I am one of the professors mentioned in this 'conspiracy theory response' (Dr. Brian Glyn Williams). With all due respect I wanted to add a few comments. A. The incident with our Univ. of Massachussetts history student happened several weeks ago, I was asked to comment on President Bush's sweeping surveillance activities only yesterday. I innocently cited this incident as an example of the White House policies' very real applications and how they trickle down to the university level. My description of the incident was in response to an inquiry from a reporter at the Standard Times, New Bedford who called requesting a commentary and I thought it was appropriate. B. There are several key sections omitted in the version of the Little Red Book here in the USA and we are proud of our student for probing the issue.
C. I have tenure and I do not know how you came to the assumption that I do not, my webpage brianglynwilliams.com clearly states that I am Associate Professor of History. But I do appreciate your reference to the field work I do in Afghanistan and Central Asia in trying to understand the roots of jihadism and terrorism. It is precisely this sort of cutting edge research and teaching I hope to protect by bringing this issue up. D. I know this student well. He is the real thing, he is mature, honest, reliable, hard-working and genuinely interested in getting to the truth on issues, i.e. he is everything we train our students to be. The fact that Dr. Bob Pontriband who is by the way a passionate educator who seeks to instill just this sort of above-and-beyond-the-call-of-duty research in his students also vouches for him lends two voices to his defense. I sincerely hope that your questions are meant to be the sort of critical inquiry we expect from our students and not some reflexive attempt to delegitimize was our reporting of what it is frankly a rather disturbing act of surveillance that does not seem to be an example of productive, preemptive counter terrorism. Sincerely,
Dr. Brian Glyn Williams
Associate Professor of History
University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth
Slashdot Mirror
I am one of the professors mentioned in this 'conspiracy theory response' (Dr. Brian Glyn Williams). With all due respect I wanted to add a few comments. A. The incident with our Univ. of Massachussetts history student happened several weeks ago, I was asked to comment on President Bush's sweeping surveillance activities only yesterday. I innocently cited this incident as an example of the White House policies' very real applications and how they trickle down to the university level. My description of the incident was in response to an inquiry from a reporter at the Standard Times, New Bedford who called requesting a commentary and I thought it was appropriate. B. There are several key sections omitted in the version of the Little Red Book here in the USA and we are proud of our student for probing the issue. C. I have tenure and I do not know how you came to the assumption that I do not, my webpage brianglynwilliams.com clearly states that I am Associate Professor of History. But I do appreciate your reference to the field work I do in Afghanistan and Central Asia in trying to understand the roots of jihadism and terrorism. It is precisely this sort of cutting edge research and teaching I hope to protect by bringing this issue up. D. I know this student well. He is the real thing, he is mature, honest, reliable, hard-working and genuinely interested in getting to the truth on issues, i.e. he is everything we train our students to be. The fact that Dr. Bob Pontriband who is by the way a passionate educator who seeks to instill just this sort of above-and-beyond-the-call-of-duty research in his students also vouches for him lends two voices to his defense. I sincerely hope that your questions are meant to be the sort of critical inquiry we expect from our students and not some reflexive attempt to delegitimize was our reporting of what it is frankly a rather disturbing act of surveillance that does not seem to be an example of productive, preemptive counter terrorism. Sincerely, Dr. Brian Glyn Williams Associate Professor of History University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth