BASSANESE, BRENNAN AND SPAETHLING GUILTY; ALSO UMASS
Wilmot Max Ramsay
(A Diary Excerpt, Saturday, April 4, 1992)
The parade of guilty professors
Today marks the second anniversary of "The Honors Program War" at the University of Massachusetts at Boston. Later this year, on July 13th, I will mark my 30th birthday. At the commencement of the War, which officially sparked on Wednesday, April 4, 1990, I remember making defenses for my positions on A LOOK AT DANTE AND PETRARCA'S STYLES. The angrier I became, the more versed I got in lecturing the subject matter.
Yes, Fiora Antonia Bassanese made me cry. She said to me: "It is in your court and I do not care!" I thought I was going to die. My honors were about to be taken right before my eyes. However, by God's help they were not moved.
The genesis of the Honors Program War, two years ago, kind of resembles a "melee" back in the autumn of 1984 while I tried to make peace between two hostile groups, members of my own Jamaican constituency included. That highly publicized incident was somewhat different as after the scuffle, which ensued, normalcy returned to the scene before too long.
It is safe to say that the leak of such information came from a trusted, older professor of German, Robert H. Spaethling, and Deputy Provost of the University of Massachusetts at Boston. He developed a keen interest in my memorabilia of newspaper clippings and a set of said clippings was given to him.
These newspaper clippings, I want to argue, formed the framework to the Honors Program War of 1990.
I must note that when I was named a Chancellorian Scholar by the University of Massachusetts at Boston I accepted the honor based on the recommendation of Spaethling, Carmen E. Patterson of the Jamaica Gleaner and Michael J. McLean of the Massachusetts Department of Youth Services. I was Harvard bound at the time but later became secretary of the Honors Program at UMass/Boston and its Editor-in-Chief of The UMass Times. Also, of further note, I was "the first person of color" to be "admitted" to the Honors Program at the University of Massachusetts at Boston.
The third guilty party is James F. Brennan who was the director of the Honors Program. You see, the Program was in its infancy when I arrived at UMass. As director, James "Jim" Brennan, "the philosopher king," should have protected me but he did warn that: "Max, around here faculty stick with faculty." Yes, he was right, a la "et tu Brute?".
Such is the parade of guilty professors. Fiora, the Bold; Bob, the Glib and Jim, the willing Participant. The University of Massachusetts also bears guilt. Might does not always win over right!
(Copyright @ HERITAGE RESERVES, Wednesday, February 21, 2007)
