2008 Woodie Awards
To Address Ungar's Letter
Johanna Goldberg
Issue date: 2/9/05 Section: Opinion
I often disagree with many of the administrative decisions at Goucher.
To be fair, I usually do not have enough information to back up my convictions, nor do I always seek this information out before complaining to my friends about the 'stupid' things that Goucher did this time (as if every administrative decision comes from the physically tangible campus, or from some unknown source that must be attributed to the school itself).
When I take the time to learn about the multiple sides of an issue, or to speak to people who are fully aware of what is going on, I begin to understand where the administration is coming from, and that perhaps we as students - no matter how anti-establishment we may pride ourselves on being - may actually benefit from some of the changes or actions promoted by administrators.
Still, I normally must seek out the truth about an issue before coming to such a conclusion. Upon my return to Goucher this semester, however, I did not have to do so. The administration - In this case President Sanford J. Ungar himself - made a decision that I agree with wholeheartedly. He sent a letter.
This action might appear simple, but the January 20 letter from Ungar is far from routine. In less than a page, Ungar addresses the discriminatory incidents that occurred last semester and last year, upholds the convictions of tolerance that Goucher prides itself on, and makes clear that such actions have been and will be taken seriously.
Ungar expresses both sadness and anger about the events throughout the letter, and in doing so, he elucidates that while he will not stand for the incidents, he understands that most Goucher community members are victims, not perpetrators.
He comes the closest that he has ever come this year or last in naming the incidents that occurred. Although Ungar does not want to broadcast the details of the events to the campus, he nearly does so as he alludes to "epithets or insulting symbols" written on doors, vandalism, and "antagonizing others from behind a screen name."
To be fair, I usually do not have enough information to back up my convictions, nor do I always seek this information out before complaining to my friends about the 'stupid' things that Goucher did this time (as if every administrative decision comes from the physically tangible campus, or from some unknown source that must be attributed to the school itself).
When I take the time to learn about the multiple sides of an issue, or to speak to people who are fully aware of what is going on, I begin to understand where the administration is coming from, and that perhaps we as students - no matter how anti-establishment we may pride ourselves on being - may actually benefit from some of the changes or actions promoted by administrators.
Still, I normally must seek out the truth about an issue before coming to such a conclusion. Upon my return to Goucher this semester, however, I did not have to do so. The administration - In this case President Sanford J. Ungar himself - made a decision that I agree with wholeheartedly. He sent a letter.
This action might appear simple, but the January 20 letter from Ungar is far from routine. In less than a page, Ungar addresses the discriminatory incidents that occurred last semester and last year, upholds the convictions of tolerance that Goucher prides itself on, and makes clear that such actions have been and will be taken seriously.
Ungar expresses both sadness and anger about the events throughout the letter, and in doing so, he elucidates that while he will not stand for the incidents, he understands that most Goucher community members are victims, not perpetrators.
He comes the closest that he has ever come this year or last in naming the incidents that occurred. Although Ungar does not want to broadcast the details of the events to the campus, he nearly does so as he alludes to "epithets or insulting symbols" written on doors, vandalism, and "antagonizing others from behind a screen name."
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Anonymous
posted 8/04/06 @ 3:17 PM EST
We will resume on the pokerroom promotion code; we will sharp on the enlightenment; we will never stumble. (Continued…)
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