I've been asked to post this on the blog on behalf of students involved in Occupy Cook on Thursday. Will we support them?
The students of Chicago State are occupying President Watson's office on Thursday, April 11, 2013 because of:
- the alarming drop in enrollment that threatens the very future of the school.
- the hiring of unqualified people into high paying jobs who have mismanaged their departments, costing hundreds of thousands of dollars and embarassing the school.
- the general sloppiness in management by the current administration that has led to the scandalously high numbers of audit findings.
- the refusal of the current administration to honor the first amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America.
- the removal by the Governor of members of the Board of Trustees who were on the verge of removing the current President. The Governor, instead of acting to protect the reputation of the school, as he did in the wake of the recent enrollment scandal at U of I Champaign, acted to protect politically connected incompetents to the detriment of the reputation of Chicago State University.
Well, we tried, but the students don't care. I'm outta here. No way I'll finish the MA program here. I've gotta protect the investment I've made and am making, and getting a degree made worthless by Wayne and his cronies is not something I'm gonna do.
ReplyDeleteA buddy told me there's a school that I haven't missed the deadline to transfer to, and transfer is EXACTLY what I'm gonna do.
Deuces.
The Occupy was a success in many senses. Several people engaged in conversations with people they didn't know and enhanced their commitment to improve our university and Save Our School. Students are upset and wanting change. I would urge continued struggle.
ReplyDeleteFor every person who came to the Occupy Cook today there were 3 or 4 more who wanted to be there and 1 or 2 more who might now be inspired to speak out because they saw a few doing so. Prof. P is correct--and success is not measured in a linear progression. We do what we can do today.
ReplyDeleteYou two wanna keep pouring time and effort into this? Fine. But realize that your situation is VERY different than mine. I am NOT a "warm fuzzy" person. I act in my best interests, as most sane people do. It is not in my best interests to waste more time and effort on this, and it is not in my best interests to remain at Chicago State. Heck, it is not in the best interests of ANYBODY to enroll at Chicago State, unless they can't get into ANY OTHER SCHOOL!!
ReplyDeleteThe school WILL die, and those who will lose the most are either apathetic about it or are working with those who are killing it.
Corday, stop making excuses for the students. George W Bush may be an idiot, but even a broken clock is right twice a day. "The soft bigotry of low expectations" is how he defined how little is expected of students "of color". They didn't show, period. The average student at CSU will spend six years getting a degree and will be about $25,000 in debt when they receive that degree. A HUGE investment in time and money, yet they didn't show up to protect that investment. That is not rational, Corday. Do they have time to watch TV? Yes. Do they socialize in the cafeteria? Yes. Every so often SGA organizes a free lunch for the students. HUNDREDS show up for a free meal. Students had the time to show up, thank you very much. One MAKES time to act in one's best interests, Corday. They didn't show.
Personally, I judge this to be the results of 30 years of indoctrinating black and brown kids in modern liberalism at the k -12 level: The endless race to "prove" who is the biggest victim coupled with "social justice" as defined by others, as opposed to teaching critical thinking skills.
Great thing about being a "victim" is that it absolves you from taking responsibility. They didn't show because they're "victims". They won't organize because they've been taught its hopeless to do so. They're "victims". They're taught "great man" history all too often in their HS history. The Civil Rights Movement was about "great men", not a mass social movement, so they're waiting for Dr King to show up and deliver them. Until then, they'll bask in the wonderful womb of powerless "victimhood", as inert as a jellyfish on a rock.
That's my interpretation of what happened yesterday, but at the end of the day the WHY the students are how they are is far less important to me than WHAT the students are when it comes to acting in MY best interests. I gotta leave CSU.
The administration and students are the perfect match made in hell. The victimizers have met willing victims. Abusers have been matched with people who think abuse is all they deserve in life.