Actually, this comes from a cool and goofy little site called Blabberize, which was put together by a couple of EMU grads. A regular and loyal reader sent me this link, “EMU Alums’ Web Widget Takes Off,” and it seems to me that there was a link on EMUTalk.org a couple of years ago about one of the creators of this site.
Anyway, check it out. It took me about 3 minutes to make this talking emu– super easy and fun. And I am sensing a new EMUTalk.org regular feature….
Also, there was a public forum today from 2-3:30, one I didn’t attend (I was teaching, mostly). I’d be curious to hear from anyone who went, as I am sure others here in EMUTalk.org land.
Given some of our conversation earlier though, I was kind of intrigued by what Ken McKanders had to say about all this since he actually is an attorney. To quote from the Echo here at length:
Ken McKanders, general counsel university attorney, said the Soul Winners broke no law or university policy, even though their message was often offensive.
McKanders said universities can restrict “fighting words,” which are any words, speech or expressions that would evoke an immediate violent response. In an effort to regulate “fighting words,” McKanders said universities adopted hate speech policies during the early 1990s.
“When courts review these cases, it is on a case by case basis,” McKanders said. “In the early ‘90s, there were cases where the courts struck down the university hate speech policies because they infringed on people’s First Amendment rights.”
“There would be no case against [Soul Winners] because they didn’t break any laws,” Woodiel (that’s D. Kay Woodiel, director of Diversity and Community Involvement) said. “Harassment is a university policy, not a law. The question is if a member of the EMU community were to violate the harassment policy, we would suffer consequences, so if someone outside of our community violates the policy on our campus, can we ask them to leave?”
One possible solution mentioned by several EMU officials that will be addressed at the forum is: Will Eastern Michigan University adopt a policy to designate only certain areas of campus where people may exercise their First Amendment rights to free speech.
First off, there’s a rhetorical/hypothetical question there that Woodiel leaves unanswered. I don’t know; can we ask them to leave?
Second, once again the free speech zone idea pops here. I still think that’s probably a bad idea, and I would assume that various labor unions on campus who might be effectively prevented from picketing in the event of a strike would be against that too.
The Department of Public Safety received a burglary complaint today that occurred between the hours of 3 a.m. – 11 a.m. in the Phelps Residence Hall. The resident reported that the door to his room was left unlocked while he was sleeping. When the victim woke up, he discovered that his wallet, cellular phone, and his roommate’s cellular phone were missing.
I have to say that this is a different sort of dorm life from when I was in college. When I lived in the dorms, you locked your doors, especially at night. There were fears of break-ins and the like of course, but the other reason I always locked the door was because if I didn’t, some drunk student from down the hall was liable to stumble in and wake me up.
This might be a little more partisan than usual for around EMUTalk.org, but I thought it was a well-written piece by a well-respected writer/scholar in my field, Mike Rose. “Rosie’s Dream: When it comes to education, Obama offers more opportunity to working families like mine” appeared last weekend in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Given EMU’s population of “working families,” I thought folks here might find it interesting.
…or that nearly anyone else at EMU makes too much money, take a look at this chart:
This link was sent to me by a loyal EMUTalk.org reader and it was posted/discussed here at the excellent blog (one I probably should add to the blogroll here) Pharyngula, and it originally appeared at another site I should read on a regular basis, PHD Comics. While I’m not completely sure how accurate this chart is, it looks about right to me.
The good news (I guess) is that the salaries for coaches in the MAC are well-below the national averages, at least according to this December 2007 article at MAC report online. EMU’s football coach, Jeff Genyk , makes a base salary of $183,000, which is well-below the MAC average base salary for football coaches, about $224,000. The bad news though is that’s still way WAY too much freakin’ money, and Genyk has proven that he’s far from worth it.
In tolerance/intolerance/protest/general college goofiness news: EMUTalk.org received a couple comments from the Ypsilanti Greenman, the very same greenman (I presume– how many could there be?) that was pictured in the Echo last week and present at least on one day of the Soulwinners demonstrations. I thought the video was lively enough that it merit its own post:
Now, I don’t know if today and tomorrow’s symbolic and educational tent “about our commitment to diversity and the various programs through which we express it” is in part an effort to celebrate or criticize the Ypsilanti Greenman. But I still thought the Greenman was kinda funny.
I actually went to the game on Saturday– well, through halftime at least. Based on this story on the AP, it looks like I missed some excitement in the second half. As far as the game goes: I have to say I was kind of confused about at least one play EMU called. After the emus scored a touch down (and at that point, it was EMU 7 and Akron 10), they tried for a trick-play onside kick. Akron picked it up and scored in two plays. What’s up with that coaching?
But beyond the actual “game,” I thought I’d share three of other lasting images of the outting: Continue reading →
So, in the wake of the Soulwinners “visit” this week, both EMU President Susan Martin and EMU Faculty Council President Russ Larson have announced a whole slew of counter activities. And it again leaves me wondering: just what the heck did these crazy people do to get so many folks so riled up?!
The Martin letter is in the “read more” part, but in summary:
There will be a “tent o’ tolerance” set up in front of the Halle Library on Monday from 11 AM to 3 PM in the “same spot where the protesters convened.” Folks can come by and sign a “University Creed” banner and enjoy some refreshments.
Martin will host/participate in a “Town Hall” styled forum called “Beyond Tolerance” on October 22 from 2 to 3:30 pm. More forums of sorts are apparently being planned.
And finally, “The Snow Counseling Center has agreed to fast-track any employee or student who could benefit from talking with a counselor about his/her personal experiences upon witnessing these events.”
Like I said before, I missed the whole thing. I did find this video though of a Soulwinners visit at Western Michigan University a couple weeks ago. Note that some of the folks on this video use some naughty words and discursive stylings not uncommon among college students:
And if you are looking for something a little polished, here’s a video from a journalism class at Central Michigan University that features preachers on campus, including from the Soulwinners crowd:
Now, given this response and some of the comments previously on EMUTalk.org, someone from this Soulwinners crowd clearly crossed a line. Perhaps they crossed from “free speech” into “hate speech,” though that is a fuzzy line in situations like this. I’m not sure about this, but I think that hate speech, legally speaking, has to be directed at an individual and not a group.
And, like I said before, it’s always better to have more teaching about tolerance and acceptance of all kinds of different things, so who am I to stand in the way of either a tent with refreshments or a town hall.
But in giving this sort of response, isn’t there a danger that the administration et al are perversely rewarding these people? I mean, isn’t this the kind of reaction that the Soulwinners are hoping for? Or would be ignoring these folks simply not be right? I don’t know, but plenty to think about, I suppose…. Continue reading →
A home invasion/armed robbery occurred in the city of Ypsilanti at approximately 1:30 a.m. Oct. 15 and was reported to the Ypsilanti City Police Department at approximately 2 p.m this afternoon. The incident occurred in the 1400 block of Gregory Street.
The resident, an EMU student, reported two subjects broke into his apartment, bound him, rifled through his belongings taking money and other miscellaneous items.
The victim described the subjects as black males, wearing bandanas over their faces and carrying handguns.
No further description/information was given.
Now, why this happened at 1:30 am and wasn’t reported until 2 pm later that day, I don’t know. But if I’m not mistaken, this is on the edge of the typically low-crime College Heights neighborhood too.
I and many others at EMU received a kind of interesting email today about tolerance for all from Susan Martin. Or maybe it’s a bit about safety and teach-ins. Or maybe it’s about something else? I’m not sure.
Anyway, before I get to that, a little background here: a big part of college life of course includes free speech, and I’ve seen more than my fair share of religious preachers and political zealots. I’ve always accepted these folks as part of what should be allowed and even embraced on campuses because at the end of the day, education is all about the free exchange of ideas.
Not that I generally pay much attention. Usually, these extremist groups are pretty small– one guy reading aloud from the Bible, a small group sheepishly handing out Lyndon LaRouche flyers, that sort of thing. The only one of these folks I ever paid attention to was the traveling Evangelical circus of Brother Jed; he used to come through the University of Iowa years ago, and I think he’s still doing his shtick on various college campuses. He put on quite the show of fire and brimstone.
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I and many others at EMU received a kind of interesting email today about tolerance for all from Susan Martin. Or maybe it’s a bit about safety and teach-ins. Or maybe it’s about something else? I’m not sure.
