.....hmmmm.....what to do...on a rainy day in San Diego...can't go to the beach...so I guess I should do some writing...but about what?...the Dems and GOP lovefest in front of the cameras?...Nancy Pelosi's comment of the Health Care Bill creating 4 million new jobs?...some sobering trends for the global economy?...Carly Simon finally revealing who is "so vain" in her 1973 megahit?.... the Chargers sending LT packing....the athleticism of Olympic curling?....
...well this is a slippery slope but I am going to attempt to offer some advice for my friends at UC San Diego in the midst of all of the tension due to some racial incidents...and in case you haven't heard of these events go to http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/feb/26/noose-protest-ucsd/ or any one of hundreds of other sites to read more...
...now I guess as an educator what disturbs me the most is that there could be future leaders of society at such a fine research University where some frat boys could sit around a room...or perhaps use Twitter or texting...and not one of them could have the critical thinking skills to say...hmmmmm....maybe we shouldn't have a "Compton Cookout" dressed in blackface...maybe this could cause some trouble for us?...but no luck...and the results were very predictable...
...so now we have a full blown crisis...made worse by a young woman admitting to placing a rope noose in the library on Friday...sheesh?...can it get worse?...wonder what field of study she was engaged in...and now she has been expelled from UCSD...screwing her life up...the Vice-Chancellor of UCSD said that the young woman and two others "didn't think leaving a noose was a big deal"...front page of Saturday's SD U-T...what?...&$?!X**^!!...arghh!....not a big deal?...so much for hope in the future....
...so here we are in the midst of more crises than we can count...real crises like Haiti...an 8.8 earthquake in Chile overnight...California is melting down from its budget woes...the resignation of Obama's social secretary...global warming...and the sale of Carl's Jr...I mean...the insanity of it all...and we are spending enormous time and energy and effort on the stupidy of these students?...I just don't think that it is quite the 'dastardly crime" that UCSD Chancellor Fox referred to it as...stupid, insensitive, demeaning and more...absolutely...but a "dastardly crime?"...for a misdeameanor?...c'mon...we have bigger issues (and "crimes") to focus on...
...so what should UCSD do before this thing really spirals out of control?...well...I guess it already has done that...but you know what I mean...
...I think that we need to start with the assumption that we can find idiots in pretty much any group...including students...adults...professors....7-11 clerks...Congress...I mean look at the late Captain Phil of Deadliest Catch!...the dummy couldn't give up the smokes and Red Bull and we all knew what was going to happen...when we see him pass a blood clot the size of a quarter through his heart and he keeps on inhaling!....
...so we must start with the proposition that there are foolish people everywhere...and even smart people can be foolish...it is in our DNA...and lapses of judgment in a few shouldn't lead us to assume that the entire organization, group, firm, society or association is at fault or unresponsive...including UCSD or any other school...but let's get on with it!...and not take over offices like it is the Vietnam War or something similar...deal with the young fools...root it out...
...but move on with the processes and formidable task of education...because we have crises everywhere to tend to...like making higher education accessible and affordable to more people...and at the end of the day we need all of these incredible young people to take their leadership place in the workplace and society as a whole...and not just on this one issue...
...and while Dr. King and others did indeed protest...they also wrote, preached and spoke forcefully and passionately...and persuaded other individuals and institutions to change...so I would propose that instead of taking over offices and ordering pizzas and sandwiches... why cannot this energy be focused into reasoned discourse?...or a student led proposal for change and not just criticizing the administration...perhaps you could start with a code of conduct for fraternities?...or shutting them down if they cannot abide by an existing code of conduct?...
...so rather than shutting down the campus which already has enough problems...let's figure out some solutions rather than screaming at each other...I would love to see students show to the faculty and administration their capacity to point the way out of this...
..There are lots and lots of questions being raised right now through this sordid mess...too many...and raising the questions or concerns or criticisms is the easy part...finding solutions is the art of wisdom...
The first step to getting the things you want out of life is this: Decide what you want." -Ben Stein
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