In my response to the "A Better Deal" letter from Ken King to LSTSRV-L
I made some statements about EDUCOM which were just not true.  Since I think
EDUCOM has a pretty positive reputation I really wanted to clarify those and
asked Robert Heterick, President of EDUCOM, if I could post his note to the
list.
 
   While "clarifications" on lists are sometimes not as helpful as
they might be and I hate to further divert LSTSRV-L from its purpose,
in this case I really feel I should post most of his response so you
understand that EDUCOM is not involved in the CREN operations.
 
   I'm sorry about the misinformation about EDUCOM in my previous note.
 
          Marty Hoag
 
...
 
Mr. Hoag:
 
Your recent posting to LSTSRRV-L contains a number of misperceptions about
the EDUCOM-CREN relationship that probably should be corrected--hence this
note.
 
You may, or may not, know that Ken King resigned as President of EDUCOM
about 18 months ago.  About 12 months ago he accepted the position of
Executive Director of CREN.  EDUCOM and CREN are two separate corporations.
 For a number of years EDUCOM provided Bitnet services for CREN under
contract.  Since CREN hired an executive director the relationship between
CREN and EDUCOM has been quite different with EDUCOM providing "courtesy"
appointments for CREN staff members for purposes of health benefits and the
like.  In fact, effective this June 30, CREN will not even have this
connection with EDUCOM as they establish their own payroll, benefits
package, etc.  There will be no contractual relationship between CREN and
EDUCOM for provision of Binet services beyond June 30 of this year.
 
The actions of CREN that you comment upon in your note are not actions of
EDUCOM.  EDUCOM was not consulted regarding CREN activities, has not been
consulted for over a year, and given the relationship between EDUCOM and
CREN, there is no reason that CREN should have consulted with EDUCOM.
EDUCOM does not have a seat on the CREN Board and in no way guides or
directs the activities of CREN.
 
Without passing judgement on the actions of CREN regarding this or any
other matter during the past year, I would have to observe that they are
the actions of CREN--not of EDUCOM.
 
The accusations (that seems the appropriate word) in your note regarding
EDUCOM are totally unfounded and the result of a lack of understanding of
the relationship between CREN and EDUCOM.
...