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MIT’s Senior House dormitory closes, and a crisis blooms at colleges

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Re: MIT’s Senior House dormitory closes, and a crisis blooms at colleges

#21

Post by cuckcuckspruce »

graphitezepp wrote: post #7
ilamont wrote: post #6

I think the trend at MIT is not just about dorms. It's about groups that are too independent, too strong-willed, or just too different getting hammered down or spit out, in favor of corporate-friendly programs and people that are more willing to toe the administration's line and/or promote its designated priorities. The quirky but long-lived program I took part in recently had its leader of 10+ years dismissed, with…

This is so sad. I found the quote "one way to destroy a culture, with lots of white paint" very poignant. Institutions everywhere increasingly seem to want to just make everything bland and safe.

> Institutions everywhere increasingly seem to want to just make everything bland and safe.

Can you really blame them when the alternative is college campuses burning because they invited a speaker who was committing wrongthing and wrongspeak?

This is something that has been demanded by a growing percentage of the student body over the last two decades. The schools are giving the students what they want.

I wouldn't be surprised if there are calls to return to the 'in loco parentis' days where schools had much more control over the discipline of their students - all in the name of safety, of course.

Re: MIT’s Senior House dormitory closes, and a crisis blooms at colleges

#22

Post by cuckcuckspruce »

cynisme wrote: post #18
graphitezepp wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is so sad. I found the quote "one way to destroy a culture, with lots of white paint" very poignant. Institutions everywhere increasingly seem to want to just make everything bland and safe.

I also find that its is not even individuals in the institutions but somehow the collective that causes this. I do not think this is the end of such places though as this kind of stuff has happened before and I think people will always find and make new spaces to make their own culture, the destruction of such places seems almost inevitable as they gain more and more notoriety.

It's also likely that these sorts of places will move off campus if there is truly a need for them. There are plenty of well-off alumni of Senior House, and erecting a building and maintaining the culture of Senior House off campus is something they could do if it is really that important to them.

Re: MIT’s Senior House dormitory closes, and a crisis blooms at colleges

#23

Post by cuckcuckspruce »

CptMauli wrote: post #20

> five minutes later they started emailing our parents—and > then all undergraduate parents Can somebody explain why the University would email the parents? What do they have to do with it? The students are of age, right?

The parents are paying the bills.

Re: MIT’s Senior House dormitory closes, and a crisis blooms at colleges

#24

Post by justaman »

graphitezepp wrote: post #7
ilamont wrote: post #6

I think the trend at MIT is not just about dorms. It's about groups that are too independent, too strong-willed, or just too different getting hammered down or spit out, in favor of corporate-friendly programs and people that are more willing to toe the administration's line and/or promote its designated priorities. The quirky but long-lived program I took part in recently had its leader of 10+ years dismissed, with…

This is so sad. I found the quote "one way to destroy a culture, with lots of white paint" very poignant. Institutions everywhere increasingly seem to want to just make everything bland and safe.

Colleges have become an echo chamber centered around profits and "the experience". A library card is a better investment; one that comes with more freedom.

Re: MIT’s Senior House dormitory closes, and a crisis blooms at colleges

#25

Post by phkahler »

>> Registrar data showed that the hall’s graduation rate was lower than any dorm on campus—21.1 percent of Senior House students were failing to graduate, versus the campus average of 7.7 percent. In addition, the email cited data that suggested higher-than-average drug use in the house.

So perhaps these kinds of people have a lower graduation rate. By spreading them around campus, they will probably be less happy. So the questions are: what if any effect will that have on their graduation rate? On their happiness?

Re: MIT’s Senior House dormitory closes, and a crisis blooms at colleges

#26

Post by mhalle »

As a Senior House alum and former instructor at MIT, what bothers me the most is how MIT is teaching horrible standards of ethical behavior through their actions.

Improper use of metadata to track down individuals in a confidential survey about mental health and substance abuse would end a scientist's career. MIT did it.

Collective punishment of a group for the actions of a few is an educational and social antipattern. MIT did it.

An "end justifies means" mentality is a classic tool used by the strong against the powerless. MIT embraced it.

Removing completely innocent people from their homes and their supportive social structure, while MIT's right, would face justified outrage in any public context.

Using these tools on anyone, let alone the students you thought brilliant and worthy enough to admit, teaches a mindset abusive of power and lacking in humanity. A mindset that is all too common in our society.

MIT has plenty of honorable and fair people. If they didn't know enough to stand up for Senior House specifically, why didn't they stand up against the tools that the administration used that they know are wrong?

I have found "we teach as we live, we live as we teach" a pretty powerful and positive philosophy.

Re: MIT’s Senior House dormitory closes, and a crisis blooms at colleges

#27

Post by djsumdog »

otakucode wrote: post #13

As college morphs into High School+, and society extends their definition of 'childhood' to cover up to age 25, steps will be taken to destroy the autonomy and personality of these 'children.' Children are entitled no rights, no difference of opinion from them is respected, and any degree of control over them, no matter how extreme, is always seen as warranted.

That argument makes sense as they mailed the kids parents; when universities are all about recognizing the students as adults.

Re: MIT’s Senior House dormitory closes, and a crisis blooms at colleges

#28

Post by ryanx435 »

cuckcuckspruce wrote: post #23
CptMauli wrote: post #20

> five minutes later they started emailing our parents—and > then all undergraduate parents Can somebody explain why the University would email the parents? What do they have to do with it? The students are of age, right?

The parents are paying the bills.

This probably isn't true: students loans exist

Re: MIT’s Senior House dormitory closes, and a crisis blooms at colleges

#29

Post by wolco »

indigochill wrote: post #10
jdietrich wrote: post #2

I wonder if there'll ever be another Steve Jobs or RMS. I wonder if we've destroyed all the places where brilliant weirdos can thrive and closed off all the paths to success other than a handful of narrowly prescribed routes. I wonder how many of the greatest minds of our generation are flipping burgers or making coffee.

I was chatting with a guy on the plane the other day who was bemoaning the disappearance of old-school BBSes and rise of homogeneous social media sites. I think my answer to his concern and yours are the same: There are still places for clever weirdos. Particularly online. I know of at least two hacking communities, for instance, which only let in people who can hack the invite process. At that point, you can assume…

Would love to learn more about those communities that require a hack of the invite system to get in.

Re: MIT’s Senior House dormitory closes, and a crisis blooms at colleges

#30

Post by djsumdog »

cuckcuckspruce wrote: post #23
CptMauli wrote: post #20

> five minutes later they started emailing our parents—and > then all undergraduate parents Can somebody explain why the University would email the parents? What do they have to do with it? The students are of age, right?

The parents are paying the bills.

Not all of them. Many are in grants and scholarships, others on student loans.

If parents are paying the bills, that's between them and their kids. They can demand to see grades/results or cut funding. But if you'd teaching students they are adults-then that responsibility falls to the families in the situations where they are dependent on them for funding.

One of my housemates hated his parents and funded everything himself taking pc support jobs at a print shop and car dealership.

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