Anonymous wrote:I think the article is tool long and boring and who cares.

Great - some leftist freak telling everyone to shrug and move on as institutions decline.

On Princeton Review's Quality of Life scale, Stanford students rate it a 94. They're still managing to find ways to have fun.

When I started the article I thought I was going to be somebody pining for the “good old days” as code for all the terrible things people could get away with in the name of fun. But as many people above have mentioned it goes way beyond that and the result as described feels kind of dystopian. I do think that on any college campus you’re going to have lots of young people who find friends and community and also lots of people who feel lonely and don’t know how to connect. Especially when you have all the super smart kids typically found the school like Stanford. Still, my DD is at a peer institution that has worked on making some changes in the name of keeping people safer (although they still have a good long way to go) but has stayed pretty relaxed in letting students create their own experience and have fun and after reading this article she is glad for being someplace that has struck a different balance.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow, that article really was depressing. Interesting that there's been quite a bit about Stanford in the news lately - including their idiotic "harmful language/forbidden words" nonsense. Too bad. I always thought Stanford would remain independent of all the liberal nuttery, but I guess not.

The forbidden language thing was for the IT people who wrote official content for their website. Stop letting clickbait get you worked up!

They’ve replaced “freshman” with “frosh” on their website. That’s just weird.

Maybe due to the word "men" in "freshmen" ?

men does not mean men in freshmen it means mankind which is not gender specific. Grow up.

Anonymous wrote:“Undergraduate culture” is a synonym for misogyny, bad behavior masked as exploitation and inequality.

It’s time colleges are wiped clean of Greek culture and other clubs that drive division and discrimination. This needs to be done everywhere.

Ummm sorry it is not. Not at all. You live in an odd bubble.

Anonymous wrote:Stanford has lots of cultural and activity specific housing: https://rde.stanford.edu/studenthousing/Undergraduate-Housing-Options

My first-year loves the Stanford campus culture, has made a ton of friends, and loves the classes taught by many well known experts. Had a great transition from a homogeneous high school to a diverse campus. Has taken advantage of some great opportunities and is constantly amazed and inspired by fellow first-years. Biggest issue first quarter was balancing the multitude of social opportunities with classes.

I see several houses that are limited to certain urm groups and no general affinity groups. This page does conform the weird neighborhood system described in the article,

The essay is a bit boring. Could have-and should have--been condensed.

Makes Stanford seem over-the-top with political correctness. Shows a desire to stamp out creativity.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow, that article really was depressing. Interesting that there's been quite a bit about Stanford in the news lately - including their idiotic "harmful language/forbidden words" nonsense. Too bad. I always thought Stanford would remain independent of all the liberal nuttery, but I guess not.

The forbidden language thing was for the IT people who wrote official content for their website. Stop letting clickbait get you worked up!

They’ve replaced “freshman” with “frosh” on their website. That’s just weird.

Maybe due to the word "men" in "freshmen" ?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow, that article really was depressing. Interesting that there's been quite a bit about Stanford in the news lately - including their idiotic "harmful language/forbidden words" nonsense. Too bad. I always thought Stanford would remain independent of all the liberal nuttery, but I guess not.

The forbidden language thing was for the IT people who wrote official content for their website. Stop letting clickbait get you worked up!

They’ve replaced “freshman” with “frosh” on their website. That’s just weird.

Stanford has lots of cultural and activity specific housing: https://rde.stanford.edu/studenthousing/Undergraduate-Housing-Options

My first-year loves the Stanford campus culture, has made a ton of friends, and loves the classes taught by many well known experts. Had a great transition from a homogeneous high school to a diverse campus. Has taken advantage of some great opportunities and is constantly amazed and inspired by fellow first-years. Biggest issue first quarter was balancing the multitude of social opportunities with classes.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:“Undergraduate culture” is a synonym for misogyny, bad behavior masked as exploitation and inequality.

It’s time colleges are wiped clean of Greek culture and other clubs that drive division and discrimination. This needs to be done everywhere.

A-FREAKING-MEN

+2
As someone who went to college with Greek parties in the early 90s, she definitely idealizes all the fun and leaves out all the date rape culture and crap we had to deal with that was much more normalized back then with no concept of consent that resembles what young women expect today. Just look at how many people re-watch movies from the 80s with their kids and become disgusted.

That’s not to say that I don’t think that there are serious issues these days around young adult culture in terms of loneliness and social capital. But leaving out social media from the discussion is problematic. Also, having studied abroad in a very progressive European country in the 90s, I was able to have a ton of fun without some privileged douche bag creating a sandbar and a zip line.

Yes. Is this new set up helping to reduce rapes and assaults? So sorry about the Kabo party, but a discussion of any benefits to a new way of organizing students socially seems to be entirely missing from this piece.

I think it is more than just eliminating Greek houses. The whole "neighborhood" system doesn't make sense. Why are the houses in a "neighborhood" not clustered together? The school dismantled the social fabric of the school and basically didn't replace it with anything.

Anonymous wrote:Well that was a depressing read. I feel sorry for kids today. Over 70% of students describe themselves as feeling “very sad”? We’ve broken a generation of kids.

No we have created a generation of snowflakes.

+1 to the posters saying this wasn’t just about the Greek system. They killed interest-based clubs like the outdoor club. I those posters remarking about Greek life didn’t read the essay. And naming the dorms with numbers seems way over the top and dystopian.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:“Undergraduate culture” is a synonym for misogyny, bad behavior masked as exploitation and inequality.

It’s time colleges are wiped clean of Greek culture and other clubs that drive division and discrimination. This needs to be done everywhere.

A-FREAKING-MEN

+2
As someone who went to college with Greek parties in the early 90s, she definitely idealizes all the fun and leaves out all the date rape culture and crap we had to deal with that was much more normalized back then with no concept of consent that resembles what young women expect today. Just look at how many people re-watch movies from the 80s with their kids and become disgusted.

That’s not to say that I don’t think that there are serious issues these days around young adult culture in terms of loneliness and social capital. But leaving out social media from the discussion is problematic. Also, having studied abroad in a very progressive European country in the 90s, I was able to have a ton of fun without some privileged douche bag creating a sandbar and a zip line.

But they didn’t just kill the Greek houses. They got rid of the international houses as well, where students share culture and cuisine and practice languages. When I was at school, those houses had quirky artsy types. And the killed the “Outdoors” house for kids who liked hiking for not being diverse enough. This isn’t just about the Greek system.