Category: Academia

Academia, Bizarre, Free Speech, Media, Society, Uncategorized

The Ole Miss Incident: The University is Tested Once Again

Submitted by Charlton Stanley (Otteray Scribe), Guest Blogger

Ole MissThe Laramie Project is a play by Moisés Kaufman and members of the Tectonic Theater Project about the torture-murder of Matthew Shepard, a gay University of Wyoming student in 1998. Mutilated and almost dead, he was found tied to a barbed wire fence just outside Laramie, Wyoming. That fence was the inspiration for the play’s logo. Matthew Shepard died of his injuries shortly after being taken to a local hospital. The murder was called a hate crime, but in 1998 there were few hate crime laws, and there was none in Wyoming.

Shortly after Matthew Shepard was killed, Kaufman and members of the Tectonic Theater Project went to Laramie and interviewed dozens of local people about the murder. The play draws on over 400 hours of interviews with residents of Laramie, as well as company members’ own journal entries and published news reports. The Laramie Project is divided into three acts. Eight actors portray more than sixty characters in a series of short scenes.

The play has been performed all over the US and internationally as well. Venues have included high schools, colleges, and community theaters across the US. As of this writing, The Laramie Project has also been performed at professional playhouses in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand. Not surprisingly, Fred Phelps and his merry band of haters have frequently picketed The Laramie Project.

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Academia, Free Speech, International, Media

U.S. Reportedly Bars Entry To Leading Critic Of NSA Surveillance Programs

220px-Ilija_trojanow_by_thomas_dorn_232_KBWhile there has been little media attention in the United States, European press is reporting how German-Bulgarian writer and activist Ilija Trojanow was barred from entering the United States this week. A critic of NSA spying programs and professor at The European Graduate School, Trojanow was invited to speak at a literary conference and is well-known for his criticism of the surveillance state. He said that he was given no explanation for being barred from entry.

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Academia, Lawyering, Torts

Cooley Loses Defamation Case Against Law Firm And Secures Ruling Affirming That It Misrepresented Data

Cooley_logo_blueWe have been following the highly dubious litigation of cross claims between Thomas M. Cooley Law School and Kurzon Strauss and some bloggers.  The law school filed a defamation claims against the firm and bloggers who criticized the institution’s portrayal of its graduates’ employment statistics.  United States District Judge Robert J. Jonker has now dismissed the case. However, in a rather curious lesson for its students, Cooley is pledging to continue the litigation with an appeal.

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Academia, Bizarre, Society

Florida Student Reportedly Suspended For Using Finger Gun In Playground Game

220px-gesture_thumb_up_then_down_forefinger_out_like_gun1We have previously followed the suspensions and discipline of students under zero tolerance policies that are used by teachers to justify zero judgment or responsibility. I have long criticized zero tolerance policies that have led to suspensions and arrests of children (here and here and here and here). Here is a prior column on the subject (and here).Children have been suspended or expelled for drawing stick figures or wearing military hats or bringing Legos shaped like guns or even having Danish in the shape of a gun. Despite the public outcry over the completely irrational and abusive application of zero tolerance rules, administrators and teachers continue to apply them blindly. If you do not have to exercise judgment, you can never been blamed for any failure. That seems to be the logic out of Harmony, Florida where teachers have suspended eight-year-old Jordan Bennett for using a finger as a play gun. This is only the last of such absurd finger gun cases. In the meantime, a student in Rhode Island was suspended for having a key chain with a tiny gun the size of a quarter on it.

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Academia, Criminal law, International

Publish or Perish Purchase: China Grapples With Massive Black Market For Fake Academic Publications

260px-Gerbrand_van_den_Eeckhout_003We have followed controversies over fake pictures in Chinese newspapers, fake eggs in Chinese stores, fake meat in Chinese markets (here and here) and fake lions in Chinese zoos, but that does not appear to the end of it. Recently, cash rained down from an apartment building after a raid by policemen. The occupants tossed out $50,000 to try to destroy evidence of their fraud: fake scholarly articles being sold to academics.

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Academia, Bizarre, Torts

Tuba Torts

I have been warning for years of the dangers of tuba lines and now you can see why. Tuba lines are torts waiting to happen. The question is whether proximate causation for negligence of the first Tuba player covers all six victims or whether the casual chain is cut off after the first fall. It seems clear that the chain reaction is the foreseeable consequence of the original fall.

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Academia, Religion

Duquesne University Professor Dies In Abject Poverty

-Submitted by David Drumm (Nal), Guest Blogger

250px-Holy_Ghost_Fathers_sealMargaret Mary Vojtko, an adjunct professor who had taught French at Duquesne University for 25 years, died of a massive heart attack at the age of 83. Adjunct professors at Duquesne make between $3000 and $3500 per semester per course. In the best of times, Margaret Mary, teaching three course, wasn’t even clearing $25,000 a year with no benefits and no job security. After Duquesne reduced her to one course, Margaret Mary couldn’t afford to pay the electricity bill and her home became uninhabitable in the winter.

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Academia, Bizarre, Constitutional Law, Free Speech, International, Society

EasyJet: No Frills, No Free Speech?

220px-Easyjet_a319-100_g-ezbr_hundredthairbus_arpEasyJet has long been notorious for the level of service and comfort of a cattle car. However, the cattle were at least allowed to get on the plane and occasionally “moo”. Mark Leiser, who lectures at Strathclyde University, says that he was pulled out of line on his delayed flight and told that he could not board the plane. The reason? Lesier had tweeted criticism of the airline, which one would think the no-frills company would be rather used to. Apparently not. He says that he was only allowed on the plane after the airline employees discovered that he is a lawyer.

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Academia, Bizarre, Criminal law

University Of Florida Professor Reportedly Admits To Filming Female Students To Confirm Whether They Are Wearing Undergarments

professorsamuelsonUniversity of Florida Professor Don Samuelson, 65, has been arrested for a rather bizarre obsession. Using a camera pen, Samuelson was accused of filming under the clothing of female students in his class. What is even more bizarre is his defense: he insists that he was doing research to determine whether any students were not “wearing undergarments.” What Samuelson insisted was harmless research is considered by the police to be voyeurism.

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Academia, Bizarre, Constitutional Law, Free Speech, Media, Politics, Society

Kansas Professor Under Fire For Anti-NRA Tweet

BdnQu.St.81We have another example of a teacher being disciplined for an act of free speech in his private time. I have previously written about the increasing scrutiny given public school teachers in their use of social media sites. University of Kansas Associate Professor of Journalism David Guth has been placed on administrative leave after posting an anti-NRA tweet following the recent Navy Yard shootings that killed 12 people. Guth tweeted” “blood is on the hands of the #NRA. Next time, let it be YOUR sons and daughters. Shame on you. May God damn you.”

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Academia, International

The Slurpee For The Renaissance Man: At The Sandwich Family, Dessert Preceded Lunch

image_1354-chocolateAccording to Dr Kate Loveman of the University of Leicester, the famous Earl of Sandwich was not the only member of his family with a keen culinary eye. Researchers have uncovered what is arguably the first English recipe in a collection of this grandfather, the earlier Earl of Sandwich. It turns out dessert came first in the family with recipes for chilled chocolate treats in 1668.

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Academia, Science

Mark The Date: Scientists Find 1.75 Billion Expiration Date On Earth

earth-screensaver_largeFor those who are fastidious in scheduling on their iPhone planners, you might want to set one of those ten-minute alerts for 1.75 billion years to address any remaining items on your to-do list. Scientists have determined that, absent a nuclear holocaust, catastrophic asteroid or new William Shatner album, the Earth could continue to support life for at least another 1.75 billion years.

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Academia, Constitutional Law, Society

Utah Valley University Holds International Conference on the Loss of Privacy In America

200px-UVU_SealI am in Utah to speak at the Constitution Day celebrations at Utah Valley University and its conference on privacy in America. The conference is the latest national conference organized by the Center for Constitutional Studies. The speakers at the event include Governor Thomas Ridge, former Homeland Security Secretary, who gave a surprising speech that questioned the growth of the department and the raised concerns over the threat to privacy poised by recent disclosures of warrantless surveillance. Ridge repeatedly returned to expressing his trepidation over the sweeping assault on privacy as well as the lack of safeguards under the FISA court and existing laws.

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Academia, Criminal law, International

Beer Fight Or Just A Categorical Imperative Gone Wrong? Fight Erupts in Beer Line Over Kantian Difference

beer220px-Immanuel_Kant_(painted_portrait)Fights over beer are hardly unknown, particularly in the hard drinking circles of Russia (though vodka would appear the more likely fuel). However, police were called to a fight between two men standing in line over beer where one shot the other after arguing over . . . the writings of philosopher Immanuel Kant. It is clear that Kant and beer do not mix.

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