(October 15, 2014)
Four students enrolled at Southern Oregon University (SOU) were threatened with arrest last Tuesday for passing out subversive documents. According to Campus Reform, “university officials threatened to call the police and [take] disciplinary action against students” in question. So what were the students handing out that got the administration’s hackles up? Copies of the U.S. Constitution. The group was also collecting signatures to end the university’s restrictive speech policies, which limit free speech to an area that equals less than 1% of campus.Other than that Oregon is a "Red State", I have rarely been ashamed of being a native Oregonian.
Still, I am ashamed of the way the People in Power, here (as elsewhere) treat our citizens. More, I'm ashamed that the gene pool is so small here, small-minded people find themselves in a position where they can feel empowered to undermine the people they are pledged to serve.
And never more so than when the colleges (and actual "universities" in the Oregon University System) attempt to brow-beat and discourage the bright young minds, with whose "positive" education they are charged.
Southern Oregon University is not above proselytizing itself online ...
Here you'll connect and collaborate with your faculty, fellow students, the Rogue Valley community, and the world.... but when four students attempt to exercise their rights on campus, the otherwise-impotent bullies are all over them with veiled threats and intimidation techniques.
Smaller classes and creative approaches prepare you for success. Deep cultural resources and unique surroundings provide inspiration beyond the classroom.
If you're searching for an outstanding approach to learning, SOU may be the choice for you.
On a few (most? All?) of the campuses in the Oregon University System there is a "Free Speech" area, where speakers may say what they want. If the students choose a more "public" area (such as one in most-traveled by students .. and thus more likely one where there speech may be heard by other students), they are denied their First Amendment rights. By the administration!
(Administrators are not educators; they are paper-pushers. You take what you can get.)
First a minor official (administrator) asks the students to stop their
He kicks student butt, and walks away feeling Empowered.
One wonders what these students are learning from this experience.
Valuable Lessons, I'm sure!
Students (and faculty) who do not obey the University policies are subject to being removed from the campus. Student registration can and will be arbitrarily cancelled. Students may be be removed from enrollment ... and don't think, kiddies, that the other colleges in the Oregon University System will not quickly learn that you have been blackballed.
One of the students said on the video "I'm from Mollala and I have a right to be here". Which means she is a legal resident of the state and yes, she DOES have a right to be there. Her continued attendance should be based on her academic performance. In truth, it depends on her willingness to kowtow to the arbitrary wishes of the pettifogging officials who rule their fief with an iron hand.
Employees can and will be terminated ... with cause. (After all, Policy is King on college campus.)
- The Golden Rule: "He who has the gold, gets to make the rules.
more-or-less quote: " I know you are trying to (do something), "but you need my permission to do so ... I have the right to tell you not to .... I'm asking you not to".
- It doesn't matter if you're right, you have no power and you have no rights on campus.
paraphrase: "I'm asking you to stop" means 'you WILL stop, right damn riki-tiki! Or you're out of here!' The threat is veiled, but is is obvious.
Everyone is so very very polite to each other, but it's still a power play, These college administrators are people who couldn't hold a job in private industry, so they came back to School where they can exercise their tendencies to be a martinet. After all, they know that the "kids" they are dominating are absolutely without power, The Administrators may not have RIGHT on their side (they concede that to the "children" .. but they have MIGHT.
And exercise that might, they do.
These small-minded Administrative Overlords treat their JOB as if it was their License To Kill All Individual Thought in the students they supposedly support..
They are not representative ...
... of the majority of good people who hold down the same job in other institutions.
I worked in the Oregon University System for over 15 years, and the majority of the people I worked with were, well, normal. They're the kind of people you like to work with; dedicated, responsible, reasonable and as sane as the next guy or lady. You would invite them to dinner in your home, and regret that they had to leave so early
And then, there are the 'precious few' who you would not invite, and regret that they not only show up uninvited but were the last to leave. They "Know What's Right" and are not too proud to tell you all about it.
These people are The Martinets.
If it wasn't that their job allows them to Feel Big, they wouldn't have accepted it. And if the job wasn't the lowest administrative scut job in the organization, and nobody else would take it .. they wouldn't have been offered the position.
You get what you pay for.
Unfortunately,
2 comments:
Some times you have to browbeat people into proper thinking. Our own POTUS has expounded on the imperfection and failings of the constitution. Remember fundmental change is the name of the game.
Liberals love free speech as long as it agrees with them.
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