Tuesday, November 23, 2004

Stupid SUV tricks at Pomona 

Lost in my shuffle of news over the last few days was this gem from Alex Tabarrok.
SUVS at adjacent Pomona college were painted with anti-SUV messages like "My SUV wastes 33% more gas than a car" and "Is your image a good reason for people to die." (The paint is apparently washable). When the offending students were caught they had a surprising defense: their vandalism was part of an approved class project!
Alex refers to Apollo of Right Reason, who has more information, (and is from mighty Upland, one of my former addresses). Apollo uncovers the mealy-mouthed academic memos explaining how this became an "inadvertently" approved class project.
But we�re to believe that Prof. Huoy just didn�t notice it when students proposed vandalism as a class project? This wouldn�t rise to the level of criminal negligence, but it certainly is academic negligence. Either she approved, without reading, every proposal that came in front of her, or she approved this one without reading it. But at least she has "taken steps to prevent this grave error from happening again." One can safely presume, I believe, that these "steps" can be filed under "Actually Doing Her Job."
Apollo also opines on some motives for why the project's approval might not have been "inadvertent".

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