In recent months, on a personal level, my enthusiasm has
waned and unfortunately some of the goals we had for this year have not been
realized.Part of the reason is that I
have begun to question the effectiveness of what I was doing – are we affecting
policy?Are we building a base in the
communities?Are we making inroads with
the incarcerated?Are our information
channels being utilized, read, followed, forwarded?Are we connecting with like minded organizations
and individuals?Not having great answers to all these
questions – I got discouraged, lost enthusiasm and stopped doing some of the
things I was doing to try to keep the effort building.No doubt some momentum was lost accordingly.
I am now attempting to shake my self from this malaise and
get back into action.But in so doing –
I want to try to be somewhat more effective.It is a year and a half now since we began and we are no further along
with real Decarceration in NJ than when we started.We need to begin to change that.
Some of the steps I would like to take and see us take are:
1.Assess the organizations and individuals around
the state that have identified with our efforts and / or participated in them
and to figure out a way to develop roots in various communities around the state
so that there are free standing Decarceration efforts going forward and community
organizing committees.Toward these ends
I am urging everyone to complete the organizational membership form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1v-q3x7gnkq9PS_owE2nFfv_7k_eFQic94ZjycF6FXuA/viewform?edit_requested=true
2.Get standing committees in local communities to
agree to plan events.Have a targeted
set of dates for coordinated events.
3.Encourage organizations to adopt Decarceration positions
and have a place that makes all the statements accessible.
4.Get commitments from writers and content
producers to keep blog active.
5.Redouble efforts to reach out to thousands of
incarcerated in the NJ facilities.My
bet is that they do not know about our efforts.They are not yet engaged in our efforts and are not yet funneling
information to us about the injustices occurring on the inside.
6.Encourage the families to tell every story and
raise every cry for justice, relief from excessive sentences, release, an end
to neglect and abuse, etc.There should
be 1000s of justice campaigns in NJ and we should have a searchable database or
at least a common place for their stories.We need to lean into each other for mutual support so that the system
start to get the impression that it is are not taking out the incarcerated one
by one in isolation – but that when it messes with one – it messes with all –
that we will find out about it and act.
7.Produce the second issue of the NJ
Decarcerator.The second issue will
focus more on reach out to and incorporation into our efforts of the
incarcerated and their families.
I definitely want to get us back on track and believe the
premises of our organization and 6 point action plan still make sense.However I would like to see us lay down a
firmer foundation so that work can continue through committees and allied
organizations all over the state and so that we make Decarcerating the Garden
State a top priority for our communities to the point where inaction by those
political office holders will be at their own peril.
If you want to help with the effort and help get us
relaunched, please contact: Decarc@DecarcerateNJ.org
and also be sure to complete the membership form:
If you do not have time to read thisarticle – please at least sign and share the
petition that was started by Westminster Piano Major student Michael Roper:
This topic is admittedly tangential to the issue of mass
incarceration which this blog is dedicated to but it is relevant in that it
affects my Decarcerator activist son who is enrolled as a piano major at
Westminster Choir College.Son Robert has
played the role of trusted assistant in some of the decarceration eventsand performed – on piano and voice no less –
at one such event.
Westminster Choir College, an esteemed choir college that offers majors also in education, piano, organ, conducting, theory and other music disciplines
where Robert attends on a partial scholarship, has just announced that it is
eliminating the Piano Major from its curriculum.Since Robert is a senior the impact is less
damaging than it would be to those who are under class students.However it impacts him as well of course.
Westminster Choir College (WCC) with its small college
campus in Princeton is associated with the larger Rider University based in
Lawrenceville, NJ.
How The Cuts Hurt WCC
Any choir college worth its salt would have piano major
as part of the curriculum.Rider is saying - well we are still teaching the
piano primary course and still providing accompanists for the voice
students. However, pianists play a major role in the choral art - as does the voice conductor.The pianist is an integral part of the chorus
– in training – in accompaniment. Choral accompaniment is also a special art for pianists and for the chorus to survive, choral accompanists must also flourish. They are not separated.
It is also true that a piano degree is a solid asset in seeking employment at elementary, middle and high schools
where WCC likes to see itself as sending its graduates to teach chorus, The schools
want pianists that can competently accompany – not just that have had a primary
piano class during their 4-year stint.A
voice college that does not provide piano major is not teaching the entire
discipline.The Rider Administration does not get that as they probably just
look at how profitable the piano department is in making this decisions instead of viewing the piano major as an integral part of the whole of WCC.
The piano major curriculum provides students with courses
(Pedagogy, Piano Literature, Accompanying, Keyboard Skills, Ensemble), the skills
to earn a living as a successful musician. WCC piano majors not only
become good accompanists,
they become strong pianists that have a desire to perform and be able to teach
students of all ages and levels. Currently the department has students
that are teaching adult students under the leadership of professors that are
recognized leaders nationally in the field of Piano Pedagogy. That is an asset that Rider is wantonly lopping from the WCC curriculum.
In a letter sent to this writer, a professor of piano at WCC offered this comment:
"Piano majors inspire; they keep the academic, cultural and musical
environment in touch with the great repertoire that must be passed on to
the next generation. Piano majors, through their experiences with the
great repertoire, with learning to project infinite varieties in tone,
articulation, style, acquiring a virtuoso technique, they lead, not only
follow. They help a generation of parents too often lacking in
opportunities for lessons to see and hear their children grow their
facility at the piano, give performances that move audiences, learn to
pass this art on through ways of teaching children and adults privately
and in groups.
We have twice and four times
the number of students in some music programs that have not been cut. We
have a booklet full of piano alumni who hold leadership positions
throughout our country: professors, heads of departments, performers
getting D.M.A.'s, Directors of community music schools, presidents of
state and local music organizations, concert managers not to mention
private teachers with large studios, bringing knowledge of music, music
technology, and skills as well as the pure pleasure of being involve in
making music alone at the piano and with other pianists and other
musicians."
The Beginning of the End of WCC?
In all likelihood, this cut is writing on the wall for
WCC.It shows that Rider has no
commitment to teach the full discipline of voice which includes piano majors – who can competently accompanytop notch choirs.It is a shot across the bow from an
administration that apparently wants to get out of arts and music education all
together and would prefer to gear toward business endeavors.The defense of the piano major at WCC is
equivalent to the defense of the college itself and the defense of the voice
discipline.Ridding of the piano major
begins to move WCC toward second rate and once that disintegration begins the
administration will point to it to further undermine the WCC mission and the
voice discipline.If this goes through –
it will likely lead to a chipping away – at the organists, the conductors, the
theorists . . . it is the beginning of the end of the Westminster Choir
College.It is THAT significant.
Future Recruitment – You Mean They Don’t Even Have a Full
Piano Department and Piano Major?
The administration apparently did the math and they think
the piano major does not add up for them.However in their efforts to recruit the best students, the word will get
out that “WCC Don’t Even Have a Piano Major!”There will be a slipping and sliding in the evaluation process.The university will still try to market
itself and possibly use half truths to get the students in the door – like it
did to those who it is abandoning with this decision.However this will certainly hurt the
reputation of WCC as an esteemed choir college.
How The Cuts Hurt Students
The cuts are announced to immediately impact Freshman and
Sophomores – and it is said that Juniors and Seniors will be able to finish
their degreed program at WCC.1st
and 2nd year piano students now are expected to transfer out of
WCC.That is quite the outrage.In some cases that means that Rider is
refusing to honor 4 year scholarships that it has rewarded.That is a financial deception by the Rider
Administration!
It also is devastating as these students were recruited to a
school with a 4 year program.They no
doubt passed up many opportunities of comparable worth based upon the implied
promise of a degreed piano major program.They were deceived and lied to by the Rider administration which now is
reneging on its promise to these students.They no doubt passed up scholarship opportunities from other schools
*that now are no longer available* - especially as transfers.The slots themselves are likely not available
as well.The recruitment of these
students occurred under false pretenses now that the administration has
unveiled this cut to the Piano degree.
However this is a problem for the Juniors and Seniors as
well in many ways.One of the
attractions of a university especially in the music field is for opportunities
in the graduate department.So as the
major is cut, graduate lines of study in the major are also impacted as
well as career path opportunities within the department in support of the
undergraduate programs.Furthermore the
savaging of the piano staff eliminates the post graduate support the university
is capable of providing to its recent graduates.
Further those that graduate from WCC as piano
majors this year and next, when they go afield professionally, they will be up
against other graduates from conservatories with esteemed intact piano
departments and the question will be in the minds of the interviewers asto
the worthiness of the program that has now been eliminated.Was it in decline?It is an across the board besmirching of the
WCC piano major and a blemish even for the seniors and 3rd year
students.
3rd and 4th year students were also
harmed, along with the first and 2nd year students, in having been
sold a bill of goods by the university in the decision to come to WCC for their
piano major study.They were sold the
full package and nobody in their right mind would select a university program
if they are told by the university – “oh and by the way – we will be
eliminating this offering when you are some part way through your study here so
make sure you make alternate plans as to where to finish up and also do not
count on any graduate opportunities in your field or on any career support post
graduation.”
In effect though that is the predicament that this
administration has now placed these students – it is a classic bait and shift
operation – unworthy for an esteemed music college.
One intention apparently of the administration in announcing
this cut (as well as cuts to several other majors) is to attempt to focus
attention – blame – on the Rider University faculty that fought strong last
year against attempts by administration to force a strike and severely
downgrade the value of a Rider University degree by degrading the faculty. This intention is made clear in the news
reporting on the cuts where the administration references “instructional costs”
as a scapegoat for its ill-advised action.
This action by administration is retaliatory to the faculty
for holding the line last year when the administration tried to strong arm it
to accept changes that would have severely degraded the quality of education at
Rider.The faculty and union united to
save the university from the predatory number crunchers in administration – and
now the administration wants to put the squeeze on.It is also likely leveraging these cuts as a
means to force what will likely be significant tuition hikes in the future and
it wants to mute opposition by creating a climate of fear of even more cuts.
As the faculty representative is quoted:
"Our first take on it was this is not necessary," said Jeff Halpern,
contract administrator and chief grievance officer for the faculty
union. "A major restructuring without any conversations with the faculty
is simply formula for disaster."
"Institutions like Rider really live and die on the relationship between
faculty and students," Halpern said. "I can only say that our faculty
is dispirited, morale is completely destroyed, and I don't see how that
can be a positive thing."
Coincidentally, the student that happened to be one of the most
outspoken in support of faculty, to the point of actually being rewarded by the
faculty union last year at their ratification meeting, happens to be a piano
major, none other than son Robert.Robert organized a meeting on the WCC campus, led a petition of parents
and students in support of faculty, leafleted both campuses calling for
university wide student strike should Rider force faculty to strike, organized
picketing training on the Lawrenceville campus and recorded Which Side Are You
On Rzewski variations, a performance that appeared at the faculty union’s
website for months and helped inspire unity of the faculty.
The targeting of the piano major for
termination by the Rider Administration after it was challenged effectively
last year by a student in that major is coincidental .However, it is clear that administration
wants to drive a wedge between faculty and the students with these cuts – as it
places the blame for its mismanagement on faculty and “instructional costs.”
In any event, WCC students, faculty, parents, and allies at
the Rider Lawrenceville campus need to UNIFY.The Faculty organizations including AAUP need to get behind the efforts
to PUT A STOP TO THIS ADMINISTRATION’S SCAPEGOATING of faculty for its own
mismanagement and TO SAVE THE PIANO MAJOR at WCC.
Suggested actions:
Sign and circulate the petition including going door to door
with a lap top or your phone to in your dorms and faculty conference rooms and
get your colleagues to sign.
Write letters to administration and in the Rider paper and
in other media outlets, blog articles and other communiques in support of the
piano program.
Piano majors, post your performance youtube videos with the
HT #WCCEndangeredSpecies .
Hold meetings on campus and even consider protest actions on
the campuses – at events.Leaflet the
Christmas concert.
Justin Lumumba, of the Justice for the Move 9 Committee (https://www.facebook.com/Justice-For-The-Move-9-1554141098166210/timeline/)
has issued a call for a week of
telephone calls to the Pennsylvania Parole Board to demand the immediate approval
of parole for Eddie Africa, one of the Move 9 who was swept up and arrested
when the Philadelphia Police bombed a city block, killing 11 people including 5
babies and burning numerous homes on August 8, 1978.
More about this history behind this atrocity – massacre – by
then Mayor Goode and the Philadelphia police department can be found at this
link: http://onamove.com/move-9
The Move 9 Committee is very concerned about the unfairness of
the hearing given the conflict of interest of at least 2 of the parole board
members:
Leslie Grey is a former cop with very strong ties to law
enforcement in Pennsylvania as it states on her bio on the website of the Pennsylvania board of probation and parole . This is a complete conflict of interest because
the case of the Move 9 revolves around the alleged murder of a cop . This was
the same women that presided over the parole hearing of Mike Africa a year ago
and was responsible for him receiving a five year hit.
Another conflict revolves around Michael l Green.He was appointed to the Pennsylvania parole
board by then Pennsylvania governor Edwin G Renedell . This is a complete
conflict of interest due to the fact that Ed Rendell was the Philadelphia
district attorney during the trial of the Move 9.It was his office that prosecuted Eddie
Africa and the rest of the Move 9.
Therefore it is of utmost importance for the Parole Board to be
inundated with calls demanding immediate parole for Eddie Africa.Be polite but firm and leave a brief message
as to why Edward Goodman Africa should be paroled.
Please try to stick to the language and issues offered by
the sample letter from the Move 9 site sample letter – reproduced below.
Calls need to be placed to (717) 787-5699
during the week of Oct 5 – 9.
Decarcerate the Garden State calls upon its membership to
make as many calls as possible on behalf of this parole demand.Please RSVP on the event Facebook site (if
you use Facebook) and leave a comment once you make a call about how the call
went:
Sample Letter : Board of Probation and Parole
Attn: Inmate Inquiry
1001 South Front Street, Suite 5300
Harrisburg, PA 17104
September 3, 2015
Regarding October 2015 Parole
Hearing for: Edward Goodman #AM-4974 Dear Honorable Members of the Parole
Board:
As a concerned citizen interested in
helping Mr. Goodman successfully transition into life outside prison, I am
writing to ask that you please grant him parole. He has served now
37 years of a 30-100 year sentence, even though the average sentence for
his charges is 10-15 years. He is still in prison years after his minimum
sentence despite having no major disciplinary problems in the last three decades.
The notice provided to Mr. Goodman for his last parole denial lists the reasons
for the denial as: “Your minimization/denial of the nature and circumstances of
the offense(s) committed,” “Your refusal to accept responsibility for the
offense(s) committed” and “The negative recommendation made by the prosecuting
attorney.”
I understand the severe nature of
the crime of which Mr. Goodman was convicted, however, I am concerned that Mr.
Goodman maintaining his innocence is seen as an attempt to minimize or deny the
nature and circumstances of the offense(s) or refuse to take responsibility,
even while there is evidence that corroborates that the shot was fired from a
location where it is well known he was nowhere near. This phenomenon is
referred to as “the innocent prisoner’s dilemma” implying that it is unfair and
unethical to require someone who may have been wrongly convicted to provide
false admission of guilt or remorse. Please take this dilemma into
consideration.
I also understand that Mr. Goodman
has not been recommended for parole by the institution where he is held despite
having a clear disciplinary record for many years. In fact, the only time
he received a disciplinary infraction in the last fifteen years was for not
cutting his hair. He has completed all of the institutional programs he
was asked to complete and has volunteered for others. Please take into
consideration his good conduct as well as him having housing and employment
secured upon his release. These factors, along with strong family and
community support, make it very unlikely that Mr. Goodman will recidivate and I
firmly believe that he is an excellent candidate for parole. I will
personally help him acclimate in any way I can upon his release.
Mr. Goodman has now spent most of
his life in prison, and the recidivism rate for people released at his age is
very low. Please grant parole and allow him to be a part of, and contribute to,
society as free citizen, a loving father and grandfather.
