Via California Patriot Blog, we find the list of "Reprimands and Consquences" at Liberty University. Liberty University is Jerry Falwell's institute of higher learning. Every school has conduct codes, but Liberty University's are stranger than most (edited to take out the boring ones):
$10 Fine:
Disturbance/non-participation during Convocation.
Dress/hair code violation: male or female.
Improper personal contact (anything beyond hand-holding). [Getting to third base will cost you plenty. - ed.]
Unauthorized borrowing (plus financial restitution).
Outside residence hall after curfew.
$25 Fine:
Entering entryway of opposite sex on campus or allowing the same.
Gambling. [It was OK for Bill Bennett? - ed.]
Improper social behavior. [Vague? - ed.]
Possession and/or use of tobacco.
$50 Fine:
Attendance at, possession or viewing of, an "R," "NC-17" or "X"-rated movie. [No one at Liberty has seen "Blazing Saddles". - ed.]
Entering the residence hallway of the opposite sex or allowing the same.
Entering the space above ceiling tiles. [This is worse than gambling or smoking? - ed.]
Participation in an unauthorized petition or demonstration. [There goes freedom of speech! - ed.]
Possession and/or viewing of sexually explicit material. [Does that include biology textbooks? - ed.]
Students of the opposite sex visiting alone at an off-campus residence. [Yes, you are fined if the other sex visits you in your private residence. - ed.]
$250 Fine:
Association with those consuming alcohol.
Commission of a misdemeanor.
Entering a residence hall apartment or quad of the opposite sex or allowing the same.
Entering bedroom of the opposite sex on/off campus or allowing the same.
Failure to properly identify oneself. [?? - ed.]
Racial harassment.
Sexual harassment (i.e., unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors or other conduct or comments of a sexual nature). [Flirting is right out, and expensive. Must make dating tough. - ed.]
Sexual misconduct and/or any state of undress. [Must make a "shirts vs. skins" football game hard. Maybe they do "bowties vs. ties"? - ed.]
$500 Fine:
Abortion. [I thought life was priceless? - ed.]
Academic dishonesty. [Morally equivalent to abortion? - ed.]
Assault/sexual assault (minimum two semesters out).
Commission/conviction of any felony. [Don't get caught shredding subpoenaed documents on your internship. - ed.]
Failure of three Christian/Community Services without reconciliation. [?? - ed.]
Illegal drugs-association/possession, use/distribution (minimum two semesters out).
Immorality. [Seems vague. - ed.]
Involvement with witchcraft, séances or other satanic or demonic activity. [No Ozzy! - ed.]
Non-participation/disruption/non-compliance (possible removal/exclusion from campus). [Must. Go. To. Church. - ed.]
Possession or consumption of alcoholic beverages. [Note: 20 times worse than smoking or gambling. - ed.]
Refusal to submit to an Alco-Sensor test and/or drug test. [They keep Breathalyzers around? - ed.]
Spending the night with a person of the opposite sex. [You saw this coming. - ed.]
Stealing or possession of stolen property (plus financial restitution; minimum two semesters out).
Two or more individuals of the opposite sex together in motel room without proper permission.
Unauthorized possession/use of weapons. [Note: not "possesion of weapon", but "Unauthorized possesion of weapon." Wouldn't want to violate anyone Second Amendment rights, now. - ed.]
For the record, if you pick up someone (let's assume opposite sex here) for a date in their dorm room, take them out for a nice dinner (and have a glass of wine), then to a real (read: R-Rated) movie, and eventually, being 19 or so, find yourself with them in a motel room with the Kama Sutra (and using it), you'd owe: four "improper personal contacts" (one for each base, $40 total), a "curfew violation ($10), opposite sex entryway violation ($25), probably an "improper social behavior" charge (a date; $25), watched an "R" movie ($50), opposite sex hallway violation ($50), out of the residence hall overnight violation ($50), viewed sexual material violation ($50), alone with opposite sex off-campus violation ($50), association with those consuming alcohol (your date: $250), opposite sex apartment violation (you picked them up: $250), there is probably some sort of immorality violation in the entire night (if you do things right: $500), you've consumed alcohol ($500), you've spent the night with someone of the opposite sex ($500), and finally you've been in a motel room with someone of the opposite sex without permission ($500).
Total cost: $2800 (plus the motel room, contraceptives - don't want to pay the abortion fine, movie, food, wine).
I can't think of anything else to say.
Posted by baltar at August 6, 2005 05:29 PM | TrackBack | Posted to CultureBeautiful! My sides hurt from laughing at your post.
"Spending the night with a person of the opposite sex. [You saw this coming. - ed.]" Does this mean a gay orgy is OK?
"Abortion. [I thought life was priceless? - ed.]" But not impregnating a woman and/or participating in the decision? This is a man taking the lead kind of place isn't it? No woman could make such a decision by herself!
"Failure of three Christian/Community Services without reconciliation. [?? - ed.]" I think your confusion would evaporate if you used a more descriptive synonym for reconciliation: re-education. Offend the party, unlearn counterrevolutionary thinking and all that.
On a more serious note, however, we should not forget that the people who are subject to these fines are adults. Yes, they have committed - or been forced by their parents - to these rules, but this freaks me out. Liberty University my @ss (uh-oh...is there a fine for cussin'? double for ladies?)
Posted by: binky at August 6, 2005 06:02 PM | PERMALINKBinky,
As you say, these are adults, and at the point they are adults they cannot be forced by their parents to commit to these rules.
Baltar,
Have you thought that maybe this would encourage students to skip the first three bases and slide straight into home? It would be a lot cheaper...
. . . seeing her father's face when she tells him she got knocked up at Liberty University: priceless
too funny.
oh, and is it just me, or does the whole "Entering entryway of opposite sex" thing sound considerably more lewd than some of the more expensive violations? maybe that encompasses Morris's "sliding into home?"
Posted by: joshua at August 7, 2005 02:37 PM | PERMALINK"slide straight into home"
From the female perspective, without attention to the first three bases there isn't going to be much "sliding" unless a large bucket of Astroglide is added to the tab.
Posted by: binky at August 7, 2005 02:41 PM | PERMALINKBinky,
Is that why I don't have more second dates?
. . . after all, chicks dig reading comprehension.
Posted by: joshua at August 9, 2005 09:32 AM | PERMALINK????
Many of these students are minors, some in their mid-teens, taking University classes in High School Honors programs.
-You got one thing right, these are 'consenting' individuals (they gave their SIGNED 'consent' when they agreed to the rules). This is still a free country, isn't it? People do still have the right to agree to follow rules?
OH -I forgot; in YOUR world, that right only extends to Aborticide, the teen drug and alcohol problem, contributing to double-digit STD statistics, divorce rate, drop-out and percentage of teens falling into the 'at-risk' category.
How ignorant of a University to want to assure the safety and quality of life of its RESIDENT population (you know, the kids the parents entrust to them?) Charging fines for behaviors that could compromise them in any number of ways? What are they thinking?
What a bunch of responsible old fogies; how DARE they use their constitutional rights to preserve the atmosphere of THEIR campus and facilities.
Posted by: Doug at September 15, 2008 04:36 PM | PERMALINKSeveral points for Doug:
1. This is a three-year old thread. How did you find it?
2. You assert these are High School students taking college classes. I don't think that point is correct (the code of conduct seems to be for all students; no mention is made of different classes of students).
3. I never said the school didn't have the right to make any set of rules they wanted. The right of assembly is guaranteed very early in the Bill of Rights; the school clearly has the right to make these rules.I ridiculed the set of rules, not the right of the school to make them. (I would also challenge the school's eligibility to accept Federal student grants, but we're onto different rights now.)
4. We have no data on whether the abortion rate, drug usage rate, STD rate, divorce rate, drop-out rate, or "at risk" rate is different for students from Falwell's school compared to other schools. You assert that Liberty U will be lower. Assertions are not evidence.
5. Even assuming your assertions are correct, that doesn't really mean anything. There is a problem of "sample bias" here; students who would go to Liberty U will likely be less likely to do those things than students from more mainstream families. Thus, while you might find lower rates for those things for students who are from Liberty U, I don't agree that attending Liberty U is the causal factor.
6. I'm pretty libertarian. I'd argue that people have the right to do lots of things. I reject your argument that the only set of rights I believe in is the right to abortion, drugs, etc. Don't put words into my mouth. As I noted above, people have the right of assembly, which means they have the right to assemble to follow these silly rules if they want to. That being said, one of the rights I fundamentally believe in is the right to fail (to screw up and pay for screwing up). The code of conduct prevents students from "failing" in that sense. Thus, I would argue, Liberty U is failing at one of the primary purposes of college (getting student through the awkward period between childhood and adulthood by giving them a marginally safe environment where they can fail in small things but not large ones).
7. Most Universities want to "assure the safety and quality of life of its resident population." The vast majority have a different set of rules, and the crime rates (as well as graduation rates, drop-out rates, etc.) would seem to argue that those other set of rules (followed by the vast majority of other schools) work just fine at assuring safety and quality of life.
8. The parents entrust the school to provide safety and EDUCATION. I would dispute that the students at Liberty U get a decent education. They might be safe, but I'd argue they are pretty ignorant.
9. As I said, (re: your concluding swipe at me) I am ridiculing their code, not their right to have a code. They are welcome to whatever atmosphere they want. I think their atmosphere is silly; it inhibits learning, and I suspect that it is enforced rarely. Yes, they are "old fogies" who don't really understand education or teaching. That they can get alumni and others to contribute to keeping this travesty of education alive speaks more to politics than anything else.
(I love how election years bring out the wingnuts. Hopefully we'll get a few more.)
Posted by: baltar at September 15, 2008 05:28 PM | PERMALINKRegarding your point five, I would have two words for you: Bristol Palin.
Posted by: binky at September 15, 2008 07:07 PM | PERMALINK