03-24-2023, 07:19 AM
It's definitely happening at the public schools, certainly at the UNC system: Administrative Bloat Harms Teaching and Learning — The James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal (jamesgmartin.center)
I was a high school senior in 1979, and in that year, two things happened vis-a-vis my school of choice: (1) a men's magazine rated SCU as the #8 party college in the country because they didn't have class on Wednesdays (the Jesuits intended it to be a day of quiet reflection, not nursing hangovers) and (2) The son of a prominent donor got drunk, climbed up on top of our athletic facility, slipped off, landed on his head and died.
SCU's leadership reacted immediately. The result was that many of the restrictions that happened over the past few decades at Stanford happened at SCU in 1980. Fundamentally, it became a dry campus. Because of that policy, there were three resulting effects:
1) It drove drinking and drug use into the students' dorm rooms, where students were more -- not less -- likely to overindulge. Public social gatherings became much more rare, and the safety of public association gave way to whatever happened behind closed doors. The "safety effect" of the herd effectively vanished.
2) It drove the partying and related behaviors off-campus to nearby houses where the university couldn't control it at all. High school kids would show up. The number of calls to local police forces skyrocketed. SCU didn't have a public crime report until 1980/81, the year they eliminated kegs from the campus. Coincidence?
3) As a freshman in 1980, SCU only had one fraternity, and frankly, it wasn't very popular. By my senior year, there were five fraternities, all off-campus, all with the associated hazing and hard partying. Today, SCU admits to six fraternities -- there are actually 11. Five who were disciplined and just went underground.
It would be great if 18-21 year olds on their own for the first time could behave themselves, and most do. Most aren't criminals, and most learn to comport themselves well. At the same time, there was a time when universities would allow that growth to happen with a light touch.
When I was a senior, I made a mistake that affected no one but me, and that I rectified as soon as I was aware of the mistake. An over-the-top classmate of mine demanded that I be dragged in front of the Dean, and the two of us met with him. We both explained what happened -- we didn't disagree on the details at all. The Dean asked how I rectified the mistake, and we both agreed on that as well. He had a pained look and said "I don't see a problem here. Why are you wasting my time?" She said, "Well don't you think he should be expelled, or suspended at least?" The Dean rolled his eyes and said "get out of here."
The problem was that the other student didn't care for me, and wanted to cause me some trouble -- which she did -- and the Dean refused to be a party to it. Today, it would have been a much bigger issue. It reminded me of the comments that the President of Harvard made about the Winklevoss twins when they complained about Zuckerberg: "If a student shows up to your office wearing a suit, they are either looking for a job or they're an asshole. This was the latter."
I was a high school senior in 1979, and in that year, two things happened vis-a-vis my school of choice: (1) a men's magazine rated SCU as the #8 party college in the country because they didn't have class on Wednesdays (the Jesuits intended it to be a day of quiet reflection, not nursing hangovers) and (2) The son of a prominent donor got drunk, climbed up on top of our athletic facility, slipped off, landed on his head and died.
SCU's leadership reacted immediately. The result was that many of the restrictions that happened over the past few decades at Stanford happened at SCU in 1980. Fundamentally, it became a dry campus. Because of that policy, there were three resulting effects:
1) It drove drinking and drug use into the students' dorm rooms, where students were more -- not less -- likely to overindulge. Public social gatherings became much more rare, and the safety of public association gave way to whatever happened behind closed doors. The "safety effect" of the herd effectively vanished.
2) It drove the partying and related behaviors off-campus to nearby houses where the university couldn't control it at all. High school kids would show up. The number of calls to local police forces skyrocketed. SCU didn't have a public crime report until 1980/81, the year they eliminated kegs from the campus. Coincidence?
3) As a freshman in 1980, SCU only had one fraternity, and frankly, it wasn't very popular. By my senior year, there were five fraternities, all off-campus, all with the associated hazing and hard partying. Today, SCU admits to six fraternities -- there are actually 11. Five who were disciplined and just went underground.
It would be great if 18-21 year olds on their own for the first time could behave themselves, and most do. Most aren't criminals, and most learn to comport themselves well. At the same time, there was a time when universities would allow that growth to happen with a light touch.
When I was a senior, I made a mistake that affected no one but me, and that I rectified as soon as I was aware of the mistake. An over-the-top classmate of mine demanded that I be dragged in front of the Dean, and the two of us met with him. We both explained what happened -- we didn't disagree on the details at all. The Dean asked how I rectified the mistake, and we both agreed on that as well. He had a pained look and said "I don't see a problem here. Why are you wasting my time?" She said, "Well don't you think he should be expelled, or suspended at least?" The Dean rolled his eyes and said "get out of here."
The problem was that the other student didn't care for me, and wanted to cause me some trouble -- which she did -- and the Dean refused to be a party to it. Today, it would have been a much bigger issue. It reminded me of the comments that the President of Harvard made about the Winklevoss twins when they complained about Zuckerberg: "If a student shows up to your office wearing a suit, they are either looking for a job or they're an asshole. This was the latter."
Audaces fortuna iuvat