Professor Harvey Shulman up there in the tundra came up with the
following birthday ode to Bobbie Dylan back in 2001. It combines two of the
points from my June Diary, posted yesterday.
WITH APOLOGIES TO BOB DYLAN ON HIS 60TH
Come gather round faculty wherever you teach
And condemn what the universities around you do preach
Or accept it that soon you’ll have no one to reach
Is your integrity worth saving
Then you’d better start speaking or you’ll end up alone
For the times, they are a changing
Come teachers and scholars who never say a word
Open your eyes, look around at the absurd
And speak out now, while others do spin
And there’s no telling who they’ll be blaming
Where the winners claim that they did lose
For the times, they are a changing
Come administrators, board members, heed the call
See beyond your doorway, “tear down the wall”
Our standards are hurt, is there quality at all
The culture war is a raging; power point will not save
Your buildings will fall
For the times, they are a changing
Come mothers and fathers all over this land
Begin to question what you can’t understand
Your sons and your daughter need your hand
Your new role needs to be engaging
Please get out of the old world and take a stand
For the times they are a changing
The line, it is drawn, the curse, it is cast
Political correctness must not last
Affirmative action will soon be the past
The censors are rapidly fading
The first one now will actually be chosen
For the times, they are a changing
Harvey Shulman