In light of the faculty governance review initiated at the end of August by Provost Robert E. Palazzo, members of the RPI community gathered for a Teach-in on Democracy and Participatory Governance on Wednesday, October 24.
Held in the Chapel and Cultural Center from 5–8 pm, the teach-in aimed to educate the RPI community about the history and philosophical principles of self-governance, and attracted a mix of professors, students, administration members, and Arthur Galpin. The event also featured a folk band, the Solidarity Singers, which performed at the beginning and end of the teach-in.
Hale Professor of Humanities and Social Sciences Linda Layne served as the moderator for the event.
Each of the speakers spoke for approximately 10 minutes, followed by some discussion during which those present attempted to connect the content of each speech to the governance review.
The first to speak was Susan Cullen, a civics teacher from Bethlehem High School in Delmar. Cullen spoke about the foundation and principles of democracy in the United States, quoting from the Declaration of Independence.
Phelan Chair and Professor of Political Science Langdon Winner was the second speaker, whose presentation was entitled “Confronting Tyranny and Stupidity: What Works?”
In Winner’s speech, he spoke on the structure of autocracies: a central leader and the bureaucracy that surrounds him. Winner discussed various benchmarks in autocratic governance, and tied in the crime of “unprofessional conduct” in each of the situations mentioned, such as Hitler’s regime in Germany, as well as in the country of Miramar where the legitimate elections of 1990 were overturned and the Parliament abolished.
The presentation following Winner was prepared by Bill Puka, professor of philosophy in the Department of Cognitive Science. Although Puka was not able to attend, Ryan Jenkins ’08 presented Puka’s speech on democracy. Puka discussed in his speech actual democracy, self-rule, and the importance of power. He questioned whether the Faculty Senate ever had the power of democracy and self-determination to begin with, and came to the conclusion that they didn’t. The Senate may only give recommendations to the administration, which “they may throw immediately into the trash without reading one word of them.”
He continued to say that the governance review made “clear as crystal” the fact that democracy is not simply having a say in governance. Puka stated that, despite the faculty-wide referendum in which the faculty overwhelmingly voted in favor of reinstating the Senate and halting the review, President Shirley Ann Jackson “deduced how we could move forward together; the Faculty Senate would not be reinstated and the provost’s review would go forward.”
Puka also stated that the “greatest crisis of living democracy that we now face at RPI is the ‘faculty wimp factor.’” He said that Palazzo is being treated as a colleague, and even as a “Guest of Honor,” as opposed to the one responsible for the governance review.
Following Puka’s speech, Larry Wittner, professor of history at SUNY Albany, presented on “Democracy in the Workplace: A Brief History.”
Wittner spoke on labor history and the ways in which faculty unions are organized. Wittner said, “Never give up the struggle for democracy in government or in the workplace. Democracy is too precious to surrender to power-hungry administrators, trustees, or other petty tyrants.”
Following Wittner, Professor of Computer Science Mark Goldberg spoke on the First and Second Amendments in the U.S.S.R. Although Ekaterina Haskins and Jim Zappen, from the Department of Language, Literature, and Communications, were supposed to present together on totalitarian rhetoric, Haskins was unable to attend. Zappen gave the presentation on his own, and finally, Sharon Anderson-Gold, professor of Philosophy, spoke on the power of public discourse.
After the discussion closed, Secretary of the Institute and General Counsel Charles Carletta took the podium to address some of the volatile comments made against the administration. His improvised speech touched on the unique qualities of tenure, as well as the fact that the Faculty Senate had been suspended, and not dissolved. Carletta then addressed statements made by other speakers, primarily Winner’s parallels between the governance crisis and totalitarian regimes, including Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia. These, Carletta declared, were “outrageous.”
As the discussion began to heat up, the event was called to a close. The room had only been reserved for three hours, and the event had already gone into overtime.
