The Stoop Report EP: 1 – Off the Top Free speech, is it being restricted on college campuses? If so, does anyone care? Mick stakes his claim as Bryan throws counter punches. Meanwhile, Bryan has been waiting to get something off his chest… Uber drivers need to learn where to pull over. GET OUT OF THE FLOW OF TRAFFIC! But hey, talk to your drivers, you never know who you’ll run into. Enjoy.
It’s hard to keep up with all the drama steam rolling university campuses these days, and often times I wonder why we should even care, at that age aren’t we all just trying to discover ourselves as we embark on our journey through nascent adulthood? Just let the kids figure it out for themselves, self-discovery after all only comes with experience and self-reflection. That conventional wisdom is apparently lost on certain campus administrators and faculty, who feel students no longer need to think through issues on their own because they themselves already know what constitutes as true, so why open up issues for debate or discussion? Just ask Communications studies department professor Nathan Rambukkana at Wilfrid Laurier University in Canada, who hauled in his teaching assistant Lindsey Shepard for having the audacity to show a short-clip of a TVO debate featuring two professors from the University of Toronto, Jordan Peterson and Nicolas Matte, debating the necessity of compelled speech (here), mandating proper gender pronoun use, such a as “ze” and “xyr” and whether it should …
by Drew Colvin Freedom from ignorance is essential to the success of any democracy. If we value liberty and the principles of our democratic system, then education must be tasked with supporting the institutions that uphold it. The absence of a well-informed public is the greatest threat to American democracy that far exceeds anything foreign-born. James Madison, Founding Father and the 4th President of the United States, once wrote “Learned Institutions ought to be the favorite objects with every free people. They throw that light over the public mind which is the best security against crafty and dangerous encroachments on the public liberty.” This threat on our liberty is pervasive today as large segments of the population view education and expertise with distrust and outright contempt. A recent report from Pew Research Center shows that the majority of Republicans believe that “colleges and universities have a negative effect on the way things are going in this country.” This sentiment has been developing over years and even decades, but seems to have accelerated with the rise of …
by Drew Colvin The senseless killing and maiming of scores of concert goers in Las Vegas this weekend has our country reeling. Once again we are forced to ask ourselves why these mass shootings continue to happen on American soil. I hope that this tragedy is an impetus for a thorough and honest evaluation of the causes and solutions to the problem, however history tells us that lasting change is unlikely. With that said, I have been heartened by the media’s coverage. Instead of focusing on the murderer, much of the coverage these past few days have been focused on the stories of the innocents who were lost and the heroes who emerged as the attack was unfolding. From the first responders and civilians who used their bodies as human shields, or carried away the wounded, or served as field medics, to the broader community who has stepped up to donate blood, time, and resources. These are the stories that matter. Part of the motivation for these diabolical attacks seems to be the infamy that …
Student activism on university campuses during the 1960s contributed to some of the most profound changes in American Civil society in the twentieth century, reflecting the frustrations of the youth with the status quo and a desire to rebel against it. That spirit embodied various socio-political movements seeking to challenge traditional gender roles, the war in Vietnam, and racial discrimination, marking an exceptional period of civic engagement and disobedience in American politics. This coming of age political awakening is best exemplified in the Freedom of Speech Movement (FSM) at the University of California (UC) at Berkley in 1964, where student activists, inspired by the Anti-War and Civil Rights Movement, demanded the university lift restrictions on student participation in political activities on-campus. Students saw this policy as an infringement on their freedom of speech and staged massive demonstrations in opposition to the ban, culminating in the largest mass arrest in California history. Under intense pressure, the university eventually gave in to student demands and overturned campus policy prohibiting political advocacy in a landmark victory over the …
By Drew Colvin It feels prudent to kick off the blog with some background of what brought us here. We Stoop Reporters started this project because we saw political discourse deteriorating and wanted to do something about it. Republicans ran right, Democrats are running left and everyone is expected to pick a side. Wherever you stand, the other side is evil. Well we don’t want to pick a side. We value all views that are expressed thoughtfully, respectfully, and are accompanied by a willingness to listen to other viewpoints. Without dialogue and without working towards finding common ground, we will be torn apart as a society. Enter the Stoop Reporters. We don’t claim to have a monopoly on the truth and we don’t claim to be experts. We only want to do our part to contribute to constructive discourse. Striving towards intelligent conversations and learning as we go. Just a group of guys, sitting on a stoop, trying to save the world one rambling conversation at a time.
