The Board of Regents is visiting campus, and I found this invitation slipped under my office door. (Not from the Regents, obviously.)
This is clearly a dig at a certain regent who made some stupid comments. I’d like to go, except…
- My attendance would contribute nothing to diversity
- Nobody from the Board of Regents will bother to show up
- That’s my birthday! Can’t I find a better way to celebrate it?
My counterarguments would be…
- But it would show that even old white men support diversity
- I care what the students think, not the Board of Regents
- No.
I guess that’s my Thursday evening planned out then.
DanDare says
Photos with many diverse students coming up?
Matt G says
The maximum amount of diversity would be…representative of the population. I guess diversity in Morris goes to eleven.
Pierce R. Butler says
Does the Morris skyline actually feature a windmill and a mushroom cloud?
Rich Woods says
@Pierce #3:
It would if Donald Trump got his way.
shermanj says
Dear PZ, I wish you an early ‘Happy Birthday’. And, remember, you are stealth diversity. Because, since you are not a Xtian Terrorist or Nat’C you a targeted minority in some circles. (If it were in floriduh or texass, I’d suggest you go in drag and distribute some ‘banned books’ just to piss off certain Rtwingnut governors).
Knabb says
@3 Pierce
That mushroom cloud looks suspiciously like a water tower.
kingoftown says
I had to look up what a “Board of Regents” is, I don’t think it’s a term used this side of the Atlantic. Sounds like a weird royalist society.
moarscienceplz says
@#7
It IS a weird royalist society.
Reginald Selkirk says
@3,4,6:
The water tower is considered one of the
10 Must-Sees on the Morris campus.
Reginald Selkirk says
According to Google Images, the Morris Area Chamber of Commerce used to run a photo of the iconic water tower with a rainbow in the backdrop. The photo no longer appears on their site, perhaps it was “too diverse” for the CoC.
christoph says
Happy birthday for Thursday!
chigau (違う) says
Happy Birthday!
birgerjohansson says
Happy too-early birthday! 🌻🌾🌺🌼🏵
🕸🕸🕸 🕸🕷🕷🕷🕷
birgerjohansson says
…and if you think you do not look diverse enough, borrow a klingon outfit from some Star Trek fan students. That bony cranial crest will make you stylish.
Derek Vandivere says
Had a funny chat with my boss this morning about our group of IT architects – we realized that even though I’m a straight white dude, I do actually add to the diversity of it as I’m the only (ex) American!
abb3w says
Since PZ identifies as an atheist (last I heard), would his presence add to the diversity of “religious identities”? Or are atheists that commonplace?
(The quotes are because I consider most uses of the term “identity” in social contexts to be more accurately characterized as “role”. However, I admit that’s a pedantic quibble over semantics which does not seem of great importance in this particular context.)
moonslicer says
I suppose I’m about as diverse as they come, and I’ve never felt the need to be celebrated. In fact, I’m somewhat confused. How exactly do people going about celebrating me? (“Well done, Moonslicer!” “Good on you, Moonslicer!” “We celebrate your diversity!”) I suppose I could go along and find out.
On another note, I went into the library this morning and discovered to my horror that it was children’s story hour. The woman telling the story didn’t look like a drag queen, at least not like any drag queen I’ve ever seen. She looked like your average, ordinary woman. I got out of there in a hurry before I got drafted in to the duty.
DanDare says
@moonslicer its not a celebration for an individual. Its a celebration of adequate diversity in a group.
Tethys says
I don’t think Morris has anything that could be called a skyline, but it does have the typical Big Sky found in the treeless, flat as a pancake, prairie regions of MN. The water tower and windmills are the only things break the sky.
The windmill is owned by UM-Morris, and currently produces approximately 1/2 of the electricity consumed by the campus.
https://wcroc.cfans.umn.edu/research/renewable-energy/wind-over-morris
moonslicer says
@ #18 dandare
Thank you. That was a bit tongue in cheek, you know.
StevoR says
@ ^ moonslicer : i guessed it might be satire but I wasn’t sure.
@ PZ PZ Myers : Happpy birthday, hope you have a great day and many more great days tocome and thankyou for this blog.