January 26, 2010

Peltzing in Arkansas

The scientific study of mobbing proceeds most fruitfully by thoughtful dissection of specific cases. The common point of reference for all five of the papers below is the case of Richard J. Peltz, a tenured high-achiever in the Bowen School of Law, University of Arkansas at Little Rock. This well-publicized case has given birth there to a new synonym for mobbing, namely peltzing, which means getting together and pummelling a professor with a barrage of aspersions and accusations toward the end of destroying the prof's good name, curtailing his or her work, and eventually eliminating the prof from the faculty. So adroitly has Peltz fought back, however, that in the longer run, peltzing may come to mean fending off collective attack — not mobbing itself, but effective self-defense from it. However the case turns out, it is instructive on many counts.

Invited by Robert Ashford, Professor of Law at Syracuse University, the papers below are published here in the order of their presentation at the session, "Workplace Mobbing and Academic Freedom: the Socio-Economic Connections," 2010 Annual Meeting of the Association of American Law Schools, New Orleans, 7 January:

(1) Mark A. Schneider, Introduction

(2) Richard J. Peltz, Academic Mobbing in my Own Experience,

(3) Joan E. Friedenberg, Mobbing Indicators and their Economic Consequences,

(4) Kenneth Westhues, Mobbing, Socio-Economics, and the Case of Richard Peltz,

(5) Mark A. Schneider, Concluding Comments.

From: http://arts.uwaterloo.ca/~kwesthue/AALS10.html

2 comments:

jd1958 said...

Now I know what to call my experience! I was mobbed a few years ago, but managed to survive it. Although the emotionl toll has been horrible. I am still a pariah, and the mob re-gathers now and again. The last faculty meeting made that clear. Of all the issues addressed here I found the list of criteria of what constitutes mobbing enlightening...especially the comment about accents, class, etc. If anyone wants to hear my story for their research let me know. For the record, I am a NY working class woman also teaching in Arkansas.

Fran Cat said...

I just went through a harrowing two-year bullying experience at NWACC in which I was mobbed by faculty who recruited students to gang up against me. Ultimately I was expelled just 3 weeks before graduation and I now owe $21,000 to our federal government in Stafford loans with no degree or job to repay my debt. It is astounding to me that they can get away with this sort of behavior. frncat@yahoo.com