We previously discussed the falling enrollments at the University of Missouri after their Black Lives Matters (BLM) protests. The closure of dormitories has continued with three additional undergrad residence halls being shuttered. There are now seven such closed dormitories on campus.
Continue reading “University of Missouri Closes Four More Dormitories”
We have been discussing the alarming rollback on free speech on United States campuses with the active or passive support of university and college administrators (with the exception of schools like University of Chicago). Students now treat free speech as itself a threat and seek to prevent other students from hearing from speakers with whom they disagree. The latest such example is at Claremont McKenna College where students succeeded in preventing other students from hearing from Heather MacDonald due to her pro-police views.
Continue reading “Claremont McKenna Protesters Disrupt Pro-Police Speaker”
The Washington Post has an interesting story this week about a group of high school reporters who showed what true investigatory journalists are capable of. Connor Balthazor, 17, and his colleagues at the Booster Redux at Pittsburg High School in southeastern Kansas began to dig into the background of their new principal, Amy Robertson. They found discrepancies and Robertson resigned.
Continue reading “Meddling Kids Score Journalistic Coup In Kansas”
Every student can recount the stress and work that went into their college essays. Indeed, some people hire advisers on the preparation of these essays. For Ziad Ahmed however repetition was the key. Asked by Stanford University to respond to “What matters to you, and why?”, his answer was to repeat the expression #BlackLivesMatter” 100 times. He got in.
I previously wrote a column on the need for academics to rally around the University of Chicago, which has taken a courageous stand in support of free speech by rejecting speech codes and “safe spaces.” Some schools have followed UChicago’s lead. The latest is Northern Arizona University where President Rita Cheng decided to stand firm on the free speech foundations for our academic institutions. The result has been demands from students and faculty that she resign for her fealty to free speech and refusal to create “safe spaces”. It is another example of the rising intolerance and taste of speech regulation on our campuses.Continue reading “Northern Arizona President Under Fire For Refusing To Commit To “Safe Spaces””
There has been an outcry against Iowa State University over a short essay assignment for International Studies students. It is a firestorm that most faculty hardly expect with regard to a singe essay assignment of a minimum of 500 words. However, students were told to “Write a paper that gives a historical account of 911 from the perspective of the terrorist network. In other words, how might Al-Qaeda or a non-Western historian describe what happened.” There have been calls for action by the state legislature. I hope that the state legislature will consider the impact of such action against the values of academic freedom. Faculty often try to force students from looking at issues from different perspectives, particularly in the area of international studies. That does not mean that the school favors Al Qaeda or belittles 9-11.
University of Minnesota law professor Edward S. Adams is facing an astonishing criminal indictment over millions of missing funds from investors in his companies. The indictment says that Adams perpetrated an elaborate fraud on investors and fellow partners. According to the indictment, from 2006 to 2013, Edward S. Adams stole more than $4.38 million from investors and paid more than $2.54 million to his own law firm.
What is astonishing is that Adams is the second faculty member to face criminal charges on the Minnesota law faculty. Continue reading “Minnesota Law Professor Charged With Massive Criminal Fraud”
This morning, our blog hit 31,000,000 views. We have had an increase in visitors and our new voices are heartily welcomed to our little band of commentators. We try to offer a place for civil but passionate discourse on legal and policy issues of our time (and perhaps a few wacky stories). We continue to rank in the top legal blogs in the world and we are continuing to see a growing international readership. We often use these milestones to look at the current profile of the blog and its supporters around the world.
As always, I want to offer special thanks for our weekend contributors: Mike Appleton, Larry Rafferty, Darren Smith, Kimberly Dienes, and Cara Gallagher. I particularly want to thank Darren who has continued to help manage the blog and help out folks who encounter posting problems.
I also want to thank our regular commentators and readers. We try to keep this blog as an open forum with as little interference or monitoring of the comments as possible. Given our free speech orientation, we try not to delete comments and, for that reason, we are deeply appreciative of how most people avoid personal or offensive comments in debating these issues. The success of this blog is due to the fact that we offer something more than the all-too-common troll-driven, angry, and insulting commentary of the Internet. Thank you for voluntarily assuming restraint over the tenor and content of your comments. Continue reading “RES IPSA REACHES 31,000,000”
We have seen rising violence and intolerance on our colleges and universities as some students seek to prevent speakers and claim an ever-widening array of “microaggressions” and cultural appropriations. The latest occurred during a basketball game where a player was attacked due to wearing braids that 20-year-old Hispanic student, Carmen Figueroa, claimed to be cultural misappropriation.
The new law school ranking are out by U.S. News & World Report and there are the usual winners and losers. Indeed, I have connected to both. George Washington University, where I teach, is down 6 slots to 30 (the continuation of a trend where GW dropped 3 spots the year before and 2.5 slots that year before that). Northwestern, my alma mater, was one of the big winners in breaking into the top ten law schools. While professors overwhelmingly express contempt over the ranking, I have long been in the minority. I view the rankings as very helpful for students. (There was no such resource when I applied to law school). Moreover, they are generally reliable in my view, though I would disagree with some specific rankings.
Continue reading “2017 Law School Rankings: Winners and Losers”
Carleton University has students and some faculty upset over a decision to remove scales for its gym because, according to one students, “scales are very triggering” for people with eating disorders. Some asked if mirrors would be next. However, that decision was already made in one dorm in Bucknell University where mirrors were covered in an effort to promote “body positivity” and “self-love.” Various schools have similarly adopted “mirrorless Mondays” to combat eating disorders and triggering episodes.
Continue reading “Carleton University Ban Scales At School Gym Due To “Triggering” Some Students”
I had to share this picture of Jupiter’s moon Io in what is its true color.
I have great respect for Harvard law professor Lawrence Tribe, who remains one of the iconic figures in constitutional law and someone with whom I have had exchanges for years on legal controversies affecting this country. While I was not surprised to see that we disagreed on a constitutional issue related to President Donald Trump, I was surprised to see that he took literally a comment that I made as a joke about impeachable tweets on Morning Joe recently. Tribe ironically responded in a series of tweets to the comment. The more serious problem is that I considered the suggestions of impeachment over Trump’s criticism of President Obama to be laughable. They clearly are not to Professor Tribe. It is something of a reversal of roles since both Tribe and I testified during the Clinton impeachment hearings where he suggested a narrower definition of the constitutional standard while I argued that Clinton could be impeached for an act of perjury.
Continue reading “Impeachable Tweets: A Response To Professor Tribe”
We have been discussing the rollback of free speech on U.S. college campuses as well the adoption of de facto speech codes. Cardiff Metropolitan University has issued a list of phrases that are now deemed as inappropriate including “right-hand man” and “gentleman’s agreement” as well as “forefather” and “sportsmanship.”
The proposed cuts of the Trump Administration of the EPA has many of us deeply concerned, particularly those cuts targeting climate change offices and research. As someone who believe that climate change is one of the greatest threats facing this planet, the evidence continues to mount that we are at or passing a tipping point. Now, an Argentine research base near the northern tip of the Antarctic peninsula has recorded the record temperature at 63.5° Fahrenheit (17.5 degrees Celsius). It is an astonishing and frightening increase.
Continue reading “Antarctica Station Reports Temperatures Reaching 63.5 Degrees”
