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September, 2003 Volume 18, Issue 1 - Outrageous! |
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By Martin M. Goldstein
There’s a wonderful scene towards the end of Lawrence of Arabia, in which a stuffy British medical officer, played marvelously by Howard Marion-Crawford enters into the Turkish hospital in Damascus, a city recently occupied by both the “Arab army” (led by Lawrence) and the British regular army led by Gen. Allenby. Looking around at the hundreds of badly wounded Turkish soldiers laying in filth, with no running water, flies buzzing about, the officer huffs and puffs and finally bellows, “Outrageous! This is... Outrageous!”
Lawrence, helpless and aghast himself at the Dante-esque horror before him, and still dressed as an Arab, watches this with disbelief, finally letting out a maniacal giggle -- whereupon he is struck across the face by the officer, who stalks off with a final, summatory, “Outrageous!”
Well, we got “Outrageous!” right here at SMC, and plenty of it.
We have it Four Hundred fold, in fact, once each for the 400 fine faculty members who have lost their jobs here last spring and this fall. Over Four Hundred, 40% of the those here a year ago, are gone. That Four Hundred of our colleagues have been let go, two out of every five, probably for good, is outrageous. Even Roman decimations were only one it ten, and those got a word named after them.
Here, with virtually no discussion, under the comfortable assumption that part-timers are just cannon fodder anyway, intrinsically designed to be laid off when necessary or convenient, ready-made sacrifices to the bitch-goddess “flexibility,” the Four Hundred are gone, riding off into the valley of unemployment with nary a trumpet call nor an elegiac poem to mark their passing.
As outrageous as this is, like genocides in Africa conveniently left for the back pages, the latest actions of the President in response to it are even more so. We were there at the aborted Opening Ceremonies, as she and her minions attempted to orchestrate a face-saving moment, and we appreciate the courage of Academic Senate President Lesley Kawaguchi for piercing the veil of denial that day.
But in all of it, we heard little to nothing about the Four Hundred part-time teachers who are gone. We had some mourning about others, and much about herself, but nothing really about us, who are clearly the most damaged entity still left on campus. Four Hundred is a lot of people to lose in six months.
No, we heard little to nothing about that, and much about anti-Cuban bigots burning messages on lawns, as if they were metaphorically comparable to the overwhelming voices of the faculty and classified as expressed in an open and democratically run election. Now that’s outrageous, but unfortunately typical of the lack of sensitivity and compassion that has defined her tenure here at SMC.
At this point we are beyond disappointed. We are disgusted, and we are outraged, and we are just getting started. Like Howard Beale in Network, “We’re mad as hell, and we’re not going to take it anymore!” But also, unfortunately, as in Patton, when the General rallies his officers before heading into the Battle of the Bulge (sounds like our budget) -- “If we are not victorious, let no one come back alive!”
He was kidding, but we are not. If we’re not victorious here, many more of us including this Advocate, certainly will not have long to live at SMC. But we have lost too much and too many already, and while there is no time to mourn, there is an obligation to speak out in the name of the membership we represent.
The actions of our President Piedad F. Robertson are outrageous, and speaking as the Advocate, in harmony with the wonderful community of souls that make up Santa Monica College, we have reached the point where we believe nothing short of her retirement can soothe that outrage.
If she decides to stay, it is clear that for the remainder of her tenure here as President we will continue to be outraged and in turmoil. And we must sadly conclude that if she does choose to stay, it will be because that’s what she wants, and she must be judged accordingly.
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