September,
17, 2003
Dear
Colleagues,
Today
(Sept.17), our Senate was discussing McGill's budget with a deficit of $0.3
million for the year ending May 31, 2003. Almost exactly the same amount of
money we pay from this budget for the new Principal's salary (in fact secretly
increased). There is something very
symbolic in this equation and correlates with some doubts presented below.
Yours,
Censored
observer
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"The Principal from McGill - ?"
When our present principal was at the University of
Toronto, her actions were described as “unfitting for a university official”. That was a few years ago and instead of
apologizing she said “I feel comfortable with my actions”. A dean who portrayed her language when
dealing with a medical company as “obsequious and not fitting for a senior
academic U of T leader” was soon after quickly retiring.
Now Mrs. Heather Munroe-Blum, as McGill leader,
arrogantly ignores her basic duty to reply to letters raising serious ethical
problems caused by her protection of censorship and superior treatment of the
staff members that even includes our professors and TAs (http://www.spop.addr.com/Senate.htm). It seems that she also “feels comfortable
with (her) actions” at McGill.
However, we a have a right to have a respectable person at the strategic
top position. Instead of humbly taking care to maintain a good role model our
principal recently sent us a letter about Mrs. Kate Williams, which is similarly
“not fitting for a senior academic” such as she behaved before at U of
T.
Probably she doesn’t feel morally obliged to respect the
majority since she was appointed by a few individuals behind closed doors. Right now the majority of staff do not have
any input, but after starting to freely express some comments about the most
ridiculous actions of our bombastic local administrators we can create more
opportunities for democratization of McGill’s stagnant infrastructures.
The “Kate Williams “ letter shown below from the
Principal was e-mailed at the end of August to a few thousands of people at
McGill. It manifests a peculiar
attitude of people who feel above others and try to patronize them more as their chosen “Mothers or
Fathers”. For such people it is normal
to ignore the interest of the majority and not provide answers for
critical letters or introduce censorship.
It reflects
on a micro-scale our situation in the future globalized world as McGill is
faithfully introducing policies of some powerful forces toward this direction.
That
partially explains why, instead of seeing them working truly hard to improve
this University, they are busier “scratching each other’s backs, mimicking smarter
animals who strengthen their herd bonds in this way” (quoted from the enclosed
letter to the principal).
It becomes
obvious that, rather than just “officiating” over the further decline of
ethical and moral administration of McGill, Dr. Munroe-Blum is appointed to
actively encourage it.
Shall we stand quietly by and
allow the growing arrogance?
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The e-mailed letter from the Principal to a few thousands
of people at McGill was:
August
25,2003.
Dear colleagues,
After 13 years as Director of the McGill University Relations Office, Kate
Williams is stepping down at the end of November to join her husband, Roger, on
an eight-month sabbatical.
Always a gracious and dedicated professional, Kate has served the University
with judgment, intelligence and a golden feel for McGill's history and values.
Widely known as "Mother McGill" for her tremendous knowledge of the
University, her unparalleled range of contacts throughout the community, and
her personal warmth, Kate will be sorely missed.
I am grateful that Kate has agreed to assist in the search for her successor.
On her return to Montreal next fall, I am hopeful that McGill will be able to
draw once again on Kate's talent and experience in a senior capacity.
In the meantime, I know that the entire McGill community joins me in thanking
Kate for her leadership and loyalty and in wishing her and Roger a rewarding
sabbatical.
Heather Munroe-Blum
Principal and Vice-Chancellor
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The still
ignored letter and response by our Principal as three times before:
August 31, 2003-09-04
Att: Dr. Heather Munroe-Blum – The
Principal, McGill University
845 Sherbrooke Street
West, Montreal, QC H3A 2T5 Fax: 398-4768
Dear Dr. Munroe-Blum,
Just before the
inauguration of our new academic year, we are informed by your e-mail letter of
last week (enc.1) that
“after 13 years as Director of the McGill University Relations Office, Kate
Williams is stepping down at the end of November to join her husband, Roger, on
an eight-month sabbatical.”
Perhaps it is critical
that the few people working with Mrs. Williams to read your longer description
about her renown: “a gracious and dedicated professional … with judgement,
intelligence … a golden feel for McGill … her tremendous knowledge of the University,
her unparalleled range of contacts throughout the community, and her personal
warmth.” But quite surely it is
unnecessary for the majority of McGill workers to learn of Ms. Williams’
eminence? It sounds glorious, but after filtering your
rhetorical ornament the above qualities are the basic requirements for this
well-paid and prestigious position. The
most controversial of your statements is your enthusiastic description of her: “widely known as Mother McGill.”
Dr. Munroe-Blum, is it really necessary to
inundate all
the McGill staff members’ inboxes with such aphorisms? Might not this practice give reasonable
grounds for a cynical attitude on the workers’ part, which could even harm our
working relationships?
It is sad to see McGill
workers addressed with similar propaganda to that used on invaded, exploited and
dispossessed societies. The poor people
there were manipulated to loudly applaud and almost to worship their “Mothers
or Fathers,” and promoting the same sort of mental attitude at McGill is very
suspicious. Also highly questionable
is your generous special offer of a sabbatical break for this non-academic
worker, as practically no-one from this category of worker can expect such a
long rest during their continuous working life prior to retirement. On top of that only a tiny fraction of the
academic rank can afford for their life partners to join them, which magnifies
McGill’s generosity in the case of Mrs. Williams. This generosity is mitigated by the fact that the majority gets
the absolute minimum and in some cases the money may even be taken from the
poorest to make up the difference.
It is hard to read
between the lines, and we don’t know if this offer for Mrs. Williams represents
a special deal for silently stepping down from McGill’s “propaganda
ministry.” However, the point is that
the overpaid McGill elite (evidence for which includes the secretly increase of
over $300,000 to the principal’s salary) is very busy scratching each other’s
backs, mimicking smarter animals who strengthen their herd bonds in this way.
Are you trying to teach
us that besides our normal work we must also worship and fear the networked
managers, who after adopting us as their “children” will be treated as
“separate but more equal” members of the McGill community?
Probably it is time to
initiate discussions about the very basic values that should be maintained,
respected and promoted in communal life at our University. We have many more important problems that
need to be addressed by you as well, Dr.
Munroe-Blum, as principal, instead of calling for “the entire McGill
community (to) join (you) in thanking Kate for her leadership and loyalty and
in wishing her and Roger a rewarding sabbatical.”
Your choice of E-mail as a form of communication with the all staff members has the advantage of being very direct and fast, but you should not undermine your own credibility when using this for what seems to be a rather private correspondence. This letter using first names only (“Roger,” “Kate”) and many other informal details that are absolutely not important for the majority should be addressed only to this family, and perhaps to your close circle of friends.
Dr. Munroe-Blum, please respect yourself in
representing us. Your assurances for introducing more transparency, democracy
and openness into McGill would be more then welcomed now!
Sincerely,
Slawomir Poplawski
P.S. This letter is intentioned to stop the “palestinization
of people at McGill” (http://www.spop.addr.com)
that has been introduced by the previous principal Mr. B. Shapiro.
P.P.S. I have addressed
previous letters to you that you still have not answered.
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Conclusions:
McGill reflects the world, including the process of globalization. Some
of our notables represent a freshly emerging class of rulers who consciously or
subconsciously are “making” people easier to control.
Creating a selective system of education is an important step in this
direction, accelerating the polarization of society and making people more
susceptible to manipulation.
On our local scale, recent principals have pushed hard for McGill’s privatization.
They have wasted money inviting paid guests from around the globe to celebrate
a bureaucrat’s departure during an expensive seminar (http://www.spop.addr.com/tribz1.jpg,
http://www.spop.addr.com/OPEN3xy.htm)
and “ordaining” the next one as the new jack-in-office (http://www.spop.addr.com/blum.htm)
during an absurd “Oscar” ceremony. Note too their generosity in raising their
own salaries.
Everything that causes an increase in the cost of studying is good for
these people, as it will eventually force the government to allow the
privatization of McGill. Similarly, our notables are behind a Trojan horse
known as the “superhospital”, which is going to drain our public Medicare
system and make health care less accessible to the pauperized majority. It is
clear which kids are going to study (and are studying) the most profitable and
socially strategic disciplines (to control the masses) in our fully privatized
university with tuitions of over $30,000. Medicine and law are already the most
expensive faculties with a peculiar system of selection whereby their students
are not a reflection of our demographic structure and are not even necessarily
the best. It is easy to foresee Outremont or Westmount residents presenting
medical recommendations from their influential fellow MDs, trying to justify
using the most sophisticated equipment in their “superhospital for
super-people” (http://www.spop.addr.com/g6.jpg)
as soon as someone so much as coughs. Yet the poorest will be left at the mercy
of Mother Nature when struggling with pneumonia.
To help break the spirit of freedom and independence in the majority, this new system needs a special elite. They are not checked for top qualifications, but for their loyalty to the dominant powers and their herd instinct. Of course, professional politicians are the best embodiment of such virtues, but McGill can proudly recreate this peculiar category of people from not only its Vichy-type bureaucrats but also some of its professors. The leading political example is the emerging new Liberal leader (the former finance minister Paul Martin), a well-tested slave to international financial sharks. He permanently broke the Canadian Medicare system by taking away five billion dollars from our health and education on the advice of the IMF. Our local equivalent, the principal, mimicked him faithfully on a smaller scale, when working at the University of Toronto, with “actions unfitting for a university official”. She has been at McGill for nine months now and has produced nothing remarkable as a visionary strategy for the University, has shown support only for censoring information (http://www.spop.addr.com/b0.htm, http://www.spop.addr.com/Senate.htm, http://www.spop.addr.com/w0a.htm ) and made it clear that her continued existence here is only justified if she is assigned the task of continuing the march toward McGill privatization.
Shall we stand quietly by and allow this social sabotage?
