Social Evergreen State College After Meltdown: Enrollment Drops by 40%, Faculty down 20%

[Ayin]

THis is a worst case situation for the students. The problems and people causing them continue on stronger than ever, the school takes no responsibility or action, admits no fault, and the loudest voices of opposition to this are no longer there. Weinstein's position won't be vacant long, and the next person to have it will be fully screened to make sure they align with the a school's now uncontested values.

 

[The ScorpioN]

Unfortunately, it's a situation of the boy who cried wolf. I think a lot of us (society) are just immune to hearing it now because we hear it used all the time. It certainly obscures real racism from the faux stuff though.

I also think "racism" can be applied to any race vs any race. While white supremacy speaks for itself.

Another blame whitey type of deal.

 

[Devout Pessimist]

I also think "racism" can be applied to any race vs any race. While white supremacy speaks for itself.

Another blame whitey type of deal.

It is quite difficult to label a non-white person as a white supremacist.

 

[JSN]

I feel like this poor is going to get stuck doing talks to alt righters to make a living. From what I can gather, the way Evergreen is structured most likely means he hasn't published in eons. Shouldn't feel too sorry for him though; these speaking engagements people do for morons can lead to some ridiculous $$$.

 

[Arkain2K]

Evergreen faces $2.1M budget shortfall, enrollment drop, issues layoff notices
Jennifer Kabbany • August 29, 2017

Administrators at The Evergreen State College have announced that the embattled school faces a massive $2.1 million budget shortfall due in part to a drop in enrollment, and the institution has already handed out some temporary layoff notices as officials grapple with balancing the books.

In an Aug. 28 memo to the campus community titled “Enrollment and Budget Update,” officials report that fall 2017-18 registration is down about 5 percent, from 3,922 students to 3,713. But the problem is nearly all of the students they lost are nonresidents, who traditionally pay a much higher tuition to attend, officials explained in the memo, a copy of which was obtained by The College Fix.

Combined with a shortfall in funding from state coffers to shoulder a mandatory cost-of-living salary increase and a rise in the general cost of operations, and the school must find a way to resolve a $2.1 million shortfall for the fiscal year that began July 1, according to the memo.

“This creates the need for significant budget cuts in the immediate future,” the memo states, adding that the university late last month already handed out temporary layoff notices to 17 facilities staff members.

“Some notices were rescinded as we try to use scarce local dollars to keep people employed,” the memo states. “… However, if the capital budget crisis at the state level continues indefinitely, layoffs will become impossible to avoid.”

“… In a college where 89 percent of the operating budget is in salaries and benefits, it is impossible to reduce the budget by substantial amounts without giving up positions. In anticipation of this, we will soon be announcing a hiring freeze.”​

Although the memo does not reference it, the drop in student enrollment can likely be traced back to the national uproar caused after a rowdy group of progressive students took over the school in May and June.

First they cornered white biology Professor Bret Weinstein and shouted him down over his choice not leave campus during a “Day of Absence,” in which white students and employees were asked to stay off campus for the day. The aggressive actions against the professor forced him to hold class off campus at a nearby park. Next, students accused the university’s administration of racism during a contentious meeting, during which they yelled at and belittled President George Bridges. At this meeting, some white students were told to stand in the back of the room because of the color of their skin. The progressive student protesters also issued a string of demands to combat the alleged racism on campus, most of which the university agreed to implement at an unknown fiscal cost.

The college was also shut for multiple days in early June because of threats it received. Student vigilantes even took to patrolling campus with bats. Later reports about the school revealed that radicalism and anarchy had been pushed at Evergreen State College since at least 2008.

Emails obtained by The College Fix show that some parents pledged to keep their kids away from Evergreen in a development that’s known as the “Mizzou Effect.” The term references the situation at the University of Missouri, which faced severe financial struggles after a student Black Lives Matter protest in 2014 took over the campus and ruined the school’s reputation, prompting a huge decline in enrollment.

But in a somewhat tone deaf part of the Aug. 28 memo from Evergreen, administrators state that “we must continue our efforts to make Evergreen a student-ready college. Our work in equity and inclusion is an important step in this process.”

http://www.thecollegefix.com/post/36145/

 

[HomerThompson]

Evergreen faces $2.1M budget shortfall, enrollment drop, issues layoff notices
Jennifer Kabbany • August 29, 2017

Administrators at The Evergreen State College have announced that the embattled school faces a massive $2.1 million budget shortfall due in part to a drop in enrollment, and the institution has already handed out some temporary layoff notices as officials grapple with balancing the books.

In an Aug. 28 memo to the campus community titled “Enrollment and Budget Update,” officials report that fall 2017-18 registration is down about 5 percent, from 3,922 students to 3,713. But the problem is nearly all of the students they lost are nonresidents, who traditionally pay a much higher tuition to attend, officials explained in the memo, a copy of which was obtained by The College Fix.

Combined with a shortfall in funding from state coffers to shoulder a mandatory cost-of-living salary increase and a rise in the general cost of operations, and the school must find a way to resolve a $2.1 million shortfall for the fiscal year that began July 1, according to the memo.

“This creates the need for significant budget cuts in the immediate future,” the memo states, adding that the university late last month already handed out temporary layoff notices to 17 facilities staff members.

“Some notices were rescinded as we try to use scarce local dollars to keep people employed,” the memo states. “… However, if the capital budget crisis at the state level continues indefinitely, layoffs will become impossible to avoid.”

“… In a college where 89 percent of the operating budget is in salaries and benefits, it is impossible to reduce the budget by substantial amounts without giving up positions. In anticipation of this, we will soon be announcing a hiring freeze.”​

Although the memo does not reference it, the drop in student enrollment can likely be traced back to the national uproar caused after a rowdy group of progressive students took over the school in May and June.

First they cornered white biology Professor Bret Weinstein and shouted him down over his choice not leave campus during a “Day of Absence,” in which white students and employees were asked to stay off campus for the day. The aggressive actions against the professor forced him to hold class off campus at a nearby park. Next, students accused the university’s administration of racism during a contentious meeting, during which they yelled at and belittled President George Bridges. At this meeting, some white students were told to stand in the back of the room because of the color of their skin. The progressive student protesters also issued a string of demands to combat the alleged racism on campus, most of which the university agreed to implement at an unknown fiscal cost.

The college was also shut for multiple days in early June because of threats it received. Student vigilantes even took to patrolling campus with bats. Later reports about the school revealed that radicalism and anarchy had been pushed at Evergreen State College since at least 2008.

Emails obtained by The College Fix show that some parents pledged to keep their kids away from Evergreen in a development that’s known as the “Mizzou Effect.” The term references the situation at the University of Missouri, which faced severe financial struggles after a student Black Lives Matter protest in 2014 took over the campus and ruined the school’s reputation, prompting a huge decline in enrollment.

But in a somewhat tone deaf part of the Aug. 28 memo from Evergreen, administrators state that “we must continue our efforts to make Evergreen a student-ready college. Our work in equity and inclusion is an important step in this process.”

http://www.thecollegefix.com/post/36145/

That picture.

 

[hillelslovak87]

That picture.

I'm fucking glad my taxes pay for that shit. I live about 50 miles from Evergreen, and I'm pretty sure I can smell Tom's deodorant and dreadlock grease from here.

 

[Fluffernutter]

The explanation from the college's PR office was interesting.

They stated that enrollment has indeed dropped off, but it has been in stead decline for a while.

The office stated that their biggest drop was from out-of-state students, particularly from California. However, their in-state students have remained steady.

 

[VivaRevolution]

That picture.

The irony of that story making me think of Nelson, and Ha, Ha!, and Groening being alumni there, is too much.

 

[Arkain2K]

 

[Starck]

Student Protesters And Their Faculty Allies At Evergreen Win A Battle But Lose The War
09/17/2017

Four months have passed since the riots that brought The Evergreen State College to the attention of the world occurred and with the start of the academic year quickly approaching for the college it is well worth taking stock of where things currently stand.

The most important question, it seems to me, is whether or not the learning environment for students has improved at Evergreen because of what transpired last spring and the aftermath this summer.

What is absolutely clear is that the student protestors and their faculty supporters successfully achieved their main goals. From the outset the protesters wanted (at least) three members of the faculty and staff to leave their positions, preferably by being fired. (Will anyone ever forget the fervently aggressive chanting as students held the campus’s administration hostage: Hey, hey, ho, ho, racist faculty have got to go?)

All three are no longer in the positions they filled during the spring and two are no longer employed by the college.

Andrea Seabert Olsen was the student conduct officer, the person responsible for overseeing the student code of conduct. The protestors demanded that she be fired but provided only vague, if overly incendiary, reasons. “Seabert Olsen has shown a consistent often violent flaw in judgment when it pertains to the needs and safety of Black students, other students of color, Trans students, students with disabilities, students who have experienced sexual assault…. The students who are in the most danger in the current climate and culture of both the Evergreen campus and the United States do not view Seabert Olsen as a safe person to seek help from.” She’s no longer serving as the student conduct officer, a position she’s held for many years.

Stacy Brown was Evergreen’s chief of police. Evergreen students wanted her fired because, well, because she was the chief of police. Indeed, there was a major demonstration at her swearing in ceremony this past January with students protesting the very idea of a chief of police and of policing in general.

After a number of them assaulted the vice president for student affairs during the aborted ceremony they were brought up on charges of violating the student code of conduct and had to deal with Andrea Seabert Olsen. Chief Brown no longer works at Evergreen having resigned from her position this past August because she did not believe that in the current climate she was able to do her job of protecting the campus community effectively.

Bret Weinstein was a faculty member with expertise in evolutionary biology. He was also a vocal member of the faculty consistently calling for open debate and discussion about many issues including those centered on the campus’s “equity” initiative. Although his politics are well situated in the progressive portion of the spectrum, Weinstein’s insistence on discussion of complex faculty issues and his desire to be certain that policies ostensibly designed to help marginalized students actually help those students led to him being targeted by protestors and called both a racist and white supremacist by colleagues. The call for his firing was at the epicenter of the protests. After Chief Brown made it clear to Weinstein that his welfare was at risk if he appeared on campus and that she was not being permitted to protect him from student protestors, he was forced to teach off campus. Convinced that the college was not taking any actions to protect him, Weinstein took legal action against the college. A settlement was just reached that included a monetary payment to Weinstein coupled with his resignation.

The protestors received a bonus in this case in that Heather Heying, Weinstein’s wife and also a faculty member at Evergreen, was included in the settlement. She too resigned from her position. And she too was declared to be a racist when she expressed displeasure with the administration for not permitting the police to protect her husband.

So, in the absence of these four people, has the learning environment improved for Evergreen students? It’s difficult to see how one could reach such a conclusion. Weinstein and Heying were two of Evergreen’s most popular instructors and their offerings always had waiting lists of students hoping to enroll. Brown, herself a graduate of Evergreen, had hoped to bring an enhanced sense of community policing to the campus and to break down barriers between students and campus police. Seabert Olsen has worked tirelessly on campus assisting students in need while adjudicating complex cases. Beyond the campus, she’s devoted her life to helping disadvantaged and abused young women find a way to move forward successfully.

While it is absolutely true that no one on a college campus is indispensable, it is difficult to see how the loss of these four individuals improves the Evergreen environment. Yes, some will say, indeed, some have said, that with their departures Evergreen has four fewer white supremacists in its midst. But those are people who seem to view anyone who disagrees with them as a white supremacist.

Make no mistake about it, racism exists all around us and white supremacy has been and continues to be responsible for many terrible things. But, while Evergreen is far from perfect, pretending it is a hotbed of racism is both disingenuous and dangerous. Labelling virtually everyone as a white supremacist trivializes the concept and emboldens those who are the embodiment of white supremacy.
Disagreements about policy, about politics, and about tactics can be healthy – especially on college campuses.

The departure of Weinstein and Heying from Evergreen has another critically important downside for the college and its students. The lesson to be learned by students, faculty and staff alike is that viewpoints differing from the loudest voices on campus will not be tolerated. Question those loud voices, or simply call for a discussion, and you will be shunned, attacked and ultimately ex-communicated.

As one faculty member has written, “The scorched earth style of leadership by the college administration is disheartening for many of us.” When voices are lost, homogeneity increases and critical thinking, the hallmark of the liberal arts, is diminished.

Four months later, what about the leaders of the protest? The answer to this question reinforces the lesson about the dangers of questioning the campus’s loudest voices. The student who played the largest role in the protest, the one who organized the taking of administrative hostages and who was seen patrolling the campus with a baseball bat, was rewarded for those efforts by being hired by Evergreen to serve as a “Presidential Equity Advisor” over the summer. The faculty member who was seen berating colleagues with foul language, who, on Facebook, asked “Could some white women from Evergreen come and collect Heather Heying’s racist ass,” and who regularly and publicly called Weinstein a racist, remains in her faculty position.

As the new academic year begins at Evergreen, student protestors and their faculty allies got much of what they wanted – and the college has been weakened as a result. In addition to the losses outlined above, student numbers are significantly down leading to a major budgetary crisis. This is the classic case of winning a battle but losing the war.

http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/us_59bebbc4e4b06b71800c3a9f

Shocking to see this kind of article from Huff Post. Their pieces usually take the opposite viewpoint.

 

[hillelslovak87]

I feel like this poor is going to get stuck doing talks to alt righters to make a living. From what I can gather, the way Evergreen is structured most likely means he hasn't published in eons. Shouldn't feel too sorry for him though; these speaking engagements people do for morons can lead to some ridiculous $$$.

If he got hired by Evergeen, he never created or contributed anything of note in the first place. Every single time I have been there, there is insanely stupid shit going on all over campus. It does not run like a school even. It's one (half) step away from

 

[unimackpass]

That picture.

Well at least their progressive and not religious people with work ethics and all that stuff.

 

[bowened]

Why do they dress like a crew in a low rent version of Walking Dead?

 

[Arkain2K]

 

[Devout Pessimist]

Evergreen State College Sanctions 80 Students, Debuts 'Free Speech Guide'

Evergreen State College doled out punishments to 80 students they say were involved in an incident last spring that led to a schoolwide shutdown and a million dollar legal settlement.

They've also issued a handbook to students explaining, in great detail, how to handle the concept of "free speech" and what students should do if they encounter an opposing viewpoint (hint: it's not riot until the school shuts down and harass a professor and his wife out of their jobs).

In an effort to stem the bleeding, apparently, Evergreen told local media that they were investigating 180 current and former students for interfering with campus life.

"Of those 180 students, approximately 80 were found responsible for their actions," an Evergreen spokesperson said. "They received sanctions ranging from formal warnings, community service and probation, to suspension."

 

[Madmick]

Evergreen State College Sanctions 80 Students, Debuts 'Free Speech Guide'

Evergreen State College doled out punishments to 80 students they say were involved in an incident last spring that led to a schoolwide shutdown and a million dollar legal settlement.

They've also issued a handbook to students explaining, in great detail, how to handle the concept of "free speech" and what students should do if they encounter an opposing viewpoint (hint: it's not riot until the school shuts down and harass a professor and his wife out of their jobs).

In an effort to stem the bleeding, apparently, Evergreen told local media that they were investigating 180 current and former students for interfering with campus life.

"Of those 180 students, approximately 80 were found responsible for their actions," an Evergreen spokesperson said. "They received sanctions ranging from formal warnings, community service and probation, to suspension."

Good start.

Start.

 

[EL GOAT]

What's with the right wingers fascination with evergreen state college?


I just googled it today and its basically a shitty community college....basically anybody can get in, and their budget is like $9 million, that is a worse budget than a shitload of community colleges.


Their only claim to fame is being featured by breitbart, info wars etc.


Why in the fuck are you guys using this shittiest college to judge all colleges?

 

[Thycidides]

What's with the right wingers fascination with evergreen state college?


I just googled it today and its basically a shitty community college....basically anybody can get in, and their budget is like $9 million, that is a worse budget than a shitload of community colleges.


Their only claim to fame is being featured by breitbart, info wars etc.


Why in the fuck are you guys using this shittiest college to judge all colleges?

They need an enemy for the cultural war. Students make a good target. In some ways it is a good tactic for them because student activists can be organized to confront the Right and have been successful in doing so.

 

[Madmick]

What's with the right wingers fascination with evergreen state college?


I just googled it today and its basically a shitty community college....basically anybody can get in, and their budget is like $9 million, that is a worse budget than a shitload of community colleges.


Their only claim to fame is being featured by breitbart, info wars etc.


Why in the fuck are you guys using this shittiest college to judge all colleges?

It's like talking to a goat.