From: morgan@engr.uky.edu (Wes Morgan)
Newsgroups: alt.comp.acad-freedom.talk
Subject: Re: when big brother is a really sweet guy shouldn't we all love him?
Date: 15 Dec 92 15:23:59 GMT
Organization: University of Kentucky Engineering Computing Center

[ Of *course* I'm going to follow up to this one.....8) ]

P30TMR8@NIU.bitnet wrote:
>I really don't mean this as a flame against Wes, who sounds like
>the kind of guy who works hard at not being arbitary or heavy
>handed in the way he uses his authority as an administrator.

Thanks.  Of course, this sentiment degenerates significantly in the 
paragraphs which follow.......but that's Usenet.  8)

>But, I also attend a school with a discipline code that makes it
>a sanctionable offense not to do anything any agent of this
>University requests: even if that request asks me to comply with
>something which is a violation of my rights. 

I'm sorry to hear that; however, I'll say once again:

	Don't tar us all with the same brush.

NIU <I assmume that's your school> may be the pits, but it is NOT UK,
UIUC, UIC, Purdue, IIT, or any other school.  Making generalizations
won't get you anywhere.

>I've never met an administrator that found this approach, which makes 
>me a second class citizen simply because I as a taxpayer enroll in a tax
>supported school, even the least bit objectionable. 

I, for one, find it reprehensible.   Don't lump the entire staff together
with upper management -- it's both incorrect and unfair.  Do you blame
the cashier for the check-writing policy developed by the store manager?

>On this basis,
>I have come to feel total contempt for the University as an
>institution and for ED. ADmin types as a particular species of
>vermin. 

Gee, I went from "nice guy" to "a particular species of vermin";
I don't feel polymorphed!  (You break out of your desk!  You can
no longer hold your copy of "Programming Perl"!)

>I'm serious when I say Wes sounds like a nice guy. But I'm just as
>serious when I say that I can neither respect nor trust him. 

I wouldn't expect you to do either until we have worked together for
some time.  Anyone who expects to receive trust and/or respect "from
the jump" is kidding themselves.  Trust and respect are part of individual
relationships; they cannot be institutionalized or assumed.

>I know the type and the system which moulds the type far to well from 
>bitter personal experience. What bothers me about Wes is that he can't see
>the problem as it has been clearly stated by another poster:When
>not takeing any friendly advice Wes might choose to offer in the
>spirit of guiding a mere student into the ways of rightheousness
>means I can lose access to services routinely available or even be
>expelled, Wes can effectively control who I talk to and what I talk
>about to whatever extent he in his superior wisdom deems appropriate

Let's go down this paragraph one concept at a time:

	"Advice" != "order".  If I actually give an order, you'll know it,
	because you'll have hard copy in your hand and a face-to-face mee-
	ting with me.  Anything else is just a suggestion or request.

	Don't use the word "guiding" so facetiously.  I'm more of a teacher
	than an administrator; after all, a good sysadmin won't *have* to spend
	his time tweaking kernels.  I spend the vast majority of my time as
	a consultant, teaching things like ftp, sdb, email, REXX, FORTRAN,
	shell scripting, and anything else that comes across my desk.

	As far as "effective control of who you talk to", I'll just say this:
	My systems are used by over 2100 students, faculty and staff; I could
	not "control them" if I wanted to!

	I cannot <and will not> revoke a user's access arbitrarily, *unless*
	such action is dictated by the user's actions (and it would have to
	be serious indeed).  

>Of course, Wes, being not a mere student but a Being comprised of
>pure sweetness and light, would never abuse his Authority.

For your information, I am a "mere student", just as you are; I'm working
on a BS in Electrical Engineering.  I don't have diplomae hanging on my
wall (I don't have a college degree of any description; I'm a self-taught
computer guy, just like many of you), and I fight the same battles with 
advisors/Registrars/faculty as you do.  I've been tossed around by sysadmins 
<when I first came to school here>, and I've fought for access and use.  
I've been a sysadmin for about 5 years now, but my perspective is closer to
yours than you might think.  Don't try to slap that "holier-than-thou" label 
on me until you know the whole story.

In fact, the vast majority of the sysadmins here at UK are in the 
35-and-under age bracket; we aren't mired in some bureaucratic
school of thought, and we all remember our own days as students.

Again, we see that generalizations and assumptions don't get you very far.

>I can trust Wes to be fair just like I trust all the other polite,
>well meaning little Hitlers who exorcise equivelent arbitary power
>in other areas of campus life. 

"polite, well meaning little Hitlers"?  That's cute.  Do you feel the
same way about your dorm directors, advisors, and professors?

>After all, Its' all just part of my
>education into what it means to be a free person in an open society
>isn't it?

You've spoken vociferously of what you know and see of sysadmins; have you 
any idea of the other side of the coin?  Do you have any clue about what 
"systems administration" really means?

I make the same suggestion that I've made dozens of times before.  Go
find a friendly (or, at least, tolerant) sysadmin.  Go to lunch with
the sysadmin.  Ask why certain things are restricted.  Ask why resource
quotas are enforced.  Ask any question that comes to mind.  I think you'll 
be enlightened.

I'll close with the phrase that's becoming my mantra; I suggest it to
you as well:

	Academic freedom is not a blank check.

If someone requests that you cease some activity, the odds are good
that there's a valid reason for the request.  Instead of descending
into shouts of censorship or "polite little Hitlers", ask if there
are any alternatives.  There are very few absolutes in such situations;
my users and I rarely fail to reach a compromise.  Is the notion of
compromise *that* unacceptable to you?

--Wes

-- 
MORGAN@UKCC         |       Wes Morgan       |        ...!ukma!ukecc!morgan 
morgan@ms.uky.edu   | Engineering  Computing |   morgan@wuarchive.wustl.edu
morgan@engr.uky.edu | University of Kentucky | JWMorgan@dockmaster.ncsc.mil
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