The most Military/Veteran friendly College Commencements!

[Life Long Learning]

OK, I am watching the Fayetteville Technical Community College (FTCC) 2018 56th Commencement online right now (5/18/2018).  They had a great US Army tribute in the start with video.  They are graduating 411 Veterans.  That would never happen at a few of the anti-military colleges that I have attended in the past (University of Oregon).  

Their key speaker is The Honorable Wesley A. Meredith, North Carolina Senator and Majority Whip and Veteran of the 82nd Airborne Division. 

The FTCC #3 rating in the Military Times Best Colleges is spot on!

[dfrecore]

My son was looking at colleges that have NROTC, and Berkeley is listed on the page. He said "what about Berkeley?" and I said oh HELL no! I can't even imagine being ROTC and going there. His life would be a nightmare. Let's shoot for a college where people will actually appreciate your service, and realize that you are willing to lay down your life for their right to live a great life here.

[scorched]

My son was looking at colleges that have NROTC, and Berkeley is listed on the page.  He said "what about Berkeley?" and I said oh HELL no!  I can't even imagine being ROTC and going there.  His life would be a nightmare.  Let's shoot for a college where people will actually appreciate your service, and realize that you are willing to lay down your life for their right to live a great life here.

Any chance they are willing to do AFROTC?  How about MIT?
http://afrotc.mit.edu/

[dfrecore]

Any chance they are willing to do AFROTC?  How about MIT?
http://afrotc.mit.edu/

Nope, and I think that might have some of the same issues.  No ivies for us, thanks.

[sanantone]

Neither Berkeley nor MIT are Ivy League schools. I suspect that there's some exaggeration. For example, I was told that Austin was anti-law enforcement. It turns out people just said that because Austin is liberal and wants independent reviewers for police complaints. Travis County pays the highest salaries to its corrections officers, and Austin pays the highest salary to its police officers. Williamson County, which is supposed to be pro-LE, pays such a low salary to its corrections officers, that it shows how little the county values its CJ employees.

Anyway, I've been all over Austin with my badge on, and people are just as friendly as when I'm not wearing it. And, I even got to see a free movie because a local movie theater chain had a first responder appreciation month. This hipster employee even thanked me for my service. 


Texas is also supposed to be pro-LE, but they treat their parole and corrections officers like trash, especially in comparison to California. Cali even treats its own military forces better than Texas does.

I guess your children are only a quarter black. If they were easily recognizable as being black, I'd be more worried about white people calling the police on them for no reason. It's been a common occurrence for over 100 years, but it's just now getting attention because of social media. For example, this white student called the police on a black student because she was sleeping in the common area at the dorms, which she was allowed to do. There was recently a black family who had the police called on them because they were barbecuing with charcoal, which is allowed. When I was a dispatcher, I had to take those kinds of calls. I had the police called on me for delivering newspapers. I haven't really heard of frequent occurrences of people being harassed because they're military unless you want to go back to 1968.

[dfrecore]

Neither Berkeley nor MIT are Ivy League schools. I suspect that there's some exaggeration. For example, I was told that Austin was anti-law enforcement. It turns out people just said that because Austin is liberal and wants independent reviewers for police complaints. Travis County pays the highest salaries to its corrections officers, and Austin pays the highest salary to its police officers. Williamson County, which is supposed to be pro-LE, pays such a low salary to its corrections officers, that it shows how little the county values its CJ employees.

Anyway, I've been all over Austin with my badge on, and people are just as friendly as when I'm not wearing it. And, I even got to see a free movie because a local movie theater chain had a first responder appreciation month. This hipster employee even thanked me for my service. 


Texas is also supposed to be pro-LE, but they treat their parole and corrections officers like trash, especially in comparison to California. Cali even treats its own military forces better than Texas does.

I guess your children are only a quarter black. If they were easily recognizable as being black, I'd be more worried about white people calling the police on them for no reason. It's been a common occurrence for over 100 years, but it's just now getting attention because of social media. For example, this white student called the police on a black student because she was sleeping in the common area at the dorms, which she was allowed to do. There was recently a black family who had the police called on them because they were barbecuing with charcoal, which is allowed. When I was a dispatcher, I had to take those kinds of calls. I had the police called on me for delivering newspapers. I haven't really heard of frequent occurrences of people being harassed because they're military unless you want to go back to 1968.

Sorry, yes, I do put MIT in with the Ivies, even though it isn't.  It's just a general thing for me, I don't want to support schools that have issues with military, and even ones that have the reputation.  And let's not even talk about the free speech issue at Berkeley.  I am NOT supporting that (personally, anyway; I can't choose how my tax dollars are spent).

And yes, my kids look like they're "something" but definitely not black, certainly not enough to get the cops called on them for stuff.  So no issues there, although I've never had this issue in CA my entire life.

And yes, CA pays LE and corrections great - so well in fact, that it could be one of the ways that our state goes completely broke.  There is no possible way we'll be able to pay all of these people their pensions we've promised - we have billions and billions of dollars in unfunded pension liabilities.  It will all hit the fan one day soon, you heard it here first.

[sanantone]

Neither Berkeley nor MIT are Ivy League schools. I suspect that there's some exaggeration. For example, I was told that Austin was anti-law enforcement. It turns out people just said that because Austin is liberal and wants independent reviewers for police complaints. Travis County pays the highest salaries to its corrections officers, and Austin pays the highest salary to its police officers. Williamson County, which is supposed to be pro-LE, pays such a low salary to its corrections officers, that it shows how little the county values its CJ employees.

Anyway, I've been all over Austin with my badge on, and people are just as friendly as when I'm not wearing it. And, I even got to see a free movie because a local movie theater chain had a first responder appreciation month. This hipster employee even thanked me for my service. 


Texas is also supposed to be pro-LE, but they treat their parole and corrections officers like trash, especially in comparison to California. Cali even treats its own military forces better than Texas does.

I guess your children are only a quarter black. If they were easily recognizable as being black, I'd be more worried about white people calling the police on them for no reason. It's been a common occurrence for over 100 years, but it's just now getting attention because of social media. For example, this white student called the police on a black student because she was sleeping in the common area at the dorms, which she was allowed to do. There was recently a black family who had the police called on them because they were barbecuing with charcoal, which is allowed. When I was a dispatcher, I had to take those kinds of calls. I had the police called on me for delivering newspapers. I haven't really heard of frequent occurrences of people being harassed because they're military unless you want to go back to 1968.

Sorry, yes, I do put MIT in with the Ivies, even though it isn't.  It's just a general thing for me, I don't want to support schools that have issues with military, and even ones that have the reputation.  And let's not even talk about the free speech issue at Berkeley.  I am NOT supporting that (personally, anyway; I can't choose how my tax dollars are spent).

And yes, my kids look like they're "something" but definitely not black, certainly not enough to get the cops called on them for stuff.  So no issues there, although I've never had this issue in CA my entire life.

And yes, CA pays LE and corrections great - so well in fact, that it could be one of the ways that our state goes completely broke.  There is no possible way we'll be able to pay all of these people their pensions we've promised - we have billions and billions of dollars in unfunded pension liabilities.  It will all hit the fan one day soon, you heard it here first.

White people in California don't call the police on black for no reason? Must be nice. Maybe I need to move.

It could be one of the ways your state goes broke? It's all about priorities and competent money management. San Antonio pays less than many other large cities in Texas, and definitely less than Cali cities do, and they're still calculating that the city will go broke over pensions. Now, I do think there is a limit to how much public safety workers should get, but these are people who risk their lives daily to protect you. Don't throw so many people in prison if you don't want to pay for it.

Are you going to avoid every college that used to ban black people from attending? Are you going to avoid every college that has statues of Confederate soldiers and famous slaveholders? I'm sorry, but this safe space stuff irks me. They say it's only a liberal thing, but conservatives seem to be looking for the same types of environments.

Yale had a REAL incident of racism just a few weeks ago, and some want to worry about non-existent issues. MIT has the best AFROTC program in the country. As much as they put into that program, I doubt the school is anti-military. There may be some students who are anti-military, but doesn't that fall under freedom of speech? I have clients who are confirmed gang members in the Aryan Brotherhood, and I can't just avoid them. It's just the way life goes. If the college were truly anti-military, it wouldn't have an ROTC program at all. Trump was fined for discriminating against black employees, and he disrespected veterans multiple times, but you still voted for him.

[alexf.1990]

White people in California don't call the police on black for no reason? Must be nice. Maybe I need to move.

It could be one of the ways your state goes broke? It's all about priorities and competent money management. San Antonio pays less than many other large cities in Texas, and definitely less than Cali cities do, and they're still calculating that the city will go broke over pensions. Now, I do think there is a limit to how much public safety workers should get, but these are people who risk their lives daily to protect you. Don't throw so many people in prison if you don't want to pay for it.

Are you going to avoid every college that used to ban black people from attending? Are you going to avoid every college that has statues of Confederate soldiers and famous slaveholders? I'm sorry, but this safe space stuff irks me. They say it's only a liberal thing, but conservatives seem to be looking for the same types of environments.

Yale had a REAL incident of racism just a few weeks ago, and some want to worry about non-existent issues. MIT has the best AFROTC program in the country. As much as they put into that program, I doubt the school is anti-military. There may be some students who are anti-military, but doesn't that fall under freedom of speech? I have clients who are confirmed gang members in the Aryan Brotherhood, and I can't just avoid them. It's just the way life goes. If the college were truly anti-military, it wouldn't have an ROTC program at all. Trump was fined for discriminating against black employees, and he disrespected veterans multiple times, but you still voted for him.

I'd love to see data to back up the claim that black people have the police called on them more frequently based entirely on their race. I suspect that this argument is just as contemptible and devoid of evidence as the argument that black people are subject to a higher rate of police violence.

Regarding "safe spaces," I don't believe such an argument exists on the right. Such an argument would run counter to the free speech plank of the modern right, and it would be frivolous anyway. The left has a monopoly on higher education and would never allow for such a thing. I'd love to hear an example of where you think this is happening. I certainly don't believe dfrecore is guilty of it because of is refusal to financially support institutions that oppose his values.

[dfrecore]

White people in California don't call the police on black for no reason? Must be nice. Maybe I need to move.  I never said this - I just said it hadn't happened to me personally.  

It could be one of the ways your state goes broke? It's all about priorities and competent money management. San Antonio pays less than many other large cities in Texas, and definitely less than Cali cities do, and they're still calculating that the city will go broke over pensions. Now, I do think there is a limit to how much public safety workers should get, but these are people who risk their lives daily to protect you. Don't throw so many people in prison if you don't want to pay for it.  I said we are going to go broke from unfunded pension liabilities.  ALL government, not just cops and prison guards.  Part of the problem is overpaying for jobs that you could pay less for, I don't care what you do, it should still be subject to market rates.  We spend TWICE as much as many other states to pay for our prisons.  This is a problem.  It is a problem in all kinds of ways.  I never said we shouldn't pay them a decent wage, and I am very pro-law-enforcement, but they should still be subject to math.

Are you going to avoid every college that used to ban black people from attending? Are you going to avoid every college that has statues of Confederate soldiers and famous slaveholders? I'm sorry, but this safe space stuff irks me. They say it's only a liberal thing, but conservatives seem to be looking for the same types of environments.  I never said any of this.  I WANT free speech.  I DON'T want safe spaces.  But I am not going to spend my hard-earned money on a school where I don't agree with the values they have.  That's lunacy.

Yale had a REAL incident of racism just a few weeks ago, and some want to worry about non-existent issues. MIT has the best AFROTC program in the country. As much as they put into that program, I doubt the school is anti-military. There may be some students who are anti-military, but doesn't that fall under freedom of speech? I have clients who are confirmed gang members in the Aryan Brotherhood, and I can't just avoid them. It's just the way life goes. If the college were truly anti-military, it wouldn't have an ROTC program at all. Trump was fined for discriminating against black employees, and he disrespected veterans multiple times, but you still voted for him.  My son doesn't want to go into the AF, he wants to go into the Marines.  Am I supposed to force him to change his mind because I think MIT has some great program that he doesn't want to go into?  I'm not sure what the point is here.

As for voting for Trump, it wasn't like I had a lot of other choices.  Hillary destroyed the lives of women who her husband raped or had affairs with.  So I guess you're pro that since you didn't vote for Trump?  Of course not.  I'm not a Trump fan, but I hated Hillary more.  How did this even come into the conversation of not wanting to send my kid to a school with safe spaces or that have anti-military stances?  Not sure how this went off the rails, since I respect your views on many things.  Have a good one.

[MSK9]

Texas is also supposed to be pro-LE, but they treat their parole and corrections officers like trash, especially in comparison to California. Cali even treats its own military forces better than Texas does.

And yes, CA pays LE and corrections great - so well in fact, that it could be one of the ways that our state goes completely broke.  There is no possible way we'll be able to pay all of these people their pensions we've promised - we have billions and billions of dollars in unfunded pension liabilities.  It will all hit the fan one day soon, you heard it here first.

At the State level - maybe, but when I worked for the San Diego Police Department, we were the lowest starting pay of agency in the county (and there were about seventeen of them!) at $58,000 gross; coupled with the California's current median home price ($545,000), quality of life wasn't what you might think.

 While I generally agree with cutting some of the ridiculous pensions out there, law enforcement is one I would never cut considering the emotional and physical price we pay and danger we face.