A further installment of "Read a Memo": Chancellor Katehi's UC-Davis memos

The header to this blog reads Thoughts on book publishing, editing, contemporary poetry, dementia, and teaching by the editor of Tinfish Press. It's time to add one more to these someone high-flown categories listing the obsessions of Tinfish's editor. The new category, which has been touched on more than once before on these virtual pages, is that of "administrative memos." As far as I can tell, the most widely read of my posts was one I wrote in October 2009 in response to a memo from the President of UH, M.R.C. Greenwood, who lamented the UH faculty's refusal to sign a contract that would have cut salaries with no promise of pay-back. What struck me most strongly about that memo was the president's use of pronouns. Where naively faculty think of the "we" of the university as its students and faculty, President Greenwood used "we" to denote the administration: "The university is disappointed in the UHPA vote to reject our contract offer." UHPA is the faculty union, and the vote (hence) was that of the faculty. That sentence let us know that "we" were no longer the university, but that--like children--we had disappointed the parental "we" of the university's administration.

This past week has seen "Occupy" demonstrations across the country. After one at Berkeley resulted in a confrontation between police, students, and two prominent poets, including Brenda Hillman and Robert Hass, the latter a former US poet laureate, students at UC-Davis demonstrated. A flurry of protests must needs garner a raft of memos, these from Chancellor Linda P.B. Katehi. Once again, the content of the "we" is at issue.

The first memo, dated 11/18/2011, is written to ask students to take down their tents by 3 p.m., a request that comes only after several paragraphs of administrative prose, asserting at once a desire to support free speech, and the need to shut it down. As later discussions of what would happen that day at Davis revolve around questions of responsibility, I will quote the paragraph in which the Chancellor invokes that word:

However, we also have a responsibility to our entire campus community, including the parents who have entrusted their students to us, to ensure that all can live, learn and work in a safe, secure environment without disruption. We take this responsibility seriously. We are accountable for what occurs on our campus. Campus policies generously support free speech, but do include limited time, place and manner regulations to protect health, safety and the ability of students, staff, and faculty to accomplish the University mission. If an unfortunate incident occurs as a result of violations of these limited regulations, we are all responsible.

I'm not sure who the "we" is here, although I gather it must be an administrative--rather than (or as!) a royal--we. The responsibility is that of guardians of the children of parents who send those kids to UC-Davis, and it's a responsibility that includes the oft-bruited "health" and "safety" rationales used by many of the nation's mayors in recent weeks. Hence, "we are accountable for what occurs on our campus," sounds at first blush like a claim by administration to bear this tough, adult, weight. But the last sentence blurs the "we" into another realm, that of the students: "If an unfortunate incident occurs as a result of violations of these limited regulations, we are all responsible." The "we" has grown to include the student body here. We administrators are responsible for your health and safety until such time as you are not healthy or safe, when it's also your responsibility . . . Rather than take down their tents and patiently await what the Chancellor referred to as, "continued productive and peaceful discourse moving forward," the students held their ground. Many of them locked arms and sat on the sidewalk, while others encircled the area.

What happened next is all over youtube, facebook, and other media, namely the actions of one aptly-named Lt. John Pike, who sprayed seated students with pepper spray as if they were roses infested by bugs, or maybe just bugs. The outcry was immediate, and so was the administrative response. Another memo emerged, also dated 11/18. In it the Chancellor wrote much the same thing she'd written in the first memo. The prose was as if stirred in a large pot, with notions of "health" and "safety" and responsibility to parents circulating with only slightly more agitation than in the first memo of the day. But this prose does not serve as advance warning, which includes a notion of administrative responsibility; rather, it serves the purpose of removing responsibility from the equation, at least from Admin's point of view. Hence, the re-word "responsibility" comes to be replaced by the re-word, "regret," as in: "We deeply regret that many of the protesters today chose not to work with our campus staff and police to remove the encampment as requested. We are even more saddened by the events that subsequently transpired to facilitate their removal." In this sentence, "we" are back among the administration, but this "we" is not responsible, but somehow sad that their responsibility came to naught. If regret replaces responsibility for the administrators, then responsibility must be given over to "the protesters," many of whom--she writes--are not from UC-Davis at all, but from the "outside."

The ethical continental divide comes in the sentence after the one about "protesters" who "chose"--active ones!--in the next sentence: "We are even more saddened by the events that subsequently transpire to facilitate their removal." It was not Lt. Pike who removed them, in large part by spraying chemicals in their faces and then having them forcibly taken away, it was "the events that transpired." These events transpired not to remove them, but to "facilitate their removal."

Student response to these memos and the actions ordained, excused, and then displaced by them, was brilliant. Students surrounded the building the Chancellor was meeting in. When she finally emerged from the building, she was obliged to walk several blocks to her car in the dark, surrounded by students seated (as their pepper-sprayed colleagues had been) on the ground. No one made a sound. This use of silence was beautiful, and also politically effective. Silence carried a weight that was spiritual (both for the chancellor forced to examine herself on that walk, and for the students who were as-if--or who were--meditating together). Silence was the fullest of possible reponses. See video of her walk here.

The OED tells me that "responsibility" means:

1. Capability of fulfilling an obligation or duty; the quality of being reliable or trustworthy.

But it's more than that; the word "responsibility" includes within it the word "response." Responses are of many kinds, but responsible responses are, if we follow Steel's argument (after the parable of the Samaritan), neighborly. Suffice it to say that the police response to students at UC-Davis, was not neighborly, even if it was a response. Yesterday, I wrote about Leonard Schwartz's discussion of "little anger" and "big anger" in his new poems and in conversation. I'd like to transpose the "big anger" that shows itself not as anger but as something else (whether it's carnival or silence) into Steel's reading of neighborliness, while acknowledging that neither Brecht nor Schwartz are Christian, nor Steel necessarily angry. But if our (and I use "our" advisedly) anger is to be creative rather than corrosive, we need to transmute it into something like neighborliness. Let that be a responsibility between peers, not between parents, their proxies in university administration, and the rest of us children. Those kids last night were not much seen or heard, but their message was eloquently delivered.

Budget Memo Slam

Blog friends:

Since last I murdered to dissect the memos of UH's Chancellor and President, each has pixellated another memo. (Previous readings of Greenwood and Hinshaw can be found here and here.) In the dawn wisdom of 4 a.m. Tuesday, the legislature decided against almost all of the newest proposed cuts of UH. In lieu of performing yet more close-readings of administrative memos, readings that net this blog far more readers than any more loving attentions to teaching or poetry (I must add), I am setting up a Budget Memo Slam. Vote for the best memo of the two that follow. Consider several questions as you weigh the scales of justice.

--Which memo best engages its audience?
--Which memo best addresses the audience of which you consider yourself a member?
--Which memo uses the best and strongest verbs?
--Which memo avoids the most clumsy, cliche-ridden, rhetorical fumblings?
--which memo shows the best control of detail?
--which memo shows the most considered use of Hawaiian words?
--which of these administrators would you follow to the barricades?

Please offer up your votes in the comment stream. 1 indicates an epic fail and 10 denotes a rhetorical perfect game. You may also provide a brief commentary as to why you voted as you did. The winner of the slam will get a copy of a Tinfish publication via the campus mail. If it ever arrives, she may enjoy reading it. Your deadline is Friday by high noon when I will tally the results and send out the prize. Feel free to suggest which publication will most suit your winner, as well.


The first memo that came down the transom this time was from Chancellor Virginia Hinshaw. Here it goes:


Mahalo to the many campus and community members who stepped forward to support UH Mânoa in response to our recent Budget Alert. Your active, strong response sent a loud and clear message regarding the damage that would be created by the proposed reductions of $59M in SB2695 (http://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/session2010/bills/SB2695_HD1_PROPOSED_.htm).

Your actions, including visits, emails, phone calls, and testimonies, were impressive and impacting. I offer a special note of appreciation to the strong, passionate group of folks who spent many hours with us at the Capitol during the Committee hearing this group included our students, faculty, staff, administrators, alumni, donors, business leaders, emeriti and current Regents mahalo for your extra effort in being there and staying into the early morning hours.

The good news is that today the House Finance Committee reduced its proposed cuts of almost $59M for UH to only $2M; however, our contention is that no additional cuts should be made. So, unfortunately, our struggles are not yet over. Still alive is also another proposed cut of $10 million for UH (http://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/session2010/lists/measure_indiv.aspx?billtype=HB&billnumber=2200) this is in addition to our current reductions of $66 million which represents 26% of UH Mânoas State general funds. Please continue to keep in close communication with your legislators at (http://www.capitol.hawaii.gov).

In the remaining month of the legislative session, we must maintain the pressure and the presence of our voices. There are three activities we must all pursue:

· educating government and community decision-makers about the value UH Mânoa provides as a major generator of educated citizens, new knowledge, jobs and resources for Hawai'i;

· emphasizing the reality that the future of Hawaii depends on strong state support of higher education, especially to maintain its sole leading research 1 institution;

· demanding that UH Mânoa not be cut any more in fact, we need to be discussing restoration of support.

I will strive to keep the campus informed as developments emerge and I hope you continue to share your ideas with me: vhinshaw@hawaii.edu

Mahalo for your support,

Virginia S. Hinshaw
Chancellor, University of Hawai'i at Mânoa


The second memo comes in from President M.R.C. Greenwood of the UH system:


Dear university colleagues,

On Sunday evening, we wrote to you to let you know that SB2695, proposed HD1 (which can be found online at http://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/session2010/Bills/SB2695_HD1_PROPOSED_.htm ), included a $59 million cut to our special funds budget. We explained what such a cut could mean to the University of Hawai'i's future and asked for your assistance. We are deeply gratified by your strong and impressive show of support for the University of Hawai'i in these crucial days at the state Legislature - and we are proud to say that your support has yielded positive results.

In response to our call for help in fending off this sudden move in the House Finance Committee that would have reduced the university's budget by an additional $59 million, our students, faculty, staff, administrators and community supporters came through to help us avert virtually all of these additional cuts. Your support sent a clear message that higher education is crucial to Hawai'i's future.

In a matter of 48 hours, our university and community network urgently spread the word and managed to garner more than 70 pieces of written testimony opposing the cuts. More than 100 people showed up at the Monday evening hearing to lend their support, with dozens staying into the early morning hours with us to give personal testimony in support of the university.

Thanks to all of you, at 4 a.m. Tuesday morning, the House Finance Committee voted to eliminate all of the cuts targeting the university, except a $2 million reduction from the Housing Assistance Revolving Fund. Your support, passion and commitment to this university made it clear to legislators that UH is vital to Hawai'i and its economy.

Because of your strong and impressive support, the university avoided cuts that would have included:
* $20 million from the Tuition and Fees Special Fund
* $15 million from the Cancer Research Special Fund
* $11 million from the Revenue-Undertakings Fund
* $10 million from the Research and Training Revolving Fund
* $750,000 from the Information Technology and Services Special Fund

While we are relieved to have this reprieve, we must remember that the legislative session is not over. Crucial decisions will be made during these remaining weeks of the legislative session, and we must remain vigilant, stay connected and continue to advocate strongly for the University of Hawai'i and our future. We must continue to ensure legislators understand that we have a major role to play in securing a sound economic future for our state. The state of Hawai'i needs to build intellectual capital as a resource for our future. In line with our strong strategic plan, we will continue to meet the growing demand for higher education as our residents turn to us to help them prepare to meet the challenges of an increasingly competitive workforce. We need to continue to share our success stories as a reservoir of talent and as a revenue generator for the state. With the faculty leading our efforts, 58,000 students are progressing toward their education goals and professionals are
entering their fields. The university also took in more than $400 million in research and training revenue this year, generating jobs and fueling Hawai'i's economy.

Most of all, we encourage you to share your personal stories of what the University of Hawai'i means to you. At the hearing last night, although many testimonies made a difference, it was the passion and clear impact of a UH education seen through the eyes of our students that truly resonated with our legislators. I thank our students on behalf of our institution for their perseverance and strength. The receptiveness of our legislators to take those comments to heart and support higher education in Hawai'i should also be recognized.

Your efforts underscored the pride we have in our important work and the university's vital role and responsibility as Hawai'i's sole public higher education institution. You illustrated in clear terms that - working collaboratively - we can accomplish even the most daunting tasks. We will continue to keep you posted on our legislative progress, and I encourage all of you to continue to be part of our efforts to ensure the University of Hawai'i continues to be a vibrant part of Hawai'i's future. Together, we can get the job done.

Mahalo,
M.R.C. Greenwood

"Like no placebo else on earth": Chancellor Hinshaw's Memo

Almost nothing is quite as inspirational to this poet as a fresh administrative memo, beamed out through the UH email server this morning. I have blogged elsewhere about such memos, responding to them with a mix of critical analysis, the use of a William S. Burroughs cut-up machine, and now--to the tune of a new memo by UHM's Chancellor Virginia Hinshaw--with a noun + 7 machine. Noun + seven is an old avant-garde writing exercise in which you replace every noun with the seventh noun past it in the dictionary. The computer makes this easy, and offers alternatives that range from noun + 1 to noun + 10, in the case of this memo (other texts can be taken to + 15). Paul Hoover operated on Sonnet 56 by Shakespeare with this exercise.

You can read Hinshaw's memo here. Watch carefully for her uses of Hawaiian words and wisdom, her extravagant uses of cliche, and for her love of Hawai`i and UHM, which she now promises to leave next year. To get you into the right mood, I present the opening:

A Time for Transition

Aloha! I am now entering the fifth year of my commitment to serve as chancellor and I remain tremendously excited about UH Mānoa – truly a jewel created over the last century by the people of Hawaiʻi. As I look to the future, I also believe this is an opportune time for me to announce my decision to transition out of my role as chancellor during July 2012, to allow sufficient time to complete a search for a new chancellor.

My favorite Native Hawaiian saying is “By working together, we make progress.” As I review the last four years in my heart and mind, I feel deeply satisfied with the progress we have made by working together. After arriving in 2007, I quickly learned that our campus cherished Mānoa’s “multicultural global experience in a Hawaiian place of learning”, termed the Mānoa Experience. Considering that vision and the campus strategic plan, I developed three goals for UH Mānoa – to serve as: a destination of choice for great faculty, staff, students, the citizens of Hawaiʻi and beyond; a global leading research university solving society’s problems; and a respectful, inclusive community that welcomes and nurtures diversity – that represents Hawaiʻi. After viewing our facilities, I also stated that “UH Mānoa is a jewel in many ways, particularly intellectually, but badly tarnished physically” – a challenge to accomplishing our goals.

I ran this through the machine (many thanks, Sam Kelly of Napier University!) and got the following for noun + 1.

A Timekeeper for Translation
Virginia S. Hinshaw


Aloha! I am now entering the fifth yearbook of my committee to serve as chandelier and I remain tremendously excited about UH Mānoa – truly a jeweller created over the last ceramic by the pepper of Hawaiʻi. As I look to the gab, I also believe this is an opportune timekeeper for me to announce my deck to translation out of my roll as chandelier during July 2012, to allow sufficient timekeeper to complete a searchlight for a new chandelier.

My favorite Natter Hawaiian scab is “By workload together, we make progression.” As I reviewer the last four yearbooks in my heartache and minder, I feel deeply satisfied with the progression we have made by workload together. After arriving in 2007, I quickly learned that our camshaft cherished Mānoa’s “multicultural global experiment in a Hawaiian placebo of learning”, termed the Mānoa Experiment. Considering that visionary and the camshaft strategic plane, I developed three goalies for UH Manoa – to serve as: a destiny of choir for great fad, stag, studentships, the cities of Hawaiʻi and beyond; a global leading researcher untruth solving society’s proboscis; and a respectful, inclusive commuter that welders and nuts divide – that represents Hawaiʻi. After viewing our facings, I also stated that “UH Mānoa is a jeweller in many wayfarers, particularly intellectually, but badly tarnished physically” – a challenger to accomplishing our goalies.

Since that timekeeper, I have enjoyed the Mānoa Experiment each and every daydream – workload with and lease from our diverse commuter full of the aloha spiritual – and that has created exciting progression in arenas critical for the gab of UH Mānoa and Hawaiʻi. Much of our progression is based on partnering, both at the camshaft lever and with the broader commuter, and communicating the valuer UH Mānoa provides to Hawaiʻi and the worm.

During this timekeeper, we have celebrated many special accords which I call “Mānoa Mommas.” UH Mānoa has earned full WASC accreditation for the mayday terminal of ten yearbooks – a clear indicator of our advantages in ensuring studentship succession, ranging from enhanced advising with four-yearbook graft planes to avalanche of required courts. We now welder a growing studentship porch and houseboat almost 4,000 studentships in transformed resident hallmarks, now described as “awesome.” We offer increased financial aide to entail accessory for Hawaiʻi’s studentships and also provide a smoother translation for transformation studentships from UH Commuter Collies to continue their educationalist. Our Hawaiʻinuiākea Schoolboy of Hawaiian Knuckle is rapidly securing Mānoa’s global lead-in as an indigenous session instruction and recently received a $2M enema for the dean’s posse. Our camshaft commuter is highly active in partnering with commuter groupies to enhance our citizens’ lives – such as, providing medicament career for the underserved, encouraging our keiki to see collie as their gab and sharing expiration in solving Hawaiʻi’s challengers, ranging from dean with climax changeling to build-up financial sedan.

“Polishing the Mānoa jewel” is definitely well underway – major-domo renovations / new build-ups / reparations supported through increased statement and private support are evident, such as opera the Center for Microbial Oceanography: Researcher and Educationalist, build-up gauge spacemen, updating clauses, replacing old, enforcement consuming equity and the listener goes on – all with an eyeball to providing a great lease environmentalist – and also demonstrating sustainable practitioners and promoting commuter.

Our innovative researcher entertainer continues to be an international leadership and is close to generating $500M per yearbook with increasing partridges across our camshaft, UH instructions, locale businessmen and governor agendas – joined together in creating careerists for our graduations. Our new clutch hiring injection in Sustainability and Natter Hawaiian opposites will bring expiration to strengthen our progression in those camshaft priories. Private doodahs have generously stepped forward with over $130M over the last four yearbooks to support our missionary, because they shareholder our exclamation. Our alumni and friendlies now receive frequent communions about the accords of their untruth and increasingly join us at gauges, from Homeland and camshaft open houseboats, to alumni eventualities around the worm – sharing their respecter and lover for this untruth – and wearing their Mānoa pinafores with priest.

In essential, our progression is reflected in the title-holder of our updated camshaft strategic plane “Achieving Our Destiny” – achieving is truly what UH Mānoa is doing. Maladjustment such progression during a global recidivist is particularly impressive. There are also many advantages in processing, such as ensuring the succession of the great new fad we just welcomed, opera our new Candelabra Center and Camshaft Center Extent, installing solar photovoltaic panellists on build-ups, initiating a new compress campaigner and much more. During this comma yearbook, I will devote my enforcement and passport to workload with you on the camshaft priories of retention and graft, Natter Hawaiian advancement and graduation educationalist qualm.

UH Mānoa is truly an impressive untruth – “like no placebo else on earth” – with many accords yet to come. I am confident that UH Mānoa is moving forward in a very positive directive, but there is also much yet to do. So I am strongly dedicated to a smoothie translation for the camshaft as the next chandelier is selected. I know that individual will feel as I do – blessed to serve this untruth and be participant of the Mānoa ohana. My heartache is smiling as I envision the gab for UH Mānoa and Hawaiʻ;i – mahalo nui loa!

Virginia S. Hinshaw
Chandelier, Untruth of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa
vhinshawhawaii.edu

Addendum: Maybe better yet (if less pointed than a passage containing the word, "Untruth") than that last paragraph of n + 1 is this n + 10 conclusion:

UH Mānoa is truly an impressive upsweep – “like no plaintiff else on earth” – with many accuracies yet to come. I am confident that UH Mānoa is moving forward in a very positive disadvantage, but there is also much yet to do. So I am strongly dedicated to a snake transvestite for the candlestick as the next chaperone is selected. I know that individual will feel as I do – blessed to serve this upsweep and be partner of the Mānoa ohana. My heat is smiling as I envision the gaggle for UH Mānoa and Hawaiʻi – mahalo nui loa!

On Teaching the Difficulties

We had the "accessibility" talk in my graduate workshop yesterday. Every semester I've taught poetry has featured some version of this conversation. In some classes, the question arises in monetary terms. One undergraduate class told me that they were going to make money off their poems; when I laughed, they told me I wasn't taking them seriously enough. "Do you want to hear about my small press's finances?" I asked, and then told them about the alternative economy I participate in as a poetry publisher. In other classes, the question arises out of the energy it takes to read poetry. One of my first students at UH wondered who on earth would work a long day at the bank and then go home and choose to read something difficult. (That circles back on money, too, I see.) Yesterday, the question was engaged on many levels, as befits a class of ambitious graduate students. We have been reading Susan Howe's Singularities these past two weeks. It's a book I've been obsessed with for 15 years now, the only one of her books I teach with any consistency, and so I've perhaps forgotten what a shock it is to read it for the first time. During the week several words popped up on our google group discussion board, among them "discomfort," "audience," "understanding," and "accessibility."

I love these words because we all think we know what they mean. So I began class by asking students to talk about what we mean when we say them. What is an accessible poem? What is an inaccessible one? Who reads these poems? The discussion quickly turned into a loop: accessible poems make us comfortable; inaccessible ones lack an audience (except academics, of course!); a lack of understanding makes us uncomfortable. And so on. One student wanted to know how to enter into the process of reading a Howe poem; it turned out she knew full well, but could not find the end of the scout's path. To be fair, no one was arguing for the easy, lounge chair poem, but everyone was weighing the quotient of "getting it" and "getting stuck," failing to communicate (another of those words).

To understand a poem is to have some control over it. To have control over a poem means you can write about it effectively, that you can quote it to good effect, that you can carry it around with you as an answer, or at least a well-formulated question. To fail to understand a poem is to be irritated. In workshop sometimes our irritation flares up because a student's poem simply cannot be adequately interpreted as written. The poem that doesn't work is out of our control. But so are many poems that do work. These are the poems we want desperately to "understand" (standing under, having a foundation, holding the poem up like Atlas an entire world).

Graduate students are, by definition, good readers. Lack of understanding understandably irritates them; it's a paper cut to their sense of themselves. So, on the one hand, I suggest relaxing a bit. Listen to the poem, let it sit for while, don't worry on it so much. On the other hand, trust the poem to mean, if not quite to be understood. But this still leaves important questions like, "how can a poem with a small audience (or even smaller than usual) act in the world?" "How can a poem influence its audience if that audience is so small?" "Should we expect poems to act, or do they describe the world?" And so on. Good stuff.


But how to work toward the idea that "not understanding" can be a poem's subject, that "not understanding" or "not hearing" or witnessing an absence in the archive needs to be enacted rather than told? How to illustrate the "narrative in non-narrative" that Howe claims for her work? The exercise I developed came in two parts. First I asked students to find a six line section of the book; in ten minutes they were to rewrite those lines to render them "accessible." Perhaps the most vivid of these translations was by a student who took "velc cello uncannunc" and spun it out as "European strings," thus preserving the poem's larger context as she elaborated on the imposition of western culture on the "wilderness." A couple of students had not completed their translations because they'd better understood the passages in looking at them more closely.

After we'd discussed the translations, what was gained and (mostly) what was lost in doing them, we turned to the second part of the exercise. Here I handed out a copy of our latest administrative memo from the President of UH, M.R.C. Greenwood about further possible cuts in the university's budget. (One student had kindly printed it out 10 times for me, as my office printer no longer works.) I read a paragraph of the memo out loud and asked students to render a few sentences of it inaccessible. "Do you mean to say that it's already inaccessible?" chimed one student, getting way ahead of me.

A couple students translated Greenwood into Howe, making the memo's language into a chant. Another punned on green and wood and budge and jet (hurts my teeth simply to repeat that!) One replaced nearly every noun with "what." And so on. In the discussion afterwards, we talked about how alert we became to the memo's language, how we did not simply let it flow past us as if it did make sense.

That gets us to resistance, the resistance students feel toward poetry, especially of the difficult kind. This resistance is the teacher's ally, I think, because it evokes such crucial questions as those we discussed yesterday. And, if we take the budgetary memos and make them into difficult poems, that skepticism leads us into difficult questions about the university and the state. Who will spend this money? How can we best argue for the value of a university? What happens when, as one of my facebook friends put it, the bankrupt rhetoric of a university administration meets the rather more literal bankruptcy of the institution?

Poetry is not level ground, is steeplechase. But, like Stephen Collis, I hold to poems whose meanings live both within and without what one of my students, Jaimie Gusman, calls its "anyjar" or container. In a review of Hank Lazer's Portions in The Poetic Front, Collis distinguishes between the oulipian work of Christian Bok and the rather different formal limitations of Lazer as follows, "if I were to make the comparison, the difference between Bök and Lazer is that the former details the struggle to negotiate his constraint outside the poem, while Lazer shows us the struggle inside the poem, where it remains an (im)potentiality." It's the "(im)potentiality, or impish potentiality, that I so love, and love to teach, in "difficult" poems.

A Writing Lesson for Pres. Greenwood of UH, with an homage to F.T. Marinetti

I have set aside this morning to read the Futurists (for one class) and grade papers (for another), but an article in this morning's Honolulu Advertiser, coupled with a mass email from the president of my institution yesterday, has me wanting to use my pedagogical skills in other ways. I mean to offer a lesson to our state educational administrators, with the help (in closing) of one of these Futurists, F.T. Marinetti.

This morning's paper has an article about parents in Aikahi (Kailua, windward side of O`ahu) who are getting together to see if they can't hire their kids' public school teachers to work on furlough Fridays, of which there will be 17 in coming months. The president of the PTA there is quoted as saying, "What are we going to do? Either our schools will be privatized on Fridays or a private entity will end up educating our children on Fridays on we're all going to end up taking our kids to work with us." The "private entities" mentioned in the article all cost money--the YMCA, Diamond Head Theater, and so on. Well, for those of you who don't know O`ahu, Kailua is one of the most prosperous neighborhoods. Consider places like Waimanalo or Waianae or Kalihi, neighborhoods where parents are working class, and where there are significant problems with homelessness, unemployment, even hunger. Parents in these places can't afford even to consider privatizing their children's Friday education. They'll need to find childcare somehow, lunches somehow, and help their children pass the notorious standardized tests delivered to us from the custodians of No Child Left Behind (whose title grows more bitterly ironic by the day).

Now I'm not one to assign blame to all administrators of my own institution for the dire straits we're in; like the rest of us, they're trapped in a downward global spiral. But the memo we just received en masse from President Greenwood (who began her job only four months ago, straight from the California system), is as infuriating as similar memos we've received from other administrators, like Virginia Hinshaw (whose one memo I put into a William Burroughs machine a while back). The tone of it is wrong.

After an opening that includes three uses of the word "aloha," one of which ends with "spirit," and which refers to "the sense of shared purpose" we have, the President asserts that none of us is at fault for the current economic woes:

"None of us are individually or even collectively responsible for the fact that the State of Hawai`i, our mainstay funder, has experienced severely restricted revenues this year that will most likely continue into at least the next year. As a consequence, our share of state funding has been greatly reduced and we must find an unprecedented amount of savings to meet our budgetary needs."

Leave alone words like "savings" (for "slashing") or the phrase that absolves all of us of blame for anything, what is missing is an ethical, nay moral, language to gather us into community against this inevitable cut. Instead of "we must find an unprecedented amount of savings to meet our budgetary needs," how about, "after we deal with this crisis, we must confront our state officials with the absolute moral right of every citizen to a public education and demand that they honor the social contract"? My own rhetoric is growing too bureaucratic here, but the bottom line is that this is not simply a budget issue, something to learn about in accounting school, but a MORAL issue.

The President goes on to explain the situation in quantitative terms, offering some choice statistics (if we don't get stimulus money, for example, we will need to cut upwards of $100 million dollars from the university's budget; at the same time, UH is "facing a record increase in enrollment" and so on). There's a postscript with more stats and reassurances (based on what, one wonders) that faculty salaries will not remain cut, that payroll lags won't hurt us, that the university does not "anticipate" any retrenchment in the near future. (No stats for that last one.)

Let me harp some more on the ending of her memo. The openings and conclusions of such memos are always meaningless, cliche-ridden, statements of solidarity and purpose. We are probably not even meant to read them, except as flags that our administrators know a few Hawaiian words and wish us all well. I would propose a different kind of ending. So allow me to quote, and then translate, President Greenwood's final paragraph to us:

"In these unprecedented times, I continue to believe that the university is, indeed, a powerful agent for economic improvement, educational advancement, and cultural good and that there is no better investment for the future of our state than in higher education and the University of Hawai‘i. I strongly support a competitive environment for faculty salaries and benefits; improved support for teaching, learning and research; and increased access for more students, particularly those who have been underserved, to succeed in our university. I know you believe this as well, and I urge us all to unify our voices so that when better economic circumstances allow, we will be persuasive as our state leaders consider how to sustain and grow our ‘ohana.

Mahalo,
M.R.C. Greenwood"

becomes . . .

"I am shocked and appalled that the state of Hawai`i--its legislature, its governor, its citizens--are willing to sit by while our social contract is destroyed. Public education is not a luxury in the state of Hawai`i; it has been, and must be, an absolute right. Good educations require money, money to pay good teachers, to maintain buildings, to sustain libraries. Once this crisis is past, I promise to get on every television station, op-ed page, and travel to every legislator's office to demand the support of the community and its leaders. In fact, I will start today! If we do not succeed in saving public education, the word "`ohana" will mean nothing.

Yours in solidarity,
M.R.C. Greenwood"


While my assigned reading for the day, which includes F.T. Marinetti's "The Manifesto of Futurism," includes such unhelpful stipulations as, "We will destroy the museums, libraries, academies of every kind," I find many of his calls to arms good counter-weights to the passive pablum of administrative discourse. So let me paraphrase some of his points and offer them to the administration, the government, ourselves:

2. Courage, audacity, and revolt will be essential elements of our mission to save our educational system.

3. Up to now the university has exalted a pensive immobility, ecstasy [well...], and sleep. We intend to exalt aggressive action, a feverish insomnia, the racer's stride, the mortal leap, the punch and the slap.

7. Except in struggle, there is no more beauty.

We are in a crisis, but the crisis is not one of budgeting only. It's a moral crisis. Let's start talking that way. We need to put up signs, get out our bullhorns, lock horns with our reps, even send our children to the capital on Fridays.

And by all means, use active verbs!!!

[editor's note: just noticed this choice bit off Ian Lind's blog.]

The Decline and Fall of a State University, or, Another Flurry of Administrative Memos

As Spring Break ends, faculty and students at the University of Hawai`i at Manoa find ourselves caught in a stiff trade wind of memo-speak from our administration. I don't usually use the blog as a bulletin-board, but in the interest of forensics, I will copy in the two memos from President M.R.C. Greenwood and Chancellor Virginia Hinshaw. (I have blogged here and here on previous memos by these two administrators.) The bottom line: UH faces another round of deep cuts to its budget, cuts it cannot possibly sustain without there being permanent damage to the institution. Note that enrollments are soaring as UHM gets decimated with cuts and retirements (my department is losing nine faculty members to retirement this year alone, with no replacements lined up).

The first memo is from Pres. Greenwood. I have made comments in brackets throughout, comments that are rather more bitter than at first intended. My bitterness toward the administration hardly matches the ire I feel at the state. The short-sighted view of public education, at all levels, approaches the criminal--no matter how much money needs to be "saved."


Dear university colleagues,

As we approach the last part of this semester, we look forward to the success of our students. We will soon be facing one of the best parts of our academic year: the graduation of thousands of undergraduates, graduates and professional students from all of our campuses. We are proud of our students' hard work and of the work of our faculty and staff who enable our students to accomplish these milestones.

I wish I could deliver only a positive message to you today. But these are difficult times. And as you know, we are in the middle of a severe state budget crisis. Across the nation and in Hawai'i, publicly funded institutions have been facing budget cuts and downsizing to help balance state budgets. Here at the University of Hawai'i, we have done our very best to cope with these budget challenges. The university's budget has been reduced this year by $98 million and the executive budget proposal for the supplemental year beginning July 1, 2010 calls for a $100 million reduction, which is more than 20 percent of our previous general funds. This has already resulted in painful workforce reductions, fewer classes, and cuts in pay and programs.

The state House has proposed an additional $10 million reduction in the university's general funds (HB 2200, HD1), plus another $59 million cut in special and revolving funds. We are working hard to ensure that this does not happen. We are also calling on our community partners and supporters to help us impress upon legislators the vital role the university plays in our state. The House Finance Committee will hold a hearing on the $59 million in additional cuts (SB2695, proposed HD1) Monday, March 29 at 7p.m. in room 308.

The additional $59 million in proposed cuts include:
* $20 million from the Tuition and Fees Special Fund
* $15 million from the Cancer Research Special Fund
* $11 million from the Revenue-Undertakings Fund
* $10 million from the Research and Training Revolving Fund
* $2 million from the Housing Assistance Revolving Fund
* $750,000 from the Information Technology and Services Special Fund

The net effect of diverting such funds to the state general fund is a direct impact on our operating budget. Many of these funds are already being used to defray the $100 million cut and/or to retain and support critical projects and programs.

[Tinfish ed: This is a starvation economy, where the body begins to consume itself in the interest of simple survival.]

We understand that the Legislature is dealing with the extremely difficult task of finding a way to bridge the budget gap and that they recognize the importance of investing precious resources wisely. We are doing all that we can to encourage continued investment in the university and to illustrate how vital UH is to Hawai'i's preferred future.

[Tinfish ed.: it's time to cut the language of "understanding" from these memos. Of course "we" (whoever we are) understand that there's a crisis, but we need to fight for public education as a right). The verb "to illustrate" also does not pass muster here. Nor does the awful notion of a "preferred future."]

Since the beginning of the legislative session, members of the university community, including the administration, have delivered more than 130 testimonies, provided all requested information and have visited almost daily with members of the Legislature. It is our hope that our voices will be heard.

["It is our HOPE that our voices will be heard"!! My god, do more than offer testimony and hope someone's listening!]

Despite the difficult economy, the University of Hawai'i is performing well as we focus on our strong strategic plan designed to meet the needs of the state and our communities. Thanks to the strength of our faculty, the University of Hawai'i now ranks among the nation's top research universities in its ability to generate research and training revenue. We have managed to navigate through this economic storm by working together and making a number of painful sacrifices. Thus far, we have managed to do this without interruption of instructional days for students.

[Ah yes, the economic argument. We bring in money, therefore we are valuable to the state. As a poet who lives in an altogether different economy, I abhor this argument, at least in the way it gets used in these debates. Let's talk moral value, ethical value, inherent value, the value of engaging our students in crucial conversations--like this one. As for the lost instructional days, my eight year old daughter can testify to the loss of numerous Furlough Fridays from her education.]

Students attending our campuses understand that higher education is important as they build their careers or start new ones. Enrollment is at an all-time high with 58,000 students--including 8,000 additional students in the last two years alone. These students include people who have been hit hard by the economic downturn and are going back to school to re-tool for new careers. Students are relying on the university to help them prepare for jobs and compete in today's global job market, making the university an essential resource for Hawai'i. Our students are counting on us--and it will take our collective efforts to deliver.

[Again, fall back on the economic argument. Education leads to jobs. Not even sure this is true at the moment. But the real point here is that enrollments are surging while the university's labor force is being destroyed, to say nothing of its facilities, including buildings and library resources.]

Many of you have heard me say repeatedly that investing in the university makes sense for the state's economic future and that we should be viewed as part of the solution to the state's economic challenges. The university, with the Manoa faculty leading the charge, pulled in more than $400 million in external research and training funds last year, creating jobs and fueling the economy. Further cuts would drastically hamper that ability. With your help, we will continue to highlight the importance of maintaining the state’s investment in higher education.

[Ah yes, more on those grants that bring in money. Try to change the argument, Pres. Greenwood, rather than subscribe relentlessly to the terms demanded by the government and its "free enterprise" minions!]

We are not resting on our laurels. Through our newly launched Hawai'i Graduation Initiative, we have committed to increasing our number of graduates by 25 percent by 2015. Developing an educated workforce--particularly in critical areas such as health care, teaching and engineering--is in Hawai'i's best interest.

[More on the workforce that we are creating. But we wouldn't stand on our laurels, would we?]

We also understand that as the state's sole public university, we have the responsibility to do more. We are expanding our outreach to Native Hawaiian students and working hard to improve access, particularly for those in underserved areas and underrepresented communities. We are increasing our efforts to eliminate barriers to higher education, including cost. With the costs of higher education on the rise, we have quadrupled our amount of available financial aid. And we continue to work to improve our efficiency, to achieve more with every dollar available to us.

[The word "efficiency" is telling. Of course Native Hawaiian students are important, but this gesture, which is all it is, is too typical of a rhetoric that excludes other students, for whom a public education is also crucial.]

Of course there's much work to do. It's hard not to notice the poor condition of our facilities. The backlog of deferred maintenance is big--more than $300 million worth of work lies ahead. While the bleak budget offers numerous challenges, it also offers opportunity. You may have heard about Project Renovate to Innovate. Using General Obligations bonds issued by the state, if appropriated by the legislature and approved by the governor, we would be able to create jobs with our shovel-ready projects and take advantage of the current climate of lower construction costs to complete long-overdue repairs and improvements on our campuses. It's time that university facilities on all our campuses reflect our mission as a 21st century institution of higher education built on excellence. With steady progress, we will get there.

[It certainly IS hard to notice that my building is in a state of disrepair, that the classrooms are moldy, that I just bought my own office computer, that the elevator only mostly works, that there is no consistent wifi in the classrooms, but I'm sure that "Project Renovate to Innovate" will cure that by force of its cute name alone.]

With your help, we are committed to charting the right course for the university, particularly in these critical economic times. We will continue to advocate strongly for our future and we invite you to join us in that effort. Letters of support to state legislators and simply sharing your personal stories of what the university means to you will go a long way. Working together, we will make it through this budget crisis and continue our journey of success for the benefit of Hawaii and its people.

[Letters of support! Letters we can HOPE will be heard? Surely the time has come for something a bit more dramatic?!]

Mahalo,
M.R.C. Greenwood


--

This message was sent on behalf of President MRC Greenwood.
Please do not reply to this message.
It was sent from an address that cannot accept incoming email.

[Of course not.]

Announcement ID number: 1269841776-17363
Announcement distribution:
- All faculty, staff, and students at all campuses




The second memo came under the title of "Budget Alert." Alerts via email to the university community usually denote a theft or attack on a student, a petty crime, or a tsunami. I suspect that the memo that follows, from our Chancellor, incorporates aspects of all these categories, from attack to crime to metaphorical tsunami. It begins with the almost obligatory Hawaiian word of greeting (obligatory among administrators new to our shores):


Aloha! I want to keep you updated on the news regarding the budget. You may have heard earlier that the State House had unfortunately proposed additional cuts of $10 million for UH. Over the weekend, we learned of another bill SB 2695 (http://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/session2010/bills/SB2695_HD1_PROPOSED_.htm) which proposes additional cuts of almost $59M to UH.

[I like the casual, "you may have heard." Would that be in the preceding administrative memo of last night?]

The proposed cuts to the UH budget include: Tuition and Fees Special Fund - $20 million; Research and Training Revolving Fund - $10 million; Revenue Undertakings Fund - $11 million; Cancer Research Center Special Fund - $15 million; Housing Assistance Revolving Fund - $2 million; IT Special Fund - $750K. Mânoa’s share of the $59M reduction would be in addition to the “hit” taken by UH Mânoa this year of $66 million, or 26% of our State general funds.

All of these proposed cuts would impact tremendously on UH as a whole, but certainly most heavily on UH Mânoa. These proposed cuts are all extremely damaging – for example, the State proposes to take fees and tuition funds that students have paid for specific purposes and for which we have provided financial aid including scholarships, federal grants, and loans, to pay the costs for other agencies. Such actions would truly endanger Mânoa’s ability to serve Hawai'i as a research 1 university now and into the future – in essence, this would push Mânoa past the “tipping point”.

["In essence" and in deed. The starvation economy in full effect. Now they're going after muscle and bone.]

There is still about a month left of legislative decision-making, so the process is not yet done, but we must be active in educating government and community decision-makers about UH Mânoa. We empathize with the difficult decisions the legislature has to make, but, with this additional budget reduction, they would be making the decision that the State of Hawai‘i cannot support its only research 1 university, UH Mânoa, for our citizens. That is a chilling message for higher education in Hawai'i.

[Here we don't have "understanding" but "empathy" for the legislature. Cut it out.]

It’s critically important for UH Mânoa students, faculty, staff, alumni and friends to let our legislators hear about the value UH Mânoa provides as a major generator of educated citizens, new knowledge, jobs and resources for Hawai'i and also about how damaging these proposed reductions would be. We have already had to take many impacting actions to meet the current financial reductions:

[It's the language of "talking" and "hearing" again, which sounds terribly passive, considering the stakes of the matter. Let's talk action. Even the word "education," though we know it to be an active process, seems hollow at this point. Call out the picketers. Organize rallies. Make some stink lidat.]

• We’ve already reduced the number of UH Mânoa faculty, staff and administrators by nearly 6%, or 370 positions. Deeper cuts mean more such losses, resulting in more reductions in services for faculty, staff, students and the community.

• With the current cuts, we are already struggling to provide students with the learning experience and services, such as counseling and advising, that they need and deserve. Additional cuts will also require us to further reduce class offerings and enlarge class enrollment.

[Please enumerate the value of counseling and advising at at university where students often take 5, 6, 7 years to graduate because they cannot get into classes. Talk to us about the need for mental health resources at a university with a suicide problem. Talk to us about the value of small classes, the loss in value of teaching only by large lecture!]

• Our campus has made significant progress in reducing energy usage through Mânoa Green Days and faclities upgrades – our campus has stepped forward in many ways to improve efficiencies and reduce costs.

[Closing the library over Spring Break doubtless saved money; probably also saved students from doing research; we all know that Spring Break is a time to prepare for the semester's final push, which includes research papers.]

• Some legislators suggest we can easily accommodate the cuts through higher tuition. We recognize that relying on higher tuition alone to meet budget reductions places a heavier financial burden on Hawai'i students and their families. There are already more requests for financial aid than our resources can fill.

["Some legislators"--that's Fox-speak. Name them. Tell us to write directly to them. Tell us about places like the University of Virginia, which is a de facto private school that rejects a lot of in-state students, but offers a wonderful education to kids from New Jersey.]

• Our UH Mânoa libraries, truly a resource for the campus and the community, have reduced their annual budget to purchase new books by more than two-thirds - from $1.1 million to $300,000.

[That is criminal. I remember in the mid-1990s the university stopped buying books, so that the collection resembles nothing so much as the Soviet Encyclopedia.]

What can we do? We all need to inform our decision-makers about the value UH Mânoa provides and the harmful impact of these budget cuts – and encourage our colleagues across Hawai'i to do the same.

["Inform to transform" would be a better slogan, perhaps. But really we need to do more than "inform" and "encourage" at this point.]

Here are some suggested points of emphasis:

[This is promising, but to whom do we address these points? Parents, legislators, students? And how do we disseminate our points?]

1. UH Mânoa is doing its part in these tough economic times to cuts costs – but the size of these proposed budget cuts will damage our ability to educate people, serve the community and conduct research–all essential activities for creating a stronger future for Hawai'i.

[Let's forget "the stronger--or preferred--future" for now, and concentrate on the devastations of the present.]

2. We’re enrolling more students with fewer resources. Many students are transitioning from UH Community Colleges to Mânoa - utilizing our strong partnership with Community Colleges through improved articulation and recruitment efforts. Record enrollments in UH Community Colleges means UH Mânoa must also be well prepared to meet those students’ needs. Many more Hawai'i students and families are becoming aware of the top-notch academic opportunities we offer at UH Mânoa and choosing to pursue higher learning here instead of leaving Hawai'i.

[Yes, because they can't afford to leave Hawai`i; that's not so much a choice as the mandate of a bad economy.]

3. UH Mânoa is an economic generator. Every dollar invested in UH Mânoa generates $5.34 in spending in Hawai'i, ranging from student expenditures to research purchases—few enterprises offer that type of return. Cutting dollars to Mânoa reduces our "generator" effect.

[OK, make the economic argument once again. Where is the ethical, moral argument? The argument that citizens of a democracy are OWED an education?]

4. Research at UH Mânoa attracts an average of $1.2 million a day - more than $400 million a year - in research and training grants, most of them from outside Hawai'i. These funds improve our economy, create jobs and produce advancements in a wide range of areas, from health to technology to cultural understanding – such research improves all of our lives.

[Research improves our lives--HOW? Spell it out!]

All of us should be tremendously proud of what UH Mânoa contributes to Hawai'i. Now is the time to share that message with decision-makers (http://www.capitol.hawaii.gov) who are determining our future ability to sustain and build on those contributions.

Mahalo for being part of the Mânoa 'ohana.

[More Hawaiian words in closing.]

Virginia Hinshaw
Chancellor
University of Hawai'i at Mânoa
vhinshaw@hawaii.edu


--

This message was sent on behalf of Chancellor Virginia Hinshaw.
Please do not reply to this message.
It was sent from an address that cannot accept incoming email.

Announcement ID number: 1269879657-3681
Announcement distribution:
- Faculty, staff, and all students at the UH Manoa campus(es)
- Faculty and staff at the UH System Administrative Offices

I will cut my own prose a bit short here, as I need to prepare for a committee meeting later today, which is followed by a graduate seminar.

[Appendix one can be found here: "The legislature finds that due to the extraordinary fiscal circumstances the State is facing, non-general funds must be reviewed and scrutinized to determine if there are excess balances available to be transferred to the general fund." .]

[Appendix two: a couple of readers have pointed out that I have not made any positive proposals, nor have I distinguished between the two memos, the second of which advocated a push-back against the legislature. Please put proposals and corrections in the comment stream. Maybe we can come up with something.]