Two unrelated issues: Louisiana College and Everett Hobbs. Louisiana College recently awarded Thomas Howell with the Professor of the Year Award (or whatever it is that they call it). The award is voted on by the student body, a majority of whom seem to think that Howell is the best damn professor they have. It's ashame that the Trustees are religious fundamentalists intent on making everyone conform to their narrow perception of the world. LC's Christian Commitment: "Administrators, faculty, and staff at Louisiana College will be persons who, in addition to other contractual obligations: 1. have received Jesus Christ as their Personal Savior, God, and King and personally affirm that Jesus Christ is fully God and fully Man, the Savior whose sacrificial death is the only means of forgiveness of sin, the King who rules over their lives and is making them righteous through His Spirit and His Word. 2. can articulate their faith in Christ to others, 3. are members of a local Christian church, faithfully worshipping Christ and serving Him through the church..." Then there's a phrase about being Christ-like with your every move and another one about abstaining from alcohol (just like Christ, the guy who turned water into wine). There's a statement about making sure your scholarship isn't "contrary" to their Southern Baptist manifesto. I think you get the idea. LC is now one of the worst colleges to teach at in the country. Professors are discouraged from practicing any lifestyle other than the one prescribed by the school (even when they're off-campus), and they're told what to think and what to teach their students. Why don't they just hand students a copy of the Bible and a copy of this Southern Baptist Mission 2000 manifesto, make them read it, give them a quiz on it after a few weeks, and then confer them with a degree? What's the point of taking a class like Biology or Philosophy or World Religion when professors are told to reduce everything down to Bible-talk? Next story: The funniest thing about that Everett Hobbs story was the C.F. Smith, Jr. quote: "I'm not saying nothing about that. I'm staying out of that. That's Everett," Smith said. "Those councilmen, they're elected," and they "have their say-so." So if he's NOT saying NOTHING about it, does that mean that he IS saying SOMETHING? Well, actually, he is saying something. He's saying that elected councilmen can have their say-so. I was probably wrong last night when I said "What was he thinking?" I don't think anyone gets "set-up" for a front page story. That said, I don't think Ned's going to step down... and I think Hobbs probably knows this... and I think this was a lame political manuever that can only serve to divide people even more... and for that reason, I hope that Mr. Hobbs will reconsider his statement and perhaps issue a retraction to his constituents. As if that could ever happen. If anything, the story proves how power hungry Councilman Hobbs and his cohorts truly are... to disparage a retiring mayor who has served with distinction for twenty years, to make claims on his mental capacity (and I know this isn't exactly breaking news)... but geez, couldn't this guy have a little dignity? One more remark: Yesterday, I went back and reread some of the letters and statements people made toward me after I first posted on Cenla Antics. Man, some of those people were REALLY mean, and I didn't even notice it at the time. I mean, I talked about it. But I never realized the extent of the anger. That said, thank you to WeSawThat, Scarlett, and Civil Sentient for being supportive. We're very fortunate to have smart people engaged in this discussion, and even if we don't all agree on the issues, at least you all have enough respect and integrity not to make things personal. Kudos.

This entry was posted by Blogger, on Friday, April 21, 2006.