
*Here is a message the MassArt president sent out recently:* Dear MassArt Faculty: We’re in the news, as many of you have seen and heard. Some of you have reached out with questions and concerns, so I wanted to send a personal note to all of you to unequivocally express where I stand on some important issues. We all share the conviction that academic freedom and creative expression are essential to the identity of MassArt. Academic freedom is your right as faculty. One of my responsibilities as president is to help you preserve it. Please know that I will always stand with you in defending academic freedom in the classroom and in your research and creative activity. I believe we also understand that with freedom comes responsibility. We have responsibility to our students and to our staff and faculty colleagues. Among the most basic of those responsibilities is to respect the dignity of every person and to engage with one another in a collegial manner. These values are not incommensurate with one another. Freedom, creativity, respect, collegiality exist together at MassArt. That’s the kind of community that welcomed me, and that’s the kind of community I intend to nurture and preserve. As a campus community aspiring to justice and equity, we grapple with many difficult issues. We will continue to grapple with many difficult issues. And as the university enterprise attests, answers are often not easy. Your role as faculty, engaging difficult issues in your classrooms and leading by example, is the heart of MassArt, and I thank you for your dedication to students and student learning. While I am unable to discuss the particulars of personnel matters, let me clarify that no faculty member has had their academic freedom abridged in a disciplinary action, nor has anyone been forced to retire over matters of academic freedom. Any reports to the contrary, in the media or on social media, are untrue. Sincerely, David David P. Nelson, President *Reading between the lines, I suspect that what may be at issue is not so much the films (of course, teaching film seriously is all about disturbance and always has been and should be), but Saul's tendency to--I'm quoting D. H. Lawrence--“Be still when you have nothing to say; when genuine passion moves you, say what you've got to say, and say it hot.” Many of us who have known Saul for awhile have become accustomed to his saying things hot (something almost de rigueur for activists a generation ago), but it may be upsetting now to colleagues (and perhaps students). It may mean differently now.* *Scott* On Mon, Apr 2, 2018 at 9:59 AM, Scott Dorsey wrote: > > Wait a minute. Students took a class about art that was intended to be > disturbing and then they got angry because it disturbed them? > > This is nothing. When I was in school, they made me take differential > equations _in spite of my express complaints that it made me uncomfortable_ > and refused to allow me to graduate until I had taken it. > > I thought being disturbed by things was what university was all about? > --scott > > ___ > FrameWorks mailing list > FrameWorks@jonasmekasfilms.com > https://mailman-mail5.webfaction.com/listinfo/frameworks > ___ FrameWorks mailing list FrameWorks@jonasmekasfilms.com https://mailman-mail5.webfaction.com/listinfo/frameworks
Re: [Frameworks] Saul Levine - resources
Wait a minute. Students took a class about art that was intended to be disturbing and then they got angry because it disturbed them? This is nothing. When I was in school, they made me take differential equations _in spite of my express complaints that it made me uncomfortable_ and refused to allow me to graduate until I had taken it. I thought being disturbed by things was what university was all about? --scott ___ FrameWorks mailing list FrameWorks@jonasmekasfilms.com https://mailman-mail5.webfaction.com/listinfo/frameworks
Re: [Frameworks] Saul Levine - resources
> On Apr 2, 2018, at 8:00 AM, frameworks-requ...@jonasmekasfilms.com wrote: > > I suspect that there's an element here of things that > seemed passionate and committed to one generation now seeming outrageous to > another.* - Scott MacDonald Is there a moment in film history when that wasn’t the case? Isn’t the point of many the films we hold dear the disruption of the status quo (sometimes to redefine it, sometimes to just destroy it)? I certainly remember films and videos that led to (comparatively mild) confrontations in classrooms when I was an undergrad 20 years ago in a relatively conservative university. Certainly seeing films like Flaming Creatures, Nitrate Kisses and Un Chien Andalou confronted me and disrupted my own more conservative plans for my future. And they were definitely more provocative in their time. There were also confrontations of what constitutes appropriate art and how one should talk about art one dislikes when I was a grad student 10 years ago at a relatively liberal art school. In that case, those confrontations also led to firings of tenured track professors by those that ultimately held the power, the administration. If this case really boils down to has Saul has framed it—as blowback for what he showed in his class (and by the testimony of his supporters, it wasn’t uncommon for him to show these two films), then it is a terrible bellwether but it is also more of the same. I don’t think we can define it as a “difference” between generations, as much as it seems a continued difficulty of showing this work—even to other artists. Isn't that their point? Chris ___ FrameWorks mailing list FrameWorks@jonasmekasfilms.com https://mailman-mail5.webfaction.com/listinfo/frameworks
