Re: TFM : troubled times. (fwd)

Joshua Graham Pitcher ((no email))
Wed, 6 Mar 1996 11:54:36 +1000 (EST)

Sorry Dennis you got this twice.

Don't forget we are mostly a male bunch. While I am not offended by either
of the abstracts, I can understand that someone would find the french stuff
a bit offensive.

Having said that it's obvious that this person has an axe to grind. As we all
know as a progsoc member she should have raised the matter at a meeting or
with the people concerned. If the matter wasn't resolved to her satisfaction
then she would have the right to take the matter outside progsoc for
resolution (here I am assuming that this did not occur).

The sheer number and position of the people that this person (I assume it is
a girl) has CC'd her complaint to is proof that she herself is not concerned
as to the content of TFM, she just wants to get her first act of student
activism under her belt.

However it is plainly obvious that progsoc is in a no-win situation. If
enough mud is thrown some of it invariably sticks. And since computer geeks
are generally stereotyped as nerdy male perverts, it makes us even more
sticky if she really wants to publicise her plight (which she obviously does).

So keeping in mind that if the 'french' paragraph appeared in the mainstream
media it would be pounced on, heres my two cents worth:

1. Play the diplomat. Get the executive to contact this person, and invite
her to a special meeting with just her and the executive so she can
personally air her grievances.

2. Remove gender specifics from the paragraph in question. Or better still,
give it a homosexual flavour, then nobody in the university will dare
challenge it. Changing it is two seconds work that would instantly solve
the problem. Refusing to change it would involve meetings with the union,
ombudsman, and above all BAD PRESS.

3. Prove to her that we are a bunch of sensitive new-age guys who welcome
her grievances as a progsoc member.

Remember the importance of good PR in this situation. Let her have her win,
it's no skin of our backs and it will shut her up. If we dig our heels in
the bad publicity will hurt nobody but ourselves. If divisions in the
university are considering paying us to produce web pages, then this sort
of situation could affect that situation if handled wrongly.

Sorry about the lecture.

Josh.