6.0512 More Rs: MLA and Collective Bargaining (2/50

Elaine Brennan (EDITORS@BROWNVM.BITNET)
Mon, 15 Feb 1993 15:08:17 EST

Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 6, No. 0512. Monday, 15 Feb 1993.


(1) Date: Sun, 14 Feb 93 21:12:31 CST (27 lines)
From: Norman Hinton <hinton@eagle.sangamon.edu>
Subject: Re: 6.0506 Rs: MLA and Collective Bargaining

(2) Date: Mon, 15 Feb 1993 12:45 EST (23 lines)
From: Jim_Cahalan <JCAHALAN@IUP.BITNET>
Subject: Re: 6.0506 Rs: MLA and Collective Bargaining

(1) --------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Sun, 14 Feb 93 21:12:31 CST
From: Norman Hinton <hinton@eagle.sangamon.edu>
Subject: Re: 6.0506 Rs: MLA and Collective Bargaining (2/36)

I am an AFT member: I didn't intend to be, but it happened on our campus and
I must say it has been not only better than I thought but even useful and
worth preserving, although our Administration's response to Unionization has
been almost dysfunctional on occasion.

I have long since given up on expecting anything at all from the MLA, even
common sense. I recall the days when we were trying to get it to even admit
that the VietNam War was going on....naturally the response was "that does
not concern the profession".

No use trying to fight that fight again, but as far as I can see, the MLA is
good for only one thing, the Annual Bib. I know a lot of medievalists who
have stopped even pretending that the MLA is interested in our scholarship,
though some hang in there, and I certainly wish them the best of luck. But
I'm much happier without the MLA. The annual meeting at Kalamazoo does more
for me as a medievalist than any 10 MLA meetings I ever attended. Thanks
again for the Bib, MLA -- otherwise, no thanks.

(I'm sorry to have had to say this, especially when thinking of my dear
friend John Fisher, and all he did for the profession while working so hard
for the MLA. John, if you are reading this, I certainly did not mean you!)

Norman Hinton
(2) --------------------------------------------------------------34----
Date: Mon, 15 Feb 1993 12:45 EST
From: Jim_Cahalan <JCAHALAN@IUP.BITNET>
Subject: Re: 6.0506 Rs: MLA and Collective Bargaining (2/36)

The MLA should be openly supportive of faculty who chose to unionize. No one
(and no organization) can truly "stay out of" politics. The MLA did not stay
out of politics in the case of would-be reactionary NEH appointments, and it
should not do so in the case of the right of faculty to collective bargaining.
Politics is always with us, whether we like it or not; it's in the air we have
to breathe in order to stay alive. As for Owen Cramer's remark that the only
alternative to AFT and AAUP chapters is a "purely local association or the
university's committee organization," allow me to point to the union I belong
to: APSCUF, the Association of Pennsylvania State College and University
Faculties, which since the 1970s has represented thousands of faculty at the 14
state-owned universities in our state. APSCUF is not a chapter of either the
AFT or the AAUP (both admirable organizations, in my opinion), though it has
maintained affiliations at one time or another with both. Nor is it "purely
local." There are probably other such examples.

Jim Cahalan, English Department BITNET: JCAHALAN@IUP
110B Leonard Hall, Internet: jcahalan@grove.iup.edu
Indiana University of Pennsylvania FAX: 412-357-6213
Indiana, PA 15705-1094 Tel: (412) 357-2262