We have been following the investigation of the murder of Florida State Professor Dan Markel – a case that has cast suspicions on the family of his ex-wife and fellow professor Wendi Adelson. Much of this suspicion has been drawn to Adelson’s brother, Charlie Adelson. Charlie Adelson was reportedly romantically involved with Katherine Magbanua, who just happened to be the mother of two children with Sigfredo Garcia, one of the two accused hit men (with Luis Rivera). Magbanua was arrested recently and then Rivera has cut a deal to cooperate in a guilty plea. Now Rivera has reportedly given evidence that further implicates the Adelson family. Rivera pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and told police that the motive for the murder for hire was because “the lady wants her kids back.” In a truly chilling added element, Rivera said that he saw Wendi Adelson before killing her husband and that she stared directly at him and Garcia.
Category: Academia
Today it is my honor to give the keynote address of the Women’s Lecture Luncheon Series at Brazosport College in Texas. It is a particular pleasure to speak at Brazosport because I have previously had events at this wonderful campus located in Lake Jackson Texas. Indeed, I have watched the college grow on its pristine 156 acres in to a broad based educational institution. My address will be at 11:00 AM and is entitled “Separation Anxiety: The Rise of Presidential Power and the ‘Fourth Branch’ in the Madisonian System.”
Continue reading “Turley to Speak At Brazosport College”
The University of California, Irvine Black Student Union is demanding a ban on the UC Irvine Police Department. The protest featured protesters with signs reading “Blue Lives Don’t Matter” and “F–k the Police.” It was an interesting protest after a professor at the University of Virginia was forced into a leave of absence after calling Black Lives Matter as racist organization akin to the KKK. In this case, however, equally caustic remarks against the police were not viewed as matters for discipline. I have favored free speech protections in all of these circumstances. My concern is that there is a double standard being applied based on the content of such speech.
Continue reading “University of California at Irvine Students Push For Ban On UC Police From Campus”
We have been discussing the concerns over free speech on our campuses, including the question of equal treatment given social postings by faculty in their private time. Douglas Muir, an adjunct professor at the University of Virginia’s Engineering School, has become the focus of these concerns after he took a leave of absence after he was criticized for calling Black Lives Matter as the biggest racist organization since the Ku Klux Klan. It was clearly an inflammatory statement and understandably viewed by many as insulting and ill-informed. However, there remain free speech concerns over when such statements have resulted in disciplinary actions for academics.
It is good to see, after hundreds of billions of U.S. dollars and thousands of U.S. lives, Iraq is in stable governmental hands. We have previously discussed the rampant corruption in the Iraqi government where billions of our aid has simply disappeared. However, there is also the problem of sheer lunacy. That would be the problem with Kazem Finjan, Iraq’s Transport Minister, who has claimed that the ancient Sumerians travelled to Pluto in spaceships thousands of years ago. It appears that Finjan was not content with the claim of Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan that Muslims discovered America. He had to go beyond the Earth to the farthest reaches of the solar system. Continue reading “Space Cadet: Iraqi Transport Minister Proclaims That Sumerians Traveled To Pluto Thousands of Years Ago”
James Madison University has issued a list of 35 things to instruct students on not saying “dumb” things, a list that reflects phrases considered to be “microaggressions” or insensitive comments. The students at the orientation were told never to say things like “love the sinner, hate the sin,” “we’re all part of the human race,” “I treat all people the same,” and “people just need to pick themselves up by their bootstraps.” among other expressions.
Continue reading “James Madison Students Instructed Not To Say Things Like “Picking People Up By Their Bootstraps””
It appears that the movement against “micro aggressions” and “cultural appropriation” has now targeted opera. In an act of artistic cowardice, the theater at the University of Bristol has cancelled the performance of Aida after students declared that the entire production was a cultural appropriation. It turns out that Giuseppe Verdi was culturally (and operatically) appropriating in 1871 and continues to do so with every performance of this classic opera.
The University of Wisconsin – La Crosse has been much in the news these days and, for some, the news is not good. The school seems at the heart of a national trend toward hyper-sensitivity and intense scrutiny over the use of free speech. In one recent inside, a student objected to a Harry Potter mural that was condemned as depicting “Man power. Cis power. Able power. Class power.” Then there is the school’s “Hate Response Team” which has investigated such alleged offensive terms as “All Lives Matter” and “Trump.” Then last December, the Vice Chancellor apologized for the “fear and angst” caused by a truck that drove through campus with a rebel flag on its grille. Now the Ethnic and Racial Studies Department of UW LaCrosse have posted signs for the review of Halloween costumes to determine if they are racist.
The University of Michigan this week have issued a new directive to faculty that they must accommodate students in their preferred pronouns, including “they” and “ze.” Those pronouns will appear on class lists and professors are told to acknowledge any mistaken pronoun use and correct the mistake as “one of the most basic ways to show your respect for their identity and to cultivate an environment that respects all gender identities.” That may not sit well with faculty who have deep-seated objections to the use of pronouns like “they” to refer to a single person as a matter of personal, religious, or intellectual matter. However, the university added that “If there were a persistent pattern of ignoring a student’s preference, we would address that as a performance matter.” One student has already registered his protest by changing his pronoun to “His Majesty.”
We have yet another story of educators showing no regard for the interests of students in the imposition of a thoughtless and baseless punishment. In this case, the Wayne-Westland Community Schools had children using discolored and tainted water in their restrooms. Hazel Juco took a picture of the disgusting water and posted it in the hope of getting action. The school administrators responded by suspending her.
I recently expressed unbridled pride in my alma mater, The University of Chicago, in taking a stand for free speech and rejecting the notion of sheltering students from opposing or disturbing views with “safe spaces” and speech codes. Now, across town, my other alma mater, Northwestern University, appears intent on embracing the opposing view. Northwestern President, Morton Schapiro, has called faculty and students who adhere to views underlying the “Chicago Principle” as nothing more than “lunatics.” Fortunately, I only went to Northwestern for graduate school and was able to secure my undergraduate degree at Chicago in a free and robust community of free thought and free expression. The contrast in the two schools on different sides of the city captures the deep division among academics. However, as one of those “lunatics” and “idiots” denounced by Schapiro, there is no question in my view where the better educational environment can be found in light of Schapiro’s comments. He also denounced those with opposing academic views as just speaking from their privileged backgrounds and lifestyle.
Continue reading “Northwestern University President Calls Faculty And Students Opposed To Safe Zones “Lunatics””
I have been a long critic of the erosion of free speech on college campuses and the use of the ill-defined concept of “micro aggressions” to sanction students and faculty alike. Now there is a national campaign by the National Association for Bilingual Education and the Santa Clara County Office of Education that indicates that a teacher who mispronounces a student’s name is causing an offense to the student’s identity. negative emotional state that can lead to poor academic success.
The campaign, titled “My Name, My Identity” says on its website, “Did you know that mispronouncing a student’s name negates the identity of the student? This can lead to anxiety and resentment which, in turn, can hinder academic progress.” The author of an influential report on the issue, Rita Kohli, an assistant professor of education at the University of California at Riverside, maintains that such mistakes can be deemed a “microaggression.” That is chilling for some of us who are notoriously bad at pronouncing names.
Continue reading “Is Mispronouncing A Name A “Microaggression”?”
Another university has cancelled a conservative speaker under the guise of security concerns. The speaker is Milo Yiannopoulos who has repeatedly been disrupted or cancelled in his effort to speak on campuses (as well as being barred by Twitter). Yiannopoulos attracts considerable opposition and seems to relish the controversy with his “Dangerous Faggot” tour.
Continue reading “University of Miami Cancels Milo Yiannopoulos Event In The Name Of Security”
We recently discussed the dubious research grant on lesbian drinking habits. Now, researchers in Switzerland have used a research grant to establish what would seem the most obvious fact known to most anyone over 10: drinking a single glass of beer can make people more sociable. It turns out that Mackeson Beer was right: “It looks good, it tastes good, and by golly it does you good.”
Continue reading “Swiss Study: People Become More Sociable After A Single Beer”
Marquita Alston, 24, was a teacher at Pearl-Cohn Entertainment Magnet High School who pleaded guilty to five counts of statutory rape with five different 17-year old boys, including encounters on school property. What is very surprising is that five counts of statutory rape by a teacher results in no jail time and only five years of probation.