A Final Post on Michael Baumann (Conclusion to the saga from 2 days ago)
If you didn't read the previous post, don't bother with this one - it's just the conclusion of the issue I wrote about before.
Dear students,
I just received a message from the Dean of Science (you can find it at the bottom together with my response). So, suddenly it seems that banning me was the furthest from their minds. Interesting indeed. It is also a classic in institutional behaviour: If the responsibilities are messy, blame it on miscommunication or simply deny. (I know, I know, it is somewhat disappointing that it took them three days to come up with that. And all I wanted was be reinstated as an instructor AND an apology, verbally, not via email.)
So far the President's Office has received 16 letters in support of me. (I must say that I was deeply touched what many of you wrote; thank you all again.) And it is exactly these letters that make me continue on: This is not about me; this is about what STUDENTS AND ALUMNI have to say about the state of education at UBC. This is about not knowing how many instructors have adapted to the demands of some administrators. (Don't forget: Without an administration, there would still be teachers and students. Without teachers and students there would be nothing to administer. So who should be serving whom?)
This is a great opportunity for you, it won't come often. There is a new president; I have stirred up the shit; now all you have to do is take your education in your own hands. (When a flat-earth-believer is shoving a machine gun into your mouth to teach you "the truth", chances are it will be too late to write a letter.) Voice your opinion on your education, it's the president's duty to listen. (You spend about $20,000 in tuition fees here and they are hauling in another $60,000 in government funds BECAUSE you are here. So somebody better listen -- instead of being proud of oneself for providing free parking on graduation day; remember Piper?.)
Tell the president (presidents.office@ubc.ca) what you want. What kind of courses. And what kind of teachers should teach them. Tell them about class-sizes and classrooms and class-schedules and exam dates and preordained mark distributions and "withdrawal" standings and being kept busy while learning nothing. Tell them about your worries and fears and your future and the future of your friends. Be creative. Ask hard questions. Think and make others think, if that is the purpose of an intellectual being.
(Of course, the last thing you need is yet another bullshit committee sitting around slurping expensive wines at the Sage following Standard Operating Procedure.) You will need intellectuals and dedicated teachers that go out to talk AND listen to students -- to students(!!), not student representatives. (Not me though, with this I think I have done my bit.)
Don't rely on anybody else. Stop whining about awful courses and start acting responsibly as the global citizen they want you to be. Now is the time.
Michael
(Note that I cannot be reached next week. I will be back on 29 January.)
Dear students,
I just received a message from the Dean of Science (you can find it at the bottom together with my response). So, suddenly it seems that banning me was the furthest from their minds. Interesting indeed. It is also a classic in institutional behaviour: If the responsibilities are messy, blame it on miscommunication or simply deny. (I know, I know, it is somewhat disappointing that it took them three days to come up with that. And all I wanted was be reinstated as an instructor AND an apology, verbally, not via email.)
So far the President's Office has received 16 letters in support of me. (I must say that I was deeply touched what many of you wrote; thank you all again.) And it is exactly these letters that make me continue on: This is not about me; this is about what STUDENTS AND ALUMNI have to say about the state of education at UBC. This is about not knowing how many instructors have adapted to the demands of some administrators. (Don't forget: Without an administration, there would still be teachers and students. Without teachers and students there would be nothing to administer. So who should be serving whom?)
This is a great opportunity for you, it won't come often. There is a new president; I have stirred up the shit; now all you have to do is take your education in your own hands. (When a flat-earth-believer is shoving a machine gun into your mouth to teach you "the truth", chances are it will be too late to write a letter.) Voice your opinion on your education, it's the president's duty to listen. (You spend about $20,000 in tuition fees here and they are hauling in another $60,000 in government funds BECAUSE you are here. So somebody better listen -- instead of being proud of oneself for providing free parking on graduation day; remember Piper?.)
Tell the president (presidents.office@ubc.ca) what you want. What kind of courses. And what kind of teachers should teach them. Tell them about class-sizes and classrooms and class-schedules and exam dates and preordained mark distributions and "withdrawal" standings and being kept busy while learning nothing. Tell them about your worries and fears and your future and the future of your friends. Be creative. Ask hard questions. Think and make others think, if that is the purpose of an intellectual being.
(Of course, the last thing you need is yet another bullshit committee sitting around slurping expensive wines at the Sage following Standard Operating Procedure.) You will need intellectuals and dedicated teachers that go out to talk AND listen to students -- to students(!!), not student representatives. (Not me though, with this I think I have done my bit.)
Don't rely on anybody else. Stop whining about awful courses and start acting responsibly as the global citizen they want you to be. Now is the time.
Michael
(Note that I cannot be reached next week. I will be back on 29 January.)
Date: Thu, 18 Jan 2007 11:55:24 -0800
To: Simon Peacock <Simon.Peacock@science.ubc.ca>
From: Michael Baumann <michael@baumann.ca>
Subject: Re: Possible Human Rights violation at UBC
Cc: presidents.office@ubc.ca, george.mackie@ubc.ca, spie@interchange.ubc.ca, "Ian Cavers" <cavers@cs.ubc.ca>, Paul Harrison <harrison@science.ubc.ca>, news@ubyssey.bc.ca
Dear Dr. Peacock,
Even if there are no written documents about the issue -- they're not that dumb --, banning me was exactly what they tried to do. (Talk to George Spiegelman.) So, somebody is lying. The question then is: Will the president let a liar continue to interact with the students?
Michael Baumann
At 11:14 18/01/2007, Simon Peacock wrote:Dear Michael Baumann -
In your open letter to Professor Toope and others, you claim that the Dean's Office has issued an order that bans you from teaching at UBC. This is not correct. No such ban has been, or is currently, in effect.
Sincerely - Simon Peacock
Simon M. Peacock
Dean, Faculty of Science
University of British Columbia
1505-6270 University Boulevard
Vancouver, B.C. Canada V6T 1Z4
Tel: 604-822-3337
Fax: 604-822-0677
E-mail: scidean@science.ubc.ca
posted by Trevor Schofield at 8:21 a.m.
1 Comments:
Hey hows it going it sounds like you have been having a bit of a crazy time over there it was a funny read about how your glasses fell into the river but i did feel bad for you... that whole thing with your prof sounds pretty crazy its sad that nothing exciting like that happens over at uvic we need someone like that to spice it up a bit i am glad that he is still there is sounds like he is really trying to change how people are educated which is refreshing. I remember you saying how much you liked that class this summer and i wished that we had something like that over here. So it sounds like your xmas was nice but quite... much like mine i guess very uneventful. Neways i will talk to you later i hope your "general sick' feelings are gone.
Diana
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