Women's Studies program eliminated
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http://news.byu.edu/archive09-Oct-womens.aspx
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You know the part that shocked me? That BYU would put a woman with a hyphenated last name in charge of the Institute. She must have been hired before the Bateman era.
These memos are fun to read. If you know how these kinds of operations work, you can see exactly what they mean. Anyway, I have not liked the direction BYU has been going for a LONG, LONG time. And thus I have not donated a cent to BYU. And won't, until I am convinced that it has changed direction. I like BYU much better when I am far away from it. That's why I can be a sports fan. It's like being a Roman soldier. As long as you have Gauls to kill, you don't think too much about the stink in Rome proper. |
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You know, the church has been in a period of retrenchment for quite some time.
The first cracks were likely in the 80s when the evangelical Christians took notice of Mormons and began their attacks. Since then the church has really retreated from many of the claims in the Book of Mormon--the geography has become smaller, the peoples less numerous, the scope of the culture diminished--with DNA evidence now forcing LDS apologists to come up with scenarios where a large Semitic population existed, but for whom there is no genetic trace. Gone, at least for now, are the heady days where archeaology was widely discussed in firesides. During this time, growth of the church has stagnated quite significantly in the United States. Mormonism has not increased its "market share" in the past 20 years or so. Under the leadership of a genial, smiling president, the church retreated from much of its gnostic history, moving towards a kind of modified version of a conservative traditional Christian sect--Joseph Smith's imprint fading subtly. During this time the internet arrived upon us, and suddenly information could not be controlled as it once was. Anti-Mormon ideas and literature are a search-word away, not just hidden on a backshelf at the bookstore, or in a pamphlet in a Baptist church. Mormon history, unvarnished, has found its way to members and nonmembers alike. But there has been no corresponding attempt by the church, institutionally, to address any of this. That's why we hear an apostle asking members to blog and evangelize on the internet. I think they see the advent of the internet as a net negative for the church, as currently situated. During this time we saw retrenchment at BYU, with the promotion of a General Authority, and former Candy Bar businessman, to President of BYU, with a subsequent putsch enacted. No doubt, at the bequest of the board of trustees, i.e. the apostles of the church. Rules were enacted to purity the faculty. No temple recommend? No job. What kind of person would take a job like that? I'll tell you: the faculty that BYU currently has. A recent example of this retrenchment was the talk given by Elder Jeffrey Holland at the October 2009 General Conference. It was bold and aggressive. Look at this language. Quote:
I have no problem with bold declarations, but something felt off, to me, in that talk. It felt defensive. Unnecessarily so. I'm not here to just bag on the church. I want it to succeed. I have high hopes for it. I actually have ideas. But as I have said before, this is not a church with a suggestion box. This is a church where we remind people of what it means to steady the Ark. So I just plod forward with the rest of the wagon train, and focus on the simple things. My family, my work, my friends, my ward members. I didn't choose to be this way. I wish it were simple for me. I wish I was the smiling guy who didn't think twice about anything. I wish I was the guy who could thump on the pulpit and tell people I know things, without a shadow of a doubt. It's painful to have my constitution. It sucks. I didn't choose this. I wish the church had the same tone and tenor of Joseph Smith, in his most confident, optimistic times. The same openness and hope. The same unapologetic gnostic doctrines. And an end of the McDonaldization of the church structure. See there I go again, steadying the Ark. I don't want to be Mike Waters. I want to be El Jefe. An inoffensive bureaucrat, who toes the party line, with many friends. The bull in the china shop types long posts that three people read. You three people reading this--I lost. The jig is up. I've said my piece, and at least virtually, I've got one foot in the grave, and the other on a banana peel. Real life? That's up to the guy upstairs. But I will say this--dying in the cyber world makes you consider your future real death. Cougarguard 2.0 is coming. But it is not what any of you likely thought. And very likely, it is a journey that is mine alone. I'm not closing shop or anything, but I want to thank the people that have stuck around and hung out. Especially Archaea, who I actually told to leave here. Tex too. I don't know why he is here, but I wonder if it the same sense of stubbornness and idea of loyalty that I have. My journey into LDS/BYU message boards, very early on, taught me something extremely important--that I was not alone. I had often felt alone in the church. One might think that what has transpired has made me feel alone again. But not really. The original lesson has been retained. Moreover, all that it takes is one other person to not feel alone. Remember that, because you might be that person for another someday. And the final lesson--never meander on your keyboard late at night when the house is still. You will write something that is overwrought, full of lame nostalgia, and morals that will make you cringe the next day. But it is late at night, in the dark stillness, that you feel the heat of the sword in your scabbard, you pull the blade slowly and it is glowing blue, casting light and throwing shadows. It throbs with your heart, your flaming sword of truth. What can I say? I will miss it when it is done. |
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you've got some real gems here, Mike. And where's my shout-out?!
Back on the topic of women's studies. It probably won't surprise anyone to hear that I completed a women's studies minor at BYU. Here's one thing that really struck me from that press release: Quote:
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Creating an Institute is a big deal at a university. Because you are essentially creating an independent entity, like a department, that has a budget, hires people, etc. It means that you are giving some kind of province to the Institute, which will not be controlled by the other departments.
Thus axing an institute, and rolling it into something that already exists--that's a big deal. All those adminstrative powers that the institute had before, disappear. When that 19 year old girl calls you, who makes $7 an hour and is taking 14 credits, and asks you to donate to BYU, explain to her that you are not donating because reason x, y, and z. Ask her to pass it up the line. She will be somewhat shocked, and will think she has encountered some kind of insiduous evil, but that's ok, she'll get over it. We should start our own LDS-centric University, like the one in Virginia. A non-mullah version, and see where it goes. Might be a disaster. But might be interesting. |
When naive liberals try to understand academic politics:
http://bycommonconsent.com/2009/11/0...rch-institute/ The funny thing is when someone is trampled and doesn't even realize it. |
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