I don’t want to be a boring old fart who constantly bitches about the younger generation. So I’ll just relate the facts.
The neoliberal administrator is giving a big talk today. He announces a tuition hike, and major additional cuts in personnel, course offerings, and every single service we offer. Really brutal stuff. The union leaders, the faculty respond trying to explain why this is a terrible idea.
Then a student gets up to speak. Given that I’m a naive, sweet summer child with retardation-level ingenuity, I thought she’d say, “Excuse me but why should I pay more in tuition to get less in return?” Our students don’t come from wealth. They don’t even come from solid middle class. They all work, they all carry college loan debt. So you’d think they should care about tuition hikes.
Well, ha ha.
The student says, “I don’t mind paying more in tuition but not if I keep being exposed to hate crimes on campus.”
Which hate crime has this young, white, female student experienced on our campus?
The visit by a local preacher who usually shows up around Easter to talk about Jesus in front of the library.
This is the first time the neoliberal administrator is giving a talk since last June, and this absolute tool is wasting the very limited Q&A time to bleat about the bloody preacher. I mean, you know? Obviously, the administrator seized on the subject of this atrocious hate crime with glee because he doesn’t want to answer real questions. Now his argument that students don’t mind austerity has proof.
And I’m thinking, you know what? I already have every degree I wanted. I have zero debt. My family has an excellent income. My kid is guaranteed free college tuition anywhere in the state. And a good college fund for out of state schooling. I’m sitting pretty by any measure. Why should I care about these people when they don’t care about themselves?
I got up and left. Let them boil in outrage over the preacher as they get robbed. I received a big translation order, so I’m going to go work on that, make more money. It’s impossible to keep caring for people who are so deluded.
Clarissa's Blog 
“I got up and left”
Good for you!
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The representative of the maintenance workers spoke very well, at least. He said, “we are a majority black workforce. Here you are, paying lip service to anti-racism while abusing maintenance workers, refusing to sign our contract. We work 2-3 jobs to feed our children, and we have to sit here and listen to you go on about racial justice. Shame on you.” People gave him a standing ovation.
Then a professor spoke and said, “You expect us to have better graduation rates than Princeton when Princeton has an acceptance rate of 4% while ours is 99%. Why don’t we simply hand out diplomas in exchange for money right at the entrance and be done with it?” People also went crazy clapping.
So not everybody is a complete idiot, at least.
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Oh, man. We used to have a schizoid preacher who was a regular fixture in the plaza in front of the English building. He’d stand in the flowerbed shouting “FORNICATORS!” at the passing students, and attempting to sermonize. The students got to jeer at him and feel smugly superior, and he got to feel persecuted for his faith. Win-win situation. I guess that’s a hate crime now. How the times change.
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” a regular fixture in the plaza in front of the English building”
Brother Jed and Sister Cindy?
They were a hoot and a half! And when not preaching were pretty relaxed and had a relaxed frenemy thing going with lots of the plaza regulars.
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Could be. I never caught their names, but I do recall there was often a woman there with him.
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…they were way more entertaining than the Campus Crusade kids. Those guys took themselves way too seriously.
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“more entertaining than the Campus Crusade kids”
The crazy shouting preachers were a lot of fun and the crowd clearly loved them in a weird way and they never attracted hostility when they weren’t preaching.
The more earnest ‘youth ministry’ types were met with stony apathy and/or occasional (verbal) hostility when their earnest youth ministry concern became overbearing… which could be pretty quick…
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I remember leaving the CC kids a few nasty comments myself– despite being a co-religionist. Like yo, whatever you’re doing, it’s not helping. Maybe try being reverent instead of relevant. They were really irritating.
Did you ever happen to meet Cool Breeze while in town?
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