Mary Schweitzer and the mysterious dinosaur soft tissue » « Cassini must die

We’re #7!

The US News & World Report rankings have come out, and for the 19th year in a row, my university is in the top 10 in its category of public liberal arts colleges. It’s always a weird listing: the top 4 are, as usual, military schools.

Another stand-out feature: look at the tuition costs for all of the schools. We’re half the price of our peers. (Comparisons are a little complicated, because some schools give big breaks for in-state tuition (we don’t), and wealthier schools offset tuition with bigger financial aid packages, and it doesn’t include the fact that Indian students get free tuition at UMM. But we’re a bargain.)

Mary Schweitzer and the mysterious dinosaur soft tissue » « Cassini must die

Comments

  2. says

    Hey PZ, I need to throw something off topic out here if I may… this could cause a bit of confusion in the trans community. If you look at the Declaration for Federal Employment form OF306 (https://www.opm.gov/forms/pdf_fill/of0306.pdf) and notice item 7a you’ll see that it’s currently worded like this:

    Are you a male born after December 31, 1959?

    This is being changed to:

    Were you born a male after December 31, 1959?

    This could be problematic for trans folks… as currently worded trans men are required to register for Selective Service, but this textual change flips that to trans women. This can disqualify people from, for example, federal employment if they’re not registered.

    I’m not comfortable posting this for, well, reasons… but it may be worth consideration…

  4. says

    Chengis Khan:

    Students from India? Native American students? Students from West Indies?

    Indians, as in all us indigenous people who are left in uStates after the genocide. PZ is in Minnesota. Minnesota has a high population of indigenous people, who are, in general, still treated like shit, when people can be bothered to notice we’re still here. PZ is proud of his school for not being part of the massive assholishness towards indigenous peoples.

    And just so you know, a lot of us aren’t all jazzed about that NA label that you all stuck on us.

  5. says

    That’s really nice, PZ! It has to be good to get the warm fuzzies now and then, helps to keep you going, especially through grading.

  8. jrkrideau says

    “As one of the country’s top public liberal arts colleges, Morris provides talented students from all backgrounds access to life-changing experiences,” says Chancellor Michelle Behr. “

    Their first experiences with frostbite and polar bears?

    Congratulations.
    I don’t put much weight on a single year’s rating but 19 years suggest you may be doing something right.

    Best wishes for next year.

  11. ethicsgradient says

    Yay! Equal 7th out of … 8. I think this raises questions about the categories the rankings use.

    Why are another 11 public institutions in the simple ‘National Liberal Arts Colleges’ category (a total of 233 schools, the vast majority private) either “not listed” or “unranked” (and what’s the difference between those 2)? Is being ranked all it takes to be a ‘Top’ public school rather than just a ‘public school’? Is being ranked an acknowledgement they’re likely to be better than the others, or that they cooperated with the report, or what? Why is UMM “National” as opposed to a ‘Regional’ university (University of Minnesota-Duluth is under ‘Regional Unversities Midwest’, for instance)? That ‘national’ qualifier probably explains the military academies turning up there.

  13. says

    #6: Tell me your twitter handle. Jerry Coyne sicced his usual horde of slymies on me, and I had to stop up a little flood of crap today.

  14. says

    #13 PZ

    Tell me your twitter handle.

    @abbeykadabra. I am nothing if not consistent (the ‘c’ version was taken).

    It might not have happened recently: I know there’s been a couple of ‘feminist’ blocklists (Randi Harper’s, eg) that swept up all sorts of people the creator just didn’t like for whatever reason, including swaths of trans women.

    Thanks.

  15. David Dobson says

    Caine @

    And just so you know, a lot of us aren’t all jazzed about that NA label that you all stuck on us.

    But surely if the NA name was stuck on you then so was “Indian”? Both were created and assigned by the outsiders, just at different times and with different intents. I believe I have read you say before that you prefer “Indian”, which seems to indicate acceptance of subjugation rather than fighting it.

  16. call me mark says

    For fuck’s sake.

    Caine: “Call us Indians please”
    The rest of the world: “Ah but what about…”

    I’m guessing this happens a lot?

  17. David Dobson says

    Mark @16: You look most impressive charging in on that mighty steed, you really do, but I will wait to hear from an Indian on the matter if that’s okay with you.

  19. kenbakermn says

    Yeah but, “liberal” arts? That explains all the snowflakes up there, doesn’t it?
    Naw, I’m kidding. Congratulations to UMM. I have a couple of kids at U of M Twin Cities, which also doesn’t entirely suck.

  20. David Dobson says

    Mark, hop back up on Neddy and trot off. I’m sure there must be other brown folk on the internet who need you to speak on their behalf.

  32. David Dobson says

    chigau,

    Are you a recovering or active alcoholic? I can think of no other logical reason for making this leftfield, completely unsubstantiated accusation, other than that in your mind alcohol leads to embarrassing mistakes. You have my sympathies, but please do try to control yourself when communicating publicly.

    What an odd person.

  35. David Dobson says

    chigau: well try reading the rest of the thread before making such ridiculous accusations. Good luck with your recovery.

  36. chigau (違う) says

    Daz
    I can’t run your video.
    And now I’m thinking you might be onto something with the performance surrealism.

  38. says

    Bye, David Dobson.

    For the less trollish types, one thing you might note is the name of a respectable source: Indian Country News. It’s not unusual for a people to be willing to use a generic, common name to unite them in common cause, despite the fact that often if you ask them what you’d like them to be called, around here they’ll say “Dakota” or “Lakota”.

    It’s like how someone like me might call ourselves “white people”, despite there being no real sociological unit that actually corresponds well with that group. I never decided to call myself “a white man”, but that’s the category I’m in.

  39. chigau (違う) says

    God Damn It Golly gee, PZ.
    I was looking forward to a long and informative™ discussion with David Dobson.
    .
    or not
    .
    OKthnx

  40. chigau (違う) says

    also PZ
    David Dobson strikes me as being the kind that thinks themself clever.
    Be on the look-out.
    .
    .
    .

    .
    you already knew that