3.916 rewards in heaven, not here (68)
Willard McCarty (MCCARTY@vm.epas.utoronto.ca)
Tue, 9 Jan 90 21:46:42 EST
Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 3, No. 916. Tuesday, 9 Jan 1990.
(1) Date: Tue, 9 Jan 90 00:25:00 EST (20 lines)
From: KESSLER <IME9JFK@OAC.UCLA.EDU>
Subject: Re: 3.911 freeloading humanists (34)
(2) Date: Tue, 9 Jan 90 10:00:00 EST (28 lines)
From: EIEB360@UTXVM
Subject: 3.904 do ut des, and where we are
(1) --------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Tue, 9 Jan 90 00:25:00 EST
From: KESSLER <IME9JFK@OAC.UCLA.EDU>
Subject: Re: 3.911 freeloading humanists (34)
Isnt it that Mr Coombs forgets the fact that the libraries and sevices
he partakes so freely of are supported by the public, by the State, by
taxes, via endowments, gifts, inheritances, etc? Res publica? I
recall a poet friend in Budapest, who took me to a concert a few years
ago, as a guest of the State, to hear Janos Starker. Wonderful, said I.
Very cheap, said he. Who pays? said I. He was startled. The people, I
guess. For a few privileged esthetes like us, I said. Has the CP
asked the people? No, it takes. There are dangers here. When the
people wake up and say they want their crack, every penny, and it is not for
the State or the scholars to browse free in libraries, then Prof Coombs
will bethink himself. One shouldnt get used to freebies. They have to
be fought for and justified, and as one sees since 1950, there is not
so much $$$ available for the Humanists. Millions for the new science
prof's lab, but not even mail or xeroxing for the likes of us. Kessler
at UCLA.
(2) --------------------------------------------------------------38----
Date: Tue, 9 Jan 90 10:00:00 EST
From: EIEB360@UTXVM
Subject: 3.904 do ut des, and where we ar
About freebies and expectations: here's a simple instance. I have on my
office desk a Macintosh SE HD20, which I received some two years ago as
the result of a successful grant application. The machine is listed on
my Department's inventory, and tagged with a University inventory label.
About six or seven weeks ago, the monitor simply went dead, black.
Nada. O woe! Aha, I thought, we can solve this; and I went to the
Chair's office, informed him that my (University-owned) Mac was in need
of repair. He said there was no money, that it was customary for
faculty who had received computers from that particular source to pay
for repairs out of their own pockets. I pointed out that much of the
information that was now inaccessible to me was related to work I did as
part of departmental service (there's also scholarly stuff, of course).
To no avail. I lost my temper, said I thought this was unacceptable.
He suggested it might be possible to contact the Dean, who would perhaps
release the funds. I went to the Dean, told him my sad story. He said,
"Have the Chairman write me a letter, and I'll act on it." The Chair
wrote the Dean (Associate Dean, actually) a letter-- and the Associate
Dean acted on it as he promised: he wrote me a letter saying "No."
(Actually he wrote it to the Chair, and sent me a copy.) Is it
unreasonable of me, think you, to expect the University (one of the
wealthiest in the entire world) to pay a couple of hundred dollars to
fix a machine on its own inventory? Does anyone think I'd be expected
to pay for repairs myself if I were in, say, the Business School?
John Slatin