Protests

The other day I noticed one of those protests by the bookstore. A typical pro-union, anti-administration protest, right? Well, sort of. See, this protest was particularly loud and vehement. But what stood out as I stopped to watch the chanting for a couple of minutes was this: I thought to myself, “Wow, that guy [one of the protest leaders] really looks way too hippie-ish to be a student at this school.” You know the type, especially if like me, you went to undergrad at a small liberal arts school (or even a big state school with a diverse student body, unlike the one here, which is ethnically diverse, but not culturally) which is about as far away culturally as you can get from this institution.

This type of person has that raggedy, crunchy look of an activist. He’s not neat and clean like 98 percent of the student body here. He probably takes public transportation, even in Miami, which would make most people’s lives unbearable. Or if he owns a car, he drives a beat up old Corolla where one window is permanently stuck up or down and the floorboards are so worn you can actually see the street. He rides his bike a lot. He shops at a co-op – probably Wild Oats or a small, depressing independent co-op, although he’ll go to Whole Foods if that’s the only thing he can find. He’s a compassionate type, but he wouldn’t fit in around here. He doesn’t own an iPod or TV and makes sure you know it. He definitely owns a guitar. He won’t set foot in a Starbucks, but he drinks a lot of black tea. I’m not saying he’s a hippie, but he’s definitely a descendant of hippies. So anyway, you never see these types of people on campus.

Turns out I was right. The union support group made up of students brought in outsiders. So of course Shalala weighed in and sent out an all-campus e-mail which contained a really bizarre line:

Paying UNICCO workers to stay off the job is an acceptable practice during a unionization effort. What is off limits, unacceptable, and potentially dangerous is bringing in third-party protestors to disrupt the educational mission of the University and encouraging them to trespass on private property.

Um, dangerous? No, I don’t think so. As I said, these people are incredibly committed to whatever cause of the day they’re working on, even if they were technically ‘trespassing’ on campus, I guess is possible since it’s private property even though it’s open to the public. I don’t think anyone was actually afraid of these people.

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Oh yeah, read Bricklayer's latest. Apparently, a month shy of graduation, he's come to realize that this school is still pretty liberal. Too liberal for his tastes. Go figure.

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This is funny stuff: Law School Timeline, by Barely Legal Blog.