Academe is having a short fall—Ohio State

Ohio State University (a few miles from us) is having a financial short fall: “The virus, things not related to the virus, the election, social unrest, a hiring pause, the inability to travel and hold in-person events, and even things like (the) leadership transition (at the university) have all had an impact on our fundraising to date,” Michael Eicher, senior vice president for advancement and president of the Ohio State University Foundation, said at the Nov. 19 meeting.

OSU brought in $113.9 million from 74,501 donors during the first three months of the 2021 fiscal year, which started July 1, according to the university. That’s 24% less than it brought in during the same period last year, when it raised $150 million. The number of donors during that period last year was 121,816, meaning there are nearly 50,000 donors who haven't given this year." (Columbus Business First, Dec. 1, 2020)

Most of that list looks Covid related to me. Even the so-called "social unrest." I'm retired OSU faculty and I know the "social unrest" had been building for years, egged on by faculty looking for some sort of "equity," but always encouraging divisiveness instead of true diversity, which should have included conservatives, but they'd all been chased away. 2020 has been a perfect storm building in influence and power incrementally since the 1980s through diversity and inclusion programming graduating people with no place to go. Yet now it's all called "systemic racism. The pandemic certainly worsened things, as the liberals all blamed President Trump and no one looked at the social turmoil the universities and colleges had been encouraging for years.

As the blue collar and service industries all continued in their "essential" jobs, the spoiled college kids signed on to march, destroy and disrupt with Antifa and BLM, and wealthy alumni waved their little flags in support.

I'm not the only Evangelical without a party or candidate

"There is consternation about the hard line Trump takes on immigrants and about the morality of a thrice-married man who has long bragged about his sexual conquests. But another factor is at work as well: The traditional social and cultural positions that drive many religious conservative voters, including same-sex marriage and abortion, have been cast aside by a candidate who seems to have little interest in fighting the culture wars."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/theres-nobody-left-evangelicals-feel-abandoned-by-gop-after-trumps-ascent/2016/05/08/

"Heather Dreesman said thinking about the election in November makes her feel sick to her stomach. She said she now carries a sense of grief that the country is forsaking its values and feels anguish about what will happen. She would like to see a third-party candidate but doesn’t think it’s a real possibility — meaning she probably won’t vote.

“I hate to make this comparison,” she said. “I really do feel like in the future I would hate to look back and say, ‘I voted for Hitler.’ I feel like that may be what is happening if I vote for Trump.”"

You won't find it at my church either, Margaret

From a commenter at a Catholic blog:

"I have been to many Masses in many parishes over my long lifetime, and I can't remember the last time I heard a homily against abortion, gay "marriage," artificial birth control, cohabitation, etc.---all issues that have contributed to the "social disaster" in our country. The Sunday after the Supreme Court legalized gay "marriage", I heard not a word about it at Mass then or since, but we did have a "great" homily that Sunday on protecting the environment!"