WhitmanWire gone Haywire

Witness a cyberbattle, where Whitmanites' mailboxes are the chosen field of combat.

One must commend the collegians for their political activism. Subscribers to Whitmanwire have been inundated with promptings to call NJ state senator Shirely Turner (no, not Tilghman, Turner) in support of the upcoming vote surrounding gay marriage. And we're talking detail--phone numbers, talking points, step-by-step instructions.

The inundation of such instructions, however, caused another Whitmanite entered the fray:


"The long-standing (if three years counts as long-standing) position of Whitman is that Whitman College has no politics. There are many wonderful uses for Whitmanwire, but political advocacy is not one of them. Let's pursue political goals, whatever they may be, actively and passionately, but also in the appropriate forum."

The gay marriage supporters were undeterred, however. Less than one hour after the harrassed pleas crossed cyberspace, the gay marriage supporters responded, with even more detailed instructions, in case the prior ones weren't enough. Just in case fill-in-the-blank was necessary, Whitmanites got it.

Waiting for a counterattack...

The latest response to harangued Whitmanite:

Thank you so much for your concern. To my understanding, Whitmanwire is actually a self regulating network with no specific policy about what is appropriate or inappropriate, including political advocacy. I might be wrong, and if I am, I would love to see that policy in writing.

I can see how you think that Whitmanwire is an inappropriate forum for political advocacy, and we can agree to disagree about that. I believe that a grassroots information sharing network like Whitmanwire is the perfect place for advocacy. We can both agree that putting undo pressure on Whitmanites to vote a certain way would be completely inappropriate, but I think informing people about the best way to get in touch with their senator is a neighborly service akin to sharing stamps and sending flyers for fan club meetings. I won't contact you again through Whitmanwire to give peoples inboxes a break, but I hope to hear back from you.