Word: absurdity
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...despite pretensions to the contrary, Harvard is not the U.S. Government, and this kind of secrecy crosses the line from practical into absurd. It seems clear that junior faculty, like everyone else, are under-informed about the tenure process. While internal hiring has increased in recent years, it varies widely by department and remains across the board much lower than at other universities. Rather than raise up star faculty from within its ranks, Harvard has fallen prey to the trend in academia toward seeking out what some have called "academostars," cutting-edge scholars who are more or less auctioned...
...Hooch's publicity blitzkrieg reaches its most absurd heights at the promotional events held at various clubs and bars around Moscow and St. Petersburg. Stunning college-age women wearing Hooch's signature green T-shirts pass out free bottles and merchandise while running games, races, raffles, and dance contests. It's the Hooch version of a Labor Day picnic. Others consist merely of men and women chugging Hooch while someone of the opposite sex holds the bottle. Perhaps the most bizarre event however, involves two people who have rubber hoses tied around their waists with a bottle of Hooch hanging...
...addition to the general comp requirements of the radio station, sports compers are also required to make dummy tapes of themselves commentating on games. These tapes are then reviewed and critiqued by the more seasoned sportscasters. Almost every member of the WHRB sports staff has at least one absurd tale of sitting alone at a football, hockey, or basketball game, screaming into a tape recorder...
Students arriving early could only bring a few bags, since just one hour was allotted for the transition from temporary to permanent housing. This 60-minute transfer was even more absurd for those transferring from temporary houses by the river to their homes in the Quad...
...deficit (although not the huge debt), it seems pointless to continue to whine about Reagan's irresponsibility. In fact, as Jonathan Chait points out in the New Republic (Feb. 2), many conservative revisionists are now so emboldened by this fortuitous occurrence that they've taken to arguing the absurd. Ignoring the immediate, post-Reagan recession in the early '90s and the effectiveness of Clinton's policies since then, they claim that it is the healthy economy borne by Reagan that has restored our fiscal health and allowed the budget to come into balance...