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from the I'm-not-touching-this-with-a-ten-foot-pole dept.
The Guardian has a fascinating piece entitled Sexual paranoia on campus – and the professor at the eye of the storm. There is a lot going on in this article/interview and it touches on a lot of different issues in both society and higher-ed in general. Some choice quotes:
But you do end up making strange bedfellows. The people supporting free speech now are the conservatives. It's incomprehensible to me, but it's the so-called liberals on campus, the students who think of themselves as activists, who are becoming increasingly authoritarian. So I'm trying to step carefully. It's not like you want to make certain allies, particularly the men's rights people.
Kipnis's original essay was provoked by an email she received about a year before, informing her that relationships – dating, romantic or sexual – between undergraduates and faculty members at Northwestern were now banned. The same email informed her that relationships between graduates and staff, though not forbidden, were also problematic, and had to be reported to department chairs. "It annoyed me," she says. The language was neutral, but it seemed clear that it was mostly women this code was meant to protect. She thought of all those she knew who are married to former students, or who are the children of such couples, and wondered where this left them. It seemed to her this was part of a process that was transforming the "professoriate" into a sexually suspicious class: "would-be harassers all, sexual predators in waiting".
On a personal note, when I interact with students (which is every day), it's always either with an open office door, or in a public area. So as not to be discriminatory, I do the same for all students, men, women, or others. This sort of culture on campuses does make everyone suspicious of everyone else and it makes it hard to trust others. Students can't trust the instructors because they might "do something", staff can't trust the students because even a false accusation can be career ending, so there's this overall chilling effect that occurs when what should be a collegiate environment turns into an us vs them thing. This is definitely worse in some places than others, but there is an undercurrent of it everywhere. I applaud Laura Kipnis for bringing these issues to the light -- if we're going down this route, it should at least be a conscious community decision rather than bureaucratic policy handed down from University Counsel and risk assessment teams.
(Score: 2) by julian on Thursday April 13 2017, @10:58PM (9 children)
Schizophrenia often causes paranoid delusions of CIA or other government agencies personally spying on you, but vast Jewish conspiracies are also a common theme. I hope you get the help you clearly need.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 13 2017, @11:05PM
You just need a common culture—the more religious, the better.
(Score: 2) by Hartree on Thursday April 13 2017, @11:11PM (2 children)
Yeah, he's probably already been trying to get a surgeon to remove the microchip they implanted in his head.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 13 2017, @11:15PM (1 child)
But the only surgeons he could find to do it were all jewish.
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 13 2017, @11:50PM
"But the only surgeons he could find to do it were all jewish."
Well, duh. All the non-Jewish doctors just said "There is no microchip in your head, go see a shrink for your mania". The Jewish ones said "Sure, I can remove it no problem, here is the surgery bill".
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Ethanol-fueled on Friday April 14 2017, @12:17AM (3 children)
People called me Schizophrenic when I told them 5 years ago that the NSA was spying on everybody.
But now, since that's politically-incorrect nowadays, their new dog-whistle is "conspiracy theorist."
Also -- Voltaire ' if you want to know who rules you who can't you insult" yadda yadda.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 14 2017, @01:35AM
Also -- Voltaire ' if you want to know who rules you who can't you insult" yadda yadda.
This explains much.
I guess when you've finally finished proving nobody rules you, you'll go back to being a meek, mild-mannered reporter?
(Score: 2) by kaszz on Friday April 14 2017, @02:55AM
Some people just can't comprehend complex issues. Dump them?
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Friday April 14 2017, @09:33PM
People called me Schizophrenic when I told them 5 years ago that the NSA was spying on everybody.
5 years ago? They admitted they were doing it while Bush was still president.
I guess it's only spying-while-black that you are opposed to.
(Score: 2) by Bot on Saturday April 15 2017, @12:42PM
back before the leaks:
> Schizophrenia often causes paranoid delusions of CIA or other government agencies spying on you
post leaks:
> Schizophrenia often causes paranoid delusions of CIA or other government agencies personally spying on you
My AI notices.
Account abandoned.