UC Santa Barbara seems to be reeling from two back-to-back incidents, the assault charges against Professor Mireille Miller-Young and the Isla Vista riot last weekend. It sees that as to both incidents, many in the campus community have taken a defensive posture. Both have been blamed on "outsiders".
I am linking two pieces in the campus paper, Daily Nexus that illustrate my point. The first is a (profanity-laced) letter to the editor regarding the riot that seeks to shift the blame onto the police and "outsiders". The second is an op-ed on the Miller-Young episode that shows that someone up there is thinking clearly. Naturally, I have added my own comment to both.
http://dailynexus.com/2014-04-10/deltopia-2014-not-so-black-and-white-after-all/comment-page-1/#comment-301812
http://dailynexus.com/2014-04-10/free-speech-is-either-free-or-its-not/
As I said in my comment to the first pece, I cannot imagine a scene like the Isla Vista riot taking palce at UC Irvine, where I teach. That is not to say UCI is perfect-far from it. There have been a few protests that have gotten out of hand, but nothing like Santa Barbara. Keep in mind that UCI features the only on-campus pub in the UC system, The Anthill Pub, and we don't have those problems.
Somebody needs to get a handle on what is happening at UCSB. From what little I have seen, I don't expect the current chancellor or vice chancellor to accomplish that.
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