November 11, 2015

"If you give into bullies, they win. The only way bullies are defeated is by standing up to them."

I don't get it. Didn't he give in to bullies?

83 comments:

Christopher said...

It sounds like he did. But it also sounds like major parts of the student body, faculty and administration have collectively gone insane. Sometimes wise men must flee when idiot clowns rule.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Everybody is bullish on bullies right now.

Wise men are bearish.

Michael said...

I would give all the black kids a degree tomorrow. With honors. It will save everyone a lot of trouble in the months and years to come because if you think you are going to get away with giving a black student an F you have another think coming.

This guy got the picture.

Fernandinande said...

It's funny when the bullies are also a bunch of crybabies.

sean said...

I would assume that the administration gave him no choice but to resign. Knuckling under to your employer is not quite the same thing as giving in to bullies.

ganderson said...

Maybe he's just had enough- I wish he hadn't apologized though- I can see what he did. Perhaps we can set up reeducation centers where these professors that will not get with the program can confess their sins and be rehabilitated.

ganderson said...

can't see what he did, sorry.

Bob Ellison said...

That explains the Mizzou columns that aren't holding anything up.

Michael K said...

How old is he ? Maybe this was a good time to retire and do something that is fun. Teaching those creeps dos not sound like fun.

Michael K said...

Nutrition and Fitness professor. Young. Probably get a job with the KC Chiefs or something.

Wince said...

Carpe flee them

Although he was fired, I kinda felt that about Robbin Williams' character Keating walking out with his tail between his legs at the end of "Dead Poets Society", especially after "Keating's lessons and their involvement with the club encourage[d] them to live their lives on their own terms".

Greg Hlatky said...

So, Professor Althouse, what are you going to do or say when this sort of thing hits UW-M? Cancel classes? Cringingly admit your guilt?

It hasn't gone unnoticed that you've tolerated some very dubious characters. There are lots of activists with time enough to go through every one of your posts, looking for Badthink. I wouldn't want to be in your shoes.

H said...

I don't see that he "gave in". Did the protesters get their missed exam grade dropped? Was he forced to change grades for some students? Did the students end up getting what they wanted?

It's a little different to say, "I refuse to accede to your demands. You get a zero for the exam, and (probably) an F for the course. Now, I quit instead of sitting here and fighting the hateful haters."

Michael K said...

We had a somewhat similar incident when I was in medical school. I described it in my last book.

In the fall of the third year Dr Rosoff taught the Surgery lecture course. In December 1970, the third year students, full of the rhetoric of the sixties, refused to take the final exam, saying that it was not “relevant”. Instead of making a huge issue of their defiance he simply assigned all the students who had not taken the exam an “Incomplete” grade. In June the students began to realize that an Incomplete, if not corrected by taking the exam within a year, became a “D” grade and might affect their ability to get a good internship. They came to Dr. Rosoff and asked to take the final after all. He said, “Why of course you can take it !” He scheduled another exam and, after six months to forget the material, they finally complied with the rules. One student, possibly a ringleader of the revolt, failed the exam. He came to Dr. Rosoff after the grades came out and complained. He said that the wrong questions had been asked. He said (according to Rosoff’s account of the meeting), “I know so much more about Surgery than those questions on the exam. You just didn’t ask the right questions.” Dr. Rosoff’s reply, described by him with a smile, was, “Well, all right. I will give you a passing grade mentally. I’ll just put the “F” on the paper.” The student, horrified, said, “What do you mean mentally ? It’s what’s on the paper that counts !” Dr. Rosoff would just grin and shrug his shoulders at the memory and the point was made.

I doubt if he could do that now. Of course, medical students, even dumb ones, are more career oriented than those fools at Missouri.

Derp said...

It's funny when the bullies are also a bunch of crybabies

Crybullies is the term now, It will never make it into the dictionary in this decade, but one day it will, when this is all over.

exhelodrvr1 said...

Staying in that environment would be "giving in more."

exhelodrvr1 said...

What were the "racist incidents" that led to the hunger strike?

sean said...

I think Prof. Althouse is pretty careful. I think it will be hard for anyone to pin badthink on her. She's not like Glenn Reynolds, who truly doesn't care.

Rick said...

Didn't he give in to bullies?

It seems to me he asked his bosses to back him in such a way that their refusal will create quite a bit of controversy directed at them rather than him. According to reports he offered to resign, he didn't resign.

Michael K said... Of course, medical students, even dumb ones, are more career oriented than those fools at Missouri.

Why presume these actions aren't career oriented. Sure reasonable people understand these actions negatively. But in employment environment with a strong political bias like media, academia, government, or NGOs participation in these protests would be a strong qualification since it demonstrates the appropriate political orientation.

Renee said...

He didn't engage with bullies. That's a win. If your students are that hostile go your planned syllabus/exam, it's not worth it. His students do not respect him, as their professor. Give them a chance, but if they refuse then move on. He'll be fine in the private sector.

Who would want to be a professor in this environment??? All your knowledge wasted on people who want to interrupt the class. Protest after the exam! That's your right, but you made a commitment to the class!!!

paminwi said...

Looks like the administration rejected his resignation. Not sure what that means, but maybe someone started adking, "are we letting the inmates run the asylum?"

rcocean said...

Amazing how every Academics show the same pattern. First defiance, then total capitulation and resignation. Well, you don't go into Academy because you believe in anything. Don't forget the Pension baby.

Guess they'd rather run away from the SJW than fight. Nothing wrong with that, but why the big words beforehand?

If Althouse were to announce she was fighting SJW's at Wisconsin U - I'd expect her resignation letter the next day.

rcocean said...

Its too bad Joe McCarthy couldn't arise from the grave and join the SJW's - then we'd see some backbone.

Renee said...

How are these students prepared for the workforce, you know when have do something for 9-10 hours a day, whether you really like to or not?

The local vocational high school* wouldn't accept these students based on their lack of commitment to the class.

Our vocational high school has an application system, points are deducted for tardiness/truancy. It's a vocational school, it prepares you for WORK!

Char Char Binks, Esq. said...

Nobody feels safe taking a test he's unprepared for.

Will Cate said...

H said: "Did the protesters get their missed exam grade dropped? Was he forced to change grades for some students? Did the students end up getting what they wanted?"

Did you not read the article? This is exactly what happened (except maybe the grade-changing). The students got everything they wanted, and his scalp.

BarrySanders20 said...

Grandma from Outlaw Josie Wales: "Anything from Missouri has a taint about it."

Damn smart woman, that Grandma.

Tank said...

Hoax, all of it.

Curious George said...

Jesus christ, just bulldoze the fucking place.

clint said...

"Rick said...
Didn't he give in to bullies?

It seems to me he asked his bosses to back him in such a way that their refusal will create quite a bit of controversy directed at them rather than him. According to reports he offered to resign, he didn't resign. "

Rick nailed this one.

The university administration did not accept his resignation.

The ball is back in the court of the protestors... let the madness continue.

Mr. T. said...

This isn't so much a "giving in to bullies" as it is "running away for your life and safety from a rabid, out-of-control mob that has already shown it's contempt for laws and the freedoms of others, and is willing to use 'muscle' and other forms of violent intimidation."

Smilin' Jack said...

""If you give into bullies, they win. The only way bullies are defeated is by standing up to them.""

I don't get it. Didn't he give in to bullies?


So? He signed up to teach, not defeat bullies. Let the bullies win, and then watch them teach themselves.

J. Farmer said...

Wait. You mean when you let your football team run the place, everything doesn't work out splendidly? I'm shocked!

About 12% of Missouri's population is black. But blacks commit about 60% of the murders in the state and about 33% of the rapes. Are any hunger strikes or football boycotts planned to bring attention to how out-of-control black crime is in the state? Of course not. Blacks murdering other blacks in staggering numbers can't conceivably be blamed on #WhitePrivilege, so why bother? If you continue to engage in the mass delusion of "diversity is a strength," count yourself as part of the problem.

phantommut said...

Actually, from his resignation it seems he was pressured by his "leaders" to retract his earlier decision to hold class and administer the test. Getting it from both sides, I think he pulled a "pox on both your houses."

The University released a statement saying it will not accept his resignation. Good luck with that, "leaders."

God, I hope this shinola settles out before my kids hit college age.

Henry said...

The Scarlet Letter. The Ox-Bow Incident. The Crucible. The Lottery. We've seen this before. Maybe some literature professor can figure out the curriculum. The means always stay the same.

NorthOfTheOneOhOne said...

Looks like the oppressed Mizzou hunger striker is the son of a Union Pacific Railroad exec.

http://www.stltoday.com/lifestyles/columns/joe-holleman/mizzou-hunger-strike-figure-from-omaha-son-of-top-railroad/article_20630c03-2a68-5e63-9585-edde16fe05f3.html

rcocean said...

"The Scarlet Letter. The Ox-Bow Incident. The Crucible. The Lottery. We've seen this before."

You've been had Sam. You *Thought* they were about freedom of speech and the individual. Actually, they were about people standing up for LIBERAL freedom of speech.

As Susan Sontag supposedly said: "We don't need free speech on campus, we have socialism."

rcocean said...

BTW, John Kasich has read this thread and asked:

"What about the Children?!"

rehajm said...

Some people don't like the taste of shit sandwich.

Roughcoat said...


Wow. It's a virtual auto-da-fé. I never expected the Spanish Inquisition to turn up at UM ...

Jon Burack said...

As the guy on death row in "Dead Again" says, "this is all far, far from over." If the cowards running the university in Missouri think dumping the president will end it, this incident alone indicates the game has barely begun. The dunce caps are rolling off the assembly line. If these profs and their administrative overseers do not relish having to wear one, they are going to have to find a way to stand and fight for academia instead of flinching before pampered, vindictive overprotected children and their football felon enforcers. Missouri opens a new chapter in the story, I believe. And I do not think it will end peacefully this time in safe rooms with lollipops and play dough.

jr565 said...

I initially thought he was talking about the protesters when he said the bullies. But he actually meant the guys supposedly making threats on campus. He was basically pulling a "if we let them stop the test the terrorists have won" style argument. He won't back down. He'll stand his ground.

But it turns out his students took that as him putting them in harms way. LOL.and then sent him plenty of abusive emails that threatened his livelihood.
And in response I'm sure he thought to himself "You know what? Go fuck yourself"

Supposedly, now, the school won't actually let him quit
It just gets funnier and funnier.

Renee said...

New schools will be popping up as an alternative, private non-profits in a niche. Interviews/sweat equity required for admission.

Renee said...

@jr565

I guess he'll have to be fired then. I wouldn't show up, they can sue him for breach of contract. Students broke their end of the deal.

Bay Area Guy said...

Missouri grads need not apply (any and all job opportunities in Midwest).

That'll learn 'em.

Mr. Fabulous said...

Roughcoat, no one EVER expects the Spanish Inquisition!

DanTheMan said...

>>"this is all far, far from over."

I'm sure that once Missouri meets all of their demands, the students wouldn't dream of making more.

Segregation by race: First as tragedy, now as farce.

Roughcoat said...



Mr. Fabulous:

Thank you. :)

Michael K said...

"As the guy on death row in "Dead Again" says, "this is all far, far from over."

One of my favorite movies.

Yes, what you subsidize, you get more of.

Roughcoat said...


Yeah, I get the sense he said to himself, "fuck it," and walked.

How does an employer NOT accept his resignation? What if he says, "fuck you," I'm gone. What are they gonna do, send him to Vietnam?

(You guys in your 60s know what I mean when I say that.)

Unknown said...

Yes, he did. You do get it.

JackWayne said...

C'mon Ann. He's just virtue signaling.

Sebastian said...

"I think it will be hard for anyone to pin badthink on her."

Nah. She's a former Goldwater supporter who may have voted for Mitt and professes cruel neutrality: nonprogdoubleungood. Plus she hangs out with the likes of us: tolerance of badthink is bad think enough.

The Red Guards can come for anyone, anywhere. The point is to be mentally ready and not cave.

Bob R said...

I'm trying to process all of the Mizzou stuff as someone who lived through the 4/16/2007 shootings at Virginia Tech. Obviously, 32 dead bodies is in a different league than some drunks yelling the n-word. But we (VT faculty and Admin.) basically punted on the semester and let students choose whatever way they wanted to finish up. I'm not sure we did the right thing, but I'm not ready to tell the people at Mizzou what to do - especially since I don't trust ANY of the media reports coming out of there. It seems like a moral panic from here, but I'm not there, and it's still a panic.

One big thing that strikes me is the difference in the way faculty vs. students are handling this. After 4/16, many of the faculty here were hollow-eyed for a long time. The students seemed to bounce back much more quickly. It seems to be the opposite at Mizzou. Is that just what we are seeing in the media? Did you get the same impression that I did from the VT shootings?

Amadeus 48 said...

People are missing the point about the protests at Yale and Mizzou. Take a look at the lists of demands--safe student centers and programs for oppressed, minority, and excluded groups. This is all a massive jobs program for students with degrees that would otherwise be worthless. If you don't know anything, you can thrive as a college administator.

Big Mike said...

Didn't he give into bullies?

That's how I read it.

The Godfather said...

According to the story, a lot of students like this prof, think he's a fine teacher. So what the Hell are they doing about it? Nothing, I guess. It's entirely possible that there's a sensible majority among the students at Mizzou, but they are too intimidated, or disorganized, or apathetic to stand up to the radicals. They will pay the price, when they get out into the real world and find out what their diplomas are worth -- I don't want to use foul language, but it rhymes with Jack Shit.

William said...

I read the resignation as a protest. His way of burning his draft card......All of this makes the university, its students, and its faculty look like a vast collection of dickwads. As a state university, I suppose you have to go there to get subsidized tuition, but anyone with choice will choose another school.

Michael K said...

" It's entirely possible that there's a sensible majority among the students at Mizzou, but they are too intimidated, or disorganized, or apathetic to stand up to the radicals."

No, they are in Calculus class. Or Engineering class.

David said...

"Dr. Brigham confirmed his resignation to KOMU stating "I am just trying to do what I think is best for our students and the university as an institution. If my leaders think that my leaving would help, I am all for it. I made a mistake, and I do not want to cause further harm."

Right out of the reeducation camp manual. Disturbing.

David said...

" It's entirely possible that there's a sensible majority among the students at Mizzou, but they are too intimidated, or disorganized, or apathetic to stand up to the radicals."

No, they are in Calculus class. Or Engineering class.


Good Germans all.

Sammy Finkelman said...

exhelodrvr1 said...11/11/15, 6:17 PM

What were the "racist incidents" that led to the hunger strike? According to: http://www.themaneater.com/stories/2015/11/2/graduate-student-jonathan-butler-declares-hunger-s/

They were:

MSA President Payton Head being called a racial slur on campus, the removal of Planned Parenthood services, the #ConcernedStudent1950 protest and the recent instance of a person drawing a swastika with their own feces in a bathroom in Gateway Hall.

The swastika incident, at least, was probably a hoax. Or maybe just made up out of whole cloth.

http://thefederalist.com/2015/11/10/was-the-poop-swastika-incident-at-mizzou-a-giant-hoax/

Although Donley did not respond to repeated requests for comment prior to publication, The Federalist spoke with two RHA staffers while trying to get in touch with Donley. Neither had personally witnessed the poop swastika. When asked if there was any photographic evidence of the alleged incident, one staffer replied, “Not to my knowledge.”

Payton Head has apparently claimed that it happened to him two times = one time on campus, no recently, but back when he was a nobody, and the second time, some guys in the back of a pickup truck outside of the school - but near it - just shouted that word at him for no reason at all, he says - and he has a witness, and he went on Facebook and wrote about it.

Planned Parenthood - apparently opposition to abortion is anti-black racism, because many of the abortions are done on black women.

And the 4th item just means he was joining forces.






Sammy Finkelman said...

The source for the swastika claim is an (anonymous?) flyer. It's not like anybody with a name has claimed to have seen it, or cleaned it up.

Michael K said...

"Good Germans all."

Or Indians or Chinese or Koreans. Our masters all.

Sammy Finkelman said...

The atmosphere on campus is probably not conducive to dispassionately examining the claims of anti-black hostility.

Not taking them seriously is part of what the protesting is about!

Who will dare to call any of these people liars?

Note: If nobody is allowed to skeptical about anything you say, you are 90% of the way there toward getting anything you want. If some allegations don't work, just make up some more.

HoodlumDoodlum said...

If my leaders think that my leaving would help, I am all for it. I made a mistake, and I do not want to cause further harm
Sounds like someone's learning to love Big Brother, good for him.
But really, does anyone think that this Prof. isn't a pretty committed liberal? Or the photographer we were discussing yesterday--he's a very left-liberal dude by all accounts. Your overall embrace of the Left won't protect you, won't save you when you get in the way of the mob's new demands. And there will always be new demands. Something about paying the Danegeld, you know, but no one reads that oppressor poetry anymore.

Oh well. I'm glad the Prof. is willing to apologize for the mess he's making as he kneels on the broken glass, that's a good, good sign.

Lucien said...

Isn't it pretty to think that things will never get so bad at the UW law school that it will be worth saying "fuck it, they don't deserve me, let 'em get what they really deserve"?

Ken B said...

Anyone here paying tuition for a kid at this school? How much do you think that degree is worth?

buwaya said...

I am, still paying for one undergrad at UCLA. And not in STEM either.
They don't seem quite so crazy there, strange as it may seem.
Maybe it's the very high Asian %, or high proportion of foreign students who don't quite get US parochial nuttiness.

Gusty Winds said...

This is not going to stop at Mizzou. There's a lot of me-too-ism left in the students' sails, and the faculty and administrations have lost control. Heck, there are plenty of employed Melissa Clicks to help organize and fan the flames. This could be the beginning of something new and wonderful!

A breaking point.

Right now, I'll bet fewer parents are thinking, "Oh, I would love to take out a second mortgage so my kid can be a MissouriTiger".

And I'll bet there's a lot of faculty and administrators thinking "Holy Shit. I thought we were only stripping students of the right to due process. I could be next."

Dude1394 said...

You really do not get it? He did stand up to bullies but his boss told him to quit standing up to them so he did the honorable thing and resigned.

I really do not get it that you do not get it.

Gusty Winds said...

College administrators and faculty have taught the students that anyone can be kicked off campus by trumped up charges, and mere accusation and no one has to prove anything.

"We were drunk, and now that I think about it, I really didn't want to"

What makes them think they are now immune from the same low standard?

Gusty Winds said...

"Daylight fading,come and waste another year. All the anger and the eloquence are bleeding into fear. Moonlight creeping around the corners of our lawn, when we see the early signs of daylight fading we leave just before it's gone." - Counting Crows

William said...

Any demands for proof of allegations of racism are themselves proof of racism.......I'm reading A People's Tragedy, The Russian Revolution by Orlando Figes. The man who supervised the revolutionary tribunals told his subordinates not to look for evidence of guilt but rather the class background of the accused. You established guilt by proving the accused was a member of the bourgeoise and had soft hands. In like way, we can show that the only people not guilty of racism and white privilege are those who denounce white racism and renounce their white privileges. This teacher is guilty. It's an ontological thing.

Achilles said...

I think we need to have a support fund for these agitating little shits. If we are lucky 70-80% of people employed at college universities will be out of a job and have to find some productive employment. Most of these professional protesters will lose their administrative grievance jobs after the university system collapses.

It will be a beautiful thing when 99% of college degrees are earned online and all of these parasites are unemployed.

jaydub said...

I'm trying to follow the logic here. When was the last time you saw an eighth-year grad student from a wealthy, well-placed family on a hunger strike because of ... what? One person in a community of 35,000 being twice called a racist slur by a passing someone who is probably not even a member of that community? Someone drawing a swastika on a bathroom wall in middle of the night that needed to be advertised by posters in the dorm to even get anyone's attention? Then published on social mediate by a "residence president" to ensure the appropriate outrage was generated in the community? And exactly what is the reason people believe this swastika was directed at Blacks instead of Jews on campus? Where was that supposedly delineated by the perpetrator? Then the whole leadership of the CS1950 shows up for a photo op in identical NBP tee shirts? Really, would anyone be surprised to discover that "Concerned Student 1950" is a wholly owned subsidiary of BLM or the NBP party?

This whole episode reeks of bullshit and manipulation from off-campus, radical leftists that could only be successful in a location where the next set of radical leftists are being groomed and where the local leadership is cowardly, delusional and compliant. A number of universities could fit that description, but the Ferguson fiasco has already shown Missouri to also be governed by pussies, so why not do it at UM? That said, I'm afraid this crap is going to spread because the UM leadership is guaranteeing it's success. Personally, I don't take any pleasure in watching a good university self distruct, and I hope the universtiy and state leadership is able to solve this while they still have some dignity.

fivewheels said...

"because the UM leadership is guaranteeing its success."

Well, the university leadership had been doing exactly the right thing: Not responding to the mob's demands, not acting as if it were his job to police the thoughts of every human within a 10-mile radius of campus, and not allowing a mob surrounding his car to basically kidnap him.

Then the football team figured out a way to inflict seven-figure losses on the university, and the leader who had it right got pitched out on his ass.

damikesc said...

About 12% of Missouri's population is black. But blacks commit about 60% of the murders in the state and about 33% of the rapes. Are any hunger strikes or football boycotts planned to bring attention to how out-of-control black crime is in the state? Of course not.

We all know blacks killing blacks is the fault of white folks. Because...racism or something. Apparently, whites not being sufficiently apologetic to perceived slights leads blacks to slaughter one another en masse.

Looks like the oppressed Mizzou hunger striker is the son of a Union Pacific Railroad exec.

His dad made a shade over $8M last year. Clearly, my sons have all of the advantages when compared to the hunger guy --- who didn't look terribly thin or weak Just sayin'.

College administrators and faculty have taught the students that anyone can be kicked off campus by trumped up charges, and mere accusation and no one has to prove anything.

The same kids probably think --- if they know it existed --- that the Salem Witch Trials were just a mass delusional situation and ignore the similarities to them now.

Then the football team figured out a way to inflict seven-figure losses on the university, and the leader who had it right got pitched out on his ass.

I can't believe I'm not with ARM...but end college football. Kill it dead.

Rusty said...

Looks like they want the coach to take a loyalty pledge or something.



This has now become amusing again.



Soon.
Very soon.
Unless reason intrudes UM will get a guillotine.

CStanley said...

I keep hearing people say "how are these kids going to survive in the real world?" but the issue as I see it is that this generation is creating a world in which this behavior is tolerated or even encouraged. I think it's becoming a real concern over whether our society will survive, not whether these individuals will be able get jobs and perform in the workplace.

Rusty said...

CStanley said...
I keep hearing people say "how are these kids going to survive in the real world?" but the issue as I see it is that this generation is creating a world in which this behavior is tolerated or even encouraged. I think it's becoming a real concern over whether our society will survive, not whether these individuals will be able get jobs and perform in the workplace.

See the thread about philosophers and welders.
This behavior will continue until the toilets back up.

Jim S. said...

It seems to me that he didn't give in to the bullies. They said, "My way or the highway." He said, "I'll take the highway."

Sammy Finkelman said...

Breaking news:

There's a campus police report confirming that the swastika did indeed exist (but not who did it, of course)

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/university-of-missouri-swastika-campus-police-report/

The report from an officer identified only as "Bakerb7" said the officer was called to a coed restroom that served five private dorm rooms in Gateway Hall. The officer "noticed there was a swastika drawn on the wall by someone using feces," the report stated. Feces were on the floor as well, the officer wrote.

In the meantime, Peyton Hall published something on Facebook saying it had been confirmed that a KKK chapter existed on campus - then retracted it, but did not applogize.

Also, far away in Lake St. Louis, a 19-year old white male, who is a student at another campus of the Universty of Missouri about 60 miles away in Rolla, Missouri made some online threats on Yik-Yak. He been charged with the felony of making terroristic threats.