It is the end of the semester; my students did their final semester project Presentation and last night I finished up with the giving them their final grades. One more “activity” done – six still left on the plate but this really will free up a lot of time (about a day to 2 days a week). Another month and one more will be done as well (but much less time has been spent on that this year). So, in surfing around, it looks like others are also tallying up their students’ grades – and one set of SJWs are looking to use their students’ grades as a political cudgel (translation: no boundaries in conducting political warfare and it doesn’t matter who they hurt; reformatted, emphasis mine):
Teaching assistants at the University of North Carolina have threatened to hold up to 2,200 grades if school officials do not reconsider their plan for the controversial “Silent Sam” statue. This past Monday, UNC officials announced the memorial to Confederate soldiers would be housed in a new campus facility. That evening, protesters took to the streets to voice their displeasure. On Friday, activists announced online that 79 teaching assistants had signed a petition in opposition to the Silent Sam plan, and indicated they would “withhold [the] grades” if Chancellor Carol Folt and the UNC Board of Trustees did not relent.
I believe that the operative word is extortion – and they should be legally treated as extortionists! All over the “Silent Sam” (an unknown Confederate soldier) statue that was toppled by student / SJW vandals because SLAVERY! Anything they deem to be “wrong” must be destroyed, erased, and thrown down the Memory Hole – not just put somewhere else.
According to The Daily Tar Heel, the previous evening Provost Bob Blouin notified deans about the potential for a strike and said such would “violate the University’s instructional responsibilities.”
He’s wrong and it shows a severe lack of spine. The proper phrase is “private contract” and it operates on two levels:
- These T.A.’s are most likely under contract for their services (it seems that EVERYTHING in Academia is handled with a contract – do they not trust one another)
- The University of North Carolina has signed a contract with STUDENTS: you give us money and we give you knowledge (political correctness and indoctrination, I guess, is a bonus feature).
I’m quite doubtful that there’s a clause in there that says “and people in our employ will extort you from time to time – live with it” in the latter or “sure, legally screw us over because JUSTICE!” in the former
Revised demands found on https://t.co/9riXcGTDuJ pic.twitter.com/dHBnHUhGxp
— #StrikeDownSam (@strikedownsam) December 6, 2018
“Our students are entitled to receive their grades in a timely manner,” Blouin wrote. “It is especially critical for the students preparing to graduate next Sunday” he added, noting that scholarships, grants, and job opportunities could be imperiled.
No, not “entitled” – it is “we’re contractually obligated to GIVE them their grades“.
In the email, Blouin said it came to his attention that some instructors were asking their students to take a stand on the strike, and that he had received student and parent complaints. “Such actions have been interpreted as coercion and an exploitation of the teacher-student relationship and in fact are a violation of students’ First Amendment rights as well as federal law,” Blouin said in the email.
That would be right – Coerced Speech is not Free Speech but it is still the attempt at extortion (“Nice grade you’ve got there – pity that I’m gonna do something to it”) and that really should be the legal bat that the UNC Management should immediately bring out. After all, these graduate students ALSO have grades they’ve worked hard for.
“I trust that our faculty and graduate students will not act in a way that harms the interests of students and their families, and that these instructors meet the legal, ethical and moral responsibilities for which they have been contracted. Failure to meet their responsibilities to their students, including timely submission of final grades, will result in serious consequences.”
Frankly, all this talk is just sappiness. Seriously, there’s another way and it was already found to be effective. And the guy that did it was BU’s then President, John “One Armed” Silber – someone that tolerated NOTHING. While he’s has passed on, it would be rather instructive to be able to handle this – and it would have been sharp, quick, and to the point. They’d have been left in the street just laying there because their heads would still be spinning because they got hit so hard.
Worst of all was this:
If there is no strike, grades are due 72 hours after a final exam is taken
Then how come I only got 24 to get’em in?
(H/T: The College Fix)
