inboxer rebellion!
Mar. 19th, 2007 11:01 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
burnunitOoh, controversy! If you're into Lutheran seminary controversies, here's a fresh one hot off the press concerning a change being made in one of the dorms at my school. I got this email (twice) in my student inbox today.
Dear fellow students and faculty,
We, the residents of Stub, were recently made aware that as of June 10, 2007, all of us will have to move out of Stub Hall. The students living here are to find other housing, because Stub Hall is to be used only by guests, commuters, and distance learners. We find this inappropriate, ineffective, and insulting. This decision will affect the entire Luther Seminary community. We ask that you read this letter, see what is going on, and respond appropriately: Please talk to each other about this. Talk to your friends, your professors, and your churches—anyone connected to Luther. This is too big to ignore. Since it is apparent that the voices of students mean nothing here, we will ask your support—both students and faculty—in boycotting a day of class on Thursday, March 22. We will plan to gather in the cafeteria from 9 AM till noon as a show of solidarity and have an open House in Stub from 1 till 5 PM that day.
We object to being evicted from our residence because it is incongruent with Luther Seminary's mission statement. We don't believe that evicting future pastors and church leaders is consistent with our mandate to "educate leaders for Christian communities." Luther Seminary is not a hotel or a convention center; it is a place for Christians called to leadership to live and learn with other Christians.
We have found Stub Hall to be a major source of Christian community, and we believe that its loss as a dormitory would further fray the student-to-student connections at Luther Seminary. We are already divided by being up or down the hill. We should not be further divided by making students live off-campus who want to live close by. By limiting students to either the more-expensive apartments or a single dorm, the seminary risks forcing students out who cannot pay for an apartment on their own and need to study where quiet is the norm. We have other reasons for living in Stub: We have found friends here, people to talk about God, pray, and sing with us. We have a good kitchen and people who use it, a place to watch movies and play games, and a sense of mutual respect. Many of us moved into Stub to find Christian community and have found it.
We object to losing this community within the seminary. We object to the administration's apparent lack of concern for the men and women the seminary is here to train. We object to the lack of input sought from the residents in making this dictatorial decision. Where are our priorities? Where should they be? We are appalled and annoyed at the lack of clear reasons given for devoting an entire building to housing temporary residents at the expense of those who choose to live here to study. We understand that year-round residents are not the only students here, but reject the notion that putting commuters into a dorm on their own will increase their sense of connection to the larger community.
The bottom line: Stub Hall should remain open to students. If you are similarly aggravated at the lack of consultation with students about matters that affect them hugely, if you are concerned about the already-present lack of overall community at Luther Seminary, if you are unwilling to lose your classmates who cannot be here unless they live in Stub, then please show your support. We ask that you tell anyone who doesn't know the situation. Explain our reasoning—or your own. Tell your professors. Tell your churches. Tell your pastors and other alums you know. Finally, tell those who are asking us to move out of our home that you agree with our objections.
Stub Hall was built for us, the students, and it should remain available for our use as we go forward with God, praying for his love, guidance, and wisdom.
WERE THEY TO TAKE OUR HOUSE, GOODS, HONOR, CHILD OR SPOUSE; THOUGH LIFE BE WRENCHED AWAY; THEY CANNOT WIN THE DAY:
THE KINGDOM'S OURS FOREVER!!!
Sincerely,
The students of Stub Hall
Dear students purporting to speak for Stub Hall residents,
For the moment taking you at your word, can you describe some additional details how this decision affects the *entire seminary community? How will a boycott of classes improve your situation in a way that will benefit those who will miss that crucial class? For example, suppose that a class was scheduled for March 22 in order to make up for a class that was canceled due to weather?
Has the Seminary refused to assist you in finding additional or appropriate housing? Have you as a body spoken to the leaders directly responsible for this decision before making this community appeal?
To what extent are the persons who would stay at Luther Seminary in these proposed temporary arrangements strangers? To what extent are they currently excluded from the Luther Seminary community? Are distance learners part of this community? Does Stub Hall feel united or disunited with Bockman Hall? Fulham? What responsibility do you and your community share for feeling divided from the residents of Sandgren and Burntvedt? Of off-campus housing?
In what ways have you been welcoming of the stranger in the Stub Hall setting? Can Luther Seminary be welcoming of the stranger, or external participants of our community without offering some kind of accommodations such as the planned effort for Stub Hall? On what basis do you "reject the notion that putting commuters into a dorm on their own will increase their sense of connection to the larger community"? Is this notion inaccurate because it is unstudied? Is this notion inappropriate or fail tests of scripture and plain reason?
What were your plans as a community for the enforced dissolution all student communities inevitably face upon graduation? If, for example, you maintain a virtual community of former residents, what response would you give to your candidacy committees or call committees when they ask what communities you would belong to outside that of the ones into which you will be called?
Do you, in your two emails, represent all residents of Stub Hall? Is there a minority we have not heard from?
Have you considered what your rhetorical flourishes communicate to students from outside the United States who may have experienced life in a truly dictatorial nation? Do you intend that the leadership of Luther Seminary stand in for the devils overrunning the land (They) in verses 3 and 4 of the hymn you quote? What further consideration should we accord your rhetoric on that basis?
Sincerely,
Jon Olsen
MA Senior
For the record, living off-campus in Minneapolis
If I like their answers, maybe I'll stand in solidarity with them. Though I really can't miss that Thursday night class--it's my snow day makeup class!
Dear fellow students and faculty,
We, the residents of Stub, were recently made aware that as of June 10, 2007, all of us will have to move out of Stub Hall. The students living here are to find other housing, because Stub Hall is to be used only by guests, commuters, and distance learners. We find this inappropriate, ineffective, and insulting. This decision will affect the entire Luther Seminary community. We ask that you read this letter, see what is going on, and respond appropriately: Please talk to each other about this. Talk to your friends, your professors, and your churches—anyone connected to Luther. This is too big to ignore. Since it is apparent that the voices of students mean nothing here, we will ask your support—both students and faculty—in boycotting a day of class on Thursday, March 22. We will plan to gather in the cafeteria from 9 AM till noon as a show of solidarity and have an open House in Stub from 1 till 5 PM that day.
We object to being evicted from our residence because it is incongruent with Luther Seminary's mission statement. We don't believe that evicting future pastors and church leaders is consistent with our mandate to "educate leaders for Christian communities." Luther Seminary is not a hotel or a convention center; it is a place for Christians called to leadership to live and learn with other Christians.
We have found Stub Hall to be a major source of Christian community, and we believe that its loss as a dormitory would further fray the student-to-student connections at Luther Seminary. We are already divided by being up or down the hill. We should not be further divided by making students live off-campus who want to live close by. By limiting students to either the more-expensive apartments or a single dorm, the seminary risks forcing students out who cannot pay for an apartment on their own and need to study where quiet is the norm. We have other reasons for living in Stub: We have found friends here, people to talk about God, pray, and sing with us. We have a good kitchen and people who use it, a place to watch movies and play games, and a sense of mutual respect. Many of us moved into Stub to find Christian community and have found it.
We object to losing this community within the seminary. We object to the administration's apparent lack of concern for the men and women the seminary is here to train. We object to the lack of input sought from the residents in making this dictatorial decision. Where are our priorities? Where should they be? We are appalled and annoyed at the lack of clear reasons given for devoting an entire building to housing temporary residents at the expense of those who choose to live here to study. We understand that year-round residents are not the only students here, but reject the notion that putting commuters into a dorm on their own will increase their sense of connection to the larger community.
The bottom line: Stub Hall should remain open to students. If you are similarly aggravated at the lack of consultation with students about matters that affect them hugely, if you are concerned about the already-present lack of overall community at Luther Seminary, if you are unwilling to lose your classmates who cannot be here unless they live in Stub, then please show your support. We ask that you tell anyone who doesn't know the situation. Explain our reasoning—or your own. Tell your professors. Tell your churches. Tell your pastors and other alums you know. Finally, tell those who are asking us to move out of our home that you agree with our objections.
Stub Hall was built for us, the students, and it should remain available for our use as we go forward with God, praying for his love, guidance, and wisdom.
WERE THEY TO TAKE OUR HOUSE, GOODS, HONOR, CHILD OR SPOUSE; THOUGH LIFE BE WRENCHED AWAY; THEY CANNOT WIN THE DAY:
THE KINGDOM'S OURS FOREVER!!!
Sincerely,
The students of Stub Hall
Dear students purporting to speak for Stub Hall residents,
For the moment taking you at your word, can you describe some additional details how this decision affects the *entire seminary community? How will a boycott of classes improve your situation in a way that will benefit those who will miss that crucial class? For example, suppose that a class was scheduled for March 22 in order to make up for a class that was canceled due to weather?
Has the Seminary refused to assist you in finding additional or appropriate housing? Have you as a body spoken to the leaders directly responsible for this decision before making this community appeal?
To what extent are the persons who would stay at Luther Seminary in these proposed temporary arrangements strangers? To what extent are they currently excluded from the Luther Seminary community? Are distance learners part of this community? Does Stub Hall feel united or disunited with Bockman Hall? Fulham? What responsibility do you and your community share for feeling divided from the residents of Sandgren and Burntvedt? Of off-campus housing?
In what ways have you been welcoming of the stranger in the Stub Hall setting? Can Luther Seminary be welcoming of the stranger, or external participants of our community without offering some kind of accommodations such as the planned effort for Stub Hall? On what basis do you "reject the notion that putting commuters into a dorm on their own will increase their sense of connection to the larger community"? Is this notion inaccurate because it is unstudied? Is this notion inappropriate or fail tests of scripture and plain reason?
What were your plans as a community for the enforced dissolution all student communities inevitably face upon graduation? If, for example, you maintain a virtual community of former residents, what response would you give to your candidacy committees or call committees when they ask what communities you would belong to outside that of the ones into which you will be called?
Do you, in your two emails, represent all residents of Stub Hall? Is there a minority we have not heard from?
Have you considered what your rhetorical flourishes communicate to students from outside the United States who may have experienced life in a truly dictatorial nation? Do you intend that the leadership of Luther Seminary stand in for the devils overrunning the land (They) in verses 3 and 4 of the hymn you quote? What further consideration should we accord your rhetoric on that basis?
Sincerely,
Jon Olsen
MA Senior
For the record, living off-campus in Minneapolis
If I like their answers, maybe I'll stand in solidarity with them. Though I really can't miss that Thursday night class--it's my snow day makeup class!