[COMM-ORG] COMM-ORG may go off the air

[Discussion list for COMM-ORG]

 Hi everyone,

I just wanted to say thank you for all the messages of support.  At this
point I want to repeat that I have not received any indication that
COMM-ORG is under threat.  But every day there is a new surprise, and
state statutes, current restraining orders, past Supreme Court
decisions, and even the state constitution seem to have become
irrelevant in the past few weeks.  So literally anything can happen at
any time for any reason and I just wanted to make sure that students
were not left in the lurch. 

Since it seemed that the support messages were meant for me, I won't
forward them to the list unless you request me to, in which case I will
be happy to do so.

Randy Stoecker
moderator/editor, COMM-ORG

On 3/26/2011 9:04 AM, Discussion list for COMM-ORG wrote:
> --------
> This is a COMM-ORG 'colist' message.
> All replies to this message come to COMM-ORG only.
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>  
>   Hi COMM-ORG,
>
> Those of you following the events in Wisconsin closely may have heard 
> that one of our most prominent faculty, William Cronon, has been the 
> subject of a Freedom of Information request by the Wisconsin Republican 
> party seeking all of his e-mails that may contain a wide variety of key 
> words related to the protests in Wisconsin.  This came after he 
> published an editorial in the New York Times related to the events in 
> Wisconsin.  You can read more about the request at 
> http://scholarcitizen.williamcronon.net/ .
>
> You are probably also aware that I have sent out news reports about the 
> protests over COMM-ORG, and that many people across the world have used 
> the list to send out advocacy messages about a wide variety of causes.  
> I have always prided myself on not censoring COMM-ORG (well, except for 
> those Prince William wants to send you a million dollars spam messages), 
> making it an open forum on community organizing.  I even created a 
> separate announcements list so that off-topic messages sent to the list 
> could have a home.  I have also considered COMM-ORG to be a central part 
> of my academic work documenting the diversity and depth of community 
> organizing around the world, and community organizing necessarily 
> involves advocacy.  Given the current climate, I do not know whether 
> such work will be protected under the principle of academic freedom.
>
> I do not know whether the Republican Party will expand its efforts to 
> target other faculty and I do not know how the university will respond.  
> And while I have received no information that I or any other faculty are 
> being targeted, I want you to all be aware that there is nothing 
> predictable here and thus I am worried that COMM-ORG may be taken off 
> the air at any time.  I am particularly concerned about students, since 
> I know a number of courses use the papers on the COMM-ORG site.  For 
> those of you using those papers, please inform your students that they 
> should download the papers for their personal use immediately, in the 
> event that COMM-ORG is shut down.
>
> I am sorry for all this uncertainty.
>
> Randy Stoecker
> moderator/editor, COMM-ORG
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