My alma mater is in the news!
I’ve run across what promises to be the decade’s preferred way to get out of homework! All you have to do is hold a news conference to declare it immoral.
You heard me right. A news conference was held this Monday by several freshmen students (enabled by a political type who is probably trying to increase his “family values” appeal) to protest their summer reading assignment – Truth & Beauty, by Ann Patchett.
I’ve got to hand it to Clemson’s English department (or whoever suggested the book). If the goal was to stimulate discussion, they have done so in spades. Those of us in benign fields like chemistry can only dream of students getting press coverage to protest having to learn about Arrhenius’ depraved ionic theory of solutions..
I’ve also got to hand it to the students – who may have a bright future in South Carolina politics. Holding a news conference to complain about the immorality of a homework assignment would play well to quite a few voters down here.
I can’t wait until these same students take biology, where evolution will be discussed. Better yet, let’s see what happens if/when they take the psychology department’s human sexual behavior course – where “the film” is shown. I’ll be able to see the fireworks all the way across the state!
But don’t you feel better knowing incoming freshman Amanda See believes the book has “no real value”?
Insert eye roll. Poor Clemson.
7?
Just 7, heck you would think that the opertunity to protest summer reading would draw more than 7 students. They were outnumbered by non-students 6-1.
Is that even 1% of the incoming class?
Well, at least it will be easy to ID the culture warrior leadership in the class of 2011.
press conferences are interesting animals. just holding one with a minimal amount of people can often make something a news event … all you have to do is get the media to show up.
e+
Notverybright has posted some more on this:
http://notverybright.wordpress.com/2006/08/23/they-want-to-protect-you-from-me/
Sounds like an interesting talk by Patchett.
And here we see the appropriateness of the term “screwing.”
Took *that* class…saw “the film,” and *that’s* what I remember.
Plus the professor was named Spurgeon.
Money well spent!
Spurgeon Cole, right? I wonder if he’s still teaching that course. The psych department lists him as “Professor Emeritus”, which I think is Latin for “old as dirt”.
(Definitely not this Spurgeon, though.)