Feb 13, 2005
Some Final Reflections on Homosexual Behavior, the Hoppe Question & Universities
The NYT reports on a new HIV strain that appears resistant to drug treatment. The individual passing it along had unprotected sex with over 300 persons. If that is not taking a short-run time preference as argued by Hoppe, what is?
Hoppe is a really clever fellow. He has the ACLU defending him, always anxious to show it is bias free across the political spectrum, and was the one who raised the issue with the media. All of which should help his lecture schedule and book sales considerably.
And, all over a reprimand letter in his files – which one might consider a red badge of courage – and docking him some salary. It is a matter of principle, of course, but the poor guy was lying awake at night, he says, and suffering all sorts of mental anguish. Was it that much money involved? I believe I smell lots of publicity, and a large settlement from good, old UNLV. Sock it to 'em, Hans!
It is good to pursue an opportunity to present the argument for academic freedom. I was much influenced on becoming a teacher by an article by a neurosurgeon in the The Dalhousie Review in 1937, the year I was born, arguing that the faculty was the very heart of that corporate entity known as a university.
The reality I experienced in teaching a little over four decades, was nothing like that, nor in the research data evident in finishing now a second book on the history of a university.
Faculty senates and committees tend to be involved in little" chicken shit" questions, to used the metaphor of Fritz Perls, rather than the
"elephant shit" high theory ones relating to the real substance of what a university is all about.
They long ago capitulated to professional specialization and sponsored research – mostly from the Feds – since that is where the fame, money, and time are – rather than teaching, least of all about the meaning of life. The amount of research money, of course, is one of two major facets of how universities are ranked.
While the administration controls things, it is not much interested in really re-defining the university for the technologies of the 21st century, or restoring its mission dating back to the Middle Ages. That is too radical a conservatism.
Like the bureaucrats in Washington, keeping reality from the Congress and the public, its main effort is to keep reality from the students, alumni and trustees.
Since Teddy Roosevelt tried to regulate football, college sports of all kinds have become one of the featured circuses in the American Empire. Good coaches make more than presidents, and private stadium sky boxes cost corporate sponsors (usually alums) a small fortune. You can really party in one of those!
I remember when I was recruited by the Florida Gators, among a number of schools, the head scout, aptly named"Bird Dog," told me that, unlike the Univ. of Miami that used graduate students, they tutored you with professors, and my grades appeared high enough I might major in something other than phys ed. I thought I wouldn't need tutoring, but when I asked about the ethics of the Florida situation, he replied, no one had ever asked about that before.
Although Miami claimed to go by the rules, they offered me three times the then allowed allocation for the aptly named"laundry money." Naturally, I signed there in the fall, until I received an academic scholarship in the spring and turned back the athletic one.
Auburn University recently seems to have gone a step further. The same wealthy alum that tried to fire the coach last year, pays a substantial amount of the salary of a chaplin-advisor to the jocks. Nothing like having God on your side, if you want to be a winner. And, I thought Auburn was a State university! Maybe someone at the Mises Institute there, can offer us a study of it all, perhaps like"God, and 'Human Action 'at Auburn," or is God still at Yale, Bush's alma mater?
I must confess, I have found universities about as corrupt as most institutions in America, although, perhaps, a bit more pious about it all.
Given the mandarin system here, first admired and advocated by Jefferson, it is probably important for most people to get their credentials in the system. In the few years I operated Marina Const. Co. on the side, developing properties in So. Florida, however, it wasn't that difficult to surpass my university salary and build a retirement nest egg.
Is this a great Empire, or what!
Hoppe is a really clever fellow. He has the ACLU defending him, always anxious to show it is bias free across the political spectrum, and was the one who raised the issue with the media. All of which should help his lecture schedule and book sales considerably.
And, all over a reprimand letter in his files – which one might consider a red badge of courage – and docking him some salary. It is a matter of principle, of course, but the poor guy was lying awake at night, he says, and suffering all sorts of mental anguish. Was it that much money involved? I believe I smell lots of publicity, and a large settlement from good, old UNLV. Sock it to 'em, Hans!
It is good to pursue an opportunity to present the argument for academic freedom. I was much influenced on becoming a teacher by an article by a neurosurgeon in the The Dalhousie Review in 1937, the year I was born, arguing that the faculty was the very heart of that corporate entity known as a university.
The reality I experienced in teaching a little over four decades, was nothing like that, nor in the research data evident in finishing now a second book on the history of a university.
Faculty senates and committees tend to be involved in little" chicken shit" questions, to used the metaphor of Fritz Perls, rather than the
"elephant shit" high theory ones relating to the real substance of what a university is all about.
They long ago capitulated to professional specialization and sponsored research – mostly from the Feds – since that is where the fame, money, and time are – rather than teaching, least of all about the meaning of life. The amount of research money, of course, is one of two major facets of how universities are ranked.
While the administration controls things, it is not much interested in really re-defining the university for the technologies of the 21st century, or restoring its mission dating back to the Middle Ages. That is too radical a conservatism.
Like the bureaucrats in Washington, keeping reality from the Congress and the public, its main effort is to keep reality from the students, alumni and trustees.
Since Teddy Roosevelt tried to regulate football, college sports of all kinds have become one of the featured circuses in the American Empire. Good coaches make more than presidents, and private stadium sky boxes cost corporate sponsors (usually alums) a small fortune. You can really party in one of those!
I remember when I was recruited by the Florida Gators, among a number of schools, the head scout, aptly named"Bird Dog," told me that, unlike the Univ. of Miami that used graduate students, they tutored you with professors, and my grades appeared high enough I might major in something other than phys ed. I thought I wouldn't need tutoring, but when I asked about the ethics of the Florida situation, he replied, no one had ever asked about that before.
Although Miami claimed to go by the rules, they offered me three times the then allowed allocation for the aptly named"laundry money." Naturally, I signed there in the fall, until I received an academic scholarship in the spring and turned back the athletic one.
Auburn University recently seems to have gone a step further. The same wealthy alum that tried to fire the coach last year, pays a substantial amount of the salary of a chaplin-advisor to the jocks. Nothing like having God on your side, if you want to be a winner. And, I thought Auburn was a State university! Maybe someone at the Mises Institute there, can offer us a study of it all, perhaps like"God, and 'Human Action 'at Auburn," or is God still at Yale, Bush's alma mater?
I must confess, I have found universities about as corrupt as most institutions in America, although, perhaps, a bit more pious about it all.
Given the mandarin system here, first admired and advocated by Jefferson, it is probably important for most people to get their credentials in the system. In the few years I operated Marina Const. Co. on the side, developing properties in So. Florida, however, it wasn't that difficult to surpass my university salary and build a retirement nest egg.
Is this a great Empire, or what!