[Smt-talk] Political postings

[Noriko Manabe]

While I, too, may not want to see 
postings, say, advocating a political candidate on the SMT listserv, I 
would disagree with Dr. Whitcomb in this particular case. Many members 
of SMT have benefited from fellowships and other programs
funded or operated by NEH (and NEA). Its elimination would adversely 
affect the profession of music theory. Hence, I think it was entirely 
appropriate for Drs. Long and Judd to send out their emails. 





FYI, the Society for Ethnomusicology has made a number of position 
statements that are political in nature. Not all the membership agrees 
with them, and one might question their impact, but the Board and Council make them
 when they believe a statement would support the membership.



http://www.ethnomusicology.org/?page=PositionStatements





I'm not necessarily advocating that SMT have similar position 
statements, but am simply pointing out that it is not entirely 
inappropriate for academic societies to take a political stand if it 
benefits the membership, and that other societies have chosen to
do so. Letting other members know about an initiative is informational 
and involves no political commitment from SMT itself. 





Noriko Manabe
Assistant Professor of Music
Princeton University





                                                                                                      www.norikomanabe.com

> From: whitcomb at uww.edu
> To: smt-talk at societymusictheory.org
> Date: Fri, 4 Apr 2014 12:01:41 +0000
> Subject: [Smt-talk] Political postings
> 
> Hello,
> 
> 
> 
> I am writing to encourage the SMT posting policy to be changed to disallow emails concerning politics. I am referring to the recent calls to political action by doctors Long and Judd. We are a diverse collection of individuals with different political ideas, and while a discussion of these political differences could be interesting, it belongs elsewhere.
> 
> 
> 
> -Benjamin Whitcomb
> 
> 
> Dr. Benjamin Whitcomb
> Professor of Cello and Music Theory
> University of Wisconsin-Whitewater
> www.benjaminwhitcomb.com<http://www.benjaminwhitcomb.com/>
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