[aaus-list] moderation

[Natalia Pylypiuk]

Dear Colleagues and All subscribers to the AAUS list,

I thank my colleague, Professor Hrycak for this message.

I also wish to note that there are many members of the AAUS who are  
NOT of Ukrainian descent.
What brings us together in the association is an intellectual  
commitment to the study of
(in alphabetical order) Ukrainian Folklore, Geography, History,  
Language, Linguistics, Literature, Political Science,
Religious communities, Sociology, scientific developments, Women's  
Studies, etc., etc.

Therefore the question whether we put being Ukrainian before being  
scholars is completely  irrelevant, just as whether we
will vote for Mr. McCain or Mr. Obama.  I find it troubling when  
Professor Szporluk , a prominent historian and
member of the AAUS,  is sent a message, indicating how to sign off the  
AAUS list, just because he has correctly
protested against postings that ought to be addressed to another list.

I am against censorship of all kinds.  But the appropriate forum for  
discussing many of the recent topics is
*Ukrainian politics in the broadest sense,* not the AAUS list.  I  
would hope, however, that the snide tone and
argumentum ad hominem is not employed in either list.

Regards,
N. Pylypiuk

Prof. Natalia Pylypiuk, PhD
Modern Languages & Cultural Studies  [www.mlcs.ca]
University of Alberta

On 11-Sep-08, at 8:37 PM, Alexandra Hrycak wrote:

> Dear Colleagues,
>
> I appreciate the efforts several of you have made to police the list  
> and  to introduce norms of usage, in particular I appreciate that  
> several of you have started identifying yourself. However, the tone  
> of several recent posts has been derisive and some posts are off  
> topic. I have received a number of emails asking that I intervene on  
> both sides of various debates. I wish to reiterate what our  
> colleague Prof. Pylypiuk notes, which is that political posts are  
> welcome on the brama politics list serve, called *Ukrainian politics  
> in the broadest sense* and its address is:
> politics at brama.com
>
> I strongly urge you all to stick to our rules, in particular I  
> remind you that this is a list for Ukrainian studies and that we  
> post information relevant to academic studies of Ukraine. If there  
> is a series of news articles that you would like a reaction to,  
> please list them in a single e-mail.
>
> Finally, list members, when you address any remarks you have to  
> posters, please make your remarks respectful. If there is a  
> particular individual you wish to engage in a debate or you wish to  
> solicit further views from, do this *off list*. Again, I wish to  
> commend several of you for adhering to a moderate tone and for  
> providing useful information, both to me off line and to others on  
> line.
>
> -- Thank you,  Alexandra Hrycak, AAUS President
>
> **************************
>
> Alexandra Hrycak
> Associate Professor
> Department of Sociology
> Reed College
> 3203 SE Woodstock Blvd.
> Portland, Oregon 97202-8199
>
>