What's Wrong With Handing Out Bibles?
And I say that as somebody who doesn't believe in god, who thinks the bible is a bunch of contradictory hooey, and whose business card reads "Amy Alkon, godless harlot."
What I am, however, is somebody who's staunchly for free speech and the free dissemination of ideas, no matter how silly or misguided. In the piece below, I was struck by the administrator's remark that these students' attempt to get their point across was "equivalent to handing out Bibles," as if that would be a bad thing.
From FIRE, the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, which defends everybody's right to speak, no matter what their point of view, this posting:
Conservative Student Group Silenced at BucknellStudent rights are under assault at Bucknell University, where a conservative student group's protests against affirmative action policies and President Obama's stimulus plan have repeatedly been shut down or forbidden by administrators using flimsy or patently false excuses. After the Bucknell University Conservatives Club (BUCC) had three events censored in two months, the students turned to the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) for help.
Bucknell's recent forays into censorship began on March 17, 2009, when BUCC members stood at Bucknell's student center and passed out fake dollar bills with President Obama's face on the front and the sentence "Obama's stimulus plan makes your money as worthless as monopoly money" on the back. One hour into this symbolic protest, Bucknell administrator Judith L. Mickanis approached the students and told them that they were "busted," that they were "soliciting" without prior approval, and that their activity was equivalent to handing out Bibles.
Bucknell's misguided crusade against free expression continued on April 7, when administrators shut down BUCC's "affirmative action bake sale" protest. About an hour into BUCC's protest, Associate Dean of Students Gerald W. Commerford arrived and informed the students that he had the "opportunity" to shut down the sale because the prices they were charging were different (lower) than what they had listed on their event application. The students offered to change the prices on the spot, but Commerford refused and insisted that they close the event immediately and file another application for a later date.
Accordingly, BUCC members filed an application to hold the same event two weeks later, but were then told that they would have to obtain the permission of the Dean of Students to hold a "controversial" event. No such permission is required by Bucknell policy. When the students nevertheless attempted to get this special permission, Commerford rejected the request. In a recorded conversation, Commerford said that such a bake sale would violate Bucknell's nondiscrimination policy, even with satirical recommended (not actual) pricing, and that the only event he would approve on the topic would be a debate in a different forum altogether. This novel restriction also does not exist among Bucknell's official policies.
There's a letter you can send from the link above -- just type your name in and hit "send."
Again, aren't universities supposed to be places of free inquiry and debate? I guess they've just become extremely expensive trade schools where you don't actually learn a trade.
UPDATE from FIRE here.
Well, they're SUPPOSED to be places of free inquiry and debate, but in all actuality they are places of pro-liberal indoctrination. I got my degree in 2003 at the age of 38, and let me tell you, it was no fun to sit and listen to these professors try and brainwash a bunch of eighteen-year-olds. And boy, don't say anything against it, because you need the grade. What fun!
Ann at June 11, 2009 9:15 AM
And people wonder why more and more kids look at college like a pointless exersise
lujlp at June 11, 2009 10:14 AM
That is so very true.
Jeff at June 11, 2009 1:00 PM
Hands up if you'd never heard of Bucknell University. Anybody wanna guess the enrollment? Anyone?
Guess.
Crid [CommentCrid@gmail.com] at June 11, 2009 1:29 PM
3,400 with 150 graduate students?
Wow, there are high schools bigger than that.
Good point, Crid.
Juliana at June 11, 2009 2:48 PM
Just sayin', this may be a little office dustup, like someone stealing your frozen entrees from the break room fridge.
Is it too early for Chastity Bono jokes?
Was it ever?
Crid [CommentCrid@gmail.com] at June 11, 2009 3:43 PM
Why not "handing out Upanishads?" Or "handing out Q'urans?" I think Judith's prejudices are showing.
I won't go pedantic on her and point out the difference between proselytizing and soliciting.
When I was in college, the Krishnas provided a free meal on Wednesdays and "Reverend Jed" could be heard spreading the Good News across the quad most afternoons. I doubt either of them got prior approval.
Then, I didn't go to Bucknell.
Conan the Grammarian at June 11, 2009 4:09 PM
I wonder, what is the actual value of a college education, after correcting for these effects.
(1) Colleges select for high IQ
(2) Businesses select for IQ by requiring a college degree for executive-track training.
(3) There is a cultural belief that a person cannot succeed without a college degree, limiting the success of non-graduates.
Employers and schools often dismiss the value of earlier college training, even in the case of future doctors and lawyers. The college education is regarded as an indication of dedication and interest. But, the employer or graduate school implies that the student should "forget what you have learned" and start to learn the real subject, if he can.
So, a college degree may be valuable mostly because of cultural bias, the lack of a more efficient and cheaper alternative, or the prohibition against employers giving aptitude tests (via supreme court rulings). How much does the "learning" in college really matter?
College is an Expensive IQ Test
Andrew_M_Garland at June 11, 2009 4:59 PM
> "Reverend Jed" could be heard
> spreading the Good News across
> the quad most afternoons.
We used to see that guy in Indiana, too. Talked about it once before.
In the late 70's –before the Falwell types had turbocharged Reagan's campaign– it felt like the conflict wasn't so much between the Faithful and Godless, but between the college edjumicated and the not.
I remember that for awhile he had a woman in her mid-20's who, during her own ministry to us as we'd pass by on the way to class, would theatrically confess that she'd been a deeply-sinning "Disco Queen" only a few years earlier. She was not graceful or alluring, and this was hard to believe.
Crid [CommentCrid@gmail.com] at June 11, 2009 5:40 PM
We have an interesting situation where I work.
College grads and military selected their field of study. The labor force just wanted a job. This means we have a bunch of people who are not really interested in machinery running it.
Private industry can select for performance. Meanwhile, the refrain at work is, "Who told you to do that?"
These people make the choice to do nothing unless they are told, and specifically, what to do.
Radwaste at June 11, 2009 6:51 PM
Isn't that a sort of typical price/performance thing?
A network that gave me a really good year of work recently relocated from Tinseltown to Bumfuck, Egypt. Much of the magical Hollywood glamour that is their raison d'etre has been lost; and with all modesty, a substantial component of that sparkly glam came from people at my level of the process, the techs and producers. But they're doing it for a whole lot less money, which is what they wanted. It's nothing personal.
How much are you paying this "labor", Raddy? Presumably this is a government enterprise, right? Should you really expect better performance than you get from a TSA worker?
Crid [CommentCrid@gmail.com] at June 11, 2009 8:11 PM
Crid, seeing as how we're the custodians of radioactive waste, I remain appalled that so much apathy can be found where I work. Especially for more than $25/hour.
But my point, which was not well expressed, is that in that environment, enthusiasm for the job has real value.
Just like there are police, regarded as professionals, who cannot shoot anywhere near as well as private enthusiasts.
Radwaste at June 12, 2009 7:38 AM
Well, my thought isn't well expressed either, and I haven't even tried yet. It would go like this:
People are lazy nowadays.
That's part one. Part two is an essential corollary:
People have always been lazy.
.... Or so it will seem to the folks who employ them, managers who are never tempted to raise the pay rate by an integer factor or so, just to see what happens to productivity. Everybody, everybody, would rather think there's something wrong with human nature.... Specifically, the nature of the other party in a transaction.
(Even during petty exchanges on Ebay I've been stunned, absolutely struck dumb by the naivete with which some Americans approach these matters:
"Hey! It's like other people are trying to maximize their acquisition of value during this swap!... They're not telling me everything I might want to know, even about their own feelings, so that I can maximize my gain! What's the matter with them?"
These are the sentiments of grown, licensed-to-drive taxpayers. They're offended! Inexplicable....)
The point I was trying to make about the TSA is that taxpayers are especially famous for demanding the lowest possible expenditures of their community contribution.
Where is it written that $25/hr is the right wage for nuke handlers?
Ya gits watcha pay fer.
Crid [CommentCrid@gmail.com] at June 12, 2009 10:24 AM
Forgive typo: "Wutcha"
Crid [CommentCrid@gmail.com] at June 12, 2009 10:24 AM
Don't miss "Liberty" University closing this club.
Radwaste at June 12, 2009 5:24 PM
If it is a private school, who cares? Private institutions should be able to do what they wish. There's a reason I didn't go to Baylor Baptist College.
NicoleK at June 15, 2009 2:40 PM
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