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Harvard bans dorm's ritual goat slaughter
By adamg on Tue, 04/16/2019 - 8:18am
Seems Dunster House had a tradition of skinning and roasting a locally slaughtered goat with stone-age tools in its courtyard each year. The Crimson reports school officials have put an end to that, partly because of health concerns, partly because of the ick factor, but have assured residents they can still have a goatless goat roast.
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Comments
Harvard could ban rowing in
Harvard could ban rowing in the Charles, too, since a person exposed to river water might catch any number of diseases.
Welcome!
How was the trip from 1982?
Do you even read your own
Do you even read your own blog bro?
https://www.universalhub.com/2017/now-not-good-time-go-swimming-charles
It's a seasonal problem rather than a year round problem. But still a problem nonetheless.
Yes, but ...
People who crack jokes about falling in the Charles are, 9 times out of 10, still thinking "Dirty Water" is an accurate depiction of life along the river.
A Charles River brine
Would add that something special flavor to goat or hog!
It's not as if today's
It's not as if today's Charles river water is sterile. Even though the river is way cleaner than it was in 1982, it still has plenty of organisms swirling around.
Meanwhile the Harvard health person described the risk of the goat in a qualitative way. For all we know, getting splashed by Charles water is just as risky as eating farm raised goat.
Anon: You're seriously uninformed on this
Even though the Charles has a long history of being used as a sewer, it is now one of the cleanest urban rivers in the country. There have been a lot of people and organizations that have led to this dramatic change. The Charles River Watershed Association deserves a lot of credit for leading the charge to clean the Charles. Last year, the EPA gave the river an A- rating.
Today, the Charles is one of the busiest recreational rivers in the world, with thousands of rowers, hundreds of sailors, and many kayakers and power boaters on it every day.
The cyanobacteria is a problem, one that people are trying to resolve. Cyanobacteria is one of the oldest living organisms and is present is virtually every freshwater body of water in the world. On the Charles, it is made worse by phosphorus in run-off from fertilizers and auto exhaust along the full length of the river.
Lol
I’ll jump in after you
Suggestion...
Just move this goat skinning activity to that bar in Chelsea and everyone ends up happy.
Your Welcome.
Better yet
It could be declared a sacred ritual of Greek orthodox, Jewish, Santoria, or Islamic origin.
Why is it one extreme
Why is it one extreme (skinning, etc...) or the other (no goat on the menu at all)?
Why can't they have a happy medium* - get the goat meat from a safe butcher/grocer, marinate/brine/whatever the night before (taking precautions against spoilage), and cookout the next day? Or just smoke/slow roast it overnight?
They present a couple of reasonable concerns, but nuke 90% of the event instead of trying to address the concerns.
* except the goat - I would probably cook to medium-well, not just medium
I have a friend from Ghana
He is Muslim. Almost no tension there between Christians and Muslims. His mom died, his devout Muslim dad re-married a Catholic woman. He tells me about the celebrations they have where goats are slaughtered and roasted. Tasty btw. Try it some time.
I'd suggest they ask some Africans, or others who have this practice for cultural and religious reasons, to Harvard Yard and they can ritualistically slaughter and roast a goat. If Harvard adminstrators complain, accuse them of insensitivity and racism. Problem solved.
> almost no tension
> almost no tension
Until they snap. And then it's all "nobody could have predicted this".
Yeah, and?
That's true of everyone. Not sure what your point is.
Correct post title, please
"Slaughter" means killing an animal. Breaking down an animal that was slaughtered elsewhere != "slaughter".
I thought about that ...
You're right: The Harvard students are skinning and dismembering the goat for their roast. But the slaughter is part of it - just not something that takes part in front of Dunster House.
Yeah, but.
Lots of animals are locally slaughtered, especially this time of year with Easter coming up. Plenty of old-school Greek families roast a locally-raised lamb, for example. Most don't do the slaughtering themselves, but get it really fresh from their local butcher...
If they still offered the course
this wouldn't be an issue. I bet the goat roast would even get you extra credit.