Arkansas Oil Spill: “I Just Feel So Helpless”
This article was written by a fellow graduate of my alma mater, Hendrix College, and contains pictures taken by a Hendrix professor. Hendrix is 10.1 miles from the spill.
“I just feel so helpless. We had a forum last week at school and people talked about what is going on but it’s not like I can go and clean it up. I feel like we just sit around the cafeteria and talk about it and how helpless we feel. I feel so helpless.”
She is one of my best friends, the kind of person who I’d fly across the country for in a flash. She is a senior at Hendrix College in Conway, Ark. She is about to graduate with a degree in biology and environmental science, she has a 4.0, and she lives 10.1 miles away from the Exxon Pegasus tar sands spill.
“I know honey,” I say. “I guess it is just important to make sure you stay informed about what is happening. It’s really close to you, lady.”
Over the phone 1,800 miles away I don’t say what I’m thinking. I don’t want to scare her. What I don’t say to her is,Be careful. You are really close to all this.What I don’t say is that this spill could change the course of her life and the lives of thousands of other people living in the area. I don’t say this because as a culture we don’t say these things. Instead we say, I know honey. We say it will be OK. We repeat this over and over; it is the wish we hope with repetition will become true.
Read the rest by clicking the bolded text above. This picture above the southern cove of Lake Conway—the lake Exxon assures Arkansas citizens contains no oil.
(via buxombibliophile)
Hendrix Traditions
Item 01544: Male students streaking through the Brick Pit, March 1974
Churchill was the best. Plus he taught me the phrase “broken out in brains.”
Faculty Spotlight
Item 00890
Dr. John Churchill, a former Rhodes Scholar, began teaching Philosophy in 1977. When Dean of Students Carl Wartenburg resigned, Dr John Churchill assumed the position from 1983-1984. Dr. John Churchill is currently on leave from Hendrix College and is CEO of the Phi Beta Kappa Society.
Surprising considering it is located in central Arkansas, which is arguably the buckle of the Bible Belt; not surprising because I know the atmosphere on campus.
See the girl on the left? That’s Ashlie, a total BAMF from my alma mater, Hendrix College. If you click through, you’ll also see “Compliance,” her OTHER film at Sundance.
“Here’s a list of some of stand outs from the 2012 Sundance Film Festival.”
True story: One time, I won a grade dispute against Tim Cloyd when he “taught” a class (read: showed up maybe four times total; graded papers with absolutely no idea what else had happened in the room). A few weeks later, after everything was resolved, I got a slip of paper in my mailbox: a print out of the email I sent him originally, explaining my complaint— with every single typo circled in red ink, and not a word of explanation. I assume the implied subtext was a Nelson Muntz-style “HA ha!”
You know what my main interaction was with John Churchill, who Cloyd replaced? An honors student breakfast where he encouraged us to apply for fellowships like the Fulbright.
Guess which one I remember fondly.
(also maybe cranky alum is cranky, but wtf on his insistence that Hendrix needs a football team.)
That links to an article about the increase in salary seen by a number of private college presidents. Prominently featured in this article is Hendrix College’s own Timothy Cloyd.
In 2009, Cloyd made over $1,000,000. His salary was 10.1 times higher than the average Hendrix professor’s, and his salary alone constituted 1.6% of total college expenditures.
There are more than a couple reasons I’m pissed about this:
- He doesn’t teach.
- He doesn’t listen to student concerns (particularly concerning the football team he’s creating for the fall of 2013).
- Hendrix desperately needs more student housing. He hasn’t done anything about it.
- Everyone I have spoken with about him agrees that he is essentially useless. I’m not necessarily saying that everyone is of that opinion, but a lot of people on campus certainly are.
He is literally the 1%.
UGH.
I think it’s right that this news is raising a lot of eyebrows. It seems unconscionable to me that Hendrix is such an outlier when it comes to compensation of our president. However, I think we should be thoughtful when responding to this news. I’m certainly not about to join up in the J. Timothy Cloyd fan club, but I think that some of what Gus said above is not wholly reflective of the entire situation. Some things are nit-picky - Cloyd actually does teach occasionally, although I’ve never heard particularly good things about his teaching. On a more substantive note, I would agree that the he hadn’t done anything about the housing issue if it weren’t for the fact that the College has significantly expanded its apartment living options during his presidency and that he and the College are actively considering new housing options. And I’m not sure where this notion of him being “useless” comes from - he may have a lot of flaws, but no one will disagree that he is a tremendously successful fundraiser and has done a lot for the school in terms of long-term strategic planning (although, as in the case of football, the strategies he’s lead the school in may be controversial).
There are real critiques to be made of this news and I’m confident that Hendrix students are smart and articulate enough to make them. But here’s my real question: if we’re all as outraged as we say we are on facebook, what are we going to do about it?
I think what upsets me most is the discrepancy between president and professor salaries.
(via buxombibliophile)
This comment made me laugh for like five minutes:
“One thing about living in Conway I never could stomach. All the damn werewolves.”
Only at Hendrix. I mean, seriously.
He ruined someone’s clothes, y’all. What a dick move.
(via buxombibliophile)
