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Defending the right to disagree about how best to serve New York State
To the editor:
Having voiced his opposition to the war in Iraq and to "Bush's dangerous policy of preemptive aggression," David Taylor signs himself as Adjunct professor of surgery, thereby blurring the distinction he is elsewhere at pains to establish between his private actions and his employment by the State of New York. Indeed, Taylor's gravamen, weighing against 250 UB faculty and staff members, is that they so identified themselves in a public anti-war letter. Taylor's fig leaf is that he affiliates himself with the institution only through his signature, whereas the others did so in the body of their letter.
Taylor imagines that one signatory of the anti-war letter served as "major conspirator," while his colleagues "acted more passively." Why assume passivity on the part of the other signatories, who each have ample reasons for actively opposing the war?
Taylor should not be faulted for ignoring the 21 faculty members who wrote in support of the war, each with a signature identifying departmental affiliation. Perhaps he had not seen their letter, although it appeared in several publications, generally under a headline identifying the authors as UB faculty. Should such a headline (speaking of fig leaves) be innocently attributed to a newspaper's editors, say those, for example, of the Buffalo News? Suppose, hypothetically, a pro- or anti-war letter bearing no explicit mention of UB, signed by private citizens who happen all to work here. But the letter is delivered to the paper with a quick wink and a nod, and appears the next day, amazingly, with the institutional affiliation of the authors proclaimed in 24-pt type.
Taylor asserts that one signatory of the anti-war letter "appears to have violated the State of New York Public Officers Law." He urges President Greiner to "take appropriate action" against the conspirator if indeed the law has been broken. President Greiner undoubtedly treasures legal advice offered to him by colleagues in surgery and other disciplines. But I would urge that the President's energies are better spent defending our right to disagree with each other passionately about how our obligation to serve the State of New York is best carried out. Conspiring to educate students about alternatives to prevailing policies is simply not a violation of our duty, au contraire.
Sincerely,
Maureen Jameson
Affiliation withheld upon request