I Think That I Shall Never See A Petition Lovely As A Tree

With regards to the planned "deforestation" in front of Avery Hall on the WSU campus, I could really care less. WSU is not the center of our universe and there is a lot more that goes on in this community than the undergraduate penchant for revolutionary drama encouraged by their mentors in the ivy-covered halls of academe.

On the one hand, those are trees that were planted by the university, not some old-growth cedar grove, and the university can do with them as they please. On the other hand, there is a certain delicious hoist and petard element to this whole situation. As long as the professors professional activists are busy biting the hand that feeds them and are not agitating and meddling in the city of Pullman's business, I'm happy.

But the online petition started to save the trees has provided for some rather amusing comments:

46. Don't Destroy Our Campus!!!!
I love the big old trees on campus. The forest-y look is what attracted me to WSU in the first place. The trees make campus beautiful and wonderful to walk around. HOW DARE YOU DESTROY A TREE!!! Trees are irriplaceable. They make our air cleaner and our environment gorgeous. This is disgusting! I cannot believe I am associated with a university that would do such a horrible, phallic act!!!
7/17/2008 9:09:47 AM

"irriplaceable?" Yikes. A mind is also a terrible thing to waste. With spelling errors like that, it seems the English Department's biggest problem is not trees being cut down. "Phallic act?" Must be a Women's Studies major.

527. When There's Nothing Left To Sustain, Why Talk About Sustainability?
A military officer boasts of destroying a village in order to save it; a bomb is labeled a "peacemaker;" and institutional racism is labeled "diversity." So we shouldn't be surprised to see the cutting down of trees labeled "beautification." But it doesn't change the truth. Save the trees and cut down the lies.
John Streamas, Comparative Ethnic Studies
7/14/2008 3:56:01 PM

Ah, yes. War, racism, cutting down trees...It's all the same to ExStreamas. What a maroon.

579. Save the Avery Grove Trees and the Murrow Yard Trees too
This is ridiculous. Cutting down a tree here and there that is diseased or otherwise problematic is one thing, but this sort of clear cutting is absurd and, I would add, anti-environmental.
Christopher Lupke, Associate Professor, Foreign Languages and Cultures
7/13/2008 9:40:16 PM

I'm suprised Lu Laoshi didn't implicate the "Forbes Gang" for the "clear cutting."

585. Cougar pride?
Where is the pride in our heritage when we propose to cut down so many trees that in addition to their important shading function and great beauty are a rich part of WSU's history? And where is the imagination of our planners that they cannot find a way to keep the trees while making useful improvements?
T.V. Reed, Professor of English, Avery Hall
7/13/2008 3:24:07 PM

And where is the UFCW and their big-shot Seattle lawyers?

Prayer of the Day

Mile Kepka/San Francisco Chronicle, AP Photos

Michael Hanly figured crews were only trimming the trees when he saw them carrying tools to the old spruce and pine outside his office at Washington State University's Avery Hall last week.

But they kept cutting, and the trees eventually were gone.

Hanly did some digging and learned that more trees are on the chopping block around Avery, Bryan and Murrow halls during the third phase of the Library Road project, slated for completion in Sept. 2009.

"If they had said from the beginning that these trees were going to come down with this project, you can bet there would have been a protest," said Hanly, an English professor.

Hanly claims the university did not adequately make its plans known to the public, and he is trying to generate support from others concerned about the trees' removal. He's gathered some English department staff to protest and hopes to involve other departments if a compromise can't be reached with WSU's Capital Planning and Development Office.

- "Tree removal surprises some faculty and staff; 80 trees being cut down as part of university's Library Road project," Moscow-Pullman Daily News, July 11, 2008

Oh Lord, if a bunch of middle-aged WSU English professors are going to protest trees being cut down on the WSU campus, please do not let it be a nude "sit-in" as we have seen down in Berkeley. Amen.



UPDATE: Perhaps former Whitman County Democratic State Committeeman Dave Gibney would care to apologize to Christians for commenting that the Rapture would get rid of all the "stuck up assholes." Perhaps Democratic House candidate Tyanna Kelley would like to apologize to 9th District farmers for attacking their "gaz-guzzling" trucks.

Grow up.

Want Pullman to Get Hannitized?

Leo Udy, director of Beasley Performing Arts Coliseum, is seeking input on whether people would be interested in hearing conservative TV and radio talker Sean Hannity speak in the fall. Tickets would be in the $30s.

I think Sean needs to see John Streamas and David Leonard for himself.

Email Leo here and let him know.

"WSU hotel, conference center in limbo; Corporate Pointe president says weak economy slowing progress"

Remember what Duane Brelsford, Jr. stated about the new stormwater regulations that will cost his Corporate Pointe Developers about $100,000 a year?

What can I say? We actually don't have a say. The state imposes it on the city and the city imposes it on people with impervious surfaces. No one has the money to handle this.

Now, Brelsford is slowing down development of the new WSU hotel and conference center because of the "challenging economic environment."

Listen folks, every time Dino Rossi shows up in Whitman County, we've got to tell him about this stormwater problem and how its killing our economy. Dino needs to pledge to us that he will clean house at the Department of Ecology once he's elected.

From last Tuesday's Moscow-Pullman Daily News:

Construction on a proposed hotel and conference center on the Washington State University campus is on hold due to the state of the economy.

WSU chose Corporate Pointe Developers in December to lead the construction of the estimated $25 million facility, but progress has stalled while the Pullman company hammers out the details necessary to proceed, said Ryan Ruffcorn, a project manager for WSU Capital Planning and Development.

"Obviously, we'd like to have it happen quickly and as soon as possible," he said. "We're not seeing a project built that we feel would be a great asset to the community."

Corporate Pointe still is compiling an outline for the project, which involves securing financing and completing a market analysis and preliminary design, among other things. A nonbinding letter of intent will then be signed by both parties as an agreement to the project's scope.

Corporate Pointe President Duane Brelsford Jr. said the project is stalled because of the "challenging economic environment." In December, he estimated the project could begin late this year, or in early 2009.

He said there is no "average" timeline for projects when the economy is less than ideal.

"What we're struggling with right now is the current economy. That affects construction costs ... finding a long-term lender and development capital," he said. "We're plugging through it slowly. We want to do it once and we want to do it right. We hope the economy starts leveling out after the elections."

The hotel and conference center would be built on North Fairview Drive, just east of the WSU Student Recreation Center. The project is expected to include a 120-room hotel and 20,000-square-foot conference center.

Brelsford has indicated that he wants his company to own and manage the facilities upon completion and lease the land from the university. He also plans to build condominiums on an adjacent property and is gathering a team of investors for the project.

Brelsford said although progress is slow, the university should not question his team's commitment to in the project.

"We are the intended developers for the project," he said. "We are committed to make this project work. We want it to be successful; that's why we're taking it slow."

Ruffcorn said the university is prepared to be patient.

"We understand there are a lot of different issues that impact a process. A lot of things have to come together. It's possible that it could take a while to reach that deal point," he said. "But we're hopeful that we'll be able to reach an agreement."

Ruffcorn said although WSU does not have a binding contract with Corporate Pointe, the university hasn't yet started looking for another developer to work with. For now, university officials will chalk up the delay to documents being fine-tuned, he said.

"We don't want to go through the process and have it fail," he said. "We haven't set a date to say, 'You have to have this in place and that we have to have it complete' ... We just want to partner with (Brelsford) to make a successful project.

"We would consider stopping negotiations if the developer is not actively trying to work the problem and not putting their best effort forward ... and that's not the case," he added. "We've selected them, and we're not negotiating with anyone else."

On To Richmond

I'm flying out early tomorrow morning for Richmond, VA. My oldest daughter is transferring to WSU. That's right, I'm now officially a

COUG DAD !!!!!!!

something that came up recently while discussing buying Jimmy Buffett tickets. That will be a great first Dad's Weekend for me.

I'm really looking forward to the Father-Daughter cross-country road trip. Most of next week, we will be driving her car over to Pullman through flyover country. Depending on the gods of wireless, I'll try to check in with a few updates from the land of the bitter white people.

Have a happy and safe Memorial Day everyone.

This Is Going To Be A Shame

Included among WSU Provost Robert Bates' proposal to trim back "nonessential" courses by 20% yesterday, according to the Lewiston Tribune, was a recommendation to combine the Departments of American Studies, Comparative Ethnic Studies and Women's Studies into a single unit.

Apparently, when President Elson Floyd say WSU "cannot be all things to all people," he is referring to certain WSU faculty members being bullies, racists, and left-wing agitators on the taxpayer's dime.

"Group will continue challenge of WSU water rights; Pollution board's decision not to overturn consolidation will be appealed"

They say insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

"Conservationists?" Please. The only thing Scotty Cornelius is trying to conserve is his 15 minutes of fame.

They do realize, of course, that the aquifer is not like a spotted owl or a redwood. It does not reproduce. Like any well, it will run dry one day, no matter how much we try to "conserve" it. However, plenty of water and snow fall from the sky in our region. All we need to do is figure out how to store it above and/or below ground. Or we just burn everything down and drive all the people out of the Palouse Basin. That seems to be the approach the aquinuts prefer.

And where in the hell is the money for all these appeals coming from?

From today's Lewiston Tribune:

PULLMAN - A group of conservationists will continue to challenge Washington
State University's water rights after saying last week further action was
unlikely.

One of the group's attorneys said it will now ask the state Pollution Control
Hearings Board to reconsider its recent decision not to overturn a 2006
consolidation of those rights.

"The ruling now requires that water supplies be depleted before the state will
step in," Rachael Paschal Osborn, the group's Spokane attorney said in a
statement issued Tuesday. "With this decision, WSU has a green light to
over-pump groundwater supplies."

WSU officials have maintained the consolidation only joins water rights
scattered across several campus wells, allowing it to increase pumping from its
two modern wells. The alternative would be expensive upgrades to aging wells,
according to WSU.

But the group - which includes the Palouse Conservation Network, the Sierra Club
Palouse Group and Pullman resident Scotty Cornelius - said the consolidation
means WSU can triple the amount of water it pumps, if it wants to.

And it does want to, Osborn said. "The appeal challenges WSU's request to
consolidate all of its rights so that it may pump from new wells, in part so
that it may irrigate a new 315-acre, 18-hole golf course which WSU expects will
double water use compared to the previous golf course."

That course, Palouse Ridge, is set to open inAugust. Its practice facility opens
Thursday, with a grand opening celebration scheduled for Friday at 4 p.m.

Osborn said water rights have been "over-allocated" during WSU's 118-year
history. The majority of its unused water rights should have been returned to
the public before the 2003 Washington Legislature killed "use it or lose it"
provisions in state water law, she said.

A three-member panel from the hearings board recently split 2-1 on overturning
the state Department of Ecology's award of the consolidation. Osborn has
previously said action in Whitman County Superior Court to overturn it is also a
possibility, albeit a remote one.

"Many WSU grad students want union cards rescinded"

Union surrogate Mary Jo Klinker has obviously learned well from her WSU American Studies program chair, TV Reed. When you are trying to organize a left-wing cause:

1. Be as vague as possible. Never present any facts, just rhetoric.
2. Be deceptive when gathering petition signatures.
3. If opposed, marginalize the opposition as "small" and led by far-right extremists.
4. Always claim you're in the majority, but never provide any data to back that up.

And that is why, in my opinion, the attempts to unionize graduate students at WSU are as DOA as PARD's efforts to stop Wal-Mart in Pullman.

Congrats to Devin Rokyta for following up on this story. From today's Moscow-Pullman Daily News:

About 200 Washington State University graduate student employees have signed letters that will be sent to the Washington Public Employment Relations Commission requesting to have their union cards rescinded.

Steven Davis, a member of At What Cost, said many student employees were misled when they signed the cards. Unknown to many of them, signing the card meant they were pledging their support to the union that represents more than 25,000 academic student workers nationwide - the International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace, and Agricultural Implement Workers of America. Many thought signing the card indicated they wanted to explore the issue further.

"There's plenty of students that want their card back," Davis said.

Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire recently signed a law allowing student employees at WSU the right to be represented by the union. The law goes into effect in June, and WSU students will vote whether to ratify their contract with the university in June if they elect to unionize.

At least 70 percent of graduate student employees must approve joining the union for it to be ratified. The union must then submit a petition for certification to the Washington Public Employment Relations Committee before contract negotiations can begin.

Davis said he is not anti-union, but he is concerned with the lack of facts being provided by the union and its organizers.

"The biggest issue I have is the way it has been approached," Davis said. "There's so little information; the only thing we get is, 'Collective bargaining is good.'

"At least give us the ability to see the information and really know what we are getting into."

Union organizers say the union will represent the students on issues of workload, grievance procedures, health insurance, vacation and sick leave. The union will charge its members 1.5 percent of their gross income in addition to a $10 initiation fee.

Graduate and Professional Student Association President Manpreet Chahal said his organization hasn't taken a union stance, but it also would like to see more information provided to the students.

"I think there are a lot of students upset over the process," Chahal said. "It could have been done in a better way. I feel like students were kept in the dark and misled on what they were signing and getting into.

"We are not telling our students not to join the union, our goal has been to get information from both sides," he added. "My worry is come summer when everything is a done deal and they are told to pay union dues they will be wondering what is going on."

Scott Goates, an economics graduate student, said he did not feel misled when he was asked to sign a union card, but others in his department have taken issue with recruiting methods.

Goates is upset with the union's lack of response. If several complaints are brought against a recruiter who had collected 100 signed union cards, the union only investigates those individual complaints rather than question all 100 people who signed the cards.

"For me the big problem is the union doesn't seem to want to investigate," Goates said.

Union solicitor Mary Jo Klinker said she would like to hear from anyone who has questions about what they signed. In many cases people think they signed their union card when they actually didn't.

She said the union is investigating claims on a case-by-case basis.

"We have been asking people to come to us so we can address those concerns," Klinker said.

Klinker said much of the concerns are being driven by a small group of people.

"Obviously, we are aware of the fact that people have been encouraged to rescind their union card by a group of anti-union people," she said.

Klinker said the union has support from a supermajority of WSU's more than 1,500 graduate student workers, although she does not have exact figures.

"We have a strong majority who are pro-collective bargaining at WSU," she said.

Davis said the students can get that same representation through the GPSA. The organization already represents students working as teaching assistants, research assistants, graders, and tutors for free.

"I believe all of these issues can be taken care of through channels we already have and that's the GPSA," Davis said. "That to me sounds like a more viable option and one that doesn't cost us any fees."

Klinker said students who are confused about what they signed can contact the union at (509) 334-5220.

Students who signed the card can write to the Public Employment Relations Commission to have it revoked. More information is available at http://wsu-at-what-cost.pbwiki.com/.

BREAKING NEWS: State Board Sides with WSU on Water Rights Consolidation Case

Is this a surprise to anyone? Remember, during the hearing in January, Scotty Cornelius stated, "I can't say it's because of anything WSU did ... There's not enough data for me to draw any conclusion."

Construction on the Palouse Ridge Golf Club is nearly complete. Cornelius, the Sierra Club and King Solomon's Palouse Water Conservation Network were just tilting at windmills and grandstanding for the media. Promised next stop for the aquinuts: the Washington State Supreme Court, which I'm sure will promptly decline to hear their case.

FORE!!!!!!

From Dnews.com:

A state hearings board has sided with Washington State University regarding the appeal of a water-right decision.

The Washington Pollution Control Hearings Board has determined the appellants did not provide enough evidence to effectively prove that the university’s water rights impairs other existing rights in the area.

The decision was rendered late last week and follows a three day January hearing regarding the university’s application to consolidate its water rights — a practice that would allow WSU to pump water through any combination of its seven wells.

The appellants — the Palouse Water Conservation Network, the Palouse Group Sierra Club and Pullman-area resident Scotty Cornelius — claim WSU’s water right consolidation will allow the university to pump more than three times as much water per year as it currently does. They argue that the university has contributed to the dropping levels in the Grand Ronde aquifer, and point to an 18-hole golf course under construction as a project that will create more drawdown of the area’s primary water source.

Cornelius, who lives outside Pullman, has said his well is decreasing at a rate of 10 inches per year.

WSU currently has the rights to operate seven wells, though two large wells pump a majority of the water needed on campus at 2,500 gallons per minute. Additional wells can be used in case of emergency.

“We conclude a preponderance of the evidence demonstrates that consolidation of WSU’s existing water rights will not impair Mr. Cornelius’ well or other existing water right holders,” the decision reads. “In the absence of impairment, we also therefore conclude that the public welfare will not be harmed by Ecology’s approval of these water changes. Finally, we conclude Ecology’s approval ... did not unlawfully ‘enlarge’ the water right represented by that permit.”

The appellants originally argued 40 issues and all but three were resolved in 2004. The remaining issues for the hearings board included whether the state’s decision would impair neighboring water rights, harm the public welfare or enlarge the university’s pumping ability beyond permit’s guidelines.

According to the decision, the three-member board does recognize that the Grand Ronde aquifer is “experiencing a long-term and troubling trend of declining water levels.” But the board members made clear in the hearings that the decision before them would have no bearing on the declining aquifer or how the state should manage groundwater in the area.

“...this case was focused on the much narrower question of whether WSU is legally entitled to consolidate it’s existing water rights in order to be able to pump its currently authorized quantities from a different configuration of wells within it’s integrated cam us water system.

Academic Freedom?

The great Milton Friedman wrote:

The essence of political freedom is the absence of coercion of one man by his fellow men. The fundamental danger to political freedom is the concentration of power. The existence of a large measure of power in the hands of a relatively few individuals enables them to use it to coerce their fellow men. Preservation of freedom requires either the elimination of power where that is possible or its dispersal where it cannot be eliminated.

By Friedman's definition, there is no freedom at WSU, as Foley Institute director Ed Weber recently pointed out, "hegemony of the left-leaning liberal viewpoint" has coerced him into not "inviting too many of 'the wrong kind' of intellectual."

Yet "academic freedom" is being used as a defense of Ayad Rahmani's "architorture" protest by Chuck Pezeshki and Chris Lupke.

A letter in Saturday's Moscow-Pullman Daily News pointed out that absurdity:

Protest not the best way

Chuck Pezeshki (His View, April 12 & 13) does it again. He missed the point even after questioning it himself. And Ayad Rahmani, (His View, April 18) with somewhat reasonable explanation, also.

If a medical professor required a for-credit peaceful protest against abortion, a science professor for nuclear energy or against climate change advocates, a political science professor against anti-war protesters or for guns, or a religion professor for prayer in schools or against gays, and many more possibilities, there would not only be a tempest in a teapot, there would be tornado in a Starbucks latte.

You would never hear the end of it from liberals. Just think if this type of requirement became a trend in education. A more responsible, rational, less controversial requirement would have been for students to critically evaluate the good, bad and ugly of the situation, write a comprehensive article and send it to the newspaper and all concerned.

Joe Ulliman, Moscow

Indeed. The 1940 Statement of Principles on Academic Freedom and Tenure states with regard to academic freedom that:

Teachers are entitled to freedom in the classroom in discussing their subject, but they should be careful not to introduce into their teaching controversial matter which has no relation to their subject.

And:

College and university teachers are citizens, members of a learned profession, and officers of an educational institution. When they speak or write as citizens, they should be free from institutional censorship or discipline, but their special position in the community imposes special obligations. As scholars and educational officers, they should remember that the public may judge their profession and their institution by their utterances. Hence they should at all times be accurate, should exercise appropriate restraint, should show respect for the opinions of others, and should make every effort to indicate that they are not speaking for the institution.

There are a couple of comments on the Friday Rahmani column that are too good not to repeat:

"I have a great idea for Lupke, Pezeshki, and the architecture prof: If you don't like the way it looks, then you can buy the property and do anything they want with it. Just like the folks who own it now. The concept that the "community" should consider themselves stakeholders is ridiculous and elitist, and pretty parasitic to those who buy, develop, maintain, and pay taxes on the land. You do what you want with your stuff, and I will do what I want with mine. period!"

"I cannot believe the arrogance of some of these professors. Bishop Blvd was not developed for your walking/visual pleasure. It was developed to grow retail development for Pullman. For your walking and visual pleasure and in memory of Bill Chipman many of us worked very hard to gain funding to develop the Chipman trail and downtown walkways for that purpose. I also resent that you seem to think our elected/hired city officials do not know what our community wants and apparently are not as intelligent as you. I am very pleased that they are not making the mistakes of their predecessors and are moving in the direction the community has been waiting for."

BREAKING NEWS: WSU School of "Architorture" Not Done Insulting Pullman

Palousitics has just learned of plans by the WSU School of Architecture and Construction Management to stage another PR event insulting Pullman. Professor Rahmani's demonstration was just the tip of the iceberg apparently.

In addition, I have learned of leftist political indoctinration occurring within the school. "Tempest in a teapot?" Hardly.

MANY more details later.

Student Union Thuggery

UPDATE: Informational website available here.

Like others in the Pullman community, I have been disturbed by the strong-arm tactics of the United Auto Workers union and their surrogates at WSU. The UAW is attempting to unionize academic student employees. If you are a student involved in this, please drop me a line at palousitics@adelphia.net

It's not surprising that the union shills are members of the Comparative Ethnic Studies and American Studies departments.

First, from the April 1 edition of the Moscow-Pullman Daily News:

Not all WSU academic student employees are in favor of unionizing.

Xyanthe Neider, a doctoral candidate for higher education administration and a teaching assistant in educational psychology, said academic student employees are being bullied into supporting the union.

She said the union is being proposed in a pushy, irresponsible way by local organizers, while UAW bigwigs pull the strings to increase union membership.

"I believe they've been trying to railroad this into law and railroad academic student employees into unionizing," she said, adding that the UAW could stand to make $700,000 in annual union dues from WSU academic students employees alone. "I think some of these students are plants by the UAW."

[WSU graduate student, teacher of comparative ethnic studies and union organizer Sky] Wilson scoffed at Neider's accusations. He said local organizers approached UAW representatives, not the other way around. He added that some organizers are paid, in addition to volunteering.

"With any organizing drive, there's going to be a small amount of people who are ideologically opposed," he said. "But the proof is in the strong majority of ASEs who want unionization."

"Small amount of people who are ideologically opposed?" Hmmmmm. Where have we heard that before?

Lest you think it's only a bunch of wingnuts opposing the union, today's Daily Evergreen offers up even more chilling details:

As rain turned to snow Monday afternoon, graduate students and spectators gathered on Glenn Terrell Mall for the last Under the Big Tent debate of the semester. The topic of conversation was the current push to unionize academic student employees, most of whom are graduate students.

Although participants and spectators were pushed close together under the tents by the inclement weather, there was a noticeable divide in opinions among those in attendance. Four panel members introduced the debate by sharing their reasons for or against unionization under the United Auto Workers. The UAW has more than 1 million members, more than 25,000 of whom are ASEs, said panel member Mary Jo Klinker, a student and teaching assistant in American studies at WSU.

“I’m not against unions in principle,” said panel member Xyan Neider, a doctoral student in the College of Education. “I just question the intentions and motivation of the United Auto Workers. I question paying dues for things I already have.” Klinker said unionizing would create a balance of power between ASEs and the university. “A union would provide a representative democratic process of collective bargaining,” Klinker said. “Contracts would be enforceable and ASEs would have a formal grievance procedure.” David Parsons, president of UAW’s local union at the University of Washington, emphasized the advantages collective bargaining presents. He said unionization at UW has allowed students to influence decisions within the university as well as on the state and national levels. Parsons said UW’s union with UAW has resulted in back pay being payed to union members, and has contractually guaranteed wage increases and health benefits for ASEs.

The final panel member, Steven Davis, a masters student at WSU, voiced concern over unionization and the choice of the UAW to represent students in a academic setting. Like Neider, Davis voiced concern about paying for benefits already provided by the university. “The best option is to try and address our problems with the system we already have before looking to other options,” Davis said. “If the GPSA is ineffectual, it is our fault for not filling the open positions. If we fill those positions and that still doesn’t work we should find someone better to represent us.” Klinker and other advocates of unionization say the GPSA has little authority and has failed to address the concerns of ASEs due to its structure and bureaucracy. The debate escalated when opened to questions from the audience. The majority of questions and comments focused on alleged questionable practices by union supporters. Many in the crowd were visibly upset and said they felt coerced into signing union cards, the purpose of which they thought was to receive more information. The cards that were signed by more than half of ASEs were endorsements to unionize under the UAW, said Heather Knewtson, a WSU doctoral student in finance.

Knewtson said she was visited at work four times and asked to sign the cards even after telling union supporters she was against unionization.

As tempers reached a high point Knewtson said, “The strong voice of students is saying that they’ve been hoodwinked.” Klinker acknowledged the complaints. She said many were false and that the text on the cards clearly stated their purpose. “There has been a lot of misinformation,” she said. “We are investigating these complaints on a case-by-case basis.”

Ah, questionable practices in gathering signatures. Sounds very familiar also. I wonder what they have in common?

Fallen Warrior

May 6, 2005 - US Army (USA) Specialist Fourth Class (SPC) Timothy Juneman, Charlie (C) Company (CO), 3rd Battalion (BN), 21st Infantry Regiment (INF REGT), 1st Brigade (BDE), 25th Infantry Division (ID) Stryker Brigade Combat Team (SBCT), pulls security from an over watch position, providing cover with an MK48 Light Machine Gun in Mosul, Iraq, during Operation IRAQI FREEDOM.
Last Friday, I took Dr. Forbes over to Longview to represent WSU and the Speech and Hearing Sciences department at the funeral of one of her students since fall semester, Tim Juneman. She thought very highly of Tim, as did everyone who knew him. He was buried with full military honors.

The Daily Evergreen has a very nice write-up about Tim in today's issue.

Thank you, Tim, for your service to our country. Rest in peace.

Classmates remember honored veteran
WSU meant a lot to speech and hearing sciences major who died on March 5

Timothy Dean Juneman’s life goal was to help people. It was a goal he had already begun to achieve when Juneman died in his Pullman apartment March 5. He was 25. Juneman was known for being a lover of the outdoors, spending countless hours backpacking, hiking and camping. He was involved in Boy Scouts of America and earned the rank of Eagle Scout rank at 16. After he attended Lower Columbia College for a year, Juneman enlisted in the U.S. Army in 2002. He was stationed in South Korea for one year, and was deployed to Iraq in 2004 after training with the Stryker Brigade Combat Team. Juneman operated the MK48 light machine gun in support of his combat team for nearly a year in Iraq. While there, Juneman was injured and diagnosed with Traumatic Brain Injury and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. After returning from the war, Juneman suffered from insomnia and extreme clinical depression, his mother, Jacqueline Hergert-Juneman, wrote in an e-mail to The Daily Evergreen.

Juneman finished his four-year enlistment at Fort Lewis. Among his many awards, Juneman earned an Army Commendation Medal, a National Defense Service Medal, an Iraq Campaign Medal and a Combat Infantryman Badge. Juneman later chose to join the National Guard and was granted a 2-year deferment from overseas deployment. He studied at Spokane Falls Community College, and worked until he was accepted into the speech pathology and audiology program at WSU in August 2007. “WSU has been a big part of Tim’s family for four generations,” Hergert-Juneman said. Juneman’s great-grandparents, father, aunt, uncle and several great aunts and uncles have graduated from WSU. Being accepted into the SHS Program at WSU meant a lot to Juneman, Hergert-Juneman said. He liked to work with people, and spoke a lot about the children he met in Iraq. “He loved to see the smiles on their faces when he gave them chocolate or trinkets,” she wrote. “He was so excited to be in the speech and hearing sciences program at WSU. He wanted to work in a career that would help people.” Juneman was well-known in the speech and hearing sciences department. His SHS adviser, Lauri Sue Torkelson, said he was not an intrusive presence, but he was always there and was very much involved in the department. As a transfer student, he was seeking a career in audiology and took many upper-level classes with juniors and seniors. “It’s so hard to describe him,” Torkelson said. “He was so very quiet, and polite, and very pleasant.” On the morning of his death, Professor Jeanne Johnson, who teaches SHS 478, a class Juneman was enrolled in, announced the news to her class. “Everyone was just stunned,” she said. “They needed time to process it. We canceled class that day and just sat and talked. Pretty soon everyone started talking about the personal memories they had with Tim. Of course there were tears.” That morning, even students who had just recently met Juneman described him as being sweet and good with people, Johnson said. “What really stood out to me was that he was so respectful,” she said. “He appreciated everything everybody had to say. He was quiet, but you could tell he had a good sense of humor.” When the department learned that Juneman had served overseas, they thanked him for his service. “We thanked him not just because of that, but because of who he was,” Torkelson said. “I hope everyone can realize how lucky we were to have him as a WSU student for that brief amount of time. He epitomized a WSU student.” Torkelson said she misses his face every day. At the students’ suggestion, the SHS department will plant a tree in Juneman’s honor outside Daggy Hall with a memorial plaque.

Deja Vu All Over Again?

Dave Oliveria, an associate editor at the Spokesman-Review who runs the "Huckleberries Online" blog (and the blogfather of the Inland Northwest,) sent me this e-mail yesterday:

tom; you might be interested in following this one that i just posted:http://www.spokesmanreview.com/blogs/hbo/archive.asp?postID=22455
-- dfo

It was about two weeks from ExStreamas utterance of "white shitbag" to Kiley Smith's appearance on Hannity & Colmes.

I'm feeling a similar dynamic building again with the fallout from Dinesh D'Souza's lecture and Ed Weber's column. Should be interesting.

"Protest only served prof's cause"

It's official: Ayad Rahmani's "architorture" protest was a big flop. The only thing he succeeded in doing was igniting a debate on teaching methods, not community planning. Hopefully, we've seen the first and last of these arrogant spectacles.

This is Steve McClure's op-ed on behalf of the entire editorial staff that appeared in yesterday's Moscow-Pullman Daily News:

Washington State University professor Ayad Rahmani's faux-protest along Bishop Boulevard played into all the less-desirable stereotypes of a town-gown controversy.

If that was his goal, he succeeded.

Anything beyond that, however, and his gathering students to protest the design of buildings and sidewalks in the developing area of southern Pullman was little more than a publicity stunt.

He argues students didn't have to participate in the March 27 protest, which took place during the regularly scheduled class period. Those who wanted to write a paper arguing their position could receive the same credit.

We find that a bit hollow since most students will choose the path of least resistance - in this case, joining a hundred classmates for a cup of coffee and a picket.

There are hundreds of ways for students at WSU to become engaged in their community. Dropping by a parking lot for a protest two months before graduation hardly ranks near the top of the list.

Those 100 students could have spent that same class hour working with practicing architects to discover how to incorporate the desired aesthetics into an architectural rendering that works for a paying client.

If Rahmani wanted to give his students a strong life lesson, he should send them to planning commission meetings for a sense of how architects and developers work through the process. That also might give those students an idea of the challenges people confront when it comes time to develop property.

A two-mile stretch of road doesn't suddenly convert into a vibrant business district with a wave of a wand - it takes money and usually happens over a period of years.

In other words, teach these students what it will be like when they're pitching their plans to the people who will be financing the construction of their creative vision.

A Real Architect Responds

A self-described former Pullman resident, WSU grad and architect has left a great post on Dnews.com regarding the "architorture" protest last Thursday:

As a former resident of Pullman, a graduate of the School of Architecture, and now a practicing architect, I’m glad to see Pullman growing, and slightly ashamed of this.

If the architecture students want to dedicate their lives protesting each thing in the public realm they find slightly abhorrent, they’re in for a long, frustrating, and largely pointless life. Don’t they know what it means to be “tolerant” of “diversity”? Or do they expect that everything around them should be built to their own pleasing? Their actions are somewhat dismissible; they have no clue what factors actually determine who builds what and why.

My real concern is with the professor and his ilk, for encouraging and promoting this sort of behavior. It’s easy to exist in the confines of a university, and think that your own architectural theories must trump the realities of your client, but it’s an unrealistic and unhealthy expectation to place on the shoulders of students looking for a career. Furthermore, the notion that more and more zoning and design review results in better architecture is fallacious. I wonder; has he worked with and through a building permit process recently?

With professors such as this, and activities of this sort passing as credit, is it any wonder that architecture is as irrelevant and thoughtless as it is today?

"Intellectual diversity enlivens WSU debate"

Now here is a professor we can be proud of. Ed Weber, WSU political science professor and Director of the Thomas S. Foley Public Policy Institute, answered critics in in a guest op-ed in today's Spokesman-Review. He completely gets the idea of intellectual diversity and the tyranny of liberal fascism on campus. I hope his proposal for balanced speakers comes to fruition, and if it does, Danny Schanze, Alex Williams, Chris Del Beccaro, and the other WSU College Republicans will be entitled to a great deal of the credit. Thanks guys, for your courage. The "hegemony of the left-leaning liberal viewpoint" does give everyone who stands against them grief, as Weber states and I know firsthand. But we CAN make a difference by calling them out and not taking it any more, from Wal-Mart to free speech.

On March 26, noted conservative scholar Dinesh D'Souza presented a lecture titled "Racism is not the Problem" at Washington State University's main campus in Pullman. The event was co-sponsored by WSU's Thomas S. Foley Public Policy Institute, along with the Associated Students of WSU, WSU's Residential Housing Authority, and the WSU chapter of the College Republicans.

The question-and-answer period immediately following the talk and ensuing commentary in WSU's campus newspaper, The Evergreen, made clear that many took offense at D'Souza's message, going so far as to accuse D'Souza and, by extension, the Foley Institute of further polarizing the campus on the issue of race, and accusing the Foley of being irresponsible. The Institute has even been challenged to provide immediate "equal time" and to do so quickly lest its mission of, and reputation for, non-partisanship be tarnished.

Allow me to throw a few facts on the table in regard to these requests for turnabout as fair play and the goal of a balanced dialogue, and then draw out the implications.

The Foley was established in 1995 and I have led it since 2001. During that time left-leaning, liberal speakers have outnumbered conservatives in a ratio of four or five to one.

How can this be if we make our decisions based on expertise? In part it is a function of the fact, established by several pieces of social science research, that roughly 90 percent of all social scientists and humanities scholars are either card-carrying Democrats or those with left-of-center values and preferences. An equally illuminating point is that WSU, like so many college campuses today, and especially in the College of Liberal Arts, is clearly more receptive to speakers who espouse liberal Democratic politics and policy views.

While no one has ever stopped me from inviting a conservative speaker to WSU, the hegemony of the left-leaning liberal viewpoint is such that the only grief I've ever received from my advisory board or others is when I have invited John Ashcroft, John Sununu, Mr. D'Souza, and a handful of others to campus under the Foley banner. I have never been interrogated or otherwise questioned about any liberal speaker so invited.

The thing is, I've never cared what side of the intellectual diversity divide someone stands on -- my job is to bring in excellent speakers who will make us think, and perhaps rethink our established positions. But there is a cost, emotional and otherwise, to fighting the inevitable "geez, why did you invite that fascist Ashcroft to WSU?" or "are you sure the Foley should be associated with such an outlandish (i.e., conservative) view?"

As a result, I have shied away from inviting too many of "the wrong kind" of intellectual. For that lack of courage I must apologize to all of the conservatives on campus -- students, staff and professors -- and in the surrounding communities of Washington State. I should have fought harder to bring more conservative voices to campus.

So here is my first proposal to meet the request for fair play and a balancing of the intellectual scales so that true intellectual diversity comes to WSU. Over the next 10 years, the Foley Institute should dedicate roughly 70 to 80 percent of its considerable programming resources to respected and strongly conservative speakers.

On a second and more concrete level, I propose that WSU immediately commission a working group comprised of university leaders, students and staff to establish an annual high profile, world-class lecture series in Pullman devoted to the theme of intellectual diversity. The series should be run by the Foley Institute and will consist of two lectures each year with one devoted to the liberal side and the other to a conservative position. WSU will need roughly $130,000 per year to support the series. The Foley can contribute $30,000, WSU students (ASWSU) can add $30,000, and WSU's administration can contribute the remaining funds for the first five years. Everyone together will then accept the challenge of raising the roughly $3 million needed to endow the series.

As director of the Foley Institute, and as a scientist and teacher who embraces the marketplace of ideas, I am saddened by those who choose to characterize D'Souza's ideas as polarizing and some who challenge the very right of D'Souza to share his conservative views on race with WSU. One thing I am certain of is this: the Foley Institute did WSU and the state of Washington a great service by enlivening the debate over race precisely because it directly challenged and broke the monopolistic hold at WSU of a singular, politically correct view on the race issue.

This should be our mission in higher education. Why? Because great universities thrive and embrace rather than shrink from the marketplace of ideas. Nor do they allow "offended" parties to dictate the substance of dialogue. My challenge to WSU is simply this: which one will we choose to be?

Quote of the Year

There is no really good area outside of what’s on campus.

- WSU architecture professor Ayad Rahmani passsing judgment on Pullman, "Architecture students protest on Bishop Boulevard," The Daily Evergreen, April 1, 2008

Rahmani hopes his imperious and insulting comments will "generate some intelligent discussion."

Runner-Up:

Each building is completely independent from one another

Livin' in the AmeriKKKa

The WSU College Republicans sent the following e-mail to the faculty members of the WSU Comparative Ethnic Studies department:

CES Department,

I would like to cordially invite you and your students to an eye-opening guest speaker, Dinesh D'Souza. A former Reagan Policy Analyst, now one of America's best selling authors, Dinesh D'Souza is coming to Pullman to discuss the state of American race politics and other issues surrounding the modern era. This eye-opening speaker will be hosted on Tuesday, March 25, at 7:30pm in CUE 203. This is going to be a great learning opportunity for all of those in attendance. It may be conducive to offer extra-credit to your students to entice them away from their busy schedules to experience this prominent speaker. I hope to see you there!

Featured sponsors: The Foley Institute, Young America's Foundation, ASWSU, RHA and the WSU College Republicans

Kelvin Monroe, a CES instructor, responded as follows:

This is great learning opportunity indeed for our students to witness neo-conservative race politics (masquerading as Liberal universalism) in our modern era. D'Souza and his contemporaries--W. J. Wilson, F. Fukuyama, S. P. Huntington--are a great example--and indeed a good learning moment--of a revitalized enlightenment project (liberal at its absolutely best) in the Amerikkka. Lack of response to Katrina is only one many great examples of this country's Race politics. Reagan, I think of de-industrialization, New jack drug policies, trickle down economics, the list goes on....

I would suggest that the college republicans go learn some history. We got it over here in CES...

Our students should be more concern with the persistence of a War fought on ghostly premises. Do the research. Stop watching Fox, drink water and not Kool-aid.

Take care and see you there.
Peace
K.J.M.

Another CES instructor, Sarah Hengtes, forwarded the CRs e-mail and Monroe's response to her students with this note:

Dear Class,

Sometimes students take this class and want to hear "the other side." While this class presents a variety of opinions as well as "the other side" to much of what we learn in elementary and high school, there is also another "side" that we don't spend time on in class. This other side is the Neo-Conservative view of race and racism. While we don't discuss these views much, we have been discussing some of the effects of such views in class. (For instance, what happened in Tulia or Jena.)

This being said, there is a unique opportunity for you all to hear this "other side" and to get some extra credit in the process. In fact, you all have been invited by the College Republicans to attend a talk by Dinesh D'Souza entitled, "Racism is Not the Problem." March 25, CUE 203 7:30 pm. I highly reccommend this event and I would like to hear your thouhts about, and critical analysis of, D'Souza's talk.

Below is the e-mail invite from the president of the College Republicans as well as a response from a CES faculty member. I hope you will attend, ask questions, and formulate your own ideas.

Sarah

I don't know what's worse. Monroe's use of "Amerikka" or Hengtes' apparent acceptance of the term.

Your higher-education tax dollars at work....

Quote of the Day

Angela Congdon thinks the city of Pullman could have done better when planning Bishop Boulevard.

The 21-year-old Washington State University student said the boulevard's box stores (?) and strip malls add no quality to the Pullman community and detract from the well-planned, pedestrian-friendly downtown area.

"There's no cohesion," she said of recent construction along the boulevard. "Everything is random."

[...]

Congdon, who came to Pullman from the north Seattle area, said she likely wouldn't have initiated the protest without Rahmani's leadership. But she wanted to leave her mark on Pullman, since she soon will leave town to finish her degree at WSU-Spokane.

-"Students protest city's 'architorture'," Moscow-Pullman Daily News, March 28, 2008

Bye Angela. Don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out.

Don't forget to e-mail Professor Ayad Rahmani at arahmani@wsu.edu and WSU President Elson Floyd at floyde@wsu.edu and let them how you feel about the taxpayer-funded insulting of Pullman during "Cougar Pride Days."