Josh Thomason,USAO Executive Board, innocent
squirrels, and others
subjected
to this outdated ranting-
(This email is in response to Josh Thomason's email,
which can be read
following our text.)
   First, we would like to apologize to the SSEC
listserv, which has
made it
clear in the recent past that they would like only
SSEC business
conducted
on their list. I am sorry that this issue has been
brought again to the
fore
in your arena. We have made every attempt to keep our
business off of
the
SSEC listserv except occasionally when soliciting
articles (and we can
discontinue that if this small collaboration is
inconvenient). The
Undercurrent has had an operating listserv since the
beginning of the
semester. It can be joined from our web site at
http://undercurrent.ou.edu.
We are addressing this on several available lists so
that we make our
position abundantly clear and Josh gets the spectacle
he seems to be
searching for.
   The Undercurrent is an independent voice on OU's
campus, affiliated
with
no other student or community organization. Our
constitution, as it has
been
on file for several years in the Center for Student
Life, states that
editors must be OU students. Michele,Eric, and Shauna
buoyed the
Undercurrent through the summer when no other editors
stepped forward.
Michele and Eric gave birth to this semester's first
issue. Everyone at
the
meeting last spring knew a paper would be coming out
the first week of
school, yet its funny that none of them from outside
of OU inquired
about
what they could do to make this happen. When the first
issue appeared
and
things were not as Josh and others wanted them, they
decided the
Undercurrent wasn't being run properly without a
bureaucracy they could
influence. Several Undercurrent folks were quite
pleased with the
beautiful
product produced by Eric and Michele. These folks
decided they didn't
want
the "propaganda" paper that Josh envisioned and
proceded with
publication of
subsequent issues.
   Michele and Eric sacrificed several days to
double-handedly
producing the
first issue and continue to devote most of their
extracurricular lives
to
the Undercurrent. They have worked very hard to make
the Undercurrent
an
environment open to all those willing to contribute.
Though Eric has
been
utterly devoted to the Undercurrent since he came on
board, he is far
from
megalomanical, which is clear in the fact that we have
eleven editors,
over
thirty people contributing to the last issue, and over
sixty people
subscribed to the list. Authority and responsibility
are broadly
delegated.
Differing views are always welcomed and expressed.
   Though Josh and his cohorts willingly excluded
themselves from the
workings of the Undercurrent when they found those
actually working on
the
paper weren't going to be subjected to the decisions
of unworking
patrons,
they should properly have been fired as editors,
anyway.  Newspapers
cannot
be produced by absentee folks and months out of the
loop with no
contact
would get anyone fired from a serious publication.
   USAO is not an official drop site of the
Undercurrent and it was not
an
editorial decision that the current issue end up
there. Others may or
may
not end up there in the future. Regardless of your
personal differences
with
members of our staff, it seems quite foolish to
discard or destroy
material
that other members of the left have worked so hard to
produce. USAO
will
remain absent from our distribution lists. If you want
to read it we
are
online at http://undercurrent.ou.edu.
   It is a shame that personal differences are such a
detriment to
progressive and leftist movement when coalition
building should be a
priority. We have not let the cold shoulder's of Josh
and others keep
us
from moving forward and growing as an open and
progressive paper.
Distant
plans exist to expand the Undercurrent beyond OU;
however, we have
failed to
find anyone willing to work with the Undercurrent
instead of against us
in
developing these avenues. Along these lines, we
attempted to find contact info to forward this email
directly to the USAO organizations that Josh sites in
his text. None was found on the USAO web site nor on
the national organizing sites for several of them. We
regret that our contact with USAO remains exclusively
through Josh. We hope these groups make contact with
us if they would like to collaborate in the future.
   We feel the loss of several good writers that
pulled from our ranks
with
Josh. However, we have much new blood this semester
(we always hope for
more)with lots of creativity and dedication. We are
committed to
printing
quality material from anyone. Try us.
    Editors have been chosen for the fall semester.
Notices concerning
these
positions were blasted across the listserv for weeks
before positions
were
filled. If Josh or others at large are interested in
really becoming
involved with the Undercurrent, we encourage you to
join our list and
attend
our meetings every Tuesday night 9pm in room 384 of
the Conoco
Leadership
Wing of OMU.
    Again, we are sorry to air these issues
everywhere. We hope that
all
future Undercurrent discussion and business can be
conducted through
our
list. Again, join it at http://undercurrent.ou.edu (in
case you missed
it in
everything we print and email).

Sincerely in Solidarity,

The Undercurrent Editorial Board

Michele Nordahl, Executive Editor, Layout Editor
Eric Webb, Managing Editor
Michael Etzkorn, Asst. Managing Editor, Opinion
Editor, Graphics Guru
Marcy Fleming, Features Editor
Nick Tyra, News Editor
Clint Vrazel, Entertainment Editor
Ben Smith, Asst. Entertainment Editor
Brittney Guest, Arts Editor
Barbara Swartz, Asst. Arts Editor
Phil Dow, Web Editor
Misty Woodard, Copy Editor, Asst. Web Editor



>From: Joshua Thomason <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: Joshua Thomason <[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: USAO Undercurrent?
>Date: Tue, 6 Nov 2001 02:22:53 +0000
>
>Dear Undercurrent folks (especially Mr. Webb):
>
>To my suprise, I picked up a copy of theUndercurrent
on the campus of
USAO
>here in Chickasha today.  This is well and good
except for one detail.
ALL
>USAO EDITORS WERE EFFECTIVELY REMOVED FROM
theUNDERCURRENT STAFF
without
>notice.  After a brief weekly meeting with officers
of our Executive
Board,
>I was charged with the responsibility to relay this
message to
>theUndercurrent staff; particularly Eric Webb.
>
>"Due to the complete disregard for the democratic
decision making
process
>that took place at a joint meeting last Spring at
which it was decided
that
>theUndercurrent would include representatives elected
from other
campuses
>as
>editors for theUndercurrent so that we might expand
theUndercurrent
>readership beyond OU to all 'Central Oklahoma
Colleges', activists and
>representatives from the USAO Student Coalition,
Young Communist
League,
>Progressive Unity, the Volunteers, Campus Greens and
others have
resolved
>to
>eject theUndercurrent from the USAO campus."
>
>TheUndercurrent coup led by Eric Webb supported by a
selection of
other OU
>editors, was a devious and megalomaniacal maneuver
that has served
only to
>further the rift between our organizations and
effectively paralyze
further
>progressive student initiatives. Thus, delivering
theUndercurrent to
USAO
>only adds insult to injury and has not been well
recieved.  Therefore,
we
>strongly urge the Editorial Staff and/or others
involved in the
decision to
>deliver theUndercurrent to USAO as well as those who
made the physical
>delivery to cease immediately.  In the face of lies,
misleadings and
other
>spineless efforts by theUndercurrent's Managing
Editor, we have
responded
>by
>ignoring you.  Please do not insist that we redirect
our attention to
you
>attention again.
>
>Sincerely,
>Joshua Thomason
>
>_____________

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