Painful protest, baby names and a truly heroic run

We are about to hit graduation season.

Hooray … we think. The meaning of the higher education mission has never been so muddled.

Is it learning? Is it job training? Is it some of each?

See? It’s clouded, overcast with doubt and often monstrous student loans.

We do know this: Social expression on college campuses across this country has become more divisive and dangerous for the institution.

Just ask the University of Missouri. One of the best journalism schools in the country, the campus in Columbia was overrun with national headlines a couple of years ago after a disgruntled grad student started a hunger protest that became a full-fledged racial discourse on the campus. It became violent — even against some of the school’s journalism students trying to cover the event — and became national news when the football team threatened to boycott a game unless the situation was settled.

You likely know this. But are you aware of this fact: The incoming number of freshmen has spiraled downward since the protests in the fall of 2015.

There were 4,772 incoming freshmen in 2016, according to the Kansas City Star. That number was down 22.9 percent from the 2015 freshmen.

This year, school officials told the Star that 4,009 freshmen have paid deposits for the upcoming fall semester.

WHAT’S IN A NAME?

The Social Security folks have released the list of the most popular names for babies born in 2016.

There are a couple of interesting tidbits from the data.

First, the most popular names remained pretty consistent.

For boys, the ark-tribute for little guys named Noah was the top name for the fourth straight year. Liam, William, Mason and James rounded out the top five.

Emma was the top girl name for the third consecutive year, with Olivia, Ava, Sophia and Isabella ranking two through five, respectively.

On the other side, all four spellings of Caitlyn — Caitlin, Caitlyn, Katelynn and Kaitlynn — plummeted, each falling outside of the top 1,000. Take that for what you will, considering the most notable use of that name in recent memory is the Vanity Fair cover of Bruce Jenner proclaiming “Call Me Caitlyn” after his announcement of his transition.

Experts said controversy can change parents’ minds about names. In the political realm, the name Donald fell 45 spots to 488 and, according to The Associated Press, Hillary has been out of the top 1,000 for almost a decade.

Of course, go figure trying to figure this out. The fastest rising boys’ name was Kylo, made famous by the Star Wars character who killed his dad.

Wonder if Hamlet is on the rise, too?

SATURDAY STAR

I wrote earlier this week about the ceremony honoring two of the Fallen Five from the July 16 attacks.

Well, wise reader Christian Orth made certain we are now aware of the The Chattanooga Heroes Run, which will be July 15.

All proceeds from the event with go toward a permanent memorial for those killed on that tragic day.

For more information, go to chattanoogaheroesrun.com. Until next week.

Contact Jay Greeson at jgreeson@timesfreepress.com and 423-757-6343.