The Fora: A Higher Education Community

Quote from: jimbogumbo on Today at 12:10:29 PM[. . .]

Never any major shows of police force, because essentially nothing was shut down.

[. . .]

Paralysis followed by incompetent overreaction by the corporate management of Ivy League and Ivy League-adjacent universities reflects the new normal. Well, not really new, since Thorstein Veblen wrote about this over a hundred years ago in The Higher Learning in America and The Theory of the Leisure Class. Tents and building occupations are bad PR that could hurt the bottom line, especially as commencement ceremonies draw near.

Quote from: dismalist on Today at 12:52:02 PM[. . .]

there is [Robert] Conquest's Third Law of Politics: The simplest way to explain the behaviour of any bureaucratic organisation is to assume that it is controlled by a cabal of its enemies. :-)

[. . .]

You've reminded me of Erving Gottman's "total institutions."

Quotethey're being instrumentalized, useful idiots.

Got to internationalize something. If not the Intifada, something else.

Quote from: lightning on April 30, 2024, 01:50:13 PMI've attended two of them. Both were pleasant and entertaining. It certainly was not a waste of time. The first one that I attended was more like a traditional reunion, in that social media had not taken over yet as the primary medium for staying connected with people from high school. I caught up with people that I had not heard from in years. I maintained contact with them via social media. I was not an early adopter of social media, but after the reunion event, I went all in.

The organizers for the second more recent reunion that I attended were brilliant, in that they acknowledged how social had media replaced a lot of what high school reunions were used for, so the reunion event was shorter, much less formal, and a lot cheaper. I even brought SO Lightning. Folks were friendly. Any enmity or anxieties from the old days did not re-surface.

I'll be honest. Returning to a high school reunion as a tenured full professor at a widely recognized university with recognized D1 athletics, was an ego boost, when re-connecting with the "cool" kids and my clique of "smart" kids, both of whom peaked & had their best years of their life in high school . . . . .

There, I said it. Hate me.

Closest I came to a high school reunion was coming across the contact details of my high school girlfriend.  I sent a short message of greeting.  Reply came back to the general effect of "That's nice.  Next time, don't call us, we'll call you."  So much for happy memories of a sadly non-misspent youth.

I am not aware of any high school reunions, but I get an invite to my undergrad class reunion every few years.  I've never been able to go, but I also do what lightning does and humble brag my arse off.  I was NOT a stellar undergrad, but it's a lot of fun to email them using my uni address and sig line, plus links to Research Gate, Google Scholar and LinkedIn along with "sorry I can't make it. I have a flight to Johannesburg that day." 

Anybody who gets a chance to rub it in the faces of the "cool kids" (and I was most assuredly not one) should take it.

There, I said it.  You can hate me too.

The Friends group in Fairfax County [VA] Public Library system is having quite a sale:
https://wtop.com/fairfax-county/2024/05/record-setting-number-of-books-on-sale-to-help-reston-regional-library/
Posted on WTOP Radio 5/1/24

Yesterday morning, two outreach staff from the city public school system did a tabling event out front of our library.

Left for college and grad school, came back, got my job at the library. I did see a few of my high school classmates but they all were in serious relationships. Others I lost track.

I'm sure Facebook has been used for everyone to keep in touch, near and far. I'm not on it so if there's been reunions for my class year, I wouldn't know.

John Kelly, now retired columnist at the "Washington Post," featured upcoming reunions for some of the DC area's big name high schools in his columns. It was amazing how many alumni group years that were going strong!

I don't give a shit about which higher education institutions will survive in the eternal struggle for resources. There are enough that some good ones will surely survive. I see the current fracas on campuses as a failure of governance in some places. Those with good governance will succeed.

But, to not put too dismal an edge on this, there is [Robert] Conquest's Third Law of Politics: The simplest way to explain the behaviour of any bureaucratic organisation is to assume that it is controlled by a cabal of its enemies. :-)

Somebody explains ["duplicative language without appropriate attribution" follows]: What makes this paradox so insightful? I take it to mean that any organisation that survives long enough ends up being run in such a way as to contradict its founding purpose. As an organisation grows and becomes more complex, it ends up acting primarily to ensure its own perpetuation. The purpose for which it was founded becomes secondary to its own survival. In fact, for many in the organisation, possibly the vast majority, its continued survival becomes confused with the purpose it was originally founded to deliver. This can lead to behaviours that seem rational when viewed from the perspective of perpetuating the organisation but look counter-intuitive when considered from the perspective of what the organisation ostensibly exists to do.

This is descriptively good stuff. I'm just predicting that those protesting got the details wrong. To hell with psychologizing -- they're being instrumentalized, useful idiots.

QuoteNothing more amusing than seeing a student whiter than an albino in a snowstorm wearing a kaffiyeh.  Once upon a time, these same students would have said that was cultural appropriation.

That said, the real idiots are the faculty who have chosen to join this and are astonished to find themselves tackled to the ground and led away in zip cuffs.  PhD =/= all that bright it seems.

Quote from: jimbogumbo on Today at 12:10:29 PMI confess that I am more than a bit amazed at these posts.

There has been, imo, a nightmarish response across the nation, encouraged by conservative media and politicians, and abetted by spineless liberals and administrators. There simply was no need at a great many campuses for this series of escalations by institutional forces. None.

As with most things in culture, there is little black and white.  Some of these students are grandstanding and performing irrationally (watch the videos).  Some, I am sure, are truly concerned.  Cops behave in the manner cops tend to do in these scenarios.

As with most things in culture, the truth is somewhere in the middle of the polarities.

I confess that I am more than a bit amazed at these posts. Many of the students protesting are in fact doing so because they think what Israel is doing is wrong. Just as they did in the 1980's to protest what was happening in South Africa. Just as they did in the 1960's to promote civil rights for Blacks.

There is a great deal of peaceful congregating being met with police in riot gear (just because we can?). An example from Indiana University. A small group (fewer than 100) set up tents at Dunn Meadows, a nice green space in the heart of campus. This space has traditionally been a place students throw frisbees, hang out, do what students do. It has ALSO been a space where students meet to protest, most famously in the 1960's, where thousands would be. Never any major shows of police force, because essentially nothing was shut down.


Now? The IU BoT meets on Wednesday evening and passes an emergency resolution that sets a new policy where setting up tents without prior approval is a violation. IU sends in the state police on Thursday and forcibly remove the students, and tear down the tents. Over 60 arrests. Did I mention the snipers? Yes, State Police head Carter has confirmed that over the two days this "action" was undertaken there were in fact police snipers on rooftops. All to combat a protest which featured no violence, no destruction and in fact little (if any) disruption of campus activities.


There has been, imo, a nightmarish response across the nation, encouraged by conservative media and politicians, and abetted by spineless liberals and administrators. There simply was no need at a great many campuses for this series of escalations by institutional forces. None.

Quote from: spork on May 01, 2024, 01:37:57 PMSent to me by a parent of a current Columbia undergrad:

https://twitter.com/elicalebon/status/1785560131100618798?s=49&t=RRIS-Y6CCLizLM83-jthEA

The key sentence, in my opinion, is "You don't see this in lower tier schools from kids of lower socio-economic standing because they aren't plagued with the guilt of privilege that they're seeking to launder through Middle East role plays of feigned suffering."

Nothing more amusing than seeing a student whiter than an albino in a snowstorm wearing a kaffiyeh.  Once upon a time, these same students would have said that was cultural appropriation.

That said, the real idiots are the faculty who have chosen to join this and are astonished to find themselves tackled to the ground and led away in zip cuffs.  PhD =/= all that bright it seems

More on T1, will finish reading for my referee report.

I don't blame the student in my case — after all, I've seen the work in the scaffolding and it's all fine.

My problem is an instructor in a first-year class who
a) has an assignment so bland that mine could be plugged in and still make an A (this was an intro to research class and apparently the instructor didn't care how the research came about)
b) assumed my policy was his policy, even if that policy runs counter to that of atuswbt handbook, college academic misconduct rules, and (I've come to learn) the policies of the first-year writing dept