Fairness dictates that we note
the University of Michigan
decided that
their students were mentally stable
enough after all
to endure the showing of American Sniper
on campus. Clearly they were unable to stand ridicule
of their politically-correct wussiness.
Last October, Arizona State
University’s athletics department banned
facepaint — “whether the theme is black, maroon, gold or white” —
because ASU is an “inclusive and forward-thinking university” and they
must make sure that “everyone feels safe and accepted.” They did not
explain whether or not any students had actually reported feeling
threatened by the paint, and if so, how those students were handling
their lives currently.
To the unwary, “sustainability” is the newer name for environmentalism.
But the goals of the sustainability
movement are different. They go far beyond ensuring clean air and water
and protecting vulnerable plants
and animals. As an ideology, sustainability takes aim at economic and
political liberty. Sustainability pictures
economic liberty as a combination of strip mining, industrial waste, and
rampant pollution. It pictures
political liberty as people voting to enjoy the present, heedless of
what it will cost future generations.
Sustainability’s alternative to economic liberty is a regime of
far-reaching regulation that controls virtually
every aspect of energy, industry, personal consumption, waste, food, and
transportation. Sustainability’s
alternative to political liberty is control vested in agencies and
panels run by experts insulated from
elections or other expressions of popular will.
The University Near Here has its very own Sustainability Institute.
They don't advertise their hostility to economic and political
liberty, but I imagine they would do so if plied with enough
organic, locally-produced wine.
(paid link)
George Leef has
an
interesting and provocative article
looking at
a new book by Kevin Carey: The
End of College: Creating the Future of Learning and the University of
Everywhere. It's about the impending breakout
of low-priced higher education. Folks in the employ of
your traditional bricks-and-mortar universities, beware:
One implication of the rise of the University of Everywhere seems to be
that in the future, students who are serious about learning and
demonstrating their capabilities will stop enrolling in the typical
college or university. Those institutions have developed great expertise
in hauling in money but remarkably little expertise in teaching and
assessing student outcomes.
Why it's enough to make a University administrator sound
like
Governor William J. Le Petomane: "We have to protect our phoney
baloney jobs here, gentlemen! We must do something about this
immediately! Immediately! Immediately! Harrumph! Harrumph! Harrumph!"
I've put Carey's book on the top of the to-be-read pile.
Despite the blog's title, we don't do a lot of puns here. But
this one gave me a chuckle:
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