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Faculty, Students Prioritize Skin Color, Gender in Hiring University President
A rabid pack of faculty and students at the University of South Carolina — a small minority, in non-STEM departments — derailed a $150K headhunter effort to find the new president in April when the search board presented a slate that had no women and one black man. Only one of the four had previous experience in the position, Lt Gen Caslen (Ret) who, until recently when he retired,was a beloved commandant of West Point, rated #1 public school in the country by two publications.
There are three camps: blacks want a black, women want a woman, and faculty want a fellow PhD. They all feared he would militarize the university, claimed his values weren’t the school’s, and denigrated his military experience, West Point leadership, his MBA, and his MS in Engineering. They said he wasn’t good enough. Seems genitalia and color are the real qualifications. This despite the university claiming it doesn’t discriminate. The Trustees knuckled under and refused to vote for any of the four. An interim was chosen.
The governor has had enough and told the Trustees to meet and vote. The local mayor claimed foul even though the governor is de facto head of the Trustees, politicians got a local judge to issue an injunction, students protested, and faculty senate held a hurried meeting and insulted a fine man with a vote of no confidence tonight.
I could write for hours about the stupidity I have observed, but alas, you can imagine it just as well. The higher ed bubble couldn’t burst soon enough so we can them up. One student commented that many support him but are afraid to speak up in the current climate. I bet those students will not vote Dem when they graduate.
Published in General
We’ve gone a long way (in the wrong direction) since General Eisenhower was president of Columbia.
Frankly, I am surprised the slate even included any white male heterosexuals. I thought having zero identity checkboxes would be an automatic disqualification.
No, but the ones who ‘won’ will be well-versed in entitlement and illiberal liberalism.
He should start his own university, Bender style.
At some point won’t anybody notice that the protestors are not donors or representative of paying customers? I mean, if the Deputy Assistant Dean of Artificial Student Outrage and 20 weak-minded kids and some Grievance Studies faculty members are upset, who cares? ‘Thanks for sharing but now go away. You are an embarrassment to higher ed.’ They only keep doing it because lily-livered “leaders” of college and universities give in when they don’t have to. Stop giving in and they will stop.
Here you go: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Condoleezza_Rice.
I would not be surprised, after the fuss dies down, if the university search team suddenly discovers that the next president of the school is right there among its own members, calls its own number, and gets that person through. Seen it more than once before.
Here’s an interesting little section from an article on the brouhaha:
What an interesting, and revealing, word choice, in the last paragraph. And I thought only the far-right had the use of dog whistles down to an art.
As for Caslen’s suggestion that reducing the binge-drinking which renders oneself insensible to reason and self-respect, might encourage young women to keep their legs together and young men to keep their pants on:
Honestly. I see why they can’t stand the guy.
And I bet gays want a gay, animal rights activists want a PETA member, and so forth.
It’s too bad universities in this country listen to the students way too much about issues which are none of their business. Why not march about the outrageous cost of education? Now that would be worth raising hell about . . .
It would seem they learned nothing when the young student was killed after a late night of partying in 5-Points.
Also this: https://www.fitsnews.com/2019/07/10/university-of-south-carolina-snowflake-u-implosion-continues/#comment-4536199412
Notice also that faculty was upset that the governor weighed in, despite being a de facto member of the board and alumnus but were OK with Columbia’s mayor weighing in on their side.
One student snarked that Caslen wouldn’t associate with USC’s LG….s but didn’t know West Point’s LG…. club gave him an award for pursuing inclusion. Women and blacks have excelled at WP. I posted an article about that that they ignored. They want a leftie, one of their own.
He was exactly the kind of person who could reduce costs, and I bet the faculty feared that while students were too stupid to realize they were protesting against their own best interests.
There are some great points in Jonah’s latest on NRO re identity politics. https://www.nationalreview.com/2019/07/identity-politics-danger-group-loyalty/
“We will not be led unless it’s by one of our own,” is a primitive impulse.
This seems to be the trend for any voting – period, or hiring practices for any job. I don’t recall identity politics ever being this bad – do you??
This is from the comments section of the Fitts article (https://www.fitsnews.com/2019/07/10/university-of-south-carolina-snowflake-u-implosion-continues/#comment-4536199412). What happens when their wishes go up against the women who protested the choice of a man? Loved someone’s comment about Condi Rice. I think I will toss it into the debate.
The comment:
”The Black Faculty Staff Association at the University of
South Carolina writes to bring something to your attention, if you are not
already aware. Gov. McMaster, as the ex-officio chair of the Board of
Trustees, has called a meeting for this Friday. The purpose of the
meeting is to call for a vote on Gen. Robert L. Caslen as president of UofSC.
We elicit your reaction in hopes of having our collective voices heard by the
Governor, the media, and the University.
Two links are below:
Click on this link to voice your concern about the call
for a vote to consider General Caslen.
https://classclimate.uts.sc…
Click on this link to review the article that appeared
in the state newspaper.
https://www.thestate.com/ne…
Carl R. Wells
President
Black Faculty Staff Association
University of South Carolina”
No doubt he would have tried to eliminate all the “XYZ Studies” courses and majors . . .
OldB,
I hate to break it to you but the leaders believe this garbage too. This is going to take lawsuits from real donors & parents. This is going to take Court cases up to SCOTUS. This is going to take an Education Secretary backed by a President that isn’t afraid to go Nuclear with these idiots. Otherwise, the only thing else I’ve come up with is an anti-trust suit against the accreditation system of the major Universities. Let online Universities compete on a level playing field. Nobody can afford the price of these hopeless arrogance factories anyway.
What happens when objective testing shows that the online kids are just as good or superior to the safe-space snowflakes coming out of the major universities? Something has got to give somewhere sometime.
Regards,
Jim
Make student loans dischargeable.
In university presidents, I always root against the heterosexuals.
He should ‘identify as a female’ an reapply to spite the bastards
https://www.wistv.com/2019/07/12/many-usc-caslen-supporters-have-been-quiet-this-week-some-say-this-is-why/ Latest. Students who support him starting to speak up but fear the climate on campus and the backlash against them. Also read there was bipartisan support inside the General Assembly to change the board by downsizing and having the General Assembly pick them. Of course, that was followed by comments fearing a good ole boy cabal will mess that up. It is quite likely since they have stepped in and mucked this up. It is rumored at least one is angry enough to pull funding. Students say they will protest next Friday when the board meets. This is why you don’t let kids be a part of your hiring process. This is where the left has taken us.
And speak in public wearing an “I [heart] AOC” tee shirt . . .
I can’t decide if it’s a terrible idea or a good idea.
It’s a terrible idea if you don’t eliminate the government guarantee. This is simply further subsidization of the problem.
It may be a good idea you do eliminate the government guarantee. In this case, the goal is to eliminate student lending altogether, which would starve the college system of funds.
This is the primary reason lenders make what would be dangerous loans (likelihood of non-repayment).
Certain consequences cause a lot of compliance.
‘Might be consequences’ less.
Parents arguing in front of their children over whether they should enforce consequences pretty much kills compliance.
Honestly, why would anyone take the pain of paying off student loans while the government is debating whether the loans are going to exist in the future?
Where’s the upside to paying today for the thing that is free tomorrow?
Voting again Friday at 10:00. Will be interested to see if it stays civil or turns MizZoo on us. My fear is faculty and students, in a hissy fit, will make his life miserable and refuse to cooperate….push to make him fail so they can say, “see, I told you so.” This has shown the leftie virus has gotten too invasive there.
https://www.wltx.com/amp/article/news/local/street-squad/usc/usc-president-nominee-will-be-approved-governor-believes/101-dcfa7a9c-3401-4b48-94cd-46c37fff2c6f?__twitter_impression=true
Watching TV coverage of the board meeting. Points I am hearing:
1. Should have chosen a more diverse group of finalists…quota pick?
2. Trying to claim not picking Caslen had nothing to do with him? Claim he was a “mismatch.” Trying to claim it wasn’t because of his military background.
3. Claims military background proved bad 60 years ago so must still hold true.
4. Claimed picking Caslen would put accreditation at risk (West Point is accredited).
5. Student President claims he speaks for “the students” when only a fraction voiced opposition. He claims bottom line is students feel they didn’t “have a voice.”
6. Chair says he called a meeting because “a significant number of board members” wanted a chance to vote on him.
7. Board has gone into executive session.
https://twitter.com/jkurzynatv/status/1152212447169830912?s=21
https://twitter.com/andyshain/status/1152196692688736258?s=21
Seems college accreditation is now controlled by the left, too. https://twitter.com/checker_wis/status/1151175846461431808?s=21
Note the misspelling of “statutes.”
He was voted and approved by a split majority. Note the letter from the accreditation agency mentions “unsolicited information.” Hmmm. When I watched the debate, the opposition used the threat of losing accreditation. Also, they used the faux threat to scare students into believing their degree was about to become worthless.
Big dollar donors weighed in for the opposition but the accreditation agency said that wasn’t a problem. The city mayor was in opposition and attended the meeting but that didn’t offend the opposition.
So ends this sorry mess, or is it just the beginning? Will students and faculty who oppose him try to make him fail?