I am formed by my friendships. I forget so easily that so much that seems obvious to me—maybe everything that seems obvious to me—arises from my particular friendship formation. Why do I forget? Possibly vanity. The struggle to let go my ego. The desire to have been original. Goofy mind game.
All of what you and Lee said needs to be heard. I’ve consistently been struck by the difference in the reactions of Brown and Rutgers vs. Columbia, et al. An administration can view its role as building community and trust or as more or less the opposite. The approach of attempting to enforce (note the last five letters of that word) order can have unintended consequences and in a thinking community lead to disorder rather than order. Democracy or dictatorship. Serving the student body or serving power (embodied by the donors and politicians who control funding).
Decisions! What do you stand for? What will you stand against?
Our daughter is in college at a more or less joint campus. One administration reacted with compassion, the other (where the lawn camp actually was) called out the campus, city and state police with batons, riot gear and horses. I should write an essay about that situation. Our daughter knew which of the two colleges were her people when she did her campus visits and chose accordingly.
There are other parties with choice not mentioned in the piece, i.e., police agencies, police administrators/, and police officers. I find that absence of mention to be striking, given in particular the notorious and gratuitous way in which U.S. law enforcement applies violence, whether in non-violent situations, such as the vast majority of these campus protests, or not.
You had me at "Indigo Girls opened for R.E.M."
In seriousness, I always appreciate the light you shed and the perspective you bring. I'm looking forward to reading Dr. Smithey's essay.
“Optimize conflict” helps me see what I do in a whole new and positive way, thank you so much for this! Lee Smithey’s essay!!!
RE: #OptimizeConflict
In a broken world, truth without compassion can be unbearable.
#LeadWithLove
Thank you.
All of what you and Lee said needs to be heard. I’ve consistently been struck by the difference in the reactions of Brown and Rutgers vs. Columbia, et al. An administration can view its role as building community and trust or as more or less the opposite. The approach of attempting to enforce (note the last five letters of that word) order can have unintended consequences and in a thinking community lead to disorder rather than order. Democracy or dictatorship. Serving the student body or serving power (embodied by the donors and politicians who control funding).
Decisions! What do you stand for? What will you stand against?
Our daughter is in college at a more or less joint campus. One administration reacted with compassion, the other (where the lawn camp actually was) called out the campus, city and state police with batons, riot gear and horses. I should write an essay about that situation. Our daughter knew which of the two colleges were her people when she did her campus visits and chose accordingly.
There are other parties with choice not mentioned in the piece, i.e., police agencies, police administrators/, and police officers. I find that absence of mention to be striking, given in particular the notorious and gratuitous way in which U.S. law enforcement applies violence, whether in non-violent situations, such as the vast majority of these campus protests, or not.