MAPTalk-Digest Saturday, December 16 2006 Volume 06 : Number 147
001 Re: [NEWSROOM-L] Police patrols in dorms prepare students for prison
From: "Jack R. Lebowitz" <>
002 Shameless self-indulgence, Conde's truck
From: Allan Erickson <>
003 Afghanistan: US Drug Czar Announces Afghanistan Will Spray Opium Poppie
From: Allan Erickson <>
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Subj: 001 Re: [NEWSROOM-L] Police patrols in dorms prepare students for prison
From: "Jack R. Lebowitz" <>
Date: Thu, 14 Dec 2006 10:59:48 -0800
On Dec 14, 2006, at 12:49 , Newsroom-l wrote:
> from the CJC DAILY SUMMARY for 12.14.06
>
> ANNOUNCEMENT FROM THE CENTER
> On CJC=92s homepage, Lori Robertson explores the challenges of
> translating quotes given in another language, even for bilingual
> reporters. www.cjc.umd.edu
>
> <http://www.boston.com/news/education/higher/articles/2006/12/12/
> police_walk_the_dorm_beat/>
> "Police Walk the Dorm Beat: Stepped-up presence at UMass raises
> tensions over privacy"
> 12.12.06, The Boston Globe, James Vaznis
>
> At the University of Massachusetts, campus police have begun a
> controversial new practice of nightly dorm patrols, checking for
> marijuana smoke or other signs of illegal activity. More than 325
> surveillance cameras track movements at the entrances to all 45
> residences on the Amherst campus. Three K-9 teams also troll for
> drugs, and 30 student police cadets radio in when they spot
> trouble.
This was discussed yesterday on one of the higher education blogs,
"Inside Higher Education" here http://www.insidehighered.com/news/
2006/12/13/police.
The most depressing part of this, reading the comments on this blog,
is that many college kids who've been pushed around by authoritarian
parents and school administrators all their lives see nothing out of
the ordinary with living under police state conditions, they seem to
be cowed, conformist youth. The motto seems to be a 180 from my
college days, perhaps a bumper-sticker worthy "DON'T QUESTION
AUTHORITY". The calculus seems to be "I play by the rules here and
don't do drugs, so its OK with me if police roam the dorms at will,
indeed, I think they OUGHT to be there so the kids who don't obey the
rules like me will get punished".
I commented on this list and wondered if it would make it through the
moderation.
See if you can guess which comment is mine. ;-)
OTOH, the Boston Globe noted that some Amherst students are opposing
the police dorm patrols. The SSDP Blog, "Dare Generation Diary" also
has an article and a few comments, including this gem which slams the
school admin involved: "i'm not at all surprised...[U Mass Vice
Chancellor of Student Affairs Micheal] Gargano's an institutional
joke - a thuggish moron who has the respect of nobody." http://
daregeneration.blogspot.com/ Heh.
Another aspect to this nanny state college administration philosophy
is that it's not like some commentors assume and there is some choice
between what they believe should be a tightly regulated living
situation in 'public' dormatories vs. off-campus or fraternity living
where students would be more independent, because there seems to be a
parallel move at many, if not most campuses, to curtail or eliminate
greek or off-campus alternatives, because they want to be able to
control the off-hours activities of students or are reacting to
complaints from residential neighbors in college communities.
I have seen this return to "loco parentis" both at my alma mater and
the local four year residential year liberal arts college, where over
10 years ago, I once represented two students who were suspended from
the college for a year for smoking a joint and drinking a beer in
their dorm rooms during a (supposed) Oktoberfest-Homecoming weekend.
They were two honors juniors, ratted out to "Campus Security" by
their first-semester sophomore RA.
Indeed, during my last two college reunions, I was struck by two
things: all the new shiny buildings and the massive uptick in rent-a-
cops patrolling the grounds in electric carts and on foot. In my
day, there was security...but it was of the lone Brinks night
watchman or two type variety as opposed to the massive security
presence, which on many campuses (particularly state schools like UC
where the YouTubed tazering incident recently occurred) include real
police departments.
Libby, you may want to blog about this, since it's in your old
stomping grounds of western MA, no ;-)
J
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Subj: 002 Shameless self-indulgence, Conde's truck
From: Allan Erickson <>
Date: Thu, 14 Dec 2006 14:58:31 -0800
I'm posting this because few outside of Oregon ever got to see Bill
Conde's truck. Yeah, thats me in the pic, but its the TRUCK I wanted
y'all to see. And it only took 10 years to get this posted to the
wwweb...
Not curious, hit
It truly was a pleasure driving that truck around Oregon. 5 years and
only got flipped off once!
http://s146.photobucket.com/albums/r249/allan_e/?
action=3Dview¤t=3DIMAGE0001.jpg
=E6=
------------------------------
Subj: 003 Afghanistan: US Drug Czar Announces Afghanistan Will Spray Opium Poppies
From: Allan Erickson <>
Date: Sat, 16 Dec 2006 19:21:34 -0800
There is a comments section:
US Drug Czar Announces Afghanistan Will Spray Opium Poppies
http://paktribune.com/news/index.shtml?163207
- ------------
- -snip-
> The problem for Walters and the US is that embarking on widespread
> eradication is also likely to feed the insurgency as farmers and
> traders turn to the Taliban for protection from the central government
> and the "infidels." The Taliban is already doing just that, and it is
> using opium profits to fund its resurgence. So far this year, 189 NATO
> and US troops and some 4,000 insurgents have been killed in fighting,
> by far the largest toll since the US overthrew the Taliban in late
> 2001.
- -snip-
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End of MAPTalk-Digest V06 #147
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