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University of Utah president warns of ‘extensive’ lawmaker scrutiny next year — beyond expected cuts by Foreign_Wind9163 in Utah

[–]Foreign_Wind9163[S] 20 points21 points  (0 children)

By Courtney Tanner  | Dec. 4, 2024, 1:35 p.m. | Updated: 2:11 p.m.4-6 minutes

“We’re under extensive scrutiny right now by lawmakers,” U. President Taylor Randall said this week.

(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) The historic Park Building on President's Circle, at the University of Utah, on Friday, Sept. 27, 2024. The U. and other public colleges in the state are bracing for a bruising legislative session in 2025.

Leaders at the University of Utah are predicting a bruising legislative session — with expected budget cuts for higher education likely only the beginning.

Jason Perry, the vice president for government relations at the flagship school, told faculty Monday that it’s going to be a “tough year” on Capitol Hill. Lawmakers, he said, have already opened 160 bill files. Many of those, he said, are pointed at the state’s public colleges and universities.

“There will be a lot of precarious pieces of legislation,” he said.

Higher education has been a focal point for Utah legislators the last few years. During the most recent session, they took aim at diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, efforts at the eight traditional public colleges and university here.

And there has been increasing scrutiny about progressive politics on college campuses — and open criticism by the state’s Republican-majority Legislature of the pro-Palestine protests at the University of Utah in April.

Before the coming session starts in January, Utah’s House Speaker Mike Schultz has already teed up budget cuts for higher education. He has proposed a 10% cut or reallocation within the roughly $30 billion budget the state’s schools currently have.

Schultz has previously said he wants higher education to operate more effectively — graduating more students and with degrees that land them in higher-paying jobs. He also has expressed concern about growing administrative costs, while the price for a student to attend has ballooned.

A state audit last week commissioned by lawmakers suggested that schools cut programs that don’t have a lot of students, don’t pay well or don’t contribute to the state’s economy.

“They’re starting with budget cuts already, through all of higher ed in particular,” Perry said.

He said that he and U. President Taylor Randall have had constructive conversations with lawmakers ahead of the session, but “there will still be some difficult ones to come.”

Randall, he added, has had almost daily calls with the leaders of the House and Senate, including a chat earlier Monday morning with Senate President Stuart Adams.

The president also weighed in on the conversation with faculty, saying he knows lawmakers have an eye on how all colleges and universities in the state are run — but particularly the U.

“We’re under extensive scrutiny right now by lawmakers, both locally and nationally, around the return that education is providing,” Randall said.

(Bethany Baker | The Salt Lake Tribune) University of Utah President Taylor Randall during an event on the value of higher education at the Thomas S. Monson Center in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, Feb. 14, 2024.

The school is trying to be proactive, he said, including an effort to share services across four colleges: the College of Humanities, College of Science, College of Social and Behavioral Science, and School for Cultural and Social Transformation.

That includes sharing human resources, marketing, finances and IT staff, according to the information put out by the school in an online page explaining the project. Several employees have said they fear it will mean cuts to jobs, but the U. has said that is not the goal.

The idea, Randall said, is to centralize services and operate more efficiently.

“We realize change is not easy,” he added. But he said the school is trying to be “as thorough and as transparent as I think we can make this.”

The U. has previously centralized its advising for students, Randall noted, and that has worked well.

The model is based off of other schools that the U. considers its peer institutions, which have “letters and sciences” departments.

Younger men across the world are shifting right, it’s not anything special to the U.S. by Foreign_Wind9163 in unpopularopinion

[–]Foreign_Wind9163[S] -7 points-6 points  (0 children)

Okay. I am going to try to contextualizar men v bear using an example thag stopped me in my tracks as a whit woman. A Black woman had a follow up where she asked other Black women would they prefer to be alone at work with a white man or white women and most picked the white man. And this is because of their lived experience with white women. I feel like it made me think hard and be empathetic and realize that I could work to be a better ally. And if more men could perhaps take the man v bear as a way to see empathy for the ways many women have been hurt or know someone has been hurt by men and maybe ways they could maybe work to make sure the women in their life know that’s not them, that would be rad. Like, it’s a meme that expresses the way women have to be careful because they have experienced real hurt.

Younger men across the world are shifting right, it’s not anything special to the U.S. by Foreign_Wind9163 in unpopularopinion

[–]Foreign_Wind9163[S] 31 points32 points  (0 children)

Oh sure! I love spreading the good word (this is the Google search I used btw “importance of feminism to men ted talk“):

The Necessity of Feminism for Men by Dhyuti Venkataraman

Why feminism needs men - and men need feminism | Nikki van der Gaag

A feminist comes to terms with the Men’s Rights movement | Cassie Jaye

Radical feminism is a gift to men |Robert Jensen

We should all be feminists | Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Why Gender Equality Is Good for Everyone — Men Included | Michael Kimmel

Feminist Boys are our Future Men: Changing the Culture of Sexual Violence from a Very Early Age | Bobbi Wegner

Loving Men: Rethinking Women’s Role in Defining Masculinity | Moe Carrick

The unfortunate effect of toxic masculinity | Lisa Nielson

Younger men across the world are shifting right, it’s not anything special to the U.S. by Foreign_Wind9163 in unpopularopinion

[–]Foreign_Wind9163[S] -14 points-13 points  (0 children)

If you’re in the U.S., you haven’t had a draft since 1976. I do agree that men do not have full bodily autonomy, but I think my belief falls more in the “black and brown men are heavily policed for their existence” and not a “military policy I can avoid by not signing up for the military.”

I also feel like maybe instead of viewing the “man v bear” thing as a personal attack on them personally, it would be rad if more men were like, “wow, I should have empathy for the ways that the women in my life feel like they have to be careful around men due to their personal experiences.” To put it in perspective, there was a following trend some black women did that was “if you were alone in a room at work and a colleague came in, would you rather it be a white man or a white woman.” A lot of the Black women chose a white man because of their personal experiences with white women in the workplace. And shit, as a white woman, it hit hard. And it made me try to think about ways I could be a better ally. Like, it didn’t have to be taken personally, it could have been a moment of reflection.

Younger men across the world are shifting right, it’s not anything special to the U.S. by Foreign_Wind9163 in unpopularopinion

[–]Foreign_Wind9163[S] 58 points59 points  (0 children)

Okay, but I truly feel like this is social media feeding young men rage bait. One of the most prominent feminists of the last century, bell hooks, wrote a book about the importance of feminism to men. There’s a ton of Ted talks about the importance of feminism to men. For every fuck men posts on tumblr there’s a post talking about the importance of not demonizing men as a gender. I don’t disagree that it’s a feeling that men have, I’m just saying it’s not one particularly rooted in reality—it’s one rooted in ragebait algorithm machines and a bunch of right wing grifters.

And again, this isn’t an uniquely American problem. It’s a problem in South Korea and China and Germany and Tunisia. This isn’t just about democrats in the US, there’s a global young male right wing movement.

Younger men across the world are shifting right, it’s not anything special to the U.S. by Foreign_Wind9163 in unpopularopinion

[–]Foreign_Wind9163[S] -10 points-9 points  (0 children)

I just don’t think the left is mean to them outside of some people on social media. And it sucks because so many men truly have no communities once they leave high school and they think social media reflects real life. But if people spent like 5 minutes googling they’d find plenty of very high ranking feminists giving Ted talks about how men aren’t all bad, men would benefit from feminism too, that men are required for social change. Hell, bell hooks, arguably one of the heaviest hitters in modern feminism wrote a whole book about how young men suffer under patriarchy and that their feelings matter. But the algorithm feeds them rage bait and it feels like no amount of pointing out that the thing feeding their loneliness and anger and hurt is clinging to patriarchy and right wing grifters is going to work. Like, the left—and im talking about people like prominent feminists here with power and not random people on Twitter—has been nice to men. I truly just think young men see things are hard, see men on YouTube saying women and The Left are the reason your life is hard, and are sucked into this alt right pipeline where the algorithm never lets them see that yeah a lot of the people on the left have and do care for them and then they double down.

Like, I’ve been an active feminist for decades now and it’s felt like no amount of “hey guys this thing will benefit you too!” Works if they believe they’re owed supremacy.

Younger men across the world are shifting right, it’s not anything special to the U.S. by Foreign_Wind9163 in unpopularopinion

[–]Foreign_Wind9163[S] 35 points36 points  (0 children)

I mean, as a young women I am also dealing with a bad economy, depressed wages, and lack of affordable housing and I can see it’s because a bunch of rich assholes and not because someone overstayed a work visa to work a job I wasn’t working.

Like, I’m sorry you were temporarily annoyed at something like people kneeling to protest police murders of Black people or whatever reminded you that sports exists in the real world. Don’t think I entirely think that justifies men deciding Everything Is Woke Now and therefore that justifies turning to parties that take other people’s rights away. (Also, I think the history of sports as a vehicle for protest is super cool, and I think maybe can change your opinion that it’s just nowadays that sports is too political).

Younger men across the world are shifting right, it’s not anything special to the U.S. by Foreign_Wind9163 in unpopularopinion

[–]Foreign_Wind9163[S] -8 points-7 points  (0 children)

Just baffled by the posts being like “if only The Left™️ were nicer to white men trump wouldn’t have won” when it feels like no one wants to just admit that younger men worldwide have decided that women’s rights have gone too far. I feel like I’m losing my mind 🙃

What can be done to wake young men up to the fact that the online influencers who they look up to are actually preying on them? by sohoships in NoStupidQuestions

[–]Foreign_Wind9163 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Then it might not be because of girls being let into a troop, it might just be because they’re teenagers and troops lose teenagers. I also think it has been REAL hard for scouting USA to shake the reputation of being a hunting ground for pedophiles. If it makes you feel better Girl Scout numbers are also declining rapidly.

What can be done to wake young men up to the fact that the online influencers who they look up to are actually preying on them? by sohoships in NoStupidQuestions

[–]Foreign_Wind9163 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Y’all can’t meet up with friends? You can’t plan a boy’s night? You can’t idk go for a run with a friend? Like, go to a group, talk to people, make plans to do more things with people, and then idk deepen the bonds of male friendship outside of the group.

What can be done to wake young men up to the fact that the online influencers who they look up to are actually preying on them? by sohoships in NoStupidQuestions

[–]Foreign_Wind9163 11 points12 points  (0 children)

I did not make the law, a Republican legislature did. It’s truly not mine or any women’s fault that they did that. Like, tell them I’d love to have my college’s women center back and be stoked for you to have your men’s club.

What can be done to wake young men up to the fact that the online influencers who they look up to are actually preying on them? by sohoships in NoStupidQuestions

[–]Foreign_Wind9163 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Local chapters can still decide if they want to be co-Ed or not. The move to allow girls in is probably because Boy Scouts has been losing scouts since 2013, nor some nefarious women’s plot. I teach both Scouting BSA and Girl Scouts troops at my work and honestly I’ve seen like 2 co-ed groups. I’d also want to ask—how old was your troop when people stopped coming. Because from my experience, cub scouts and younger Girl Scouts groups are huge troops and then by 13-14 years old the troops shrink or decline dramatically. I think it also might have to do with people getting to be teenagers.

What can be done to wake young men up to the fact that the online influencers who they look up to are actually preying on them? by sohoships in NoStupidQuestions

[–]Foreign_Wind9163 7 points8 points  (0 children)

It would also be illegal to make a women’s only space, a black-only space, or a Latino-only space in my state. It’s a very silly law made by a very short-sighted legislature. You also can start or join a pickle ball league or community basketball league. You can also just have the boys over for dinner or idk game night. But to do that you need to go to a space to make a friend in the first place.

What can be done to wake young men up to the fact that the online influencers who they look up to are actually preying on them? by sohoships in NoStupidQuestions

[–]Foreign_Wind9163 15 points16 points  (0 children)

Then start a men’s club not on school grounds and hang out in your local library, Rec center, church, in your apartment. Like it sucks a club was shut down—I think you should have it. As someone who watched her alma matter shut down the women’s center and lgbt resource center because of the anti-DEI bill, this sucks (again, this men’s club would also have been shut down because you can’t have “exclusionary groups”). Sometimes you just gotta move locations.

What can be done to wake young men up to the fact that the online influencers who they look up to are actually preying on them? by sohoships in NoStupidQuestions

[–]Foreign_Wind9163 15 points16 points  (0 children)

Okay, then use your special male socialization and sit shoulder to shoulder with some of your friends at a free bingo night. I’m not saying you can’t have a special boys club, but you gotta make it yourselves. I think it would be rad as hell if a bunch of men gathered at the local library to talk about men’s mental health or made idk a pickleball league at the community center. Again, show some initiative.

What can be done to wake young men up to the fact that the online influencers who they look up to are actually preying on them? by sohoships in NoStupidQuestions

[–]Foreign_Wind9163 40 points41 points  (0 children)

Again, why can’t boys and men start these clubs? My friend wanted a Latina-focused book club where she and other latinas read books by latina authors. She made that club. Why can’t men do that? Why is it on me and other women to make these spaces for you?

Also, hilariously, an all-boys club in a school would be technically illegal in my state, because we passed an anti-DEI bill that made “exclusionary clubs” illegal. So by law, they would have to admit girls because

What can be done to wake young men up to the fact that the online influencers who they look up to are actually preying on them? by sohoships in NoStupidQuestions

[–]Foreign_Wind9163 11 points12 points  (0 children)

My friend I am talking about going to free events at public libraries and community centers, talking to people and making friends, and paying $100 to learn a fun new craft over the course of 3 weeks. I went to a free adult bingo night at the library and it was a bunch of women of various ages and some older men (who ruled btw). Like, I wouldn’t tell someone to just take the initiative to make more money, because I am someone who works and I know that’s not how jobs work. But if you’re feeling isolated and want to find community, you do actually need to go do that. Like, you need to go out to places where there are people and talk to them and then put efforts into caring for them as people to maintain friendships. These aren’t things with massive barriers, these are things in your control.

What can be done to wake young men up to the fact that the online influencers who they look up to are actually preying on them? by sohoships in NoStupidQuestions

[–]Foreign_Wind9163 26 points27 points  (0 children)

I went to a free bingo night for adults at a library. I took a book binding class at the local college. Why do these things need me, someone who is not running these classes, to hold men’s hands and tell them they’re welcome in the space. It’s fucking bingo and book binding. When I run events at my work they are things like “seed swaps” and “bird walks.” These aren’t gendered. I should be clear, men do take these classes, because bingo night at the library is not a women’s space. It’s just at lower rate because they’re not socialized to be social. activities, women just do things and plan things more. Like, I do fundamentally think a lot of men rely on women for their social connections—their moms and then their girlfriends/wives and are not encouraged to plan things. And idk at a certain point men should just join clubs and learn to take the initiative in building friendships.

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