On Friday, 30 November 2001, at 7:PM, there will be a meeting between _the_Undercurrent_ and members of the progressive/liberal communities at OU. This meeting will take place at Burton 204C, the building north of Goddard Health Center. The purpose of the meeting is an effort to resolve the frustrating breech with _the_Undercurrent_ and its current treatment of the progressive/liberal groups on campus, such as SSEC and SAN and SWSS and such. Prior to this meeting, some people will gather in the Alma Wilson room at 5:PM to discuss exactly what it is which the frustrated members of the various left communities want from _the_Undercurrent_. Vague frustrations and complains with no concrete requests or suggestions do no one any good. The _Undercurrent_'s recent front-page mockery of activism is only the latest in a series of problems occurring between the various progressive/liberal communities on campus and the newspaper which had been at one time the voice for all our communities, our alternative to the timidity of the _Daily_Oklahoma_ and the reactionary rants of the _Fountainhead_, but a newspaper which may now have become in the worst case scenario instead a site of powerplays and the plaything of a few individuals. Hopefully, this is not the case. Is this what we want to happen with what had once been a newspaper for our side of the political spectrum? Do we want a campus of three newspapers in which one presents the official university thoughts (_the_Daily_Oklahoma_), one disseminates reactionary anger on campus (_the_Fountainhead_), and the third one joins _the_Fountainhead_ in mocking activist efforts (_the_Undercurrent_ as it currently is), with not one paper addressing progressive/liberal issues with neither preachiness nor disdain? At today's hastily arranged Monday meeting, five members of THE UNDERCURRENT staff were present but only one individual was there for all the leftwing communities which have felt marginalized or insulted by the current UNDERCURRENT articles and/or its staff. If enough people show up at Friday's meeting, this issue will probably be resolved, ideally with some sort of reconciliation between the progressive/liberal communities and _the_Undercurrent_ but possibly with a recognition of irreconciliable indifference from the current staff. The matter here isn't a legal issue but a community issue; it has always been the last dodge of the exploitative reactionary to hide behind a legal right to ignore an ethical obligation, but that kind of self-serving legalism is not the way of the left. If the staff of _the_Undercurrent_ cling to legal considerations, for example, instead of seeking reconnection with the left communities, we may have no choice but to abandon them and seek a new publication to replace _the_Undercurrent_ and its staff while no longer counting/relying on them as part of our communities. (That would be a shame, but it may be necessary, depending upon the attitudes and reasons of _the_Undercurrent_ staff.) However, if only one or two people show up to Friday's meeting, then the message to _the_Undercurrent_ will be clear: do as you will, _Undercurrent_, for all you'll receive are a few grumbled complaints, nothing more. I suspect that some of them expect just such a low turn-out on Friday for just such a reason. I hope to see this resolved one way or the other soon, ideally with a reconciliation. Thank you. (Please pass this information along to SWSS and OUrEarth since I still have trouble reaching them. Thanks!) ----------------------------------------------------- quotes on this matter (authors' names withheld): "i worked on the undercurrent for as long as i could stand to do so and was unable to make any headway." "The actions of the Undercurrent are one of the main reasons I left the progressive/liberal movement. I'm sure my friend [] would agree" "so, maybe we should help start a TRULY progressive paper. i would help." "All that comes to mind is a classic question..."What is to be done?"." "Each issue of the Undercurrent has become worse and worse. I was a writer for the Undercurrent from almost the first issue." "TheUndercurrent coup led by [] and 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." __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! GeoCities - quick and easy web site hosting, just $8.95/month. http://geocities.yahoo.com/ps/info1