Contra Cabal 602-05-20 -The Weasel - Letters to the Editor

Letters to the Editor - The Weasel

Exposé on Academic Corruption and Denial of Human Rights
at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY and University of Washington, Seattle, WA.
Compromised principles for personal gain and academic advantage without merit.

Beth Frankel (21 Jan 97)
LL&C, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and River Internet Communications, Inc.

If you think unsolicited garbage email is a top priority of mine, you're the one who's not very smart. I would have left your original email totally unanswered if I hadn't just received your second communique, "Crime and Punishment at Rensselaer." I certainly don't expect that you're going to continue to abuse the Internet and send this self-serving junk email to me and other RPI alumni. And by the way, I'm very surprised - and not very happy - that you're insulting me to Phil Rubens, who happened to be one of my professors in 1981. I'm sure he can attest that I learned plenty at RPI while taking my master's in technical writing because he was teaching me. As a matter of fact, RPI is one of the top schools in the country and I have always found that highly intelligent, educated people do have a lot of respect for it. Freedom of speech aside, you should stop bad-mouthing RPI or go somewhere else if you don't like what's going on there.

Editor. You will find that you cannot set aside freedom of speech in a democratic society because it exists as a constitutional right. Interestingly, you included the department's leading academic fraud and department chair (Whitrack the Weasel) in your cc correspondence. Consequently, I have sent a copy of archive.whitburn to you, and those whom you copied, by separate email. This will show you why I describe the LL&C faculty as predominantly subliterate. You did not take the trouble to research my background before you launched your vehement, badly structured, tirade (excusable for an RPI/LL&C student because research rarely happens in that department). . . . You obviously learned very little while studying at RPI, unfortunately, a common occurrence among students taught by a predominantly subliterate faculty. It saddens me that you found my article unintelligible and, consequently, difficult for you to understand. However, I did write it for intelligent readers. Perhaps someone else could read it aloud and explain it to you. Alternatively, you could wait for the cartoon version to appear on the world wide web.

R. Krieger (28 Jan 97)
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Many of us RPI graduates are engineers. These letters of yours sound impressive, but would probably make a lot more sense if you could eliminate most words over about eight letters long, eliminate sentences over about 20 and eliminate references to people like Dostoyevsky (it not only confuses us, it makes you sound communist). If you have a word processor, probably if you could edit until the word processor says you're at a 12th grade level, many more of us - including me - might understand what you're saying.

Editor. Enough said! So much for an RPI education.

Ryan Adler (12 Sep 98)
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

What's wrong with being a member of the Cabal? :-)

Flint Smith (12 Sep 98)
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Keep up the good fight but for God's sake, remind us old guys now and then what "LL&C/H&SS" stands for. I had to look in you May Email to find out.

I don't recall such a department when I was going to RPI in the 50s but suppose it was there. I can't recall if we had any humanities courses that were "required" back then. Certainly no "PC courses". Do you have any history of the department that extends to, say, 1950??

Joel Ness (09 Mar 94)
University of Minnesota

Not sure if you remember me. I was at RPI from Fall of 86 to Spring of 88. Did the MS in 3 semesters and hung around another since I had the funding (and no job prospects). Based on experiences there and elsewhere I pretty much knew I didn't want to pursue the PhD. I'm working back in Duluth as the Macintosh support person for the branch of the University here (although they originally hired me as a documentation person I'm doing mostly computer support - which I enjoy). I recall talking to you a few times in the Writing Center and elsewhere.

Anyway, just caught wind of this Contra Cabal stuff and I find it fascinating. I suspect that someone with no knowledge of RPI and LL&C would think you're another Internet crackpot but having known some of the folks in LL&C, and worked as assistant editor of the JTWC under Carson for a year or so I suspect there is at least a fair degree of factual basis for your polemics.

David Schwartz (19 Jan 97)
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

I finally got around to reading all the mail you've sent me. While I'm amazed I can't say I'm surprised. I'm sorry that you are having such a bad time. I hope you can get some satisfaction out of all this. I'm sorry Jim Zappen made his way to your list. I remember him as a pretty good guy. In fact, he was the one who gave me the independent study when I had to bail out of Carson/Porush's class. Take care.

The pressure to conform at Rensselaer is powerful. There are indeed power centers and they are hard to fight. ***** ****, who was a student around 1986 and who was unsuccessful in getting assistance to do his PhD work, called the department's vision of evaluating potential graduate students "myopic". [He] went on to do his graduate work elsewhere.

Editor. I too feel sorry about Jim Zappen. However, I believe that he bought into the Cabal to get his promotion. Consequently, he manipulated the financial aid to favor those who supported the Cabal to the detriment of those who would not succumb to the illegal practices. His manipulation of funds could construe as a federal offence. I believe that he has a weak streak that causes him to give in to whatever he finds politically expedient. Phil Rubens has also gone the same way. Both of them probably have inherent integrity but cannot stand their ground in adversity.

© Copyright 2007 by Paul Trummel
All Rights Reserved: 04 Sep 98/12:00 GMT
Edition: #602-05-20/09-0407-05:15
Feedback: Webspinner@ContraCabal.org

Nothing Succeeds like Excess

Academic freedom, an absolute right not an abstract philosophy, should not subserve economic considerations.

Moreover, information technology remains a right not a privilege despite technocratic claims to the contrary.

Legislative and judicial decisions have determined the right of individuals to distribute information freely and the Bill of Rights documents the protection individuals should expect from the state.

However, laws do not provide much protection when despotic administrators interfere with computer resources because they disagree with the content of messages: a disagreement probably based upon disclosure of their own malfeasance.

They fear dissent and have an aversion to controversy. Their addiction to political correctness frequently causes them to invoke censorship of Internet activities.

They not only empower their systems administrators to handle frivolous email complaints by arbitrarily removing computer access but also allow them to censor incoming mail - an outrageous invasion of personal privacy.

They act upon an irrational expectation that certain categories of email may contain something that Big Mama would not wish others to read then arbitrarily reject it.

Interference with email transmission not specifically proscribed by federal law classifies as a federal offense which Rensselaer and University of Washington officials commit with impunity.

New Releases
September 2007

Shirley Ann Jackson, the latest arrival in a trio of uncaring Rensselaer presidents: Schmidt (1988), Pipes (1993), Jackson (1999), continued to employ Thomas Phelan, former H&SS Dean, as "university historian" and publicly adulated him at his death (2006), knowing that he had defrauded the university of millions of dollars by posing as a PhD when he did not hold a post-graduate degree.

Phelan's fraud trickled down to negatively affect students. Informed about denial of due process of law to untenured faculty and students, Jackson did nothing about it. She maintains a hypocritical political silence on issues that have had a devastating effect on many faculty and student lives while she unashamedly touts an ethical institution.

Phelan's deanship allowed him to employ a cabal of unqualified and inexperienced faculty that in turn short-changed hundreds of students who had paid one of the highest rates of tuition in the US. RPI breach of contract left them with a huge tuition debt and cost them millions of dollars in income through loss of their careers. Successive deans Duchin (1996) and Harrington (2002) covered up the criminal activity that they inherited which effectively made them accessories after the fact.

2007 has seen publication of a series of articles that expose academic and criminal fraud at Rensselaer and University of Washington (UW). They describe a cover-up of ongoing fraud that Jackson, Palazzo, and Harrington (RPI) also Emmert (UW) have neglected to address.

http://contracabal.us/

A list of fifteen articles published during September includes a new series entitled Roll of Dishonor which exposes alleged criminal activity by individual tenured faculty members and administrators. New case studies will continue to appear each month.

Information about academic fraud and deceit frequently surfaces after alumni and former faculty members read Contra Cabal. That information becomes part of a relevant case study after verification and validation. Students and current faculty members also write letters to the editor on politically sensitive issues. Some correspondents request name withholding to avoid retaliation which the editor, a professional journalist, honors.

Send letters to the editor at:

[Letters to the Editor]

Case studies explain in detail the nature of alleged crimes.

Letters to the Editor

Letters should not exceed 250 words, with preference given to those letters responding to articles published in Contra Cabal.

Letters must include the author's name, city, and state, email address, and a phone number for contact and verification.

The Editor reserves the right to edit letters for length and clarity and not to publish all letters.

By submission of a letter, the author agrees that Contra Cabal may publish and/or license the publication of letters in print, electronically, and for archival purposes.

About the Author

Paul Trummel (Nmesis)

Paul Trummel, published since 1944, uses the pseudonym Nmesis and openly declares personal or conflicting interests.

These conflicts may relate to topics or to opinion, especially when the content draws upon advocacy, experience, conclusion, or interpretation.

As an accredited journalist, he conforms with the code of conduct and ethics of the journalism profession, tested by courts in both Great Britain and the USA.

Since 1947, he has worked as a journalist, an editor (commercial and academic peer-review), a technical communicator, an associate professor (visual communi-cation and rhetoric), and as an administrator at several leading universities.

He has held international press credentials since 1959 and holds two elected international graphic arts fellowships.

He earned professional letters in the UK that translated into two baccalaureate degrees and a terminal graduate degree in the US.

He has also earned a Rensselaer graduate degree and two US PhD degrees (now ABD).

[Sherking Responsibility]

He taught graduate level students at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Northeastern University, Fitchburg State College,
San Jose State University, Massachusetts Bay Community College, and a private institute of graphic design.

He held an administrative post at University of Massachusetts, Boston, and has lectured at universities in US, Europe, and Japan.

In 1957 (London), he founded and operated the first full-service technical communication organization, a group of publishing and technical/graphic communication companies where he held the position of chief executive officer.

In 1973 (Connecticut), he designed and marketed the first typesetting system driven by a minicomputer, the precursor for today's desktop publishing systems.

He has won an international silver medal for his satire and a US city award for his educational programs for disadvantaged people.

Since 1992, he has investigated and written several hundred articles on bureaucratic and elder abuse.

He founded Contra Cabal, one of the first electronic magazines to appear on the web, for which he develops the site, writes articles, designs pages, and produces graphics.

http://ContraCabal.org

Contra Cabal has now published for almost fifteen years.

Earlier, it published as email for six years. The hits/month now range between 100,000 and 150,000 with more than a million hits during the past twelve months.

Articles cover ongoing criminal activity by bureaucrats and elder abuse.

They describe the actions of corrupt judges and gross misconduct by lawyers who file frivolous law suits against tenants in government financially-assisted housing.

They outline how managers use unlawful retaliatory measures and propaganda to destroy the reputations of people who report illegal activity and racism.

Washington Supreme Court unanimously reversed a lower court decision that effectively allowed prior restraint and defined journalism inquiry as surveillance and harassment.

Repeatedly, lawyers who could find no fault with content instead personally attacked the author or his genre.

A corrupt judge imposed prior restraint and jailed him for contempt when he challenged the court decisions as a basic violation of constitutional and human rights.

To further coerce him, in consort with other jurists, the judge then arbitrarily transferred him to solitary confinement among murderers and rapists.

His published work in the print media for more than sixty years has received no challenge relating to accuracy.

People, among them elected judges and lawyers upon whom the public should be able to rely, have tried to stop him publishing information on politically sensitive issues.

That prior restraint, and restrictions on personal mobility, has now become a matter of international concern.

American Civil Liberties Union
(ACLU - Seattle),
International Federation of Journalists
(IFJ- Brussels),
National Union of Journalists
(NUJ - London),
American Society of Authors and Editors
(ASAE - New York),
and Seattle Weekly
have all filed amicus curiae briefs with Washington Supreme Court in support of his successful First Amendment stance.

Credential validation upon request by journalists and other responsible parties from: