Author: Rob Duffy

Categories
Letters to the Editor Opinion

Letter to the Editor: Bruce’s appearance raises questions about civil discourse

To the editor:

In the April 15th issue of The Bucknellian, students affiliated with the BUCC and FLAG&BT, the two student organizations centrally responsible for inviting a crude shock radio jock with a long and documented history of racially offensive rhetoric to campus, defend this action by reference to “the sacred purpose of a university … to encourage … thoughtful, critical and open intellectual discussion.” The heart is in the right place. The facts, alas, are not on their side.

They want to challenge the purportedly “false impression” of Tammy Bruce as an extremist, hate-filled shock jock. Why then do they not address any of the voluminous evidence to that effect? Perhaps because defending the indefensible is hard work, as the Internet is filled with audio of Bruce saying the kind of things that disqualify her from speaking in a place committed to rational and dispassionate debate.

What is perhaps still salvageable from the disaster of Bruce’s invitation is a teachable moment regarding civility, debate, and University culture. One of the most important aspects of contemporary mass media culture is a widely-recognized precipitous drop in the tone and rigor of political debate in radio and television. Over the past several decades, extremist, anti-intellectual and even violent rhetoric once confined to the fringe of the public sphere has become more or less mainstreamed, thanks to the efforts of people like Rush Limbaugh, Michael Savage, and Glenn Beck, along with the media institutions that provide them a forum. Today’s students have grown up in this world, and the great danger is that, because of that immersion, they are unable to effectively discern what does and does not reach minimal standards of civility and reason in political discussion. Some of my current students were not yet walking when Limbaugh’s venomous, baseless accusations of then-President Clinton helped fuel anger on the extremist right that eventually produced the Oklahoma City bombing.

Students can perhaps be forgiven for being blasé about this toxic environment into which they were thrown at birth. But this does not mean the University is required to surrender to the abysmal leveling of discourse. Quite the contrary. It is one of the tasks of the University to oppose this broader tendency and to educate students about the harmful effects of such a decline in civility.

The student letter-writers proudly tell us that they participated in respectful, enthusiastic discussion with someone who regularly engages in vile, racist rhetoric and trades in the hysterical nonsense that envisions our President as a crypto-fascist enemy of the United States. They thereby demonstrate their belief that her manner of ‘argumentation’ is within the bounds of rational debate on a university campus. They claim a commitment to ‘open debate,’ but they are entirely uncritical in their invocation of that notion. If they had wanted to bring a thoughtful and civil gay conservative figure to campus, there is a pool of such individuals from which they could have picked. That they instead chose someone who has cynically made a career out of sensationalistic offensiveness tells us much about the limits of their understanding of civil discourse in a university.

The students who deserve to be proud of their actions are those who came to the talk to challenge Bruce’s very presence on this campus and then, when Bruce demonstrated that she could not and would not defend her hateful speech, summarily walked out, thus refusing to confer on her the status of a legitimate interlocutor. It is no accomplishment to cheerfully welcome to campus a speaker who mocks the very idea of reasoned debate by what she says.

Alexander Riley

Dept. of Sociology/Anthropology

 

Categories
Arts & Life Study Abroad

My Journey Around the World

By Kaitlin Segal

Contributing Writer

Twenty-two University students (and more than 550 students from other colleges and universities) boarded the MV Explorer in Ensenada, Mexico for the Spring 2010 Semester at Sea voyage around the world. On that first day, I knew three fellow University students, and by the end of our adventure, all 21 (and a whole group of students from literally all over the world) were my family, new life-long friends and fellow voyagers who transformed my life. We all came home knowing that Semester at Sea allowed us to see the world from diverse and new perspectives that differed greatly from our isolated and personal perceptions.

When the news traveled across the world, all the way to us on the high seas, that Semester at Sea was disqualified as a Universty abroad program, my heart broke. The outpouring of support was the catalyst for reinstating the program, and I was thrilled, as this experience changed my life. I saw myself growing as a person and learning so much just after the very first international port in Yokohama, Japan. Now that I have cruised around the world, departing from my last port in Salvador, Brazil and reentering the United States in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., I can truly say I learned more in that semester than I ever have or possibly will in any educational setting.

As I began my studies aboard the MV Explorer, my floating campus for over three months, I continuously learned about issues of poverty, sustainability, disease, race, religion and so much more. True, some of the information I may have already known, but to be immersed in these countries that suffer from such poverty and disease, and to get to know the people, the information and emotions took on new meaning and understanding.

I saw and felt the pain and suffering of human beings that no classroom lecture could possibly replicate. We studied about apartheid in South Africa, and then we saw and felt its after-effects as we walked through Cape Town. I read and heard about the extreme poverty and disease in India, but reading, researching and hearing of these issues cannot compare to my walking through the slums, smelling the urine in the streets and witnessing people walking by me with leprosy. These are just a handful of the daily eye-opening experiences I had.

The professors on board challenged me to open my mind and to absorb and immerse myself in the different cultures of the countries we visited. They encouraged me to go out into the field and use this new knowledge and to be unafraid of the unknown.

I have experienced new cultures and customs as I have navigated the world, and I will never forget the impact that so many wonderful people and opportunities have had on me. I have a new sense of confidence and independence that is the direct result from being a Semester at Sea student. I can and will travel, independently, anywhere in the world, and I know this was not something I could have done if I had chosen to study abroad in just one country. That being said, I am thrilled that this opportunity is possible for future University students because Semester at Sea has changed my life and made me into a better person.

 

Photo captions:

1. Group photo of the students, faculty and staff from the Spring 2010 Voyage

2. Skydiving over the North Shore of Honolulu, Hawaii

3. Hiking the Great Wall of China

4. Jumping in front of the majestic Taj Mahal

5. Habitat for Humanity in Ghana

6. Ruins of Angkor Tom, Cambodia with my dad for Parents’ Weekend

7. Palm Tree Orphanage in Phnom Penh, Cambodia

8. Moyo Tree House in Cape Town, South Africa for traditional food and dancing with five fellow University students. (From left to right: Kaitlin Segal ’11, Tom Stoddard ’11, Kelly Smith ’11, Kathleen Janosco ’11, Emily Hislop ’11, Ellie McIntyre ’11)

Categories
Editorial Opinion

Editorial: BarstoolU

The student community was recently captivated by the story of Parinaz Hadi ’12, who made it to the Final Four of a March Madness-style popularity contest on a website called BarstoolU. The reason this story made it into The Bucknellian is because it captured the attention of so huge a portion of the student community. We’ve heard more students talking about this than just about any other recent story we could have conceivably covered—and while we are willing to meet our readers’ demands for the sake of maintaining a readership, students’ attitudes toward this story nevertheless upset us.

We have no problem with Hadi’s decision to participate in the contest, and we can understand why she was excited about it. Good for her that she did well; it’s got to be gratifying to know that that many people care about you or are interested in you or at least find you attractive. We don’t have the desire or the right to tell anyone what to do with their lives to make themselves happy.

However, we are baffled by the enormity of the student response. Hadi received 215,000 votes, and an administrator from the website commented that he had “never seen anything like” the interest demonstrated by students and that he had been bombarded with “Facebook messages and tweets and emails and hand-written snail mail letters from everyone on campus asking me vote tallies.” It seemed everyone on campus was talking about the contest during the time of the voting, and Facebook campaigns constantly reminded us to vote as often as possible. Furthermore, it wasn’t just male students who were involved in this, and interest spread far beyond the group of people who personally knew Hadi.

In light of constant talk on campus about campus climate issues, in light of the sororities’ recent declaration against misogyny, and in light of the on-going discussion about how we need to be better people and objectify each other less, it is disappointing to see so much of the student body take so much interest in what is essentially a “hottest college girl” contest.

We’re not entirely sure what sparked this interest. Surely some students wanted to support Hadi and others considered themselves to be helping the University’s reputation, taking pride in her success. People were also hugely excited by the huge number of kegs BarstoolU was supposedly going to bring to campus if Hadi won, disregarding the logistical problems of planning such a party at a school where kegs aren’t even allowed, and this motivation is more troubling. Is this what students really care about on campus—having big parties and proving that our girls are the hottest? Did students really have nothing better to talk about than this contest on a website that few had previously heard of? It seems that all of the people admirably striving for a better campus climate have a long way to go.

Categories
Letters to the Editor Opinion

Letter to the Editor: Bravman supports sorority decision

To the editor:

In last week’s issue of The Bucknellian, the presidents of the seven sororities on campus made a strong statement against misogyny and sexism, and I commend their decision to do so. As part of this decision, our sororities will no longer support or attend events whose theme objectifies women. Theme parties or any activities that degrade women and perpetuate divisions amongst us have no place at the University. I believe our sororities’ decision is a powerful positive step for the strength and integrity of our Greek-letter system, and reflects a value shared across the University that we will treat everyone with respect and dignity.

Last fall, I appointed a task force of faculty and staff to conduct a thorough assessment of our campus climate and all related data, and to recommend to me whatever steps they believe can ensure that we are supporting and encouraging the most positive university experience for our students. I am looking forward to receiving their initial report in May, and am grateful for the hard work they have given to this substantive review. Our sorority presidents’ decision is an important step forward in the continuing goal we all share to foster a campus climate as special as the individuals who make up our community.

A sincere thanks to these young women for their leadership, and to all those who have given their support to this meaningful action.

John Bravman
President of Bucknell University

Categories
Letters to the Editor Opinion

Letter to Editor: Students respectfully engage with speaker

To the editor:

The letter to the editor printed in last week’s issue of The Bucknellian gave a false impression of Tammy Bruce.

Last Thursday, Bruce spoke about the compatibility of conservative ideas with the core values of the LGBT community and other minorities. She argued that the conservative principle of individual liberty empowers everyone, regardless of race, gender or sexual orientation.

Students with many different backgrounds, perspectives and opinions attended the lecture. Some students agreed with the opinions presented by Bruce, while others disagreed. Regardless of whether or not they held the same beliefs as Bruce, students came to the event with open minds, ready to hear a point of view not often articulated on the University’s campus.

At the conclusion of her initial remarks, Bruce opened the floor to questions from the audience. It was during the question-and-answer period that students displayed the finest qualities the University has to offer and undeniably affirmed the sacred purpose of a university — to encourage and nurture thoughtful, critical and open intellectual discussion. Students engaged Bruce in conversation for over an hour, asking pointed questions and challenging her conclusions. The guest speaker was also committed to constructive dialogue with the students, giving them the opportunity to stay afterwards to talk for at least another hour. Both Bruce and the students who continued the conversation acknowledged that they came away from the experience with valuable information that they otherwise would not have gained.

This event provided the University community with a priceless opportunity to openly discuss current matters of great significance and expose themselves to different opinions. The behavior of students at the event was exemplary. They effectively used this venue to challenge their beliefs and ultimately strengthen their own convictions. University students should be proud of the admirable conduct of their classmates.

Scott Henry ’11
Sami Prehn ’11
Sarah Thibault ’12
Wes Pyron ’12
Ashley Rooney ’14
Anthony Contarino ’14
Dominique Douglas ’14
Brian Cooper ’11
Monique McCants ’14
Robert Harder ’59
Michael Higgins ’12
Kalila Beehler ’11
Mallory Lyons ’14
Frasier Esty ’13
Oswaldo Galicia ’14
Bridget Gates ’13
Sophia Geraci ’14
Julia Bonnell ’14
Evan Kaufman ’12

Categories
Editorial Opinion

Editorial: Charity fatigue?

At this point in the semester, virtually everywhere you turn on campus, someone is raising money for some type of charity. With the Day without Shoes last Tuesday, Bands and Bikes and the Running of the Bison coming up this weekend, the Management 101 companies selling their products, many students already collecting donations for Relay for Life, and many more similar events on the horizon, there is no excuse to not be aware of how many important causes need our help. These philanthropic efforts are generally at least moderately successful, but at the same time, observing how people participate in them makes us question how much the student community really cares.

For example, we saw few people on campus actually participate in the Day without Shoes. While this was surely largely due to the cold and rainy weather, truly dedicated students should have participated nevertheless. The willingness of those students who did participate to brave the weather significantly increased the visibility of their cause, emphasizing the plight of people who must go without shoes in bad weather as well as good. We commend the students who went without shoes, but we wish that more would have joined them.

Despite the prevalence of philanthropic efforts on campus, we wonder just how deeply students actually care about them. Greeks raise thousands of dollars and work many service hours for various charitable organizations, but we suspect that these endeavors have more to do with Plan for Prominence requirements than with genuine passion—hence the many students who go out of the way to get their hours in the least effort-intensive ways possible. Most people who buy Management 101 products do so because they want the products, not because they particularly care where the profits go.

We wonder if the student community might be suffering from a sort of “charity fatigue.” Students cannot participate in all of the worthy causes without either spending a huge amount of money or ultimately contributing a small, insignificant amount to each individual cause. Furthermore, with so many people soliciting time and money for so many important charities, we are worried that students are starting to tune them out; the presence of so many events makes it harder to get excited about any particular ones. Perhaps if we concentrated more of our efforts as a community on a smaller number of causes, we could get more deeply involved and ultimately make more of an impact.

Still, with the possible exception of students required to do charity for classes, at least the students organizing all these events really do care deeply about them. The end result may not be enough to cause major widespread social change, but it is still more than what was started with. So while the attitudes of the larger University community toward charity may not be ideal, what does get accomplished is certainly better than nothing.

Categories
Opinion

Student Emergency Response Volunteers should keep house

By Phil Kim

Special Contributor

[Editor’s Note: Phil Kim is president of Bucknell Student Government.]

Last week, the leadership of the Student Emergency Response Volunteers (SERV) reached out to Bucknell Student Government (BSG) about the loss of their University housing on Sixth Street, Edwards House. We would like to give you some background as to what SERV has experienced here at the University and the influence that this organization has on our daily lives.

SERV and a downtown house have always gone hand-in-hand. For over a decade this organization’s home has been a place to live and run the organization effectively. Every emergency medical organization around the country responds from a central location, and Edwards House (and previously Martin House) has provided SERV with that. This living style is crucial to the way in which the organization can function in a professional manner.

This year, Residential Education and Fraternity and Sorority Affairs re-introduced the application process for the Small Houses Program on campus. SERV, which is not a formally recognized organization under BSG, is instead a wholly-funded division of the University’s Department of Public Safety. In past years, SERV has had an automatic renewal of their housing and was under the impression that this new application process was simply a matter of formality.

Taking away Edwards House from SERV threatens the functionality of an organization that truly impacts the campus environment. A house is crucial to the way in which the organization can function and allow medically-trained personnel to respond as a single professional unit to both campus and University emergencies, while at the same time serving the local fire station. Numerous modifications were made to Edwards House over the past few years to accommodate the space needed for a 24/7 fire and EMS responder unit. The house’s bunkroom, for example, serves numerous purposes such as a place for on-call responders to sleep at night.

The Pennsylvania Department of Health (PADOH) has certified this space as able to maintain prescription drugs and HIPPA-compliant reporting computer and database software used to communicate with the PADOH and SERV’s Medical Command. Thousands of dollars worth of medical supplies and both campus and county communications equipment are certified to be stored in a secure location in the house in which only medically-trained personnel are allowed access. For this reason, it would be a great challenge and of significant expense to move all equipment and modifications from Edwards House to an alternative location.

SERV has been offered alternative locations on campus, though moving the location of SERV’s headquarters from Edwards House to any other location on campus may add crucial minutes to a response call: time that those in danger do not have. Lastly, from our understanding, Chief of Public Safety Jason Friedberg, who oversees SERV, was never consulted or informed of this decision. Given his involvement in SERV, it would seem that a change of this magnitude would be brought to Chief Friedberg prior to the final decision.

For over 20 years, members of SERV have volunteered hundreds of hours of their lives, every week giving back to the community. SERV’s community service is of the ultimate and most personal form, literally affecting the lives of the individuals they come in contact with. SERV provides a service that, in the opinion of BSG, no organization or club can fulfill. Considering that SERV is not compensated in any way for what they do, what they turn to as their reward of service is the house in which they currently reside and the camaraderie that results from that. This house is essential to the organization.

Though BSG has no formal jurisdiction over SERV or the Small Housing process, we believe it is in the best interest of University students that SERV remain in their current location and be given the permission to reside in a proper housing facility indefinitely. With confidence from the BSG Executive Board, BSG Executive Committee, BSG Congress, SERV and Public Safety, it is with strong support that we view SERV’s work to be invaluable on our campus and should be entitled to remain in Edwards House. We strongly urge University administration to re-evaluate the Office of Residential Education’s decision and ask that SERV’s home be reinstated. Any questions or comments are welcome and may be directed to the BSG Executive Board at BSG@bucknell.edu.

Categories
Arts & Life

Spring [fashion] has sprung

By Elizabeth Tamkin

Arts & Life Editor

While students on campus associate the onset of spring with the constant flow of over-the-counter Claritin or Zyrtec, the truth is, spring is also a time of blossoming fashions and changing styles. We just escaped (rather, are in the process of escaping) a frigidly cold winter season here in Pennsylvania. What better way to celebrate the changing temperatures than to rework your wardrobe?

This season, fashion is blossoming (much like the struggling flowers we see in the landscaping) with color. Designer brands, like Kate Spade, whose S/S 2011 line offers vibrant yellows, pinks and oranges in its products, welcome the warm weather with dainty color-tipped ballet flats and sky-high wedges to be paired with cropped or flared pants. Let’s not overlook their creative take on colorful satchels and phone cases, because as students, we must keep fashion in our school accessories.

Kate Spade is not the only brand that is showing the world some style. Brands like Madewell and its sister store J.Crew offer colorful floral prints that incorporate spring’s theme of vibrancy. What is more perfect for the University female community than a fabulous J.Crew line? A pair of J Brand bright red skinny jeans that are rolled up at the cuff should compliment your delicate floral-print blouse. This is casual way of wearing color, embraced by the fashion-forward.

If brightly-colored pants are not for you, a knitted turban headband, simple plastic watch or inexpensive retro shades may be a good investment in a small pop of color. The turban, a trend started by Prada in its Spring 2007 collection, has been spotted on well-known style icons such as Kourtney Kardashian and Sarah Jessica Parker. If you don’t see yourself wearing a turban, the colorful watches are great for us Pennsylvania students. They are (semi) waterproof, a novelty during the rainy month of April here in Lewisburg. For the rare days when the rain stops, it is smart to invest in a pair of statement sunnies. Retro shades of various hues are being heavily embraced by designer brands such as Matthew Williamson and Karen Walker, but are also offered by the less-expensive Urban Outfitters and Topshop.

Retro shades are only one element of the currently-booming ’70s chic trend. Your mother’s high-waisted trousers or paisley mid-length skirt from when she was young are finally good for something. Not only do we see the waists of pants rising even further, but the cut of shirts are, too. American Apparel offers a wide range of such trendy tops and blouses that are cut nearly illegally short. This ’70s throwback is yet another reason to invest in some color, as back in the day, they had a little more fun with vibrancy than our generation does today.

Tip: Unsure of what to wear? Try taking a look at what the fashionista bloggers have to say. These online blogs are not only following current trends, but they also offer fantastic ideas to jumpstart your styling of the day. But be aware, these gals (and guys) go the whole nine yards with color.

Categories
Letters to the Editor Opinion

Letter to the Editor

To the editor:

The Bucknellian recently announced the Bucknell Conservatives Club and FLAG&BT are inviting Tammy Bruce to come to campus to give a canned speech she has been delivering, for substantial remuneration, for years. The BUCC’s president apparently believes that the collaboration of these two seemingly disparate student groups in the organization of the event is itself some evidence of its legitimacy, but even the slightest glance at what Bruce actually says and writes makes clear that she is not an acceptable speaker at a university.

Many readers will likely wonder just who Bruce is. She is a right-wing talk radio host and frequent Fox News contributor who has made a career out of vicious and borderline racist verbal attacks against African-Americans with whom she disagrees. She was (rightly) fired from a mainstream radio job in Los Angeles in the 1990s for calling Bill and Camille Cosby a barrage of offensive names in response to Camille Cosby’s op-ed following the murder of her son. Bruce then realized that the right-wing populist mass media is in constant pursuit of people who will say such things for pay on the air and seamlessly transitioned to that virulent community. Recently, on her syndicated radio show, she has demonstrated her vision of political discourse by calling President Obama a “bastard” and a “freak” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Anrw9nNVUoY) and denigrating both the President and his wife Michelle as “disgusting and contemptible” (http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/200907100031) “trash in the White House” (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/03/23/tammy-bruce-calls-the-oba_n_178109.html). She has also suggested that the President “secretly wishes the nation to be harmed” and that his mother “certainly did” (http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/200906190006).

Her festering hatred of the Obamas, and indeed of anyone with whom she disagrees, cannot be understood in any way as respectable political dissent. Unwilling or unable to muster any substantive intellectual arguments, Bruce simply repeatedly calls them vulgar names. This is unfortunately more or less normative for populist right-wing media these days. Whenever one thinks the bottom has been reached, a Tammy Bruce or a Michael Savage emerges to prove that further descent is indeed possible.

Reasonable political debate and dissent should of course be more than tolerated in a university; they should be embraced. But there is simply no room for someone who speaks in the register of a Tammy Bruce at a university. The University should not be providing her a forum. She does not represent a reasoned, respectful position in political discourse, and her presence cannot serve to do anything positive here, though it certainly might do some harmful things, such as suggesting to students the acceptability of this kind of vapid, malevolent speech in civilized debate. If it acquiesces in this unreflective decision by two student groups rather than endeavoring to educate them by explaining why a university is no place for such uncivil speakers, the University administration would be acknowledging Bruce’s vile rhetorical style as a legitimate option in intellectual debate.

Alexander Riley

Dept. of Sociology/Anthropology

Categories
Editorial Opinion

Editorial: School of Management

The School of Management recently announced details of its four new majors that will be available to students beginning with the class of 2015: Accounting and Financial Management, Global Management, Managing for Sustainability, and Markets, Innovation and Design. These new majors aim to better prepare students for the challenges that the business world will be facing in future decades.

We are happy to see an academic program making such extensive and effort-intensive changes to better address the needs of its students, and we foresee these changes having many positive results. They should make the School of Management stronger and more attractive to potential students, boosting the University’s competitiveness and perhaps making the University more likely to be a first choice among particularly business-oriented students. They will also make management students better able to take programs of study that specifically interest them, rather than having to fulfill the broader requirements of a general major. The new majors and new courses will certainly help students prepare for issues they are likely to face in their future careers. Students will also benefit from having smaller majors, hopefully receiving more direct faculty attention than when grouped together into the broad major of “management.”

At the same time, seeing these changes take place at a liberal arts institution makes us reflect on the directions higher education has recently been taking. The School of Management appears to be moving in the direction of a more explicitly career-oriented education, and we wonder what long-terms effects these changes will have. Will they attract a different type of person to the University? Is it unequivocally a good thing to be clearly focused and specialized? Will the changes allow indecisive students sufficient time to explore their options before having to make a commitment? Or do we need to change the dynamic of a “liberal arts” education in today’s society to give students a better chance to be successful after their college years have concluded?

We believe that the School of Management has done a good job in preserving as much of a liberal arts element as possible in its new curriculum. Students will still have to meet all of the requirements of the Core College Curriculum, taking such diverse courses as a foundation seminar, a foreign language course, two arts and humanities courses, two natural science or math courses, and a course about diversity, among other requirements. Plenty of space will also exist for electives, and many of the new major requirements will actually encourage students to take related classes from outside of the School of Management, so students should not be forced into too narrow of a track by the new majors.

The changes to the School of Management represent an admirable effort to prepare students for the professional world while still retaining a liberal arts core. Balancing these two types of education is clearly no easy task, so we applaud the School of Management for its efforts and hope that they turn out for the best.