I am a concerned student who has never posted on the board before because I didn't think that I had anything to add to the already rich conversation going on. But now, I feel that I have something to say.
I congratulate Dr. Stringer and Dr. Glamser on their victory over the little tyrant(and any fair-minded person can only call it a victory). They did well for themselves, and that's all any of us could ask of them. The moment chose them; they did not choose the moment. And they did the best that they could to obtain a favorable outcome for themselves and their families.
I've read some angry comments about these two professors on this board. If we're really honest with ourselves, we'll probably see that we pinned alot of hope and expectations on these two men. It's almost as if much of the school was living vicariously through them. To many, they must have been the keys to a better future. The hope was that they would win and the little tyrant would be gone, and they would have done it for all of us while we were backing them up.
But they didn't ask to be martyrs.
Any public comments attacking these two men are counter-productive, because we still have a task before us. The little tyrant still resides in the dome. Now we all have to make a decision. That decision is : WHAT DO WE WANT? and HOW BAD DO WE WANT IT?
Some of us may want a more peaceful environment in which to learn and teach. And they may seek it elsewhere, leaving USM like a sleeper waking from a horrid nightmare. Many others will want to stay at USM, or cannot leave, and must take up the challenge of removing the little tyrant from his kingdom.
If the latter course is your cause, then let's set about pursuing it with all the energy, courage and resolve that can be mustered. While Drs. Stringer and Glamser did not choose their moment, we all, each and every one of us, now have the opportunity to choose ours.
At this point, I am tired, as we all are, and I cannot offer any profound suggestions as to the course that anyone should take, or where to find the courage, energy and resolve to see us through to the end. But, in my own life, being the bookish individual that I am, I often draw insight, wisdom and power from the words and actions of the great minds of the past.
"We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are we are--
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield."
(-Tennyson,from "Ulysses")
It may be asking much to think that we could move "earth and heaven". But fourtunately our task, while being a great one, is still within our powers to perform. We only have to remove one small and petty man from a position that should never have been his to begin with. From the energy and passion that I have witnessed since this began, I can say with all honesty and sincerity that we are all "...one equal temper of heroic hearts..." You know the rest.