"Someone wrote ‘Trump 2016’ on Emory’s campus in chalk"

"Some students said they no longer feel safe."

Students woke up Monday morning to find messages written in chalk all over campus, in support of Donald Trump. That afternoon, a group of 40 to 50 students protested. According to the student newspaper, the Emory Wheel, they shouted in the quad, “You are not listening! Come speak to us, we are in pain!” and then students moved into the administration building calling out, “It is our duty to fight for our freedom. It is our duty to win. We must love each other and support each other. We have nothing to lose but our chains.”

Jim Wagner, the president of the university in Atlanta, met with the protesters and later sent an email to the campus community, explaining, in part, “During our conversation, they voiced their genuine concern and pain in the face of this perceived intimidation.

“After meeting with our students, I cannot dismiss their expression of feelings and concern as motivated only by political preference or over-sensitivity. Instead, the students with whom I spoke heard a message, not about political process or candidate choice, but instead about values regarding diversity and respect that clash with Emory’s own.”

The story spread quickly, as media such as Reason mocked, “At Emory University, Writing ‘Trump 2016′ on Sidewalk Is a Racist Microaggression…,” with references to students needing “trigger warnings” and “safe spaces” to protect them from presidential candidates’ names and slogans. For many, it was another sign of college students being so overly sensitive that even political campaigning could be seen as hate speech.

Link to picture source

ignoring your college professor's lecture
to play a game where you serve fast-food to people for fun

WaPo: ‘White Student Union’ challenges Black Lives Matter at University of Illinois

"A Facebook page ostensibly created for an audience at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign called “Illini White Students Union” has drawn fire after it characterized the national Black Lives Matter movement as “terrorism.”"

The page did not last long in its original incarnation, but was taken down after three hours. It has since been revived here.

“We recognize the right to free speech, and we encourage you to exercise that right when you see examples of racism, discrimination or intimidation on our campus,” Interim Chancellor Barbara Wilson, who called the page “extremely disturbing,” wrote in a message Thursday to the student body.

In an anonymous message to the News-Gazette, the page’s administrator discussed Black Lives Matter.

“We feel they disrupt student daily life and activity far too much,” the message read, saying that movement “marginalizes” white students. “… We are in the United States and not Africa and we don’t desire to have an African flag on campus.”

More University disruption and abuse disguised as discourse

"University of Texas law student and cohorts disrupt Israeli professor’s talk"

Legal Insurrection has the details:
The ringleader of the group has been identified as a UT law student named Mohammed Nabulsi. Despite being asked repeatedly to either leave or sit down and listen to the lecture, Nabulsi kept insisting that he was going to give a speech, and as an argument ensued between Prof. Pedahzur and Nabulsi, the other protesters began chanting “Free Free Palestine” and other slogans.

The PSC, ironically, is circulating an (edited) video of the disruption, (see below) somehow believing that the end result is that Pedahzur should be punished (they misidentify him in the video). Give them points for chutzpah, at least. But in fact, the video, even in its edited version, should be enough for University of Texas to suspend the lot of protesters, Nabulsi in particular. Is the university going to tolerate preplanned disruption of campus events? Legal Insurrection has additional video.

Masters Degree Requirements, ca 1200 AD

I'm reading this book, which you can purchase from Amazon dot com by clicking on Lem's Amazon portal.

A few chapters describe how universities were formed in Europe in the 11th century.  The first universities issued certificates or licenses for Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts.

A Bachelor of Arts certificate took 4-5 years to earn, and at the end of it the student had to "determine a question", essentially orally defend a question given him by his instructors, using all he had learned.

A Master of Arts certificate took another two years and provided a license to teach in any university in Europe.  Since the only books available were the few that had been laboriously copied by monks, books were "heard" rather than read, that is, a professor would read and explain them to students, encouraging discussion.