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I googled “Vladivostok Nato” and found several sites, including a blog on the current activities. Had you attended the previous meetings? Sounds like it’s a pretty big deal. Unfortunately, this, like most world news, had gone completely under the radar. See this link regarding Solzhenitsyn’s comments.. From your description of your students, I can see why they don’t trust Nato in general and the US in particular. I actually envy your position. At least these students are informed and passionate; even if it does get in the way of your discussions.

I suspected as much as to your military preparation. It must take a very long time to rise through the ranks. Much more difficult than the three levels in an academic community.

It’s really nice to talk to someone who really loves their work and feels that what they’re doing is an important contribution. So few people have that (I count myself among the lucky few).

Any possibility of attaching an occasional digital photo to an e-mail? You don’t have to be in it but some of the sights and other people would be interesting to our readers.

Bill, Good to hear from you and I hope you enjoy the book I mentioned...it will be more interesting than enjoyable...remember that it is intended for leaders that have very tangible responsibilities...maybe most importantly, if you ever bump into a military officer and tell them you read 'common sense training', if he or she is worth a s'''t they will be very impressed...if you are insightful it will give you a very good picture of the everyday challenges of preparing an army for war...I spent today with students in Vladivostok, as part of a Nato 'rally' here intended to better inform the next generation about the value of Nato-Russian cooperation...hard even for the young to swallow...they so hate our presence in Georgia, Krygizstan, Ukraine, Iraq, etc...that it is hard to have a rationale discussion....but there you have it, we are trying...and quite frankly Russia has enough wars of its own...but students here are fantastic and passionate about foreign policy...I don't know what to say about my preparation to be a military officer...I studied at the US Naval Academy and regret it everyday..that place, although full of truly amazing students, is an anachronism...I can't believe I wasted the best years of my youth marching in circles...but this is what you do to rise from blue collar to white...and I made a decent officer after all...God bless the USA, these type of opportunities aren't available in many societies on this planet....talk to you soon, Mike

2006/5/10, Tietjen, Dr. Bill <btietjen@bellarmine.edu>:

Mike,
Just checking in to make sure everything is going well on your end. I hope I didn't miss another e-mail. Make sure you put your name or "Professor Tietjen's Spider Lab" in the subject line. I set up my spam filter to let those through.

Last week was final's week so I'm now off for the summer. I don't get to sit around, though (couldn't stand that anyway). I'll spend the summer working on the NASA research (giving a talk and a poster presentation at a meeting on Monday) and data analysis and writing some journal articles on my spider research. I really like doing this stuff (almost a much as teaching).

The newest free speech issue petered out. Maybe it was the timing, but everyone got riled up the same time last semester, so it's probably more realistic to assume apathy. I corresponded with several faculty and we decided that in order to overcome the apathy we needed to stir the shit on campus at the very beginning of next school year. We've tentatively settled on a topic: "Impeach Bush and Company". With the elections coming up that semester and with that topic I'm sure we can get most students and faculty involved on both sides of the issue, and passionately so. We hope that once everyone experiences what it's like not to be apathetic we can introduce other issues and they can ride of the coattails of the first. Hope it works. Otherwise we're at a loss as to how we can light a fire under these people. We just don't understand why everyone is not more involved in social, environmental, and political issues. As a university it seems that we are not doing our job. When our students leave they should do so as involved, informed, and active citizens.

The book you suggested finally arrived today. I'm looking forward to sitting out on the deck and reading it over the next few days. First on my summer reading list! After that my lady friend has a Sci-Fi novel for me. Don't know where I'll go from there though I'm leaning toward the DARPA Neural Network Study (nice and light).

So, tell me how you are doing. I mentioned last time that some students really enjoyed reading our conversations. Perhaps they'd be interested in what your day is like, how your current service helps our country, and what kind of preparation you went through to be successful in your work.

Have a good one,

Bill NEXT

A very quick reply! There was a previous letter, but that will probably take a littler longer for your reply.

I’m not sure if you understood me. What I meant was that the biological process of evolution seems to have many attributes of military strategy. If I was clear, I’d certainly like to see those books for sure!

Thanks for the link! I just purchased it and will put it near the top of my summer reading list.

Ah. Another reason to avoid Jarhead! The previews looked good, but luckily I paid attention to the reviews before dropping down some good money. One review was from someone who served in Iraq.

-----Original Message-----
From: Mike Purcell [mailto:mapurcell22@gmail.com]
Sent: Wednesday, April 26, 2006 13:46
To: Tietjen, Dr. Bill
Subject: Re: Professor Tietjen's Spider Lab

Likely the deficiency in our society is not so much a lack of understanding of warfare, as this is often readily accessible through study...but more of a lack of an understanding of the nature of military endeavors, or the military as an institution, and a professional army as the nation's repository of knowledge of how to prepare for war. The General's book, useful for anyone who has leadership responsibilities, would give anyone great insight into the challenges facing military leaders where the rubber meets the road. Ultimately, this kind of book allows readers to 'enter' military culture through a more mundane and practical gateway than ridiculous movies like 'Jarhead'. In this way, when one is reading media reports of military action, it becomes much easier to read between the lines...helping to create the fabled 'educated electorate." In fact, I would probably recommend this book more than any other to a young legislator looking to prepare himself for service on a defense related committee.

4/26/2006 12:33

Mike,

I posted our conversation on the web. You can find it here: http://cas.bellarmine.edu/tietjen/Misc/Conversations.htm

It looks pretty good to me and I told those in my Evolution class about it today. One of the women in the class has a boyfriend in Iraq, so this was of interest to all of them. It’s a very close-knit group. They go through the biology curriculum as a cohort and this is the last semester of the senior year. With less than 20 in the class, they’re all good friends.

Could you recommend an introductory text or book on military history? The only one I have read is “The Art of War” (perhaps a little out of date though the concepts are probably still sound). The reason I read it (in translation) was to gain some evolutionary insights. After all, competition and the mechanisms of evolution are analogous to battle (and sometimes come to that). The interactions between predator and prey or host and parasite are essentially an arms race (although Sun Tzu didn’t address that.).

The only other readings that are even remotely related are those in game theory (for evolution, ecology, and behavior).

Anyway, I could probably use a good read that’s a little more up to date.

BillT NEXT

Yeah. It looks like I must have missed your last letter. I went through my deleted folder, but didn’t find it. A shame. I do enjoy our correspondence.

I think we have enough mass to begin posting our conversation on my site if you’re still open to that. I plan on providing links on all of the more political sites, my “pictures and musings of the day”, and in place of the free speech link on the main page. You’ll even get your own button (joy)! I think the students will find it interesting. Thanks for letting me do this.

Last week was pretty eventful. I had a presentation to make at an animal behavior meeting in Bloomington on Monday. Luckily, one of my research students was also interested, so she did most of the driving. The topic was on some of my spider research related to changes in the daily rhythms of activity in spiders when they are exposed to a neurotoxic pesticide (Malathion). It went very well.

On Tuesday we had a senior research day at Bellarmine, during which time students present posters on their research. The Biology Department requires all seniors to conduct an original research project so we were well represented. Unfortunately, two long days were too much for me and I was really bad off on Wednesday. Doing OK now. Gotta watch myself.

Thursday one of my students (the one that drove me to the animal behavior meeting) presented a poster at the national meeting of the Neuroscience Meeting here in Louisville. She’s not a traditional age student and several attendees asked her where she was doing her post-doc work, what university she taught at, or if she was currently on sabbatical. Her research presentation was so good that her undergraduate presentation was mistaken as one at the post-doctoral level. The best research student I ever had and a good friend too. She’s been accepted into the doctoral program at University of Kentucky and will start her classes and research this summer. She’s also this year’s recipient of the department’s research award; a great honor. I am very proud of her.

On Friday another of my students gave an oral presentation at Butler University. Her research is also very interesting and she plans on starting graduate school after a year’s rest. Although I couldn’t attend, I’m told that her presentation went very well.

Thursday I was asked to give a presentation for a NASA conference that will be held in Louisville in about a month (oral presentations are by invitation only). I’ll also give a poster presentation. This will be on my robotics research. I’m also found out that I’ll be a co-author on a paper presented at the annual meeting of SWAM (an engineering/robotics meeting) this summer in Indianapolis. I’m not planning on attending.

This week is the last week of classes with finals slated for next week. Things get pretty busy at this time of the year. It’ll be nice to get into the summer. I plan on getting in at least three days a week to conduct research. The other days I plan on just sitting on the deck with my laptop to work on data analysis and some publications I need to get out before it’s too late.

Like you, I am convinced that I have the best job in the world. Great hours. Pretty much my own boss and there’s never a Monday that I don’t look forward to starting the week (and lots of Fridays I don’t look forward to). I like all my classes and enjoy the teaching. It keeps me mentally on my toes. To make things even better, the reality is that I only teach about six months out of the year (with summers off and all the breaks taken into account), so I can spend the rest of the time working on my research and publications. I’m free to work in any area of interest, so it feels like I’m just pursuing a hobby (and I get government grants to buy me all sorts of cool toys- lasers, data collection equipment, really fast computers, etc. Yes, I am a bit of a geek).

I’m glad our correspondence came up as a topic in your Moscow meeting. It’s interesting that you mention the poor condition of the Russian military. I read an article just within the past two weeks on how we need to support some of the infrastructure (especially as related to securing potential WMDs). Of course, it was probably from one of my more liberal news readings, but it was a convincing argument. The Russian military complex, boarders and apparent corruption (though who could blame many of them when they have to feed their families) are so porous that they obviously need some support. Not only them, but the former republics are in the same shape. It would be money well spent to control the supply side of the war on terror.

“War on Terror" What a silly term since you can’t wage war on a strategy. However, for the current administration such Orwellian double-speak gives them some wiggle room to apply (or misapply) some of the rules of war to their policies. Unfortunately, at least from my limited perspective, I would guess that trying to apply the strategies of a conventional war to this situation is rather silly and destined to be less than effective. And there seems to be ample evidence that it obviously isn’t the route to take. During the past month or so there’s been a huge flurry of high-ranking retired military speaking out for the resignation of Rumsfeld, even more allegations of illegal activities by the administration, and a report that the number of terrorist attacks have nearly doubled from the prior year to over 10,000 in 2005. Yes, I do understand the definitions for a terrorist attack have changed from the prior years, so the count may be inflated, but it does follow the escalating pattern we’ve seen since the (unlawful and unnecessary) war in Iraq started. And our media continues to cow-tail to the administration. If I didn’t read foreign papers I’d have little idea of the jaw-dropping nature of the administration’s bugling. I am hurt and embarrassed by the shredding of our constitution, our plummeting support by the world (squandered after near unanimous support after 9/11) and so much more. I must admit, I do take some guilty pleasure that Bush’s approval rating hit an all-time low of 30% today; largely based on their handling of the war in Iraq, but that’s tempered with the realization that practically nothing is being done to fix the situation.

And now we’re hit with more saber rattling directed toward Iran. If the reports are true, Special Forces teams are already scoping out the territory, finding and assessing military targets and setting up a network of informants. I realize that all this would be necessary should we attack them, but those activities on their own are prohibited by international law and are considered as a preemptive attack. And don’t get me started on the issue of nuclear bunker-busters….. All the while we’re told that the administration is seeking a diplomatic solution (where have I heard that before?). I’m just worried that Dubya’s going to get us into yet another unjust war (Afghanistan was probably just; though ineffectual with our troops and resources spread so thin) and further screw up our economy and relationships with the rest of the world.

On the positive side, it looks like the administration has come up with, what I believe, seems to be a more reasonable response to terrorism… More Special Ops and intelligence teams to address individuals and small groups rather than the really-really-big hammer shock-and-awe approach. Of course, the down side is that anyone captured will probably find themselves in an Eastern Bloc prison.

Your observations on Chechnya and the comparisons to Iraq are interesting. I was surprised, however, about the Anti-Americanism related to the Bush foreign policy. Is any of that shaped by Iraq? If so, something has definitely passed under my radar. I know that the Russians traded with them and had diplomatic relations and that the Russians voted against the war at the UN, but that doesn’t seem sufficient to me for such a populist response. Is it because they are responding to our imperialism and general bullying of the world? Or is there more?

At one time there was some buzz; I believe starting with the daddy Bush’s administration, to provide technical and financial aid for the members of the former Soviet Union to prop up their infrastructure. Not only the problems of WMD I wrote about above, but greater support for the members of the military and advisors on a variety of issues including economics and education. With the military buildup in China, Russia could have been at least a weak ally in that part of the world. And yes, I know that the Chinese will never be a match as far as a technological military (at least for a long time), but it does force us into a competition that is very costly. With their greater economic growth, they are going to become one of the world’s greatest economies in the not-so-distant future, and they could afford more of a military build-up, fueling an arms race between us and them. With so much of our economy dependent on foreign investment, when other countries start to cash in their chips, our economy is going to falter under the weight of debt and military budgets. I’ve seen this happen somewhere before…. I think it was during the Regan administration.

Anyway, I wish we could put some of our resources into solving some of the other problems in the world (Dafur, Sudan, etc.). It probably be less expensive than our current foreign policy and might gain us a lot more respect; perhaps even alleviating some of the terrorism problems. I don’t want you to lose your job; in fact, what you’re doing now seems to be a remnant of the Bush I policy. From what you say, the kinds of things you are doing are really helpful and I suspect you are a real asset for moderating their views of the United States. Are you also acting as a consultant? If so, can you tell me anything about that?

Hope everything keeps going well for you and that you continue to have a good and rewarding dialog with your students and others. How long were you on campus? Are you off to meet with more groups? What’s in your future (as long as you don’t have to kill me if you tell me)?

I think maybe you missed my last e-mail but no problems but I make no claims to being organized right now myself as I travel so much and live from a laptop. I did make it to Moscow State University and talked with the students about civil-military relations. I mentioned our correspondence and used it as an example of productive discourse. The students are impressive and asked very good questions, but the unfortunate reality is that the Russian military is in such poor shape that no one in their right mind would consider voluntarily serving. Even my taxi driver yesterday, who served 27 years as an army officer and who's lineage was military as long as he can trace, proudly explained to me how he helped his son escape the draft.

The issue of Iraq came up of course, but in this country you can't talk about Iraq without talking about Chechnya. It is interesting as there is a lot of Anti-Americanism related the Bush administration's foreign policy. But the big difference is that it is easy to make a case that Iraq is an unjust war, the conduct of American troops is generally very professional. In Chechnya, you can make the case that the war is just (federal control over sovereign territory) but the conduct of Russian troops is absolutely criminal (makes Abu Ghraib look like kindergarten). I feel for these people, just one tragedy after another. They are definitely an empire in decay, physically and mentally. Their leftover pretensions to being a great power and resentment at US and EU influence in the former soviet bloc prevent them from moving forward in many ways. Additionally, the quality of academic work in the humanities is horrible. The Jewish emigration starting in the 70's really hurt in this respect. 'Activist' civil society is paper thin and getting thinner every day due to Putin's 'managed democracy'.

Anyways, I'll stay in better touch. I can only say that I sympathize with your illness, as it is hard to truly contemplate sickness when you are not experiencing it. I hope that you have more good days than bad and it is obvious that you are someone to take anything sitting down.

I haven't heard from you in a while and became concerned that I may have mistakenly deleted an e-mail while I was deleting spam. If so, re-write. If not, I hope your travels are going well.

Good stuff, thanks....I'll be on the road for a few days, but I'll take a long look at it when I return. Not doing anything secret today, just looking over the battlefields in Volgograd/Stalingrad. Also going to check out the new Stalin museum, which is part of a worrying trend here in Russia of re-honoring such criminals, in line with some nasty resurgent soviet nationalism (which means racism over here).

Sorry it took so long for me to get back to you. In answer to part of your longer letter, you'll remember that I had suggested you take a look at Eric Alterman's blog at MSNBC http://www.msnbc.msn.com/. The blog is at the bottom of the page. I am particularly impressed with this blog because both Alterman and most of his correspondents are informed on most topics and there are usually links inserted that lead the reader to more information should they need further background.

I suggested this blog because it was one of the few that posts contrasting arguments and it doesn't come across as a rant (which is how I view Reynold's blog; also at MSNBC). One of the things that Major Bob and other people in the armed forces contribute to this blog is an opportunity to learn at least a little of what a military career and life is like; sometimes in a day-by-day account. The lifestyle is SO foreign to mine that I can't relate to it in a realistic way and I don't even try to argue that I understand. It's like trying to understand what it's really like to be black as a white male. The culture, world view, and place in society are just too different. So, although I would like to be able to understand your lifestyle, there really is no way I could without living it (and I never have).

Yesterday a new correspondent to the blog, Matt Shirley, a self-described "opinionated left-leaning Lieutenant Commander" (MAJ Bob is definitely right-wing), wrote of his disappointment which mirrored you own: the civilian population simply does not understand (or seems to want to). I attached that portion of the blog if you're interested. I hope that my web can serve some of the same purpose when we have enough of a dialog to post.

I agree with you that many academics are horribly misinformed/ uninformed. Despite this, they still feel compelled to speak out and use their academic position to presumably prove both their expertise and impartiality. I for one never pretended to be impartial, although I always have tried to be as well-informed as possible. I do try to be fair and, when given the opportunity to provide a form for differing views try to do so. That's why I'm pleased that we'll hopefully have this opportunity.

We had a free speech/ hate speech incident on campus last semester. A student wore an armband associated with a white supremacist organization. In a letter to the University community (faculty, staff, and students) one of our faculty demanded that either the student remove the armband or be expelled. Several faculty followed with letters supporting this view. I intended to write a letter of support too but as I tried to compose it, I found it impossible to defend. Instead, I ended up writing a letter based on the premise of the student's free-speech rights. Boy, did that set off a shit-storm. Students demonstrated on campus (for free speech), local news showed up, and the rhetoric sometimes became personal. The students felt abandoned because it didn't seem that any faculty supported their point of view (they described it as "us against them" with "them" being the faculty). To make things worse, students could not hit the "reply to all" button and couldn't respond to faculty letters. So, I made a web site so they could write to me and then I would post their comments anonymously no matter what their position. The site is here http://cas.bellarmine.edu/tietjen/Misc/E-mails.htm.

I think you'll find it interesting. Earlier this semester we had a panel discussion (very well attended) on this topic. It went over well and we'll be having more forums over time.

Although the "Operation Iraqi Oil Freedom" page first caught your attention, there are so many other reasons for me to hate (and no, that's not too strong a word) this administration. A partial list follows in no particular order. I've included links to other pages, mostly newspapers like the Post and Times, but also news outlets and many foreign newspapers (so much of the reporting here is abysmal and all the cable news networks appear to have attention deficit disorder). There are some links to liberal web sites, but if you don't like them I can find more traditional citations. The links are to show you that I do try to understand the problems and this isn't just a knee-jerk response.

OK. We'll start with Iraq. Although some of these links describe the US troops as being unresponsive, I understand that they were only working under orders or had no mandate. I don't blame the people on the ground.

And there's so much more. The national debt, social programs, infrastructure ignored, competence at DHS, FDA, EPA, FEMA, world opinion, lying, making America into a theocracy, etc.

Anyway, I know the bulleted section of the letter comes across as a rant. It wasn't meant to be. It was just a possible list of topics we might want to pursue. Don't feel as if you need to comment on any of that.

If you want to just work at trying to further an understanding between civilians and the military, I understand completely and that would probably be more productive and useful than an extended political discussion. I would like to hear your views on some of this. For example, do you feel that the proper level of support is provided to returning vets (both from the public and the government). Does negative talk directed at the administration and/or the war really demoralize the troops and give aid to the enemy? What worries you and what are you pleased with? And even. What are you doing in Moscow (or would you have to kill me if you told me). Things like that.

Hope this gives you some fodder for your talk! If you get back to me I'll try to add more for your use.

Sent: Sunday, March 26, 2006 13:55
To: Tietjen, Dr. Bill
Subject: Re: Professor Tietjen's Spider Lab

I'm going to give a talk on 'civil-military' relations to some students at Moscow State Univ (Poly Sci dept) on 7 April. It is part of the embassy's outreach program. If you send me something to say on your behalf I'll describe this interchange to the students as an example of civ-mil discourse in the states...I think it would be shocking for them, if for no other reason than a tank officer can talk intelligently in public (which is generally not the case in this country) and that the embassy is paying for someone to talk about how many people opposed to the current administration. Anyways, kind of fun for you to talk long distance through proxy to smart kids in Moscow....hope your feeling better.

Thanks for your quick and thoughtful reply. I am out sick today and can't compose a proper response at this time. I will write back, however, and look forward more from you.

Thanks for the conscientious reply. To be honest, I don't find any of the material particularly objectionable insomuch as that it is 'political'....more power to you as you express your views and encourage debate. My sole 'complaint' or even observation is that it is strange to have such a site buried in the biology department's website, unannounced and at first glance seemingly surreptitiously. Any opinion on foreign policy, etc...is political in the best sense, but typically material published on a university website is subject to some standards of academic integrity in order to encourage constructive discourse.

On the other hand, if your student body and campus is apolitical or politically apathetic, why not shake it up. In that context I understand the administration's stance. I spent much of the last year connected with Berkeley, Stanford, UC Santa Cruz, etc... where 'apolitical' is not a word heard often. Nonetheless, in my interaction with the students of these campuses I found very few that had any first hand knowledge of the military or conflict in general. A product of the creation of the all volunteer military in the 70's, this unfamiliarity of the country's elite with military matters has produced a reticence amongst students and faculty to aggressively engage the supposed experts (foremost military members themselves). What I did see was a lot of sarcastic rhetoric that was rarely informed by a thorough knowledge of the subject at hand ('world energy economy', 'socio-economic composition of the military', etc...). Much like yourself maybe, I assigned myself a small mission. My intent was to encourage folks to read up and be as objective and constructive as possible. In that respect, I viewed much of your web site as inconsistent with the academic standards of a legit university. (I'm of course not referring to your work in your primary discipline.)

I've also run across another interesting phenomenon in respect to this war/administration that has made me sensitive to the blurred line between academics and polemics. Every American citizen with a conscience has an opinion, but I think many are at a loss to support their opinions as well as they would like. This comment is not directed specifically at you, but I think this is especially true for successful and intelligent people who work in a field more or less unrelated to politics. I recently was present at a talk given by a UCLA prof here in Moscow on the 'Economics of Terrorism'. I was eager to hear his talk as I understand he is a very good economist. Instead of a unique approach to analyzing the financial incentives/disincentives of terrorist activity as we had been promised, we were instead subjected to an hour of rhetoric and ranting about the Bush administration. Additionally, the speaker displayed a relatively superficial knowledge of military history or national security strategy. I took no issue with his opinions (Marines can complain about politicians of any brand with the best of them!), but I was disappointed by the casual cynicism and sarcasm. I'm sure he is a great economist, but quite frankly as a political scientist or philosopher at large, he was an embarrassment. I mention this because it has only hardened my stance that discourse be productive. I define 'productive' broadly, from well reasoned theoretical arguments to forcing the public to look firsthand at battlefield gore as on your site. But bottom line is that while skepticism is the most healthy instinct in the maintenance of a democracy, cynicism is a cowardly attempt to deflect the responsibilities of real problem solving to those who will dare to expose themselves to criticism by offering real solutions while understanding all public action is the result of compromise...sorry for the digression.

Anyways, you've convinced me that your website is a good idea for Bellarmine. I could really care less if my picture is up as long as the site has had some 'peer review', which apparently it has. Tell your students that a Marine who has served in several conflict zones suggests that even an economics major might want to take a course in military history, you never know when you might need it. Service members surrender many civil rights in order to guarantee good order and discipline and an effective defense of the nation...it is the duty of other citizens to publicly question authority and debate the issues of the day as if the draft was still around.

Feel free to put up this e-mail as I deem anything I send over the Internet to be in the public domain, but understand that they are my personal opinions. Nonetheless, I'm not interested in any explicitly voluntary involvement with a satirical site as I have an obligation to my comrades who have been directly affected by the war to seek out the most constructive and professional forums for discourse as long as I wear a uniform. That said, kudos for your encouragement of student activism and debate, thanks for your vote of support for our military members, and I'm always here if you have specific questions regarding my line of work.

Also attached is an interesting paper written by two prominent political scientists...it is controversial but I send it for no other reason than I happen to have read it today and found it worthwhile.

First of all, I would like to make it clear that I do support you and our troupes and this in no way is meant to disparage the work you do. In fact, if you'd like, I will remove the image of you on the web (just send me a copy of the image so I can identify it). I certainly would not want to use it if you don't want to be part of the satire.

Although I do support you, I cannot support the Bush administration for too many reasons to go into here. Feel free to contact our webmaster, but I doubt if anything will come of it since the Bellarmine administration is used to me being political and they actually encourage it since Bellarmine was named as one of the top 10 apolitical campuses in the country. Also, the link has been used by both students and faculty in recent public forums. Finally, the site has been under construction for about 10 years or so, and the administration has received several requests that material be removed. The first request resulted in a committee being set up that was composed of students, faculty, and administrators. After half a dozen or so meetings they came to the conclusion that my use of the web and its content were not only appropriate, but innovative. Since then the webmaster and/or administrators just forward the complaint to me and let me decide what to do with it. Sometimes I remove pages because they are no longer needed, out of date, or I simply don't care for the content anymore. I still think the "Operation Iraqi Oil Freedom" page is relevant and I wouldn't choose to delete it.

At one time Bellarmine was considering giving me my own off-site server since my web pages are responsible for over 90% of the content and hits for our main server (there is a lot of educational content). Instead they simply upgraded the server. I am surprised however, that your friend found the site since it doesn't usually show up on page 1 of a google search unless it's educational content.

Frankly, editorial oversight of the site would be next to impossible. There is simply too much content. I have trouble keeping track of things on the site which is why some of the content is out of date or simply not to my liking anymore.

Because you find some of the material inappropriate I have added a link to my standard Bellarmine disclaimer under the banner at the top of the page. I will remove your picture from the web if you send me the image.

I would also like to offer this: If you like, I would be pleased to host any comments or criticisms you might have concerning this site or other topics (and I'll place the link prominently right at the top next to the disclaimer). If you wish, I'll even post images and links to other sites you feel are important. I've done this in another case (ironically covering free speech on our campus) and would be pleased to do the same for you. Please give this some consideration since it would give you access to a public forum that and may represent an opportunity you might not have at this time. It also would be an appropriate place to foster the dialog you spoke about. If you'd like, we could continue this and other potential conversations and make them available on the site.

From: Mike Purcell [mailto: mailto:mapurcell22@gmail.com]
Sent: Friday, March 17, 2006 08:10
To: Tietjen, Dr. Bill
Subject: Professor Tietjen's Spider Lab

Below is an e-mail I intended to send on to the webmaster at Bellarmine, but I eventually found your e-mail. You can have first right of response before I send it on. Other than my concerns listed below, it is nice to see a professor obviously involved in student life.

I'm a Marine Major currently in Russia on a fellowship at a Moscow university. A few years ago I served in a tank battalion during the invasion of Iraq. A while ago a friend of mine in Poland noticed my picture displayed on Prof Tietjen's website in a satirical promo for "Operation Iraqi Oil". http://cas.bellarmine.edu/tietjen/Fun%20Stuff/Iraqi%20Freedom.htm

I've no problem at all with the Prof exercising his 1st Amendment rights. On the contrary, I encourage it. Nonetheless, I'm bothered that the site is hosted by the Bellarmine server. Intentionally or not, Bellarmine is in some way endorsing the material on this site. I would simply ask that you propose to the administration of Bellarmine that it might be appropriate that Prof Tietjen shell out a few bucks to migrate his website to a privately hosted server. Or maybe it would be appropriate that there be some sort of editorial oversight for non-peer reviewed material on the WebPages of Bellarmine's academic departments (not unlike a campus newspaper).

This is only bothersome to me since I am always interested in furthering dialogue between government/military officials and academia and I feel that Bellarmine is maybe unintentionally hampering this effort. In any case I appreciate your time and maybe you'll let me know the position/policy of Bellarmine.