infinita tristessa
Something made me feel incredibly bad today. What a fine institution my university is. What a place of international integration and understanding. OH, and always looking at issues from different perspectives to get a good, unbiased view?!
I received this from Michael by email today:
-----Original Message-----
From: Undergraduate Administrator
Sent: ? 13/04/2005 11:40
To: Economics Department Undergraduates
Cc:
Subject: FW: This Wednesday's Meeting at the LSE!
Wednesday 13 April at 7pm.
This meeting, of the LSE Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism! society,
will be remembering Deir Yassin and the struggle of the Palestinian people.
We must defend the struggle in Palestine against Zionist occupation and against the apartheid wall and recognise the role that Britain and the Labour Party have always played in the oppression of the Palestinians.
Come to the meeting to learn more and discuss these issues and to find out about regular activities in support of the Intifada.
All welcome, entry free, in
Room H103, Connaught House, LSE, Houghton Street WC2 (nearest tube Holborn)
-----Original Message-----
From: Michael
Sent: ? 13/04/2005 16:54
To: Undergraduate Administrator
Cc:
Subject: RE: This Wednesday's Meeting at the LSE!
Dear Sir/Ms,
A group of students from the department of Economics (including myself) could not wonder why are we getting political material to our LSE email accounts from the department of Economics.
LSE is hosting many events, however, such political meetings are advertised by the LSESU or LSE events. It is the first time that the department itself is promoting such event.
This event is highly political and has little to do with economics (if at all). Moreover, the email is taking a stance on sensitive issues using words such as: "Apartheid wall" ?
We would like to get a clarification on this issue.
Kind regards,
Michael Sprung
-----Original Message-----
From: Undergraduate Administrator
Sent: ? 13/04/2005 17:08
To: Economics Department Undergraduates
Cc:
Subject: Event on Wednesday 13th
Dear All,
I've been getting a few abusive replies of you, even threatening replies. Basically I get a lot of event information where I pass it out to student either to Graduates or Undergraduates.
They are usually vetted before being sent out. It might have been my mistake to send out that event but I'm a person who believes in free speech and thought nothing of it. If it was the other way round, I would have still distributed it.
Due to this i I will take better care on what I distribute in the future.
For those I offended I apologise.
Thanks
-----Original Message-----
From: Michael
Sent: 13 April 2005 20:54
To: Undergraduate Administrator
Cc: various economics professors/undergraduate & graduate tutors
Subject: Politics in the Economics department
Dear Sir/Ms,
We still did not quite understand how this event went through the department. It is the first time in 3 years that we received a promotion for a strictly political event from the Economics department. The connection between Economics and the event is indeed far fetched/non existent. Moreover, we are sorry to hear that you received abusive replies. We do not believe that our reply was abusive nor do we believe that when one starts apologizing for acting wrongly should he start his apology with mentioning "abusive replies and threats". This does not add much credibility to your sincere apology.
In addition, with respect to your "apology", you wrote:
1) A lot of event information is passed to undergraduates/graduates - Economics students NEVER got a political event promotion in the last 3 years.
2) You wrote "usually vetted" - We demand to know why that process did not take place this time as well.
3) You wrote "It might have been my mistake to sent out that event" - might have been? if not your mistake than whose mistake was it ? is this an apology or perhaps you are claiming that this was not a mistake at all?
4) You wrote "Freedom of speech" - LSE got many other bodies that advertise events in the name of free speech (LSESU/LSE events). That is not the issue here. By sending that email, you associated the whole department with certain political ideas. The Economics department is not a political body but an international body focused on the study of Economics with no prejudice towards individuals of a certain faith/nationality (correct us if we are wrong)
5) "If it was the other way round, I would have still distributed it" - The department repeatedly refused to advertise political events of the Israeli society (and quite rightly so, see previous points mentioned above).
6) "For those I offended" - We demand an apology for the act itself and possibly a distribution of a file containing the Israeli perspective of the so called "apartheid wall"/Counter Terrorism wall.
Kind regards,
Michael Sprung
-----Original Message-----
From: Departmental Tutor
Sent: ? 15/04/2005 12:41
To: Michael
Cc:
Subject: RE: Politics in the Economics department
Dear Michael,
At the time the Undergraduate Administrator sent out her apology, she was understandably upset, and as a result it was not precisely phrased. She was upset because of the abusive messages she received, one of which actually threatened violence to her. She assures me that she did not find your e-mail to be abusive and was not referring to it in her apology.
The general practice in the Department, both by the Undergraduate Administrator's predecessor and another Departmental Administrator, has been not to circulate messages to our students unless they are specifically of interest to economics students rather than to LSE students as a whole. This has excluded not only political meetings, but also social events by LSE societies. In fact, at the last Departmental Staff-Student Committee meeting, a Departmental Administrator raised with the student representatives whether they were happy with policy of not circulating general announcements, and they agreed.
The Undergraduate Administrator has only joined the Department recently, and apparently the policy was never spelled out to her. The mistake was compounded because the announcement was initially sent to her predecessor who did not open and read it herself. She just forwarded it to the Undergraduate Administrator, who assumed that she was intended to circulate it.
You can be assured that it remains departmental practice not to circulate political messages to our students, and I am confident that it will not recur.
Best wishes
