Parents Dedicate New College Safe Space In Honor Of Daughter Who Felt Weird In Class Once
Posted: July 16, 2015 Filed under: Censorship, Education, Entertainment, Humor | Tags: Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, Dedication, George Washington University, Posttraumatic stress disorder, Rutgers University, Santa Barbara, satire, Student, The New Republic, University of California Leave a comment
Alexis Stigmore had to endure 40 harrowing minutes of class in a distressed state, forced to look at the world through the eyes of a set of people she disagreed with. Now there is a safe space dedicated in her honor.
LYNNFIELD, MA—In an effort to provide sanctuary for Lynnfield College students exposed to perspectives different from their own, a new campus safe space was dedicated Wednesday in honor of Alexis Stigmore, a 2009 graduate who felt kind of weird in class one time.
“When our Alexis felt weird after hearing someone discuss an idea that did not conform to her personally held beliefs, she had no place to turn.”
Addressing students at the dedication ceremony, parents Arnold and Cassie Stigmore noted that while the college had adequate facilities to assist victims of discrimination, abuse, and post-traumatic stress, it had until now offered no comparable safe space for students, like their beloved daughter, who encounter an academic viewpoint that gives them an uncomfortable feeling.
“If unfamiliar thoughts are ever provoked in your mind, or in the mind of someone you know, you can come to this place and feel safe again.”
“When our Alexis felt weird after hearing someone discuss an idea that did not conform to her personally held beliefs, she had no place to turn,” said Arnold Stigmore, standing outside the $2 million space that reportedly features soothing music, neutral-colored walls, oversized floor cushions, fun board games, and a variety of snacks. “God forbid any of you, in your years at this institution, are ever confronted with an opinion you do not share. But if you are, you will have a refuge on this campus.”
“As a parent, I’ll always wish I could have been there for her in that lecture hall, protecting her from those unwelcome concepts.”
“If unfamiliar thoughts are ever provoked in your mind, or in the mind of someone you know, you can come to this place and feel safe again,” he added. Read the rest of this entry »
EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEWS: UCSB Students Shocked, Outraged Over Massacre
Posted: May 24, 2014 Filed under: Breaking News, Crime & Corruption | Tags: Elliot Rodger, Isla Vista, Isla Vista California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara City College, University of California Santa Barbara 1 Comment
ISLA VISTA – Austin Yack reports: The text from UC Santa Barbara sophomore Joselin Hernandez was gut-wrenching: “My friend is dead.”
It came after six people were shot and killed and many others injured Friday night in the UC Santa Barbara college town of Isla Vista, where a 22-year-old man went on a drive-by shooting spree before ending his rampage with a fatal gunshot wound to the head, authorities say.
“As a student, this outrages me because IV is a place that many call home,” Hernandez told The College Fix about the roughly half-square mile coastal college town. “For someone to barge in, not only to intentionally kill but harm those that were simply trying to enjoy their night, is appalling.”
“This man, whoever he was, does not deserve to be talked about,” Hernandez added. “He’s a mass murderer and that’s all I have to say about him.”
Hernandez is one of the many UC Santa Barbara and Santa Barbara City College students who are shocked and angry in the wake of shooting massacre in their community. Read the rest of this entry »
Daniel F. Craviotto: A Doctor’s Declaration of Independence
Posted: April 28, 2014 Filed under: Health and Social Issues, Politics, U.S. News | Tags: American Medical Association, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Electronic health record, Medicaid, Medicaid Services, Medicare, Physician, Santa Barbara 6 CommentsIt’s time to defy health-care mandates issued by bureaucrats not in the healing profession.
Daniel F. Craviotto Jr. writes: In my 23 years as a practicing physician, I’ve learned that the only thing that matters is the doctor-patient relationship. How we interact and treat our patientsis the practice of medicine. I acknowledge that there is a problem with the rising cost of health care, but there is also a problem when the individual physician in the trenches does not have a voice in the debate and is being told what to do and how to do it.
As a group, the nearly 880,000 licensed physicians in the U.S. are, for the most part, well-intentioned. We strive to do our best even while we sometimes contend with unrealistic expectations. The demands are great, and many of our families pay a huge price for our not being around. We do the things we do because it is right and our patients expect us to.
So when do we say damn the mandates and requirements from bureaucrats who are not in the healing profession? When do we stand up and say we are not going to take it any more?
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services dictates that we must use an electronic health record (EHR) or be penalized with lower reimbursements in the future. There are “meaningful use” criteria whereby the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services tells us as physicians what we need to include in the electronic health record or we will not be subsidized the cost of converting to the electronic system and we will be penalized by lower reimbursements. Across the country, doctors waste precious time filling in unnecessary electronic-record fields just to satisfy a regulatory measure. I personally spend two hours a day dictating and documenting electronic health records just so I can be paid and not face a government audit. Is that the best use of time for a highly trained surgical specialist? Read the rest of this entry »
Wired to Haze: Part of our Evolved Psychology?
Posted: November 1, 2013 Filed under: Education, Think Tank | Tags: Bullying, Evolution and Human Behavior, Fraternities and sororities in North America, Gang, Hazing, Initiation, Santa Barbara, University of California Santa Barbara Leave a comment
It happens in military units, street gangs, and athletic teams. In some cultures, the rituals mark the transition from adolescence to adulthood. And in fraternities and sororities, it’s practically a given.
“Hazing exists in radically different cultures around the world, and the ethnographic record is replete with examples of initiation rites that include hazing,” says Aldo Cimino, a lecturer in the department of anthropology at University of California, Santa Barbara.
“It is a practice that cultures continually rediscover and invest themselves in. The primary goal of my research is to understand why,” says Cimino, whose study is published in the journal Evolution and Human Behavior.
Hazing vs. bullying
One hypothesis Cimino is exploring involves evolved psychology. “The human mind may be designed to respond to new group members in a variety of ways, and one of those ways may be something other than a hug,” he says.
