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A university president makes a case against cowardice

newyorker.com

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Re: A university president makes a case against cowardice

#411

Post by mantas »

ytpete wrote: post #349
lelanthran wrote: post #292

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Freedom of speech necessarily implies that a group of people might team up and loudly announce that the people they don't agree with are incorrect and immoral and should be ignored or even ostracized. That's the price of freedom of speech, and it's a fair price. Sure, agreed. But groups and institutions taking even a dime of tax money should not get to place a thumb on the scales of those arguments. US universities…

What did US universities do to "silence all opposing viewpoints" on any issues? Did they kick students out of school because of their viewports? Claw back their financial aid? Get them deported? Physically harm them? I sure don't remember things like that happening in widespread manner to conservative students, let alone happening in a way that was organized top-down by the universities' leadership.

I think it's vice versa. Some students prevent other students from exercising their free speech rights. E.g. try to prevent speakers they don't like from speaking on campus. Or harass some people for their ethnicity in context of Hamas/Israel war. Then universities look the other way.

Re: A university president makes a case against cowardice

#413

Post by tomrod »

sequoia wrote: post #49

A lot of Americans support these attacks on universities. Why do people harbour this much animosity towards these institutions? Is there anything they could have done differently in the past decade or two to have broader sympathy now, or is people's ambivalence towards elite universities 100% irrational?

From what I've been able to gather, a mix of jealousy for not being involved with institutions along with some form of Dunning Kruger effect thinking that the institutions have no merit or value (i.e. the individual thinks they could do better / have no need / are somehow subject to the outcomes of the institution).

Re: A university president makes a case against cowardice

#415

Post by tomrod »

SoftTalker wrote: post #252
cosmic_cheese wrote: post #232

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They do change to some degree, but I believe that age and wealth are not nearly as strong of factors as popular culture might have one think.

I guess it depends. 40 years later, I vote completely opposite to what I did when I was 18-20 years old.

That sort of breaks out as to personal values versus Overton window. It has been an extreme shift towards authoritarianism in the US -- to the point where case after case of folks with moral courage call it out despite where they stood even 10 years ago.

Re: A university president makes a case against cowardice

#416

Post by lurk2 »

xracy wrote: post #254
jart wrote: post #228

Earlier quoted context omitted.

60% of the US workforce these days is white collar, and it's one of the great illusions of our time. Most of these jobs only exist to keep busy the 60% of the US workforce that has a degree. In the 1940's about 30% of the US workforce was white collar and only 5% had degrees. What caused this change? It's probably because blue collar workers made so much money and had so much leverage that businesses shipped all thei…

great illusions of our time, like there's not data to back it up?

He's saying that the economic viability of the model is illusory.

Re: A university president makes a case against cowardice

#417

Post by lurk2 »

disambiguation wrote: post #171
harimau777 wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It feels to me like part of the disconnect is that education and job training isn't necessarily the same thing. For many majors improving economic outcomes is not the core mission.

Its an implicit promise, and we can already see the pendulum swinging back in the form of lower enrollment as more people catch on.

> Its an implicit promise

It's an inferred promise, not an implicit promise. Lots of schools do try to make it an explicit, qualified promise (e.g. "80% of grads work in their field!"), and even more are shifting towards becoming what are effectively vocational schools, but this was never the intended purpose of a liberal arts education.

Re: A university president makes a case against cowardice

#418

Post by jumpman_miya »

hayst4ck wrote: post #293

America has done an absolutely terrible job of teaching people about rights. If governments granted rights then they would be privileges not rights. In western tradition governments exist to protect rights, such as the freedom of expression, not to grant them. If you believe these are human rights, rather than your privilege as an American, then you must protect their rights to seek justice too. People are already be…

[dead]

Re: A university president makes a case against cowardice

#419

Post by mistersquid »

rayiner wrote: post #412
kevingadd wrote: post #309

[flagged]

[flagged]

> The US has the prerogative to filter immigrants based on their views and affiliations.

What comes before “filter[ing] immigrants” is due process. Resident aliens have the right to due process which the current US administration is not providing.

Alien residents with every right to be here are being removed from the US illegally and mistakenly.

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