One of the many things that troubles me about Truman is the way in which both administrators and some fellow faculty members respond to criticism, i.e., rancorously. I was shocked the other evening when one of our colleagues, Ramesh, informed me that he had just received what was, in effect, a threatening phone call from a colleague. This man was incensed, to put it mildly, that Ramesh had used his name, together with other faculty and administrators, to point out drastic inequities in pay going on at Truman. Ramesh's point is indeed well-taken, I feel. It is hypocritical to call oneself a liberal arts university while at the same time paying professors in the Business Division drastically higher salaries whose job it is to teach a trade. Notice, I employ the term "drastic" here. I am not advocating the same pay-scale for everyone. I feel that AAUP needs to pursue the question of inequities in pay as well as address the issue, in a general way, of basic collegiality and courtesy on this campus. What can be done about faculty who call up other faculty at home and give vent to an ugly rage? It seems to me that this kind of behavior should have no place at a "real university."

-- Anonymous, February 12, 1999