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The History of College [Veritas U]
Good to be back, blogosphere!
In honor of Phil the Pill finally obtaining that $40,000 piece of paper that says he gets to be considered for a position of employment, the inaugural post for the re-rebranded blog will be a retrospective at that coming-of-age factory that so many of us idolize and remember fondly: COLLEGE.
Those of us who are lucky enough to be raised by parents of a certain median income always had college dangling in front of us like a carrot during those excruciatingly confusing years of lower education. We arrived by different means. Some of us paid a lot for SAT books and were relieved to break 1000 (notice how it’s five years later and still nobody counts the Writing part?). Some of us were completely devoted to getting straight A’s, even if it meant standing outside our high school science teacher’s houses in the rain holding a boom box in desperation. Some of us smoked weed, but used somebody else’s urine for the drug test before every swim meet and got an athletic scholarship to Princeton. However we got there, we got there and we were proud.
Ken Cuccinelli on university anti-discrimination policies — it’s illegal to protect gays [Butthead Awards] [Welcome to the Republican Party]
The circus that is Virginia politics continues with its latest attraction – rampant homophobia.
So remember when Bob McDonnell went out of his way to take out protections based on sexual orientation in state employment with Executive Order 6?
Seems like it was only the start.
After many Virginia students, including yours truly, left for spring break, Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, out of the kindness of his own heart, sent a letter to the administrations of Virginia’s public universities. Its content? “Legal advice” recommending that the universities, all of which have explicit policies against discrimination based on sexual orientation, rescind such language on the basis that they go against the law enacted by the General Assembly.
So, in short, it’s illegal for universities to try to prevent discrimination against students and employees for sexual orientation. Universities can’t protect more than what the state General Assembly has explicitly put into law.
….Huh.
It is my advice that the law and public policy of the Commonwealth of Virginia prohibit a college or university from including ‘sexual orientation,’ ‘gender identity,’ ‘gender expression,’ or like classification as a protected class within its non-discrimination policy absent specific authorization from the General Assembly
Virginia’s colleges and universities are public institutions. Each Board of Visitors is vested with broad rights and powers conferred by the provisions of the Code of Virginia. In addition, Boards have the authority to make needful rules and regulations and generally direct the affairs of the college. Beyond this statutory framework, the Commonwealth recognizes that a university “has not only the power expressly conferred upon it, but it also has the implied power to do whatever is reasonably necessary” to effectuate its granted powers…
This broad authority, however, is not without limits….The General Assembly has considered and define the protected classes for purposes of non-discrimination statutes. It has specifically defined unlawful discrimination at educational institutions. The Virginia Human Rights Act states that it is the policy of the Commonwealth to “safeguard all individuals within the Commonwealth from unlawful discrimination because of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions, age, marital status, or disability, in places of public accomodation, including educational institutions…” In addition to this affirmative statement, the General Assembly has on numerous occasions considered and rejected creating a protected class defined by “sexual orientation,” “gender identity” or “gender expression.” Lacking this clear authority, no state agency can reach the boundaries established by the General Assembly…
Cuccinelli is referring to Section 2.2-3900 of the Virginia Code, the above-mentioned Virginia Human Rights Act. And, like he said, the General Assembly has refused to include sexual orientation in the long list of protected classes on multiple occasions, the most recent example being in 2009. Currently, there is yet another amendment on the table.
So the argument goes that Cuccinelli is “suggesting” that the universities “fix” the violation of the law. He is merely performing his duties as Attorney General and upholding the Code of Virginia. This isn’t about homophobia, say supporters. This about respect for the law and we really shouldn’t get angry at poor Ken for doing his job. It’s the General Assembly who we should be focusing on.
Well, blind partisan, we agree that citizens concerned about civil rights need to lean on the legislature to make them actually follow the 14th amendment to the Constitution of the United States.
All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
But you really expect me to believe that this was something the Attorney General had to do?
First, Cuccinelli gives himself a loophole – “Boards have the authority to make needful rules and regulations and generally direct the affairs of the college.” It appears that most of our previous attorney generals, except for McDonnell, taken that to mean “let the university administrations do their jobs.” It appears that Cuccinelli takes that to mean “Boards have the authority to make needful rules and regulations unless I personally have an issue with them.”
Secondly, Cuccinelli had no legal right to send them legal advice in the first place. Section 2.2-505 of the Virginia Code states:
The Attorney General shall give his advice and render official advisory opinions in writing only when requested in writing so to do by one of the following: the Governor; a member of the General Assembly; a judge of a court of record or a judge of a court not of record; the State Corporation Commission; an attorney for the Commonwealth; a county, city or town attorney in those localities in which such office has been created; a clerk of a court of record; a city or county sheriff; a city or county treasurer or similar officer; a commissioner of the revenue or similar officer; a chairman or secretary of an electoral board; or the head of a state department, division, bureau, institution or board.
Cuccinelli makes references to some vague “questions prompted” in his letter, but doesn’t actually say “I’m responding to an official inquiry by the following body.” No. Cuccinelli’s letter makes it sound like he’s taken it upon himself to clarify the situation. Certainly every Board of Visitors didn’t get together and draft a letter to Cuccinelli or appeal to the Governor to ask for a legal opinion. So why did Cuccinelli do it?
Because he’s a Butthead.
For the use of extremely bigoted reasoning in the campaign to remove equal rights from the citizens you were elected to Protect - The Butthead Award
My view is that homosexual acts, not homosexuality, but homosexual acts are wrong. They’re intrinsically wrong. And I think in a natural law based country it’s appropriate to have policies that reflect that. … They don’t comport with natural law. I happen to think that it represents (to put it politely; I need my thesaurus to be polite) behavior that is not healthy to an individual and in aggregate is not healthy to society.
Ken Cuccinelli is a bigot. It’s that simple. When an elected official, motivated by bigotry, goes out of his way and steps out of his jurisdiction to try to strip rights away from the citizens he was elected to protect, then. That’s. WRONG. And I’m tired of people trying to rationalize this with lawyerisms and legal loopholes – the office of the Attorney General should exist to protect its innocent citizens, not persecute them.
Stepping outside of the legal mumbo-jumbo, this whole conversation is ridiculous. Conservatives are essentially arguing over who we get to deny equal rights to and to them I ask, What is your fucking problem? “Well, we lost the battle to keep the blacks and the Muslims and the feminists out of jobs, but we’ll take a stand here to protect someone’s right to make someone else’s life miserable because they’re a Ghey.”
People who support this, using whatever twisted logic is necessary to make it politically viable, are god damn idiots. They’ll claim that their opponents don’t understand the law, when clearly, they don’t get how it works. We’ve gone years without interference of the state in discrimination policies and the state didn’t fucking collapse. Attorney Generals, prosecutors, lawmakers and citizens always turn a blind eye to certain parts of the law because it would be absurd to take a literalist approach on everything. Technically, if you’ve ever given a blowjob, you’re a felon in Virginia, but you don’t see the government demanding that you lose your job or civil rights.
That’s why it made sense to let universities enact their own discrimination policies, because they probably know more about what makes a good higher education environment than damn Ken Cuccinelli and the middle-aged representatives of the General Assembly. And now Cuccinellli is seizing upon his own legal interpretation to carry out a personal vendetta he has against homosexuals and transgenders. You’d have to be fucking crazy to claim you believe in the values of America and stand for this.
As a university student, I’m not standing by as some asshole puts pressure on my school and its sister institutions to violate the 14th amendment. So here are the next steps:
- Send a message to our Board of Visitors and tell them that they have to publicly refuse to take Cuccinelli’s “advice.” We need to push back before McDonnell and his lackey make life insufferable for a group of innocent citizens who are simply trying to exist in this damn state. And we need to prevent the possibility, however slim, of our universities hanging our fellow students and faculty out to dry and allowing discrimination to take place in admissions and hiring practices.
- Send letters to our representatives in the General Assembly to support an amendment to include sexual orientation and its related identities in the Virginia Human Rights Act. Without a legal leg to stand on, Cuccinelli would have to come up with an even more ridiculous way to attack citizens, further marginalizing his position.
- Vote Cuccinelli out of the office in of Attorney General in 2013 and prevent anyone who has such a clear record of homophobia and disregard for civil liberties as he did from being put into office again. If Virginians want to avoid being considered backwards hicks that cripple public institutions, we have to root out this cancer.
The culture warriors of the right wing are on the losing side of history and most of them know it. In response, they’re pulling out desperate stops to make sure they inflict as much pain upon their “enemies” as possible. It really is time to stop this and have every reasonable citizen who believes in civil liberties to band together and give Buttheads like Ken Cuccinelli a clear message.
Shut the Fuck Up and Get the Fuck Out.
Crimson Tide vs. Hokies – Armchair Sports Analysis
Marathon says I should stop making sports predictions. As far as official predictions on this blog, I am 0 for 2. The Cardinals lost the Super Bowl and the Hokies lost to Alabama on Saturday. As my pathetically few amount of “Sports” posts demonstrates, I know next to nothing about most sports or sport strategy. But I did watch the game, so I’m going to put on my John Madden hat.
"Well, you see, the problem is Virginia Tech didn't score as many points as Alabama."
As everyone points out, Tech’s offense made a pretty disapointing showing. This wasn’t unexpected, but I think most people figured QB Tyrod Taylor would make more gains with his running game. To our credit, Alabama’s compromised of big, hulking dudes. Whether it was them pressuring Tyrod or their O-Line making short work of our defensive plays.
We were actually making a decent showing there in the first half. Which makes the fourth quarter that much more disappointing.
Fourth quarter was also when we decided to shut up ESPN’s announcers.
There’s two ways to perceive announcers’ disdain for VT. One is the outright conspiracy that they hate our black quarterback. The other is the acknowledgment that there is a latent racism in sports coverage that determines which teams get favorable coverage from the talking heads. It’s not explicit and it’s not necessarily active. But no one can deny that when VT makes a good play it’s “surprising” and when Alabama makes a good play, it’s expected.
Whoa! That black guy is PLAYING FOOTBALL!!!
And I’m not making any apologies for Tyrod’s game, but I will see that I didn’t see Greg McElroy make many amazing plays. But he was the one that they were all fawning over.
Now, I understand that I’m biased. And I concede that Alabama is a better team overall. But there was no doubt that it was McElroy who the announcers were stoking up to be Hesiman-level of hype. The fact is that, in college football, ESPN benefits by holding up nice, white, All-American types as the college football messiahs. Matt Ryan. Tim Tebow. Greg McElroy.
I might just be talking out of my ass here, but I can’t remember the last time a black guy was talked about extensively by college football commentators. I invite real sports fans to correct me if I’m wrong or give me good reasons why this is the case.
Anyway, soapbox aside, Alabama DID outplay us and, even without the couple of Alabama penalties that the refs ignored. It’s sad for us, because we, like a good football school, deluded ourselves into thinking we had a shot for the national championship, but this game shows that, while we will probably dominate the ACC, we have no chance against schools of a certain caliber. And, for kicks, I’ll join my actively sports-vocal Hokie peers and blame Brayn Stinespring for this inability to compete a certain level.
Well, I spent longer talking about that than I meant to. Tomorrow I may address the fallout from Obama’s education speech today and the bad turn the healthcare debate is taking. Right now, it’s late and I’m losing at Settlers.
Peace out.
Dick Cheney, Sorostitutes, Bros, and Hipsters
My most boring class is in the morning and is directly followed by my hardest class. However, my favorite class is at the end, so I guess it makes up for it. Today we talked about how in Postmodern society, multinational capitalism exploits and destroys. Alllllriiiiight.
As a senior, I feel that I keep seeing the same people pop up in my classes, so I’ve compiled a list of the five archetypes people are guaranteed to see at a large public university classroom.
But, first…
In the News
Continuing the CIA probe news, dear old Dick Cheney is running his mouth again.
“The people involved deserve our gratitude. They do not deserve to be the targets of political investigations or prosecutions.”
Patriots torture.
I’d ask if Dick Cheney knows about the documents Salon blogger Glenn Greenwald has posted, but I assume he ordered them all himself.
You thought waterboarding was bad? Actions during interrogations included:
– staging an execution to intimidate a detainee
– revving a power drill near a hooded and naked detainee
– telling a detainee “we’re going to kill your children” and “we could get your mother in here”
– using force to put pressure on a detainee’s cartoid artery on his neck
– blowing smoke in a detainee’s face (although the interrogator didn’t even smoke?)
So, following Dick Cheney’s instructions…
…thanks for completely discrediting U.S. antiterrorism efforts.
Assholes.
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The 5 People in your College Class
Compiled from personal experience.
The Sorority ‘Tard
Why she’s in your class:
– your major would be useless in a post-apocalyptic society (me)
– she needs to fulfill some LAME university requirement, OMG
– she’s lost
What she does:
– talk to her sister about how she hopes this year’s pledge class will DD more often
– establish how she’s not looking for drama this semester
– text
Quote:
“OMG, did you read Katie’s text to Sarah about Jessica’s Facebook message to Stacy quoting the IM calling her a fat slut?”
The Bro
Why he’s in your class:
– Science, Math or Engineering: He wants to graduate/ get a job, Liberal Arts: he’s looking for chicks
– he failed/dropped it four times before
– it’s got the word “Brewing” in it
What he does:
– Browse ESPN.com
– complains about this hard computer game to his fellow Bro
– sleep
Quote:
“Shit, man, I used to be so good at Breast Pong. To be a freshman again…”
The Asian Nerd
Why he’s in your class:
– he likes to learn
– his adviser, room mate, and parents told him to
– to ruin the curve
What he does:
– pay attention
– take notes
– download J-Pop
Quote:
“No, man, you’ve got it wrong, I’m borderline retarded. My A in Advanced Structural Calculus Decartes Historical Analysis was almost an A-.”
The Hipster Brigade
Why they’re in your class:
– the professor is liberal
– it’s conveniently located close to their favorite local coffee shop
– it’s an English course
What they do:
– compose music in their head
– wear ironic beanies and hats
– twitch anxiously from nicotine withdrawal
Quote:
“How was your summer working for the man? I managed to live off lawn mowing and pot dealing, drinking my coffee and contributing nothing substantial to society.”
The Perfect Girl
Why she’s in your class:
– she has the same interests and hobbies as you do
– she’s smart, driven, and committed to getting an education so she can be a positive force in society
– she’s the T.A.
What she does:
– wear flattering clothing that isn’t slutty
– doze off when the professor is boring, look adorably attentive when the professor is interesting
– occasionally surf the web in search of music you would like, movies you want to see, and books you’ve been meaning to read
Quote:
“Nice to meet you, I’m—[phone ring]–oh, one sec, that’s my boyfriend.”
Addendum:
The boyfriend is The Bro.
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I know I’ve committed to a lot of promises about the blog…working on it. Working on it. Will try to have a substantial Fact & Philos this weekend.
Quote of the Day
“Life is an escalator. You can move forward or backward; you cannot remain still.” – Patricia Russell-McCloud
Meerkat Mannerisms
As life is still busy, I can’t take too much time to survey the political landscape and make the innagural podcast or Fact & Philos. So we’re going to ease back into the daily blogging thing and I will probably be talking about things that actually go on in my life for the first couple of weeks of school. So to everyone who doesn’t want to know about the mundane trials of a college upperclassmen….suck it?
Tonks and I are moved in to our new apartment. She provided some nice furniture and we have Chin Chin’s loveseat to sit on as well. My room is still a mess, but the addition of a bed from Prodigal is giving it a room-type feel. One of these days I should hang my clothes. I think I’ll be going into Christiansburg in search of a desk today.
Last night, after a day of helping returning MCers move into their dorm, someone had the brilliant plan of going to Cedar Point and gettng there as it opened. I was excited for my last chance to destress before the semester started…then when the voices of reason factored in cost, time, and sleep deprivation, the exhuastation of the day hit me. No one ended up going.
And that’s the boring version of how I almost went to Cedar Point on a whim.
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Anyway, we’ll just do a small photo dump today. From the latest Cracked photoshop contest, the truth about textbooks in college:
Manolin the cat is very big right now, more than twice his kitten size. The next plan is to introduce him into African wildlife:
Speaking of Meerkats…
Okay, must get ready for Christiansburg. The blog will regain substance sometime after classes start.
Iran Society at Virginia Tech protests
Sorry for being late with the post. I’ve been in a battle with the ugliest summer sinus infection ever. It looks kind of like this, I imagine:
And it’s eating my head from the inside out. Luckily, She-Who-Cannot-Yet-Be-Nicknamed gave me some drugs and I was able to function well enough to play Settlers and remember I had to blog. I also bought some nasal spray to eradicate the little bugger.
This should be legit, right?
The Iranian drama continues, even while the government makes its efforts to silence protesters. Here at Virginia Tech, the Iran Society got together to set up a Green Revolution of their own. I, feeling like the walking dead, was able to shoot and edit a video of their protest:
Vodpod videos no longer available.I think I’m one of many who has been inspired and impressed by the resilience of the Iranian people. I think most of them realize that this will be a long struggle, but one worth fighting. It was a relatively small group of maybe 70 people, but several people honked in support of the cause and they were devoted to voicing their opinions. It’s one of the best stories I’ve covered at the CT.
In other news, continuing our coverage of Australian men and how they seem to have the best lives ever, Australian men seem to prefer food to sex.
SENSORY OVERLOAD!
Seeing as how that above scenario is probably less likely than winning the lottery, given the choice, I think I would also pick food. Food does not place conditions on its enjoyment. Food does not criticize, or whine, or nag, or want to stick around longer than it is welcome. Food is your friend.
Worry not, ladies. I’m still willing to give other natural instincts their fair shake. But I am taking applicants who can recreate the above photo.
And now for your edition of Daily WTF.
Meet Brooke Greenberg and her sister Carly, on the right. Carly is 13 years old.
FTA:
Brooke hasn’t aged in the conventional sense. Dr. Richard Walker of the University of South Florida College of Medicine, in Tampa, says Brooke’s body is not developing as a coordinated unit, but as independent parts that are out of sync. She has never been diagnosed with any known genetic syndrome or chromosomal abnormality that would help explain why.
…In her first six years, Brooke went through a series of medical emergencies from which she recovered, often without explanation. She survived surgery for seven perforated stomach ulcers. She suffered a brain seizure followed by what was diagnosed as a stroke that weeks later left no apparent damage.
At 4, she fell into a lethargy that caused her to sleep for 14 days. Then, doctors diagnosed a brain tumor, and the Greenbergs bought a casket for her.
//“We were preparing for our child to die,” Howard Greenberg said. “We were saying goodbye. And, then, we got a call that there was some change; that Brooke had opened her eyes and she was fine. There was no tumor. She overcomes every obstacle that is thrown her way.”
That’s freakin’ amazing, man. The child, er teenager, is a miracle.
It doesn’t seem as if she has a 16-year old’s cognitive ability. But how weird would that be? Being a teenager in a baby’s body — maybe being nonverbal. I mean…I actually think it’d be kind of cool. You’d never have to work. People pick you up and play airplane with you. Oh, and girls love babies.
The family seems like they’re nice and taking it all in stride. With a strong family environment, what more does Brooke need?
Though all that crap about finding immortality is just that. Humans are meant to expire. Be glad that the girl is happy and has a loving family. That’s enough purpose, if you ask me.
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So I’m going to start doing something where I track what is getting my blog the most hits. For a while there it was, unfortunately, abortion, because of a political cartoon I linked when Notre Dame protesters came out against Obama.
But, recently, the search responsible for the most hits is…Taylor Swift.
Purty...
Okay, but…why Taylor all of a sudden? The only time I’ve used her picture in a post was in January. Someone please tell me why Taylor Swift and Phil the Pill have become inextricably linked…
Yeah, I know, that statement is loaded with wishful thinking.
Picture of the Day
Inspired by a conversation I recently had on a car ride:
Quote of the Day
“The major difference between a thing that might go wrong and a thing that cannot possibly go wrong is that when a thing that cannot possibly go wrong goes wrong it usually turns out to be impossible to get at or repair.” – Douglas Adams
Things that suck today: secret Nazis, tuition hikes, and Scientology
I missed a day.
Damn, it’s going to be harder to update in college than I thought.
I’m currently in the multimedia office of Virginia Tech’s Collegiate Times. I just wrapped up filming a poet reciting a piece for inauguration day.
Lots of people asked me if I was going to make it up for DC to see Obama get inaugurated rather than go to my first day of class. And I stand by saying that he is just a guy, a guy who brought up the best ideas in the campaign. So I wouldn’t have stayed behind or made a four-hour trek to hero-worship him. But I have to admit, it sounds like it’s going to be a party and it would be a moment of historic significance.
I’ll go when the first Latino president is inaugurated. How about that?
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The good news: Israel says it is ready to accept the ceasefire tonight.
The bad news: Hamas’ language indicates that it is willing to shake any fragile peace, because they want the Israeli army completely out. I can’t blame them for wanting a full withdrawal, but realistically speaking, can’t they accomplish more by rattling less swords? Of course…here I am assuming that Hamas would actually represent its people rather than further a violent agenda. My bad.
Death toll: 1213. 1200 Palestinians.
I found this comment on an article equating being against Israel with antisemitism. I added the cat:
Oh shit! They're in our media, hating our Jews!
—–
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As a college student, rising tuition pisses me off. An article on that later. But glad to see some people rallying against it.
And finally, something from Reddit. If you think the “Church” of Scientology shouldn’t be tax exempt, since it makes, you know, huge profits by exploiting others, Change.gov in theory gives you the chance to give your input on it:
Citizen’s Briefing Book Idea: Revoke the Tax-Exempt Status of the Church of Scientology.
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