From: SANFORD G THATCHER <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Wed, 12 Dec 2018 12:37:12 -0500

If your question boils down to asking whether faculty or anyone else in a
university ever acts irrationally, well, I once proposed writing a book
titled
"The Irrational University," the introductory chapter of which is summarized
here:

We think of universities as bastions of reason, but in reality they are
riven
by multiple types of irrationality. These arise owing largely to the unique
nature of the university as an institution in our society.  At once highly
bureaucratic and administratively structured as top-down hierarchical
pyramids,
like many private businesses as well as government and the military, they
are
yet—owing particularly to the traditions of academic freedom and faculty
autonomy—better described as a loose collection of units with different and
often conflicting interests, albeit sharing a common mission to promote the
public good through the production, dissemination, and inculcation of
knowledge. Note, in particular, that the voice of the university is seldom
unitary; it is, rather, a Babel of varied voices each representing the
interests of its own position within the university, and often formally
represented in lobbying and other activities through separate professional
associations, like AAU, ARL, both AAUPs ACLS, NCAA, etc. These different
interest groups try to operate in ways that reflect a rational
understanding of
what will be best for their own separate spheres of activity. Yet what
frequently happens is that rationality at the unit level turns out to become
irrational at the level of the university as a whole. This book will
examine in
detail various manifestations of this combination of subsystemic rationality
and systemic irrationality and conclude with a proposal for a way to cut the
various Gordian knows that have bedeviled universities in recent years.

Sandy  Thatcher

On Tue, Dec 11, 2018 04:34 PM LIBLICENSE <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>From: Debbie <[log in to unmask]>
>Date: Tue, 11 Dec 2018 10:47:36 +0000
>
>Hi Sandy,
>
>PSI has collected evidence relating to over 1500 separate intrusions
>originating from Sci-Hub. There is no evidence showing that the credentials
>were donated.
>
>We find it hard to believe that anyone would actually donate their personal
>credentials. Quite apart from the fact that doing so is supporting this
>questionable group in their dubious activities, is the practical issue
>that, once the excessive use resulting from intrusions is identified, the
>credentials are blocked and rendered unusable. What scholar would chose to
>jeopardise their own access?
>
>Kind regards,
>
>Debbie Wilton
>PSI Ltd
>Tel: +44 (0) 1865 849514

[SNIP]