Eric Stoller's Blog

Life@Lane is a “student moderated blog” at Lane Community College in Eugene, Oregon. I happened to stumble upon the site while checking out some summer classes at LCC. The blog is prominently advertised on the Lane Community College homepage.

I scrolled down through several posts and was intrigued by a post titled “Would The World Be Better With Women As Leaders?” The post basically says that women are emotional and therefore are not capable of being leaders. Jeffrey, the writer of the post and student at Lane, states in a response to a comment that “i don’t think my gender is superior i just don’t think women would be a good world leader.” Unbelievable. How can Lane Community College support this blog? How can Lane Community College stand behind this overtly sexist post/comment?

Here is the initial blurb about the blog via the LCC Marketing and Public Relations Office:

LIFE@LANE, A STUDENT MODERATED BLOG, launched from Lane’s homepage. Topics are generated by Lane’s Student Service Associates. Student blogs are common at four-year institutions. Lane is among the first community colleges to host a student blog. The purpose is to provide a communication tool primarily for current and prospective students and to increase “community” access.

How in the hell does this blog “increase ‘community’ access”? Student blogs are a common method of providing student insights into the student experience at a college/university. Student blogs are supposed to build community. They are not supposed to perpetuate stereotypes. It seems that Jeffrey, the student blogger at Lane, wanted to generate controversy and not build community. Marketing and Public Relations officials at Lane Community College should post an apology on the Life @ Lane blog, fire Jeffrey, and start moderating the commentary of the Life@Lane blog. I highly doubt that this is how they want life at Lane Community College to be represented.

Download Day is Mozilla’s attempt to set a world record for the most software downloads in 24 hours and will occur on Firefox 3′s launch day occurring sometime in June.

via Crouch Consulting (I can’t believe I’m giving Crouch link juice )

If 5 million people download Firefox 3 on Download Day, Mike Morgan will give every Corvallis resident a free iPhone. That’s the completely fabricated rumor…

The Oregon State University Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures is expected to undergo significant budget cuts for Fall 2008. The OSU Foreign Language department courses are extremely popular and classes are usually filled each term. It’s probably easier to get a one-on-one meeting with President Ray than it is to get into a 100 level Spanish class!

Students will find it increasingly difficult to register for language classes, a situation which deeply upsets the whole faculty and staff of this department.

Furthermore, since most language classes are offered in sequence and only once a year, underfunding will make it even harder for students who need to complete foreign language requirements to graduate on time. It also means larger class sizes and less personal attention, factors that are especially detrimental to learning languages.

This situation is all the more absurd since the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures makes money for the university. Under a budgeting model where tuition dollars follow the students, we see that Foreign Languages’ finances are completely in order: We generate more money than we need to operate at current capacity. Instead of which, through the use of an unfair budget model, we find ourselves with a deficit of $250,000 and threatened with job losses.

via the Corvallis Gazette Times.

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It is public knowledge that I am a web stats addict. Web stats are a variable reward system that keep me coming back to check on my referrals, keyword searches, and recent visitor activity. I think Wendy is going to host a web stats intervention soon… Is anyone else hooked on their web stats?

More web stats goodness after the jump.
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An unsuccessful attempt to play DRM’d videos* resulted in some amazing graphic art. Here is a selection of my accidental DRM art:
(click the images to see the full size version on Flickr.)

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I received an email regarding a survey last month from Banana Republic stating that “The Banana Republic is looking for a select group of shoppers to become Insiders!” I clicked on the survey link. I was immediately struck by the fact that the wording of the survey epitomized white privilege. Caucasian is the first choice on the race/ethnicity section. Why is it that so many surveys place “Caucasian” or “White” as the first choice for race? The options on this survey are not in alphabetical order and where in the heck is Native American / Alaska Native? Why can we only select one response? Perhaps the folks at Banana Republic didn’t realize that race and ethnicity are not the same thing and that multiracial people do exist!

I guess it’s clear who Banana Republic considers a “select group of shoppers.” Unfortunately, it’s not a huge surprise given the fact that the Banana Republic’s website features 99.9% white models. The only people of color that I could find on the Banana Republic website were on the BR’s parent company, Gap Inc., “Social Responsibility” page in reference to employees and factory conditions. Yuck!

Could you please tell us which of the following best describes you?
Please select one response.
• Caucasian – this is usually easier for White people to check, especially since it’s the first choice.
• African American
• Hispanic or Latino – yes, the Banana Republic does not know that race and ethnicity are not the same.
• Asian – sorry, the Banana Republic does not recognize “Asian American” as an identity.
• Other – as in the Banana Republic does not recognize your identity as being important enough to recognize.

I really miss our old neighbors. They used to throw parties in their back yard and were extremely friendly. The new neighbors have a loud gas-powered leaf blower and drive a huge Mercedes SUV.. I guess their goal must be to find as many ways as possible to waste gasoline. Anyway, Wendy and I came home the other day and I noticed that the neighbors have a new dog…and it’s in a small doggy prison / cage. It looks so sad. It was 98°F last Friday and the dog looked like it was in a coma. I’m not a fan of having pets in town. I’ve never had a house pet. My childhood was spent on 6 acres in Iowa at my parent’s property and our pets roamed around the entire space. This dog in a cage makes me sad. The cage sits atop a concrete patio. It seems so inhumane…

Oops.

The University of Oregon is steering hundreds of freshmen to off-campus apartments next fall because its dorms lack sufficient room to handle an unexpected surge of enrollment.

The university expects 3,800 freshmen next fall, a 400-student increase, which will exceed dormitory space and force the university to provide more classes and services.

Some parents are anxious, angry and disappointed, and some students have chosen to go elsewhere because of the housing shortage, says Robin Holmes, vice president for student affairs.

It was 88° in the Oregon State University Memorial Union Quad last Thursday but we still had Snow in the Quad! Watch this timelapse video to see the entire day from the early morning to the end of the day. Note the gigantic pile of snow in the center of the quad!

A silent protest against the FDA policy that prohibits gay men from donating blood was held at Oregon State University this week. Several students and faculty members stood in silence in front of the Memorial Union.

It would be wonderful if OSU President Ed Ray would do what San José State University President Don W. Kassing did at the SJSU campus. President Kassing suspended all campus blood drives in protest of the FDA’s homophobic policy citing that the policy violates SJSU’s non-discrimination policy.

Oregon State University’s Institutional Policy on Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action states that OSU as “an institution of higher education and as a community of scholars, is committed to the elimination of discrimination and the provision of equal opportunity in education and employment.”

I hope that part of our institutional commitment to the elimination of discrimination would include prohibiting campus blood drives until the FDA removes their current policy.

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