[CTcard]

Here is the email that I received from the president of my university yesterday.

There seems to be a paper-mill somewhere (chegg for administrators?) that spews out these statements with fill-in-the-blanks for the university name. One day I expect to see one of these notes in my in-box with the wrong university listed because they forget to do the universal "find and replace".

The election of a new President finally happened two weeks ago with a general vote of 100-86 (86 votes to deny her the office), out of a student population of 40,000.

I know nothing about the Ottawa situation but it does point to a general issue of student "governments". For generations (at least) most students don't pay much attention to these elections or the student governments. It tends to lead to these groups being composed of very motivated individuals who have little support (or often even awareness) across campus.

Though I wouldn't question their sincerity and good intentions, it may mean they deserve some snark. It also means their pronouncements don't say a lot about any broad opinions or the state of society on campus.

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On a broader view of these issues, I find my opinions rather torn. The basic split has been pointed out by both BC and WIM - I'm quite sympathetic to the basic concerns of the protestors (and developments in my own life over the past decade+ have made me aware of things I may have been previously oblivious to) but also think that both the strategy and proposed solutions are often inappropriate and counter-productive. 

On the other hand, I don't really have better solutions to offer - at least other than the classic physician imperative to "do no harm".

[CTcard]

Here is the email that I received from the president of my university yesterday.

There seems to be a paper-mill somewhere (chegg for administrators?) that spews out these statements with fill-in-the-blanks for the university name. One day I expect to see one of these notes in my in-box with the wrong university listed because they forget to do the universal "find and replace".

The election of a new President finally happened two weeks ago with a general vote of 100-86 (86 votes to deny her the office), out of a student population of 40,000.

I know nothing about the Ottawa situation but it does point to a general issue of student "governments". For generations (at least) most students don't pay much attention to these elections or the student governments. It tends to lead to these groups being composed of very motivated individuals who have little support (or often even awareness) across campus.

Though I wouldn't question their sincerity and good intentions, it may mean they deserve some snark. It also means their pronouncements don't say a lot about any broad opinions or the state of society on campus.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

On a broader view of these issues, I find my opinions rather torn. The basic split has been pointed out by both BC and WIM - I'm quite sympathetic to the basic concerns of the protestors (and developments in my own life over the past decade+ have made me aware of things I may have been previously oblivious to) but also think that both the strategy and proposed solutions are often inappropriate and counter-productive. 

On the other hand, I don't really have better solutions to offer - at least other than the classic physician imperative to "do no harm".