You Didn't Hear This From Me

"I heard it in the night Words the thoughtless speak (Like vultures swooping down below) On the Devil's Radio."

People in the engineering department are squabbling over office space.
The exchange professor from Bangla Desh is getting deported because he propositioned his students for sex.
Dr. Noah Boddy got a tattoo of President Killpatrick's face -- on his buttocks!

Some gossip is silly, but all of it is malevolent. It might seem well-intentioned to tell a few friends that Dr. No hates Dr. Yes, but then someone will say that Dr. Yes has a grudge against Dr. No -- and when word gets back to them, they both feel betrayed. Now they really do dislike one another, and it's your fault.

It is a nice thing to console a friend during a crisis, but it is not nice to stir up the whole department about it. Sometimes I wish that my own lips had come pre-buttoned from the lip factory!

I'm not sure about all of you, but I like everyone I work with -- even though we disagree sometimes. But if one of you sees one such disagreement and tells someone else, "Oh, Pascal really doesn't like Aloysius," then if that person or someone further down the gossip chain tells Aloysius, "Pascal is trying to get your tenure revoked," all that accomplishes is to place a fine friendship in a proverbial pickle.

These seeds of distrust are sown every day. No one wants to walk around campus feeling like everyone is whispering about their personal (and personnel) matters, but this is what we are doing to one another. This is the atmosphere of discontent that we are creating for one another,
and if we bite at and gnaw on one another, we need to beware or we will consume one another.

If we must talk about one another to others, let it be like this:
"I just heard that Richard is getting an award."
"Everyone says that Gretchen is a great friend."
"Bret really cares about student learning."
"Mike has done some really good things as a leader."
Aren't there at least a few stories that are truly worth telling? I believe there are. I think we have done some very good things in secret that could be told in public. Instead of telling stories that offend and harm, let's sell stories that construct and heal. What a fine place this would be if we all found nice things to say about one another.