Stripped Down Education, by Whitney Farmer – Un Pop Culture @MDWorld

April 5, 2012 Whitney Farmer 6 Comments

Two things happened on the same day. At Santa Monica Community College, students were pepper sprayed while protesting a new fee structure that would allow premium pricing for required classes. At $200 per unit, this structure would allow a college education to be available to the wealthy – who haven’t had difficulties getting access yet – while supposedly helping address the budget shortfall that has hit public colleges and universities in California.

The cause of the protest was that the students were denied access to the public forum because it was intentionally booked into a tiny venue that didn’t have sufficient capacity rather than into a larger space that would have accommodated those with dissenting opinions. They had requested a venue change which was denied. Not certain exactly what occurred outside the door of the intimate setting where power brokers were making the deal to establish a new nonprofit that would receive the windfall of funds that the new tiered fee structure were anticipated to create.

Odds are that the students outside the door in the spill-over room where they were invited to watch the proceedings at a distance didn’t have faith that the funds would reach anyone else and wouldn’t create opportunity for the less privileged that the community college system in California was established to serve.  The students probably got vocal. The pepper spray might have been used wrongly, or the students might have gotten involved in a shoving match that was a few levels below a mosh pit. Shame on them if this was the case. But in either scenario, they are now facing the manifestation of a Supreme Court decision that was handed down on the same day.

In a 5 to 4 decision, the highest court in the land declared that law enforcement has the authority to subject citizens to strip searches for any cause without suspicion of contraband. Broken tail lights, texting while driving, unpaid parking tickets, charges which are falsely assigned and then later dropped such as lawful political dissent…

The reasoning that was given by the supporting justices had a familiar ring to it.

“…people detained for minor offenses can turn out to be the most dangerous and devious of criminals”, noted Justice Kennedy in his statement for the majority. “There is substantial interest in preventing any new inmate…for putting all who live or work in these institutions at even greater risk…”

Where has this party line been heard before…? Hmmm…oh yeah…I remember:

“…there were drugs. Pay attention!…We secure the people. We don’t use violence,” explained Gem Ismail Etman, spokesman for the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces of Egypt after being accused of using strip searches and virginity tests on detained women as an intimidation technique.

To the students in Santa Monica and in a college town near you, to Black men from sea to shining sea, to women in Egypt and in Houston, make sure that you pay your parking tickets and don’t jaywalk.

But just to be certain, make sure you always have on nice underwear. Just like Momma told you, you never know when someone is going to see ‘em.

Quote of the Blog, from Oscar Wilde: “A dreamer is one who can only find his way by moonlight, and his punishment is that he sees dawn before the rest of the world.”

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Photo courtesy of  KCAL 9.