[Anna M Evans]

Unfortunately, "calming down" is precisely the effect that WCU is hoping for, that the sense of outrage in the poetry community at the unfair dismissal of someone we admire will dwindle, and we will all start to look forward like docile sheep to the 2016 Poetry Conference.

I say, no, don't calm down. Okay, think about what you are saying, writing and posting, and try not to slander or blame. (I may have been guilty of this, and apologize.)

But don't calm down. Injustice has been done. And hard questions need to be asked and answered.

[W.F. Lantry]

Originally Posted by Bill Carpenter

Thanks, Robin. Is there a board of regents for the system WCU is in that is responsible for making sure the institution is responsible to the public? Would it make sense to ask them to rescind Kim's dismissal or at least publicly investigate it, for the good of the university? Anyone here employed by Pennsylvania public university who understands the structure?

Bill,

I'm not employed by the system, but I did work in the system back in the 90's. Back then, it was called SSHE (pronounced "she-he," State system of higher education), these days, it's called PASSHE. The board, as you're about to discover, is appointed by the Governor. Its membership might make sense in some rational universe, but not in the one where you and I presently live. I invite you to scan the brief biographies of the board members, and make your own judgement about whether your plan might serve any purpose.

http://www.passhe.edu/inside/bog/Pag...s.aspx#pichini

Best,

Bill

[Rhina P. Espaillat]

On the contrary: calming down is precisely what we all need to do, because what comes of immediate and spontaneous responses arrived at on the basis of too little information is exactly what Anna has had the grace and wisdom to apologize for: "slander and blaming."

Once anyone feels unfairly accused (of misdemeanors that may not even have taken place, like the murder of someone in "The Ox-Bow Incident," who returns to town safe and sound too late, after the hanging of the supposed killer!), it becomes much harder to achieve any kind of reconciliation, as we can all understand if we put ourselves in the place of the unjustly accused. We have already had veiled accusations--the worst kind, because they can't be answered directly--of "financial irregularities" on the part of people I would trust, not merely with my life, but with my grandchildren. The very people, in fact, who created this conference that has proven such an important and valuable part of our lives, by pouring their time and effort, work and money into it right at the beginning and throughout its history.

Had it not been for the way the conference was established right at the start, with its multiple mission of instruction, encouragement of the young, assistance to beginning poets, attention to scholarship and the teaching of form, open and cordial communication among poets and outreach to the public, Kim could never have gone on the innovate as she has done, and accomplish all of the wonderful things that made this year's conference such a delight.

What I feel for everyone who has had a hand in providing the West Chester experience is not a choice between competing loyalties, but rather 360 degrees of gratitude, loyalty and admiration. The mission now is to heal whatever needs healing, not salt the wounds by taking sides where there are probably no sides to be taken. Wounds heal best when they're not picked at; for heaven's sake let's stop picking at this and let's concentrate on minimizing whatever damage has been done to anyone at all!

And that includes the university, which far from "sitting on scandals," as someone put it, has welcomed the poetry conference and the poets, both for the sake of the art and for the prestige the university must derive from hosting something so unique and excellent. Let's avoid the references to buses under which people have been thrown, to scandals and plots and secrets and personal grudges against any portion of this family, which is the way West Chester feels to me.

[Anna M Evans]

It's also worth pointing out that WCU, using funds provided by the Foundation, is currently doing its best to secede from PASSHE:

http://www.post-gazette.com/news/edu...s/201403150094

Originally Posted by W.F. Lantry

Bill,

I'm not employed by the system, but I did work in the system back in the 90's. Back then, it was called SSHE (pronounced "she-he," State system of higher education), these days, it's called PASSHE. The board, as you're about to discover, is appointed by the Governor. Its membership might make sense in some rational universe, but not in the one where you and I presently live. I invite you to scan the brief biographies of the board members, and make your own judgement about whether your plan might serve any purpose.

http://www.passhe.edu/inside/bog/Pag...s.aspx#pichini

Best,

Bill

[Robin-Kemp]

The minute you stop asking is the minute this all "goes away." Rhina is in a position to know some things and I agree with her about treating this and each other with care. She, involved parties, and other Poetry Center board members may not be in a position to answer these questions for legal reasons. That is not a cover-up.

Separate issues here:

1.Kim was dismissed under what appear to be arbitrary and capricious circumstances.

2. The reason behind that is reportedly related to financial recordkeeping.

3. This may or may not have anything to do with *the conference itself.*

I check my sources. Let's see what the public records reveal. And the financials and WCU's faculty governance and union contract are matters of public record.

[Kate Benedict]

Having attended the conference just once, I suppose I have a very small pony in this race. I simply admired, deeply, Kim’s management of that 2012 conference and her near-beatific presence there.

If I can’t quite join the mollifying voices of reason here, it’s because Kim’s dismissal was handled so harshly. Point out the folly of conjecture all you want -- the fact remains that the university’s actions were unspeakably cruel and that is no conjecture. If this is typical of academia, let’s throw water on it and let it melt into a steaming puddle of mud with a witch hat top.

[Tim Murphy]

It is inconceivable to me that Mike Peich would have ever misused money from WCU. He is one of my oldest friends in poetry, and Kim has done an excellent job filling his huge shoes.

[Gregory Dowling]

I'd just like to thank Rhina for expressing so perfectly what are my own feelings with regard to the conference, which I have attended every year since 2003, with the exception of this year (for reasons that are entirely irrelevant to this discussion). I feel an enormous debt of gratitude to the conference, both under Mike Peich's directorship and under Kim's. Until things are made clearer I don't wish to indulge in any possibly damaging speculation.

So, yes, let's ask questions but let's also calm down.

[Mary Meriam]

What Kate said. Here's part of my email to WCU:

Where in the world will you find a replacement for someone so eminently suited for her position? She radiates devotion and caring for her job, and the conference was clearly undergoing a renaissance under her leadership.

And I don't see any harm in asking what happened and why. Kim was planning the 2015 conference three days before this news.

[Robin-Kemp]

Michael, open inquiry is not hysteria. Neither is an admittedly long post. My interest is in finding out the truth of the matter, not passing judgment on unfounded speculation. I share your dismay at wild inductive leaps based on partial information. That is why I post the facts as I *know* them based on available evidence and direct sources. I suggest others do likewise for their own good, if not for the greater good.