Editorial on the College Center - Ps

SPE OPO}

Vv

ol 1, No 4

United Federation of College Teachers — BMCC

Becember, 1!

AGAIN: THE COMPENSATION QUESTION

The union has won a partial victory on
the compensation issue. But, before
euphoria sets in, we might be well-ad-
vised to scrutinize the President's
position more closely. ‘His offer to
those owéd more than one monthisa
firm one. It is not conditioned with
the word, "possible" as was his origi-
nal statement to a union negotiating
team. A reduction in credit load or a
two-yonth vacation by way of academic
advisement represents an important
concession. We advise those involved
to accept it. And, may we add, had it
not been for union pressure, the ad-
ministration might well have extended
an abundance of goodwill, but precious
little compensation.

ae

Those due a month or less have not
fared as well. In effect, the Presi-
dent did not offer this large group
compensation. He argued that under
the semester system we will enjoy lon-
ger vacations. He neglected to men~
tion, however, that we also work lon-
ger hours; additional vacations merely
balance this out. The President also
argued on what has become a variation
of an old theme. He told us that when
the faculty voted to changeover to the
semester calendar, not a voice was
raised in protest about the lost vaca-
tion time. True enough. Unfortunate-
ly, we were not informed until May 19
that the transition would cut into our
vacation. The memo issued by the Dean
of Faculty on that date promised "ad-
justments."" Now, six months after the

fact and then only in response to union
agitation, the administration has mo-
ved to compensate the faculty.

ae

The irony of all this is that the
President could have settled this
whole matter back in September. At
that time he could have announced his
proposal to compensate those owed
more than a month and, in turn, by a
simple expedient, satisfied all those
due four weeks or less. Under the
quarter system we normally would have
been due back by September 26. Clas-
ses under the new calendar began on
September 19. Had the President
freed all those due a month or less
from college duties before Monday,
the nineteenth, we doubt that anyone
would have quibbled about the loss of
a single week. In most cases, howe-
ver, we were called back to perform
the most perfunctory duties. As Many
as four people, for example, proctor-
ed a placement examination for thirty
students. The administration cyni-
cally or thoughtlessly abused faculty
time. In the face of this, the Pre-
sident informed us at the first fa-
culty meeting that relatively few in-
structors and counsellors returned to
the college before September 19%,

ae

We cannot easily dismiss the loss of
a month of vacation time. The admin-
istwation pressures us_ to complete
dissertations and pursue research.

(continued)



2

It then turns around and passes lightly ever the loss of four weeks of vacation. The
consistency of these positions eludes us.

The union has acted in good faith. When an intermediary suggested that the President
had expressed a willingness to expand on his original propnsal and that the union had
possibly misconstrued the substance of his position, we were willing to grant the
henefit of the doubt. We immediately dispatched a memorandum asking him for a c&ari~-
fication and, in the interim, as a token of gond faith, promised to delay further
action until he replied. Nine days later we received a curt communication from his
office.

We will now act upon the chapter's commission ef November 2 and direct the union's
lawyer to petition the Board of Hagher Education on behalf of chapter members owed
a month or less. For your enlightenment, we print below our exchange with the
President. In deference to the confidence and good faith of the intermediary,

his (her) name is deleted for the notes.

MEMO FROM WIiLIAM FRIEDHEIM, PRESIDENT,
BMCC CHAPTER, UFCT, TO PRESIDENT BLOCK.

November 21, 1966

Last Wednesday, Préfessor X . . . spoke to me about the issue of compensation due
faculty as a result of the transition to the semester system. X told me that (s)he
had informed yeu of (the) intention to talk to me. X pointed out that (s)he was
under the impression that you had stated your willingness at a P and B meeting to
let departmental chairmen resolve the issue by working out an equitable solution
for all thase to whom vacation time was due. One option would be a reduction in
class-lead. I asked if it was X's understanding that your statement applied to
all those due compensation, including these owed a month or less. When (shhe
replied "yes," I asked if I could use X's name and paraphrase the conversation
with me in a letter to yous Again the réply was affirmative and on my part, I
promiseA té show X a copy of the letter before I forwarded it to yous This way,
I will nat misrepresent what as said to me.

If you are willing ts affirm what PrAfesstr X reported t4 me, it will represent a
much mare substantive offer than the nne you proposed at our meeting of October 19.
While you did outline the "possible" option of a reduced classload for those éwed
more than a month, you ruled it out for those owed a month or lessi If you are willing
to reduce the classload of all those involved, we would consider it a major
concession. Of course we would expect the administration to establish a specific
guideline to govern the assignment of teaching schedules. Fer example, we feel that
the reduction of three credits for those awed a month and six for those due two months
or more would be equitable. We assume that the administration would base the
reduction upon the average classlnad of each department. However, all of this is
academic until you affirm or correct Professar X*s reading of your position.

We feel that those due a month or a little less are due at least a reduction in
classload. We cannot easily dismiss the less of a month; It bulks large to those
who are working under pressure to finish dissertations. A classload scaled down
two or three credits would free those affected a few hours a week to devote to
research.

The Executive Board of the Chapter is not happy over the prospect of petitioning
the Board of Higher Edacation. I told Prefessor X that we would delay action until
I received a reply to this inquiry. If I have stated your position correctly, as
explained to me by X, the Executive Board will strongly recommend that the chapter
accept your offer.

I would appreciate a reply at your earliest possible convenience.
Respectfully submitted,

William Friedheim

(continued ever)

ee
EO



MEMORANDUM FROM PRESIDENT BLOCK TO
WILLIAM FRIEDHEIM

November 28, 1966

I have before me three memaranda from the Executive Committee of the BMCC Chapter of
the United Federation of College Teachers. This response is being sent to you as
Chairman of this group.

The first memorandum received was undated and was in the form of "an open letter."
The last memorandum, dated November 21, 1966, was on the same topic, namely the
matter of faculty vacation time. In response to these two memoranda, I would like
to inform you that I intend to talk regarding this matter at the faculty meeting
scheduled for November 30. I would like also to remind you that, at our last
meeting 6n this topic, I stated that we had alreadyhad several procedures under
consideration for resolving the question of vacation time. ese will be presented
to the faculty at the meeting.

The second memorandum I received was dated November 14, 1966 and was concerned with
"hours for non-instruct&onal faculty."' Here too, I wish to remind you that I had

already stated that this matter was under advisement by the Administrative Council
to see whether a plan could be devised for all of the Colleges in the City Univer-
sity. You will certainly be informed of progress along these lines. Incidentally,
I wish to point to what was reported to me as an error in the first paragraph of

your November 14% mem6. Dean Cohen informs me that the members of our counselling
staff are generally here 6n a 35-hour week and not a 40-hour week as stated by yous

Murray H Block
President

NOTE )

For the recerd, counsellors work a "nine to five" day. This, of course, includes
an hour for lunch. We leave it to the individual members to decide whether this
is tn be defined as a 40-hour or 35-hour week.

ISSUES

THE COLLEGE CENTER

The present facilities at the College Center on Sixty-ninth Street are woefully in-
adequate. The quarters are close and faculty members as a result enjoy few of the
amenities normally asseciated with an academic setting. For the time beng, one large
room with relatively few desks serves as an office for the entire faculty. We hope
that this is merely a passing inconvenience which a larger building, ready for
occupancy in February, will correct.

In one sense, the limitation of space works to the benefit of the faculty. It makes
for a relaxed atmosphere. Because the school is small and relatively intimate,
bureaucracy has not formalized the lines of communication. Faculty members of
different disciplines, sharing a common office, are on informal terms with one
another. To the outsider, it is obvious that there is an esprit de corps altong the
instructors. We suspect that in turn the Center's students have been infected by
the contagious enthusiasm and energy of their faculty.

Dr Weinberger's administration of the Center, from what we understand, has been
efficient and judivious. The faculty exercises autonomy both in and outsidé the
classroom. Of course, this is as it should be.

There are, however, some disquieting aspects about the Center. Both students and
faculty are suspended in limbo. The Board of Higher Education has not reached a
firm decision about the future of either group. The Board initially established
the Center to absorb the overflow of students qualifying for the four-year colleges



of the City University. However, by the time the Center finally opened its doors, many
of the students originally admitted had understandably decided to go elsewhere. The
Board was left with a half-vacant facility and then sought out students who, in many
cases, had not even qualified for the Community Colleges. where will these students
matriculate next year? Will the Board shuttle them into the senior or community
colleges? And what of the faculty?

Out of fairness to the students, the Board should fdarmulate without delay a policy
regulating their transfer to other units of the City system. Meanwhile, President
Block and the BMCC administration should move to guarantee the Center faculty some
measure of job security. It is grossly unjust to hire someone on a temporary basis
and then toy with their future by holding out a vague promise of more permanent
employment. BMCC will expand in the coming year. Out of necessity the school will
be required to hire additional faculty. Some departmental charrmen have informally
assured members of the Center faculty that, pending review of their credentials, they
will have first claim to positions that open up as a result of expansion. The
policy, however, is not binding on all departments.

The Sixty-ninth Street fan should receive the same consideration as that at
BMCC. The administration -orployed the Center's faculty only after passing on their
qualifications. At present, senior members of the BMCC faculty are observing
Center classes. The instructional staff of the College Center will be a known
quantity when it comes time for the administration to renew contracts and hire addi-~
tional staff for the academic year 1967-1968. Instead of leaving them to wait in
suspense until the very last moment, the administration should notify members of the
Center faculty of termination or renewal of contract at the earlist possible date.

The UFCT will schedule a meeting at the College Center within the next ten days
to discuss questions of interest to the faculty there. Bill Friedheim who is
chairmen of the BMCC Chapter and Dr Israel Kugler, President of the New York
Local, will represent the union. If there is sufficient interest, the union
will intervene on behalf of the College Center faculty at both the Chapter and
Local levels,

A LESSON FROM CHICAGO

Instructors and Professors at the City of Chicago's nine Community Colleges went
on strike last Wednesday, November 30%, when the Junior College Board sought to
impose seventeen obstructive "preconditions" for collective bargaining. The Cook
County Local of the UFCT was certified as collective bargaining agent for the
college instructors last October. The strike was about 90% effective through last
week and only about 25% of the students at the colleges crossed their professors'
picket lines. Of 682 instructors in the system, 465 are UFCT members; they were
joined in the strike by many non-members.

The events in Chicago have a lesson for the faculty at BMCC. While we and our
colleagues throughout the City University find ourselves stymied by administration's
grab-bag of "preconditions," "contingencies," possibilities," "if's," and "maybe's,"
because we do not claim as members a majority of the City University faculty, our
Chicago colleagues are able to back up their requests with strength. The UFCT will
be unable to wrest more than minor concessions from the administration as long as
this minority status persists.

We are near the 50% mark at BMCC at this time and could probably win a certification
election at BMCC at the present time. Unfortunately, not every unit of the City
University has such a vital chapter and it will be necessary to win a majority
City-wide, One last push at BMCC can win us majority standing and set an example

for other colleges. We appeal to non-members once again to avoid a St John's travesty
at BMCC by filling out a check-off card and submitting it to one of the Chapter's



officers. You may, if you wish, belong to the UFCT without having your dues checked
off your salary but this practice gives a false official impression of our membership
and weakens us in this preliminary period when we are not certified.

IS MIDDLE*STATES ACCREDITED???

BMCC is being visited this week by an accrediting team from the Middle States
Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools. The Association will, after "examining"
the college, rule on whether or not BMCC is to be an accredited institution of

higher learning. This, it should be noted, is the selfsame Middle States Assoca&ation
which last week bestowed that honor en St Jehn's University. The Association's

Report on St John's included what the New York Times called a "severe reppeof" in that
it directed the University to set its house in order. It would seem that if that
house is "out of order," its accreditation should be removed.

The past year's events at St John's have been widely publicized and should need no
elaborate recounting. Some thirty teachers were prefunctorily dismissed on December
16, 1965 for their active roles in demanding a voice for the faculty in the college's
policy-making. Twenty-one of those dismissed were members of the UFCT; Father Peter
O'Reilly of the "University in Exile" is presently the New York Local's Vice-
President for Four Year Colleges.

The administration at St John's views the University as a fief to te disposed of as
the administration pleases. Their flat refusal to deal with the activist faculty
was high-handed and arrogant. The dismissal of some of the University's best
teachers was a shameful disgrace. The American Association of University Professors!
"severest censure in its history" was met by the administration's response that the
accrediting agency was the one "we have to worry about . . . and we have assurances
from Middle States that they do not think this warrants any investigation on their
part."

This was said last february! Was President Cahill telling the truth? Did Middle
Stabes assure him that he had nothing to worry about? If so, why December lst before
their report was released? Were they pouring over platitudes and euphemisms of last
week's report which are supposed to convince us that their "repreof" was "severe?"

It doesn't really matter. The point is that Middle States HAS renewed their
accreditation of an institution which fired thirty professors without giving a
reason, denied them "even the most rudimentary elements of academic due process"
(AAUP statement), and showed clearly what it thought of "education" when it staffed
the struck classes for a time with secretarial personnell and then issued its
credit for the courses,

It is said that Middle States is a farce because it is comprised of administrators
who scratch one another's back. When the New York Post suggested to Father O'Reilly
that Middle States might accredit St John's for the simple reason that they "may be
a little reluctant to have their own campuses examined too closely on the question
of academic freedom,"' Father O'Reilly conceded, "That could be a factor."

James Wechsler wrote on the eve of the accreditation of St John's: "It is hard to
see how any university can take the association's standards seriously if St John's
can obtain a whitewash."" It is hoped that the faculty at BMCC does not. As
individuals, the visitors from Middle States are entitled the same courtesy
extended to any individual guest at the college. But, as representatives of the
Association, they cannot command much esteem. The inevitable accreditation, when it
comes through, is hardly anything to celebrate. In view of the company which BMCC
will join, it seems more like an insult. TRC RBD

WPF AP

FORUM: (For communications of general interest open to faculty, students, non-instruc-
tional staff, clerical staff, and administration.)

THE TIME CLOCK AND THE TIME CLOCK MENTALITY: The introduction of the time clock
at the Borough of Manhattan Community College represented an advance for the petty
accounting mentality that has shown its hand here time and time again. However,
notices of tardiness that have gone out te clerical and stenographic personnel show
how persuasive is this spirit of pettiness. Minutes here and there are always counted
and the Administration in order to make a show of saving tid bits demoralizes is own
working staff. Perhaps when a faculty trained in broad humanistic background have
effective voice in Administration the hegemony of the time clock mentality will fail.
(mame with-held on request)



POETRY

by Naomi Woronov

", . . and just before he left, Nancy, he tucked these under my pillow.
You could tell right off why I'd wait practically forever for him."

"The Villanelle was a sort of shepherd's
song and ever since its origin has been
used almost entirely for pastoral_sub-
jects or idyllic effects. . .. /It/ is
written in five three-line stanzas and
ends with a stanza of four lines, the re-
frain forming eight of the nineteen lines
This repetition is an alternating double
refraan, being taken from the first and
third lines of the first stanza; the two
lines forming alternately the last lines
of all the stanzas except the final ones
In the last, both lines appear together,
concluding the couplet. Only two rhymes
are permitted throughout the verse."

"The Triclet . .. is a single stanza

of eight lines with only two rhymes--
the first line being repeated in its
entirety as the fourth, and the first
and second lines being repeated in their
entirety as the seventh and eighth lines.
+ « . It can be seen that the triolet

is not adapted for any profound emotion;
its point lies in its grace and skill-
full turn of phrase."

"The Pantoum. . . is not, strictly
speaking, a French form at all. It is
of Maylay origin and was first popular-
ized by Victor Hugo in his Orientales.
It is written in four-line stanzas, and
each verse repeats intact two of the
lines in the preceding verse. To be
precise, the second and fourth line of
each stanza become the first and third
of each succeeding one throughout the
poem until the end. There is no fixed
rule concerning the number of verses
which may ensue, but, at the close, the
second and fourth line of the last stan-
za are the same as the first and third
line of the first stanza --usually re-
versed, so that the first and last line
of the poems are identical."

MOTOR SCOOTER VILLANELLE

There's something I just gotta know.
I'm tired of life in this cell.
I've just gotta stay on the go.

I'm tired of feeling so low.
Won't anything ever go well?
There's something I just gotta know.

I haven't got any dough.
And I haven't a thing left to sell.
I've just gotta stay on the go.

Things keep on moving so slow.
Even the juice kinda fell.
There's something I just gotta know.

I haven't the time to think, though.
My clothes are beginning to smell.
I've just gotta stay on the go.

Sometime the truth's got to show.
But when it will be is the hell.
There's something I just gotta know:

I've just gotta stay on the go.

TRISE TRIOLET

I shouldda been a baby boy
So's I couldda been hirsute.
A pen just ain't as good a toy,
I shouldda been a baby boy
So's then I could enjoy
The scratching at the root.
I shouldda been a baby boy
So's I couldda been hirsute.

PANTOUN DE DEUX FILLES - being
a conversation overheard at Chicago's
Gate of Horn during a Ginsberg-Corso
entertainment

"Another Pernod on the rocks, please."
"My God, aren't they simply divine!"
"I do think I'm going to sneeze,"
"I'm feeling so awfully sublime."

"My God, aren't they simply divine!"

"Where the hell is that girl with my drink?"
"I'm feeling so awfully sublime."

"Frankly, I think they stink.

Where the hell is that girl with my drink?"
"Your taste is just not up-to-date."
"Frankly, I think they stink.'!
"Dear, only the best play the Gate."



Your taste is just not up-to-date."

"I could sure use a small breath of air."
"Dear, only the best play the Gate."

"Can you reach that window up there?"

The above quotes are from
Louis Untermeyer's The
Forms of Poetry (New York:
Harcourt, Brace, and Co., "T could sure use a small breath of air."
1926). "Really, you're awfully crude."
"Can you reach that window up there?"
"Why I think that you're just goddamn rude!

Really, you're awfully crude."
"I do think I'm going to sneeze."

“Why I think that you'ré just goddamn rude!"
"Another pernod on the rocks, please."

SCOR ORO IORI IOI IO IOIIOI GOI IIOIOI UIE OI III IORI ISI AR aE Hea

TO A LEARNED AUTHOR OF WHOM THIS PERSON IS MERELY TIRED OF HEARING
REFERENCE

Old Thomas Stearns he lived in a church;

he bore no malice, enjoyed no mirth,

but day after day, with feline aid,

he prayed, wrote poetry, and then he prayed.

He alone on wisdom's shelf,

He alone, (he said so himself),

was (he said it with no misgiving),
the only man of the "living" living;

each other man was in living, dead;

‘twas found in the gospel that Thomas Stearns read
aloud to his crrcle of Practical Person (sic.)

who published his words with so little exertion.

He wrote his Words to the organ's sound;

He wrote for the Lord, he wrote for the Pound.
He emphatically wished for man sufficient

the laws of the epicene omniscient.

But you, Thomas Stearns, alone in your pew
are undoubtedly getting what's coming to you:
“For you, sir, one year in purgatory
for each and every allegory.

COMMENTS by Lawrence Sher

Physics and Bolitics

Analogy is one of the most important aids in aloowing us to understand a strange
situation. By comparang the situation about which we are ignorant with a familiar
one, we may often cast light on previously dark areas.

Tebscure dark area to which I am specifically referring is the Congress of the
United States. The Analogy is between Congressional Politics and Classical Physics.
Of course, the laws of inertia bring the Senate immediately to mind but there is

an even stronger analogy between the transfer of power in Congress and the transfer
of energy in physics. Naturally, the anergy analagous to politics is heat.

Heat is transferred by three methods: conduction, convection, and radiation. Heat
is conducted by a single medium. The flow of energy is from high to low temper-
ature. Heat travels through different media by convection, through movement of
the media. The only method of heat transfer through a vacuum is radiation.

In this method heat is emitted in waves in proportion to the fourth power of the
absolute temperature of the emitter.



Thanks to the physicist's theory of heat transfer we can know understand the trans-
fer of seat in Washington. Since much legislation is frozen in committee every
year, many people think Congress should be overhauled. Congress claims that it is
the gravity of their work that forces down their output. However, most people feel
that Congress' potential could be increased by placing the most energetic Congress-
men on the proper committees. In other words, it is a matter of seat transfer.

There are three methods by which the transfer of a seat may take phace; they

are concoction, conviction, and gradation. Several members of the same party may
get together and concoct a rearrangement of seat for other members of their party.
By this method the seats are given from high to low in party loyalty.

Seats are transferred between men of different parties by conviction. Inter-party
blocs of men with the same ideas on various subjects can arrange the transfer of

a seat, far in height, to men of their belief. Too much conviction on the part of
a congressman, however, will often result in his transfer from a high to a low
committee seat.

The method of seat transfer that works without regard to party or belief --one might
say that it works in a vacuum-- is the method of gradation. An administrator of
Congress grades all members in order of their seniority. The congressmen are then
able to select posts from high to how according to their rankings. The ability to
set these gradations makes the administrator a very important man. #£n fact, he is
often considered the fourth most powerful man in Washington.

Thus, seats may be transferred within the party by concoction, between different
parties by conviction) and through a vacuum according to the law of the fourth in
absolute power by gradationi Which of these methods to employ, however, and how to
apply it toward increasing the quality of legislation remains, unfortunately, a
matter of heated debate.

SOIR KOR ORR IO OOO IO FO IOI II ORI ICR I I ASC A Ok.

THE LIFEBOAT PROBLEM

One of the frustrations of teaching comes from the assignment of research to students.
Naturally the teacher believes that the result of research should be shared with
the class. Invariably, however, students' reports make dull classes.

I have derived one method of treating certain student reports from a method of
hiring which is attributed to Admiral Hyman Rickover. During job interviews Admiral
Rickover asked applicants if they were resourceful. Of course the answer was "yes."
He then asked, "If you were lost at sea in a lifeboat with four other men, could
you be resourceful?" The reply would still be "yes." "If there were food for

only one person on board, could you convince the others to go overboard?" The
applicant would again say, "yes,"' for how could anyone dispute the answer? At this
point Admiral Rickover would push a buzzer and four sullen men would enter the room.
The Admiral would order, "Convince them!"

I repeat this story to classes to whom I've assigned research on the life and works
of notable mathematicians. I then choose five students and ask them to consider
the mathhbmatician on whom they have done research as being in the lifeboat with the
other four mathematicians chosen. Each student:must convince the others that his
mathematician should stay in the boat.

The following features, which have made this method of preservation successful, may
serve others as guidelines for the creation of other methods of presentation of
student research:

Competition: The competition between students cases the rest of the class to
listen. The whole class may be involved by allowing the researchers
to be questioned from the audience. The survivor may be determined
by class vote. This again permits each member of the class to
become involved.

Application: Students are caused to think in order to apply the work of their
mathematicians to the lifeboat situation. "Who is better equipped
to stay in the boat than Archimedes? He discovered the laws of
floating bodies." "But, Bernoulli carried the study of fluids
far beyond the scope of Archimedes."



Humanization: Students think of mathematicians as human beings. "Euler had thir-
teen children. If you send him off the boat you will make orphans
of them all."

Inspiration: This debate procedure allows students a freedom of expression not
usual in the classroom. In one of my classes a student spent five
minutes telling us that Fermat should remain in the lifeboat because
he provided a foundation for the mathematicians who came after him.
She was surprised by: "Do you think that contribution is important
enough to save &his Floormat!"

MEET YARDLEY AVON Introduced by William Friedheim

With this issue The Gadfly introduces a new feature, ‘Queries and Answers" by
Yardley Avon. Dr Avon has been hired by the United Federation of College Teachers
as a full-time theoretician in residence. The Union feels that in this progressive
and complex age am action is only as good as the theory behind it. In the past,
union activity has been severely weakened by woefully inadequate theoretical and
philosophical underpinnings. Dr Avon now steps in to fill our theoretical void.

The UFCT will draw upon Dr &von's expertise as it embarks upon the ambitious but
necessary task of building a philosophical system which will cover all catgories of
faculty-administration relations. A UFCT Weltanschauung will add a new dimension to
our negotiations with the administration. The administration's position, based upon
the shaky and certainly outdated assumptions of Peter Abelard and the twelfth cen-
tury scholastics, will collapse in the face of the union's superior metaphysic.

Dr Avon brings impressive credentials to his new job. He studied Marxism, capitalism,
and Renaissance commercial systems at the London School of Economics; existentialism
at the Sorbonne; and German Idealism at the University of Berlin. In 1961 he was
O'Doherty Tutor of Thomistic Philssophy at St John's University in Brooklyn and in
1964 a fellow in the Department of Economics at Bob Jones University in North Caro-
lina. He is a serious student of world religion and has previously served as theo-
retical consultant to the Provos of Amsterdam (Netherlands) and Local 1370 of the
Chicago Meatpackers.

Our Chapter will help the UFCT defray the cost of Dr Avon's salary by paying $25 a
month consultant's fee for his column, "Queries and Answers."' In his column Dr Avon
will answer members' questions about union philosophy from ontology to cosmology."

Welcome aboard, Yardley Avon!

QUERIES A by yardley avon, lld., phd.

"good theory is good action" D ANSWERS

QUERY: Sociologically speaking, how many variables should a good working theory of
labor have to be viable? OWN socialsciences

DR AVON'S ANSWER: It shouldn't have any. You should not wééght down any theory
with too many variables for they are quite unwieldy. However, tactic-wise it is
advisable to include as many contingencies as possible. A good labour negotiatour
(and remember, a good negotiatour is by definition a good theoretician) should
always have contingencies to fall back upon.

QUERY: Is there such a thing as theoretical action? A friend of mine in the English
Department claims that "theory and action are bad bedfellows."" I don't know exactly
what he means but I thought he was wrong. Could you clear this up?

Name and Department Witheld
upon Request

DR AVON'S ANSWER: The term theoretical action is a redundancy. Good theory is good
action and good action is good theory. Your friend in the English Department is a

little too glib for his own good. Facile generalizations are no substitute for
hard-core knowledge.



14

QUERY: Who in your opinion is the most seminal of modern day labor theorists?
BB, Advertising

DR AVON'S ANSWER: My vote would have to go to Talcott Weens of Harvard. He has
worked out a brilliant labour dialectic. At the risk of oversimplification, let
me briefly summarize the dialectic as he conceives it. The thesis is the nineteenth
century, an age of class conflict (Marx). The early twentieth century, the anti-
thesis, is a period of Harmony (Labor-Management Cooperation, e.g. Samuel Gompers).
And, of course, the 1960s, the decade of Harmony-Conflict, is the synthesis.
(Billie Ziller of the Congressional Conference best represents the new breed of
labor statesman: tough front but behind the scenes cooperates with management).
Professor Weens believes in Harmony-Conflict and a classhess society suled by a
status-elite. I develop a similar theory in my latest book, Labor Epistemology
(Braeger). =<

QUERY: Is it good labor theory to mix mysticism and naturalism?

ZBT, Assistant Registrar

DR AVON'S ANSWER: Metaphorically, no, but if you want to tie down the loose ends
of naturalist phi&osophy to mystical moorings, it might be a wise idea.

QUERY: What, if anything, can German Romanticism, Oriental mysticism, French
Impreapionism, and English Dilletantism add to the American labor movement?

PP, Art
DR AVON'S ANSWER: Ethnic balance.

QUERY: What is the difference between labor theory and labor philosophy?

DR AVON'S ANSWER: Ideology can transform philosophy into theory and vice versa if
conditions are idealistic. The differences are problematical and profound but the
most serious students of the subject agree that at present we lack sufficient data
to define either theory or philosophy. The subject is terribly complex but I

predict there will be a semantic breakthrough by the year 2000. By then we should
have the necessary information to feed our computers. Of course at that point the

whole question will be academic as necrology will replace both philosophy and
theory.

QUERY: How does a labor theoretician best employ concepts?
DR AVON'S ANSWER: By putting them to work.

QUERY: Do you believe that it is best to approach negotiations as a Marxist or
a Capitalist?

DR AVON'S ANSWER: I believe that a Marxist-Capitalist approach is best. This is
not a contradiction in terms. Frighten management with “arxist rhetoric but, at
the same time, convince them that you believe profit i8 the motor force of the
economy. Management is always

impressed by motor force.

QUERY: Does philosophical i- spe oO; A Of ly

@ealism make for good labor
theory? December, 1966 Joe Conlin, Editor
IK, Modern Languages CONTRIBUTORS 2
(German) Roger Dooley is a member of the English Depart-
ment and theatre-cinema columnist for the Buf-

DR AVON'S ANSWER: Phenomenolo- falo, NY Catholic diocesan newspaper; William
givally, no, but as a tactic- Friedheim is a member of the Social Sciences
factor idealism can play a use Department and Chairman of the BMCC Chapter;
ful role in labour negotiatiorm. | Lawrence Sher is Assistant Prefessor of Mathe-
Philosophical idealism is a pr | matics; Naomi Woronov teachers in the English
ori divorced from bread and but

Department.
ter issues. WAge and Fringe be-
nefits, however, are empirical-
ly perceived, i.e., with the
senses. Administrators are cor
genital empiricists. They be-
lieve only in perceived know-

Opinions expressed in signed articles are the
writers' own and not necessarily those of the
Chapter or THE GADFLY.

nan
a poeerenrtenecanren



Ledge. Hence a union official well-versed in idealism could throw the administra-
tion off-balance by introducing a "thing in itself" or a "realm of spirit" into,
say, a collective bargaining session. It works every time and confuses the hell
out of ‘em.

QUERY: If you were negotiating with an inflexible administrator, whom would you
employ to sway him to your position: Adam Smith, Friedrich ingels, Fester Sore,
or Vito Battista? QX, Phys Ed

DR AVON'S ANSWER: I wouldn't employ any of them. I would phone Cosa Nostra and
have them send up a couple of goons.

QUERY: I believe that men and nations are alike in that the experience of the past
significantly influences the actions of both. Memory is to man as history is to

a nation. I fear that the problem today with the Social Sciences, particularly
Sociology and Political Science, is that their theoregcal approach is ahistorical.
There is a dangerous tendency to abstract problems by wresting them out of their
historical context. This blurs rather than clarifies issues. As a respected labor
theorist, would you agree? HGW, History

DR AVON'S ANSWER: History is bunk.

QUERY: I know that this has little to do with the union but nonetheless I was

wondering if as a theorist you could tell me what theadries lies behind the dress
j ?

PERU aurOne RHvonJ III, Student Life

DR AVON'S ANSWER: I would be happy to field the question. There are two theories

behind the dress regulation: 1) neat appearance and 2) good impréssion.

QUERY: Could you suggest some general books for a beginning student of labor theory?
SS, Social Science

DR AVON'S ANSWER: I'd be deligkted to. Talcott Weens, Dictionary of Conceptual

Frameworks is a standard reference work which is essential to any labor theorist's

library. Weens' Overlapping Patterns of Harmony-Conflict is a classic in its

field. H Stanislaw Finch's Applied Labor Pedagogy strikes a nice balance between

socialism and demonology while my own highly-praised Finks, Finance, and Fraad

(the companion volume to Marx, Metaphysics and Mysticism) is particularly valuable

for its unexcelled appendix on anal personality scales.

CINEMA

by Roger B Dooley

BRITISH FILMS

Time was --and not so long ago--
when discriminating American film-
goers coutd look to England for a
steady supply of products as unvary-
ing in quality as Harris tweed and
as ummistakeable in flavor as Guin-
ness stout. There were the solidly
authentic re-creations of the Bri-
tish past with the knighted and dam-
ed royalty of the London stage play-
ing the royalty of history, from
Henry VIII to Victoria. There were
the underplayed thrillers, all the
more spine-chilling for their gen-
tell setting amid vicars and jarris-
ters, retired colonels, and crochety
spinsters. There were the domestic
dramas, all British restraint, in
which Jennifer with stiff upper lip
would murmur to Hilary, "Don't let's
be beastly to poor Derek. He's been
such a perfect brick through the
whole ghastly mess."' And, of course,
there were the delightful comedies,
often about oddball criminals played
by Alec Guinness. The one common

denominator was that the accents
were all strictly Oxbridge and every
one, if not born in the Establish-
ment, was at least close enough to
put it within reach. The lower or-
ders, when seen at all, were bobbies
or nannies, pub-keepers or char-wo-
men, full of perky cockney humor and
ever so grateful for a kindly word
from their betters.

KK

To say the very least, all this has
changed. Within the past ten years,
first the novel and then the stage
fell to the furious assaults of the
"angry young men" from the red-brick
universities, determined to expose
all the seamier sides of England's
welfare state. Frequently adapting
material from the other two media,
British films for the first time
turned either devastatingly satiric
of national mores (as in I'm All
Right Jack or Darling) or so grimly
realistic as to make American slum



plays of the 1930s look like char-
ming fantasies. Room at the Top,

Saturday Night and Sunday Morning,
This Sporting Life, Billy Liar, A
Kind of Loving -- the list could be
indefinitely extended, each one cre-
ating one or more new stars, speak-
ing with the Midland or Manchester
of Liverpool accents of the working
class.

ok

But even that phase is passing now
that "London swings like a pendulum
do" --the London of Carnaby Street
and mod fashions, of long-hatred
boys and lavish gambling clubs. The
staid British capital, where scarce-
ly gen years ago Tea and Sympathy
could not be publically staged, now
applauds and honors plays that shhok
New York critics into sputtering in-
dignation (e.g., Entertaining Mr
Sloane, The Killing of Sister George).
It is this revolution of taste that
has given us_ such off-beat comedy
dramas as Morgan, Alfie, and, most
recently, Georgy Girl.

RRR H EHH

Like A Taste of Honey, Georgy Girl
deals with the most sordid possibly
material without itself being sordid
at all. What shines through most
clearky is that the heart of the
overweight heroine, marvelously play
ed by Lynn Redgrave, remains firmly
in the right place. Never sentimen-
tal or mealy-mouthed, Georgy simply
radiates a womanly warmth heightened
by contrast with the slashing vi-
cioushess of her room-mate and false
friend (Charlotte Rampling), another
Darling type, who bitterly resents
every phase of unwahted motherhood.
Though Georgy falls in love with the
baby's irresponsible father (Alan
Bates) , she ends by doing what is
best for the child whose mother she
has become in all but physical fact.
In his best role in years, James Ma-
son plays the employer of Georgy's
father, mature enough to appreciate
the girl's true qualities. The end-
ing is satisfying rather than happy
in this truly adult film.

ROR ROR ROR ROR OR AOR ROK RRR ROK tk RRR ROR KOK KORE
Members who wish to contribute

items to the January number of
THE GADFLY should submit their

copy no later than January 5.
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