Wednesday, October 12, 2005

UVSC leans left compared to Utah County?

The Trib reports that UVSC is more well known and 3/4 of Utah County residents think UVSC is becoming more liberal. No! Realy? I would guess that most organizations, especially any affiliated with higher education (maybe except BYU, but only maybe) lean left of Utah County. The other exception would be Bob Jones University.

55% of the respondants said that Michael Moore's appearance hurt the school's standing in the community. I agree with that, but I am saddened by it. I thought Moore's appearance was a brilliant idea. It got the students actively debating a political topic. With current voter apathy levels, anything (which is moral and ethical) that gets students (or alumni) talking about politics with passion is a great idea. I did watch some of his talk on TV. It was disorganized and rambly.

The president of the Faculty Senate at UVSC says:

My perception of the faculty is that we are not liberal folk. There are some, but most at this institution are very representative of the community.

I know a few faculty at UVSC and I would agree with her and I would add that UVSC is a good school now and it is only getting better.

Laura Hamblin may well be one of those "liberal folk" at UVSC. You may recall that her son Blake Donner died in a tragic caving accident on August 18. Hamblin tells the Trib:

I love the idea that Blake came out of my body when his life began and that part of him is going back into my body [as a tatoo made from his ashes] with his death, I do feel closer. And I put it on my left ankle so I would always remember to choose the left.

Choose the left? What's that supposed to mean? Choose the right is a common phrase in LDS parlance. Dr. Hamblin has most of her degrees from BYU, you'd have to assume that she's familiar with the culture. Putting in a few "liberal folk" into the conservative confines of Utah County isn't such a bad thing.

Just to bring this thing full circle, she has a few poems in an anthology I read in my Mormon Literature Class back in 1989 at BYU. I don't remember the poems, but now I am curious and I'll go look them up to see what she has to say.

1 comment:

Ken said...

I have a report in my blog about being a panelist on last nights Rocky Anderson "freedom forum" check it out!