Colleges in Dire Financial Straits

[Volhiker78]

I used to live in that area. All of those schools listed as alternatives to Guilford are within a 30-minute radius.

Ah.  I see Guilford's problem, then.  Voting no confidence in an interim president isn't going to fix the underlying issues of too many seats chasing too few students in the region.

Guilford's leaders were also asleep at the switch for the last thirty to forty years. Guilford never developed a strong brand like Grinnell or Davidson, nor did it expand enrollment to go big like its nearby competitor Elon. It remained a very small college with very limited resources as demand shifted.

Agree. Fifty years ago, Elon and Guilford were probably very similar.  Now Elon recruits up and down the East Coast, is much larger, and considered selective.  At least at my daughter's private school, Elon is considered very attractive and visits every year. No one even knows about Guilford.

[kaysixteen]

Ah yes, Pennsyltucky.  Cattaraugus Co., NY, where I lived for years in grad school, is on its border, and pretty much qualifies as an adjunct to it.   Appalachia really knows no state lines.

[wellfleet]

Appalachia really knows no state lines.

Some of us are even here. (Y'all could be more polite about this, just sayin'.)

[mamselle]

Appalachia really knows no state lines.

Some of us are even here. (Y'all could be more polite about this, just sayin'.)

Agreed.

There are some truly beautiful areas that have literally broken my heart as I drove towards the Ohio River to get to Columbus.

I have friends that work and teach in schools in the area and they wouldn't move for anything.

When I was a kid out of high school, I was a counselor in a camp further north, and after the season was over we did an extra auto camping trip to the area.

I really didn't want to leave to go home.

M.   

[kaysixteen]

I love the mountains.    I am much less impressed with the anti-intellectualism and love of ignorance that many Appalachians demonstrate.   Trump voters predominate there, for instance, and regularly vote exactly against their own interests, for a variety of reasons including those I cite above.   I confess my patience waneth.

[polly_mer]

I love the mountains.    I am much less impressed with the anti-intellectualism and love of ignorance that many Appalachians demonstrate.   Trump voters predominate there, for instance, and regularly vote exactly against their own interests, for a variety of reasons including those I cite above.   I confess my patience waneth.

You haven't visited the right cities if you think only the rural areas have ignorance in large doses or vote against their own interests.

It's also hugely amusing when the book smart people criticize others for voting wrong and otherwise acting against their own interests when their own lives aren't the shining examples of why one should put a lot of effort into getting book smart.

[marshwiggle]

I love the mountains.    I am much less impressed with the anti-intellectualism and love of ignorance that many Appalachians demonstrate.   Trump voters predominate there, for instance, and regularly vote exactly against their own interests, for a variety of reasons including those I cite above.   I confess my patience waneth.

You haven't visited the right cities if you think only the rural areas have ignorance in large doses or vote against their own interests.

Portland, San Fransisco, for instance?

It's also hugely amusing when the book smart people criticize others for voting wrong and otherwise acting against their own interests when their own lives aren't the shining examples of why one should put a lot of effort into getting book smart.

Yeah, I'm really not into nightly riots or people defecating on the streets.

[ciao_yall]

I love the mountains.    I am much less impressed with the anti-intellectualism and love of ignorance that many Appalachians demonstrate.   Trump voters predominate there, for instance, and regularly vote exactly against their own interests, for a variety of reasons including those I cite above.   I confess my patience waneth.

You haven't visited the right cities if you think only the rural areas have ignorance in large doses or vote against their own interests.

Portland, San Fransisco, for instance?

It's also hugely amusing when the book smart people criticize others for voting wrong and otherwise acting against their own interests when their own lives aren't the shining examples of why one should put a lot of effort into getting book smart.

Yeah, I'm really not into nightly riots or people defecating on the streets.

You watch a little too much Fox News.

[marshwiggle]

I love the mountains.    I am much less impressed with the anti-intellectualism and love of ignorance that many Appalachians demonstrate.   Trump voters predominate there, for instance, and regularly vote exactly against their own interests, for a variety of reasons including those I cite above.   I confess my patience waneth.

You haven't visited the right cities if you think only the rural areas have ignorance in large doses or vote against their own interests.

Portland, San Fransisco, for instance?

It's also hugely amusing when the book smart people criticize others for voting wrong and otherwise acting against their own interests when their own lives aren't the shining examples of why one should put a lot of effort into getting book smart.

Yeah, I'm really not into nightly riots or people defecating on the streets.

You watch a little too much Fox News.

I don't actually watch any.

How about Minneapolis?

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/26/us/politics/minneapolis-defund-police.html

Hanging over the debate was a surge in gun violence in Minneapolis this summer, with some community groups in Black neighborhoods worried that urgent needs for change had been crowded out by the big-picture focus on police funding and oversight.

Or is the New York Times too right-wing to be trusted?

[apl68]

Folks, let's please stop slagging on people's home cities/regions and stereotyping them!  We have enough problems in the world without unconstructive practices like that.

[kaysixteen]

One need not be a coastal elitist to point out that people in places like Kentucky have not exactly demonstrated a great deal of discernment with regard to political choices that would actually benefit them, see to the actual improvement of their lives, nor do these folks demonstrate a regard for thinking, reading, intellectual improvement, etc., which is probably why they vote the way that they do.  One need not become rich to greatly benefit from such education.... heck, even a failed administrator from a bankrupt college ought to be able to realize that.

[downer]

You watch a little too much Fox News.

Any FoxNews is too much.

[lightning]

Regarding people who vote against their own interests . . . .

It's not up to anyone to decide what is in anyone's best interests. This is where Democrats fail.

Most of the people in rural Appalachia who voted for Trump know deep in their heart that no one, no president, no party, no policy, can ever elevate their financial situation and quality of life. They have no hope and have not had hope for a very long time. They've been repeatedly kicked in the groin for too long.

The most they can hope for is for someone that can bring down (in their minds) everyone else, down to their level of wretchedness. This is where Trump comes in. All he has to do is speak and "Own the libs." That's all that most of the folk from Appalachia want in a politician--they want someone to go into the fun summer party where only the cool people were invited, and take a big poop in the swimming pool.

It's pathetic, but voting for Trump, even against one's own financial and quality-of-life interests, confers a sense of agency that otherwise cannot be had--even if it means strip-mining their neighborhoods, and/or poisoning their air & water, and/or dismantling their health care. At the very least, they think that they are poisoning the well for everyone, so that both the Appalachians and the urbanites have to drink the same poisoned water, breath the same poisoned air, go to the same emergency room for routine health care, and most importantly, feel the same sense of loss, indignity, & helplessness.

Going back to my earlier point, most urban Democrats are clueless because they have not figured this out, yet: Appalachia's self interests are very different from what Democrats think are/could be/should be Appalachia's interests. All the good people of Appalachia want, is for someone (like Trump in 2024) to take a poop in the cool kids' swimming pool.

[Added a few minutes later] And to think that somehow the same voting group under discussion is concerned with their education and educational opportunities and how it can elevate/empower them? C'mon . . . . get real.

[marshwiggle]

Going back to my earlier point, most urban Democrats are clueless because they have not figured this out, yet: Appalachia's self interests are very different from what Democrats think are/could be/should be Appalachia's interests. All the good people of Appalachia want, is for someone (like Trump in 2024) to take a poop in the cool kids' swimming pool.

Is that similar to how white Democrats vote for things like "defunding the police" which results in higher crime in poorer, mostly non-white neighborhoods?

[lightning]

Going back to my earlier point, most urban Democrats are clueless because they have not figured this out, yet: Appalachia's self interests are very different from what Democrats think are/could be/should be Appalachia's interests. All the good people of Appalachia want, is for someone (like Trump in 2024) to take a poop in the cool kids' swimming pool.

Is that similar to how white Democrats vote for things like "defunding the police" which results in higher crime in poorer, mostly non-white neighborhoods?

Nope. Not even close. The reason being most people that spout "defund the police" don't see the utterance of the phrase as a form of agency, in function or in symbol. As for your red herring whataboutism, leaping from "defunding the police" to "higher crime in poorer, mostly non-white neighborhoods" that's a whole separate discussion.