Fred Marchant

[Unsurprisingly, not one of the professors contacted below deigned to respond.  The student newspaper did respond and wrote he'd be having one of his reporters contact me.  Nothing ever came of it...]

Open Letter to the Members of the Suffolk University English Department

Might there be ONE of you, yes, just ONE of you, who might actually be a proponent of vigorous debate and freedom of speech, cornerstones of a thriving democracy?  If so, please DARE comment on the Fred Marchant satirical cartoon now posted for this week’s American Dissident blog entry (http://wwwtheamericandissidentorg.blogspot.com/2012/05/fred-marchant.html). 

As you well know, Marchant is one of your colleagues.  Why not surprise your present and future students by  manifesting unusual CURIOSITY and OPENNESS, normally absent in the minds of most university professors of literature and creative writing.  Tell them about the blog entry!  Encourage them to comment and participate in vigorous debate… regarding literature!  Show them that you do not fear outside criticism and, in fact, welcome it because you can, now and then, even learn from it.  Show them that you are not a mere academic ladder climber  to dubious “success”, but rather an individual of courage, someone not afraid to openly express uncomfortable opinions now and then. 

Sadly my two-decade long experience dealing with academics indicates it highly unlikely that NOT ONE of you will deign to respond. 

Note that the Suffolk University Poetry Center, which Marchant created, rejected my request that it consider subscribing to The American Dissident, a nonprofit journal of literature, democracy, and dissidence.  In fact, it did not even respond.  And Marchant rejected the thought of inviting me to the Center and/or to his Creative Writing classes to introduce Suffolk University students to the possibility of poetry as an expression of hardcore dissidence.  Rather than sit as established-order gatekeepers of literature, why not instead stand up against the rampant censorship (exclusion or whatever you wish to term it) and ostracizing of those few who dare go against the grain of the literary machine?  Rather than being a cog, why not be a staunch individual and supporter of liberty instead?  Why not be a real role model for your students.  Thank you for your attention.

N.B:  This letter was also sent to the student newspaper, The Suffolk Journal.  Sadly, the editors of such papers tend to be like their professors:  mere organs of institutional happy-face PR.

Letter sent to the following persons, not one of whom deigned to respond:

Elif Armbruster
Jennifer Barber
Wyatt Bonikowski
Peter Caputo
Lisa Celovsky
Thomas Connolly
Leslie Eckel
Peter Jeffreys
Marilyn Jurich
George Kalogeris
Bette Mandl (Emerita)
Frederick Marchant
Marlene McKinley
Anthony Merzlak, Department Chair
Quentin Miller
Richard Miller
Stuart Millner, Assistant Department Chair
Gerald Richman
Bryan Trabold
Da Zheng