Tuesday, January 16, 2007

UC Santa Cruz Has Some Issues

Officials at the University of California at Santa Cruz have indefinitely postponed a job fair scheduled for this month, citing concerns for the safety of military recruiters who might attend and other frequent targets of student protesters, the Associated Press reported.


This is what you get when you teach crap and allow students to act like crap--you lose any semblance of civilized society, and then in the name of public safety everyone loses out. The companies who now don't have a Santa Cruz job fair at which to recruit can, with a little extra money and effort, go recruit somewhere else. Enjoy the drive from Santa Cruz, you student morons, while you go track those companies down. You've shot yourselves in the foot, demonstrating your own hatred in the process.

The administration at UCSC should really consider whether or not this is the kind of school they want Santa Cruz to be.

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well would you want recruiters on a school campus?

Darren said...

That isn't the question. The question is the conduct of students that's potentially violent enough that UCSC feels the need to cancel a job fair.

Do I really have to answer your question? Are you a newbie here or something? All of you anonymouses look the same to me.

Anonymous said...

Would I want recruiters on a school campus? Well let's see...

Job fairs are established to provide a variety of employment opportunities for a diverse student population. They also serve to enhance an educational institution's reputation for competence in that employers see their graduates as a worthy source of employees.

It logically follows that educational institutions should welcome a wide variety of potential employers, and the armed services certainly fit the bill, offering a very wide variety of jobs and careers to qualified applicants, as well as excellent job security and benefits.

One could make the usual comments about the fact that it is only the honor, courage and sacrifice of military personnel that makes possible the feckless whining of student "activists" of various stripes (folk like the Taliban not being notably friendly toward such sensitivities), but that would be belaboring the obvious.

Ultimately, what rational employer would wish to employ students from a college whose hatred for their own nation would tend to utterly undermine that nation, including all of its businesses? Fortunately there are plenty of decent, rational colleges where the rule of law is in effect, many of them in close proximity to UCSC. Employers should take the hint.

Anonymous said...

People go to school because they don't want to join the Army. The Army has their own schools. (West Point, USAFA, etc.)

Anonymous said...

Gee anonymous you really don't get it do you. Whether the school wants the military recruiters or not is not the issue. The issue is the childish behavior of supposed adults. These 18 - 22 year olds do not want the military there so instead of peacefully engaging in a debate about whether they belong there, they physically attack the recruiters. Their basic message is that I don't like it, I don't want it, I don't want anyone else to have it either and if I don't get my way I will throw a tantrum.

Would you want to hire or work with someone who has that kind of mentality? What happens in a job setting if something happens that they don't approve of? What if you say something they don't approve of and become the target of there childish attacks?

We are raising a generation of college educated thugs who believe they have a right to shut down debate if they do not like what is being said, even to the point of trying to injure those they disagree with. This is not an isolated incident. The founder of the Minuteman Project comes to mind. with those rushing the stage shouting the "You have no right to speak in this debate."

These students need to grow up and the school administration needs to quit empowering them or the real world, with all its diverse people and opinions on issues, will be a living hell for them.

Darren said...

Anonymous, that's not necessarily why people go to "school", but ok. Even if that were true, why not just pass by the recruiting booths at the job fair? Or are you/UCSC students not "tolerant" enough even to share the same building, for a couple hours, with military recruiters at a job fair?

Anonymous said...

I am honestly galled by Anon's comments.

The sheer shortsightedness of some people to assume that because THEY do not like the military all other students on every other campus must not either. I guess not one person on any campus might be interested in the military.

I went to college to have a better chance of becoming a Navy pilot. Didn't pan out, but recruiters were always a worthwhile resource.

Anonymous said...

*home on a snow day*
First of all, if I were a military recruiter, I would go to the ACLU and demand access to the event on the grounds that it is discriminatory to exclude anyone under federal law. If the university balks at this, I would put them on notice that ALL federal grants including PELL grants would be under review since an entity that opens itself to recieving federal funds needs to also open itself to any and all federal entities that desire to recruit. I would wonder if they are similarly concerned about the FBI, CIA and Secret Service, who all have staffs that are recruited from computer science, foreign language and accounting majors as well as military or public service majors. I think the students who desire these groups on campus could also pose a legal hurdle to the PC of the administration by stating publicly that they are being denied access to all possible job venues. You have to take it public and you have to make it sting.

Anonymous said...

"Well would you want recruiters on a school campus?"

I welcome them with open arms, but you're missing the point. What the students may or may not want isn't relevant. Their thuggish behavior is.

"People go to school because they don't want to join the Army."

Uh wrong, but thanks for telling us why you went (or will go) to school.

Anonymous said...

One additional fascinating point here is that the sensitive, diverse, inclusive students and faculty exercising their rights to free speech by threatening violence against military recruiters are ultimately, cowardly and not ready for polite society

They make their threats knowing that recruiters will not only not respond in kind, they may not even defend themselves against physical attack, preferring retreat to confrontation that would surely appear on every MSM nightly news broadcast across the nation as another example of American imperialism and Bush administration excess. They believe they are thus shielded from their infantile behavior, and at this college, they are right, for adults there are not themselves ready for polite society.

It is, however, reassuring to know that those recruiters could, whenever they wished and with stunning speed, reduce such "activists: to greasy stains on the gym floor. Why is that reassuring? Because they very well may be called on to do just that to the kind of sub-human beasts who would delight in cutting off the heads of the activists so foolishly defending them.

mean aunt said...

Amen, brother Mike.

Anonymous said...

As one of the few (only?) active duty military education bloggers, I am disgusted.

They have no problem taking $4 million in federal funds for research, but they are too chicken shit to stop hooligans from making a mockery of free speech.

If conservative students were protesting the "ACLU", you want to bet they would go out of their way to condem the actions, provide security, and institute mandatory sensitivity training.

Anonymous said...

Frankly, I'm disgusted that you people get snow days. Snow days? Are you kidding? Why would anybody get snow days?

Sheesh! Now, cancelling school (and closing businesses) for the first day of deer season, that makes sense. But snow days?

(Just trying to inject a bit of levity here, in case anonymous chooses to get offended again.)

Talthea said...

Speaking of offended... (Well, metaphorically.)

As far as I can tell, the progression of this predominantly one-sided conversation has been the consequence of wild speculation.

Considering the brevity of the article in question, with its limited and circumstantial information, I'm surprised by how quickly the comments made here have spiraled out of context! The article itself has a quote from a student protestor that supports a "nonviolent manner to ensure a military-free campus". So, is it really the behavior you're all upset about, or the politics?

I happen to be in a peculiar position on this matter, being that I am both a student at UCSC, as well as in general disapproval of the "bunch of spoiled punks" that would protest virtually anything, as if doing so were a social obligation for this school. Having said this, however, let me assure you that the proportion of 'bored protestors' is relatively small, and the typically over-excited branch of these, which might goad on a group of military recruiters, is smaller yet.

It's worth mentioning that many of you are right: it's a bit of a shame when many students are deprived of opportunities by a small group who's decided to dictate what's best for everyone. But whether that small group consists of angry activists or absent regents, every contingent resolution will have to take place at ground level, within the college.

Talk of withholding federal funding is pretty silly, though, folks. (Especially in the dictatorship-fashion suggested above!) An educated populace is an invaluable resource to a society based on personal freedoms--and many of us are working full-time, along with attending classes, to pay our share for that privilege. Thus, students are not unreasonable to expect to have a say in what's being offered to them: either in terms of studies, or even propaganda.

Darren said...

Talthea,

If this one incident were the only example in recent UCSC history, I'd be inclined to accept your "overreacting" thesis. But it's not, so I don't.

Additionally, your last line is interesting. You say that the trouble-making core is small, but they seem to be the ones who "have a say" in what's being offered to them. Others just have to deal with it.

I want an educated populace. I don't think students are getting the big picture at UCSC.

Anonymous said...

Having graduated from USCS several years ago (shortly following the Viet Nam War) I find it very strange that current students(I believe to be a small minority)would act this way. Peaceful demonstration is the only way to conduct yourself. They've now lost for the entire student body an opportunity to interview with prospective employers in a tight job market.It is now harder for me and other alums to convince college-bound teenagers that it is a great school to attend (which it truly is).

I think the administration needs to reschedule the event soon and any students causing further disruptions of this type should be expelled.