Thread: Tower Medallion

So, at LA Tech, there's an award given every year to incredibly distinguished alumni (note: this generally means really big donors). It has been awarded to some pretty awesome people though who have done a lot for Tech and the local community such as Karl Malone. This year, it was awarded to Phil Robertson. No one is quite sure why. He hasn't donated ever to Tech, and he hasn't done anything for the Ruston community. Even in Monroe, he is not viewed favorably. A lot of the heads of schools were going to walk out. They never got the chance though. Phil couldn't be bothered to drive the 40 minutes to Tech to receive the award or to send a representative to accept it.

so the award was rescinded? will they explain the decision?

I'm not sure. The ceremony just happened. My advisor was the one who I got the news from and was one of the ones intending to walk out.

Looks like I misread the message from my advisor. There was a walkout. PRISM students (Tech's version of Gay Straight Alliance) walked out. So did many professors, the first of which was my advisor.

Tech administration only announced who the recipient was an hour before the graduation ceremony as well.

Originally Posted by DJ Mr. White

Looks like I misread the message from my advisor. There was a walkout. PRISM students (Tech's version of Gay Straight Alliance) walked out. So did many professors, the first of which was my advisor.

Tech administration only announced who the recipient was an hour before the graduation ceremony as well.

You should get a new advisor, and the PRISM kids should go do something productive. Staging a walkout on a guy who never asked to be nominated, didn't bother to show up, and is entitled to whatever opinion he chooses, doesn't further anyone's cause. They can get more attention by actually doing something that furthers their cause.

If they were truly unhappy that the school was giving him an award....The school is where their beef lies.
If Phil Robertson gave a shit, he would have shown up. He's not their enemy, just their opportunity.
If anyone else gave a shit, PRISM kids could have boycotted, rather than pull a melodramatic "walkout".

Oh, the school is fine. The administration, not so much.

The students showed up since it was their graduation and their friends' graduations. The professors showed up to show support to the students they taught. The walkout was during the awards ceremony. There's only so much you can do to raise awareness when you have an hour's notice.

You call them unproductive. I suppose that's nice. My advisor manages two schools at the university along with teaching classes, doing DoE funded research in high energy physics, doing biophysics research on the side for fun (he's actually published in that area), and does stuff like arrange scholarships for those kidnapped girls over in Africa you may have heard of. He's also involved in the local community. The students? I suppose they're doing nothing productive with most of them having jobs in a plethora of fields having just finished up earning various degrees.

And, you're right. The pastor is certainly entitled to his opinion. Funny story: so are the students and the professors.

I never said either group was unproductive. I said that their action was. What was their point? That they don't like some guys views? Maybe, instead of worrying about what some dipshit is blabbering, it would be more productive to help change laws, and/or the people who make them.

Also, I didn't realize it was a graduation cerimony. If it were just an awards cerimony, a "walkout" would most certainly be staged (since all involved could have just boycotted the event). If they wanted to leave, fine. It certainly didn't help anyone, and I doubt they were missed.

I also bet that the administration is MUCH more careful about who they bring in next year.

Originally Posted by dex71

I never said either group was unproductive. I said that their action was. What was their point? That they don't like some guys views? Maybe, instead of worrying about what some dipshit is blabbering, it would be more productive to help change laws, and/or the people who make them.

Also, I didn't realize it was a graduation cerimony. If it were just an awards cerimony, a "walkout" would most certainly be staged (since all involved could have just boycotted the event). If they wanted to leave, fine. It certainly didn't help anyone, and I doubt they were missed.

I also bet that the administration is MUCH more careful about who they bring in next year.

The people I know who walked out, while they don't like the guy's views one bit, don't think he doesn't have the right to say them. They don't like how the school selected the award winner and who they selected. He's an alumni yes, but he's one who has never given back to Tech.

I suppose I am a little annoyed since two of my relatives have received the award as well, given that as I've recently found out, they're no angels either (hello $500M FTC fine -____-).