[1486] in Discussion of MIT-community interests
Re: Fwd: party in the hiz-ouse
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Brian T. Sniffen)
Wed Oct 8 09:27:51 2003
Date: Tue, 7 Oct 2003 20:27:07 -0400
From: "Brian T. Sniffen" <bts@ALUM.MIT.EDU>
To: MIT-Talk@MIT.EDU
In-Reply-To: <001201c38d0a$bb64ca40$bc6cca8a@SEABASS> (Sebastian Gutierrez's
message of "Tue, 7 Oct 2003 12:39:27 -0700")
"Sebastian Gutierrez" <sgutierr@MIT.EDU> writes:
> Not to open up a can of worms...
>
> can you honestly say that anything would have been done by judcomm or
> any other investigating committee?
Yes, of course. MIT's process for dealing with harassment and similar
complaints has a pretty good record.
> At least the issue was brought to light.
>
> "better to light a candle than to curse the darkness"
> - chinese proverb
Better to safeguard due process, and better to enforce established
rules, than to parade someone as having violated the mob's idea of
justice. For an administrator to comment an open CCRR investigation
is unethical: this is the boss of the people who will make decisions.
He isn't party to the details of the case, is not experienced in the
fine lines between offensive incidents and a hostile environment, and
has unfairly influenced the CCRR and the community against the
organizers of the "Ghetto Party"
-Brian
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Talk about MIT, for MIT, by MIT. [mailto:MIT-Talk@MIT.EDU] On
> Behalf Of Brian T. Sniffen
> Sent: Tuesday, October 07, 2003 11:10 AM
> To: MIT-Talk@MIT.EDU
> Subject: Re: Fwd: party in the hiz-ouse
>
>
> Someone on ec-discuss writes:
>
>> Judcomm stuff is usually confidential, I think.
>
> That's an interesting point: MIT has a pretty reasonable policy for
> dealing with harassment complaints: there's a judicial process and a
> strongly suggested avenue of mediation. There's a clear chain of
> faculty and administrators who have experience and proper training.
>
> In cases like this, where there may not be anything objectively wrong
> -- somebody's offended and subjectively believes this is wrong, but even
> Vest's mail didn't call out any specific conduct as creating a hostile
> environment -- the mediation option isn't reasonable: it's goal is
> quieting dissent and producing consensus, not fairness. By the nature
> of its processes, it *cannot* produce a result such as "That was
> offensive but legal: uncivilized, rude, and beneath the standards MIT
> expects. It is not prohibited conduct."
>
> On the other hand, a fair use of MIT's internal judicial process is now
> impossible: the President of the Institute has already expressed his
> opinion as to what should be decided, in a very public way. No
> Institute committee, board, or jury can be expected to disregard that.
>
> President Vest, or whoever sent that e-mail message in his name, should
> have kept his opinions to himself and allowed the Institute's normal
> judicial process to work. The CCRR should have been trusted to deal
> directly with the matter at an appropriately non-political
> administrative level.
>
> -Brian
>
>>>>>Subject: party in the hiz-ouse
>>>>>Date: Mon, 29 Sep 2003 02:23:05 -0400
>>>>>
>>>>>this will also serve as our loftwarming party, so come check our two
>
>>>>>story mansion of a room...
>>>>>
>>>>>------- Forwarded Message
>>>>>
>>>>>Callin all you playas, pimps, hos, gangstas, and bitches... there
>>>>>be a party goin down in da Tetazoo walcott ghetto this thursday
>>>>>10/2. So come on over at 10pm to da EAST SIDE fo' food, drink, and
>>>>>a genuine trash-can-fire heated tent
>>>>>city in our hood. And heed our manifesto:
>>>>>
>>>>>"""
>>>>>
>>>>>1. Litter frequently. Walcott is not a place for pussies or for
>>>>>clean people. Ghettos are not clean. Walcott as is is way too
>>>>>clean. If you find empty bottles (ideally 40s), hubcaps, or oil
>>>>>barrels, toss them into the hallway. If
>>>>>you are unsure about where to litter, litter in mikey p's room.
>>>>>
>>>>>2. Graffitti is encouraged. Think your roommates (or mikeyp's)
>>>>>wall looks to clean? Fix the problem.
>>>>>
>>>>>3. Loud music is key. Rap will be played at an acceptable (read,
>>>>>really fucking loud) volume. If your neighbors ask you to turn it
>>>>>down, threaten them with physical violence.
>>>>>
>>>>>4. Ass slapping is essential. If someone slaps your ass,
>>>>>reciprocate. Do not take ass slapping as a sign of sexual
>>>>>harassment or hazing - it is important to
>>>>>your well being on walcott.
>>>>>
>>>>>5. Steal stuff from other areas of the hall. Do you need an extra
>>>>>computer and the ones on reuse won't cut it? I hear mattxmal has a
>>>>>good computer. He wont
>>>>>miss it - and if he does, we will fuck him up real bad when he tries
> to
>>>>>take it
>>>>>back. If you steal something from somebody and they accuse you of
> doing so,
>>>>>threaten them with physical violence. Actually, just threaten
> everyone with
>>>>>physical violence.
>>>>>
>>>>>6. Fried Chicken, 40's, Cheap Lawn chairs. Hells yeah.
>>>>>
>>>>>peace out,
>>>>>walcott niggas fo life
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