The Barbarians are in the gates. When they brought in the Marxist cypher Yee as Provost and then the Berkley apparatchik Alivisatos to kill the effort to retain the University as a redoubt against the Orwellian tide sweeping through the academies the game was up. Arguably it has been a losing fight since John Boyer first worked to cut back the Core and expand the College. There were brave rear guard actions in defense of The Life of The Mind and Intellectual Freedom with high standards, this is the university that closed its school of Education when they saw that it could not maintain the expected level of scholarly standards, but all of that will now crumble before indoctrination and censorship by mobs of entrenched bigots. It is a sad thing when a great university declines. The fall of Alma Mater is like the senescence of any parent, a time of grief and reflection. While I am no religious fundamentalist I think that such a loss can be described by analogy to scripture.
"𝑯𝒐𝒘 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒚 𝒇𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒏 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒊𝒅𝒔𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒍𝒆! 𝑶 𝑱𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏, 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖 𝒘𝒂𝒔𝒕 𝒔𝒍𝒂𝒊𝒏 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒆 𝒉𝒊𝒈𝒉 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒔."
"𝑯𝒐𝒘 𝒂𝒓𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖 𝒇𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒏 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒗𝒆𝒏, 𝑶 𝑳𝒖𝒄𝒊𝒇𝒆𝒓, 𝒔𝒐𝒏 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈! 𝒉𝒐𝒘 𝒂𝒓𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖 𝒄𝒖𝒕 𝒅𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒈𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅, 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒄𝒉 𝒅𝒊𝒅𝒔𝒕 𝒘𝒆𝒂𝒌𝒆𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒏𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔!"
For those who prefer a more literary depiction of a decline with the hoped for but not expected chance of recovery, with the assurance that I wish the University no ill, may I suggest Frodo's words of judgment and pity for Saruman, "𝑯𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕 𝒐𝒏𝒄𝒆, 𝒐𝒇 𝒂 𝒏𝒐𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒆 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒅𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒔𝒆 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒔 𝒂𝒈𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒕. 𝑯𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒇𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒏, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒄𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒃𝒆𝒚𝒐𝒏𝒅 𝒖𝒔; 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝑰 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒔𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒉𝒊𝒎, 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒉𝒐𝒑𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒂𝒚 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝒊𝒕."
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