Re-Education Residence Halls at the University of Delaware
The folks at the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) have put together an interesting and infuriating video about the University of Delaware's bizarre residence-life program. From the group's description of the situation:
In 2007, the University of Delaware's Office of Residence Life used mandatory activities to coerce students to change their thoughts, values, attitudes, beliefs, and habits to conform to a highly specified social, environmental, and political agenda. Following FIRE's campaign, which called the attention of the national media and the blogosphere to the Orwellian program, university President Patrick Harker terminated the program, effective immediately. This video explains the program's invasive thought-reform activities, the horrified reactions of students and the press, and FIRE's response.
Click above to watch the vid (about 15 minutes) and click here to visit FIRE's homepage.
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As someone with a graduate degree from U of D, I can't wait to watch this video later today.
having not watched the video, I can say that Residence Life can try to make you go to all the shit they want, but if you're smart, you realize that you have to do the following three things to graduate:
1. Pay all your fees
2. Finish all required courses for your degree
3. Have enough general credits to graduate
I'll be instructing my (as-of-yet-abstract) children that they are the customer at college and Res. Life can blow it out their ass.
Wait a second, this can't be right. I have it on good authority that Liberals are good on civil liberties. The same authority that assures me that Obama is not a socialist.
Freedom is Slavery!
Who is retarded enough to go to the University of Delaware? Sorry, JP.
Who is retarded enough to go to the University of Delaware? Sorry, JP.
They used to (and probably still do) have a very good chemical engineering dept.
dbcooper,
Oh, yeah, the Duponts.
The Res Life people have their work cut out for them, counteracting all these corporate/fascist/heteronormative influences.
The exercise that the students talk about at the beginning is not so bad, it seems like a silly attempt to make sure everyone is "aware" of diversity and racism and such, which is not totally nuts for a residence life program (which is intended to get a lot of diverse kids to live together), but the whole "all white people are racist oppressors no minority can be racist" stuff is nutty Mcnuts...
A lot of corporations do these kind of things too, in fact the Office makes good fun of such things.
The Rivers kid looks like Ozymandias, and seems as humble.
Who is retarded enough to go to the University of Delaware?
Our current Vice President is retarded enough!
Wait, are you saying black people *can* be racist?
Ah, poor MNG, I'm afraid you've been irreparably tainted by your white-skin privilege. Well, it's too late for you, but at least the rising generation can be purged of such attitudes, so that they won't end up as corporate fat cats, or some other kind of enemies of the people.
Give me the child when he is a naive college freshman, and I will give you the man.
Oh, no, I said "freshman" and "man," instead of "first-year student" and "person."
Quick, MNG, you gotta hide me, there's a warrant out for me on a charge of insensivitude. Please, just a place to crash for a few weeks, some plastic surgery, a set of new ID, and . . .
Oops, too late they're [ack]
If you have ever felt ashamed that your athletic teams' mascot seems to be a female, take a marshmallow...
Blue Hens?!!
Kevin
I do feel for these administrators a bit. They have this diverse population that has to suddenly live, eat and play together for a few years, and many people really have no clue that some of the things they say and do will be horribly offensive to some people, and that that can lead to trouble (fights, people dropping out, lawsuits, etc).
But it would be better to just tell them what ACTIONS will not be tolerated (certain slurs and epithets or activities like blackface parties) rather than trying some type of thought reform...
Who is retarded enough to go to the University of Delaware? Sorry, JP.
You're just trying to smoke out my true identity, aren't you?
Without being too specific, U of D offers a program that is the best in the country in a very specialized area that shall remain unidentified.
(Also, I understand their undergrad program is good value for money if you're a DE resident.)
Yeah you just get fights and whatnot breaking out all over campus these days what with all that diversity and stuff eh MNG?
I don't recall any of this from my experiences in college dorms in the US, and we didn't have any programs like this, or any programs at all really. I call bullshit on you.
This kind of crap would never fly at THE Ohio State University.
? Libertarian, would that university be in Athens, or that newer one at the state capital?
Seriously, I'd be ashamed of an [anystate] STATE university. 🙂
Kevin
At about the 11:46 mark, Prof Blits -- a CRITIC of this scrapped program, says that one of the "best" outcomes of it was that some students described their parents as "racists, CAPITALISTS, and other terrible things."
Seriously, I'd be ashamed of an [anystate] STATE university. 🙂
Does that mean you aren't impressed by my associates degree in art history from South, South West Missouri State College, Bupkis City satellite campus?
"best" outcomes
I believe the correct term is "doubleplusgood" Peter...
At about the 11:46 mark, Prof Blits -- a CRITIC of this scrapped program, says that one of the "best" outcomes of it was that some students described their parents as "racists, CAPITALISTS, and other terrible things."
He said that sort of thing was described by the program directors as one of the best outcomes. I suspect he was merely being dry when he said "racists, CAPITALISTS, and other terrible things." i.e. He was indicating in a subtle manner his amusement that these people would lump capitalists and people who didn't think that america was a terrible state of "minority" oppression etc into the same category as those "dreaded" racists.
They used to (and probably still do) have a very good an excellent chemical engineering dept.
(Also, I understand their undergrad program is good value for money if you're a DE resident.)
As an out of state school of the same level go, it is a good value for out of state students as well. The U of D is not really a state school, but some sort of bastard arangement of a private school that is publicly supported.
Disclaimer: I am the only one in the family (mom, dad, both sisters, both brother-inlaws) that has not gone to UofD as an undergrad or post-grad. Though, I did spend some time in the 70s passed out on the floor of the Rodney D dorm.
As an out of state school of the same level go, it is a good value for out of state students as well. The U of D is not really a state school, but some sort of bastard arangement of a private school that is publicly supported.
[snark]I'm guessing you didn't study english composition, right?[/snark]
I didn't really mean to cause offence, but that was pretty difficult to read.
I imagine must of this is just feel-good busy work for the RAs. Most undergrads I meet are already self-squeezing oranges when it comes to the dogmas of diversity.
dbcooper
You don't remember it happening at your college in your day so that proves it's not a potential problem at other colleges in our day!
Just put together some common sense:
1. Many people say things that are very offensive to other people often because they are not even aware of how offensive it might be to some people
2. Sometimes when people hear someone say something that offends them they will want to fight the person who said it
3. State colleges have a lot of people going to them, so the chances they get folks from group 1 and 2 in the same place at the same time is high
4. Presto.
"Most undergrads I meet are already self-squeezing oranges"
what an intriguing metaphor - what does it mean?
I can't tell you how many people I grew up with would use the word "fag" or "queer" as a general term of derision. Hell, as TAO can readily and eagerly attest, I still do sometimes. Now put them in a dorm room with someone who is gay, and presto, you've got a very probable administrative headache...
what an intriguing metaphor - what does it mean?
Nothing. NutraSweet is bipolar. Just ignore him.
If black people would learn how to not offend people of other races, we would all get along a little better.
Um, if you can't speak because the university told you to stuff your mouth with marshmallows, isn't it the university that's oppressing you? Disobey them, spit out the marshmallows, and speak clearly.
I just got expelled for saying that, didn't I?
To be fair, I wouldn't be impressed by an art history degree from anywhere.
dhex,
A Clockwork Orange ref. Once the state is through re-educating you, your mind becomes the self-squeezing orange, no exterior pressure is required for juicing. You look normal on the outside but have internalized the controls of authority, and thus become an automaton.
You know what I learned from watching A Clockwork Orange? Stanley Kubrick likes tits.
ahh, gotcha.
i mean, in general (and from a pr point of view) it's a good idea to lay down guidelines, no matter how incredibly obvious it may seem on the surface. not drinking a quart of vodka also seems incredibly obvious, but college students manage to die from that on occasion.
some of the stuff in the video does have the gross markings of some kinda twisted cultural indoctrination program/parody, but on the other hand that's what institutions do.
Ah but it was only a few years ago I was at that university (UC Berkeley), and I work at another university now. I really do not understand why people think there are such potentially large problems. And besides, why do US "liberals" place such weight on the possibility of someone being offended?
College students do not need any diversity etc training to co-exist. Sure, a minimal code of conduct for living in dorms is justified, but there is no justification for attempting to train people in beliefs etc just because they live in a dorm.
domo, I might be impressed if you got a music degree from the University of Southern North Dakota at Hoople.
Kevin
"And besides, why do US "liberals" place such weight on the possibility of someone being offended?"
Well, I don't know about these mythical "liberals" of yours, but I imagine college administrators worry about fights breaking out in the dorms, students quitting the college, and "hostile environment lawsuits" being filed.
Most organizations try to keep their members from offending other members and customers. It's a very human and sensible thing to do, but not when it involves mandatory thought reform type stuff.
"College students do not need any diversity etc training to co-exist. Sure, a minimal code of conduct for living in dorms is justified, but there is no justification for attempting to train people in beliefs etc just because they live in a dorm."
I agree with all three sentences btw.
[snark]I'm guessing you didn't study english composition, right?[/snark]
Nope, I is an engineer.
"Most undergrads I meet are already self-squeezing oranges"
what an intriguing metaphor - what does it mean?
During my time in the military we used the phrase "self licking ice cream cone" to refer to intelligence gathering activities that had no ultimate end user. (most of them)
And besides, why do US "liberals" place such weight on the possibility of someone being offended?
Because taking offense is the lifeblood of the academic economy. As soon as you find something you can take offense at, you have a bloody shirt to wave. You get money and tenure and other forms of payoffs and benefits.
Here at my university, a provost was questioned on why African-American enrollment was down. In a moment of stupidity, he mentioned something possibly true, but definitely not politically correct. He gave a lengthy auto de fe and was forced to resign. The newly minted Vice President of Multiculturalism was bought a 250K house in my neighborhood as a signing bonus. The Martin Luther King Jr. Cultural Center was expanded and given a full professor position to oversee it. And the head of African-American Studies was given an office five times the size of his old one.
Offense is a currency, and a potent one.
Well, I don't know about these mythical "liberals" of yours, but I imagine college administrators worry about fights breaking out in the dorms,
Were fights due to insensitive comments such a problem that re-education programs were needed? Why wouldn't sanctions for, you know, fighting, be the solution?
students quitting the college,
Were students quitting due to insensitive comments such a problem that re-education programs were needed? Most colleges turn away applicants anyway, its not like they couldn't fill vacancies left by the hypersensitive in a heartbeat.
and "hostile environment lawsuits" being filed.
I don't believe that such lawsuits apply to educational settings, as opposed to workplaces. Being a student isn't a job, students aren't employees, and employment law doesn't apply to that relationship.
I heard what finally killed the program was that one time when the obese Samoan lesbian diabetic ended up stuffed with marshmallows.
I heard what finally killed the program was that one time when the obese Samoan lesbian diabetic ended up stuffed with marshmallows.
Man, those Samoans are a surly bunch.
Well, I don't know about these mythical "liberals" of yours, but I imagine college administrators worry about fights breaking out in the dorms, students quitting the college, and "hostile environment lawsuits" being filed.
Anyone with stats showing these as real issues? Strictly anecdotally, I do not think that this is much of an issue among college age kids in the US.
Are the Hoople Heads their mascot?
These programs are bullshit; I hated the student life office at my school. Fuck'em those fuckfaces.
Early in my freshman year we had a "workshop" on race and college admissions. I was too dumb at the time to keep my mouth shut and let the facilitator tell me that my presence in the college dorm was a symptom of an oppressive system. I suggested that without students like me, who get minimal to no financial aid and front full tuition, there wouldn't be enough money for the "necessary" injections of diversity. That turned out to be a mistake. The event ended with a black girl from Oklahoma talking about getting kicked out of a country club, bursting into tears and storming off.
Afterwards, some guy on my floor put up a cartoon showing a black child cartoon character eating watermelon and fried chicken while a kkk child was urinating on him. It said something like "discuss diversity and affirmative action on campus university center 8pm". This was followed by a investigation in which the everyone on my floor was interrogated.
I don't know who put the blasted thing up their but some bastard(s)(I will never know who) told the head of student life that I put up the cartoon. I was threatened with expulsion among other things. A week passed, heard nothing since.
So FUCK diversity and the people who force it. Student life and their ilk are a stain in the fabric of humanity. They bullied and harassed me just a month into my time as a student. Ahh I feel better, now I know what I'm going to talk about the next time the alumni giving office calls.
I wish I could say that I am surprised.
-sigh-
@kevrob:
Seriously, I'd be ashamed of an [anystate] STATE university. 🙂
Mine was a lame throwback comment to another post. I don't want any record mistakenly associating me with OSU (an abbreviation discouraged by their website BTW).
Well, I don't know about these mythical "liberals" of yours, but I imagine college administrators worry about fights breaking out in the dorms, students quitting the college, and "hostile environment lawsuits" being filed.
And, once more, MaunderingNannyGoat throws down the AbsurdHypotheticalCard.
If we don't do this, the hallways will run red with the blood of innocents. Because college students are delicate, flower-like creatures, who must be coddled and "protected" from any form of mental confusion or discomfort, as they have been since birth.
The newly minted Vice President of Multiculturalism was bought a 250K house in my neighborhood as a signing bonus. The Martin Luther King Jr. Cultural Center was expanded and given a full professor position to oversee it. And the head of African-American Studies was given an office five times the size of his old one.
Offense is a currency, and a potent one.
our nation is spiraling quickly into self congratulatory irrellevance. it will take some real poverty to turn things around.
"""Well, I don't know about these mythical "liberals" of yours,"""
Don't spoil his 2 minutes hate.
sadly for universities, being sued or even getting bad press over a hostile environment, real or imagined, is far from a chimera.
some kinda twisted cultural indoctrination program/parody, but on the other hand that's what institutions do
Mine didn't, but I was educated in more enlightened times.
dhex,
They brought it on themselves. The proper response to one of these rare incidents to say to the offendee "You know what? Sometimes people are assholes." and to the offender "Stop being an asshole." Instead they want to stage a Greek tragedy of soul-searching and fretting and sensitivity training.
For every kid innocent of some cultural offense he might be giving, there are 10,000 who are just being assholes. Punish the assholes, if you must, don't try and indoctrinate everyone.
I can't tell you how many people I grew up with would use the word "fag" or "queer" as a general term of derision. Hell, as TAO can readily and eagerly attest, I still do sometimes. Now put them in a dorm room with someone who is gay, and presto, you've got a very probable administrative headache...
Good Lord, you don't mean that there are people attending college that still have something to learn?
So after you break up the fight, take the gay person and say something like, "Look, there are people in the world who don't know why being called 'fag' is offensive to a gay person. You will be much more effective explaining it to them than punching them out."
Take the other person and explain why what he said was offensive.
Then have your group hug and get on with life.
If one or the other students won't learn, proceed with sanctions.
If you want to teach anything, teach non-violent conflict resolution. I can lend you my lesson plan from the Texas concealed handgun license class.
I once referred to someone as a "cocksucker" in front of a gay friend. I hope I didn't offend him. I need to come up with a better insult, since sucking cocks is not a bad thing.
Any tips on non-offensive insults?
The state university in my town created a brand-new $150,000-a-year position called "Chief Diversity Officer." I shit you not. I predict there will be an increase in reported incidents of intolerance and all-around rudeness, so the 150K-plus-state-bennies guy can justify his job.
Remember: being a grownup means never, ever having to be offended, and if anything or anyone offends you this is proof that the universe is on the wrong track and someone needs to Do Something about it.
Any tips on non-offensive insults?
I prefer "piece of worthless crap that needs to be scraped off the bottom of humanity's shoe."
Of the many, many reasons to loathe these indoctrination sessions, I feel the most important is that they're wildly inconsistent, always shifting, with no clear underlying principles.
If I'm a evangelical Christian who isn't sure about gay marriage, and everybody in the dorm yells at me for being a bigot, do I eventually get victim status too? What if my Muslim room mate has problems with gay marriage? Who is the oppressor now, and how long do either of us stay the oppressor? Only until someone threatens a lawsuit? Can I be a hybrid victim-oppressor?
And as far as offending people, if I tell some fat-ass guy whose hitting on me that he needs to unload 50 pounds before I'll sleep with him, does he have grounds to haul me before the Student Court for my offensive comment? Why or why not?
This shit always reminds me off the "Unmutual" episode of "The Prisoner."
Jennifer! Unmutual!
News for Reason. For god's sakes don't ask about "Bob Jones University", because the amount of indoctrination there is even worse.
Bob Jones is a private school.
"Bob Jones is a private school."
So what? Are'nt you for free minds in private and public settings?
"And, once more, MaunderingNannyGoat throws down the AbsurdHypotheticalCard.
If we don't do this, the hallways will run red with the blood of innocents."
P Brooks, I don't expect much from you but you still perform below expectations. I said upthread I was against this more than once. I only said I could understand the motivation of the administrators. It's the same motivation that leads to these kinds of programs in the military and most major corporations.
Bob Jones is a private school.
The emphasis in the video was not on the public nature of this school and how students lacked choice to leave refunded, it was on groupthink being promoted. Bob Jones and other universities are even worse on groupthink. I just want there to be some perspective on this. These students could have left. They chose not to and the video indicates that they feel they should be treated a certain way by forcing the school to not berate them rather than leave and find a school which doesn't believe in beratement.
Actually, I think the point of the video is the hypocrisy of calling yourself a "university" - open to all points of view - but requiring groupthink.
No one goes to Bob Jones to gain a broader perspective.
The state university in my town created a brand-new $150,000-a-year position called "Chief Diversity Officer."
Ugh.
Absolutely. I'm also for private property owners being able to control access to their own property.
Man, those Samoans are a surly bunch.
They are downright angry.
Not that I think indoctrination at private schools is a good thing. However, it is and should remain perfectly legal.
Actually, I think the point of the video is the hypocrisy of calling yourself a "university" - open to all points of view - but requiring groupthink.
No one goes to Bob Jones to gain a broader perspective.
I'll agree with your points, but add the caveat that while its abhorrent to think that the university would engage in such groupthink, this isn't exactly a libertarian call to arms as the individuals could not be considered coerced in the traditional sense. They weer free to leave at any time.
Of course, at a public university it's tax money being squandered on this bullshit, same way my tax money is being squandered to pay for a $150,000 per annum Chief Diversity Officer to make sure college students never get their feelings hurt. At least Bob Jones doesn't make ME fund his Orwellian fuckfests.
Wait, are you saying black people *can* be racist?
One of the funniest things in the last election was the pinkos going ape-shit over the way that a majority of blacks in California voted on the gay marriage proposition.
-jcr
The kids who attend Bob Jones get a much broader perspective. They spend plenty of time on the streets of Greenville on Friday nights handing out pamphlets to those of us who don't really want them. I think they get a fairly broad perspective from those people less polite than I.
On the positive side for my first two years of Clemson BJU students would head to Clemson (my alma mater, and about an hour away) to hand out pamphlets to us. I'd ignore the guys, but I'd always have plenty of time for religious discussion with the cute girls. Most of them were totally out of their depth, but a few could hold up their end of a discussion.
By and large people attend BJU specifically to get that indoctrination. I can't hold anger at a place for telling people what they want to hear.
if I tell some fat-ass guy whose hitting on me that he needs to unload 50 pounds before I'll sleep with him, does he have grounds to haul me before the Student Court for my offensive comment?
Hmm... What if the dude loses 50 pounds and then you still turn him down? Can he haul you before the Student Anti-Tease Tribunal? Or, once he's not fat do his minority guilt-trip powers go away?
-jcr
I think it would be amusing to bring the marshmallow circle-jerk to a screeching halt like so:
"You'll take a marshmallow and put it in your mouth if the statement applies to you".
"Are they kosher?"
"Umm... I don't know."
"HAH! You insensitive anti-semitic clod! Try to feed me a non-kosher marshmallow, why don't you just demand that I jump in your oven?"
I don't trot out the "offended Jew" schtick very often, but it can come in handy sometimes.
-jcr
John Randolf,
If the Anti-Tease tribunal is getting their marching orders from the U of Delaware re-educators, I suspect I'd be acquitted.
These types dont want to admit fat people can choose to turn into thin people, and would willingly give up their victim status just to get laid. If they assign you victim status, you stay a victim for LIFE.
Fatty (actually ex-Fatty) would be considered a traitor to the cause and his case would be dismissed.
As a gay male, I'm now wishing I went to Delaware so I could have told the Res Life fascists to take a hike back to Germany.
All we had to do at my school was attend a "here are the fire exits" seminar and eat really bad pizza with our RAs. The Res Life dorks were clearly too boring at my school.
John C. Randolph... I just spit out my marshmallow imagining that situation. Hilarious.
I'm actually surprised the school legal office didn't bitch slap Res Life for putting students at risk of choking on marshmallows.
I'm now wishing I went to Delaware so I could have told the Res Life fascists to take a hike back to Germany.
I'd pay a couple of bucks to see that on pay-per-view.
What's really sad is that so few of these kids had the self-assurance to do exactly that. When I was that age, I was already in the habit of telling anyone that I found pushy where to go and how to get there, even if what they were pushing was generally in line with my own positions.
-jcr
Speaking of what random people find offensive, I had a gay housemate several years ago, who was highly offended by anyone in drag. Didn't matter whether the guy in drag was gay or straight, he considered it equivalent to wearing blackface.
-jcr
What's really sad is that so few of these kids had the self-assurance to do exactly that. When I was that age, I was already in the habit of telling anyone that I found pushy where to go and how to get there, even if what they were pushing was generally in line with my own positions.
Ditto... which is why my parents were always told, since I was in the 4th grade, "your son has a serious problem with authority" at parent-teacher conferences (imagine that from a future Reason reader). Unfortunately, I also got straight A's so what's the "heterosexist, educational-industrial complex" to do? Send him to a magnet school for "special" kids. Now I teach college kids... if my primary school teachers could only see me now (they'd be horrified).
[And, I meant the heterosexist, fascist, educational-industrial complex. I'm all about using outlandish pejorative terms when discussing diversity in higher education. Fight fire with fire... pardon the pun.]
Speaking of what random people find offensive, I had a gay housemate several years ago, who was highly offended by anyone in drag. Didn't matter whether the guy in drag was gay or straight, he considered it equivalent to wearing blackface.
I always found straight males who wore Jordache jeans to be highly offensive.
"I'm actually surprised the school legal office didn't bitch slap Res Life for putting students at risk of choking on marshmallows."
It's because they're racist, homophobic, and misogynistic, and wanted them to choke on the marshmallows.
JCR has started something.
What if the student offered the marshmallow was a diabetic? What if s/he/it just wanted to lose some weight? What if s/he/it was Italian-American, and took offense at cheekpadding, as it brought back cruel memories of Marlon Brando as Don Corleone. What if s/he/it was already "differently audible?"? What if s/he/it is deathly afraid of the High Fructose Corn Syrup Conspiracy? What if the little sugar pillows* contain gelatin, and that upsets the strict vegans?
Oh, the hilarity!
Kevrob
*Note the mention of kosher `mallows in the wikilink
? (Has a "speech impediment")
I was "differently audible" in primary school (had the good ole' "s" lisp). The name of the school speech therapist was Mrs. Schaffer. [Horrible back then... hilarious when I look back on it.]
I bet, nowadays, I could get her fired because I wanted to cry everytime I had to say her name.
What if s/he/it was Italian-American, and took offense at cheekpadding, as it brought back cruel memories of Marlon Brando as Don Corleone
Then he or she should make the "instructor" running the game an offer he couldn't refuse.
(Yeah, I went there.)
-jcr
my parents were always told, since I was in the 4th grade, "your son has a serious problem with authority" at parent-teacher conferences
You too?
I think that's something that a lot of Libertarians have in common. I was never very big on being told what to do.
-jcr