Dear Ms. Jodi Rives Meier; how do you like these apples?
I’m sure you remember Jodi Rives Meier, the part-time instructor at Butte College’s Chico, California who, being smarter than us criticized veteran students as generally unprepared and largely unteachable in regards to taking her rigorous classes in Communications. The college president tossed aside her comments and made this statement in support of veterans who are students;
[T]he views expressed by this part-time faculty member in no way reflect the values of the college or its position toward veterans. Many faculty, staff, and administrators at Butte College have parents, sons, daughters and other loved ones who are service members or veterans. Many are veterans themselves and some are still serving. In spite of this, personal views, however offensive, expressed on personal social media sites are free speech. That being said, taking offense to views and comments of this faculty member does not justify personal attacks on her or her family. Threatening any individual with physical harm for any reason, regardless of difference in opinions or views, is deplorable.
Oh, and yeah, by the way let’s turn it around on the people who are using their own rights to free speech and criticizing Ms. Meier. But, moving on, Kevin sends us an article from The Army Times about a Veterans Students Association study which refutes Ms. Meier’s contentions;
Some 59 percent of veterans within the study earned a bachelor’s degree in the six-year timeframe typically considered to calculate graduation rates. In comparison, just under 56 percent of students across all four-year schools graduated in that timeframe, according to the most recent Education Department data available.
About 43 percent of student vets earned associate degrees within the three-year timeframe typically used to calculate that degree’s graduation rate. Meanwhile, only 33 percent of students across all two-year institutions graduated in that timeframe, Education Department data show.
So, about 1/3 more students who are veterans graduate from Butte College’s associate degree programs than those who don’t benefit from military service. Like I said initially, maybe it isn’t veterans who do poorly in Ms. Meier’s classes, maybe it is the teacher who is failing.
Category: Schools, Veterans Issues
She literally looks dumber than a bag of hammers.
Dear Ms Meier-
YOU are the instructor…if students are not up to your standards, I think it behooves you to re-examine your teaching techniques and try to find a better way to get through to them. You are paid to teach, and your students’ success or failure is contingent upon your intelligent and comprehensible rendering of the lessons you are assigned to teach. As a Veteran and a student, I will tell you that you would not have wanted me as an 18-19 year old recent HS grad…I was wild and out of control, only attending school to play hockey and meet women. (Succeeding at one and failing at the other…but that is another story in itself.) It took 20 years of military service for me to realize that I was not the fool my teachers told me I was…I have a learning style that differs from the norm. None of my teachers ever took the time to try to identify my learning style, I was written off by the mainstream educational establishment. Do not make the same error my teachers made…reach out to the Vets who have served this country and enabled you to live the lifestyle you do…they are a pretty decent bunch if you take a minute to scrape away some of the grit and grime that has accumulated over the years.
V/r
JL
I wonder if thier study added in how many work and go to school full time. I used my G.I. Bill to go to school full time and to work full time to support my family. It took me a little work and a little longer but I graduated with honors. I can remember being in class with kids taking classes over and over due to parties etc my favorite was the one who told me “I have to pass this class or my dad says he is not paying for school” then went on to ask me why I never party. Most of my friends and vets I know are disciplined students who work hard and often frustrated with prof’s like this who seem to like to give the vets a harder time and have biased views. All I know work full time and go to school balancing it all and do damn good. Their study should look at that then compare it to the rest.
Your story is not atypical, my daughter (AF Intel Analyst) was a double major in college with a full time job while married with a small child…she too was often asked why she was in school since she had a good job already.
Congratulations on a job well done…
Thank you and well done on by your daughter as well. I always tell people that coming out of HS I did not have the discipline to go to school and focus. The Army gave that to me and the attitude of make no excuses, never give up, and well suck it up and drive on. I all too often would tel people I spent my time in the Army busting my butt and parts of my body so I was not going to waste the time in school screwing around. I also found my experince in travel, deployments, etc gave me a leg up in class with experince I could draw on and knowing the real world verse some notion of what life is like via the internet etc. Only hard time I had was adjusting to a laid back attitude and stuff not being fast paced.
She is a giant douchebag and they would have been well off to just fire her ass. As a part time teacher there, I am pretty sure she is not tenured, and they could have replaced her with a bag of rocks.
Meier, For 16 years I was adjunct faculty at a University here in Beaufort. My students were Marines, Sailors, their spouses, sons, daughters, and traditional students. These were the finest students I have ever had the pleasure of teaching and the ONLY students to ever fail my classes were traditional students. Never, IN 16 YEARS, did a service member, veteran, or family member ever fail one of my courses. You, madam, are clearly disfigured by your obvious bigotry. My standards were high and my students were well prepared and up for the task. I had teachers like you when I was on the G.I. BILL in 1970. You need to find a place to teach where there are no veterans attending.
She made that comment, then expanded on it. In making that comment she showed herself to be bigot. Had she said any ethnic group, or religious group instead of vet she would have been tared and feathered.
She is a bigot and her words showed her to be prejudiced. If her dean wants to call it free speech thats fine, but she has to take what she dished out.
Well Ms. Jodi Rives Meier my comment to you is GFY and then GFY. Why? Because you couldn’t PAY anyone else to do it to you. So in summation, GFY and then when you are done…GFY.
That’s 4 loving ups in one post, which is probably the most she has had since 1998.
If by personal attack he means threats of physical violence I agree with him completely. We are all free to be the giant assholes we were meant to be in this country, however everyone else is also free to point out that simple reality to one and all as they see fit.
Ms. Meier made a blanket statement unfounded in reality, Ms. Meier then followed up with justifications made up from whole cloth.
The question for the institution that employs her is not limited to a free speech issue, but whether or not the institution should routinely employ people who make statements of opinion with no research or corroborating data as though they were stating facts and when confronted about the failure of said employee’s stated position’s actual veracity the employee refuses to acknowledge the false statements.
If she had stated she had “some” veterans who were struggling she would have been well within her experience level to do so. Instead she claimed that all veterans were having these issues when the statistical data on record indicates that is absolutely untrue, and her statement was refuted by the president of the institution using the aforementioned study data.
I would submit to the college president that I agree with Ms. Meier’s right to express herself, however I would question the integrity of an institution whose faculty feel it is appropriate to express as a fact a personally biased opinion not supported by actual, physical data. I expect the instructors to state facts as facts, and opinions as opinions. Anything else is speech without integrity, which is simply another term for lying.
*Meant to post this here not at the bottom*
Vov I was on a rant. Again you said it so well. To the point and succinctly. Thank you. I need to stop and calm down and respond rather than react sometimes. I do wish her “institution” had the courage to let her go. She is a part time instructor, not a tenured professor. I am sure she could stay in the state system down at DMV or some place that would appreciate her poor attitude.
With regards to your last paragraph, how richly ironic that the offender purports to be a “communications” professor.
Just stick a big red “A” on her back, something she can’t get rid of. Anyone who asks, tell them it stands for ‘asshole’.
Free speech is a right. Opinions are free speech. But her students have repeatedly said she doesn’t stick to the subject matter of the class, she wastes time (and student tuition) expounding her personal crap and personal opinions in class, and she broadasts her personal prejudices everywhere she goes, especially in class.
That is not what students are paying for. If the college dean can’t understand that, he’s not very bright.
Ex thank you. Well put. The further information I have read about her agrees she is a very poor instructor. Were I in her class I would not feel I was getting my tuition’s worth from her class.
You just described every “humanities” professor I had the misfortune of receiving tutelage from.
I *hated* college, but more for my peers than the academic crowd. Curiously, STEM courses were absent the many ideologues I found in liberal arts pursuits. I wish we could skip out on the angrysmellyhippie sapphotards in women’s studies who touch themselves and read Alice Walker and just go straight to field-specific credits. This is why there will be no post-graduate future for me. I’m done after the MBA.
She complains about her veteran students. According to other students, she lambasts other students as well.
With her not sticking to the subject matter or to the text book, she’s not giving people something they could prepare themselves with. She’s the main problem behind her students struggling with the material.
Well, Looks like Ms. Rives is a “Communication Studies Instructor”, and teaches Public Speaking. Guess she missed the class on how not to put her foot in her mouth.
I wonder if the college decides to ask her to come back after this semester?
Nice to see the pres knows which side of her bread is buttered. Wouldn’t want to jeopardize all of those GI Bill payments from “stupid” vets :).
Vov I was on a rant. Again you said it so well. To the point and succinctly. Thank you. I need to stop and calm down and respond rather than react sometimes. I do wish her “institution” had the courage to let her go. She is a part time instructor, not a tenured professor. I am sure she could stay in the state system down at DMV or some place that would appreciate her poor attitude.
Typical tripe from academia these days, sad to say. The same with the dean’s half-apology.
The Dean did a nice job, The way I translate his letter is, “We support Veterans and dont agree with what she said”
(The Sow starts whining in the back ground, and the dean has to think of something to keep the teacher’s union happy)
“However, she has a right to her opinion, and no one should threaten her or her familiy”
( Dean goes to office, closes the door and makes mental note to axe the hag as soon as possible)
I have multiple graduate degrees with a cumulative 3.9.
She can kiss my ass.
I have only one advanced degree which I received using the GI Bill while working two full-time jobs. Yeah, it was hard as hell — got only about 4 hours of sleep for 2.5 years.
Fortunately, the professors I had at a Cal State university were very supportive. And the fact that I was a veteran was seen by them as an asset.
–ghp
Hell yeah ghp, I’m currently at a csu working on my first bachelors as well and the staff at my campus love their veteran students. We help them lead classes by setting the example and show dedication in our classes.
The pathetic thing here is that this is the CA C.C. Environment where I found most of the mouth breathing hippie instructors. Go figure right?
Strange thing, I found the opposite. I’m a vet, and had a great time all around at the community colleges in California (including Butte, which I attended). Had a rather bad time at the California State University, which I perceived to “embrace diversity”, as long as that diversity was not straight, male, military, Christian, or white.
I guess it’s just a matter of personal experience/perspective.
Returned to collage at age 69 in an attempt to finish a degree. Had a prof in Civil War History offer the class an extra 5 points if they re-wrote a paper. I already had a 92 out of 100 on mine, but really wanted the extra 5. Don’t ask me why, but I did.
I re-wrote it with an explanation on why. He thought my explanation was a threat that he had better give me the 5 or else. I do not for the life of me know where he got that idea but I had to go before the Dept Head. Everything worked out in the end, but he always looked at me sideways.
By the way I have a 3.9 GPA and only 6 more credits to go. I am now 72 and can write circles around these kids. In fact I am embarrassed for them when they have to read their papers.
Obviously, you have something they don’t have: (fill in the blank here).
Only 72,huh? Keep going.
Boiling Mad CPO All my respect for finishing your degree. I admire you greatly for your hard work. You sound like a young, thriving 72. Keep chuggin’ along my friend. Only 6 more credits to go! Kudos.
Great Googley Moogley! You “rock”, Chief! Let us know when you receive your degree.
And continue to kick-@$$ on those kids.
*applause*
–ghp
Way to go Chief! I would have been honored to have you as one of my students. Bravo Zulu!!
Working in medicine, do you know what would happen if Rives Meiers’ type of attitude were expressed by medical personnel against a patient? They would be considered a detriment to patient health and well-being, and would be canned instantly.
Teachers should be no different.
The school hammered her in the statement. Believe me, she is sitting in a corner, sucking her thumb, and alternating between yowling and whimpering. The prepared statement did not even acknowledge her as a person. She’s a thing, “this part-time faculty member.”) There were a number of nouns that could have been used to describe her (e.g., instructor, teacher) but no flattering ones were used. Instead, she is called a p/t faculty member, the lowest form of life on academia’s food chain. She is not going to be replaced for this now. It’s too much of a pain to replace a p/t instructor in the last half or so of a semester. But, she will be gone. You can bet on it– and so can she.
Good catch Air Cav, I kind of got what you did out of their statement but hadn’t taken the thought out to it’s logical conclusion.
Thats prety The way I read it too. Her cube and desk will be cleaned out the last day of class.
If this cunt wants to talk about a supposed “rape culture,” she can chew on this one. I attended SDSU for a while right out of high school. I was busting my ass working 96 hours a week as a firefighter while also carrying a 15-unit classload. Still, I had some free time and was keen to sow my wild oats just as much as the next 18-year-old lad. However, I had been raised with conservative Judeo-Christian morals and possessed a strong aversion to the idea of forcing myself on a female, including taking advantage of a drunk or otherwise-impaired or intoxicated girl (date rape is rape, period). I quickly figured out that my behavioral standard was not shared by many if not most of my male classmates. I was in the minority of guys who avoided fraternities and frat parties. I found out early on that what went on in their “culture” was, suffice it to say, incompatible with my code of personal conflict. I was in class with a lot of frat boys. And they all, every single one, fell into the same category, which I describe as, “If I ever see you in the same room as my sister, I’ll put a round through your fucking head, you shitbag!” (I did, in fact, say this to several frat assholes. And meant it). These sacks of shit BRAGGED about committing all kinds of obscene acts against girls who had been knocked out with roofies or other date-rape drugs! Rape is significantly more common on college campuses than in the military, yet this self-righteous libtard bitch makes no attempt to address that. She probably believes, like so many liberal hypocrites in academia, that we should just hand out condoms and morning-after pils and ignore the problem otherwise. This cunt claims that vets are unprepared for life outside the military. Never mind that the military is, you know, THE MILITARY, not a social welfare program. Keep in mind that I have never served in the military, having been a firefighter since before graduating high school. In the last 13 years,… Read more »
Very sorry to hear about your friend KIA
One of the points that I’ve not seen mentioned is consideration of what classes this woman teaches. She is a “Communications” instructor. Around here, that is a euphemism for English 101, which in most Junior or Community Colleges amounts to teaching people reading, writing and dictation on approximately the 9th grade level. If that.
I was a part-time adjunct professor at a local community college that also happens to have one of the largest veteran student populations in the area. Without question, I’d rather have a class full of veterans any day of the week.
I was tough, very tough, as any of my students will attest. I expected students to show up, on time, prepared for the next lesson. Want to guess how many of my non-veteran students dropped my class because of those expectations? Want to guess how many veteran students dropped? The answers are, lots and none.
Denise – I had a part time Humanities instructor (was a lawyer in is day job) at San Diego City College that was like – tough but fair with his students. The ones that dropped his class were the non-vet students, while the vet/active duty students went through the course. Have to give him credit for one thing – he opened my eyes to Shakespeare and the other literary classics.
The veterans aren’t the problem, the bias of the instructor is. Ms. Meier is the typical leftist who’s harboring a hatred for the military. Though she would deny it, Ms. Meier is a leftist bigot. That also makes her a hypocrite.
Idiot. Part of the problems service members are facing stem from a negative stigma they have of the “real world”, and vice versa. I struggled when I first got out and went into college in 2010. It was rough but I finished school on time and was better for it.
Probably 60% of my time in school was spent trying to tear down negative stereotypes of Vets and educate faculty/staff/students about what we are capable of and how we can be an asset. This included holding symposiums about PTSD and other subjects.
“Educators” like this are part of the problem. I sat through many classes where much opinion was given about war and the military and very little facts were presented.
This whole issue is very similar to the reasons people see certain races in a biased way. The media is quick to jump all over anything involving a veteran. Even if it is unclear whether the veteran has been deployed or is suffering from a mental health condition, they will still bring it into the discussion with the usual “it is unclear at this time whether (insert name) was ever deployed” or ” in is unclear if (insert) had PTSD.”
We need to work hard on tearing down the negative stigma of MH conditions and being a veteran. We need to educate these people on what we are capable of by SHOWING them. People like this are not helping in that regard.
Fortunately, I now have a position at the VA where I can support transitioning veterans in whatever they decide to do after getting out. It is rewarding, but I hear to often “no one gets me” and other familiar statements. Rest assured: there are many who “get you.” We are everywhere- just look around a bit.
What I found rather telling about this whole thing is that she broadcast an uninformed opinion; essentially resorting to the argument from authority- “This is true because I say it is true.” That is the kind of argument that any remotely competent “communications instructor” would give a student an F- for. I seriously doubt that her bias is only extended against veterans. I further doubt that she puts her bias away when she breaks out the red pen. The lack of character required to publicly make an ill-informed emotionally based argument like she did likely extends to an emotional grading curve based on what she thinks of a given student as a person.
I was hoping to read that she was fired. Not yet? Suspect she won’t have a contract for Summer and Fall.
VA’s new online complaint system is at the following URL. I highly recommend submitting something if you are at this school:
http://www.benefits.va.gov/GIBILL/Feedback.asp
One of the best of professors i had for a history course was a veteran! Awesome guy. But this lady ugh…like many of you said, if alot of students are failing her class then its her. She reminds me of my philsophy prof i had my first semester. What an arrogant prick.
I absolutely hated Philosophy, I don’t think there is such a thing as a ‘good’ Phil prof, they are all whacked from conceptual thinking model analysis syndrome.
As a vet of both Afghanistan and Iraq, I just finished a Masters of Science degree with a 4.0 GPA…..