Below is the post I wrote on the blog, Knowledge and Experience, and shall adapt in a letter to WashU. I'm grateful to Laurie Shrage for testifying to her experience that letters can be effective.
Friday, May 09, 2008
Higher Education and honorary doctorates <http://knowledgeandexperience.blogspot.com/2008/05/higher-education-and-honorary.html>
I was going to refrain from spending too much time on Washington U's decision to award an honorary doctorate to Phyllis Schlafly, until a professor on facebook reminded us all of this, among many, particular gems <http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=13101492771&topic=4369> by Schlafly, from just a few years ago:
How does it make you feel to know that 547,667 places in U.S. colleges were occupied by foreign students in the academic year just ended?
Seeing this quote prompted me to think several things. First, the answer: It makes me incredibly proud to be in service to higher education.
But then I pondered the decision of WashU to honor the author of that statement, not just with a platform, which I'd celebrate, but with a degree, before some of the very "foreign students" she would deny. And then, I felt very ashamed to be in service to higher education, if this is our practice.
Kathryn J. Norlock
Associate Professor of Philosophy
St. Mary's College of Maryland
18952 E. Fisher Rd.
St. Mary's City, MD 20686
240-895-4337 (ph)
240-895-4436 (fax)
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________________________________
From: Feminist ethics and social theory on behalf of Laurie Shrage
Sent: Fri 5/9/2008 3:24 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Wash U and Phyllis Schlafly
Below is a copy of the letter I've emailed. I co-authored the Senate resolution I refer to in my letter (below), which we sent off campus to friends and supporters. A colleague of mine in our president's office, at the time, told me that they received hundreds of emails and faxes each day, supporting our resolution. When we debated the resolution in the senate, the campus community was split and it was a close vote. Someone mentioned the numbers of faxes and emails at the senate meeting and this helped give greater legitimacy to our protest. By 1998, Mugabe had made many of his public homophobic remarks, and human rights groups had documented many abuses, but many still saw him a great anti-colonial leader. The opposition to giving Mugabe an honorary doctorate (of humane letters) on our campus was led by our LGBT faculty/staff and supporters and it was great that we won. Laurie
From: Laurie Shrage
Sent: Friday, May 09, 2008 10:54 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: honorary doctorate to Phyllis Schlafly
Dear Chancellor Wrighton,
I am saddened and disturbed by the decision of your campus to honor Phyllis Schlafly with an honorary doctorate. I do not oppose your inviting Schlafly to speak on your campus, as I believe all views should be heard and debated at a university. However, awarding an honorary doctorate implies praise and endorsement for the work of the person to whom the degree is awarded.
A decade ago, my campus decided to award an honorary doctorate to Robert Mugabe, the President of Zimbabwe. Our faculty and students protested, and our campus Senate passed a resolution against awarding the degree (see: http://www.dailybulletin.com/ci_8856319 ). Fortunately, Mugabe withdrew his acceptance of the invitation to speak at our commencement when he heard about the protest, and the degree was never awarded. Today, our administrators are grateful that faculty and students had the courage and wisdom to save our campus from a poor and embarrassing decision, one that would have hurt the reputation of our campus for years to come.
I hope you will listen to your faculty and students. The decision to honor Schlafly by awarding her this degree is highly offensive to those who believe in women's equality and full participation in our society, and it will make us question the commitment of your institution to women's achievement and equality for years to come.
Laurie Shrage, Professor
Philosophy Department <http://www.class.csupomona.edu/phl/>
California State Polytechnic University <http://www.csupomona.edu/>
Pomona, CA 91768
[log in to unmask]
909-869-4453
http://www.csupomona.edu/~ljshrage/
________________________________
From: Feminist ethics and social theory [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Renee
Sent: Friday, May 09, 2008 10:18 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Wash U and Phyllis Schlafly
Lena,
There is also an online partition board for starting and collecting partitions. You could start a petition, and distribute the URL to various feminist lists and then present the final petition to the board or at least let the facebook people know about such an option.
One of the things you want to do, is to maximize public exposure. Perhaps NPR would be interested in the growing controversy. Maximize whatever Washington U would consider adverse publicity.
renee
----- Original Message -----
From: Mona Lena Krook <mailto:[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Friday, May 09, 2008 1:00 PM
Subject: Wash U and Phyllis Schlafly
Dear all,
I am a professor at Washington University, mentioned at the beginning of the Pollitt article published on-line yesterday. If you would like to join the protest against awarding an honorary doctorate to Phyllis Schlafly, I would encourage you to send a letter to our Chancellor, Mark Wrighton, at [log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]> , copied to contacts for the Board of Trustees, [log in to unmask] and [log in to unmask] .
Our students have done a wonderful job organizing this effort. They have set up a Facebook group (see http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=13101492771 <http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=13101492771> ) to spread the word (now up to more than 2400 members); the graduating seniors and grad students have set up another page (see http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=13016742698 <http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=13016742698> ) to coordinate protest at the commencement ceremony (up to more than 900). On both pages, they have included links to news items on this event and some background on Schlafly.
I just thought I'd let you all know, in case you would like to spread the word, send a letter, or even just express solidarity with our students.
Best wishes,
Mona Lena Krook
"Callahan, Joan" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
Katha Pollitt -- a much-needed rant (my word):
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080526/pollitt <http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080526/pollitt>
Joan Callahan
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