Stop the censorship of The City at the Crossroads of History! An Open Letter to the Puffin Foundation and the Museum of the City of New York: As individuals deeply concerned about both the history and current status of the labor movement, we are writing to oppose the suppression and censorship of a major new…
As regular readers of this blog know, I have been posting reports on the accreditation controversy at City College of San Francisco (CCSF) ever since the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC) issued its “show cause” order in early July 2012. (The most recent post, from September 2014, is here, at the end…
Today Diane Ravitch has made several posts to her blog that mark Martin Luther King Day. The first [http://dianeravitch.net/2015/01/19/in-honor-of-dr-martin-luther-king-jr/] provides a link to Dr. King’s speech that was the culmination of the March on Washington [http://www.ibtimes.com/mlk-i-have-dream-speech-full-text-read-martin-luther-kings-entire-march-washington-1787100 and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smEqnnklfYs], as well as to the text of his “Letter from a Birmingham City Jail” [http://mlk-kpp01.stanford.edu:5801/transcription/document_images/undecided/630416-019.pdf]. The second…
“Today we remember and celebrate the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Even today, on movie screens, his message still resonates and on the streets of our communities his example still leads us. I am proud that the Democratic Party carries on Dr. King’s fights: to encourage equality of opportunity for all Americans, to…
Sometimes a small news item encapsulates the rhetorical excess in the reporting and commentary on more profound issues. Over this past year, no topic has received more attention than the deaths of young men of color at the hands of the police and then the subsequent, retaliatory but random murders of policemen after one grand…
Kiefer, Warren. Outlaw. New York: Dutton, 1989. Warren Kiefer has had a colorful life in which he has pursued diverse interests. In the mid-1950s he was the manager of public relation in Latin America for Pfizer International. Then, between 1958 and 1965, he made more than two dozen documentary films about Africa, the Middle East,…
Earlier this month, President Obama proposed reducing the cost of community colleges to “zero.” Mr. Obama said: “I want to make it free.” As the Washington Post suggested in a subsequent editorial, “investing in education is a smart long-term strategy” when addressing income inequality and American competitiveness. The Post proposes means testing community college assistance…
The University of Illinois Board of Trustees has issued its “final” ruling on the firing, summary dismissal and suspension of Dr. Steven Salaita for solidarity tweets with the civilian population during the latest Israel/Gaza conflict last summer. It explicitly rejected the Committee on Academic Freedom and Tenure report. While I found that report to be…
Daily Kos has run a post that includes samples of the work of Cabu, a long-time cartoonist with Charlie Hebdo who was gunned down at age 75. The title of the post is “The Charlie Hebdo Cartoons No One is Showing You,” and it is available at: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/01/11/1357057/-The-Charlie-Hebdo-cartoons-no-one-is-showing-you?. I find two of the cartoons to…