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Students suing elite U.S. colleges seek 'wealth favoritism' information

reuters.com

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Re: Students suing elite U.S. colleges seek 'wealth favoritism' information

#11

Post by mistrial9 »

paulpauper wrote: post #3
Overtonwindow wrote: post #2

Universities these days seem to contain a lot of social gangs, roaming around, looking to see where they can exert power and influence. Generally through outrage and cancelling of others. Truly, this is not what university is supposed to be.

I think cancel culture is worse at lower ranking institutions. It's hard to think of any notable recent incidents at top universities. Could be wrong.

UC Berkeley in particular has embarrassed itself and the legacy of Free Speech by hissing, screaming attacks on several individuals in public, to drown out their voices. Combine that with other very active culture-wars elements (not mentioned now) and this grand institution is now wetting the bed, so to speak.

Re: Students suing elite U.S. colleges seek 'wealth favoritism' information

#12

Post by mc32 »

ffggffggj wrote: post #9
Overtonwindow wrote: post #2

Universities these days seem to contain a lot of social gangs, roaming around, looking to see where they can exert power and influence. Generally through outrage and cancelling of others. Truly, this is not what university is supposed to be.

That’s definitely how right wing media portrays them. The reality is quite a lot more varied and nuanced. You should talk to some undergrads if you can! You may be surprised that things aren’t as you’ve been told.

Yep same about police actions. Sometimes they are in the wrong and abuse their power, but for the most part they’re doing their job, but if you listen to the media they’re at war with poor people.

Re: Students suing elite U.S. colleges seek 'wealth favoritism' information

#14

Post by sidlls »

Overtonwindow wrote: post #2

Universities these days seem to contain a lot of social gangs, roaming around, looking to see where they can exert power and influence. Generally through outrage and cancelling of others. Truly, this is not what university is supposed to be.

Social and class cliques are a real thing. The so-called networking benefits at elite schools like Princeton and Stanford don’t translate as well or as often to poor students, for example.

Re: Students suing elite U.S. colleges seek 'wealth favoritism' information

#15

Post by sidlls »

mc32 wrote: post #12
ffggffggj wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s definitely how right wing media portrays them. The reality is quite a lot more varied and nuanced. You should talk to some undergrads if you can! You may be surprised that things aren’t as you’ve been told.

Yep same about police actions. Sometimes they are in the wrong and abuse their power, but for the most part they’re doing their job, but if you listen to the media they’re at war with poor people.

I don’t need the media to see that. For one, I lived it as a poor person. For another, not being poor anymore, I still see it on a practically daily basis when I’m at the office.

Re: Students suing elite U.S. colleges seek 'wealth favoritism' information

#16

Post by oneoff786 »

mc32 wrote: post #12
ffggffggj wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s definitely how right wing media portrays them. The reality is quite a lot more varied and nuanced. You should talk to some undergrads if you can! You may be surprised that things aren’t as you’ve been told.

Yep same about police actions. Sometimes they are in the wrong and abuse their power, but for the most part they’re doing their job, but if you listen to the media they’re at war with poor people.

The problem with police brutality is not that it’s commonplace, but that there are no repercussions for it. If blatantly abusive cops were held accountable the issue would not be as problematic.

Re: Students suing elite U.S. colleges seek 'wealth favoritism' information

#17

Post by Analemma_ »

To the people complaining about this: this is actually a very positive development that I welcome and you should too. This entire time, elite U.S. colleges have been carefully steering conversations about admissions in the direction of racial quotas, to avoid talking about how by far the largest driver of unfairness in the admissions process is legacy admissions and donation quid pro quo arrangements. If you want to make college admissions more fair, attacking those is way more bang for your buck than anything to do with race, and now some students are not falling for the distraction anymore and asking to see behind the curtain.

Expect colleges to fight this much, much harder than they ever did for anything related to affirmative action, because this is actually hitting them where it hurts.

Re: Students suing elite U.S. colleges seek 'wealth favoritism' information

#18

Post by mc32 »

oneoff786 wrote: post #16
mc32 wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep same about police actions. Sometimes they are in the wrong and abuse their power, but for the most part they’re doing their job, but if you listen to the media they’re at war with poor people.

The problem with police brutality is not that it’s commonplace, but that there are no repercussions for it. If blatantly abusive cops were held accountable the issue would not be as problematic.

I agree with you. Anywhere where thee is limited due process is a problem including university campuses as well as police departments.

Re: Students suing elite U.S. colleges seek 'wealth favoritism' information

#19

Post by remote_phone »

Analemma_ wrote: post #17

To the people complaining about this: this is actually a very positive development that I welcome and you should too. This entire time, elite U.S. colleges have been carefully steering conversations about admissions in the direction of racial quotas, to avoid talking about how by far the largest driver of unfairness in the admissions process is legacy admissions and donation quid pro quo arrangements. If you want to…

I agree but I’m always wondering how admissions departments and those who are in charge benefit from donations. I understand bribery, but this is a bit different. If the money goes to universities for a donation, do people somehow get rewarded for this?

Re: Students suing elite U.S. colleges seek 'wealth favoritism' information

#20

Post by HarryHirsch »

remote_phone wrote: post #19
Analemma_ wrote: post #17

To the people complaining about this: this is actually a very positive development that I welcome and you should too. This entire time, elite U.S. colleges have been carefully steering conversations about admissions in the direction of racial quotas, to avoid talking about how by far the largest driver of unfairness in the admissions process is legacy admissions and donation quid pro quo arrangements. If you want to…

I agree but I’m always wondering how admissions departments and those who are in charge benefit from donations. I understand bribery, but this is a bit different. If the money goes to universities for a donation, do people somehow get rewarded for this?

It's all about access - donate money, get your children into a place where they can have access to political and professional networks. That's the University of Southern California admissions scandal.

More money gets you a voice in hiring committees where you can set the tone of the department and shape political discourse. The Koch brothers (those people again) did that very successfully with George Mason University when they transformed what was a commuter college into a megaphone for libertarian ideas.

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