"even in a contract one cannot give up one's rights"

So eyewitness testimony, where deemed credible, is insufficient to you? How do you think criminal cases are proven? Magic? Psychics? Testimony and evidence.

Or causes bad publicity for your employer, or simply makes your employer question your character.

It's not on shaky ground at all. It's a contract between the school and the student, and it's a condition of enrollment. "Guilt," here, simply means "whether or not a university-level punishment is appropriate."

The students agreed to comport themselves in a certain way when they joined the university. That agreement does not stop at the classroom door, that's the Code of Conduct the university promulgated and to which the students are beholden. If the students feel that's unfair, they are free to not pursue their studies…

I understood you fine, and yes, the university's job is not to prevent anything.

Of course you can create your own internal justice system. Every university has a code of conduct that students submit themselves to as a condition of employment/matriculation. You cannot kill them, as Judge Dredd would, but you could levy any university-based punishment (warning, probation, expulsion). Again,…

It should be a school matter, as well, just as it would be an employment matter in that context. What you propose - no school consequences for out-of-school behavior - is far more infantilizing than the converse. In real life, your actions have consequences both in and out of the context in which they're committed. …

You're right that you can screw up a PLU pretty readily. Even adding a "9" at the beginning (code prefix for organic produce) can result in a higher price being charged.

Dear Justice Scalia;

You sound like you've got a real winning personality.

Aaaaaand you saved it. Well done, sir.

The stoner Jesus schtick takes away from the very funny punchline.

"the asshole behind the register has mis-charged me things"

Well, you can't try your hand in the NFL or NBA without some college or experience in the international leagues under your belt, first of all. Those are the rules, and I doubt you'll find a kid from Watts who's prepared to transplant to the Czech Republic (or a team that would know who he was or recruit him without a…

It's a perfect analogy. Tell me where it fails. All you've trotted out so far are tropes about the value of an education.

I think you're pushing it a bit with this one.

The total package is always important, I agree.

Walmart can't pay you in Walmart gift cards, the actual-employment equivalent of the college athletic "salary" of room, board, and classes. Walmart also can't cut off an employee who is injured on the job without compensation.

I've suggested two Irish girl's names, Saoirse and Siobhan, to many people. I always get side-eye, but I think they're great names.