A Rose By Any Other Name, Part II
In response to the lawyer's question(see previous post), we sent the following email. We hope that it illuminates our position and explains why we have choosen to remain anonymous.
Dear XXXX,
The short answer to your first question is "yes," it is common in academic circles to retain anonymity when one believes there is a legitimate reason to do so. For example, the Federalist Papers were drafted and published in anonymity; Soren Kierkegaard published many of his books under various aliases; professors writing about their experiences in the Chronicle of Higher Education oftentimes use generalized "names" like "Professor at a Small Eastern School," and so on and so forth.
The interesting thing about anonymous work is that it has to be judged on the value of the content, not the people voicing the opinions. Or in other words, what is true in regards to water [...] is not necessarily true in regards to opinion. Professor Jeffries once wrote, as a summary of the Reformed Tradition's view of intellectual exchange, that "all truth is God's truth, no matter who says it." We couldn't agree more. We hope (and strive to ensure) that we are publishing the truth on our blog; it should not matter who we are.
In response to your second, snider question, "no," we do not retain our anonymity for the sake of intellectual exchange. The bottom line is that we do not have reasonable assurance that the University of Dubuque's administration will not act in a retributive manner towards us.
It may interest you to know that we will be posting a section on the website concerning our methodology. In this section we will address the issue of our anonymity. However, the blog is not about us, it is about the University; consequently, we will not be spending much time on this matter, nor will we be provoked into engaging in a long, drawn-out discussion of this matter.
Should we, in the eyes of God, be misguided in retaining our anonymity, we should be sincerely regretful. For the time being, however, we will "sin boldly."
Sincerely,
The Editors of "What Wendt Wrong?"
A small group of people
who were thrilled to
to receive an email from
the University's
attorney (we had no
idea we were so effective!).
Dear XXXX,
The short answer to your first question is "yes," it is common in academic circles to retain anonymity when one believes there is a legitimate reason to do so. For example, the Federalist Papers were drafted and published in anonymity; Soren Kierkegaard published many of his books under various aliases; professors writing about their experiences in the Chronicle of Higher Education oftentimes use generalized "names" like "Professor at a Small Eastern School," and so on and so forth.
The interesting thing about anonymous work is that it has to be judged on the value of the content, not the people voicing the opinions. Or in other words, what is true in regards to water [...] is not necessarily true in regards to opinion. Professor Jeffries once wrote, as a summary of the Reformed Tradition's view of intellectual exchange, that "all truth is God's truth, no matter who says it." We couldn't agree more. We hope (and strive to ensure) that we are publishing the truth on our blog; it should not matter who we are.
In response to your second, snider question, "no," we do not retain our anonymity for the sake of intellectual exchange. The bottom line is that we do not have reasonable assurance that the University of Dubuque's administration will not act in a retributive manner towards us.
It may interest you to know that we will be posting a section on the website concerning our methodology. In this section we will address the issue of our anonymity. However, the blog is not about us, it is about the University; consequently, we will not be spending much time on this matter, nor will we be provoked into engaging in a long, drawn-out discussion of this matter.
Should we, in the eyes of God, be misguided in retaining our anonymity, we should be sincerely regretful. For the time being, however, we will "sin boldly."
Sincerely,
The Editors of "What Wendt Wrong?"
A small group of people
who were thrilled to
to receive an email from
the University's
attorney (we had no
idea we were so effective!).
posted by WhatWendtWrong at 8:15 PM
1 Comments:
editors 1
lawyers 0
wow, UD better get better lawyers.
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