I met a current Hampshire student this past weekend who didn’t look too stoned and told me there was a movement afoot to institute grades at Hampshire. This of course has sparked some student unrest, protests, manifestos in the Omen, etc. My trust of his claim was somewhat undermined by his additional claim that said movement was being run by Steve Weisler, who I wouldn’t think would be up to something like this. I have been unable to confirm or deny — there is some limited detritus on various school websites which alludes to the protests, and one of the manifestos is apparently up online but the link is broken. Noting that these kids are calling this a “re-radicalization movement,” and that they’ve mispelled their own damn email address, makes me wonder if this isn’t just a return of the Kawecki Poltergeist (“we’ll learn about film by smelling the camera!”) If other rumors are true, though, some good things might be coming of all this — the student I talked to said the leader of the movement was getting The Making of a College reprinted and distributed to all incoming students. I’ll believe it all when I see it.
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Actually the bit about Steve Weisler doesn’t surprise me in the least, although I’m not sure whether he wants Hampshire to change because he doesn’t have a satisfying amount of Actually Responsible Students and he thinks more traditional methods will attract them, or he thinks financial viability is the be-all and end-all of college administration, and has come up with the syllogistic logic that Smith has grades, and Smith’s endowment is close to a cool billion, therefore if Hampshire had grades, in 100 years or so it would be similarly well-off.
Or maybe he’s just sick of people showing up to his Chomsky class and wanting to discuss US foreign policy.
Oh, and I’m too lazy/modest to self-link, but you already know that I think handing out “The Making of a College” to incoming students might, in some ways, end up DE-radicalizing the college. That book is not the manifesto everyone thinks it is.
Hampshire’s also introducing ROTC.
And frats.
And Big 10 football.
Look — the Re-Radicalizing Hampshire students have discovered MovableType comment spam!
(And sex!)
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