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Stanford’s war on social life

palladiummag.com

61–70 of 402 posts

Re: Stanford’s war on social life

#61
Since it keeps getting trotted out onto this site: Palladium is a far-right magazine masquerading as an independent publication. It's bankrolled by Peter Thiel, and its founders and editors are a veritable "who's who" of reactionary (and explicitly white supremacist[1]) thought leader types.

[1]: https://splinternews.com/leaked-emails-show-how-white-nation...

Re: Stanford’s war on social life

#62

This highlights something I feel like most older people on Hackernews, and generally don't know about modern student life! the amount of university involvement in what's going on in everyone's personal lives has increased substantially from when you were in school, much to the adulation of a portion of the student population. Unis now focus on "student welfare", which really just means expanding the universities reac…

> 99.9% of these dumbass rules are made due to actuaries in insurance companies or lawyers trying to minimize university liability.

I think you're vastly over-estimating the numbers being crunched and vastly over estimating the "well I don't like it and it could lead to some unspecified harm and it's hard to quantify the good that it brings in so we're going to reduce/control/ban it"

Re: Stanford’s war on social life

#63

Why would you make your housing or social life, or indeed your weird edgy experiences of whatever kind, dependent on the same institution teaching your classes? That's the actual root cause. And I understand that some of these institutions require living on campus, at least in the first years, which is absolutely insane.

Because most of the people who are going to college are getting there via life paths that will not have had them on the wrong side of big bureaucratic institutions very much so they don't see the danger.

Re: Stanford’s war on social life

#64

This highlights something I feel like most older people on Hackernews, and generally don't know about modern student life! the amount of university involvement in what's going on in everyone's personal lives has increased substantially from when you were in school, much to the adulation of a portion of the student population. Unis now focus on "student welfare", which really just means expanding the universities reac…

The universities seem to have forgotten that there role is to teach and educate, not overreach into their student's lives. College is about learning to cope and manage on your own, as well as learn. Having a different helicopter parent at the university (compared to home) won't help that development.

While it is tempting to blame universities entirely for this, and I can go on all day about it, students culture has changed a lot too.

I'm not sure what has caused it.

Re: Stanford’s war on social life

#65
post #43

It is absolutely impossible to take this article seriously, because the author refuses to acknowledge the un-fucking-believably fraught legacy that the Greek fraternity system has, at Stanford and at every other school. > Driven by a fear of uncontrollable student spontaneity and a desire to enforce equity on campus Oh, yeah, Stanford’s really afraid of “student spontaneity.” They’re definitely not afraid of organiza…

This is a characterization of fraternities that reeks of stereotype. What can you offer to substantiate the list of negative claims you're making about Stanford fraternities? Eitan Weiner died due to fentanyl laced drugs. This death occurred in the new year, outside of the rush time frame so hazing is not a likely cause.

Furthermore, it also ignores that plenty of other theme houses outside of greek life were also eliminated.

Re: Stanford’s war on social life

#66

I read the whole article, and it seems to be entirely about the push to remove Greek / Frat / Sorority life from campus and convert these houses to more traditional dorms. I know that some people who got a lot out of Greek Life equate it with Social Life, but most college students don't pledge/rush and it doesn't get in the way of social life. There are plenty of ways to socialize without frats.

I can't speak for Stanford, but Santa Clara University has gone through a similar transition. It started while I was there ('11-15), where the "party street" was full of frats, sororities, and just loosely themed houses. The school and the police really started to shut down parties on that street hard my second year there. What used to be just every house open to anyone became closed doors, you had to know someone who actually lived there.

I think the school has started to buy the actual property on that street now to control it more.

I won't apologize for the behavior of the frats, some of them did some truly awful stuff, and I never was a part of any of them, but I watched the university expand from educational to trying to manage the entire student experience.

Re: Stanford’s war on social life

#67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are there specific details about what the band did?

History of rampant sexual harassment and hazing. > The university initiated the joint inquiry after learning of concerns regarding several band events, including off-campus trips, that the band held for its members between 2012 and 2015. The investigation found that, on several occasions, the band violated university policies regarding alcohol, controlled substances, hazing and/or sexual harassment. Violations includ…

No post body was provided.

Re: Stanford’s war on social life

#68

This highlights something I feel like most older people on Hackernews, and generally don't know about modern student life! the amount of university involvement in what's going on in everyone's personal lives has increased substantially from when you were in school, much to the adulation of a portion of the student population. Unis now focus on "student welfare", which really just means expanding the universities reac…

I was in college in the 2000s and this bureaucratization was starting already. The class of 2006 having cell phones was a minor scandal--college students were no longer exploratory rulebreakers, but rich kids (back then, the assumption was that someone with a cell phone had money) with helicopter parents. I don't know how much there was an actual change, but the feeling of a shift from a cool Gen X to a decidedly less interesting Millennial college culture (this isn't to say that Millennials are less interesting individually--I don't believe it to be true) happened around 2002. (Fall 2001 was an something different entirely, because the obvious.)

Nostalgia is a powerful disinfectant. The people who pulled off the pranks of yore risked getting in serious trouble as much then as they do now. It's just that hindsight changes one's view of things: the misbehaviors one got away with are now seen as harmless... and this is especially pronounced among people whose social class means they get away with almost everything.

Re: Stanford’s war on social life

#70
"Stanford’s new social order offers a peek into the bureaucrat’s vision for America. It is a world without risk, genuine difference, or the kind of group connection that makes teenage boys want to rent bulldozers and build islands. It is a world largely without unencumbered joy; without the kind of cultural specificity that makes college, or the rest of life, particularly interesting."

Dolores Umbridge must have assumed the office of High Inquisitor at Stanford.

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