Waitaminute. Did BrianKagy just post a snark-free, sincere opinion? Is this some kind of crazy dream or did somebody get a hold of his account? Either way, good post. texxx is on ignore so I can only piece together his beef here, but I would think his brother, who happens to speak Spanish don't you know, would be deeply offended by the young cons' demonstration. After all, he deplores all forms of protest and he's been known to co-opt the plight of minorities in this country by virtue of his Spanish speaking.
You are correct Brian, yet there needs to be balance. I'm all for people expressing whatever views they feel they need to express...and I'm all for protecting that expression from being shouted down... ...yet I'm also for students having a peaceful environment to study and learn. Colleges and Universities are very good places for free speech and political exploration by the youth of America. Its a place to get different views on the world from people with different political, ethnic, cultural, and national backgrounds...BUT...its also a place to learn and be educated in whatever subject a student chooses to study. A student has just as much right to walk across campus with his/her engineering project without being interrupted with rioting and tear gas. Of course this is a very extreme example, but most students have work, school, family, money, studying, tests, papers, projects, clubs, ect. to worry about. Toss on that the possibility of a riot on campus when they are trying to get to their midterm, it only increases the stress level for EVERYBODY. As in all things, a balance probably exists and if people would just respect each other as people FIRST, then worry about their political or social differences, views could be shared across the US at every campus much easier.
glynch, Rice's students are very liberal. Myself and Jorge are very much exceptions to the rule in terms of political affiliations there. Your idea that Rice has a conservative student body is way off base. You also incorrectly assumed that Rice had an undergraduate business school the other day. You need to do more research before making ignorant statements.
Sam, I appreciate your concern. I really do. The fact that this occurred at UT was very much secondary in nature to the actual events that happened. I would have posted it no matter where it happened. It was just by chance that it happened at UT. Sam, it's only 7:25 eastern on a Friday night. You really need to get back to work instead of surfing the web. Chop chop.
Well, sure, I just said the same thing YOU did. Well, I'm in agreement with you on that although there were all kinds of political inanity going on in Austin when I was an undergrad and it never even came close to interfering with my ahem studying or learning. The problem in that position is that you open things up to oppression. Even if an advocacy group starts threatening to interfere with university operations, up to and including classes themselves, I just don't think you can cave to them. It's a slippery slope (a phrase which I hate but which applies here) and one that sacrifices freedom of political expression in favor of preservation of university instruction. Having experienced them both, I can tell you I find one more valuable than the other.
Texxx, you'll be happy to know that a timely settlement has postively affected my leisure hours in the past few weeks, which I have been exploiting of course. You'll be unhappy, however, to know that I am contemplating cancellation of our impending mountaineering class. Any junket where I must spend 6 days with total strangers for a four figure sum and am expected/recommended to carry something known as a "poop tube" is unacceptable, despite the fact that I am of hardy stock.
Bigtexx, actually I was aware that Rice has no undergrad biz school. Didn't Jorge get a masters there? Hayes is what passes for a liberal at Rice U. Doesn't hate immigrants or social spending just loves war and arms races. Rice is probably the most conservative top 25 school in the country. Of course you would probably consider a Lieberman Demo to be liberal. My next door neighbor a Rice U history prof says it is getting better (i.e. more liberal) as more folks from the Northeast move there. As a recent example of liberalism on the campus he could only cite me that the students protested the blatantly homophobic remarks of the football coach a couple of years ago. Here's the current big exciting political (free speech) event at Rice U. I really think that the two incidents reflect in the overall superiority of a UT education, though Rice U. students have higher SAT scores than all but the top 1/4 or so at UT and they probably spend more hours studying. ******* Rice protesters decry hazing suspensions They want both lacrosse teams back and five students to return By ANNE MARIE KILDAY Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle Rice University officials have disbanded the school's men's and women's lacrosse teams and suspended five team captains, accusing them of participating in a hazing incident that ended with four students being taken to the hospital after consuming large amounts of alcohol. The disciplinary actions, announced last month, were the focus of a boisterous protest by about 60 students on the university's main quadrangle Friday. Many of the protesters said new team members were not "forced" to drink alcoholic beverages during an initiation party, that two of the men's team members were taken to the hospital because they had gotten into a fight — not for excessive intoxication — and that university officials had not taken the time to read their letters about the incident. As students chanted "Rice is not a high school!" and "Free Lacrosse," the university's Dean of Undergraduate Students Robin Forman met with the protesters to defend the disciplinary actions. "The point is that a university is a community, and we have to take some responsibility for each other," Forman said. "It is unfortunate that those students who had been willing to take on leadership positions, who had responsibility for the other students ... faced the strictest discipline." The suspensions were announced last month by Assistant Dean of Student Judicial Programs Don H. Ostdiek. In letters to the men's and women's lacrosse teams early last month, Ostdiek explained his decision to disband the teams until fall 2006 following his investigation into an off-campus party Dec. 3. According to the letter, at the party new male and female team members were handcuffed together and asked to drink a fifth of hard liquor as a part of an initiation rite. "This equates to about 17 drinks of 1.5 ounces per male/female pair," Ostdiek wrote. "As a result of this organized drinking activity, at least several of the initiates became severely intoxicated. No less than four students required transport to local hospitals for emergency care." Hazing is a criminal offense, punishable by a $1,000 fine and up to 180 days in jail or both. Organizations that are found responsible for hazing can face fines as high as $10,000, under a 1987 Texas law. Forman declined to say whether Rice officials had local law enforcement to investigate the incident. The five student captains — three men and two women — have been suspended from the university for three semesters. link
LOL. You clearly don't have a clue about this, glynch. Here are some of the top 20 schools that I believe are more conservative than Rice: Duke, Notre Dame (this is a no-brainer), Vandy, Emory, Wash U, I left out a lot of the northeast ivies due to the generally misguided/liberal atmosphere that exists in that part of the country. Your second point about Rice getting "less conservative" as more folks from the Northeast go there is simply absurd. 50% of Rice's students come from outside of Texas. I'd wager that no other school in the state has such a high percentage. In fact it's probably not even close. I think that number is actually down from when I was there. I believe when I was there, only 40% of the students were from Texas. glynch once again you need to do some research before running your mouth. Did you boy end up not getting in or something?
Hey man can't you take a compliment? You raised a a few issues I didn't like that any other group could exploit the situation just by threatening to riot when someone was going to say something that they didn't like.
Who's up for a first hand account? I was around campus for most of the day, and didn't particularly want anything to do with it, but to be clear, the most that was thrown was candy. You had large groups of people staring off at each other because, believe it or not, UT is a large school. From my view, the YCs didn't seem to be particularly outnumbered. The story here is that the "immigrant round-up" didn't happen. There were rumors about it stemming from the fact that the YCT chapters at UNT and TCU did it. And allegedly, it was never going to happen. Here's a quote from the YCT chairman: To quote their chairman, Lauren Conner, "I agree with the point other chapters were attempting to make. However I do not agree with their method." Also, "I can't tell you how many times I was asked yesterday if I was Latino, as if that had any bearing on this issue." Courtesy of The Daily Texan PS- bigtexxx, when are you going to post about the Israel Block Party going on in the South Mall going off without a hint of anti-Israeli/anti-Palestinian sentiments?
Liberal doesn't necessarily mean draft dodging, World Marxist Review subscribing, Lenin poster hanging, Che' t-shirt and beret wearing either, bub.
Liberal doesn't necessarily mean draft dodging, World Marxist Review subscribing, Lenin poster hanging, Che' t-shirt and beret wearing either, bub. I agree. However, I think a strong tendency to prefer war and arms races, over advocating social justice , as a way of alleviating international tensions, is precluded. Surely you aren't calling yourself a liberal all of a sudden. Just cause Bigtexx might. hmmmm, World Marxist Review. Is it worth reading?
No, I don't fit into one category - which is why I'm an independent. I am in favor of some traditionally 'liberal' policies - mostly in domestic policy. However, I don't think being a liberal precludes being a foreign policy 'hawk,' so to speak, anymore than 'conservative' means you have to be against the environment. You're too concerned with defining yourself instead of looking at situations and trying to find solutions. YOUR identity is more important to you than finding answers. But that's your legacy - the 60s liberal. I think you missed the boat on that one. I think it....went out of business (hahahahahahaha).
Frankly, Hayes, I was just razzing you. I could care less whether you call yourself a conservative or a liberal. If we agree on an issue we agree; if not, I'll disagree with you. On issues on which we agree there isn't really too much to say. When discussing with liberals who I largely agree with, after awhile, the most interesting topics are often the ones where we don't agree.