I’ve recently acquired a few items that I am looking to giveaway thru a contest of some sort… contest ideas?

SNOW?!

because sometimes it doesn’t feel like it.

everything in italics is *her*, the PEER ACADEMIC LEADER.  No changes have been made to any of the emails.  anything in bold are comments.  My responses/emails are unformatted.  this email went out to the listserve about 3 hours after a failed meeting attempt, due to her being hours away in south jersey instead of in new brunswick,

Date: Sun Jan 31 22:55:07 EST 2010 From: ——- Subject: Important To: mech09@sakai.rutgers.edu

Hi Everybody! Just reminding you that the last day to sign up for housing lottery numbers is TOMORROW so please do it as soon as possible otherwise you will not be allowed to participate in the housing process. Second i wanted to address the complaints about the cleanliness of the bathroom. Please respect one another by cleaning up behind yourself. We all forget things some times it is understandable but always double check. If you have a complaint please come to me and tell me don’t question each other one by one because it may make some people feel uncomfortable. Thirdly we need to have a meeting ASAP with ALL residents of MECH in regards to some things that must be accomplished. I need everyone in attendance this thursday at 10 no exceptions unless absolutely necessary! Thank you for your time and can’t wait to see all of you there!

Sincerely, ——-

my response that night

Date: Mon Feb 01 00:08:44 EST 2010 From: “Suzanne M. Lee” Subject: Re: Important To: ——-

Hi ——-,

Thank you for finally sending out the complaints about hygiene and the state of our bathroom. In my opinion, I don’t think anyone was being accused by one person’s questioning, nor do I think she meant any offense. It did however need to be said, as this has been an ongoing problem since last semester and has been neglected.

In regards to the floor meeting, you had decided in class (rather autonomously) that there was to be a floor meeting tonight (Sunday, 31 January) @ 9pm. To the best of my knowledge, your door has been closed all day, and you were not available or around at 9 tonight. I will not be able to attend a meeting on Thursday at 10pm due to prior weekly commitments, commitments I made months in advance. I’m honestly offended that you are making these decisions without any consultation or input from the rest of us; I know you are busy with other activities yourself, but we all are, and everyone’s individual schedules need to be considered and respected for such an important meeting to take place. For future meetings, please inform us beforehand if you know you will not make a meeting on time; it just shows a lack of respect for the rest of us on your part. I reserved time in my schedule for these meetings and both of these meetings fell through last minute because of your lack of timeliness. While I am aware that the first meeting (scheduled for Wednesday, 20 January @ 9pm) had eventually occurred, it did not start until well after 11pm and had only 2 residents in attendance which does not make for a productive environment nor does it constitute a house meeting.

Concerning PAL responsibilities, I just wanted to let you know that there have been remarks made about the seeming lack of dedication to your job and title as Peer Academic Leader as well as the commitment shown to your duties. For instance, regarding the bulletin boards, if you are not planning to put up anything, can you at least put back the coexistence poster that Jenna had bought for the house? Can you also please let us know when your office hours are, as several of us have been waiting on that information, and it is generally hard to get a hold of you.

I hope that you are not offended by this email; I would have brought these topics to your attention had you been here for the meeting, or had office hours at which I know you are available to discuss these matters.

See you when you get back, Suzanne

saw her in my neighbors room, approached her to let her know that the email was in no way meant as a personal attack. without once looking at me told me she had replied…she hadn’t yet, but was then in the process of it. She kept repeating that she had sent the email, so I told her to check her outbox or sent box to be sure; she was insistent that there was no such thing in her eden mail account (the school mail). there is.

her reply:

Date: Mon Feb 01 12:28:27 EST 2010 From: ——- Subject: Re: Re: Important To: “Suzanne M. Lee”

Dear Suzanne, If you have a problem with my PAL position you need to let Gokce know not the entire floor.Second i am doing what was mandated by Abigail Lewis who asked us to change the boards but i am awaiting the supplies promised by Mrs.Lewis which was suppposed to be recieved last week thank you very much. Number two no set meeting was accomplished since Gokce said that she didnt want to discuss the situation during class so its not my fault if you jumped to conclusions. Third your attendance at thte last meeting was on you… I notified you personally through the phone and i still have the records to prove it. Please do not try to fault me for your non participation if you have a problem please talk to me or Gokce personally and not try to attack people through email. Thank you ver much!

——-

i then went back to her and reiterated my point about the email not being an attack on her, just a heads up on a general feeling of discontent within the house. I asked her to at least have the decency to look me in the face as we were having a conversation, to which she said she could not because she did not respect me. She told me that she did not respect me because of the email, as well as because ‘i don’t pay her for this job’ therefore she ‘doesn’t have to listen to me’. She screamed that last part out and people heard her from down the hall. She wouldn’t tear her eyes away from facebook, and I couldn’t listen to her bullshit anymore, so I told her I couldn’t respect this conversation enough to continue it any longer, and walked away. I wrote the following email to my grad fellow.

Dear —-,

Due to some recent controversy in the house, I would really like to set up a meeting time soon to discuss what happened with you. I feel very uncomfortable and disrespected on this floor. As you may have noticed, I sent out an email in response to Leticia’s email and hit reply all because the subject concerned everyone living in the house, and out of courtesy, I included everyone. I also thought it an appropriate gesture in comparison to Leticia’s exclusion of all others for most things concerning the house. Her sarcastic response and argumentative behavior towards me when I approached her after I received her reply is disheartening- she told me point blank that she does not respect me because she does not listen to the rest of the house; I feel the least she could do as she insults me is look me in the face. What she said after the conversation is also demoralizing; she made public statements towards her ‘not being paid by the rest of the house, therefore she should not have to listen to the rest of the house’. As the Peer Academic Leader, she has several core responsibilities outlined clearly in the original application, including programming, advising, and community building and leadership. During the last failed meeting attempt (last night, Sunday) several of the residents of the house met regardless to discuss our feelings on the state of affairs in the house, and it was the general feeling that she had neglected these duties. Rather, her attitude towards myself and about the other housemates quite differs with the idea of community building. I understand it is her first semester as PAL and only her second semester at Rutgers University and Douglass College and we have tried to cut her some slack in these respects, but it has become increasingly difficult to do so. I think we need a house meeting, and I would also like to meet with you privately beforehand as well. Your office hours are during my seminar, so is it possible we could meet at an alternate time? Before 11 or after 2 on Wednesday is fine with me, please let me know.

Thank you, Suzanne

And this is the email I ended up sending back, this time without sending it to the listserve

Date: Mon Feb 01 13:54:46 EST 2010 From: “Suzanne M. Lee” Subject: Re: Re: Re: Important To: ——-

———

Re: the latest meeting scheduled for 31 January 9pm; you stated Sunday @ 9pm during class, to which everyone present agreed upon, and I then put it in my calendar immediately. The two women who were not yet present were also made aware of this meeting time upon their arrival. I was not the only one waiting at 9pm.

Re: the first meeting scheduled for 20 January 9pm; you did not notify me personally through the phone of the last meeting. I had received a phone call from you around 11pm that night, with no text message or voicemail regarding the subject of your call.

Re: non participation; my email alone is a sign of participation, of me trying to reach out to you, as I have time and time again. It was not a personal attack on you, and I made that clear first thing this morning, whereby you then proceeded to attack me personally. It would be easier to talk to you about problems regarding the house if you had office hours.

Re: house meetings; it is beyond clear that it is necessary to have a house meeting at this point. Can one be scheduled with input from everyone regarding availability? Unless everyone is present, it does not constitute a house meeting, nor would it be productive or constructive in the least.

Re: public messages and attacks; if you wanted to keep this private, then you should not have cc’d the entire listserve. I stated first thing this morning that my email was not meant to be a personal attack, and I am sorry you perceived it to be such. Your comments following that were derisive and unnecessary.

Suzanne

and this is all i got back this morning, also not sent to the listserve. tell me, what lies? where are the lies?

these allocations are blatant lies and i refuse to entertain this conversation any more.

You wanted this job, then do your job. That’s all we wanted. I had no problems with this person until this; my only problems were with her slacking off her job, the job that is supposed to be an advisory role to the rest of us living in the house. A Peer Academic Leader. Key words being Peer and Leader. It has been made clear that she is neither a leader nor does she think of herself as our peer, but on a higher level. And I’ve lost any respect I used to have for her. I used to feel bad for her. I went out of my way to help her on multiple occasions time and time again; we all did. And this is what we got in return.