The Fora: A Higher Education Community

It isn't clear if the majority of the students at Columbia or their parents who are paying their tuition support the protests. Parents who aren't very affluent probably spent years saving up for their children's education, only to find that courses have been moved online, and there's minimal learning. The faculty, according to one of the professors have been asked to modify final exams:

QuoteAfter students occupied the university's storied Hamilton Hall — and police officers in riot gear conducted over 100 arrests — the administration closed the campus, moved all classes online and recommended that we professors either trim or eliminate final examinations in our classes.

Outsiders seem to have taken it upon themselves to join the protests, despite the campus, a private institution, having closed the campus to facutly, students, and other employees. There are bound to be complaints from parents as well as requests that Columbia return this semester's tuition.

The only accomplishments of these protests so far have been the disruption of the costly education of their fellow students and vandalism. The war continues unabated. Protesting in front of the NY state senator's office, the Israeli embassy, and the United Nations would have been far more effective.

Afternoon!

Pangram and above genius. Last words were calla and lilac.

ab_grp, hope the cardiologist appointment was just routine, and you had a good Facetime visit with youngest and partner.

Happy solving!

Quote from: poiuy on Today at 08:26:11 AMThere are some good infographics in this article, especially maps showing how land boundaries changed over time:
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/5/18/mapping-israeli-occupation-gaza-palestine

You could curate specific information for your class from that article. I was teaching a class on migration last Fall when the Hamas attack happened so I found information from that link very useful for my students.

I teach at a regional public where students are often not well prepared, mostly uninformed, geographic knowledge abysmal, and they have pressing problems related to their day-to-day survival that they understandably prioritize.

Cool. Thanks.

Quote from: dismalist on May 03, 2024, 03:35:51 PMHamas is not Gandhi.

What's a Gandhi?

More T1ing today. I'd like to start writing up that referee report, too.

Quote from: Wahoo Redux on May 03, 2024, 08:57:21 PM

Quote from: Parasaurolophus on May 03, 2024, 05:48:38 PMFor my part, I would be curious to know how many especially among those most vocally dismissive or sneering of these protests--have ever participated in a protest of heir own. Because I see a lot of tarring with broad brushes going on.

Dude, I grew up on the west coast in the '80s. 

I observed my fair share of protests and participated in several.  That's part of the reason I think this style of protest has turned sour.

Nevertheless, I marched against the first Gulf War because at the time it seemed like a very scary prospect.  It did not (yet) lead to World War III, but I think we've seen a whole series of atrocities on all sides in part because of it (no facile answers to what we should have done exist, BTW).

So yeah, I've seen protests. 

And for the record, I think one can be anti-occupation and anti-occupied Palestine without being antisemitic.  Israel has things to answer for and America should stop supporting her until she becomes a humane state.  Oh, and Hamas is a terrorist organization.

However, we have been marching, screaming, occupying, and fighting police for close to a hundred years if you count the Bonus Army of 1932.  MLK prevailed because of his maturity in the face of oppression.  Now we have kids occupying their very vulnerable college campuses, resisting when given lawful commands by the police, and then crying to the media when they are arrested.  And many people have a specific kneejerk reaction, "The students were peaceful," as if that gives them the right to break the law.

We need a new cultural imagination to meet our challenges.  I don't think the old system is working any more.

FWIW, I didn't have you in mind.

There are some good infographics in this article, especially maps showing how land boundaries changed over time:
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/5/18/mapping-israeli-occupation-gaza-palestine

You could curate specific information for your class from that article. I was teaching a class on migration last Fall when the Hamas attack happened so I found information from that link very useful for my students.

I teach at a regional public where students are often not well prepared, mostly uninformed, geographic knowledge abysmal, and they have pressing problems related to their day-to-day survival that they understandably prioritize.

Quote from: Wahoo Redux on May 03, 2024, 08:57:21 PMAnd for the record, I think one can be anti-occupation and anti-occupied Palestine without being antisemitic.  Israel has things to answer for and America should stop supporting her until she becomes a humane state.  Oh, and Hamas is a terrorist organization.

However, we have been marching, screaming, occupying, and fighting police for close to a hundred years if you count the Bonus Army of 1932.  MLK prevailed because of his maturity in the face of oppression.  Now we have kids occupying their very vulnerable college campuses, resisting when given lawful commands by the police, and then crying to the media when they are arrested.  And many people have a specific kneejerk reaction, "The students were peaceful," as if that gives them the right to break the law.

We need a new cultural imagination to meet our challenges.  I don't think the old system is working any more.

Well said. What I think many young people don't get is that MLK modelled his actions on Gandhi, and both of them saw that their protests were only a pointer to the social change that would inevitably happen in a basically moral society. No protest had to achieve specific, short term results. The impatience of protests now requires that they have concrete, immediate outcomes, so the disruption has to escalate until they win.

"Getting out the message" has been replaced by "getting in peoples' faces until they cave."

The 13-year cicada emergence is upon us!  The 17-year cicadas mostly live farther north, so we don't face the rare double-emergence that has been in the media so much. 

The constant drone keeps vaguely reminding me of science fiction I saw on TV growing up.  Somebody must have used recordings of cicadas as a stock otherworldly sound effect.

Quote from: financeguy on May 03, 2024, 09:43:00 AMI don't have a specific text but I'd try to find some way to ensure those completing the course are aware of the effect Islamic Finance and the unique features of the regional economy may have on trade in general. Many people focus on the religious, geographic and other factors of the region in an intro or survey course while placing little emphasis on the vast economic differences that are in some ways as consequential.   

I leave finance to the people in the business department, where MBAs teach intro econ. Don't want to deprive students of the opportunity to create PowerPoint presentations.