Believe me, I completely understand why people at USM would be reluctant to sign their names to the petition!  I think it's good, though, to give "outsiders" a chance to sign it so that you all can show the IHL and others that this matter IS getting wider and wider attention across the country as each day goes by.

As I've mentioned in previous messages, I've discovered that it's suprisingly easy to use e-mail to  contact people affiliated with various professional organizations; membership lists are often available at the organizations' web sites.  Last night alone I was able to send messages to close to seventy people, and I am only two letters of the alphabet into the list of a major professional organization.  I have already heard back from one of the recipients, who was kind enough to copy the message to everyone in his (very large) department.  In fact, so far I have received NOTHING but supportive comments from people who have contacted me as a result of these mailings; everyone seems truly shocked at what has happened to these good men (and to what is happening, more generally, to USM, its faculty and students).

For what it may or may not be worth, below is a copy of the letter I have been sending out to members of professional organizations focused on literature (my own discipline).  Anyone who wants to use this letter as a template for writing to scholars in their own field is more than welcome to use it! 

Dear Colleague,

I am writing to call your attention to a situation you may have read about in a recent front-page article in _The Chronicle of Higher Education_ -- the apparent vendetta-firing of a tenured and highly respected professor of English, Gary Stringer, and one of his distinguished colleagues in another department (Sociology) at the University of Southern Mississippi.  Full details of the events leading to and arising from this firing, including the full text of the _Chronicle_ article, are available at a very comprehensive website established to protest the firings (www.geocities.com/fireshelby).  The website makes for some inspiring reading (and listening), as it records the efforts of the faculty, staff, and students at USM to protect their rights and dignity.  Their struggle would seem to have implications for the preservation of tenure and academic freedom in American colleges in general; in fact, the president of the national ACLU recently spoke at USM in defense of the fired professors.

Although things are beginning to look a bit better for Gary Stringer and his colleague (Frank Glamser) than they did in early March, the turn-around has been due in great part to the exertion of public pressure, especially from academics around the nation, on the educational bureaucracy in Mississippi.  I am writing in order to ask respectfully that you visit the website cited above and, if you agree that these firings are as much a threat to academic freedom, intellectual integrity, and the principle of tenure as they seem to many others, I hope that you will consider writing to the educational officials listed on the site, especially to the board of the Institutions of Higher Learning (IHL).  Continued pressure on these officials may help to turn this situation around and thus create a valuable precedent not only for USM but for colleges around the nation.

Thank you very much for considering this request; I promise that this is the one and only e-mail you will receive from me about this matter.

With best wishes,

Robert C. (Bob) Evans
Professor of English
Auburn University Montgomery
Montgomery, AL  36124-4023

PS: Please feel free to share this message with anyone else who may be interested in its contents.  Thanks!