Campus Journal prints only signed and verified letters from the UNH community. If you have recently sent an unsigned letter to Campus Journal, please resubmit it with your name and contact information. All letters should be 500 words or less. Thank you.

Thank you to all who supported the Northeast Passage crew for the Three Notch ride! The competition for donations was quite fierce between Tom & Cara and the bids to name their unborn child (due any day now) and Jill's counter attack with the opportunity to name her lawn mower ("Rudolph the Red nosed" and "Weed" are in the lead), and the rest of us trying to catch up, we have passed last year's mark and we are so close to our goal of $5,000.

The actual ride was Sept. 10, 11 and 12. It was a beautiful three days in the White Mountains, the sun was shinning, the trees were beginning to change and the temps were refreshing. We had a great group of cyclists on the road and they shattered all previous fundraising records. Many of our riders took this as a personal challenge and conquered the Kancamagus Highway for the first time. It was a great journey for all. Attached are some pictures from the ride.

It's not too late to donate to the NEP team! Our online site is still up and the competition is still on: http://www.firstgiving.com/TeamNEP06

Please help us reach our goal, we're almost there!! Also, if you prefer, please feel free to send a check to Northeast Passage at the address below. Feel free to add your ideas for baby and lawn mower names or anything else you can think of! Crystal's spider tattoo is still looking for a name.

We all sincerely appreciate your support of Northeast Passage's programs and services!

Thank you!

Jill Gravink and the rest of Team NEP
Northeast Passage

To the Editor of the Campus Journal:

I am concerned about the recent CIE travel report written by Professor Marla Brettschneider, and published in the Campus Journal (also circulated to faculty via email by the CIE office). In her report, Professor Brettschneider writes that:

"One challenge was that, unlike Rome, religious leaders from across faith communities tried to stop the event. Right wing activists threatened participants at levels previously unseen. For example, there were posters circulating in Jerusalem with instructions how to make a small home-made bomb to throw into the crowd on the day of the public march.

There were also calls for a 20,000NIS (approximately $5,000) bounty for the head of any marcher killed. There were many events for the week of World Pride, but these threats were only directed at the public march."

These paragraphs leave the very strong impression, at least by suggestion or implication, that it was "religious leaders from across the faith communities" who not only objected to the World Pride exhibition, but who were also responsible for the threats of violence.

In the space of a few sentences, Professor Brettschneider's report conflates "religious leaders" with "right wing actitists" and bounty-paying killers. I am reasonably certain "religious leaders from across faith communities" were not the ones circulating bomb-making instructions, or offering rewards for the death of gay marchers.

Perhaps Professor Brettschneider could provide a correction or clarification in order not to leave the impression that she meant to implicate all the religious communities of Jerusalem in a conspiracy to murder homosexuals.

James Farrell
Dept. of Communication.

Dr. Brettschneider responds:

To Professor Farrell and the Campus Community:

Thank you for sending this note to me. As I said in my reply directly to Professor Farrell earlier, I apologize for how this may have sounded. It was not my intention to offend anyone or to conflate the groups you note.

I myself was in Jerusalem this summer with religious contingents (from my own faith community as well as in delegations of interfaith clergy) and balk when people conflate "religious" in general with right wing politics.

With specific reference to the portions you note, to be clear: I did not attribute the bomb or bounty issues to religious leaders, but to "right wing activists."

It is true, unfortunately, that many religious leaders WERE VERY involved in a threatening response to World Pride in Jerusalem this and last year. (There were also many wonderful religious leaders from across the globe and across religious identifications offering wonderful support to the events.) I of course cannot say that “religious leaders” were behind those two specific things, nor did I intend to suggest such. I did not intend to suggest anything beyond what I did —and know that I CAN— say about "right wing activists." Although this was a short report on a long and intense trip, as you see the sentence with "religious leaders across faith communities" is a different sentence.

I thank you for calling this to my attention so that any misconceptions may be addressed. I appreciate this opportunity from both you and the Campus Journal to air such conversations in public.

Sincerely,
Dr. Marla Brettschneider
Political Science and Women’s Studies

TO: UNH Women Faculty and UNH PAT Women

FROM: The HERS Scholarship Recommendation Committee

You are invited to apply for a scholarship to attend the 2006-2007 HERS Management Institute for Women in Higher Education at Wellesley College. Please see the URL: http://www.wellesley.edu/WCW/Hers/Frm_MIFWIHE.htm for a description of the program. (Note: the program is for all of the dates listed during the year). It is anticipated that UNH will fund two scholarships this year. This support includes the cost of tuition/fees, hotel/meals, and transportation.

You may apply for this scholarship by submitting a letter of interest stating how you would gain from the experience, the name and phone number of a campus colleague to serve as a reference in support of your application, and a current CV or resume. Please submit these by September 9, 2006 either by campus mail or email, to:

Nancy Hamer
AABSC
14e Stoke Hall/Campus
Phone: 862-1934
Email: nancy.hamer@unh.edu

If you have alternative funding to pay for the program, you may also apply directly to Susan Knowles, HERS Institute, Wellesley College, Wellesley, MA 02181.

The HERS Scholarship Recommendation Committee, comprised of UNH HERS alumna, will make their recommendations to the Provost for submission to the HERS Program at Wellesley. The HERS-Wellesley Institute will make the final selection based on balancing their 2006-2007 incoming class between faculty and professional staff, and the various backgrounds of the applicant pool. Awarded
recipients will be notified by the Provost's Office of the final outcome by September 22.

If you have any questions about the program please contact Nancy Hamer at the above phone number or by email.

Thank you.

HERS Scholarship Recommendation Committee

I would like to express my disappointment that the Campus Journal no longer covers news from the staff councils. Over the past year or more I have been increasingly frustrated getting timely, independent information about these meetings.

When there was a print Journal I felt I was able to keep up with campus developments – not just staff issues but all the news of campus-wide interest. Now I find myself clicking between tiny headlines to articles that I can read in the newspaper or on the Media Services website.

When I think to look at the PAT Council site the minutes are already stale and sometimes incoherent. And, while I used to read the OS Council articles with interest, now I hardly ever take the time to look at their website.

In addition, I miss the portability and legibility of the print version, although I understand the financial imperatives. You could read the print Journal on the bus or waiting for a meeting to begin. Now, I have to view the online version at my desk.

I really miss relatively objective, timely news about staff concerns such as appeared in the print Journal. Please, start covering the meetings of the staff councils again. Don’t ignore two-thirds of the employee community.

Don Gordon
PAT staff