I don't have any dogs in this fight. My dogs don't even like conferences, or deans for that matter. But if a conference works over one of your friends and then goes on and reestablishes itself without any public apologies or out loud acknowledgments that what was done was wrong and will be redressed it is odd to then support that same conference. Unless A) you really don't think what was done was wrong, B) you don't care enough to let it affect what is good for you or C) you believe the great good the conference will do outweighs the betrayal your friend may feel
The assumption here is that the conference leash holders wronged a friend of many posting here. I haven't seen anybody pony up and deny this. So onlookers can only assume that is without argument.
I have been involved in a fair amount of lost causes. There is usually an outpouring of involvement at first and then folks pretty much move on. If you can't move in because you looked too close it can feel like a betrayal as the rest of the world forgets and/or acclimates to the norm which is that capital/business/self interest trumps human decency pretty much always. Sometimes it sounds like that is what is happening here.
I think Ned's post above is what reminded me of the similarities here to much larger issues dealing with the State. He said that you couldn't expect the institution to own up to its crimes. I think Anna is agreeing with that and suggesting it can only be forced to do this by confrontation.
Others seem to feel that the conference is so separated and unimportant to the institution that any demands would only mean the loss of the conference and no help making things right. They just resent the implications that attending WC would be a sign of a lessening of their concern for a fellow human done wrongly. From the outside it is hard to imagine attendance without an open apology or something not hurting your friend. Kinda sucks since it sounds like the conference was a home place to so many of you. Tricky business. Seems unlikely that the tricky art of it is being manufactured by Anna. Maybe just the view of it.
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