Re: My LP Formulation of the TSP: Conclusions

In article <f53o03h9vosr4sbls3ag9qbpmq79i9jemi@xxxxxxx>,
A.L. <fela@xxxxxxxx> wrote:
As I have already said on similar occasion, I don't want my kids to
study in a school where professors demonstrate the standards of
discussion and behavior as presented here. If the language and
discussion syle used is used when responding to other professionals,
I can only imagine what language would be used when addressing
students.

I believe that I will let the UConn administration know why I will
choose other university

Let me offer some comments, based on my experience with academia in the
U.S., that may be helpful to you should you decide to lodge a formal
complaint.

I understand the issues you have with the "language," "discussion style,"
and "behavior." I'll warn you, however, that if you direct any such
complaints to university administrators or even faculty, they will fall on
deaf ears. If a professor publicly insults another professional and behaves
in a stubborn, abrasive, and unreasonable manner, it may be disturbing, but
it is certainly not cause for any corrective action on the part of the
university, and your complaint probably won't even get you a pleasantly
worded reply from them.

For a UConn professor to behave badly to a UConn *student* would be
another matter, but it doesn't sound like you have any evidence of that;
you're just extrapolating in your mind.

The two avenues that are more likely to get a reaction are (1) a charge
of incompetence, and (2) a charge of academic dishonesty. While it's
clear to anyone who has been following this discussion that Diaby
is technically incompetent, this will not be immediately clear to an
administrator with no technical background. So a direct complaint to
the university is not likely to get you anywhere. A more effective
approach would be to use the press. If you can get the right kind of
article published in the campus newsletter, drawing attention to the fact
that they have a mathematical crank of the first order on their faculty,
it could cause enough embarrassment that the students and faculty could
get involved. But again, the focus would have to be on the fact that he
is a *mathematical crank*, in the sense of Underwood Dudley's excellent
book on the subject.

A charge of academic dishonesty would certainly get the attention of
university administrators. In this case, however, all Diaby has to
do is to include in his paper the acknowledgment that I suggested,
so there's not much mileage to be had there.
--
Tim Chow tchow-at-alum-dot-mit-dot-edu
The range of our projectiles---even ... the artillery---however great, will
never exceed four of those miles of which as many thousand separate us from
the center of the earth. ---Galileo, Dialogues Concerning Two New Sciences
.

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