In Delaware, Dramatically Different Conceptions of the Current State and the Future Prospects of Higher Education
Earlier this month, Dr. Patrick T. Harker, President of the University of Delaware, wrote an op-ed in the Philadelphia Inquirer expressing his views of the American university and the faculty of the University of Delaware. His op-ed is available at: http://www.philly.com/philly/opinion/inquirer/20150205_Universities_must_adapt_to_meet_student_needs.html After an open meeting of the membership of the University of Delaware chapter of AAUP,…
Can Television Personalities—Media Personas–Even Have Personal Histories?
When 24/7 cable news channels were introduced, it seemed as if the great promise of television as a tool to educate the citizenry was about to be realized. Some optimistic prognosticators envisioned day-long series of reports like those presented on Edward R. Murrow’s See It Now or CBS’s 60 Minutes. Perhaps those prognosticators should have…
In Praise of Scott Walker—An Annotated Response to a Wall Street Journal News Story
Colleges are usually at the forefront of radical politics [The word “radical” suggests extreme and abrupt change driven by ideological rather than practical concerns. These days there is much more political radicalism on the Far Right than anywhere on the Left], but when it comes to their own privileges they become feudal empires [Loaded language…
The Numbers Support Patricia Arquette, Not Her Critics (And They Indicate a Truth about “Right to Work” as Well)
Patricia Arquette is being slammed from both the Left and the Right for her comments during and after her acceptance speech for the Academy Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role. From the Left, the criticism has come largely from other disadvantaged groups who feel that her focus was too narrowly on women’s issues,…
Two Oscars-Related items
The first item is from the Huffington Post. Written by Andy McDonald, it is a fill-in-the-blanks template for the acceptance speeches made by those who win Academy Awards. It is available at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/18/oscar-acceptance-speech-mad-lib-photo_n_6708368.html?ncid=newsltushpmg00000003 It goes a long way toward clarifying why the red-carpet interviews have become almost as interesting as, if not more interesting than,…
Wright State Was in the News Again, and If It Was an Entirely Good Thing, I Probably Wouldn’t Be Writing about It
Those of you who are regular readers of this blog know that I have hardly been reluctant to address issues that have arisen at my own university. So I was not surprised when I received several e-mails asking how—not if—I was going to address the latest incident that has brought Wright State national attention that it…
Student Debt as a Percentage of Total Household Debt, Q4-2014
The following chart shows total household debt in the United States, broken down into its major components, in the fourth quarter of 2014: In effect, although total household debt increased from $11.71 trillion to $11.83 trillion from the third to the fourth quarters of last year, student-loan debt remained a relatively flat percentage of that…
Legislating History, Legislating Science, Legislating Reality
Much of what is coming from the Far Right these days could come straight out of George Orwell or Jonathan Swift. An Oklahoma legislative committee has just voted to forward to the legislature a bill eliminating the funding for Advanced Placement history courses. In fact, the overwhelming demonstration of support for that bill both within…
Why a White Guy Doesn't Want to Belong to a "White" Group
This post is an addendum to Aaron Barlow’s post on the attacks on Prof. Bebout’s course on “Whiteness,” a post which you should probably read before reading the rest of this post, especially if you are unfamiliar with the controversy. The most obvious irony is, of course, that this sort of virulent response to Prof.…