This letter is to express my profound disappointment in the actions and attitude of MCCFO in regard to the John Bonnell case. While I know John only as an amiable colleague and not as a close personal friend, I do know that for 30 years he has had consistently significant constructive impact on students' intellectual and inner lives. I know this from 30 years of unsolicited and heartfelt testimonials from my students. I have never heard from students even one objection to his teaching methods, behavior, or intent. While I am certain my own teaching style and philosophy is quite different--as we all differ--I have always believed that a union embraces diversity as a central principle, as a fundamental democratic principle. Indeed, what else is a union but the uniting and embracing of diversity? And what would a college faculty be without a spectrum of approaches ranging from exacting to provocative? Surely we should celebrate such a spectrum and, even in at our most timorous; tolerate it.

When MCCFO was established in the Sixties I was an eager participant. I was both in the Senate and on one of the first negotiating teams. I actively participated in our strikes and was one of only a few faculty members fined for refusing to cross the secretarial staff's picket line. I believed passionately in the concepts and objectives of our faculty union.

As years passed, I have felt increasingly estranged from the actions of the MCCFO leadership and what I believed to be anti-democratic policies of that leadership and obvious conflict of values. In retrospect, I can see that I am personally remiss in withdrawing rather than remaining active in union politics. I accept valid criticism for that distancing. Yet for years I continued to trust MCCFO leadership because I felt that it made effective compromises for the good of the majority of the membership even as I felt my own union objectives to be a minority view. Perhaps I should have questioned when, for example, no results were published of the polling of faculty regarding our concerns. Perhaps I should have protested when, eventually, there were no polls taken at all.
 

In recent years I have begun to lose faith not in unions but in our union. The John Bonnell case is a sad indication to me of how far we have drifted from the founding principles for which many of us struggled. Now we have secret executive sessions, contracts negotiated in executive discussions, decisions issued with what appears to be patronizing arrogance. Worse, I fear that we have leadership in both the MCC administration and the Senate that seems lacking in heart or pity or empathy or compassion for one of our own membership. Are we now catering to the repressive, anti-enlightenment, anti-intellectual, anti-educational forces of our time?  Historically it has been academia that has led the fight against such blind and narrow cruelty.

This darkness is being focused on a man who, whatever his methods, has been and is clearly one of our most fervent, devoted, sincere, and gifted teachers for more than 30 years. John Bonnell is a teacher who, at the very least, has the right to expect solidarity, not isolation, from his colleagues. He has reacted-- understandably--as someone who feels abandoned. He has fought alone to make his intentions and teaching methods known.

A deeper question, of course, is: Who will be next? Anger and vengeance in the world gather momentum and propagate fear. New targets are endlessly raised.

Many of us are close to retirement. Perhaps that is why my generation, which has trusted rather than challenged our elected representatives, has become somewhat anemic in spirit. But I fear for those younger faculty who face years of living with the consequences of this vindictive spectacle.

For the sake of our students, our faculty, and the future of the institution we have all dedicated ourselves to for, some of us, 35 years and more, I entreat you to step back, look at the larger picture, rediscover the meaning of a union, of our union. Imagine the healthy potential that is possible for those who fight for enlightenment, for basic American freedoms and rights. I firmly believe that the MCC Board of Directors and administration are proceeding solely because they feel they have breached our solidarity and can weaken us further. If so, the future is grim and our legacy is pathetic.
 

Across the country unions continue to support members accused of far more serious allegations including criminal and obviously unethical actions. Are we to quiver and back down from every challenge and ridiculous accusation as to a teacher's judgment about words? I believe it was Supreme Court Justice William Douglas's opinion that a free society could be protected from only offensive actions, not words or ideas that are offensive to some.

If John Bonnell is such a monster deserving of shunning and amputation, why was he not drummed out of this institution a quarter of a century ago? The answer is not that legislation has armed the censors (Turn on the TV. Look on any newsstand. Check out the NET.) The answer is that we were a strong, supportive, valiant union and the administration would not dare to bring such petty charges against one of us. Now, sadly, it is our perceived weakness that makes us a target. Bullies thrive on isolating their victims. It will take extraordinary spirit and the subjugation of egos to find that strength and unity again; but it is not too late to try.

George Orwell believed we would be swallowed by totalitarian government. He was wrong. Aldous Huxley predicted that we would neuter ourselves. I hope that he was mistaken as well. We will see.

Count me on the side of believing in our hard won freedoms. If MCCFO wants to fight for those freedoms, count me in. Otherwise, they have my dues but not my faith, my respect, my allegiance, or my heart.
 

David Barr
30 September 1999