Morehouse Pride: Stronger Together or Mission Diluted?

Since we’re nearing the end of Pride Month, I wanted to share this IG post from my alma mater, Morehouse College. It triggered a reaction that reminds me we’re not entirely out of the woods when it comes to “woke” or DEI influences in academia.

Via Morehouse IG

Here’s the caption that accompanied the post:

The House is Stronger Together.

This Pride Month, Morehouse College celebrates the diversity of experiences, perspectives, and identities that enrich our community and strengthen our collective pursuit of excellence.

As an institution grounded in the values of dignity, respect, belonging, and leadership, we recognize the contributions of LGBTQIA+ students, alumni, faculty, staff, and supporters whose lives and work help shape The House. We affirm the importance of creating a community where every individual is valued, every voice is heard, and every person has the opportunity to thrive.

Happy #Pride2026.

How is this OK?

SUNY Geneseo announces new dorm 'for Students of Color' - Campus Reform

The State University at New York Geneseo has announced their newest addition the school’s Umoja House, a dorm "for students of color."

The Umoja House Living Learning Community will open for the Fall 2021 semester. According to the Geneseo Umoja page, those living in the dorm will "support" students of color on campus by planning and hosting events, and will "examine the impact of social justice leaders and movements on current events."

Members will also take part in a discussion series surrounding "race/ethnicity and politics, media, health, etc."

“The space is meant as a recharging station for students of color,” SUNY director of multicultural programs and services Sasha Eloi-Evans said. “The hope is that students will live together, form a community, and, because of those connections, be more engaged and invested in the institution. They then feel more confident about participating in other aspects of campus life and leadership roles—they aren’t just on campus, they’re in campus.”

I would say instead of this fake attempt to attract "students of color" or Black students those same students could consider going to an HBCU instead if they want to be more engaged and invested in an institution. Hopefully you're not attending any higher learning institution just to be catered according to your race, you're there to learn. Hopefully you're not at an institution like this having to sign up for student loans because will such a dorm help you out with paying those off?

Anyway h/t Instapundit with the tag "Segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever". Basically keep the races separate because they're all scared of each other and we need to keep them scared of each other.... 

Ami Horowitz is back at Yale University

 

[VIDEO] In this most recent episode he was able to establish that our best and brightest who attend Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut thinks of the U.S. Constitution as a white supremacist document. He also notes that there was something sitting around on campus looking to register new voters on this day and had no takers, Horowitz is glad.

Though we know the voters who trash the Constitution probably are registered voters and voting accordingly.

Also a reminder this was also at Yale a few years ago almost the same mentality. [VIDEO]

Attend a pro-police rally have people threaten your job...

 I don't normally post on Sundays although that custom has been broken fairly recently, but I just needed to share this lunacy from Reason:

David Peterson is an art professor at Skidmore College, a private liberal arts college in Saratoga Springs, New York. In late July, the professor and his wife, Andrea Peterson, attended a "Back the Blue" rally—not as supporters of the cause, they say, but as curious spectators.

"Given the painful events that continue to unfold across this nation, I guess we just felt compelled to see first-hand how all of this was playing out in our own community," he later told the student newspaper.

They stood on the edges of event, watching pro- and anti-law enforcement demonstrators argue with each other. After 20 minutes, the Petersons left to eat dinner.

But unbeknownst to Peterson, the couple's attendance at the rally was noticed. Now Skidmore students are demanding that both Peterson be fired for "engaging in hateful conduct that threatens Black Skidmore students," according to Times-Union columnist Chris Churchill, who wrote about the controversy.

All Professor Peterson and his wife did at this Back the Blue rally was to observe. If you're down with BLM and their fcuk the police rhetoric they can't be observers, they have to say fcuk the police....

So here's the truth of this matter with these students with the professor feelings over logic. Logic is thrown out of the window. If you're not with the students who are there for an education and likely utilizing student aid, student loans or even their family's money to say their boycotting a member of the faculty because their classroom is no longer  considered a safe space is utter lunacy. No longer a safe space because they were observers to a pro-police rally and the people who demonstrated against the rally. 🤷

I will refer you to my free expression page, although if you're a passive observer not taking either side free expression doesn't apply here unless someone out there just decides your presence and lack of participation constitutes expression.

h/t Instapundit

The Federalist: Vanderbilt Professor Docks Student For Not Agreeing That The Constitution Is White Supremacist

This lets me know how glad I am to be out of school. This is one indication that we have a cultural war - I don't know why I'm calling it cultural instead of just culture - going on. Some of the professors or teachers have a notion and expect their classes to follow it or risk a bad grade. As far as going to a university that's not very valuable to developing critical thinkers, of course the purpose isn't to develop critical thinkers.

h/t Newsalert

Parents bribing their children into elite schools

[VIDEO] This news broke yesterday and it's quite shocking:

Hollywood actresses Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin and a slew of chief executives are among 50 wealthy people charged in the largest college cheating scam ever prosecuted by the U.S. Department of Justice, federal officials said Tuesday.

Those indicted in the investigation, dubbed "Operation Varsity Blues," allegedly paid bribes of up to $6.5 million to get their children into elite colleges, including Yale, Stanford, Georgetown and the University of Southern California, federal prosecutors said.

"This case is about the widening corruption of elite college admissions through the steady application of wealth combined with fraud," Andrew Lelling, the U.S. attorney for the District of Massachusetts, said at a news conference.

"There can be no separate college admissions system for the wealthy and, I'll add, there will not be a separate criminal justice system either," Lelling said.  

No there should not. Let's continue.

Creating a new Atlanta University out of many...

 Anyone who either currently attends or has attended Clark-Atlanta University, Spelman College, Morehouse School of Medicine, and Morehouse College would have something to say about this proposal to merge the schools of the Atlanta University Center into a new Atlanta University.

With the recent events of so many struggling HBCUs such as Bennett College and Paine College, the AU Center should be seriously considering ways to sustain a more cohesive institution to withstand these types of economic and financial shortfalls.

Clark College and Atlanta University merged out of necessity. Atlanta University, as a standalone graduate school, suffered declining enrollment and its budget was under exigency. Clark was the most logical choice and the school that would benefit the most from a consolidation with Atlanta University.

Fourteen years later in 2002, Morris Brown lost its accreditation due to financial aid fraud, massive debt and embezzlement of public funds. In 2009, Clark Atlanta University was forced to fire 55 faculty members in response to what was deemed a budgetary and enrollment emergency. In the past few years Morehouse College suffered declining enrollment, budget shortfalls, a Moody credit rating drop and declines in national rankings of best black colleges.

These issues did not arise without cause. After the Civil Rights Act of 1968, schools became increasingly desegregated and this in turn made for more competition for the historically black colleges. With the Atlanta University Center schools operating independently, they make themselves increasingly more vulnerable.

The Atlanta University Center, with the right guidance, planning and strategy (not to mention sizable funding) could become the largest most prestigious black college in the country. If they could forego hubris, ego and status in order to look to the future, they could become a new Atlanta University that stands shoulder to shoulder with other city named schools such as New York University, Boston University and University of Chicago.

It would be the Howard University of the South. It's time for the antiquated, some would even say sexist and old-fashioned structure of all male and all female collegiate learning environments to end. This is not to dismiss the great legacy and work these schools have done, but to honor them by charting a new sustainable course where the legacy of these institutions can thrive.

Take the University System of Georgia’s recent mergers and consolidations, for example. The USG has aggressively moved to consolidate several of its state college and universities of recent years. Over the past six years, the USG has merged or consolidated 20 of their public colleges and universities in an effort to streamline and restructure its system of schools as a cost saving measure.

I like the Atlanta University name better than my own comical name ClarSpelHouse University of Atlanta. 😛

Morehouse College President inauguration

[VIDEO] It's not often that I talk about Morehouse College here on this blog. Bear in mind I created this blog and others in a dorm room (or actually in a computer lab in some instances). This is momentous occasion to see Dr. David A. Thomas officially inaugurated at Morehouse College. The pomp and circumstance of the ceremony to install Dr. Thomas.

An important fact of Dr. Thomas who has been president of Morehouse since just last year, is in fact the first since Dr. Benjamin Elijah Mays to have not been a graduate of Morehouse. It would be very interesting what will be an important mark of his tenure.

Just bear in mind that in 2017, Morehouse had faced some major leadership issues that resulted in both the previous president Dr. John Silvanus Wilson and board of trustees chairman Robert Davidson departed from their roles.

I'm sorry to say if you don't like long videos this is about three hours long. If you have time feel free to watch and if you wish fast forward to roughly the 20 min mark to see this ceremony start.

Is college worth it?

[VIDEO] I wish I had this advice from Dave Ramsey back in high school. The expectations for many of us whether from our families to even some of the teachers/counselors in school was that we'd go to college. The advice I should've gotten was about planning and then of course having a plan once I got the degree.

What does this mean? What type of job do you plan to have once you graduate? How much money are you willing to spend on college?

With that said over the years, I've had to realize that perhaps we've been going overboard with sending our young people to college. It's an important investment for sure, but again most young people need to plan. I really didn't even if it took me some time to finally finish.

Another thing that I've said is that it seems a college degree has become devalued and taken for granted to the point where it's not just another high school diploma. An undergrad degree once had value, how do we give it value again?

This clip was from a little over three years ago and hopefully parents are discussing college and long term plans with their children who are high school juniors or seniors.

First year student housing issues at CAU

I can relate somewhat with the students of Clark-Atlanta University who are experience some issues with their housing as they began their fall semester:

Clark Atlanta University freshman and sophomores must live on campus to ensure they “receive a strong foundation and create a path of success,” the school’s website says.

But for many students, campus living served as a distracting stressor instead of a stabilizing element on the first day of the fall semester. Sophomore Asma Alamin spent Wednesday morning in Augusta, where she lives, seeking information about temporary housing instead of going to class like she’d planned.

The 23-year-old received an email from CAU in April that included her housing assignment and roommate’s name. When she got to campus on Monday, there was a “huge line” of students waiting for dorm keys.

The students were eventually asked to sign in and wait for a call with more information, Alamin said. The school later told her no dorms were available.

“I feel like Clark needs to be there for their students,” the pre-med student said Wednesday. Alamin said she feels let down, having had higher expectations for the Historically Black College and University (HBCU).

A CAU spokesman said in a statement Monday that students who hadn’t completed the “financial enrollment process are being offered temporary housing.” Alamin said that option wasn’t presented to her.

Alluded to in an article from The Root:

Clark Atlanta’s crisis is indicative of the problems of many small colleges. Institutions that are financially strapped or don’t have large endowments like larger, predominately white institutions that often survive on the revenue from tuition and housing. Because of this, these kinds of issues become prevalent, especially at historically black colleges.

Sara Goldrick-Rab, a professor of higher education policy and sociology who researches college housing at Temple University, says colleges force students to live on campus oftentimes because colleges view housing as a money-maker.

Ahhhh housing is a money maker, but then what excuse does CAU have to not having housing available for students? I wanted to say HBCUs should do better, and why because many of their students are coming from backgrounds which enables them to procure student loans and grants. And if CAU is a lot like Morehouse - a private university - going there isn't cheap.

My experience at Morehouse especially during the first decade of the 21st century gave me a lesson about how Morehouse ran their affairs. There were points where I feel as if the prestigious institution could've done some things more efficiently especially registration, housing or financial aid. Perhaps make it more easier for students and their families to understand the process. I often felt Morehouse had nothing on the community college I left behind to go to Atlanta.

Then someone shared this article which shows it's not just HBCUs that have this problem. Evidently this is a problem at UC Berkely, having more students than beds to provide for them - especially if they must stay on campus the first two years of college.

There has to be a solution. Perhaps stop enrolling more students than they can accomodate. Perhaps make some changes to their procedures in situations like this. Perhaps find ways to accomodate the demand and that might mean you'd have to create some housing in the surrounding neighborhoods which during my time at Morehouse didn't exist.

What can we do about it?

Univesity transfer students are now sought out...

As stated in another post I was a transfer student to Morehouse College from the City Colleges of Chicago in the last decade. While I think this is good news for transfer students - especially since the Ivy League Princeton University had accepted 13 for the first time since 1980 - there is a reason for this:

Transfer students, who make up 38 percent of all students in higher education, have always helped a university’s revenue by replacing students who leave after the first or second year. But behind the new interest in courting them lies one stark reality: Undergraduate enrollment is declining and has been for six years, according to the National Student Clearinghouse, a nonprofit education research organization.

That is because of a demographic shift as the number of high school graduates is projected to decline over the next decade, particularly in the Midwest and Northeast. In addition, when the economy improves, the job market becomes more attractive to some high school graduates than college.

As if that weren’t enough, fewer international students are enrolling in American colleges, after years of intensive growth, partly because of the nation’s more restrictive views on immigration and partly because English-speaking countries such as Canada and Australia are luring away such students.

Transfer students can offer the racial, ethnic and socioeconomic diversity schools are seeking. Of the 13 Princeton accepted — 10 of whom are enrolling in the fall — eight served or are currently serving in active duty in the military and eight, as the university put it in its news release, “self-identified as people of color.”

So this is as much about keeping enrollment at a university at a decent level in addition to looking into diversity. Not only racial diversity, though certainly for diversity of backgrounds such as military.

I must say, I wish the economy had been much better when I graduated from high school. Indeed I wish I had been more of a figure it out as I go about not just jobs, but as far as finding a job. Better yet sometimes I wish the schools had been a lot better with getting students ready for the real world college or not.

Of course there is more to it than that so read the whole thing.

Morehouse College President moves into a dormitory!

As an alum of Morehouse College who never had the opportunity to attend New Student Orientation as a transfer student, I would do exactly what President David Thomas is doing. While he is moving into a student dorm, I presume he's also participating in some of the aspects of orientation.

Joining our @Morehouse freshmen in moving into my room in historic Graves Hall to start #MorehouseNSO. First, unpacking my bags before I'm to attend a mandatory resident hall meeting! pic.twitter.com/AN1lQcFal0

— Dr. David A. Thomas (@MorehousePrez) August 7, 2018

Here's an article on this from the Atlanta Journal Constitution.

Want an example of NSO you should find in your local library a documentary called Morehouse Men. Hopefully you all still have VCRs and hopefully there is actually a DVD copy or perhaps some very ingenious individual has created a digital copy by now! 

Women’s Student Loan Debt Nearly Twice As Men’s

I suppose it's funny that this could somewhat piggy back on last night's post on the deflation of the college bubble:

Women owe about $890 billion of the country’s $1.48 trillion student loan debt, nearly double the $490 billion owed by men, placing them at a financial disadvantage as they begin their careers, according to a recently released report from the American Association of University Women (AAUW).

The study, which analyzed data from the U.S. Department Education from the 2015-2016 school year, also found that women graduating with bachelor’s degree owe on average $2,700 more in student loans than men do. Women, who account for 56 percent of enrolled college students, are far more likely than men to graduate owing money — 71 percent for female grads vs. 66 percent for male grads, according to the AAUW.

And this stat was broken down further according to race:

Black women graduate with the most college debt, averaging about $30,400, topping the roughly $22,000 white women owe and the $19,500 white men owe.

Furthermore, women with college degrees and full-time jobs tend to earn less money to pay down their student debt, making on average 26 percent less than their male colleagues. The picture is even bleaker for black and Latina women with bachelor’s degrees and full-time jobs: They earn on average 37 percent and 34 percent less, respectively. than white men and, as a result, often struggle to repay their loans, the study says.

If you keep reading article you're going to see it, this gender pay gap! For some reason not explained here Black and Latin women earn less than white males. Kinda wild when you think about it.

The solution according the the aforementions AAUW is to strengthen pell grant programs. For me I benefited from pell grants however I chose to complete my baccalaureate from an expensive private liberal arts college so the fact that I borrowed money negated the benefits of those grants.

The answer for both men and women of any race/ethnicity is they need to have some skin in the game as far as college. Have a viable plan and don't just depend on federal aid or the financial planning of your parents, put your own money up. If it's something you're serious about show what you have, this is what I wished that I had when I graduated from high school.

If you graduated from high school this year it's still not too late for you to develop some financial saavy as far as your education. It shouldn't matter if you decide you have to take a break from school for now if tuition is going a bit higher as you matriculate.

I can also add, that college isn't and shouldn't be the answer for everyone! 

The College Bubble Begins to Deflate

You know consider me among the group that believed in the value of a college education and only incurred student loan debt. Unless you have a plan once you get your degree it's not worth it. In my case it was an expectation within my family based upon my grades in high school - they were a fluke when you think about it - and they just expected me to have college in my plans.

Either way this is what the National Review says:

And then reality started to catch up on that conventional wisdom. Americans started doubting that college was such a great investment as they saw lots of people with degrees doing low-skill work and realized that the high cost of college could exceed the benefits by a wide margin. The upward march of college enrollments leveled off and began to decline. Since 2011, they’re down 9 percent.
...
Shaw contends that some of the decline is due to a culture shift, as some Americans swing back toward older attitudes about work, no longer disdaining blue-collar jobs as so many had. Also, fewer international students are coming to the U.S.

Fewer international students are coming here to get their degrees? What's going on are they sensing no value in coming to school here?

All the same, there was no idea on my part about blue-collar work. If I had a basis in that - learning some skill that upon graduating from high school I could've gotten a job with it. Doesn't matter could be welding, woodwork, electrician, etc. Also one mistake I made during my high school years was that I never took a course in business skills such as accounting or bookkeeping. Either way we get these kids set on college, but didn't have a basis to truly get them ready for the real world.

It also didn't help that at least the young people who graduated with me from high school - GO FALCONS - didn't exactly come from families that could afford to send them to school. My thing is for my experience I just wasn't ready for not only community college, I wasn't ready for Morehouse either.

Instapundit doesn't really need a hat-tip however I seem to be old school when it comes to crediting other blogs that provide good links for me to use.

Student loans

The idea of holding up people's professional or driver's licenses due to student loan debt doesn't make a lot of sense to me. Someone is in student loan debt and perhaps they have a law license (probably incurred even more debt to go to law school) and if they can't practice law if that debt remains unpaid. Or if it's necessary for you to drive to work you can't - well shouldn't anyway - if your state decides to suspend your license over student loans.

So basically student loan bill collectors have tools at their disposal that will make it difficult for you to either get the job that enables you to pay off the debt or even harder to get to work so you can pay that debt. So think about it if you don't pay off your student loans we'll make it harder for you to get out of debt by taking away a professional license or you just can't drive.

Too bad! Shouldn't have gotten into debt anyway. Your responsibility!

Anyway, this post at Instapundit shows that there are people in Washington, DC who are trying to curb that. I think there are many looking for some form of relief.

Also I never thought of student loans this way:  "At the same time, Americans are spending more than they can afford on higher education, driven by the kind of cheap credit that fueled the housing bubble."

With my experience at Morehouse in mind - with financial aid and student loans - now that makes sense to me.

Dr. Helen: Should Your Child Attend an Ivy League?

If you want know my answer, no one parent nor student should put a whole lot of stock in attending an Ivy League university. If you get admitted great, but realize that it's not the end of the world if you choose another university. It's also not the end of the world if you decided that trying to get in proves to be too rigorous and you need a break.

Now that you know my opinion read this by Dr. Helen who just so happens to be the wife of the Instapundit! Though Instapundit is actually Glenn Reynolds not Ed Driscoll who actually wrote the post I just linked.

#Tucker: Is college worth it?

[VIDEO] I would've liked to have seen this a few years ago. One problem the adults in my family would've just attributed this to youth and still encouraged me to go anyway.

On Tuesday night Tucker Carlson speaks with Issac Morehouse - probably no relation to the namesake of Morehouse College my alma mater lol - who promotes apprenticeships as opposed to college. He states how the need for a college degree to access good jobs is basically a myth.

I wrote about this idea of apprenticeships recently. If only I knew about these opportunities back in high school. It can't be said for me that I graduated with a high school diploma and was ready for the work force.

Tyrone Hankerson speaks

[VIDEO] There were photos of Mr. Hankerson in some exotic locales and showing himself as a fashionable young man going around on social media. I showed you an example of this last week. Then in the last few days he makes his rounds to defend himself and with his lawyer as you see in clip above from CBS News.

He's answering for any potential association he may have to the Howard University financial aid scandal where it was alleged in a now deleted Medium article that he was the recipient of generous financial aid awards. Of course he's going to deny that he got generous financial aid, he denies that he was able to create a generous financial aid package, he also denies that he was fired from his student job in the department, he thus denies that he had any role in financial aid rewards, well yeah I could keep going. Mr. Hankerson has every right to defend himself and clear the air about whatever role he might have had during his time as a student worker with Howard's financial aid officer.

With this said the above video is a little over 6 minutes. Here's another video with journalist Roland Martin which is about 40 minutes. While I may not have time to watch the whole thing, now I wonder what Hankerson and Martin discusses during that time. [VIDEO]

Market Watch: Canceling $1.4 trillion in student debt could have major benefits for the economy

Until there's movement on this as far as Congress or the President I only see this as a pipedream. I don't know if this affects me as much as they throw around trillions of dollars, however, I wouldn't mind it if they somehow wipe out my debt.

Wiping away the $1.4 trillion in outstanding loan debt for the 44 million Americans who carry it could boost GDP by between $86 billion and $108 billion per year, on average for the 10 years following the debt cancellation, according to a report published by the Levy Economics Institute of Bard College. Getting rid of the debt would also lower the average unemployment rate by 0.22 to 0.36 percentage points over 10 years and could add between 1.2 million and 1.5 million jobs per year, it found.

“That is a dollar for dollar bump up in their net worth,” said Stephanie Kelton, a professor of economics and public policy at Stony Brook University and one of the authors of the report. In addition to becoming wealthier, these borrowers would have more disposable income to spend on houses, cars, vacations and other goods, which could fuel job growth.

The paper comes as lawmakers are considering changes to the student loan program that could decrease government subsidies to borrowers. The discussion is part of an ongoing debate about how much of the burden of student debt should be shouldered by taxpayers, often at the expense of borrowers.

Like I said I'll believe it when I see it, continuing:

Of course, cancelling borrowers’ student loans wouldn’t come for free. More than 90% of outstanding student debt is owned by the government, which means that by cancelling it, taxpayers would lose out on interest and principal payments borrowers would have gotten on the loans.

The paper also assumes the government would take responsibility for borrowers’ private student loans in some way. So student debt cancellation would increase the deficit, resulting in an increase in the deficit-to-GDP ratio of 0.65 to 0.75 points per year, the study finds.

Given that push and pull, it’s unlikely that policymakers will seriously consider widespread cancellation of student loan debt. Despite the costs of debt cancellation, Kelton said executing this kind of policy could be worth it, given the economic stimulus.

Well that was always my understand, cancelling student loan debts will wreak havoc on the financial industry. I suppose that's the main issue here, although still it would be no problem for me if the gov't finally decided just to do away with current student loans. By proxy they also just to limit the burden for students. We can help our students go to college, but is it fair to put them into significant debt?

Liberal Activism Is Giving Students Panic Attacks, Depression, Failing Grades

At Morehouse, I was never an activist and plus if I decided to speak on an issue it would be easy to blow me off because I'm an unknown. With that being said at Brown University - via Reason - student activists are suffering from falling grades to other issues due to their activism. Then this final point:

But there's a problem with that idea: when separated from their precious campus safe spaces, ex-students might encounter some actual injustices in the real world (police brutality, the War on Drugs, warrantless government spying, unauthorized foreign interventions—you name it). And I'm just not sure people who burst into tears every time they encounter some mild pushback on a relatively trivial issue—like an offensive column—are ready to turn pro.

I suppose there are plenty of activists out there who aren't ready to turn pro.