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Professors can’t stay silent about this extremist moment on campuses

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Re: Professors can’t stay silent about this extremist moment on campuses

#51
post #6

>We introduced ourselves and took our seats. But as we were about to begin, the protesters seized our microphones, stood in front of us and shut down the lecture. I'm not sure who gave these people the idea the heckler's veto is a legitimate tactic on a college campus or why the administration puts up with it. Those students should be summarily expelled.

I agree with you, but... Apparently, this argument (against mandatory Western Civ) has been going on for years, and a few (3?) students went wild this year and disrupted class. There have been previous complaints and protests that did not disturb class. http://www.reed.edu/reed_magazine/march2017/articles/feature...

However, to use their own language against them (because I get to hear this stuff on Turkey-Day)... it reeks of privilege.

I question whether the protest leaders even know what discrimination is. Have they been alone where they were truly a minority (by skin color or politics) or outside of their parents cocoon? It seems not, because they don't know how to get along even with people who largely agree with them... privilege. That they were allowed by the appropriately outraged staff/faculty to continue says it again.

Still, based on my recent experiences, these are not the majority of students at any college. Even the hotbed schools of such pop-protest need something else to get a larger group of their undergrad students out... that's why it takes an actual march of Nazi's on campus (or take back the night, TA unionization, etc) to get student protests in Berkeley... the city is more activist than the students.

Re: Professors can’t stay silent about this extremist moment on campuses

#52
post #28

Tim Wu, who coined the term “network neutrality”, wrote an excellent op-ed in the N.Y. Times yesterday. He said that now speech,l is a form of control and censorship, whereas 100 years ago limiting speech was a form of control / censorship. Interesting to see how the pendulum shifts...

You need to rewrite that whole paragraph. What?

Might as well read the op-ed: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/27/opinion/twitter-first-ame...

Re: Professors can’t stay silent about this extremist moment on campuses

#53

>Oh dear, these left wing protestors taking a microphone sure is comparable to fascists actually killing people. Give me a break.

Would you please stop using HN for political/ideological battle? You've done it quite a bit and it's not what this site is for.

Similarly, would you please not post unsubstantive comments here?

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Re: Professors can’t stay silent about this extremist moment on campuses

#54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

None of the demands seem to have much to do with the teaching of this particular course. It is also the case that the professors have very little control over meeting these demands. Finally, presumably there are some people who want to take that class. This is like yelling at the Starbucks barista because you don't like the flavors they're using in the cake, even though other customers want that flavor. My sympathy i…

> None of the demands seem to have much to do with the teaching of this particular course Demand #13 is specifically about that course.

I didn't catch that. I stand corrected.

It should be said that is Reed is anything like other small liberal arts schools then I am surprised that this isn't already happening:

"There should be an articulated understanding that “foundational texts” are subjective and that the importance of the course is to foster student’s abilities to read, write, and listen/respond. Before this is accomplished, Hum 110 should be conscious of the power it gives to already privileged ideas and welcome critique of that use of power."

Re: Professors can’t stay silent about this extremist moment on campuses

#55
post #48
post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

However when it comes to speakers advocating racism, race is not even real, there is only one human race with ethnic variations we don't allow people to come to medical schools to advocate using voodoo doll to cure cancer why should racists be speaking on college campuses?

Perhaps, but then you run into the problem of defining racism. It can be obvious, but you can also have situations like the one in yale where the english curriculum was "Colonized"[1] by the fact it had too many white male writers. Would someone who advocates for teaching the traditionally accepted cannon of english literature be racist. According to some definitions, yes. Further, some are willing to call the fundam…

[1] is fake news. [2] is a single professor from a low-tier university with the article intended to incite outrage and divide through inducing fear in the reader, which is what you felt.

Please be more careful where you are sourcing your brain food.

Re: Professors can’t stay silent about this extremist moment on campuses

#56
post #5

I worry about an increasing movement toward radicalization on all ends of the political spectrum. I think Trump represented a shift to the far -right. Now I worry liberals might shift to the far -left. The middle ground seems to be disappearing

In the US "far-left" is what, to most of Europe, is "center-right".

Free or low-cost college education, strong unions, strong consumer rights laws, inexpensive healthcare with transparent pricing, good public schools, legal cheap and easy access to abortions, subsidized parental leave and day care, etc.

This is the middle ground you are looking for, yes? It doesn't seem to be disappearing.

Or are those goals part of the far-left that you worry about?

Re: Professors can’t stay silent about this extremist moment on campuses

#57
post #5

I worry about an increasing movement toward radicalization on all ends of the political spectrum. I think Trump represented a shift to the far -right. Now I worry liberals might shift to the far -left. The middle ground seems to be disappearing

I've seen little evidence that these sorts of protests are broadly representative of what goes on at universities. There are more than 15 million college students in the US, even dozens and dozens of absurd protests isn't evidence of much. https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=98

Agreed. Where is the modern equivalent of the Weather Underground and their bombing campaign? Or the Symbionese Liberation Army and their bank robberies, murders and kidnapping?

What modern actions are like the bombing of Sterling Hall?

And those weren't anywhere close to representative of the anti-war movement in the 1960/1970.

Re: Professors can’t stay silent about this extremist moment on campuses

#58

http://reediesagainstracism.tumblr.com/demands I'm all for equality, but increasingly, these BLM-emulative student movements aren't egalitarian, but racist in the other direction. See #7 for example. Many of those demands, like #24, aren't even possible let alone reasonable. There are specific laws governing the employment of non-naturalized residents.

whats AODs, SES, CSO, HCC, MRC, PMP, CAT, CRES ?

These are Reed-specific acronyms that anyone relevant at Reed would understand. I found almost all of them through a search like "PMP site:reed.edu", such as https://duckduckgo.com/?q=PMP+site%3Areed.edu .

AOD = "Alcohol and Other Drugs" violation. They probably want to know if there is a racial bias in who gets cited.

SES = "Socioeconomic Status"; poor people in general have a harder time getting through college.

CSO = "Community Safety Officer", aka, campus police

HCC = Reed Health and Counseling Center

PMP = Peer Mentor Program

CRES = Comparative Race and Ethnic Studies program; think "comparative religion" course but for race and ethnic studies.

CAT = "Each year, one quarter of the faculty is considered for reappointment, tenure, promotion, or an increase in salary. This evaluation is conducted by the faculty Committee on Advancement and Tenure (CAT), which makes recommendations to the president." (This was the hardest to find. It took a couple of minutes.)

Re: Professors can’t stay silent about this extremist moment on campuses

#59
post #38
post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is not how we did things in the 90s we used to debate these speakers and knock down their ideas with rational discourse it's not that hard to deflate the arguments of the far right they're mostly based on a series of bad assumptions like assuming everyone has a deep fear of anyone who looks different than them. It's better to let them speak and then deflate their arguments to the bone in debate.

However when it comes to speakers advocating racism, race is not even real, there is only one human race with ethnic variations we don't allow people to come to medical schools to advocate using voodoo doll to cure cancer why should racists be speaking on college campuses?

My view on the freedom of expression is well known, so I'll try to avoid being verbose.

Does the institution receive funding from the government?

If so, can it legally prohibit lawful speech?

SCOTUS has pretty much decided that it can not. In time, this will be a more settled matter. America is still young, comparatively speaking. We will be okay so long as we remember it's a constant effort and not a final state.

Re: Professors can’t stay silent about this extremist moment on campuses

#60

http://reediesagainstracism.tumblr.com/demands I'm all for equality, but increasingly, these BLM-emulative student movements aren't egalitarian, but racist in the other direction. See #7 for example. Many of those demands, like #24, aren't even possible let alone reasonable. There are specific laws governing the employment of non-naturalized residents.

The demand that "CRES is to be taught by people of color" is also illegal.
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