UWP Lecturers Fwd: brilliant letter

Sat Jul 11 22:46:00 PDT 2009

Hi Gray,

Thanks a lot for sending the "Cached" link for Kristin's blog.  I enjoyed
reading it -- especially the end where she cites the excellence that the
Ivy League has produced and then supplies a link to a Bush biography on
Wikepedia.  Nice touch, that.

Thanks also for the link to Carl Walker's blog.  He was once a student of
mine.  I'm glad to see he's still alive and kicking -- even if not on the
Riverside campus.

C.

On Sat, Jul 11, 2009 at 10:06 PM, Gray Scott <gray at scotts.net> wrote:

>  Prof. Fabricant,
>
> The blog by Kristin was up and readable yesterday, but it looks like she
> took down her posting, because it's a dead link today. That's too bad. I
> wonder why she pulled it.
>
> If you'd like to read it anyway, Google has a cached
> <http://74.125.95.132/search?q=cache:Ye6W6IgtkGQJ:abookend.vox.com/library/post/in-response-to-scull.html+response+to+scull&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us>version.
> That link should work.
>
> Also, Carl Walker, formerly a graduate student in our department, has
> responded to the issue in his blog<http://agentofstrange.wordpress.com/2009/07/10/the-end-of-uc-riverside/>.
>
>
> My favorite line from Walker's blog: "Right… so rather than [allow] UCSD
> to end 'as we know it,' whatever that means, it’s so much better for UCM and
> UCR (or UCSC) to, ya know, really end."
>
> - Gray
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> *From:* Carole Fabricant <cf7516 at gmail.com>
> *To:* kimberly devlin <devlinucr at earthlink.net>
> *Cc:* Deborah.Willis at ucr.edu ; John.Ganim at ucr.edu ; susan.zieger at ucr.edu ;
> keith.harris at ucr.edu ; rob.latham at ucr.edu ; Traise.Yamamoto at ucr.edu ;
> michelle.raheja at ucr.edu ; Andrea.Denny-Brown at ucr.edu ;
> Steven.Axelrod at ucr.edu ; joseph.childers at ucr.edu ;
> jamestobias at mindspring.com ; Stanley.Stewart at ucr.edu ;
> erica.edwards at ucr.edu ; rise.axelrod at ucr.edu ; englecturers at lists.ucr.edu;
> John.Briggs at ucr.edu ; adriana.craciun at ucr.edu ; Caroleanne.tyler at ucr.edu ;
> Vorris.Nunley at ucr.edu ; heidi.braymanhackel at ucr.edu ;
> carole.fabricant at ucr.edu ; James.Tobias at ucr.edu ; jennifer.doyle at ucr.edu ;
> George.Haggerty at ucr.edu ; katherine.kinney at ucr.edu ; Tiffany.Lopez at ucr.edu
> *Sent:* Saturday, July 11, 2009 8:38 PM
> *Subject:* SPAM-LOW: Re: UWP Lecturers Fwd: brilliant letter
>
> I agree with you, Kim.  The people who chose to sign this contemptible
> letter should be "outed" -- they shouldn't be allowed to hide behind
> anonymity.  I definitely think we should get hold of the letter and have it
> printed in a California publication; the LA Times is a good suggestion.  Of
> course, you realize that once it gets out there will be loads of doofuses
> who will actually think it's a great suggestion to close some of the UC
> campuses (if not the whole university!) and will write letters to the editor
> and to their congresspersons to that effect.  But that's the risk one takes
> in a (ahem) democracy.  Everyone has her say, even those with a minimum of
> brain power and capacity for critical thinking.
>
> Stephanie (Kay) came up with a couple of good suggestions also:  that we
> get this letter (along with appropriate editorial and ironic commentary on
> it) into the Chronicle of Higher Education; and that the Academic Senates of
> UCSC, UCR, and UC Merced either separately or jointly censure those who
> wrote and signed the letter.  This might sound like overkill (and the very
> opposite of the far subtler ironic tack I initially took) but I think if UC
> faculty choose to circulate reprehensible ideas that (at least in theory and
> potential) can be highly damaging to their colleagues on other campuses,
> they should be held responsible for their actions.  I say "actions" because
> what they did goes beyond mere words; after all, their letter was sent
> to UCOP with the specific intention of affecting university
> policy).  There's no question here about meddling with freedom of speech
> (hey, I'm a card-carrying member of the ACLU like [probably] most of you)
> but when 23 department heads send an official signed letter to the
> President's Office proposing a major change in the system (to put it
> mildly!),  it enters the public domain and should be treated -- and
> responded to -- as such.
>
> Deborah:  I don't know how you found out about those other four department
> heads, but if you've discovered the entire list of faculty who signed the
> letter, could you perhaps let all of us know who they are (i.e., which
> departments they head).  I think we're all curious and dying to know that.
> And if you've somehow unearthed a copy of the entire letter, it would be
> great if you could send that around as well -- or send us the internet
> link where we can see the letter for ourselves.
>
> Speaking of which, I wasn't able to open the third link that you sent us
> (the blog with, I gather, an ironic or humorous response to the letter).  It
> sounds like at least some of you succeeded in opening and reading it, but I
> couldn't.  (The site said I wasn't authorized to read anything on it, or
> something to that effect.)  Did anyone else have that problem?  If you know
> how to fix it let me know -- as you're probably well aware by now
> I'm a hopeless satire buff and hate to think I'm missing out on any examples
> of it.
>
> Cheers,
> Carole
>
>
> On Sat, Jul 11, 2009 at 6:53 PM, kimberly devlin <devlinucr at earthlink.net>wrote:
>
>>  dear all,
>>
>> i would be very happy to see a copy of the full letter (including the
>> names of everyone who signed it) reprinted in the la times, followed by
>> carole's response.  any ideas how to do so?  anybody with me on this one?  i
>> am impressed by how many other faculty have accepted the fact that the
>> state/nation/world is in a severe depression and that we, like many others
>> (not employed by uc), are going to be effected.  duh. in any event, thank
>> you very much carole.
>>
>> slainte,
>>
>> kim
>>
>>   -----Original Message-----
>> From: Carole Fabricant
>> Sent: Jul 10, 2009 3:19 AM
>> To: adriana.craciun at ucr.edu, Andrea.Denny-Brown at ucr.edu,
>> carole.fabricant at ucr.edu, cf7516 at gmail.com, Caroleanne.tyler at ucr.edu,
>> Deborah.Willis at ucr.edu, erica.edwards at ucr.edu, George.Haggerty at ucr.edu,
>> heidi.braymanhackel at ucr.edu, jamestobias at mindspring.com,
>> James.Tobias at ucr.edu, jennifer.doyle at ucr.edu, John.Briggs at ucr.edu,
>> John.Ganim at ucr.edu, joseph.childers at ucr.edu, katherine.kinney at ucr.edu,
>> keith.harris at ucr.edu, devlinucr at earthlink.net, michelle.raheja at ucr.edu,
>> rise.axelrod at ucr.edu, rob.latham at ucr.edu, Stanley.Stewart at ucr.edu,
>> Steven.Axelrod at ucr.edu, susan.zieger at ucr.edu, Tiffany.Lopez at ucr.edu,
>> Traise.Yamamoto at ucr.edu, Vorris.Nunley at ucr.edu,
>> englecturers at listserv.ucr.edu
>>  Subject: Fwd: brilliant letter
>>
>> Hey folks,
>>
>> The depths to which some of my esteemed and, er, enlightened colleagues
>> will stoop never ceases to amaze me.  One is never quite prepared for the
>> next act of outrage or idiocy.  Way to go, guy; let's hear it for
>> colleaguiality and (more importantly) class solidarity.  In case you don't
>> know what I'm talking about, I'll attach a newspaper article (and a half) to
>> this email (I copied it into my Word documents) which will explain it all.
>> Below you will find my response to His Eminence the Distinguished Professor
>> Scull.  There's no way one can deal with this except through satire.  (Well,
>> actually there are other ways -- but nothing that can be described in an
>> email.)  I heartily encourage all of you to send emails to Scull
>> congratulating him on his brilliant satiric wit.  It would be nice if his
>> mailbox were filled with such notes.  (Actually it would be even nicer it it
>> was filled with something else -- but never mind that for now.)
>>
>> Read and weep.  Or better yet, read and laugh, and write sarcastic fan
>> mail.
>>
>> btw, Don't forget to address him as "Distinguished Professor" -- given his
>> obvious adulation of status and reputation I'm sure he wouldn't want to be
>> addressed any other way.
>>
>> Cheers,
>> Carole
>>
>> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
>> From: Carole Fabricant <cf7516 at gmail.com>
>> Date: Fri, Jul 10, 2009 at 3:00 AM
>> Subject: brilliant letter
>> To: ascull at ucsd.edu
>>
>>
>> Dear Distinguished Professor Scull,
>>
>> I very much enjoyed reading portions of your brilliant satire which, had
>> you been a less humble and unassuming person, you might have entitled "A
>> Modest Proposal for preventing the Inferior Campuses of the UC System from
>> being a Burden to their Superiors or the University at large, and for making
>> them Beneficial to the Public."
>>
>> As a Jonathan Swift specialist I can say without reservation that you have
>> perfectly captured the tone and spirit of Swift's greatest satire, creating
>> a persona whom you've succeeded in making into the twin brother of the
>> Modest Proposer:  a man, deeply concerned for the welfare of his community,
>> who understands that the sacrifice of some of its members (other
>> than himself and his fellow classmen, of course) is necessary for the good
>> of the whole.  Your persona, like the Modest Proposer, subscribes to the sad
>> but inescapable truth that in every society the weak have to be sacrificed
>> to ensure the continued health and prosperity of the strong, the have-nots
>> must give way to accommodate the desires of the haves; and while expressing
>> regret regret at being forced to "contemplate very, very unpleasant choices"
>> he doesn't allow mere sentiment to soften the stark nature of his proposal,
>> or to divert him from his noble purpose.
>>
>> Of course, this being a satire, we eventually come to realize that the
>> Modest Proposer's (both yours and Swift's) presumed concern for the welfare
>> of his society, hence his eagerness to offer solutions to its problems, is
>> merely a cover to mask his own self-interest, delusions of grandeur, and
>> dehumanizing outlook (his substitution of abstract quantifiable measures for
>> human values) -- but not before we've enjoyed a delightful romp through the
>> realms of the satiric grotesque.
>>
>> I must say that I thought it was a particularly brilliant stroke of wit on
>> your part to substitute the image of General Motors "lopping off" Hummer,
>> Buick, Opel, Saab, "and who knows what else" for Swift's central metaphor of
>> chopping up and eating Irish babies.  The "who knows what else" provides
>> just the right Swiftian touch, opening out the possibilities of the satire
>> in the same way that Swift's Modest Proposer, after describing the many
>> dishes the babies can be cooked up into, adds that "Those who are more
>> thrifty (as I must confess the times require) may flay the carcass; the skin
>> of which, artificially dressed, will make admirable gloves for ladies, and
>> summer boots for fine gentlemen."
>>
>> Equally ingenious was your remark that because of the funding crisis we
>> now have to become "only a nine, or an eight (and a half) campus system."  A
>> lesser satirist would have left it at 'nine, or eight,' but your insertion
>> of 'a half' of a campus produces an ever-so-slight frisson, evoking the
>> image of a half of a baby (somehow more shocking than a whole one) being
>> stuffed into a pot to make a stew:  an image that serves to underscore the
>> fundamental sadism and cruel indifference beneath the Modest Proposer's mask
>> of benevolence.
>>
>> I will be teaching Swift in the fall quarter and wonder whether you would
>> be willing to come and talk to my class about your perspective on the art of
>> satire -- perhaps even share with us some of your other creative endeavors
>> in this field.  I always tell my students that, given the absurdity of the
>> times in which we live, it's no longer possible to write satire.  But I'm
>> glad to say that you've proven me wrong.
>>
>> Yours sincerely (and admiringly),
>>
>> Carole Fabricant
>> Professor of English
>> University of California, Riverside
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
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