<div dir="ltr"><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">---------- Forwarded message ----------<br>From: <b class="gmail_sendername">fabio vicentini</b> <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:fmvicent@gmail.com">fmvicent@gmail.com</a>></span><br>
Date: Fri, Aug 30, 2013 at 12:21 AM<br>Subject: The Argentine chapter of the academic show (Fourth letter)<br>To: "<a href="mailto:presidencia@conicet.gov.ar">presidencia@conicet.gov.ar</a>" <<a href="mailto:presidencia@conicet.gov.ar">presidencia@conicet.gov.ar</a>>, <a href="mailto:FulbrightNEXUS@iie.org">FulbrightNEXUS@iie.org</a>, <a href="mailto:info@fundacionsadosky.org.ar">info@fundacionsadosky.org.ar</a>, <a href="mailto:info@mincyt.gob.ar">info@mincyt.gob.ar</a>, <a href="mailto:prensa@mincyt.gov.ar">prensa@mincyt.gov.ar</a><br>
<br><br><div dir="ltr"><p></p>
<p>Buenos Aires, June 20, 2012</p>
<p> Dear Colleague:</p>
<p> Subject: Character assassination </p>
<p style="text-align:right" align="right"> <span lang="EN-US">Freedom of conscience entails more dangers </span></p>
<p style="text-align:right" align="right"><span lang="EN-US">than authority and despotism - </span>Michel
Foucault</p>
<p><span style="font-size:8.5pt;font-family:Helvetica" lang="EN-US"><br>
</span><span style lang="EN-US">I <span style="background:none repeat scroll 0% 0% white">directed a message on academic corruption to </span>the
faculty of my school (August 2009). This brought about insulting responses from
high ranking officials. The standard bearer of the pack was the chairman of the
computer science dept Hugo Scolnik who declared that “Vicentini is a nazi as it
is clear from his antecedents”. Since he did not tell which antecedent he had
in mind I felt the need to enhance his hypothesis. My mother - I said -
regarded with esteem Benito Mussolini because the Italian railroad system
functioned like a clockwork, and I grew to be an ardent nazi disliking jews,
but - I shamefully confess - jewesses possess 'something' that I like.
Incredibly, this ironic retort to a malicious detractor produced a series of public
mails where I was branded anti-semitic, a creep like SS captain <span>Erich Priebke, </span>and a derider of jewish
women raped by the Wehrmacht. Then, switching to a different personal trait,
the dean of the school Jorge Aliaga referred to me as mentally ill and
demented. This set off a new series of mails informing the community that I was
insane, lunatic, and delirious. Finally the governing board issued resolution CD
</span><span lang="EN-US">2188/09 <span style>labeling <b><i>me</i></b> culprit of insulting <b><i>them</i></b>,
and intimating the math dept to censor the defendant. Obediently, math chairwoman
Ursula Molter canceled my institutional email.</span></span></p>
<p><span style lang="EN-US"> Let
me stress two points: They called me names but none of them gave an argument
against my contention that my colleagues are forced to publish bullshit papers
because of the publish-or-perish command. Also, all the offensive responses
came from big shots: the dean, members of the board and department chairmen.</span></p>
<p><span style lang="EN-US"> Would
have not be civil for the authorities to call me upon to require what proofs I
had of my contentions? Quite on the contrary, they rejected my direct appeal.
Let me expose one such episode. </span></p>
<p><span style lang="EN-US"> Julian
T. Bonder was a member of the board. He is a champion in paper-making. He
accused me of stealing my academic salary because I did consulting jobs for a
private firm instead of publishing papers for academic journals. I challenged
him to compare any of his 48 papers versus one of my technical reports to the
firm. He recoiled. Then <span> </span>I asked the dean
for the comparison to be made, and he ignored my appeal. Then I asked five
members of the National Academy of Exact Sciences to compose a judging
committee, but they played dumb too.</span></p>
<p><span style lang="EN-US"> I
denounced corruption, and they reacted by calling me names, and they
refused to see my proofs. What is there to be gathered from all these facts? They
used slander to divert attention from the corruption issue. On the other side,
my colleagues kept their mouth shut, typical behaviour of the individual in
front <span style="background:none repeat scroll 0% 0% white">of the unjust practice</span></span><span style="background:none repeat scroll 0% 0% white;font-size:8pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-US"> </span><span style lang="EN-US">of the powers that be.<span><b><span style="background:none repeat scroll 0% 0% white"> </span></b></span><span class="HOEnZb"><font color="#888888"><span></span></font></span></span></p>
<span class="HOEnZb"><font color="#888888">
<p><span><span style lang="EN-US"> Fabio Vicentini </span></span></p>
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