Anonymous
Post 12/19/2017 19:11     Subject: Any other alums who think their school has gone off the deep end?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Just to expand the analysis :
http://prospect.org/article/conservatives-behind-campus-‘free-speech’-crusade

FIRE has a conservative agenda. Not that these issues aren’t real. Balanced liberalism is under attack by the extreme left which shares a remarkable number of viewpoints with the far right. Anarchy has a high price.


FIRE is non-partisan -- I follow them closely and donate to them. They defend attacks on free speech from either side. It just so happens there seems to be more attempts to stop conservative-oriented speech than liberal-oriented speech.


FIRE is non-partisan in that they don't affiliate with a particular political party, but they lean heavily conservative.

My alma mater was dinged for having policies that prohibit sexual harassment and harassment/discrimination/intimidation based on race, gender, disability, etc. If that's the kind of speech they're trying to protect, well, that's on their moral conscience.


+1
Anonymous
Post 12/19/2017 19:07     Subject: Any other alums who think their school has gone off the deep end?
Yale is on the cusp. There is a silent but very real tug of war between the more moderate/conservative factions of students, faculty, alums, admins etc and the very liberal ones. I think the ultra liberal side might be winning but the fight is not over yet. They haven't become Brown just yet.
Anonymous
Post 12/19/2017 18:36     Subject: Any other alums who think their school has gone off the deep end?
Anonymous wrote:My SLAC has gone crazy left and doesn't even tolerate conservative or republican points of view. So I don't give. That doesn't mean much in of itself but there are sufficient alumni who feel this way such as it has really made the endowment suffer. The other problem is that the institution went from highly selective to almost 50% selectivity rate -
due to lack of quality applications - which just disgusts a lot of alums. It was once a great school but no longer is.


I'm having a hard time coming up with any SLACs that used to be highly selective but now have a 50% admission rate. So I'm going to call this one fake news.
Anonymous
Post 12/19/2017 18:33     Subject: Any other alums who think their school has gone off the deep end?
My SLAC has gone crazy left and doesn't even tolerate conservative or republican points of view. So I don't give. That doesn't mean much in of itself but there are sufficient alumni who feel this way such as it has really made the endowment suffer. The other problem is that the institution went from highly selective to almost 50% selectivity rate -
due to lack of quality applications - which just disgusts a lot of alums. It was once a great school but no longer is.
Anonymous
Post 12/19/2017 18:15     Subject: Any other alums who think their school has gone off the deep end?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Just to expand the analysis :
http://prospect.org/article/conservatives-behind-campus-‘free-speech’-crusade

FIRE has a conservative agenda. Not that these issues aren’t real. Balanced liberalism is under attack by the extreme left which shares a remarkable number of viewpoints with the far right. Anarchy has a high price.


FIRE is non-partisan -- I follow them closely and donate to them. They defend attacks on free speech from either side. It just so happens there seems to be more attempts to stop conservative-oriented speech than liberal-oriented speech.


FIRE is non-partisan in that they don't affiliate with a particular political party, but they lean heavily conservative.

My alma mater was dinged for having policies that prohibit sexual harassment and harassment/discrimination/intimidation based on race, gender, disability, etc. If that's the kind of speech they're trying to protect, well, that's on their moral conscience.
Anonymous
Post 12/19/2017 18:07     Subject: Any other alums who think their school has gone off the deep end?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:My college which has always been very liberal (think Oberlin level) when I attended has turned into a circus. There is this obsession with diversity, both economic and racial, that is ridiculous. Everything is about identity politics and I cringe reading the alumni magazine.


Canadian universities are looking more attractive by the day.

Great education at reasonable fees, and actual diversity without the actual BS.


Oh, like Laurier in Ontario where they accused a TA of being transphobic for showing a clip from a respected Canadian TV program that had professors debating both sides of gender pronouns?

http://nationalpost.com/opinion/christie-blatchford-wilfrid-laurier-investigation-into-lindsay-shepherd-affair-complete-but-public-wont-see-report


As a Canadian, I feel that I should point out a) the professor, and the way he handled the "intervention" with the TA, was widely criticized across the Canadian media, b) Laurier indicated they do not stand behind his POV, and c) Laurier is really the bottom of the barrel as far as Canadian universities are concerned. It's where my cousin who took 7 years to finish high school went--not anywhere close to an elite institution.
Anonymous
Post 12/18/2017 12:24     Subject: Re:Any other alums who think their school has gone off the deep end?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Here's a list of all universities and their free speech rating: https://www.thefire.org/spotlight/

I'll keep giving as long as my alma mater maintains a green light rating. As long as they don't shut down any viewpoint that is expressed in a non-violent manner, it's fine with me.


This website is a joke. Just looked at 2 of DCUM's favorite New England SLACs, which of course have red ratings because, it seems to me, the schools won't tolerate, for example "acts of conduct, speech, or expression that target individuals and groups based on race, religion, ethnic/national origin, gender, gender identity/expression, age, ability, or sexual orientation".

PP, we probably have different ideas of the types of viewpoints that could be considered 'violent' .


Schools should allow all viewpoints to be expressed as long as it's in a respectful and non-violent manner. For example, there are two sides to the Israeli/Palestinian debate. Both viewpoints should be allowed to be heard.


Do you see this as black and white?
Anonymous
Post 12/18/2017 10:51     Subject: Re:Any other alums who think their school has gone off the deep end?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Here's a list of all universities and their free speech rating: https://www.thefire.org/spotlight/

I'll keep giving as long as my alma mater maintains a green light rating. As long as they don't shut down any viewpoint that is expressed in a non-violent manner, it's fine with me.


This website is a joke. Just looked at 2 of DCUM's favorite New England SLACs, which of course have red ratings because, it seems to me, the schools won't tolerate, for example "acts of conduct, speech, or expression that target individuals and groups based on race, religion, ethnic/national origin, gender, gender identity/expression, age, ability, or sexual orientation".

PP, we probably have different ideas of the types of viewpoints that could be considered 'violent' .


Schools should allow all viewpoints to be expressed as long as it's in a respectful and non-violent manner. For example, there are two sides to the Israeli/Palestinian debate. Both viewpoints should be allowed to be heard.
Anonymous
Post 12/18/2017 10:49     Subject: Any other alums who think their school has gone off the deep end?
Anonymous wrote:Just to expand the analysis :
http://prospect.org/article/conservatives-behind-campus-‘free-speech’-crusade

FIRE has a conservative agenda. Not that these issues aren’t real. Balanced liberalism is under attack by the extreme left which shares a remarkable number of viewpoints with the far right. Anarchy has a high price.


FIRE is non-partisan -- I follow them closely and donate to them. They defend attacks on free speech from either side. It just so happens there seems to be more attempts to stop conservative-oriented speech than liberal-oriented speech.
Anonymous
Post 12/18/2017 10:48     Subject: Any other alums who think their school has gone off the deep end?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:My college which has always been very liberal (think Oberlin level) when I attended has turned into a circus. There is this obsession with diversity, both economic and racial, that is ridiculous. Everything is about identity politics and I cringe reading the alumni magazine.


Canadian universities are looking more attractive by the day.

Great education at reasonable fees, and actual diversity without the actual BS.


Oh, like Laurier in Ontario where they accused a TA of being transphobic for showing a clip from a respected Canadian TV program that had professors debating both sides of gender pronouns?

http://nationalpost.com/opinion/christie-blatchford-wilfrid-laurier-investigation-into-lindsay-shepherd-affair-complete-but-public-wont-see-report
Anonymous
Post 12/18/2017 10:43     Subject: Any other alums who think their school has gone off the deep end?
Anonymous wrote:My college which has always been very liberal (think Oberlin level) when I attended has turned into a circus. There is this obsession with diversity, both economic and racial, that is ridiculous. Everything is about identity politics and I cringe reading the alumni magazine.


Canadian universities are looking more attractive by the day.

Great education at reasonable fees, and actual diversity without the actual BS.
Anonymous
Post 12/18/2017 10:22     Subject: Any other alums who think their school has gone off the deep end?
Just to expand the analysis :
http://prospect.org/article/conservatives-behind-campus-‘free-speech’-crusade

FIRE has a conservative agenda. Not that these issues aren’t real. Balanced liberalism is under attack by the extreme left which shares a remarkable number of viewpoints with the far right. Anarchy has a high price.
Anonymous
Post 12/18/2017 09:23     Subject: Re:Any other alums who think their school has gone off the deep end?
Anonymous wrote:Here's a list of all universities and their free speech rating: https://www.thefire.org/spotlight/

I'll keep giving as long as my alma mater maintains a green light rating. As long as they don't shut down any viewpoint that is expressed in a non-violent manner, it's fine with me.


This website is a joke. Just looked at 2 of DCUM's favorite New England SLACs, which of course have red ratings because, it seems to me, the schools won't tolerate, for example "acts of conduct, speech, or expression that target individuals and groups based on race, religion, ethnic/national origin, gender, gender identity/expression, age, ability, or sexual orientation".

PP, we probably have different ideas of the types of viewpoints that could be considered 'violent' .
Anonymous
Post 12/18/2017 08:51     Subject: Re:Any other alums who think their school has gone off the deep end?
Anonymous wrote:Here's a list of all universities and their free speech rating: https://www.thefire.org/spotlight/

I'll keep giving as long as my alma mater maintains a green light rating. As long as they don't shut down any viewpoint that is expressed in a non-violent manner, it's fine with me.


Only three publics in Virginia have a green light. I had no idea.
Anonymous
Post 12/18/2017 08:48     Subject: Any other alums who think their school has gone off the deep end?
I'm disappointed that my alma mater hasn't evolved. Things should be really different from when I was there and it seems like the same homogeneous place that it was.

There's a small group of my friends who watch with disappointment as they fail to rise to the occasion time and again...and then there are friend who dress their kids in allllll the school gear and think it's great that "nothing has changed!"