Dr. Dale Sullivan Persists

Subject: Dr. Dale Sullivan Persists
From: Paul Trummel <trummel -at- U -dot- WASHINGTON -dot- EDU>
Date: Thu, 10 Mar 1994 16:22:13 -0800

This post replies to one from Dr. Dale Sullivan.


CONTRA CABAL 4(7): Dr. Dale Sullivan Persists
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

What's in a name? That which we call a state college
By any other name would smell sweeter.
(Apologies to William Shakespeare)

Apparently, Dale Sullivan has missed many of the points made in
CONTRA CABAL 4(6) "A Reply to Dr. Dale Sullivan" and continues to
deny his own reality. Furthermore, his confused rhetoric now
supports the claims made in that edition. To avoid reiteration,
the editor has devoted this edition to answering the new messages
that Sullivan has sent both to him and to techwr-l.

Dialogue (S = Sullivan. T = Trummel).

On Veracity

T. Any statements made by me result from meticulous
documentation and a prodigious memory. They stand
verification by third parties.

S. I teach at the University of Nebraska at Kearney. Three
years ago it was called Kearney State College. He insists
that everything he says is documented; if he is wrong on the
basic facts, he is probably wrong on other things.

T. The documentation that I used follows:

Internet Name Service
Kearney State College, Nebraska
unk.edu domain
Record last updated on 18 Nov 92

Sullivan needs to research and document his own statements
prior to publication. He should use a precise signature to
persuade readers that he deserves veneration as a university
professor rather than insignificance as a state college
professor.

S. Paul is wrong when he says I am a minister. I have long been
active in churches but I am not a pastor and have never been
ordained.

T. I did not designate Sullivan an "ordained" minister. During
his stay at RPI he represented himself as a minister or
preacher and declared his interest in homiletics as a reason
for studying epideictic rhetoric. It seems his level of
holiness fluctuates to suit any given circumstance.

S. Paul is wrong when he says I had an office for two years. I
had a desk for one semester. I did my work at home.

T. Sullivan had extraordinary privileges as a research
assistant in the writing center and had full use of a
private office when he needed it.

On the Vow of Silence

S. Many in the RPI community advise that the best thing to do
is to remain silent. I had no intentions of responding to
him openly until he made my private post public.

T. Sullivan confirms the existence of, and endorses, the
conspiracy of silence that the LL&C/RPI Cabal uses to cover-
up malfeasance. I have previously described this condition
as stonewalling. Serpico's exposure of corruption some years
ago described the conspiracy of silence within the New York
City police department. His exposition pales in comparison
with the corruption and silence that exists at RPI.
Furthermore, Sullivan proclaims himself a professor of
rhetoric but does not understand journalistic procedure. He
cannot understand that when he writes to the editor of a
column, or posts to a public list, he renounces any right to
privacy, except by special arrangement. Incidentally, as a
journalist for over 36 years, I have always protected my
sources. I have also retained my prerogative to publish
whatever I wish, if it contains the truth. However, in my
personal experience, the Rensselaer Cabal disallows any
journalistic or academic freedom.

On Technical Communication

S. S. Michael Halloran is a respected scholar in rhetorical
theory, who has published widely in both speech-
communication and English Journals. Merrill Whitburn is an
extremely kind-hearted, deeply read, and thoughtful scholar.
Dave Carson has worked in the field of technical writing for
several decades and has been the Editor of JTWC for longer
than I have been involved in teaching.

T. Sullivan jests: he must have resorted to satire. If he has
not, then he needs to make a choice. He must either admit
that he exists in a state of total denial of his reality or
admit that he has become an inveterate liar. Either
dysfunction requires his immediate attention. Anyone who
really knows these three charlatans will find Sullivan's
statements hilarious.
I must again remind readers that I have criticized the
farcical technical and graphic communication program at
LL&C/RPI, not the classical rhetoric program. Sullivan
continues to try to establish the validity of the technical
communication program using criteria obtained from his
experience in the rhetoric program. Neither Halloran nor
Whitburn have professional or academic experience in
technical and graphic communication and neither has
published any valid research within that discipline.
Moreover, they have published virtually nothing in any
discipline. The publication of Whitburn's summation of the
rhetorical theory course (CONTRA CABAL 4(3)) represents his
sole contribution to scholarship in more than ten years.
This ludicrous, verbatim transcript proves that he knows
very little about rhetoric let alone technical
communication. In contrast, I have lost count of the number
of items that I have published over the years.
Carson assumed the position as editor of the Journal of
Technical Writing and Communication (JTWC), not on merit or
scholarship. His appointment resulted from a political favor
by Jay Gould whose reputation equals the reputation of his
namesake. Carson gains political allegiance by blackmailing
those who need to publish or perish. I have personally
experienced his blackmailing tactics. For example, he
blackballed me, a non-traditional doctoral student with many
years of professional experience, from making JTWC
submissions and from entering Society of Technical
Communication (STC) competitions. I refused to submit to his
blackmail after he insisted that I provide free consulting
services to clients from whom he received remuneration. He
has published nothing since his PhD dissertation on Ralph
Ellison in 1974. He has no professional experience in
technical communication and has imbibed his way through both
military and academic careers. Carson finances his
addictions by using his privileged position to control
graduate student labor that he then converts to his
financial advantage. The department chair, Whitburn,
sanctions Carson's behavior because he owes him a political
debt for his own introduction to RPI and the position that
he now holds without merit. A reliable source has also
alleged that Whitburn and Halloran have covered up both
attempted murder and attempted suicide that resulted from
Carson's abusive behavior toward students. I shall soon
publish an article that fully exposes the details of
Carson's sojourn at RPI. This will describe his violent
disposition and his resort to forgery in the cover-up his
corrupt activities.
Sullivan's sycophancy and opportunism have resulted in
many special privileges, a two-year residency, and an easy
ride to a doctoral degree. Other candidates had to complete
a three-year residency or longer. So much for his professed
Christian way of life. However, he does not exist in a
vacuum: several others have received similar privileges by
pandering to the drunkard Halloran and his policy of ethnic
and cultural cleansing.
I feel grateful for the support and empathic friendship
of several PhD candidates and professors, both men and
women, whom I encountered at RPI. In contrast to Sullivan,
"who passed by on the other side," they witnessed the
treatment meted to me and experienced similar treatment
themselves. They suffered delays in the start of their own
careers, or had established careers destroyed, through the
megalomaniacal and abusive behavior of Whitburn and others.
They also suffered from the deliberate hold-over of PhD
candidates that increases the labor force and reduces the
faculty work load. However, during conversation, I have
discovered that these victims of LL&C abuse have positively
impacted the lives of their students and employees because
of their ethical and moral stance. They have not perpetuated
the dysfunction that they themselves experienced. Perhaps,
one day, these alumni will become secure enough in
themselves, and in their professional or academic
employment, so that they, too, will speak out. "If vicious
people are united and form a power, honest men must do the
same." (Leo Tolstoy in "War and Peace").

The revelations in CONTRA CABAL 4(6), and Sullivan's disavow of
the silence that he pledged to his mentors, have precipitated a
flood of messages. Some of these correspondents, who previously
resorted to political correctness and invective, have now
resorted to intelligent inquiry. They have especially requested
particulars of the abnormal conditions extant in LL&C/RPI. They
have also requested information on the recalcitrant professors in
the Technical Communication Program, Department of Language,
Literature, and Communication, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute,
Troy, New York. CONTRA CABAL has published a great deal of
information on these issues and will continue to do so in the
future.

****************************************************************

To obtain the full text of both CONTRA CABAL 4(6), that contains
the article "A Reply to Dr. Dale Sullivan," and the Sullivan
letters:

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To obtain a transcript of Whitburn's fecal effluence in his
summation to the rhetorical theory course:

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