Dr. Dale Sullivan Persists

[Paul Trummel <trummel -at- U -dot- WASHINGTON -dot- EDU>]

This post replies to one from Dr. Dale Sullivan.


CONTRA CABAL 4(7): Dr. Dale Sullivan Persists
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

     What's in a name? That which we call a state college
     By any other name would smell sweeter.
                              (Apologies to William Shakespeare)

Apparently, Dale Sullivan has missed many of the points made in
CONTRA CABAL 4(6) "A Reply to Dr. Dale Sullivan" and continues to
deny his own reality. Furthermore, his confused rhetoric now
supports the claims made in that edition. To avoid reiteration,
the editor has devoted this edition to answering the new messages
that Sullivan has sent both to him and to techwr-l.

Dialogue (S = Sullivan. T = Trummel).

On Veracity

T.   Any statements made by me result from meticulous
     documentation and a prodigious memory. They stand
     verification by third parties.

S.   I teach at the University of Nebraska at Kearney. Three
     years ago it was called Kearney State College. He insists
     that everything he says is documented; if he is wrong on the
     basic facts, he is probably wrong on other things.

T.        The documentation that I used follows:

          Internet Name Service
          Kearney State College, Nebraska
          unk.edu domain
          Record last updated on 18 Nov 92

     Sullivan needs to research and document his own statements
     prior to publication. He should use a precise signature to
     persuade readers that he deserves veneration as a university
     professor rather than insignificance as a state college
     professor.

S.   Paul is wrong when he says I am a minister. I have long been
     active in churches but I am not a pastor and have never been
     ordained.

T.   I did not designate Sullivan  an "ordained" minister. During
     his stay at RPI he represented himself as a minister or
     preacher and declared his interest in homiletics as a reason
     for studying epideictic rhetoric. It seems his level of
     holiness fluctuates to suit any given circumstance.

S.   Paul is wrong when he says I had an office for two years. I
     had a desk for one semester. I did my work at home.

T.   Sullivan had extraordinary privileges as a research
     assistant in the writing center and had full use of a
     private office when he needed it.

On the Vow of Silence

S.   Many in the RPI community advise that the best thing to do
     is to remain silent. I had no intentions of responding to
     him openly until he made my private post public.

T.   Sullivan confirms the existence of, and endorses, the
     conspiracy of silence that the LL&C/RPI Cabal uses to cover-
     up malfeasance. I have previously described this condition
     as stonewalling. Serpico's exposure of corruption some years
     ago described the conspiracy of silence within the New York
     City police department. His exposition pales in comparison
     with the corruption and silence that exists at RPI.
          Furthermore, Sullivan proclaims himself  a professor of
     rhetoric but does not understand journalistic procedure. He
     cannot understand that when he writes to the editor of a
     column, or posts to a public list, he renounces any right to
     privacy, except by special arrangement. Incidentally, as a
     journalist for over 36 years, I have always protected my
     sources. I have also retained my prerogative to publish
     whatever I wish, if it contains the truth. However, in my
     personal experience, the Rensselaer Cabal disallows any
     journalistic or academic freedom.

On Technical Communication

S.   S. Michael Halloran is a respected scholar in rhetorical
     theory, who has published widely in both speech-
     communication and English Journals. Merrill Whitburn is an
     extremely kind-hearted, deeply read, and thoughtful scholar.
     Dave Carson has worked in the field of technical writing for
     several decades and has been the Editor of JTWC for longer
     than I have been involved in teaching.

T.   Sullivan jests: he must have resorted to satire. If he has
     not, then he needs to make a choice. He must either admit
     that he exists in a state of total denial of his reality or
     admit that he has become an inveterate liar. Either
     dysfunction requires his immediate attention.  Anyone who
     really knows these three charlatans will find Sullivan's
     statements hilarious.
          I must again remind readers that I have criticized the
     farcical technical and graphic communication program at
     LL&C/RPI, not the classical rhetoric program. Sullivan
     continues to try to establish the validity of the technical
     communication program using criteria obtained from his
     experience in the rhetoric program. Neither Halloran nor
     Whitburn have professional or academic experience in
     technical and graphic communication and neither has
     published any valid research within that discipline.
     Moreover, they have published virtually nothing in any
     discipline. The publication of Whitburn's summation of the
     rhetorical theory course  (CONTRA CABAL 4(3)) represents his
     sole contribution to scholarship in more than ten years.
     This ludicrous, verbatim transcript proves that he knows
     very little about rhetoric let alone technical
     communication. In contrast, I have lost count of the number
     of items that I have published over the years.
          Carson assumed the position as editor of the Journal of
     Technical Writing and Communication (JTWC), not on merit or
     scholarship. His appointment resulted from a political favor
     by Jay Gould whose reputation equals the reputation of his
     namesake. Carson gains political allegiance by blackmailing
     those who need to publish or perish. I have personally
     experienced his blackmailing tactics. For example, he
     blackballed me, a non-traditional doctoral student with many
     years of professional experience, from making JTWC
     submissions and from entering Society of Technical
     Communication (STC) competitions. I refused to submit to his
     blackmail after he insisted that I provide free consulting
     services to clients from whom he received remuneration. He
     has published nothing since his PhD dissertation on Ralph
     Ellison in 1974.  He has no professional experience in
     technical communication and has imbibed his way through both
     military and academic careers. Carson finances his
     addictions by using his privileged position to control
     graduate student labor that he then converts to his
     financial advantage. The department chair, Whitburn,
     sanctions Carson's behavior because he owes him a political
     debt for his own introduction to RPI and the position that
     he now holds without merit. A reliable source has also
     alleged that Whitburn and Halloran have covered up both
     attempted murder and attempted suicide that resulted from
     Carson's abusive behavior toward students. I shall soon
     publish an article that fully exposes the details of
     Carson's sojourn at RPI. This will describe his violent
     disposition and his resort to forgery in the cover-up his
     corrupt activities.
          Sullivan's sycophancy and opportunism have resulted in
     many special privileges, a two-year residency, and an easy
     ride to a doctoral degree. Other candidates had to complete
     a three-year residency or longer.  So much for his professed
     Christian way of life. However, he does not exist in a
     vacuum: several others have received similar privileges by
     pandering to the drunkard Halloran and his policy of ethnic
     and cultural cleansing.
          I feel grateful for the support and empathic friendship
     of several PhD candidates and professors, both men and
     women, whom I encountered at RPI. In contrast to Sullivan,
     "who passed by on the other side," they witnessed the
     treatment meted to me and experienced similar treatment
     themselves. They suffered delays in the start of their own
     careers, or had established careers destroyed, through the
     megalomaniacal and abusive behavior of Whitburn and others.
     They also suffered from the deliberate hold-over of PhD
     candidates that increases the labor force and reduces the
     faculty work load.  However, during conversation, I have
     discovered that these victims of LL&C abuse have positively
     impacted the lives of their students and employees because
     of their ethical and moral stance. They have not perpetuated
     the dysfunction that they themselves experienced. Perhaps,
     one day, these alumni will become secure enough in
     themselves, and in their professional or academic
     employment, so that they, too, will speak out. "If vicious
     people are united and form a power, honest men must do the
     same." (Leo Tolstoy in "War and Peace").

The revelations in CONTRA CABAL 4(6), and Sullivan's disavow of
the silence that he pledged to his mentors, have precipitated a
flood of  messages. Some of these correspondents, who previously
resorted to political correctness and invective, have now
resorted to intelligent inquiry. They have especially requested
particulars of the abnormal conditions extant in LL&C/RPI. They
have also requested information on the recalcitrant professors in
the Technical Communication Program, Department of Language,
Literature, and Communication, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute,
Troy, New York. CONTRA CABAL has published a great deal of
information on these issues and will continue to do so in the
future.

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