Campus climate roundup

  • Some profs still deny: “The Glaring Evidence That Free Speech Is Threatened on Campus” [Conor Friedersdorf]
  • Student demands at Western Washington University would “create an almost cartoonishly autocratic liberal thought police on campus” [Robby Soave] After University of Kansas professor tried awkwardly to discuss her own white privilege, students took offense and things haven’t gone well for her [Robby Soave: update, Althouse]
  • Feds equivocate on whether notorious campus “Dear Colleague” letter has force of law [Hans Bader, CEI; George Leef, Pope Center; me on the letter in 2013]
  • Yale expels the captain of its basketball team, and KC Johnson has some questions Minding the Campus, Academic Wonderland]
  • I wanted to scream about insensitive canoe discourse in Canada and there was no one to hear me but the loons [CBC] And an instant classic: feminist glaciology framework for a more just and equitable science and “human-ice interactions” [Sage Journals; U. of Oregon, part of $412K NSF grant]
  • Lose that worldview, citizen: attending public Oklahoma university requires “changing our worldview to accommodate others’ experiences of oppression.” [Audra Brulc via @DouglasLevene]

One Comment

  • One favorite bugaboo for college students and those who encourage them is “cultural appropriation.” You can’t have a Sombrero at a Cinco De Mayo party because you are guilty of “cultural appropriation.”

    But what amuses me is the inconsistency!

    Women “appropriate” PTSD terminology (i.e., “triggers”) which was formulated when dealing with soldiers returning from war.

    Others appropriate the symptoms and treatment for a very serious disease–Celiac Disease–when eating “gluten free foods.”

    And still others think nothing of appropriating Eastern Cultures and Religious practices when talking about mindfulness and meditation.

    I can respect any point of view–even those I disagree with–as long as they’re consistent. The Left (of which I used to consider myself a part!) is now a fascist, pro-censorship group that is against anyone who is successful.