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A White Guy posted:Whoa, are you telling me that the higher education bureaucracy is 100% out of touch with what actually happens in the classroom/parking lot/even on the loving campus? You're surprised? It's a bureaucracy. The people making these decisions are not the ones who have to interact with students except for the odd pissed-off parent. quote:If the numbers are good the only thing that matters is they stay that way at all costs. Also this. Really, why does any of this surprise you? I'll avoid going on another rant for now, but the state of higher education in this country is a mess. We're at a point where you're expected to have a bachelor's degree for any job more advanced than walmart, and now you're hearing about how this is affecting the people who actually work in higher education.
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Sep 22, 2014 16:13
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ToxicSlurpee posted:If the numbers are good the only thing that matters is they stay that way at all costs. If numbers are bad, they still go along with the complainer because they don't want to lose someone over something insignificant. Cythereal posted:Really, why does any of this surprise you? I'll avoid going on another rant for now, but the state of higher education in this country is a mess. We're at a point where you're expected to have a bachelor's degree for any job more advanced than walmart, and now you're hearing about how this is affecting the people who actually work in higher education. Unemployment rates in certain fields, like lib arts, is one cause of having people with higher skills competing with each other. A lot of that could be avoided if people would do research and use critical thinking about their future degree instead of using emotional reasoning to decide their fate. I had a good programming teacher that took some time out of one of the early classes to show us the job market for certain programming languages.
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Sep 22, 2014 16:30
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OK, school, let me get this right. Just so we're on the same page, let me go over this...you just removed the largest, most convenient, and most used student parking lot on campus. Which was also literally 2/3 of parking for that half of campus. And is also the only commuter lot anywhere near the dorms. And the cafeteria. And library. And also several buildings that have a lot of classes. You removed it so you could build more dorms which now have shittier parking in that you removed a nearby, smaller dorm lot. And you're building more dorms to house the...decreasing...student...population. It's a project that is costing millions of dollars while you're cutting staff to the bone and eliminating entire departments, which is decimating enrollment and causing current students to tell everybody they know now to come here. Meanwhile you're refusing to give full funding to student organizations but also won't let them do anything to raise funds that isn't bake sales. And this is somehow a good thing that will cement the future of the school.
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Sep 22, 2014 16:43
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chemosh6969 posted:I had a good programming teacher that took some time out of one of the early classes to show us the job market for certain programming languages. My department (Theatre Arts) has an entire class dedicated to teaching us what to do post graduation. We do resumes, interviews, and a shitload of portfolio editing. The entire first day was basically "Calm down, here are all the jobs you can get with a tech degree." It's made me feel 1000x better about my degree.
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Sep 22, 2014 16:56
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ToxicSlurpee posted:OK, school, let me get this right. Just so we're on the same page, let me go over this...you just removed the largest, most convenient, and most used student parking lot on campus. Which was also literally 2/3 of parking for that half of campus. And is also the only commuter lot anywhere near the dorms. And the cafeteria. And library. And also several buildings that have a lot of classes. You removed it so you could build more dorms which now have shittier parking in that you removed a nearby, smaller dorm lot. Good lord, replace "build more dorms" with "build a new performing arts center" (we already have one) and you're talking about my school. It, of course, will have its own parking lot, but only faculty will be allowed to park there during the day. You know, because we were loving hemorrhaging student parking spaces before they tore out the dorm-adjacent student lot that used to be where the oh-so-desperately-needed performing arts center is being built.
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Sep 22, 2014 18:39
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Grape Juice Vampire posted:My department (Theatre Arts) has an entire class dedicated to teaching us what to do post graduation. We do resumes, interviews, and a shitload of portfolio editing. The entire first day was basically "Calm down, here are all the jobs you can get with a tech degree." It's made me feel 1000x better about my degree. That's awesome. I bet it's also going to be one of the first classes to get cut by the admin. We had something similar my senior year of high school, learning about budgets/investing/living on your own. You had to pretend you had a job that made so much money and then budget off that. Since you could pick whatever job you wanted, it was kind of useless and there was zero instruction from the teacher. It was just a "go out and do the stuff on your own and write up a paper on how you'll budget".
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Sep 22, 2014 18:47
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It's irritating to hold office hours and not have any students show up. 
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Sep 22, 2014 20:32
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Why aren't students protected under consumer protection laws? I mean if universities want to start treating this poo poo like a business then surely the students deserve similar rights? It just seems like poo poo is so expensive and they screw us every step of the way, every chance they can get.
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Sep 22, 2014 20:44
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Apocadall posted:Why aren't students protected under consumer protection laws? I mean if universities want to start treating this poo poo like a business then surely the students deserve similar rights? Thats how capitalism works  School should be free. Even university. If that means a bit higher taxes, then why the gently caress not? Or are taxes so horrible that public good must come second?
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Sep 22, 2014 21:04
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Ah, rural college  . One of our former professors got caught in a child porn sting the other day, and now one of the former athletic directors is suing the Athletic director+one of his subordinates claiming that director was outright wasting public money to finance his lifestyle. Gonna go to the President's presentation tonight to see if she is as deluded as the last guy. she probably is. She sent out an email about (no poo poo) checking gender privileges and not dressing as racist things for Halloween a few days ago .
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Sep 22, 2014 21:20
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Stockholm Syndrome posted:Thats how capitalism works In the US at least... yes, taxes are absolutely the most horrible thing that's ever existed according to half the federal government and more than half of many state governments. These are the same people who see no value in funding public libraries, for example. Education in general is no longer a valued thing in government spending on any level. quote:Why aren't students protected under consumer protection laws? I mean if universities want to start treating this poo poo like a business then surely the students deserve similar rights? Trust me, it's not our choice most of the time. Textbook publishing is a racket, universities are constantly expanding with the constantly growing student base, and our government funding declines every year.
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Sep 22, 2014 21:22
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I'm submitting my dissertation tomorrow and I just realised all 30 of my results graphs (which are produced in MatLab) have the unit of temperature in celsius and not kelvin so I have to re-do them all 
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Sep 22, 2014 21:26
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A White Guy posted:Gonna go to the President's presentation tonight to see if she is as deluded as the last guy. she probably is. She sent out an email about (no poo poo) checking gender privileges and not dressing as racist things for Halloween a few days ago. What is wrong with this again?
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Sep 22, 2014 21:29
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kazil posted:What is wrong with this again? It's crazy to most normal people for the president of a college to be sending out morality emails to students. She should have more important things to worry about.
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Sep 22, 2014 23:09
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Ariza posted:It's crazy to most normal people for the president of a college to be sending out morality emails to students. She should have more important things to worry about. That was almost certain written by the president's secretary or some other higher-up in the university, rather than the president herself. And personally, I'd suggest that encouraging basic decency on the part of students is an excellent use of a university employee's time.
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Sep 22, 2014 23:20
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Cythereal posted:That was almost certain written by the president's secretary or some other higher-up in the university, rather than the president herself. And personally, I'd suggest that encouraging basic decency on the part of students is an excellent use of a university employee's time. Doubly so if a few head's up E-mails saves the university the time it would take to run a bunch of students through conduct boards for violating the non-discrimination and anti-harassment policies.
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Sep 23, 2014 00:48
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Soylent Pudding posted:Doubly so if a few head's up E-mails saves the university the time it would take to run a bunch of students through conduct boards for violating the non-discrimination and anti-harassment policies. Are there really policies in place that limit what characters you can dress up like for Halloween? That seems like a really dumb thing that would just end up with them getting sued.
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Sep 23, 2014 01:25
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Every year there's at least one college where at least batch of idiot white students who decide blackface is a great Halloween idea. A quick google search brings up a mess of similar stories. Last year it was Lee University and London University; the year before that, University of Florida; two years before that, Lehigh University; the year before that, Northwestern. Blackface is bad. No college wants to be that college. This isn't that hard to understand.
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Sep 23, 2014 01:40
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Ariza posted:Are there really policies in place that limit what characters you can dress up like for Halloween? That seems like a really dumb thing that would just end up with them getting sued. You have no idea how often people dress up as racial stereotypes for Halloween and think it's funny. It isn't just limited to blackface either, though that's probably the most common one. Though I could be wrong; I've never personally seen somebody in blackface at Halloween time but have seen some other really, really offensive stuff. Which makes me lead to another complaint...why the Hell did I have to explain to two separate college professors that making jokes about the Polish being stupid isn't the least bit acceptable? I'm of very Polish descent and really don't like it when people insist that makes me stupid. No racial jokes are OK. Ever.
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Sep 23, 2014 01:54
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ToxicSlurpee posted:Which makes me lead to another complaint...why the Hell did I have to explain to two separate college professors that making jokes about the Polish being stupid isn't the least bit acceptable? I'm of very Polish descent and really don't like it when people insist that makes me stupid. No racial jokes are OK. Ever. That's pretty drat weird. I'd never even heard of that as a stereotype before.
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Sep 23, 2014 02:35
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Jack of Hearts posted:That's pretty drat weird. I'd never even heard of that as a stereotype before. You must not live in the rust belt or Chicago!
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Sep 23, 2014 02:42
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Stockholm Syndrome posted:Thats how capitalism works Probably doesn't help that what taxes we have probably aren't being used to the best of their extent. Just like colleges doing retarded poo poo like building a performing arts center when there is a perfectly serviceable one already on campus, the government is probably wasting a whole lot of it on studies and projects nobody cares about. Why does it feel like people with authority and power in the administrative sense never seem to do anything optimal, especially in college 
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Sep 23, 2014 04:03
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Jack of Hearts posted:That's pretty drat weird. I'd never even heard of that as a stereotype before. Really? The core of Polish jokes and stereotypes are them being not very bright and only good for manual labor as a result. It's more of a European thing, though, because that's where the diaspora mostly is.
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Sep 23, 2014 04:20
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Somebody went around and took down all the posters for my club. It's cool though, they left the flyers for parties that happened weeks ago.
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Sep 23, 2014 04:46
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Why is it so hard to wash your hands and wear a surgical mask when you have to come to school sick? If I can do it the rest of you can dammit. Seriously the lack of basic hygiene and decency I see on campus is just plain weird to me.
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Sep 23, 2014 04:56
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Trying to fundraise for an event that our Foundation is "totally behind." First I can't get into the contingency funds, because the Poetry and Board Game clubs somehow successfully lobbied for a collective 20 grand to do gently caress all. Then I can't host a fundraiser involving food, because handler's permits. Then I can't host a fundraiser involving food and a crew of certified volunteers. Because the President signed some kind of blood pact with the catering company. Currently our only option is to do grey-market technically illegal fundraising and then have it come in as an anonymous donation. Lottery of Babylon posted:Every year there's at least one college where at least batch of idiot white students who decide blackface is a great Halloween idea. A quick google search brings up a mess of similar stories. Last year it was Lee University and London University; the year before that, University of Florida; two years before that, Lehigh University; the year before that, Northwestern. Yeah, between this and every football season having schools making signs like, "Trail of Tears Part 2!" when you play the Seminoles it's not unreasonable for your administration to remind grown adults to not be racist shitheels.
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Sep 23, 2014 05:08
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KiteAuraan posted:...wear a surgical mask when you have to come to school sick?... If you're sick enough that you need a surgical mask on in public, do the rest of us a favor and stay home. If you're wearing one because you have the sniffles harden the gently caress up.
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Sep 23, 2014 05:11
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Razorwired posted:First I can't get into the contingency funds, because the Poetry and Board Game clubs somehow successfully lobbied for a collective 20 grand to do gently caress all. I must admit I'd be tempted by the shittons of rare and foreign tabletop games that money could get me, but what the hell is a poetry club supposed to do with that kind of money? Is it just for bringing people to campus or whatever?
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Sep 23, 2014 05:16
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Kavak posted:I must admit I'd be tempted by the shittons of rare and foreign tabletop games that money could get me, but what the hell is a poetry club supposed to do with that kind of money? Is it just for bringing people to campus or whatever? They've got some big fuckoff writer's conference they supposedly have to go to. There's also some rumor about them bringing speakers onto campus(none of this has materialized so I'm guessing it's for cravats and absinthe.) I'd respect the board game club if they did that. But mostly they threw a Magic tournament last year(that had 4 competitors) and the worst International Tabletop Day event ever. They tried to go up against the popular as gently caress FLGS, and got a total of two attendees from outside their regulars. When I went to check up on them for work they were trying to figure out how to feed their attendees because with student funds everything has to be previously budgeted or purchased with a company card, which is locked up on weekends.
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Sep 23, 2014 05:23
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Jeremy_X posted:If you're sick enough that you need a surgical mask on in public, do the rest of us a favor and stay home. If you're wearing one because you have the sniffles harden the gently caress up. It's more that I don't want to spread what I have to you.
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Sep 23, 2014 05:42
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KiteAuraan posted:Why is it so hard to wash your hands and wear a surgical mask when you have to come to school sick? If I can do it the rest of you can dammit. Seriously the lack of basic hygiene and decency I see on campus is just plain weird to me. Sure just let me get out my supply of surgical masks that I definitely keep around.
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Sep 23, 2014 05:44
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KiteAuraan posted:Why is it so hard to wash your hands and wear a surgical mask when you have to come to school sick? If I can do it the rest of you can dammit. Seriously the lack of basic hygiene and decency I see on campus is just plain weird to me. That goes quite a bit beyond "basic hygiene". Wash your hands, sure, but when I was still in school I never saw anyone wearing surgical masks and if I did I'd laugh. It's not the end of the world if you get someone else sick. There's no need to get decked out in your hazmat suit every time you have a minor illness. If it actually is something serious, you don't need to be coming in to school. Go to the doctor and get treatment and THEN come to school. I can almost understand why people wear them on airplanes or other very confined places, but honestly I'd rather take the risk of catching someone's cold than having to look ridiculous in public.' vv I "get" that there is a cultural component to it, but when you do it in a place where it is not commonly done, people won't think it's "polite", they'll think it's weird. I mean, if you want to do that, fine, but expecting others to do it too is a bit extreme (unless of course you live somewhere where that custom is practiced by most people). yeah I eat ass has a new favorite as of 06:51 on Sep 23, 2014 |
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Sep 23, 2014 06:34
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Does no one in this thread get that surgical masks have different connotations in different places? Really? In, like, half of the world people wear surgical masks when they're sick out of courtesy/as a warning to others. It's not just a thing people wear to personally avoid germs. Also, the "politeness" ones are cheap and flimsy as poo poo.
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Sep 23, 2014 06:44
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How Rude posted:Probably doesn't help that what taxes we have probably aren't being used to the best of their extent. This sounds like something a downsy Hank Hill would say, and then Dale Gribble would flip up the shades on his glasses and squint at Hank and give him a visual pat-down, as if searching for some sort of trap. Finally, Gribble would nod to himself, apparently satisfied. "You're starting to see things for what they really are," he'd say to Hank in his nasal voice. Then he'd grab Hank by his thick wrist, twisting the wisps of brown arm hair as Gribble led him back to his dungeon-command-center for rigorous orientation. Look at the facts: Every (every!) College President is a woman, yet every single one of them runs the exact same agenda. There are secondary and even tertiary installations of ordinary facilities on every single campus, which inevitably leads to rampant confusion when events are held. "But which theater is the showing of Waterworld being held at?" And then you end up with people getting trapped at the wrong theaters--something our government constantly toes the edge of the proverbial pool on funding research for. If you ask me, it'd be a drat good thing for our government to claim ownership of every single one of these schools, if only to keep them on a tighter leash and summarily destroy redundant facilities. Refer to King of the Hill S8E21 "The Redneck on Rainey Street" for at least three reasons why this is the best (or perhaps only) outcome, including young over-achiever Connie being rejected on the basis of being Chinese.
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Sep 23, 2014 07:12
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Razorwired posted:
Dude. This so, so much. gently caress Sodexo.
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Sep 23, 2014 08:49
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paragon1 posted:Dude. This so, so much. gently caress Sodexo. Yeah unfortunately that's very typical. If our student organizations have any event involving food we have to offer the food company the campus signed a contract with Satan with first and can bring food ourselves only if they refuse. Which they never do. Their prices are ludicrous sometimes, too. I think one time we ended up paying $150 for three dozen cookies, a small cake, and a punch bowl. The prices for pizza aren't so bad and they actually make drat fine pizza it's just since everything else is so drat expensive it means every student organization has pizza for gatherings and nothing else, ever. ToxicSlurpee has a new favorite as of 09:52 on Sep 23, 2014 |
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Sep 23, 2014 09:38
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How Rude posted:Probably doesn't help that what taxes we have probably aren't being used to the best of their extent. Oh boy let me tell you about feasibility studies "We want to build a new dorm right here. How feasible is this project?" "...pretty feasible. Now, where is the nearest place that can cash a huge loving check?"
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Sep 23, 2014 14:16
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Tunicate posted:It's irritating to hold office hours and not have any students show up. I have been teaching for four years. I have had exactly one student come to office hours to discuss a writing assignment (she was also a work-study in our department, so I saw her all the time) and one student call me to discuss a poor grade on an exam (this was an online course). The only students that I see in office hours are student-athletes taking exams early due to team travel.
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Sep 23, 2014 14:41
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Where do sick people wear surgical masks, out of curiosity? The only place I've ever heard of them being commonplace is India/China, and then to keep smog out rather than illness in.
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Sep 23, 2014 15:20
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I have only ever heard of it in reference to a goon working in an office in Japan. Also depending on the aerosol in question a mask might not do anything but look funny.
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