The Fora: A Higher Education Community

Thanks very much for the Cold War recommendation, spork.  Sounds worthwhile, will take a look.  Didn't know this was on Amazon Prime.  Had to do a title search after it didn't appear when skimming numerous relevant movie categories.

As a recent Amazon Prime subscriber, wading through the movie menus is a chore. Not interested in Freevee movies, hate the loud ads.  Any tips for efficiently finding movies aligned with one's interests on this platform?

Peak protest has come and gone. Final exams start soon. In another week, undergrads will have left campus.

Cold War (2018), a multinational European production now available on Amazon Prime. A torturous love story set in the first two decades of the Cold War in Poland, East Berlin, Paris, and Yugoslavia. Shot in black and white. Great cinematography and set design. Really evokes the period.

Quote from: marshwiggle on Today at 05:23:56 AMI have no respect whatsoever for protesters, from any place on the political spectrum, who are just bandwagon-jumpers who are just there so they look good in front of their "friends".

Reinforcing group identity may be the main motivator for joining the protests. It is understandable. Not a good policy technique, but perhaps some will get interested in policy as a result.

Quote from: marshwiggle on Today at 05:28:29 AM

Quote from: Hibush on April 30, 2024, 05:51:13 AM"St. Katherine's was founded in 2010 and offered more than two dozen undergraduate and three graduate programs of study. It enrolled about 300 students." The article indciated that they mainly enrolled students who could not afford to pay tuition, which leads quickly to dire financial straits unless one has a major alternate source of revenue. They also had grandiose plans for a 5000 student institution on a brand new campus in Chula Vista.

Do places like this actually have any long-term financial *plan before they start? Barring a billionaire benefactor agreeing to foot the bill, it's not remotely obvious how this could work in the long term.


*other than winning the lottery

Sometimes a school's bankruptcy is to be celebrated not mourned.

Wells demise is sad because they had a nice mission and campus, but they couldn't even get a thousand takers.

Good morning!

QB, with the pangram as my last word. QB yesterday.

jackpots/swirl--found crackpots first, but couldn't fit the remaining letters into a word.

Happy solving!

Quote from: Hibush on April 30, 2024, 05:51:13 AM"St. Katherine's was founded in 2010 and offered more than two dozen undergraduate and three graduate programs of study. It enrolled about 300 students." The article indciated that they mainly enrolled students who could not afford to pay tuition, which leads quickly to dire financial straits unless one has a major alternate source of revenue. They also had grandiose plans for a 5000 student institution on a brand new campus in Chula Vista.

Do places like this actually have any long-term financial *plan before they start? Barring a billionaire benefactor agreeing to foot the bill, it's not remotely obvious how this could work in the long term.


*other than winning the lottery

Quote from: jimbogumbo on May 01, 2024, 01:21:32 PM

Quote from: marshwiggle on April 29, 2024, 02:19:31 PM

Quote from: jimbogumbo on April 29, 2024, 01:17:28 PMFrom the Ballon Juice blog:

"Are there some bad actors who have said inexcusable things and peddled anti-Semitic tropes? Of course. Are they the majority? No. Not even close."

That's because the majority are too clueless to find Gaza on a map, and are just parroting what the group tells them too, so they don't get left out.

I think you might not know what majority means.

Seriously, I think these students know a great deal about the situation. On the merits of calling for disinvestment, and the idea that is really even possible, not so much.

How many of these students had any knowledge or interest in any of the institution's investments before October 7? How many now could identify, from a list of corporation names, which ones have ties to Israel and are ones in which the institution invests?

I have no respect whatsoever for protesters, from any place on the political spectrum, who are just bandwagon-jumpers who are just there so they look good in front of their "friends".

If there are protesters who have actually lost friends or family members in Gaza, that's an entirely different story. They actually have some knowledge and legitimate grievance.

And outside "protesters" who aren't even from campus? They should be jailed and charged with trespass, break and enter, and anything else on the books. They're the worst of the worst.

Our local news has been reporting about the vandalism and damage to buildings. There have also been credible reports of non-students on campus directing/co-ordinating the vandalism.

QuoteSmashed windows, stacked furniture left after occupation of Hamilton Hall at Columbia University

Students who don't have the luxury of ignoring their studies seem to have been sidelined by the protesters.

Quote'We can't work, we can't think': Columbia University students study for finals following protest, campus lockdown

From the article:"The students are saying we can't work, we can't think, we can't study under these conditions. We've got faculty whose papers they need to grade are locked in their offices right now," said Joseph Howley, a classics professor at Columbia. "It completely upended everything that we do."

Howley joined dozens of other faculty members on Wednesday to protest Columbia President Minouche Shafik's request for the NYPD to arrest students who had barricaded themselves inside the Hamilton Hall school building. The NYPD said police arrested 109 protesters at Columbia on Tuesday. Another 173 pro-Palestinian students at City College were arrested around the same time.

"Students and outside activists breaking Hamilton Hall doors, mistreating our public safety officers and maintenance staff, and damaging property are acts of destruction, not political speech," Shafik wrote in a message to Columbia students and employees on Wednesday.

"It is going to take time to heal, but I know we can do that together. I hope that we can use the weeks ahead to restore calm, allow students to complete their academic work, and honor their achievements at commencement."[/quote]

Quote from: Parasaurolophus on May 01, 2024, 10:04:57 AMToday: Just T1.

Did some, but... I fell asleep while doing it.