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It would, I think, be genuinely useful if Chuck Schumer were politically ruined after last week.
There’s a limit to how useful it actually is to direct our energies specifically at elected politicians right now. Politicians aren’t going to save us. BUT: institutional leaders of many stripes (.gov, .edu, .org, and .com alike) are still acting much, much more afraid of the consequences of •fighting• than they are of the consequences of •compliance•.
We can change that. Make compliance ruin some high-profile careers. Make examples out of a few people. Schumer. Newsom. The Columbia admin. Tar and feather them. https://flipboard.com/@vanityfair/top-stories-ur1oga9sz/-/a-CUoIJMw5TYa3em_8zTUjJg%3Aa%3A3195374-%2F0
Speaking of which:
What’s going on at Columbia? What’s the state of the resistance there?
Columbia just •rescinded• degrees they’d granted. This wasn’t even just a politically motived expulsion, which would already be utterly horrifying. They ••revoked diplomas•• already granted.
That means if you get a degree from Columbia, you might suddenly, at the political whim of any random president, not have a degree anymore. All that money you paid, all that work you did? Poof! It can disappear overnight!
Can you imagine?! Can you imagine what that does to the expected value of a Columbia degree??
If I were a prospective student, I would really think twice about accepting an offer from Columbia now. Nope nope nope.
And if I were a current student, an alum, faculty…well, I’d be out for administrators’ heads on pikes (figuratively speaking), because everything I’ve invested in that place is going up in smoke.
An elite college degree is an investment with a payoff horizon of 20 or 40 or 60 years. It’s costly — not just in money, but in time, energy, years of life. People are only willing to invest in it because they believe the investment will endure.
If a Columbia degree is like a cheap roof that might just leak or collapse at any time, what’s their case? “Give us four years of your life, drain your savings, go into debt! Everything you worked for •might not• suddenly collapse!! Our degrees are just cheap paper anyway, right??”
@inthehands
I hate how university education is nowadays seen entirely in terms of its future financial payoff.
What happened to personal development, to love of knowledge for knowledge sake, to becoming a person who can benefit society?
@KimSJ
You are singing the tune of my pinned post!
https://innig.net/teaching/liberal-arts-manifesto