3 minutes ago, vikas83 said:

And if we coddle them for 4 years, they'll stay sensitive little babies when they are 22 and in a mean world that couldn't care less about their feelings. Would I go out of my way to make fun of them? No. Will I apologize if I use the wrong pronoun? No. If they can't handle that, then they have no business being in a college environment anyway.

On the flipside good luck as a professor getting people to enroll in your classes once you develop the reputation as a jerk.

6 minutes ago, EaglesRocker97 said:

 

We don't really know if that's the case, but it's not hard to imagine him doing so. Regardless of whether this produced some inner conflict for the professor, it has undoubtedly led to awkward or heated exchanges in the classroom, which creates a distraction, and if this is making local and national news, that distraction is magnified intensely across the university. Ultimately, it's just not worth backlash and controversy for someone to do this in the workplace. It makes the environment toxic and damages your standing with colleagues.

Gee, it helps to read the article:

 

Quote

 

The professor told the student that he wasn't sure he could comply due to his own beliefs, and the students allegedly got upset and filed a complaint against him, he said.

For the next several months, a series of compromises were discussed between the administration and Meriwether, but the student kept filing more complaints over the semester. The school then conducted a Title IX investigation against him, he said.

 

 

So the school passed a policy requiring professors to use preferred pronouns, and the professor objected based on his Christian faith. Then, he explained this to the student who, instead of acting like an adult, filed multiple complaints. The professor worked with the administration to find a solution, but the student was having none of it. 

4 minutes ago, Dave Moss said:

On the flipside good luck as a professor getting people to enroll in your classes once you develop the reputation as a jerk.

Hey look, market forces work. If no one takes your class, you get fired. 

7 minutes ago, vikas83 said:

Gee, it helps to read the article:

 

 

So the school passed a policy requiring professors to use preferred pronouns, and the professor objected based on his Christian faith. Then, he explained this to the student who, instead of acting like an adult, filed multiple complaints. The professor worked with the administration to find a solution, but the student was having none of it. 

 

I read a brief article elsewhere about the incident the other day and didn't actually read the article posted here. I'm not sure what you're connecting to what you quoted from me, though. It sounds like the administration was trying to moderate between them. That's good. Still, he was clearly in violation of the policy and it hadn't been resolved, so the burden would be on him to demonstrate a specific Christian tenet that forbids a particular kind of pronoun usage. Until he validates that, he would be expected to adhere to the regulation.

6 minutes ago, vikas83 said:

 

Hey look, market forces work. If no one takes your class, you get fired. 

Not if you have tenure.  Lol

7 minutes ago, EaglesRocker97 said:

 

I read a brief article elsewhere about the incident the other day and didn't actually read the article posted here. I'm not sure what you're connecting to what you quoted from me, though. It sounds like the administration was trying to moderate between them. That's good. Still, he was clearly in violation of the policy and it hadn't been resolved, so the burden would be on him to demonstrate a specific Christian tenet that forbids a particular kind of pronoun usage. Until he validates that, he would be expected to adhere to the regulation.

So, I know this because my brother-in-law was the VP of Diversity at a large state run university for years. State funded universities (which Shawnee is) have to protect First Amendment rights to free speech. So they can't pass a policy like the one they did. I think it's stupid, but that's the law, and it's what got the professor paid.

8 minutes ago, Dave Moss said:

Not if you have tenure.  Lol

That's a whole other topic...

2 hours ago, The_Omega said:

Ezra seems to be in a self-destructive spiral right now.  He they should consider taking a step back and getting some help before he they do some lasting damage.

Or don't.  Either way.

Maybe they will get a gig on Fox News.

1 hour ago, Dave Moss said:

Being **** to a trans student is pretty lame regardless if it prepares them for the real world or not.  Just my 2 cents.

Im sure the student was just an innocent little church mouse and not at all a pompous disruptive A hole

Im sure the professor wakes up every day and goes to work just to offend students, Im sure thats why he's a professor in the first place

55 minutes ago, Dave Moss said:

Maybe, but most trans students are pretty sensitive about their identity when they’re 18ish.  Being a jerk about it is unnecessary. You’re not teaching that person anything as a professor.

Because thats how 99% derive their value to society and seek attention.  They have no insight or skill to contribute so this is their way of being important and acknowledged

1 hour ago, Kz! said:

Exactly! Oh by the way, I go by Grand Emperor and/or Stable Genius now, so you'll address me as such from now on. After all, it really isn't that hard to do and it also doesn't affect you. 

I called dibs on that years ago

1 minute ago, Mike31mt said:

Im sure the student was just an innocent little church mouse and not at all a pompous disruptive A hole

Im sure the professor wakes up every day and goes to work just to offend students, Im sure thats why he's a professor in the first place

I gotta be honest, Mike.  I like that you are giving the professor the benefit of the doubt.

 

Just now, Dave Moss said:

I gotta be honest, Mike.  I like that you are giving the professor the benefit of the doubt.

 

If you did the exact same thing I would be cheering you on the same.  

Im seriously sympathetic to anyone having to deal with the tik tok gender pronoun generation

1 hour ago, EaglesRocker97 said:

 

It is the professor's job to be a professional, and in 2022, that, unfortunately, requires using someone's preferred pronouns. The professor is also tasked with creating a welcoming learning environment so that learning can occur, and taking up this frivolous crusade against a student's identity injects personal animus into an academic environment. What the student is called should in no way interfere with evaluating a student's academic competency. If a professor can't objectively evaluate a student's progress through the curriculum because their mind is too wrapped up in culture wars, then he's not able to perform his job effectively.

You and I had a different college experience.   

 

The ones I respected the most were the ones who were able to actually impart knowledge.  I had one wear a Memphis Maniac's XFL jersey every 5th class, another took us for beers at the end of INFOSYS 5XX because he knew he put us through the ringer.  Were either "professional".  F no.   But they were amazing professors.

 

The student is to respect the professor, not the other way around.  (yeah, I get the irony, I'm not talking about teachers)

3 minutes ago, paco said:

You and I had a different college experience.   

 

The ones I respected the most were the ones who were able to actually impart knowledge.  I had one wear a Memphis Maniac's XFL jersey every 5th class, another took us for beers at the end of INFOSYS 5XX because he knew he put us through the ringer.  Were either "professional".  F no.   But they were amazing professors.

 

Things got a little weird for me in grad school. Prof for my Early America course invited our entire seminar over to her house in downtown Lancaster for dinner and drinks at the end of the semester. I literally sunbmitted my term paper in her living room. I was trying to calculate just the right amount of beer and wine to drink to still be considered "classy." Eventually, I just said F it started knocking 'em back, lol.

7 minutes ago, Mike31mt said:

If you did the exact same thing I would be cheering you on the same.  

Im seriously sympathetic to anyone having to deal with the tik tok gender pronoun generation

Your comment made me think of this:

 

2 hours ago, Kz! said:

Exactly! Oh by the way, I go by Grand Wizard Emperor and/or Stable Genius now, so you'll address me as such from now on. After all, it really isn't that hard to do and it also doesn't affect you. 

Fixed that for ya

3 hours ago, EaglesRocker97 said:

 

Yeah, but this is classroom, not a bar or somer random public establishment. Educators should treat their students with respect and, yes, do their best to be nice to them. It's just common decency. Why not just take the path of least resistance and call the student what they want to be called, rather than creating a distraction in the classroom and making a public spectacle of yourself? If the guy wants to go on a political crusade, so be it, but a lecture hall really isn't really the proper forum.

The teachers that made the biggest positive impact on me and my classmates weren’t always the nicest ones. 

2 minutes ago, DrPhilly said:

The teachers that made the biggest positive impact on me and my classmates weren’t always the nicest ones. 

 

You don't have to be nice to be respectful. You can be a bit of an a-hole while still upholding common decency.

18 hours ago, EaglesRocker97 said:

 

This is good, as it upholds free speech, which the prof is unconditionally entitled to. At the same time, I'm also of the "don't be a dick" philosophy, and this prof definitely comes off as an a-hole. Just call the student whatever the f**** they want to be called. It's much easier that way. It might feel awkward and easy to slip up with at first, but it shouldn't be that hard. Not sure how pronouns would violate any religious precepts. What part of the Bible lays out English-language pronoun usage?

Don't mind me, Im just universally recognized as one of the dumbest posters

22 minutes ago, EaglesRocker97 said:

 

You don't have to be nice to be respectful. You can be a bit of an a-hole while still upholding common decency.

Usually, but sometimes you do need to be a bit of an a-hole I'm afraid.

5 hours ago, vikas83 said:

Hey look, market forces work. If no one takes your class, you get fired. 

Unless you're tenured.....  

1 hour ago, M.C. said:

I guess we know what he spent his summer research grant money on

2 hours ago, M.C. said:

10k to pee on someone's face?!! I've clearly made poor career choices