Levine: “nobody has been discriminated”

A discussion between The Shrewsbury Lantern editor, Steve Levine and a college student was a trending topic on the community social media last month.

The Shrewsbury Post tried to contact Mr. Levine to get his response and point of view on the issue, but we failed to get it. Anyhow, young resident Katlyn Dupuis provided us a response that she got directly from Steve Levine that he agreed to share with everybody.

Dupuis wrote Levine through Facebook concerned about his supposed prejudice towards young adults in Shrewsbury.

Levine responded with a extensive note, to explaining his view on blocking young users on his Facebook Group and the generated discussions with residents.

In Levine’s view “nobody has been discriminated” in the group and  “adding young adults is not an issue.” Also, he considers that his discussion with Rachel Diebold was for her fault, because she treated him “disrespectfully.”

In the end, he conditioned any apologize if start with the students involved “apologizing for their behavior.”

You can read the entire response of Steve Levine to the Young Residents:

Hi Katie, and thanks for your note.  While you clearly lack the correct information in this case, you handled it in a respectful, private and polite manner, and as such, you’ll receive an answer, written in the same context.

These items are in no particular order, so you can piece them together at your leisure.  You can feel free to share this, with my permission, as long as you do so in it’s entirety.  As it is, several screen shots are floating around of private dialogs, but I’m them, as long as they are complete.

1. Nobody is now, or has even been “discriminated” against.  When the group was created, many years ago, it was always intended to be an adult forum, for the purposes of getting assistance on a wide variety of topics.  Forums exists for students to discuss things as well.  If 100 adults were to try and join the SHS Class of 2015 group, they would not be admitted, because that’s just not what it was set up for.  That said, it is an open group that anyone can read, and there are hundreds of young adults/students in the group as we speak. More are added all the time.  Often, people were “blocked” when they were originally applying as 12 year olds, and now as 20 year olds, they can’t try to “join” without reaching out personally.   When that is done in a respectful way, not one person has EVER been turned down.

2. Adding young adults, students in college, graduate school, etc.., is not an issue, nor has it ever been an issue.  Adding middle school students, 9th and 10th graders, etc., is a different matter, as you might agree.  Adding high school students, is a grey area.  A mature high school student, who asks to be admitted and does so appropriately, has never been turned down.  In fact, I added some just yesterday.  The larger question lies in why they would “want to be” added, in that they can certainly read the group anytime, but if they reach out and ask, it’s usually not an issue.  Keep in mind that I am the parent of THREE 18-25 year olds in Shrewsbury, and have done more to advocate for your group than anyone, during my tenure on the school committee, as a school volunteer, science fair judge, etc.

3. The precipitating cause of the problem was not me, but Rachel, who, in my opinion, treated me disrespectfully in her communication, DEMANDING to be added to a private group that I run, and THEN chastising me over not getting to it fast enough.   In fact, I was trying to figure our how to unblock her, even as she and I were chatting.  That said, you need to be respectful, and I didn’t like being bossed around by a student, and I told her so.  Her next step, should have been to apologize for being disrespectful, in which case I would have added her, but instead, she opted to go in a different direction.  That behavior, not your respectful commentary, is where the issue lies with having students in the group.   We have had issues come up repeatedly, and when they have, we have dealt with it, without “banning an entire subset” of people.

4. I’ve never spoken to Kyle, don’t know him, wouldn’t recognize him if he were standing next to me.  His behavior, however, was problem number 2.  One does not take advantage of the fact that they had been added (evidence that students are in the group), and post private conversations in a public forum, any more so than I would post yours, and no doubt you no better than to post mine, without my permission.

5. Next, we have students over the last 48 hours spamming the group with admission requests, over and over again.  They really have never had in the past a driving desire to be admitted. We get maybe one or two requests like that each month, and now they are flooding the inbox. They can certainly read the group anytime, so one can assume that admitting massive amounts of them during the current tension would not be good for anyone concerned.  Still, several reached out, and were admitted immediately, as you will be, if you ask, because again, so far, you seem to know how to conduct yourself.

6. Next on the list, we have Teddy Quinlivan, chiming in on a completely different topic, flooding the group with profanity, and railing on how Shrewsbury sucks, the school suck, etc., and then continuing that in a host of profane emails to people, which I won’t be sharing.

7. After the initial incidents, a decision was made to just eliminate all the students from the group, however after further consideration, it was decided to NOT do that, but instead to just handle them on a case by case basis.  Obviously, many such as yourself, won’t be an issue.  The ones that are an issue, we will have to deal with.

8. Next up, we have a student creating a phony profile under the name “Jennifer Anniston” creating a new group, and stealing my copyright protected images for it, followed by yet another student posting in our group that if people want to be “in a real group to click here.”  Again, completely inappropriate in all counts, and a violation of Facebook rules. When I spoke to “Jenn” about it, I was told “It’s a Facebook group, not the presidency.”  Nothing like hiding behind fake names to make people brave.

9. In terms of “apologizing,” that sounds like a wonderful idea.  Let’s start with the students involved apologizing for their behavior.  If you can think of the “gross offense” that I have committed, against “all young adults of Shrewsbury,” to whom I owe an apology, please let me know specifically what that offense might be.  I’m certainly not afraid to apologize ever, but I’m just not sure what “offense” I have committed against the “young adults of Shrewsbury.”   When running a private group, I have the right to admit whom I wish, delete people in violation of the guidelines, and set in place any parameters that need to be complied with.  I think that’s a perfectly reasonable thing, and I have no doubt that you would feel the same. It is, after all, a private group. It’s also important to note that this group has existed for close to ten years, without any interest of most of said young adults.  If they’re interested now, great.  Have them reach out.

10. While I appreciate your reaching out respectfully, there are a few things you really need to get straight, before accusing me of any nefarious behavior.  I have no doubt that with all of the data in hand, you might come to a very different conclusion.

11. In summary, If any college students, not high school right now, from Shrewsbury wish to be added, and will agree to conduct themselves in an appropriate manner, you may have then send me a facebook message, and I would be thrilled to add them.  If they don’t behave, however, it’s a reflection on others, so they need to know that from the start.  I think that would be a more than fair compromise, and would recognize the valuable things they may have to contribute.  Would you agree?

Thanks again for reaching out.  It’s definitely appreciated, and I hope you appreciate the courteous and timely response as well.

Wishing you all the best.

Steve