The Fora: A Higher Education Community

Good morning!

Genius with two pangrams, three words to go. Yesterday I needed SBB for bonito and boink, my last word.

Congratulations, ab_grp, on your successes yesterday! QBABM and a 2fer on your first try. That is a red letter day!

I, however, did not see subjunctive,and so did not get a 2fer yesterday. Sigh... No 2fer yet today, either.

Happy puzzling!

Quote from: Wahoo Redux on Today at 07:54:34 AMThe Atlantic: Abolish DEI Statements

Here it gets at the problem with "activism" in the context of DEI:

QuoteIn Kennedy's case against DEI statements, he provides an example: a job opening for an assistant professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, where applicants are required to submit a statement of teaching philosophy that includes "a description of their 'orientation toward diversity, equity, and inclusion practices.'"

Notice what is implied: that there is a set of known DEI practices professors can deploy to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion, if they possess the desire to do so. In reality, however, there are robust scholarly debates about how best to advance or even define diversity, equity, and inclusion, let alone a bundle of all three values. One cannot reliably distinguish among applicants by their "orientation to DEI practices" without advantaging one side in such debates, infringing on academic freedom and contributing to an ideological monoculture.

Quote from: EdnaMode on Today at 07:41:51 AM

Quote from: apl68 on Today at 07:20:39 AMI've seen video of an engineer who signed off on a fatally-flawed project that ultimately caused a number of fatalities issue a mea culpa in an interview.  He accepted that the buck stopped with him.  It must have been one of the hardest things he ever had to do.

We talk about things like that with our students a lot. One colleague, when covering ethics, shows videos of the man who signed off on the KC Hyatt Regency Skywalk, someone who messed up on a bridge, and a couple others I can't remember. I tell my students that often the BIG mistakes, someone will usually catch, it's the little ones, changing a fastener, incorrect rounding when calculating a load, etc., that cost a lot of money to fix and/or potentially kill people. Sometimes I think they all believe that it couldn't happen to them, that when they have a real job, they'll pay more attention than what they do in class.

I think the Hyatt Regency disaster was the one I had in mind.  I saw a documentary about that quite recently.  Yes, that seemed like such a small modification, and yet proved so catastrophic.  Even a lay observer can see--certainly in hindsight--that that was a bad idea.  And yet somehow somebody had a lapse and didn't think it through, and nobody else caught it.

I can see why the retired engineer who used to be my main boss on the library's Board of Trustees was so obsessive about keeping an eye on every detail.  Whenever I have cause to go through the old records and specs on our building's construction around the turn of the century, the amount of detail involved is mind-boggling.  And this is just a relatively small single-story structure, built on a slab on level ground, with no architecturally radical or daring features.

I hope that budding engineers not only have to go through high-standards courses to graduate, but are also still subjected to rigorous on-the-job, real-world apprenticeship work before they can advance far enough to do any damage.  My father wanted to be an engineer, but was called to preach and studied for the ministry instead.  He continued to support the family as a mason.  When I worked for him in the summers, he was very insistent on paying attention and doing a proper job in every aspect of the work.  That was an education in itself that carried over into my college career and my work today.

Today, I've got a letter for a colleague to update/write, and marking to do.

Edit: eep, remembered I have to defend a new course for the department before the faculty senate committee. Sigh. So much for getting stuff done.

Quote from: Parasaurolophus on April 18, 2024, 08:32:51 AMGrading and T1.

Some, but not enough.

I feel kind of guilty that my first thought, on seeing a reference to "university spokesman Ira Thor," was to wonder whether he had a sister named Ima.

Quote from: selecter on April 18, 2024, 03:22:05 PMNew Jersey City College pretty much toast. Outstanding debt of 244M, operating deficit of 6M (down from 20 after 33% of academics slashed), and 50M in overdue deferred maintenance.

And they want a partner. Ummm. No.

https://www.nj.com/hudson/2024/04/financially-distressed-njcu-needs-a-partner-but-which-university-can-afford-to-take-on-the-school.html

Apparently they made a huge mistake a few years ago of taking on two branch campuses--trying to expand just as their enrollment was set to shrink due to demographics.  Wonder why that seemed like a good idea at the time?

No, you're definitely not going to see another university offering a tow to a sinking ship unless the state promises to pay them for undertaking the salvage operation.  Maybe the state will see fit to keep part of the campus open as a glorified junior college or vo-tech school.  They already took the standard step of eliminating nearly all of their arts and humanities programs last year, and even quite a bit of STEM.

Quote from: apl68 on Today at 07:20:39 AMI've seen video of an engineer who signed off on a fatally-flawed project that ultimately caused a number of fatalities issue a mea culpa in an interview.  He accepted that the buck stopped with him.  It must have been one of the hardest things he ever had to do.

We talk about things like that with our students a lot. One colleague, when covering ethics, shows videos of the man who signed off on the KC Hyatt Regency Skywalk, someone who messed up on a bridge, and a couple others I can't remember. I tell my students that often the BIG mistakes, someone will usually catch, it's the little ones, changing a fastener, incorrect rounding when calculating a load, etc., that cost a lot of money to fix and/or potentially kill people. Sometimes I think they all believe that it couldn't happen to them, that when they have a real job, they'll pay more attention than what they do in class.

Quote from: apl68 on Today at 07:16:25 AM

Quote from: ciao_yall on Today at 06:17:22 AM

Quote from: poiuy on April 18, 2024, 06:39:32 PMI don't often post on these fora. I don't know if anyone here even registers when I post. Maybe I am speaking to the void. But the impulse is here. 
My father left us in January 2022.  My mother, in March 2024. They were both very good, cool, people who gave us everything.
It was a rough ride the last few years with each of their health issues, and being a transnational family, though we were so incredibly fortunate that one sibling lived right there.
It's odd how heavy the absence is, of the person, of the routines, of all the vast space in heart and mind.
I think of the parable of the mustard seed and soldier on. I hope their energy is zinging around the universe in ultimate bliss.

May their memories be a blessing.

It's a great blessing to be able to look back at two good, loving parents.

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