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Post by td128 on Apr 28, 2024 5:09:03 GMT -5
A Brotherhood Unlike Any Other
#Commitment #Excellence #Crusaders
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Post by td128 on Feb 27, 2024 9:13:17 GMT -5
Good Luck . .
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Post by td128 on Feb 27, 2024 6:49:49 GMT -5
So while many colleges, universities and assorted other venues are indeed 'waking up', regrettably the 'fearless search for truth' is anathema to many parties who operate within and benefit from darkness. Transparency remains the great sunlight and the great disinfectant.
God Bless America and the College of the Holy Cross
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Post by td128 on Feb 25, 2024 4:08:03 GMT -5
Harvard Starting to Wake Up -- Students, That Is, Administration and Faculty Not So Much
Very interesting article on this topic we are discussing in the Weekend Wall Street Journal. The writer, Tarek Masoud, is an insider given that he teaches at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government.
Students Aren't the Obstacle To Open Debate at Harvard www.wsj.com/us-news/education/students-arent-the-obstacle-to-open-debate-at-harvard-e68f2cc2?mod=Searchresults_pos1&page=1
Professors hear a great deal these days about how hard it is to get our students to listen to, much less to engage with, opinions they dislike. The problem, we are told, is that students are either “snowflakes” with fragile psyches or “authoritarians” who care more about their pet causes than about democratic values such as tolerance, compromise and respect for opposing points of view.
Students at Harvard, where I teach, returned from winter break in January to an institution that appeared determined to tackle this problem head-on. An email from the undergraduate dean reminded them that “The purpose of a Harvard education is not to shield you from ideas you dislike or to silence people you disagree with; it is to enable you to confront challenging ideas, interrogate your own beliefs, make up your mind and learn to think for yourself.”
To that end, the university launched the “Harvard Dialogues,” a series of events “designed to enhance our ability to engage in respectful and robust debate.” But so far, the effort seems to consist of little more than talking about talking, with events with titles like “Coming Together Across Difference: Finding Common Ground Across Identities and Political Divides” and “Constructive Dialogue in the Age of Social Media.” Absent from this agenda are real discussions about the actual things that divide us, such as abortion, climate change and Israel-Palestine.
The fact of the matter is that the problem is not our students. It is us: faculty and administrators who are too afraid—of random people on social media, hard-core activists, irritable alumni, assorted “friends” of Harvard—to allow a culture of open debate and dialogue to flourish. This was driven home to me recently when I tried to contribute to the cause of fostering constructive debate on campus by launching a series of conversations on the crisis in the Middle East with individuals from across the political spectrum in the U.S. and the region. Participants in the series include former Trump administration official Jared Kushner, former Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad and former Israeli parliamentarian Einat Wilf.
No sooner had I begun congratulating myself on assembling such a diverse set of interlocutors than the recriminations began. First came the anger at my decision to invite Kushner (which was not unexpected, given the zip code I inhabit). Then, more alarmingly, the Daily Wire revealed that one of the other participants in my series, a young Palestinian professor named Dalal Saeb Iriqat, had posted tweets calling Hamas’s Oct. 7 attacks a “normal struggle for freedom,” doubting basic facts about the atrocities committed that day and blaming Israel for everything.
It did not matter to critics that some of Iriqat’s most objectionable tweets were written before the full scale of Hamas’s depravity was known, or that she is a proponent of the two-state solution and a periodic contributor to Haaretz (a left-wing Israeli newspaper), or that her blaming of Israel for the violence represents a fairly mainstream view among Palestinian elites. Nor did it matter that she was invited not to give a speech but to answer questions from me and my students. Fox News, the New York Post and the Daily Mail all screamed some variant of “Harvard platforms pro-Hamas radical!”
The institutional response was instant and ignominious. The Kennedy School rushed out a statement distancing itself from me and my enterprise and assuring the world of our dean’s personal opposition to terrorism. An administrator called to scold me for not performing better due diligence on the speaker and to complain about the time they were now forced to spend calming down donors and caring for staff members who allegedly felt “unsafe.” Even some of those whom you’d expect to be stalwart defenders of free speech on campus went wobbly: A couple of fellow members of a mailing list of intellectually heterodox faculty suggested that I might wish to disinvite Iriqat, lamenting the harm that her visit could do to our cause.
If my administrators and some of my colleagues collectively acted like a pizzeria owner after a bad Yelp review, my students were, by contrast, eager to actually do the thing that our university talks so much about doing. When I announced Kushner’s visit, the event sold out in minutes; most of the complaints I heard were from those unable to get tickets. When the scandal about my Palestinian guest broke, my Israeli students—whom you could have forgiven for being aggrieved by that news—instead reached out with words of encouragement. One even wrote a supportive editorial in the Jerusalem Post declaring that “Harvard’s role should be to provide a platform for intellectual debate, exposing the flaws in [the speaker’s] ideas” rather than seeking to silence them.
Many students told me that they would relish the opportunity to publicly challenge an anti-Israel perspective that they feel is widespread on campus. When self-described pro-Palestine students and faculty circulated a crudely antisemitic cartoon just this week, blaming Jews for oppressing Blacks and Arabs, administrators responded with an email of condemnation. Our best students want to go further, confronting such views on the battlefield of ideas. That doesn’t mean we should throw open the doors to every extremist, but it does mean that we should seize the opportunity to listen to and argue with a fairly typical professor from Ramallah.
I was not surprised that my students showed a surer grasp of what Harvard is for than many of my colleagues. This episode was not my first encounter with the phenomenon of a university too fearful to let us argue.
Last semester, a junior lecturer in the history department and I proposed to Harvard’s General Education Program a course titled “Hard Questions: Searching for Veritas Across Deep Divides,” which aimed “to teach students how to argue with courage, passion, grace and style—and, above all, openness.” The core of the course was to be a series of encounters with some of the most polarizing debates in contemporary academia, including the legacy of colonialism (was it all bad?), the impact of affirmative action (is it justice or discrimination?) and the nature of gender (is it a biological fact or a social fiction?).
For each issue, we proposed bringing to class the most powerful exponents on both sides of the divide. We wanted to demonstrate to undergraduates that the right way to engage any argument—whether you agree or disagree with it—is through respectful but probing and insistent questioning. Given our leaders’ frequent testimonials to the virtues of vigorous disagreement, we thought that approval of our course was certain. Instead, after some back-and-forth with the vetting committee about the possibility of classroom blowups and public blowback, it was rejected.
You might wonder whether I am being uncharitable to my colleagues and too charitable to our students. After all, we have all read stories of student activists disrupting classes and shutting down events with speakers they don’t like. Don’t the students bear some—maybe even most—of the blame for the fact that we cannot have real conversations on campus? I don’t think so. The number of students willing to stand up in a class or at a public event and start shouting into a bullhorn is vanishingly small, and they are emboldened to do so by the knowledge that our administration is too timid to stop them.
I saw this firsthand last October, when a small group of protesters invaded an event I hosted on the 50th anniversary of the Arab oil embargo, objecting to the presence of two speakers with ties to the fossil-fuel industry. While the six demonstrators were busy making it impossible for our audience of 90 to see or hear the panelists, the administrators on the scene could only plead their inability to interfere with the protesters’ right to free expression.
Thus, when the leaders of Harvard talk about the need to foster healthy debate, it is hard for me to take them seriously. And when they blame our students for the cramped confines of discourse on campus, I can’t help thinking that they’re deceiving either us or themselves. Part of me just wants them to be honest: to spare our inboxes the pious messages about free inquiry, to admit that maintaining calm and fending off online unpleasantness are their highest priorities and to let our students know that Harvard is not really in the business of preparing them to grapple with the world’s complexities.
The better part of me, however, hopes that they really are serious about wanting Harvard to be a place dedicated to the fearless search for truth and that they’ll step up and lend a hand to those of us actually trying to make it so. I know our students can handle it.
Tarek Masoud teaches at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.
So some might ask and the question begs, why aren't the administrators and the faculty broadly speaking 'dedicated to the fearless search for truth'?
Seems very obvious to me. Money, money, money. That is, the Big H is bought, paid for and ultimately owned by a wide array of Private, Public and Philanthro-pathic (YES) sources both foreign and domestic and friends and foes alike. These entities - nations, corporations, think tanks, governmental agencies (deemed 'intelligent' and/or 'secure' or dealing with variations thereof) research facilities, industry groups, NGOs, charitable (supposed) foundations both private and public - have little interest in a fearless search for truth. Why might that be? Conflicts of interest and a host of related issues that go along with that. Remember that phrase regarding 'serving two masters'.
Follow the Money. When engaged in that pursuit, the 'fearless search for Truth' always runs a distant second if not far worse than that.
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Post by td128 on Feb 23, 2024 10:04:52 GMT -5
To continue the dialogue and discussion here, what topics would you like to see for Open Forums and Engaged Debates?
I'll start.
I would propose a forum addressing the specifics and merits of the Smith Mundt Act and Smith Mundt Modernization Act of 2012.
I think this could be a riveting dialogue.
www.usagm.gov/who-we-are/oversight/legislation/smith-mundt/
I am NOT proposing we have this forum here at Crossports but would love to see a forum on campus and then broadcast to alumni.
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Post by td128 on Feb 23, 2024 8:55:44 GMT -5
Spirited dialogue, discussions and debate on facts and Truth make for a better world. We need leaders and leadership that embrace this virtuous premise and then go about hosting forums that are properly promoted and videotaped to bring it to the masses.
A HUGE OPPORTUNITY for Alma Mater.
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Post by td128 on Feb 23, 2024 6:49:27 GMT -5
Standing up, speaking out and pursuing Truth in a respectful form and fashion is critically important to liberty and freedom for all.
Those who have knowingly and willingly promoted censoring, Cancel Culture and the intimidation therein are anathema to the pursuit of Truth and Freedom. We ignore them and/or allow that dynamic to propagate at our peril.
I do believe that more and more people here at home and abroad are indeed 'waking up' to these facts but regrettably there are many within positions of power and influence who continue to stifle the pursuit of Truth and sharing of the same. The story just yesterday regarding claims/allegations that recently renowned yet fired investigative journalist Catherine Herridge has had her confidential files containing her sources taken by her employer (CBS News) sends a chill wind across our land this morning.
We need a continued awakening and spirited 'defense of free speech' and the pursuit of Truth and Transparency that root out corruption and encompass the premise that 'I may disagree with what you say but will defend to the death you're right to say it'.
I applaud PVR for his Statement on Statements and the message that sends throughout our entire college community.
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Post by td128 on Feb 22, 2024 18:26:50 GMT -5
Thanks Chu Chu . . . just signed up. . .
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Post by td128 on Feb 20, 2024 10:37:12 GMT -5
To perhaps reset the dialogue and discussion, do others have individual journalists whom they follow and would like to share?
I am speaking of individuals who appreciate and engage in real pursuit of Truth, informed decision, and knowledge.
Another individual whom I track closely is Victor Davis Hanson. Highly intelligent individual who provides riveting historical perspectives on a wide array of topics.
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Post by td128 on Feb 20, 2024 9:29:38 GMT -5
The censoring - and by extension the entire Cancel Culture - is not mere happenstance but very much by design.
Control the medium so as to control the message is a very dangerous path leading to a very dangerous place. There are forces at work in our nation and throughout the world which are actively engaged in those pursuits.
IMO, the increased reliance of independent media and the decline of MSM is a near certainty.
I now subscribe to a number of former MSM journalists now writing via independent platforms. Three of my favorites are Seymour 'Sy" Hersh, Jeff Gerth and Matt Taibbi. True journalists. True journalism.
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Post by td128 on Feb 20, 2024 6:00:56 GMT -5
Yale starting to wake up.
I encourage those who care about Truth and Freedom -specifically academic freedom in this regard - and the pursuit of these greatest of virtues and unalienable rights endowed by our Creator to read and share this commentary with friends and colleagues concerned about the repressive assault on and censoring of those in our nation and around the world standing up and speaking out.
Faculty Group Calls on Yale to Make Teaching 'Distinct from Activism' (Yale News, February 20, 2024): yaledailynews.com/blog/2024/02/19/faculty-group-calls-on-yale-to-make-teaching-distinct-from-activism/
The new initiative urges the University to adopt six new measures, which include more thorough protections on free speech, a commitment to institutional neutrality and new guidelines regarding donor influence.
- Among other measures, the group calls for “a thorough reassessment of administrative encroachment” and the promotion of diverse viewpoints. The group also calls for a more thorough description of free expression guidelines in the Faculty Handbook . . .
- On its site, Faculty for Yale outlines issues that it claims stem from Yale’s “retreat from the university’s basic mission.”
- “Faculty for Yale is a spontaneously coalescing group of (so far) over 100 faculty from throughout the university who wish to support our university in re-dedicating itself to its historic and magnificent mission to preserve, produce, and transmit knowledge,” professor of social and natural science Nicholas Christakis wrote to the News.
- Howard Forman, a professor at the School of Management, said that he signed the letter in part to emphasize Yale’s “promises for advancing and disseminating knowledge”
- Adams wrote to the News that academic freedom, which she described as “the bedrock of the advancement of knowledge through teaching and learning,” needs support at Yale and other colleges and universities.
- “The concerns articulated in the FfY formation statement pertain to universities — and not their members! — as activists,” Adams wrote. “I consider myself something of an activist on behalf of academic freedom, scholarship, and the mission of the university. But there will also come times, as the Kalven Report notes, in which colleges and universities confront threats to their very mission, and must seek to defend their fundamental values. That is happening worldwide.”
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Post by td128 on Feb 19, 2024 10:40:05 GMT -5
Is this really a surprise? You reap what you sow.
Take a look around. The breakdown of civil society on so many fronts.
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Post by td128 on Feb 13, 2024 8:09:23 GMT -5
I personally believe our nation and the world at large are in the midst of what might be defined as a form of great awakening in which TRUTH is embraced and elevated. I see this as reversing many predatory practices promoted by the model of Public-Private-Philanthropathic (yes. . . ) partnerships.
The Power of the Holy Spirit is central to this awakening.
Alma Mater can and hopefully will play a central role in these pursuits of the Way, the Truth and the Life. (John 14:6)
www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John%2014&version=KJV
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Post by td128 on Feb 9, 2024 17:36:33 GMT -5
Mo money, mo money, mo money.
IMO, this is all by design and thought out well in advance by the Power 4 conferences. The 12-team playoffs beginning next year are the college equivalent of the NFL playoffs. The NCAA wants to continue to be in a position to feed at this trough so it plays a role as a sycophantic yet ineffectual self regulatory organization.
Under this construct both on the FB and BB front, you’re right this is worse than pro sports.
I foresee future major issues primarily related to gambling on games. All the elements are in place. I think the likelihood of scandals relating to gambling is like night following day.
I personally think Holy Cross and like minded schools and FCS schools overall are in a great position. The schools that are boxed are the mid to lower tier FBS programs that are not going to be able to keep up and don’t have the $$ to compete.
BC, Syracuse, Temple, UConn, UMass, and a host of others in the MAC and Sun Belt are going to get squeezed. They either won’t be able to land the requisite number of talented recruits to compete and/or will lose their better players.
I foresee many kids and families choosing to come to places like Holy Cross instead.
Just my two cents.
Let’s Win.
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Post by td128 on Feb 9, 2024 14:47:41 GMT -5
Pro Football
Watch the problems skyrocket and watch the more seasoned coaches head for the exits.
Thought this was going to be about Zay Flowers 😱😱😱
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Post by td128 on Feb 9, 2024 12:11:44 GMT -5
Thank you Phreek. I stand corrected and appreciate your making that point. I should have added the qualification 'of those who responded'.
My overarching point, though, regarding the benefit of a balanced distribution -- a reasonably bell shaped distribution so to speak - - would seem to stand and that we might have what looks like a half a bell or something of that sort but often limited representation on one slope and end of that curve. Once again, reasonably boring and not beneficial in terms of stimulating honest and engaged debate.
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Post by td128 on Feb 9, 2024 12:00:13 GMT -5
Not a big Physics guy but I might imagine that any/all sound within the confines of an ECHO CHAMBER likely reverberates in an ongoing circular sort of fashion to create what ultimately sounds like . . . well, it's not good.
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Post by td128 on Feb 9, 2024 10:23:36 GMT -5
1 for every 5 still means that MORE THAN 80% of the faculty members in the Sciences are Democratic. Makes the other courses of study north of 90% if not even north of 95%. Seriously, HOW BORING many of these departments must be if you have almost nobody who has a meaningfully different point of view when it comes to political thought and philosophy.
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Post by td128 on Feb 9, 2024 8:16:00 GMT -5
Hero Sports FCS Top 22 Prospects (February Update; Feb 8, 2024)
herosports.com/fcs-top-prospects-2024-nfl-draft-february-bzbz/
#3: CJ Hanson School: Holy Cross
Position: OG
Projected Round: 5th
Position Rank: No. 11
Overall Prospect Rank: No. 176
#9 Jalen Coker School: Holy Cross
Position: WR
Projected Round: 7th
Position Rank: No. 36
Overall Prospect Rank: No. 242
Continuing to bring GLORY and HONOR to Alma Mater
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Post by td128 on Feb 9, 2024 4:25:46 GMT -5
Much ado . . . about a whole host of very serious topics. There are great people across the entire spectrum and there are not so great people as well.
Would seem readily apparent that with almost everything in life, BALANCE - as in a well balanced distribution of thoughts and opinions on the key issues of the day and political thought and philosophy overall - would be and should be preferred AND pursued.
We have little of the sort right now in and throughout the world of academia and it shows. Thank you princeton crusader for sharing those data points. One does not generate such egregiously skewed distribution if the practices in place were not so inherently biased by design. This dynamic is anything but healthy leading to the echo chambers within many if not most of the ivory towers throughout our land.
Info of that sort leads to heightened risks of indoctrination on our college and university campuses as opposed to education.
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Post by td128 on Feb 8, 2024 12:37:48 GMT -5
Huge CHU CHU RAH RAH for our fellow Crusaders who are all over this space and provide such great insights and information in the process.
Thank you, Breezy, DrJack, MidwestSader05 and DHarry . . !!!
Phenomenal Performance . . .
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Post by td128 on Feb 8, 2024 9:28:53 GMT -5
In my opinion, the most important factor at play here is the consistency of bringing in and developing talent at this level each and every year. Our resident recruiting experts know far better than me the specifics on this topic. We saw a LOT of young talent on the field for the Crusaders last year and would certainly seem the program has backed up the Class of 2023 recruits/Crusaders with an equally if not even stronger Class of 2024.
Expectations in college football as in any business are hugely important. Each individual is expected to perform. Each individual is expected to meet the standards and uphold the culture. These principles are the building blocks and foundation that differentiate a business from a franchise with an established brand.
This all bodes very very well for our HCFB Crusaders for a protracted period and hopefully longer than that. All of which goes to bringing glory and honor to Alma Mater on and off the field.
Great days to be a Crusader.
LET'S WIN!!
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Post by td128 on Feb 8, 2024 8:33:00 GMT -5
Dadominate, I fully concur. Based on reading and reviews, these developments are not by happenstance but are very much by design going back to at least post WWII if not even prior to that. It is not merely academia but also media and government where those looking to slowly and methodically overtake the development of how issues of the day are framed and managed. What is behind all of this? Like everything else in the world, HUGE MONEY.
I personally would like to see more open forum Point-Counterpoint style debates not only at Holy Cross but elsewhere. We need more vigorous engagement not less. To this end, I think/hope we might all agree that censoring and Cancel Culture are anathema to a world that promotes truly free speech and open sharing of ideas. I personally believe AI needs to have serious oversight and uncaptured regulatory 'rules of the road' instituted. I am hugely concerned that the algorithms within selected AI platforms will have little of that sort.
For those who care to delve deeper into this space a book I strongly recommend is Foundations by Rene Wormser: www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/2175523
This is a searching analysis of some of America's most powerful tax-exempt foundations, their actions as opposed to their stated purpose's (LD: we call this charity fraud), the interlocking groups of men who run them, and their influence on the country at large. The author, as counsel to the Reece Committee (1954), which investigated foundations for the last Republican Congress, gained a unique insight into the inner workings of the various Rockefeller, Carnegie and Ford-created giants. He also witnessed the intense and powerful opposition to any investigation of these multi-billion-dollar public trusts. The Reece investigation was virtually hamstrung from the start to its early demise, which was aided and abetted by leading newspaper of the country.
"It is difficult for the public to understand," writes Mr. Wormser, "that some of the great foundations which have done so much for us in some fields have acted tragically against the public interest in others, but the facts are there for the unprejudiced to recognize." "The power of the individual foundation giant is enormous. When there is like-mindedness among a group of these giants, which apparently is due to the existence of a closely knit group of professional administrators in the social science field, the power is magnified hugely. When such foundations do good, they justify the tax-exempt status which the people grant them. When they do harm, it can be immense harm - there is virtually no counter-force to oppose them."
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Post by td128 on Feb 7, 2024 9:23:46 GMT -5
Huge props to HCDC and staff. Was only two months ago when our last head football coach moved on. Many concerns raised and rightfully so about a smooth transition under new leadership.
HUGE props to ADKH and Nick Smith for their preparation and execution in hiring Coach Curran. Would seem that we have not only maintained the positive trajectory of HCFB but with the signings in this class have even elevated it.
All systems go.
Great days to be a Crusader.
Let’s Win!! ✝️🏈💜
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Post by td128 on Feb 7, 2024 8:49:19 GMT -5
Omarr Dixon looks to be a fabulous Commit. Offered by a whole host of schools but he’s a CRUSADER now.
Including: Army West Point Navy Bowling Green Wofford Furman Austin Peay Fordham Lehigh Bucknell Georgetown Princeton Penn Dartmouth Cornell Columbia
But he’s coming to Worcester to be a Holy Cross Crusader
#WINNING ✝️👊🏾🏈👊🏻✝️
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