Great moments in academia

by Walter Olson on January 3, 2012

Not a parody: A Columbia University course will give students credit for Occupy Wall Street activism [CBS New York]

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{ 9 comments }

1 boblipton 01.03.12 at 10:21 pm

Occupy Columbia University!

Oh, wait, they did that already in the 1960s. Not to mention when Alexander Hamilton was a student there.

Bob

2 David Eggers 01.03.12 at 10:29 pm

This class will probably be these student’s most valuable course. Once they graduate they’ll know exactly where to go to complain about the lack of anthropology job opportunities and their $240,000 of student debt.

3 Richard Nieporent 01.04.12 at 8:29 am

I miss the old anthropology of Margret Mead when she would study the kinship relationships and sex habits of the Trobriand Islanders. At that time anthropology could reasonably claim to be a science. Now, anthropology has become an enclave of left-wing loons. One would hope that at least some research would go into the development of a new course. Otherwise one might believe that the course is just an excuse for spouting their Marxist ideology. Once again my alma mater has given me a reason to not contribute to their annual fund drive.

4 Roy B 01.04.12 at 1:32 pm

Will Mark Rudd be receiving belated credit for his time spent in the admin bldg in 1968?

5 LisaMarie 01.05.12 at 12:47 am

As a prof, I’m really uncomfortable with this. At least signing up for the class is entirely voluntary. However, I do wonder what would happen if I did something like this and while engaged in activity required for course credit, my students ended up getting arrested.

6 Ron Miller 01.05.12 at 2:36 pm

I agree it sounds very silly. But, look, Penn State had a JoPa 101 class. I don’t read too much into a class offering. It is an elective.

7 Bill H 01.05.12 at 3:14 pm

However, I do wonder what would happen if I did something like this and while engaged in activity required for course credit, my students ended up getting arrested

I don’t know, give them a solid B+, perhaps?

8 Ron 01.05.12 at 11:26 pm

@Dave Eggers

Columbia Anthropology majors get elite jobs in “journalism”, “banking” and “development”. Joke’s on you.

9 bfs 01.07.12 at 10:33 am

@Richard
I presume you are joking. There’s more than a bit of evidence that Margaret cooked the book, or that her sources were less than accurate. So writing about one’s preconceived notions and calling it scientific anthropology is more than 80 years old.

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