My opinion on the TUAA issue

Arrgh! My response wouldn't post properly on the message board, so I'm pasting it here instead.

---

Hi everyone,

I don't believe joining the TUAA is an appropriate step for us to take -- at least not right now. There is no doubt in my mind that joining would result, sooner or later, in a compromise of our autonomy. I am also one of the many people who, as Doug mentioned, pledged not to give the TUAA any money because of what happened with Liz' award. I still find that pledge compelling, and I'm a little upset that a lot of our members seem ready to go back on their words, not to mention break solidarity with Liz. (Liz, if you're upset by that notion -- and I wouldn't blame you for a second -- you've handled it very gracefully.) The TUAA showed us their moral and political fiber in that moment. Because of that, I can't believe that they would fundamentally act in our best interests. I still believe, as Gary also notes, that their actions and mentality are fundamentally guided by corporate interests that are directly at odds with many progressive aims.

But to be honest, these are all secondary reasons for me. The main reason I don't think TPAN should join the TUAA is because I don't believe that's where our priorities lie right now, and I don't think it's where we should be putting our work and our energy. While good financial management and stability are necessary for any organization to grow, I haven't seen evidence to believe TPAN is at that phase yet.

Right now the core group of TUAA membership is comprised of students who were also part of the same social circles on campus in the early and mid-00s. I don't think it's any coincidence that we have a really strong social and networking component already in place. For a lot of us, TPAN only exists online, and I think we've yet to reckon with what that realistically means for our growth and development as a group.

I also think that expanding the group is a huge concern -- it'll help us with longevity, stability, diversity of opinion, finances, and a million other things I can't think of. I think that Eva's outreach work and the senior award are fantastic initiatives in this direction. I think that eventually we will need to start roping in the people that Doug lovingly calls the "geezers," and that will definitely require a leg-up through TUAA. (We simply don't have the resources at our disposal to contact/sift through the older classes.) But I see another hurdle that we'll have to reckon with before I think we can reach that point.

Because so many of us know each other from TSAD, Coalition, TFA, TTLGBC, dorms, Crafts House, Radix, etc., etc., there's a social hierarchy in place that is instantly going to make newer members (young OR old) feel "less-than" -- especially on the internet, where you can't draw the shy kid in the corner into the discussion circle. I think it's absolutely crucial that we get some new blood into positions of power and encourage some of the less-heard-from voices to speak up in group discussions. I say this because several months ago I made a lot of posts on the e-mail lists and eventually it distilled down to Lou and me talking. When we asked for others to join back in the conversation, you could hear the crickets chirping. It took me a while to realize that what had happened was the online equivalent of me silencing others by not shutting up. Lou and I had been chatting like the old friends we are, which is always fun as hell, but it might not have been the right time/place. Expanding TPAN means relinquishing that social hierarchy, through both the changes I mentioned above and possibly even through the creation of a "TPAN-Social" listserv specifically for peanut gallery peanuts like me. I think once we've become successful at incorporating new graduates into the fold, and we've begun growing at a good steady rate (and I mean growing in terms of member participation as well as size), *then* we can reach out in the other direction to the geezers and moneybags.

The final reason why I think we're not at the TUAA phase yet is because I haven't seen or heard of any major TPAN initiatives that would require the financial clout of the TUAA. Gary suggests scholarships for disadvantaged students, helping students get to progressive internships, and defraying costs of TPAN meetings. I concur with Doug -- these are all fantastic things. They are all within reach. But I believe that it's nearsighted of us to potentially sign away some of our freedom for the hope that we *might* pursue these projects once we have TUAA's financial stability. If people are really stoked about a project that needs sreious money, then I would prefer to see the interested TPAN members create a subcommittee, assess the steps to making the given project a reality, report back for consensus to move forward, and then get as far as they possibly can before saying, "ok, this is the point where we need TUAA-sized resources to move forward." I would prefer if we could have several such initiatives going at the same time -- then there'd really be a case for needing the financial stability. Until then, joining TUAA in order to enable projects that we haven't even started yet seems like putting the cart before the horse. Our current activities are doing fine for our size and our level of organization.

As a side note, what Doug says about donations and tax write-offs is absolutely true. Unless you itemize -- and if you're not sure if you do, you don't -- then tax write-offs are largely unattainable for average joes like us. You have to donate thousands to qualify for a write-off. My car broke down this past year, and I figured I would donate it to one of those charities you see on billboards -- the ones who come and tow your car away and refurb it for poor families. Turns out that the tax write-off is only something like 1/2 or 1/4 of the book value of the car, which wouldn't have even put a dent in the amount of contributions I would need for a write-off. My point is that the prospect of tax write-offs is absolutely a nonfactor for people making recent-grad incomes, and unless someone here is connected to a George Soros-like progressive sugar daddy who's just dying to fund us, tax-deductible donations should be a nonfactor in our decision.

I'm not arguing -- nor has anyone so far -- that the prospect of joining TUAA is 100% bad. I think that at some point in the mid-range future we will need TUAA or an organization like it to manage our money so we can focus on what we do best. But for an organization that's not in dire need of TUAA's services, I think we have more to lose than to gain right now by joining. And theoretically, we can join at any time. I think we'll know when it's time.

-Dan