.... Can college be reinvigorated?
May 01, 2024
Dear Patriot,
Contagious thinking spreads quickly among ill-educated, propagandized college students. They are highly susceptible to catching any faddish bug that happens to fly by. We understand. We have all been kids who thought we were smarter than the old white people.
However, it is frustrating to see that most of the protesting students have no context or historical knowledge of Israel and Palestine. They also think living in a pup-tent for a few spring days might help the people of Palestine.
Hopefully, these children and their professors will grow up, learn to think critically, learn how to apply logic, learn to seek the truth, and learn how to shrug off propaganda. Until then, we ask that you pray for all college-aged Americans. They are our future and we need them to be stronger, smarter and more resilient.
Meanwhile, it is entertaining to see these institutions falling in on themselves. By hiring communist professors, only admitting leftist, below grade students and elevating unqualified leadership, they have made their patch ripe for this behavior. Let them stew in their own juices.
Today we bring you…
the adult way of handling a toddler having a melt down.
a take on why these protests are not resonating.
the ideology that is the fertilizer for a skull full of mush. (As Rush used to say.)
a little hope that we can turn this insanity back.
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1- One may ponder that all of our universities are actually very expensive day care for toddlers.
It was good to see the University of Florida stand up to the 4-year-old behaviors of students.
UF taking firm stance on campus pro-Palestinian protesters, with several arrests: 'Not a daycare'
QUOTE: The University of Florida is taking a firm stance on campus protesters amid ongoing demonstrations at schools across the country in support of the Palestinians in the ongoing conflict with Israel.
Campus police and the Florida Highway Patrol reported the arrest of nine individuals on Monday for failing to adhere to protest regulations.
UF, like many other colleges and universities, has been grappling with protests by students and faculty. However, recent measures have been implemented, with the campus administration announcing new rules and warnings that violators would be treated as trespassers.
"The University of Florida is not a daycare, and we do not treat protesters like children — they knew the rules, they broke the rules, and they’ll face the consequences," the university said in a statement.
"For many days, we have patiently told protesters — many of whom are outside agitators — that they were able to exercise their right to free speech and free assembly. And we also told them that clearly prohibited activities would result in a trespassing order from UPD (barring them from all university properties for three years) and an interim suspension from the university," the statement continued.
On Monday, individuals who did not comply with these regulations faced arrest.
"For days, UPD patiently and consistently reiterated the rules. Today, individuals who refused to comply were arrested after UPD gave multiple warnings and multiple opportunities to comply," the school said.
The identities of those arrested and the charges they face were not immediately released by the school.
2- Many of us are suffering from eye muscle sprain due to rolling our eyes all day as we see the antics of the current fad of protests by under-educated youngsters. Even more eye-rolling occurs at the bumbling efforts of university presidents to get control of their woke campuses.
Some on the DTR staff harken back to the day when “Make Love, Not War.” was the slogan. Now, those were the days!
We always love reading Don Surber’s take on the current scene. On this topic he does not disappoint.
The lesson from Columbia: The protest is not getting much traction for several reasons.
QUOTE: Despite all the news actualities on TV and all the commentary, Americans show a deliberate disinterest in the shenanigans on college campuses.
This is a far cry from the college protests of the Vietnam war. Maybe it was the constant barrage of protests and counter-protests on TV each night, but both sides were very involved.
This protest is not getting much traction for several reasons.
The first reason is nobody cares. Jim Carville had a rant on Twitter and he said of 15 issues people under 30 were asked to rank, young people listed the Palestinian war as No. 15.
I am pretty sure Vietnam was the No. 1 issue among young people from 1965 to 1973, when our participation ended. A generation of young men had draft cards which meant we had skin in that game. History says the protests worked but history is written by idiots. Nixon carried 49 states while the antiwar George McGovern carried Massachusetts and DC in 1972.
We do not have 500,000 troops stationed in Jerusalem. We do not have 5,000. American involvement is all CIA and a few menacing ships at this point. This is not our war.
Unlike the Vietnam protests, these protesters are siding with the bad guys, Hamas, the people who raped, tortured, murdered and then mutilated the bodies of 1,400 people on October 7 — taking another 240 people hostage. You cannot say you are antiwar if you take a side.
Which leads to the third reason the protesters turn people off: anti-Semitism. America may be the last nation in the world that’s not named Israel that still opposes the hating of Jews. The Holocaust still bothers many Americans and swastikas remain evil in our country. Indeed, polls show Americans overwhelmingly side with Israel.
There are aesthetic reasons as well. As I recall, the girls in the Vietnam protests were hot. Two generations later, the girls are chubbier and wearing masks. You also don’t know if you will get a surprise when she takes off her jeans.
The masks are a relic of the war America had with its government over covid. We lost to a 98-pound weakling named Tony Fauci, who is like 100 years old. The masks remind us and we are ashamed of our cowardice.
3- This is the method being used on campus to ruin, or infect, students.
Christopher Rufo at City Journal
DEI Conquers Stanford
QUOTE: Stanford University, its campus lined with redwoods and eucalyptus trees, has long been known as a hub for innovation and entrepreneurship. But in recent years, another ideological force has taken root: “diversity, equity, and inclusion,” a euphemism for left-wing racialism. DEI, in fact, has conquered Stanford.
I have obtained exclusive analysis from inside Stanford outlining the incredible size and scope of the university’s DEI bureaucracy. According to this analysis, Stanford employs at least 177 full-time DEI bureaucrats, spread throughout the university’s various divisions and departments.
Stanford’s DEI mandate is the same as those of other universities: advance the principles of left-wing racialism, hire faculty and admit students according to identity, and suppress dissent on campus under the guise of fostering a “culture of inclusion” and “protected identity harm reporting.”
DEI’s growth at Stanford has been fast. In 2021, the Heritage Foundation counted 80 DEI officials at the university. That number has more than doubled since then.
Given Stanford’s current trajectory, DEI will likely keep growing. At each step, it will degrade the quality of scholarship and academic rigor. The question is whether dissenters—professors, students, and alumni who reject the ideological capture of the university—will have enough power to dislodge more than 100 full-time bureaucrats. Stanford’s new interim president, Richard Saller, was hired in part to moderate ideological influence on campus. But according to sources familiar with Saller in his previous role as dean of the School of Humanities and Sciences, he probably lacks the strength to push back against DEI.
The fight ahead will be tough. As it has been before, Stanford may once again serve as a leading indicator of where American higher education is going.
4- We know how we got here. Now it is time to inject common sense and sanity into these failing institutions.
Zachary Marschall at RealClearEducation
The Road Back to Normalcy Starts Where the Problem Began: College Campuses
QUOTE: The long-awaited return to normal has started in America.
Google swiftly fired 28 employees who occupied their boss’s office in protest against a corporate contract with Israel. Educational institutions such as Vanderbilt University and Columbia University have suspended or expelled student protesters who occupied buildings and spaces illegally. Pomona College, American University, and the University of Georgia have similarly suspended student activists for causing disruptions.
These disciplinary measures are the first step in a long road back to sanity. The path will have roadblocks, and quite literally did on April 15 when protesters across the country used their bodies to blockade airports, bridges, and highways. But at least America now appears oriented in the correct direction.
The greatest evidence for this trend comes from Claire Shipman, the board of trustees co-chair at Columbia University, who testified before the House Committee on Education & the Workforce hearing on antisemitism on that campus. Shipman’s April 17 testimony made clear that universities are overrun with antisemitic protests because they have lost their ways as institutions of learning and are now incubators for anti-American revolutionaries.
Shipman’s vision for a better Columbia thoroughly rejects the prevailing attitudes in 2020 that tasked higher education to create the next generation of politically active social justice warriors.
A return to basics will benefit American institutions on and off campus because these virtues are the necessary ingredients for robust liberal educations that foster intellectual curiosity, civil debate, and respect for humanity. The students occupying their campuses in pitched tents possess none of these characteristics. Their jeers, physical attacks, and calls for death project a future America devoid of our core values.
The last four years set American society and education back a generation. But hope is not lost. Some businesses and universities have found their authority to assert civility and tolerance.
We all deserve life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness free from those who would ruin our days to satisfy their selfish causes. But our inalienable rights will become unattainable rights if universities — which shepherd undergraduates into the real world — fail to instill the right values in students. Higher education getting its act together will pay dividends for our economy, communities, and society.
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PRAY for divine intervention. PRAY for all college age Americans and their families. PRAY that saner thinking will overcome on college campuses.
FIND the truth. SHARE the truth.