Deplorable and Bizzare Protest at Evergreen State College

[dietz199]

There will be silence when it doesn’t fit nicely into the preferred narrative. We like fake news when it favors our world view

[OHMomof2]

What were the denied facts of the confrontation?

[Zinhead]

@HMomof2 - Huffpost just ran an article on Evergreen State.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/5959507ee4b0f078efd98b0e

According to the article, Dr. Lowe was the chief instigator of this.

[Gator88NE]

Ok, this part made me laugh…

A faculty member who sat on the Equity Council explicitly called him a racist in two different faculty meetings. When Professor Weinstein asked for an opportunity to defend himself, he was told that a faculty meeting was not the appropriate venue for such a defense. When he asked what the appropriate venue was, he was told that no such venue existed because he was a racist.

But yes, this all goes back to “Equality of results” and how to achieve that in hiring new faculty. The “Equity Council” wanted to insert itself into the hiring process, and Weinstein pushed back…

[simba9]

It’s not that either liberals or conservatives are intolerant of differing views. It’s more that extremists on both sides are intolerant of differing views.

[ucbalumnus]

@simba9

It’s not that either liberals or conservatives are intolerant of differing views. It’s more that extremists on both sides are intolerant of differing views.

And that extremists are becoming noisier and more powerful, to the point that they become what people tend to see the most and see as representing the general political leaning, inciting others to become extremists.

[simba9]

Yep.

[HarvestMoon1]

A faculty member who sat on the Equity Council explicitly called him a racist in two different faculty meetings. When Professor Weinstein asked for an opportunity to defend himself, he was told that a faculty meeting was not the appropriate venue for such a defense. When he asked what the appropriate venue was, he was told that no such venue existed because he was a racist.

In one of his interviews Professor Weinstein spoke about this faculty meeting. He was also told that he should not expect such a venue because of his “privilege.”

It is hard for me to fathom that these faculty members are actually teaching at a U.S. college. What a bunch of utter baloney.

[fragbot]

I’d be fine with Evergreen losing state funding as this sort of nonsense would be far less discouraging if the organization was private. It’s not like it really serves that many in-state students (it’s the smallest by far of the six main public 4-year institutions–only 4000 students–and it has a higher percentage* of OOS students–38%–than any of the other institutions including UW).

It’s not hyperbole to say that if it went away almost no one outside of Olympia would notice. . .I checked our 4 local high schools’ Naviance data and almost no one applied (seriously, per school, there were a consistent 5-6 students/class who applied; contrast this with Eastern or Central who probably averaged 60 apps each with UW (safety school for the smart kids as long as you’re not applying engineering), WWU (safety for everyone else), and WSU (strong parental component to this) having something like 200-300 each.

*I was surprised by this but it makes sense. If you’re from Washington you’ll know ESC as the hippy school with no requirements so you’ll not get that many applicants locally. Oddly, it occurs to me that the only thing it has going for it politically is its location–the state capitol. I would expect its alumni to be over-represented in state government simply due to proximity.

[simba9]

I wonder how many people at Evergreen State are genuinely angry at Prof. Weinstein? Is this a case where only 5% of the student population and staff are genuinely upset at the guy?

When a small group of people protest at UC Berkeley, people outside the Bay Area think all the students at Berkeley are wearing Che Guevara t-shirts, berets, and bandoliers with hand-grenades hanging off them. Then you walk around the campus and see it’s just like any other campus, with students more concerned about midterms than matters of state. The same thing may be going on at Evergreen State.

Remember, the media report on exceptions to the norm, rather than the norm.

[Gator88NE]

I sense some of you may be down on Evergreen State! As Speedy the Geoduck i* School Mascot would say, “Let’s get some school pride going and let it all HANG OUT!”.

:D/ The Geoduck Fight Song :D/

Go, Geoducks go,
Through the mud and the sand,
let’s go.
Siphon high, squirt it out,
swivel all about,
let it all hang out.

Go, Geoducks go,
Stretch your necks when the tide
is low
Siphon high, squirt it out,
swivel all about,
let it all hang out.

[ucbalumnus]

@fragbot

It’s not hyperbole to say that if it went away almost no one outside of Olympia would notice. . .I checked our 4 local high schools’ Naviance data and almost no one applied (seriously, per school, there were a consistent 5-6 students/class who applied; contrast this with Eastern or Central who probably averaged 60 apps each with UW (safety school for the smart kids as long as you’re not applying engineering), WWU (safety for everyone else), and WSU (strong parental component to this) having something like 200-300 each.

Evergreen State’s non-hippie students are probably mostly non-traditional students who come in by transfer. The school does offer evening courses for them, and the open curriculum does make it easy for such students to earn a BA if needed as a credential without worrying about checking a lot of requirement boxes.

[sorghum]

This explains the rather unlikely claim that black trans students were being targeted by the police because of their being black and trans:

Given that one of the complaints raised by the protestors was that the police were targeting certain individuals, black trans students in particular, and given that the students accused of pushing the vice president and accosting the student in the cafeteria were black trans individuals, it seems reasonable to assume that the protests were, in part, designed to deflect unwanted attention for possibly inappropriate actions.

And who can concoct any justification for this?:

Let’s begin with the faculty member who publicly called Professor Weinstein a racist. On 14 November, two days prior to the meeting at which the Equity Council’s strategic plan was released, she made the following post on Facebook: “SERIOUSLY JUST BE QUIET. ONLY APPOINTED/APPROVED WHITES CAN SPEAK (AND ONLY WHEN SPOKEN TO). When that post, a post by a member of the Equity Council, was brought to the attention of President Bridges, he opted to do nothing publicly.

[WildestDream]

At least the college protests back in the 1960s at places like Berkeley were done to push for MORE freedom. Here, students appear to be pushing for less rights and more restrictions on free speech. Ironic.

[ucbalumnus]

http://www.evergreen.edu/institutionalresearch/newstudents has some information about Evergreen State enrollment.

• New transfer students actually outnumber new frosh (in 2016, 675 to 572).
• 71.7% of transfers came from 2-year colleges.
• 40.4% of frosh are non-WA residents, versus 20.3% of transfers.
• 80.8% of frosh came directly from high school, versus 15.0% after gap years, and 4.2% after GED.

This makes it look like ESC exists to serve WA-resident non-traditional students in the Olympia area, while also collecting non-resident tuition money from out-of-state parents willing to send their hippie kids (whose academic credentials are too weak to get into other schools attractive to hippies) there.

[simba9]

Who has the better mascot? Evergreen State Geoducks or UC Santa Cruz Banana Slugs? I’m guessing the number #1 sport at both schools is ultimate frisbee. Or hacky sack.

People do come up with some pretty good mascot names when they’re using mind-altering substances.

First time I ever heard of Evergreen State, which would have been sometime in the 1970s, I had the impression that it was mostly an experimental school open to anyone rather than a “real” school with enrollment standards.

[ucbalumnus]

@simba9

Who has the better mascot? Evergreen State Geoducks or UC Santa Cruz Banana Slugs?

Rhode Island School of Design would be in the competition for mascots, but its mascot is not G-rated.

Stanford students once proposed changing the mascot to the Robber Barons, but the administration refused.
http://stanforddailyarchive.com/cgi-bin/stanford?a=d&d=stanford19751205-01.2.2#

[Gator88NE]

Man Charged in Threats Against Evergreen State

Authorities in New Jersey have charged Robert W. Kerekes Jr., who lives in the state, with making phone threats that led Evergreen State College, in Washington State, to close for parts of three days, NJ.com reported.

https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2017/07/05/man-charged-threats-against-evergreen-state

He was arrested Monday and charged with terroristic threats, criminal coercion and false public alarm.

http://www.nj.com/morris/index.ssf/2017/07/morris_mans_threats_led_to_2-day_shutdown_of_college_authorities_say.html

[HarvestMoon1]

Odd that the threats came from someone in N.J. Wondering what prompted him to do this.

[OHMomof2]

^ The rabid outraged news coverage, maybe?

“Yes, I’m on my way to Evergreen University now with a .44 Magnum. I’m gonna execute as many people on that campus as I can get a hold of. You have that? What’s going on there? You communist, scumbag town. I’m going to murder as many people on that campus as I can. Just keep your eyes open, you scumbag.”

https://patch.com/new-jersey/morris/morris-plains-man-threatened-west-coast-college-gun-prosecutor

Recording: https://■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/seattletimes/threat-to-evergreen-state-college

At least he didn’t actually show up with a gun like the pizza place guy.