Forming a Student Movement against Censorship on Campuses

[chaas]

All in all, this past year has been a sordid one for free speech and intellectual rigour on US college campuses. Disinvitations, vicious social retribution for differing opinions, and the heckling of speakers presenting views outside of the hyper-progressive orthodoxy have all abounded on campuses. These movements have only spread, with protests in one university emboldening other aspiring demagogues to create a culture of intimidation and fear. I think this video from just a few days ago is a perfect encapsulation of just how far authoritarian hyper-progressives are willing to go, and how feckless college administrations are in response: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IawEMxTroBk.

I'm currently a rising junior in university, and feel that it is time to push for a restoration of freedom of inquiry. Given the exorbitant fees we pay to attend, the least schools should do is facilitate a free marketplace of ideas. In my experience, students don't usually come in as freshman with authoritarian leanings; they are instead inculcated into them by older students. We must try and reach out to these people. I am also confident that though fear of recrimination keeps them down, cultural libertarians are far more common on campus than they seem. Now that summer has come, I feel that we non-authoritarian university students (under graduate or graduate) need to tend to our wounds and prepare a comeback in the fall. As such, I'm working hard to try and reach out to students at other schools and plan a wave of counter-protests against censorship in all its forms, stressing the importance of an intellectual landscape free of intimidation. If last year's protests are any indication, this type of nationwide movement could, if effective, spur action in other places. Given the types of people drawn to this forum, I thought it would be a good place to start looking for partners in this enterprise. Please let me know if you have any questions or want to help me with this goal.

 

[Tom Sawyer]

I'm reporting this post to your university administrators.

 

[Keith&Co.]

Can I take it that you, assuming you ever come back to this board, have "views outside of the hyper-progressive orthodoxy?"
And you want someone to protect your right to speak your mind without vicious hecklers speaking their mind back at you?

 

[Derec]

Oberlin College students demand no grades less than C and no exams because protesting is eating up their studying time.
Oberlin students want to abolish midterms and any grades below C

 

[Nice Squirrel]

What's a rising junior?

Also, the "disinvite" was not a disinvite as the speaker was never invited to speak in the first place. His name was proposed to a committee, but they went with someone else and botched up communications.

cultural libertarians are far more common on campus than they seem.

Curious, because from what I read in the Chronicle of Higher Education it is not the cultural libertarians that are the focus of these protests, but the radical conservatives that are. But protest away, as I see nothing wrong with it.

That being said, for disclosure I am a "rising administrator" in a major university that deals with such issues and have had to welcome Ken Starr when he spoke.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Oberlin College students demand no grades less than C and no exams because protesting is eating up their studying time.
Oberlin students want to abolish midterms and any grades below C

I remember trying to get a petition in college to extend the day 1 hour, as in physically slow down Earth's rotation. Didn't go anywhere. I did another petition to involve study in wood structural design. That did catch and we had some classes on it.

Looks like a few of the students at Oberlin are a bit out of their mind. Aren't there always a few?

 

[Tom Sawyer]

When I was in university, we started a petition to get the student union building renamed the William Shatner University Center. We got enough signatures to actually put it in as a referendum question on the student council ballot and it passed with 51% in favour. So, McGill now has a building named after frigging Captain Kirk. *

It was the most awesome display of the stupid parts of democracy until Boaty McBoatface came along and took the title.

* Seriously, the William Shatner University Center is an actual thing. I helped do that.

http://ssmu.mcgill.ca/locations/william-shatner-university-centre/

 

[Derec]

What's a rising junior?

A student who will be a junior come Fall. You are a college administrator and are not familiar with the expression?

 

[Derec]

When I was in university, we started a petition to get the student union building renamed the William Shatner University Center. We got enough signatures to actually put it in as a referendum question on the student council ballot and it passed with 51% in favour. So, McGill now has a building named after frigging Captain Kirk. *

Better than naming buildings after a cop killer.

 

[Tom Sawyer]

When I was in university, we started a petition to get the student union building renamed the William Shatner University Center. We got enough signatures to actually put it in as a referendum question on the student council ballot and it passed with 51% in favour. So, McGill now has a building named after frigging Captain Kirk. *

Better than naming buildings after a cop killer.

I'm pretty sure Shatner has killed at least one or two cops in his day, just for kicks.

 

[laughing dog]

Oberlin College students demand no grades less than C and no exams because protesting is eating up their studying time.
Oberlin students want to abolish midterms and any grades below C

As usual, your characterization is misleading. Regardless of the merit of their request, it is for a one time exception for one semester, akin to what Oberlin did for students protesting the Vietnam war (all of which is your link).

 

[Derec]

Oberlin College students demand no grades less than C and no exams because protesting is eating up their studying time.
Oberlin students want to abolish midterms and any grades below C

As usual, your characterization is misleading. Regardless of the merit of their request, it is for a one time exception for one semester, akin to what Oberlin did for students protesting the Vietnam war (all of which is your link).

Which was wrong as well. If you want to protest, do it on your own time.

 

[Nice Squirrel]

What's a rising junior?

A student who will be a junior come Fall. You are a college administrator and are not familiar with the expression?

Nope. We tend to look at credit hours more than "class" for definition.

 

[Sarpedon]

I wonder why it is so hard for 'libertarians' to accept that people can accept liberal ideas of their own free will. No, they must be brainwashed by upperclassmen!

I'm trying to remember how many times I, as a lowerclassman, mingled with upperclassmen, or as an upperclassman, mingled with lowerclassmen. Doesn't seem like something I did very often.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

I wonder why it is so hard for 'libertarians' to accept that people can accept liberal ideas of their own free will. No, they must be brainwashed by upperclassmen!

I'm trying to remember how many times I, as a lowerclassman, mingled with upperclassmen, or as an upperclassman, mingled with lowerclassmen. Doesn't seem like something I did very often.

And sure the heck authoritarianism wasn't what we talked about.

 

[Derec]

Left-wing radicals take over speech, campus security does nothing.
Exclusive: DePaul SJW Ringleader Says Milo ‘Threatens My Safety’, Could Cause Massacres

 

[untermensche]

Oberlin College students demand no grades less than C and no exams because protesting is eating up their studying time.
Oberlin students want to abolish midterms and any grades below C

How dare these students actually try to have a say in the process?

Don't they know they are getting ready for capitalism? Not getting an education.

Where all orders come from above and those below do what they are told or they are fired.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Oberlin College students demand no grades less than C and no exams because protesting is eating up their studying time.
Oberlin students want to abolish midterms and any grades below C

How dare these students actually try to have a say in the process?

Don't they know they are getting ready for capitalism? Not getting an education.

Where all orders come from above and those below do what they are told or they are fired.

The demands are ridiculous. The demands, however, are coming from a minority, not the majority of students. And it may even be a minority of a minority. The idea of having no grade lower than C (unless it becomes "Not Passed") is absurd. And to modify the testing? That is up to the professor.

- - - Updated - - -

Left-wing radicals take over speech, campus security does nothing.
Exclusive: DePaul SJW Ringleader Says Milo ‘Threatens My Safety’, Could Cause Massacres

It is a miracle anyone survived the "chaos" from the "radicals" on campus.

 

[untermensche]

How dare these students actually try to have a say in the process?

Don't they know they are getting ready for capitalism? Not getting an education.

Where all orders come from above and those below do what they are told or they are fired.

The demands are ridiculous. The demands, however, are coming from a minority, not the majority of students. And it may even be a minority of a minority. The idea of having no grade lower than C (unless it becomes "Not Passed") is absurd. And to modify the testing? That is up to the professor.

Who says the demands are ridiculous?

What exactly is the magic that occurs when grades are assigned?

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

The demands are ridiculous. The demands, however, are coming from a minority, not the majority of students. And it may even be a minority of a minority. The idea of having no grade lower than C (unless it becomes "Not Passed") is absurd. And to modify the testing? That is up to the professor.

Who says the demands are ridiculous?

I do. A professor gets to establish their system, not the students. If the prof wants input, that's fine, otherwise, shut the fuck up (the student, not you).

What exactly is the magic that occurs when grades are assigned?

No grade worse than C implies an automatic passing of any course. That is absurd.