--- Forwarded Message from David Ben-Nahum <[log in to unmask]> ---
>From: David Ben-Nahum <[log in to unmask]>
>To: "'Language Learning and Technology International Information Forum'"
<[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: RE: #7804 letter from NEALLT
>Date: Tue, 22 Feb 2005 10:06:40 +0200
Dear Friends,
Although I fully identify with the motivation behind this letter, I
just as strongly object to its tone, and especially to its PC-worded
recommendations. I don't think that the fact that, like the writers of this
letter, I have known, appreciated and occasionally admired the folks at BYU
and their work for many years has anything to do with it. I think that the
letter is wrong in principle, and that the call, not to boycott, that's not
PC, but to "re-consider attending" exhibits the same quality that the
writers so strongly object to at BYU. BYU is a religious institution which
openly adheres to principles many of which most of us (including myself) do
not accept. But how on earth can having a conference there mean endorsing
those principles, especially when they are part of a religion which I don't
belong to? And what if there is a conference at a university the heads of
which enthusiatically supported the American invasion of Iraq, which, quite
a few people believe, caused a lot of bloodshed and suffering? We'll
boycott... oops, "re-consider attending" that one too? Where will it stop?
We'll only talk to and be with "enlightened" people like ourselves?
Please excuse my not-PC temper. I live in Jerusalem, Israel, so I know
a little bit about religious and other controversies. I spend a lot of my
time talking to people I don't agree with on a lot of things, and I know
that tolerance is a lot harder to practice than to preach.
I hope to meet all of you at BYU, and, by the way, if my boyfriend came
with me I wouldn't see anything wrong with not kissing him in public for
five days.
Good day to all (even to those I don't like)
David Ben-Nahum
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
-----Original Message-----
From: Language Learning and Technology International Information Forum
[mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of LLTI-Editor
Sent: Monday, February 21, 2005 5:14 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: #7804 letter from NEALLT
--- Forwarded Message from Claire Bradin Siskin <[log in to unmask]> ---
>Date: Wed, 16 Feb 2005 12:59:10 -0500
>From: Claire Bradin Siskin <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: letter from NEALLT
>To: [log in to unmask]
Northeast Association for Language Learning Technology
Robert Henderson Language Media Center
University of Pittsburgh
February 16, 2005
Dear Colleagues,
The Northeast Association for Language Learning Technology has been
engaged in very concerned discussion about the upcoming FLEAT V
conference to be hosted by Brigham Young University. As we consider
the prospect of attending this conference, we first would like to
make it clear that we hold all our colleagues at the Humanities
Learning Resource Center of BYU in very high regard. BYU is a unique
and in many regards impressive institution, at which
- seventy-two percent of the student body speaks a second language
and many faculty are fluent in at least one language other than
English;
- during any given semester, roughly twenty-five percent of the
student body may be enrolled in language courses-a rate three times
the national average; and
- courses in 74 different languages are offered.
Many of us have had long friendships and collegial relationships with
the staff of the BYU Humanities Learning Resource Center. All of us
have profited from their expertise and knowledge at previous
conferences and could learn more from visiting the truly world class
language facility that BYU is in the process of opening. We recognize
that individuals at the Humanities Learning Resource Center have
worked energetically for several years to provide an impressive
conference experience for FLEAT V.
However, we recently became aware of, and sensitized to, the level of
BYU's deliberate discrimination against members of the gay, lesbian,
bisexual and transgender community. As you may be aware, it is BYU's
official university policy that: "Any behaviors that indicate
homosexual conduct, including those not sexual in nature, are
inappropriate and violate the Honor Code. Violations of the Honor
Code may result in actions up to and including separation from the
University."
BYU's current policies are designed to harass, discipline, suspend,
and ultimately expel any student, professor, or employee suspected of
being gay or lesbian. These policies are actively enforced by the
Administration and have resulted in the dismissal of students and the
firing of faculty and staff. BYU is also on the list of censured
administrations of the American Association of University Professors
due to past violations of the generally recognized principles of
academic freedom and tenure as recognized by the AAUP. BYU has been
on this list since 1998. The AAUP report states the "the climate for
academic freedom at Brigham Young University is distressingly poor".
We respect that BYU has always defined itself as an openly and
distinctively Latter-Day Saint University. We also recognize that an
institution wholly owned by the LDS Church should reflect the values
of the LDS community. Those values are however in sharp conflict
with the identities of some, and the values of many, of our members.
By organizing a conference at BYU we are placing ourselves in
uncomfortable association with these policies. Some may even perceive
us to be endorsing them.
We do not call for a boycott of the FLEAT V conference but feel
compelled to raise awareness of these issues so that members of
NEALLT, IALLT and others who are interested may make informed,
personal decisions about whether or not to attend. We do not propose
a litmus test for future conference sites but urge the Board of IALLT
to revisit the procedures by which sites are selected so that all
members will feel comfortable to attend future conferences. In the
case of BYU, there was good reason to think the selection would be
controversial.
This has not been an easy letter for us to write, and it will be with
honest regret that some of us decide that we cannot in good
conscience attend.
Sincerely,
Board of the Northeast Association for Language Learning Technology (NEALLT)
Michael Jones
Webmaster, NEALLT
Director, Language Resource Center
Swarthmore College
Claire Bradin Siskin
President, NEALLT
Director, Robert Henderson Language Media Center
University of Pittsburgh
Michael Heller
Vice President, NEALLT
Director of Language Learning Technology
Monclair State University
Marianne Crusius
Treasurer, NEALLT
Manager, Language Resource Center
Princeton University
Cindy Evans
Past President, NEALLT
Director, Foreign Language Resource Center
Skidmore College
Mary Toulouse
Newsletter Editor, NEALLT
Director, Foreign Language Resource Center
Lafayette College
For more information:
About BYU: - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brigham_Young_University
AAUP on Academic Freedom: - http://www.aaup.org/com-a/index.htm
BYU on Academic Freedom:
-http://www.byu.edu/fc/pages/refmapages/acadfree.html
Affirmation, a web site of Gay & Lesbian Mormons:
- http://www.affirmation.org/learning/winning_or_losing.asp
BYU Honor Code:
- http://www.byui.edu/DeanOfStudents/Honorcode.htm
- http://campuslife.byu.edu/HONORCODE/chaste.htm
Stories of punishment and dismissal of students for honor code violations:
- http://www.advocate.com/html/stories/847//847_colleges.asp
- http://www.collegefreedom.org/report8.htm
- http://www.sodomylaws.org/usa/utah/utnews15.htm
BYU support for the publication of academic texts that liken the
establishment of equal right for gays and lesbians to the expansion
of slavery and cite homosexuality in foreign countries as a threat to
American national security.
http://www.law2.byu.edu/jel/sp1996/html/Hilton.htm
--
Claire Bradin Siskin
Director
Robert Henderson Language Media Center
G 17 Cathedral of Learning
University of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, PA 15260
Office Phone: (412) 624-5939
Email: [log in to unmask]
http://www.polyglot.pitt.edu
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Join IALLT at http://iallt.org.
Otmar Foelsche, LLTI-Editor ([log in to unmask])
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