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University Presidents Flunk Out: What six-syllable word describes the testimony of Claudine Gay and Liz Magill?
Wall Street Journal ^ | December 13, 2023 | Daniel Henninger

Posted on 12/15/2023 9:57:22 AM PST by billorites

It may be no coincidence that colleges are abandoning SATs at the same time three university presidents were flunking questions in public about genocide. After receiving Fs for insisting that the answer to any direct question is “It depends on the context,” University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill lost her job and Harvard’s board of governors retained Claudine Gay with a limp vote of confidence—“she is the right leader to help our community heal.” Uh-huh.

This may be the moment to bring back vocabulary tests.

Question: What six-syllable word describes the three university presidents who testified before Congress?

Answer: Pusillanimity.

Next: Name as many synonyms as you can for “pusillanimity.”

Answer, by way of the Merriam-Webster dictionary (remember those?): Cowardice, cravenness, gutlessness, spinelessness and—my favorite—poltroonery.

In those plain words is written the history of academia’s plummet the past 50 years from respectability to antisemitic riots.

First came the speech codes. No, those came second. What began the long downhill roll in the 1970s was grade inflation. Students whose work deserved a C demanded an A or B. Professors who resisted this threat to standards gave up.

That was an early inkling that traditional college norms could be pushed around and politicized. Speech codes emerged at many schools, not least Harvard, arguing that certain words were—another new vocabulary addition—“hurtful.”

After establishing that words alone could bring reprimand by the university, the speech coders expanded the prohibitions to include something new called microaggressions, or inadvertent slights. Microaggressions had a fraternal twin, trigger warnings, which required profs to warn students that a text or even a thought might distress them.

It sounds like a joke now, but we know it was no joke. This was the moment when the adults in the room—presumably the universities’ presidents—should have intervened to protect free speech...

(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events
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1 posted on 12/15/2023 9:57:22 AM PST by billorites
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To: billorites

Antidisestablishmentarianism. Am I close?


2 posted on 12/15/2023 10:01:12 AM PST by Libloather (Why do climate change hoax deniers live in mansions on the beach?)
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To: billorites

Hold your hand on front of your face. Now call it the worst names you can image. What harm befell your hand? Nothing. Words have no power unless you give power to them.


3 posted on 12/15/2023 10:02:19 AM PST by Seruzawa ("The Political left is the Garden of Eden of incompetence" - Marx the Smarter (Groucho))
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To: billorites

Interesting. A moderately difficult word to pronounce. Probably why it is truncated to a much more commonly used expression with the same meaning.


4 posted on 12/15/2023 10:05:43 AM PST by sjmjax
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To: Seruzawa

Not sure that is the best analogy. In this case, if I give power to those harmful words I spewed at my hand, then harm will fall upon it?
Maybe the simple “sticks and stones” mantra is the easiest.
I like your tagline. Groucho was always my favorite.


5 posted on 12/15/2023 10:09:55 AM PST by GMThrust
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To: Seruzawa
But, but, but...

It's not the words themselves, but the ideas described or associated with those words. For example, a number of people will be offended if you use "crude words" to describe sexual activities, sexual elements, or body parts associated with sexual activities. Black people take severe exception to non-black people (not just "whites") using the slang word for "Negros". (And even that word will cause Blacks to react strongly nowadays.)

Firesign Theater had a song that put a number of so-called "hateful" words into a verse, with the end of the song being, "That's America, buddy!" George Carlin had a monologue, "seven words you can't use on radio or TV."

"Sticks and stone will break my bones, but words will never hurt me" -- that's very true.

6 posted on 12/15/2023 10:15:12 AM PST by asinclair (What doesn't kill you makes you stronger)
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To: billorites

I guess ‘pusillanimity’ works; but in the context of your question I think I would say ‘pusillanimous’ instead...


7 posted on 12/15/2023 10:17:49 AM PST by Jamestown1630 ("A Republic, if you can keep it.")
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To: All

Contact Harvard
Call (617) 495-1000

Or write to:
Harvard University
Massachusetts Hall
Cambrige, MA 02138


thepostmillenial.com

Edited

It has been revealed by Christopher Rufo and Chris Brunet that “diversity hire”.......
Harvard president Claudine Gay...... plagiarized sections of her PhD dissertation.

These revelations come after Gay testified before Congress and defended antisemitism on campus.

A contretemps ensued on Capitol Hill when Gay’s fellow Ivy Leaguer, U of Penn’s, Elizabeth Magill, intimated genocide of Jews might be allowable, “depending on the context.”

Magill was later relieved of her job.

Earlier, Gay had unequivocally condemned so-called “misgendering” and “failure to use preferred pronouns.”

Gay’s dissertation in defense of her doctoral degree “Taking Charge: Black Electoral Success and the Redefinition of American Policies,” published in 1997, “contains at least three problematic patterns of usage and citation.”

In one egregious example, Rufo and Brunet found that Gay’s doctoral dissertation l
ifted “an entire paragraph nearly verbatim” from a previously published paper on race.

The plagiarized paper was authored by Lawrence Bobo and Franklin Gilliam entitled “Race, Sociopolitical Participation, and Black Empowerment.”


8 posted on 12/15/2023 10:18:02 AM PST by Liz (Women have tremendous power — their femininity, because men can't do without it. Sidney Sheldon)
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To: billorites

SupercalifragilisticexpealidociouslyRotten. Am I close ?


9 posted on 12/15/2023 10:21:26 AM PST by faithhopecharity (“Politicians are not born. They're excreted.” Marcus Tillius Cicero (106 to 43 BCE))
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To: Liz

“Harvard president Claudine Gay”

Judging from looks, that was originally Claudius Gay.


10 posted on 12/15/2023 10:22:50 AM PST by odawg
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To: GMThrust

It might. People can make themselves sick. They can will themselves to die. Mind is superior to matter. The materialists are completely full of shyt.


11 posted on 12/15/2023 10:27:22 AM PST by Seruzawa ("The Political left is the Garden of Eden of incompetence" - Marx the Smarter (Groucho))
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To: asinclair

If you say the same words to many people some will get upset, some will get angry. And some will not care at all. It is the individual’s decision about it that makes the difference. Low scale people are more affected by words. But the words are still just words. They are a window to the soul of the speaker.


12 posted on 12/15/2023 10:34:50 AM PST by Seruzawa ("The Political left is the Garden of Eden of incompetence" - Marx the Smarter (Groucho))
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To: billorites

Pusillanimous poltroon


13 posted on 12/15/2023 10:38:19 AM PST by bunkerhill7 (Don't shoot until you see the whites of their lies)
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To: odawg

Hmmmmm......possible.......very possible.


14 posted on 12/15/2023 10:41:33 AM PST by Liz (Women have tremendous power — their femininity, because men can't do without it. Sidney Sheldon)
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To: Seruzawa

Stand up in front of a crowd and start ranting that a certain group of people is responsible for all the evils in the world. Do this repeatedly.

What harm would befall the group of people so targeted?


15 posted on 12/15/2023 10:44:01 AM PST by NorthMountain (... the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed)
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To: billorites; lightman

Harvard should not only fire Claudine Gay, but they should lift her PhD degree for plagiarism!!!!

I have a very hard-won PhD in science from Harvard. So I am offended by Gay’s completely undeserved degree and presidency, as well as by her extremely poor performance as dean and president!!!!


16 posted on 12/15/2023 10:55:31 AM PST by Honorary Serb (Kosovo is Serbia! Free Srpska! Abolish ICTY!)
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To: billorites

Hmm, “perjury” only has 3 syllables.


17 posted on 12/15/2023 10:56:50 AM PST by Boogieman
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To: NorthMountain

Stand up in front of a crowd and start ranting that a certain group of people is responsible for all the evils in the world. Do this repeatedly.

What harm would befall the group of people so targeted?

Careful, that’s Jesse Jackson and Al Sharptons gig...


18 posted on 12/15/2023 11:04:19 AM PST by eyeamok
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To: billorites

“my favorite—poltroonery”

My newly adopted word!


19 posted on 12/15/2023 11:18:41 AM PST by Macoozie (Handcuffs and Orange Jumpsuits)
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To: billorites
Also mentioned in the piece: “Poltroonery”

That’s a gem.

20 posted on 12/15/2023 11:22:47 AM PST by Sicon ("All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others." - G. Orwell>)
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