It has come to this - Camelot is Gone

[Steve Rodgers]

I think the main objection was the mandatory requirement. It comes across as a Red Guard struggle session when you have to watch. Reminds me of mandatory chapel. No one should object to the movie being shown, that’s what liberal arts are all about.

I wonder if it was mandatory in the sense of "If you don't sit down and watch this right now you are off the team" or "I'm showing this movie in class and you are expected to be in class."

No doubt Davidson students are subjected to a lot of "mandatory" viewings under the latter, as they are also subjected to a lot of mandatory discussions about the honor code, sexual misconduct, and how to not drown at the Lake Campus.

If the former, perhaps there are other parallels worth talking about. No one objected when Bob took the team to Auschwitz; in fact, I suspect we all felt a surge of pride. I felt a similar surge of pride--and relief--when I found out our student athletes are also learning about white privilege, and how, for those who have it, it can be leveraged for good.

I assumed mandatory meant mandatory if you redefine mandatory to not mandatory then my point is meaningless.

[stevelee]

From our distance it is hard to say how mandatory mandatory may have been in real life. Did any athlete miss seeing it? If so, what were the repercussions?

We had required “chapel” back in my day. We were allowed a number of cuts, increasing with each class year. So I’m sure I missed a number of things that were mandatory. We chafed at being required to attend things, and were famously rude to the speakers not named Harry Golden, E. H. Little, Ludwig von Mises, and a few others. Fellowship of Christian Athletes speakers often got the worst treatment, though the student body was overwhelmingly Christian and a high percentage were athletes.

[DC69Wildcat]

From our distance it is hard to say how mandatory mandatory may have been in real life. Did any athlete miss seeing it? If so, what were the repercussions?

We had required “chapel” back in my day. We were allowed a number of cuts, increasing with each class year. So I’m sure I missed a number of things that were mandatory. We chafed at being required to attend things, and were famously rude to the speakers not named Harry Golden, E. H. Little, Ludwig von Mises, and a few others. Fellowship of Christian Athletes speakers often got the worst treatment, though the student body was overwhelmingly Christian and a high percentage were athletes.

Back in those days, the worst job at Davidson College had to be the person who scheduled the chapel programs. I wonder if the speakers were warned on rainy days that they might be addressing a sea of open umbrellas.

[catnhat]

My parents were married when Dad attended DC. He discovered that Vespers was not required if you lived outside Davidson. So they lived in Cornelius the rest of his college days.

[Waitress]

Fellowship of Christian Athletes speakers often got the worst treatment, though the student body was overwhelmingly Christian and a high percentage were athletes.

That's funny! Were they pilloried for being holier-than thou, boring, or preachy?

My one interaction with FCA in high school was the head football coach declaring he was done with cussing because he got religion. I remember one cheeky student was dubious and wanted to bet the coach a tidy sum he couldn't do it. The coach declined, which proved to be a money-saving move on his part as soon as the next season started.

[stevelee]

Back in those days, the worst job at Davidson College had to be the person who scheduled the chapel programs.

Scott Woodmansee was chaplain my last two years at Davidson. We became reacquainted in this century when he and Jon Regen sat beside me at basketball games. Then I would also see him and Priss at most concerts. Later we played bridge in a men’s group.

He shared with me on several occasions about the difficulties of that job.

[stevelee]

That's funny! Were they pilloried for being holier-than thou, boring, or preachy?

It was more the caliber of speakers they sent, and it was like they insulted our intelligence. But it really had more to do with our required presence. If the FCA had invited one of the speakers to a meeting of that group, he would most likely have been politely listened to.

Speakers were apparently given canned messages to give rather than just sharing something personal. The most notorious was somebody named Charlie, as I recall. He was tasked with presenting a rewrite of the panoply passage in Ephesians, replacing the pieces of armor with football positions, e.g., the “tackles of truth.”

[Cat Forever]

I concur with Governor Martin's opinion stated here:

https://amp.newsobserver.com/opinion/ar ... 23611.html

[Cat Forever]

I note an absence of comment here regarding rising antisemitism on campuses today. Has that bypassed Davidson?

[MLC67]

While not dispositive, walking the campus this week for the Post Season Basketball Banquet I saw no tent encampments. A few groups of students were sitting on the lawn in front of Chambers, but they appeared to be holding out of doors class discussions.

[TheJaffe]

At the risk of continuing a discussion that, in my opinion, has run pretty far afield from the original topic:

I note an absence of comment here regarding rising antisemitism on campuses today. Has that bypassed Davidson?

I started worrying about rising antisemitism on campuses when I saw tiki-torch-bearing protestors chant "Jews will not replace us" at UVA. It eased my mind when I learned that the people saying this, or at least marching beside the people saying this, were "very fine people."

So, based on this discussion it seems to me that: Racism is no longer an issue in the United States and should only be considered a historical anomaly eradicated by the election of Barack Obama and the prior elevations of Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice to prominent cabinet positions. However, rising antisemitism on college campuses is such an issue that you noted a lack of expressed concern on this thread even though, reportedly, it is not happening at Davidson? Why broaden the discussion? Please explain the connection to the original topic.

I concur with Governor Martin's opinion stated here:

https://amp.newsobserver.com/opinion/ar ... 23611.html

Like Gov. Martin, I also respect Dr. King. And I appreciate how our fellow Wildcat wasted no time in breaking out the same MLK quotation used to support similar arguments. Instead of closing with Dr. King's words, he invoked the magic "...content of their character." passage in paragraph 3 after name-checking Dr. King in paragraph 2.

Given how often one reads this quotation, and almost always in the same context, one might think this thought sums up the entirety of Dr. King's thoughts on race relations in America. Here's something else he said:

“Whites, it must frankly be said, are not putting in a similar mass effort to reeducate themselves out of their racial ignorance. It is an aspect of their sense of superiority that the white people of America believe they have so little to learn.

The reality of substantial investment to assist Negroes into the twentieth century, adjusting to Negro neighbors and genuine school integration, is still a nightmare for all too many white Americans…These are the deepest causes for contemporary abrasions between the races.”

[stevelee]

What I have not seen (unless you count Dr. Martin’s statement) is support from the “free speech” contingent of alumni for all manner of expression on campus without any consequences.

[Cat Forever]

However, rising antisemitism on college campuses is such an issue that you noted a lack of expressed concern on this thread even though, reportedly, it is not happening at Davidson? Why broaden the discussion? Please explain the connection to the original topic.

The discussion was not broadened. The original topic was about dealing with white racism. Virtually all of the current organized antisemitic hatred is flowing from white students at our universities and from the far left. Interesting that you are throwing stones at the right ... I won't ask for an explanation. I don't know if there have been any manifestations of antisemitism at Davidson or not. And no one here seems to know.

[stevelee]

However, rising antisemitism on college campuses is such an issue that you noted a lack of expressed concern on this thread even though, reportedly, it is not happening at Davidson? Why broaden the discussion? Please explain the connection to the original topic.

The discussion was not broadened. The original topic was about dealing with white racism. Virtually all of the current organized antisemitic hatred is flowing from white students at our universities and from the far left. Interesting that you are throwing stones at the right ... I won't ask for an explanation. I don't know if there have been any manifestations of antisemitism at Davidson or not. And no one here seems to know.

I recognize that absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. But given that some of us here are on the campus one or more times each week, and some of us are friends with current faculty members, it would be a bit unusual that much was going on in some overt way for none of us to have heard of it. I haven’t read a recent Davidsonian issue. That seems like a good place to check.

There seems to be the notion that anything short of 100% approval of everything the Likud party does is tantamount to anti-Semitism. I agree with US efforts at humanitarian aid to the people in Gaza while despising Hamas. Call me what you wish.

[Cat Forever]

Thank you, Steve. I'm glad to hear what you said.