Dear Cindy and All,
Yesterday, Cindy Kohtala sent a post to the PhD-Design list. Cindy quoted the post I sent with the article from Karen Stohr. While she did not name me, it is clear that she quoted me, and her words implied that I had personally bullied Luiza Prado into leaving the list. This has had consequences on the list and elsewhere. Following the post, several people have come to believe I attacked Luiza on the PhD-Design List, including Luiza herself. I did not mention Luiza. Cindy did, followed by another post referring to Cindy's post.
Luiza herself has apparently come to believe that I attacked her here, even though I did not mention her. Luiza has taken public action to condemn me and to condemn the list, as well as to condemn people who did not write about her at all. This takes the form of a series of Tweets on her Twitter account:
https://twitter.com/luizaprado/status/824917216516784128 <https://twitter.com/luizaprado/status/824917216516784128>
She starts with the claim “in the past days i've been the subject of vicious & unprovoked attacks by older, white academic men far more powerful & influential than me+”
Now I did not mention Luiza at all in the past few days — Cindy Kohtala did. But I have never attacked Luiza Prado, ever. This misrepresentation came when Luiza posted to the list that I suggested she leave the list. The only time I ever wrote Luiza was to suggest that she might want to do exactly what she did by creating an additional site. I specifically told her to stay on the list and to think of creating another project as well. When Luiza posted the accusation, I felt shamed and humiliated to be accused of such a thing. I wanted to clear my reputation of that false charge, so I asked her to find and post the letter in which I supposedly suggested that she leave the list. She did not, so I posted it. Asking that Luiza document her claim is not bullying — I asked for a correction.
Luiza Prado has now launched a Twitter campaign encouraging her followers to take action against the list. She has encouraged people to leave the list. This may account for some who have left the list. But whenever this kind of thing circulates, it creates a visible target for trolls and vigilantes. This list has been made a target, and I am also a target.
Luiza’s Tweet states that I will “block & hurt [her] & those who stand with [her]” and “make [their] lives very, very difficult.” This is not so … I exercise no control over Luiza’s life. She does not work for me. She does not work at my university. She is not my doctoral student. No one has ever asked me about Luiza and I doubt that anyone will. The only reason for anyone to ask for my opinion about Luiza would be if she were to place me on her CV as a reference. She is not likely to do so. After the bruising interactions I’ve had with her, I would disqualify myself from giving an opinion about her in the event that anyone were to ask me in a professional context. If anyone were to ask my private views, I would tell the truth: I don’t know Luiza Prado. I've never met her. She posted an inaccurate claim about me on the PhD-Design list, and I requested a correction.
While I don’t want to offend Cindy Kohtala, I want to raise these issues and dismiss the notion that I ever bullied Luiza. I am sad and upset about all of this.
The notion that I am sexist, misogynist, racist, or colonialist is simply untrue.
Anyone on this list or elsewhere can measure my life against a public record of deeds, the record of what I have done in the world in half a century of public life as an artist, designer, researcher, and professor. With respect to these accusations of sexism, misogyny, racism, or colonialism, it is specifically possible to measure me by what I did when I was responsible for a faculty of design and had duty of care for the people who worked there.
When I became a dean in 2008, there were no female staff members in my faculty above the rank of senior lecturer (assistant professor). I stepped down five years later in 2012. At that time, we had women at all levels up to and including full professor.
When I arrived, every single member of the permanent staff was of white European descent. When I stepped down, we had people from every inhabited continent and every major racial group.
I did this by insisting that only one thing counted in placing people on the short list for hiring or promotion. This was documented accomplishment. This meant considering the experience, credentials, and research publications of each individual person and nothing else. I insisted to every committee that we reject no one by claiming that they “wouldn’t fit in.” I insisted that we never refuse to consider an excellent candidate by saying that he or she was overqualified. I refused to accept the argument that highly qualified applicants might come for a few years and then leave.
This was a long, difficult process. More than once, I paid a price for my position on these issues.
Anyone who does not believe me can ask the women or the people of color who worked with me.
As a young man, I was proud to know and work with a generation of older feminists who themselves had known and worked with still-living pioneers from the circle around Susan B Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton.
After a life of deeds giving substance to my words, I am hurt and angry to be accused of sexism, misogyny, racism, and colonialism.
Ken
Ken Friedman, PhD, DSc (hc), FDRS | Editor-in-Chief | 设计 She Ji. The Journal of Design, Economics, and Innovation | Published by Tongji University in Cooperation with Elsevier | URL: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/she-ji-the-journal-of-design-economics-and-innovation/ <http://www.journals.elsevier.com/she-ji-the-journal-of-design-economics-and-innovation/>
Chair Professor of Design Innovation Studies | College of Design and Innovation | Tongji University | Shanghai, China ||| University Distinguished Professor | Centre for Design Innovation | Swinburne University of Technology | Melbourne, Australia
Email [log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]> | Academia http://swinburne.academia.edu/KenFriedman <http://swinburne.academia.edu/KenFriedman> | D&I http://tjdi.tongji.edu.cn <http://tjdi.tongji.edu.cn/>
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