#12: The Universiy of Tulsa
Stretching the definition of a tourist attraction, today I visited the University of Tulsa.
Date of creation: 1920
All roads lead back to the Presbyterians. They founded the first Tulsan school in 1882 to offer education to young women of the Creek Nation. This school went on to become the Henry Kendall College, named after a Reverend.
Kendall College granted the first post-secondary degree in Oklahoma in June 1898. Bear in mind, Oklahoma wouldn't become a state until 1907. Staff of Kendall college wrote most of the constitution for the proposed Sequoyah state. Teddy Roosevelt turned down the proposal, which would have been the first majority native American state, forcing a new proposal combined with the Oklahoma territory.
Kendall college was bought by the Tulsa Commercial Club and moved to the smaller town of Tulsa. The Methodist Church proposed building a rival, McFarlin college, in 1918 funded by a local oilman. These two colleges merged to become the University of Tulsa in 1920.
There's a level at which I understand his decision. The "student experience" is professionally managed in a deeply inauthentic and conformist way.
Graduates are bloody weird and whatever I experience here is mediated by that.
I turned up to a meditation session only to find out it had been canceled due to lack of uptake. Instead the
mental health advocacy group were discussing strategy and, ever the sociologist, I accepted their invitation to join.
The facilitator, who admitted he hadn't prepared anything, asked us for our experiences with self-care. Strategies swirled. The discussion descended into people just saying what they did when they didn't feel happy.
I ventured that, as biological beings, there is a minimal set of things that makes us all better. A check list with items like drinking enough water, some physical activity, some social interaction etc could remind students about balance during exams and other stressful times.
Someone accused me of pushing a presumptuous universal-ism denying that individuals have quirks and preferences. If someone thinks self-care means spending all day inside watching TV, then it's self-care to them. Who are we to prescribe any form of self-care?
I asked what an advocacy group can do without assuming there are any strategies or practices worth advocating for. The discussion moved on before reaching a resolution and I never returned. Grad students are blooooody weird.
Date of creation: 1920
All roads lead back to the Presbyterians. They founded the first Tulsan school in 1882 to offer education to young women of the Creek Nation. This school went on to become the Henry Kendall College, named after a Reverend. Kendall College granted the first post-secondary degree in Oklahoma in June 1898. Bear in mind, Oklahoma wouldn't become a state until 1907. Staff of Kendall college wrote most of the constitution for the proposed Sequoyah state. Teddy Roosevelt turned down the proposal, which would have been the first majority native American state, forcing a new proposal combined with the Oklahoma territory.
Kendall college was bought by the Tulsa Commercial Club and moved to the smaller town of Tulsa. The Methodist Church proposed building a rival, McFarlin college, in 1918 funded by a local oilman. These two colleges merged to become the University of Tulsa in 1920.
Historical significance: 55
This would just be a re-hashing of my argument about the importance of esoteric graduate pursuits like working in a patent office.European-ness: 3.9
I spoke to an undergraduate from England who moved here on a full football scholarship recently. He is dropping out after two years and starting at Nottingham Trent Uni next year, incurring tens of thousands of pounds of debt to escape.There's a level at which I understand his decision. The "student experience" is professionally managed in a deeply inauthentic and conformist way.
Cowboy hats: 0
Three months living on campus and no cowboy hats.Collective consciousness: N/A
I'm not qualified to judge. When I was an undergrad, post-grads made me uncomfortable. They exist in the no man's land between peers and authority. Grads have the power to determine your grades but lack the income to avoid seeing each-other in social situations.Graduates are bloody weird and whatever I experience here is mediated by that.
Wokeness: +15
There is only a smattering of woke-ness, understandable given the number of engineering students here. It's hard to comment more than this but I have a mini-story.I turned up to a meditation session only to find out it had been canceled due to lack of uptake. Instead the
mental health advocacy group were discussing strategy and, ever the sociologist, I accepted their invitation to join.
The facilitator, who admitted he hadn't prepared anything, asked us for our experiences with self-care. Strategies swirled. The discussion descended into people just saying what they did when they didn't feel happy.
I ventured that, as biological beings, there is a minimal set of things that makes us all better. A check list with items like drinking enough water, some physical activity, some social interaction etc could remind students about balance during exams and other stressful times.
Someone accused me of pushing a presumptuous universal-ism denying that individuals have quirks and preferences. If someone thinks self-care means spending all day inside watching TV, then it's self-care to them. Who are we to prescribe any form of self-care?
I asked what an advocacy group can do without assuming there are any strategies or practices worth advocating for. The discussion moved on before reaching a resolution and I never returned. Grad students are blooooody weird.
Overall
Lovely morning to sit and paint. Far easier than cycling anywhere.
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