I write this letter as a taxpayer! [A taxpayer who uses exclamation marks!]

As a taxpayer [I said it again!], I am outraged [Bursting with pride and outrage!] by this self-anointed, holier than thou [Proud, proud cliches!] group calling themselves the Alumni and Faculty against Corruption at SIU. I am outraged [Dear Letter-Writer: SOS finds your ability to experience intense emotion over and over again exciting! She is panting!] they are trying to destroy a good man [John Wayne talk.] but don't have the guts [JW again.] to identify themselves. In my opinion [Dear L.W.: You can't start out fully extended and then all of a sudden shrink into in my opinion. Gotta keep it up. Try Here's the deal or Wake up suckers BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE!!], they are cowards of the worst kind. I challenge these cowards to publicly identify themselves! [You yellow bastards! Come back here and take what's coming to you!] I challenge each one to turn over every dissertation, thesis or other academic paper they have written in the last 30 years for review. I have found over the years that people who hide their identities may be hiding something dishonest, unethical or even illegal in their past. [Ooh, now you're scaring me.]


Read my lips, you cowards! I pay your salary to teach [That taxpayer thing again.], not to spend your time searching a 23-year-old dissertation, which was approved by a review committee 23 years ago, looking for quotation marks to destroy the reputation of a good man. Is it possible you hide because you may have used taxpayer resources illegally in your witch hunt? [Read my lips... witch hunt... This man does not mince words!]

If these gutless geniuses refuse to publicly identify themselves, then I would urge the SIU Board of Trustees to find out who they are and whether they might have acted unethically or even illegally. I, and every other Southern Illinois taxpayer, have a right to this information.

Finally, Alumni and Faculty against Corruption at SIU, look in the mirror and you might find the real corruption staring back at you.

Charles R. Garnati, Carterville


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Enough is enough

To the Editor:

Once again SIU is embroiled in controversy [Cliche, but let it go.]. This time over a 24-year-old Ph.D. dissertation by SIU President Glenn Poshard. The paper contains unattributed passages. The critics have a point: plagiarism is inimical to the academic enterprise. [Good - acknowledges some legitimacy on the other side.] But, in the annals of plagiarism, this appears to be small beer [The figurative language is making things a bit weird... annals... small beer...]. His academic committee, using information that was [Drop that was.] available to them at the time, granted the Ph.D. Poshard then went on to a brilliant career as a state Senator, a U.S. Congressman and a candidate for governor of Illinois. He then turned back to academia and rose to president of SIU. Arguably, he is one of the most illustrious graduates of SIUC in its history. [Yes, this is arguable. Also sad.]

I think we need to keep this in mind as we reflect on the continued turmoil at this university. From Jo Ann Argersinger's dismissal to Walter Wendler's firing to the hoax in the DE over a fictitious Iraq veteran, the university's name and reputation has taken a brutal beating.

The university community is in danger of devouring itself in these endless controversies. Meanwhile, its core mission of educating deserving students from the middle class in a world-class research environment is threatened.

It's time to move on and press for the things that will make SIUC the best university that it is [Drop that it is.] possible to have in this day and age [Thundering cliche.]. Let's argue about better classrooms and maintenance, better salaries for staff and faculty, better neighborhoods and a safer city. Let's support the students as they struggle through debt and the state's indifference to higher education.

And let's support Poshard. He's earned it. [Letter #1 came on too strong; this one comes on too weak. Cliches, unnecessary words, and insufficient confidence in the tone make the whole thing small beer. It moves unsteadily from unpersuasive assertion -- Poshard's brilliance -- to vague generalities about the purpose of a university. The writer, most damagingly, fails to see the connection between the state's indifference to its universities and a tradition of political hacks like Poshard running them. ]

D. Gorton, Carbondale

SOS summarizes: Complete lack of substance in both letters.

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