Thoughts on the University of Minnesota, after three years:
Some Cons:
The vapidity and lack of intellectual curiosity of the student body.
The same for a healthy share of the faculty.
The vague haziness of an assumed leftism, which works itself out not so much in elegant public defenses of its content but in little nods, sighs, eyes rolled, looks of disgust, etc. It is than unspoken sense that “we’re all on the same side here”. Whose side? Tenure and Obama bumper stickers?
Absurdly large class sizes
Mindless, mindless, mindless mission statements and self-promotions loaded with terrible and technocratic prose.
Some Pros:
A surprisingly efficient financial aid department that doesn’t leave one with a bureaucratically induced headache.
Professors, few though they may be, who are gems.
By and large an aesthetically pleasing campus.
The ability to obtain from time to time interesting speakers who speak interesting speeches on interesting topics – even in the Classics department. Followed, bless God, by free wine and food.
A good library with a large and virgin theology section.
Many bars (all of them, admittedly terrible) close to campus.
And a general sense of camaraderie in the CNES department, due mostly to its small size and oddball denizens.
Obviously the cons and many of the pros are similar to any American university.
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