Wednesday, July 27th 2005
Everything has a Price
Via Catallarchy, a list of punishments at Jerry Falwell’s Liberty University:
- Improper personal contact (anything beyond hand-holding) - $10 fine
- Unauthorized borrowing (plus financial restitution) - $10 fine
- Attendance at a dance - $25 fine
- Gambling - $25 fine
- Possession and/or use of tobacco - $25 fine
- Attendance at, possession or viewing of, an “R,” “NC-17? or “X”-rated movie - $50 fine
- Entering the space above ceiling tiles - $50 fine
- Participation in an unauthorized petition or demonstration - $50 fine
- Association with those consuming alcohol - $250 fine
- Possession or consumption of alcoholic beverages- $500 fine
- Academic dishonesty - $500 fine
- Immorality - $500 fine
- Abortion - $500 fine
The full list is available at LU’s website.
Hmm, you’d think that an abortion would get you a harsher punishment than boozing it up or cheating on a test. And I guess “Immorality” is their catchall. Don’t get me wrong: I entirely support the right for a private university to create their own rules. But this list is pretty funny. I’d be down thousands of dollars just for my R-rated movie viewing alone.
Patriot Interactive Fun Time! Let’s make a list of Berkeley rules that would be enforced if the school really was the stereotypical leftist place that we like to think it is:
- Being white or Asian - $50 fine
- Drinking non fair-trade coffee - $50 fine
- Failing to use correct spelling of “Womyn” - $50 fine
- Smoking cigarettes instead of pot - $100 fine
- Less than 5 days between showers - $250 fine
- Heterosexual relationships - $250 fine
- Voting Republican - $500 fine
- Writing for the Patriot - Flagellation
- Abortion - $500 prize
Feel free to add your own in the comments. It can be a contest. Winner gets a $50 fine for being competitive.
very funny, I’ll come up with some suggestions later…
Comment by Andy R. — 7/27/2005 @ 5:39 pm
a template for the new USA
awesome
Comment by HB — 7/27/2005 @ 5:57 pm
That’s silly. Everyone knows that such behavior is a consequence of societal pressures and our inability to reach marginalized populations. Instead of fines, we need tax increases, so everyone can share the cost.
Comment by Beetle — 7/27/2005 @ 6:02 pm
HB: Sometimes I wonder if you’re just an act. But you’re amusing, I’ll give you that.
Beetle: How can we reach out to the marginalized population that must resort to exploring the crawlspace above the ceiling tiles because of Bush’s tax cuts?
Comment by patr — 7/27/2005 @ 6:18 pm
Obvious. Ban ceiling tiles.
Comment by Beetle — 7/27/2005 @ 6:54 pm
It saddens me that you wish to mock Christians, but on another note, it seems you’re being somewhat disingenuous here.
Along with fines you also receive reprimands which can result in probation, suspension or expulsion from the university.
Some violations are serious and are also illegal. The university is just administering punishment on its own end.
Here’s why I see this code of conduct as necessary and perfectly reasonable. It prevents infiltration. Either you play by the rules or not. It is a way to check yourself, and give you encouragement to stand up to the challenge that the hostile modern world presents. It preserves the community despite a few bad apples.
(And on a side note, it would also be a way to prove yourself and others. Sometimes it’s nice to really know. Ex: that corporate crony that you regularly worship here, who spent his college years breaking most if not all those rules. Well nothing has changed, has it? He may dance around with faith-based initiatives, but when it comes to the welfare of our people or telling us the truth about WMB or Karl Rove the Bible is out of the window.)
Comment by HB — 7/27/2005 @ 7:43 pm
Although some of the rules enforced by the Falwell university are uncommon I applaud their effort to not only educate people but create good Christians.
Comment by Yuriy — 7/27/2005 @ 8:21 pm
Morality through imposed fines. I dunno how well that model has worked in other situations.
Comment by Beetle — 7/27/2005 @ 8:51 pm
I’m actually Catholic. I probably wouldn’t partake in 90% of the things that my ideal society would allow. But that’s just me. Live and let live. What everyone else does is none of our business.
Jerry Falwell, on the other hand, represents the far right that would use the power of government to impose a certain morality on the entire country. People complain about Bush, but Falwell is the real deal.
He can enforce whatever set of rules he wants at his private institution. In fact, more power to him. The great thing about voluntary associations is that you get to choose a community that best fits your own beliefs. But let’s not forget that his college is a “template for the new USA” as you so proudly acknowledge, HB. You might enjoy a such a restricted society, but I prefer freedom.
Comment by patr — 7/27/2005 @ 9:45 pm
once again, Bettle, this post makes it seems like fines are the main thing here. 30 reprimands will land you in serious trouble with the university (an institution with a certain purpose). those same offenses have a 500 dollar fine on top, but that’s minor with the threat of being kicked out of college. in addition, if you do accumulate many of those points, well, than maybe a Christian University is not for you anyway.
Comment by HB — 7/27/2005 @ 10:43 pm
well either something is wrong or it’s not. lying that causes 100,000 killed, falls under what? but than again it’s not of our business….live and let live.
oh wait
Comment by HB — 7/27/2005 @ 10:53 pm
You’re essentially making Pat’s point for him, HB. When we decide to NOT live and let live, the corpses pile up, even if we’re doing it for a “good cause.”
And I was responding to Yuriy’s claim that these fines would “create good Christians.”
Comment by Beetle — 7/27/2005 @ 11:11 pm
Pat claimed that what everyone else does is not of his business. Fine. A libertarian viewpoint. Yet he also mentions “live and let live”….
The american people were lied to and now 100,000 are dead (1800 american soldiers), millions are forced to drink sewage water and face the reality that the country is collapsing into a civil war. (not to mention the financial cost, our national reputation, so on)
Now, lying is wrong. And it is very much our business that it happened. Yet sometimes I see Bush&Co defended here. Letting it go…a pretty deadly slap on the wrist.
Well I don’t think we should just let that slide.
Comment by HB — 7/27/2005 @ 11:36 pm
Foreign policy is a very complicated thing. We should separate it from the comparatively easy decisions that we can make regarding social and economic policy. When it comes to the world around us, there’s always going to be bloodshed. Whether it be instigated by us or otherwise. Whatever your position is, your hands aren’t going to be completely clean. Support an interventionist policy, and you’re going to lose soldiers and innocent civilians on the off chance that things might get better. Turn your back away from the injustices of the world, and millions get lost to genocide and oppression. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.
If everyone lived and let live, that would be ideal. Global libertarian paradise. No more dictatorships, no more ethnic cleansing. No more injustice. We’re not there yet; maybe it’s a pipedream. But it should be a goal. We can start by having a libertarian society here at home.
Anyway, I guess all comment threads here eventually come back to the issue of foreign policy…
Comment by patr — 7/28/2005 @ 12:25 am
I’d also like to say that “live and let live” does not mean we can allow murderers to walk the streets or let genocidal dictatorships stay in power. It means that if you’re not hurting anyone (but your self possibly), then we won’t hurt you. So many problems could be solved if we just lived by this principle.
Comment by patr — 7/28/2005 @ 12:34 am