(no subject)

[somedaybitch]

Northern Kentucky shows how it should be done.

Northern Kentucky University has a distinguished record of addressing important public issues in a balanced way. We are proud that, as a campus, we are not the captive of one ideology or point of view. At their best, universities are not places of comfortable conformity. They are places where ideas collide as students and faculty search for deeper understandings and perspectives.

exactly this. the Ivy League could take note.

Comments

[arthurfrdent.livejournal.com]

I'm sad to say bravo to this... Sad because it isn't all that common anymore, seems like. It's tough to balance the agendas of all factions at a uni, but it is important to at least try... hmmm, perhaps I'm an idealist after all :devil:

[somedaybitch.livejournal.com]

i think it was a brilliant action on their part, and i'm in the camp opposite the victims here. Northern Kentucky cut to the heart of what mattered though, that the group in question had a right to speak their views.

and i think it's more common than we know. it's just not what gets news. blogging is changing that, i think.

[musicforcylons.livejournal.com]

Do you know what the second largest building is on NKUs campus?

The Baptist Student Union. Conformity HO!

(Which is mean of me. They do have a few interesting programs there and are super tiny but shockingly have a law school- in their library!)

[somedaybitch.livejournal.com]

they stood up when it counted.

[musicforcylons.livejournal.com]

I think I'm going to have to disagree. Here? Crosses are used for everything and really don't have the best reputation/history. (That last link is a annual struggle for the area, pitting free speech against civil unrest.)

I feel that the stuff about free speech is just a smoke and mirrors cover for a "how dare you be offended by us doing GOD's work on state funded property!" type of conservative "we're better than you" outrage. As Jacobsen didn't destroy the crosses, but simply picked them up and moved them (in the driest terms), I don't see why what she did was any more offensive than what the Right to Life group did. They have a right to make a statement, as does Jacobsen.

To me, this is a case of "toe the party line or get out". I am neither fully pro-choice or pro-life but had I been one of the lady's students, I might have joined her. True, there are more level-headed responses to be had, but passion makes life interesting.

[arthurfrdent.livejournal.com]

yes... and no. Thanks for putting in the local angle, to illuminate what happened on the ground... thing is, what she did was wrong. I am assuming their crosses were publicly allowed display and they had permission to put them there. To oppose such a thing, all you must do is put in an opposing display, whatever it is. The powers that be cannot prevent you [they may try] because you are merely stating you own speech. Removing their crosses, removes their speech. The display probably wouldn't be considered hate speech, so it was there lawfully. If she had put together a display that had shown statistics on how many pro-life supporters actually have abortions when they need them, she would have won the ultimate STFU contest by showing the hypocracy of of some within the pro-life group. There are prolly 50 other things she and her agreeing students could have done, to meet an opposing view. Legally, and under the protections of free speech. Take out their crosses, and you play right into their hands...

The most troubling thing in all this isn't how conservative the campus is, or how overbearing the church is... I have been places that were were from one end of the spectrum to the other... It troubles me that a veteran tenured professor, didn't think or know about the implications of her actions, and ceased to teach her students about how to get a point across. What she tought was that it is OK to impose your viewpoint on others, it is OK to take their voice away. When you are the opposition you can't fall to the level of your foe, or you cease to show why anybody should agree with you. When you take advantage of the same law that shields them, to voice your own opinion, it is the ideas alone that count.

In essence, a moment of real teaching was lost, AND the prof played right in to the hands of her opponants. They get the last laugh... and if she didn't realize that after 27 years as a prof, then she has had her eyes shut...

[arthurfrdent.livejournal.com]

...and spell check is your friend... if you use it :eyeroll:

[somedaybitch.livejournal.com]

It troubles me that a veteran tenured professor, didn't think or know about the implications of her actions, and ceased to teach her students about how to get a point across. What she tought was that it is OK to impose your viewpoint on others, it is OK to take their voice away.

nails it in one.

:::spellchecksmellcheck:::