The only thing worse than Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government appointing Chelsea Manning as fellow was the school’s withdraw of the fellowship. The school today succeeded in demonstrating to the world that its fellowships have zero intellectual content by first appointing Manning without a clear explanation of her expected academic contributions and then terminating the appointment under pressure. As academics, we are not supposed to remove academic appointments because individuals are controversial or unpopular. If Harvard was sticking by its academic reasons for the appointment, it should stick by its appointee.
Continue reading “Harvard Rescinds Manning Fellowship Under Pressure”
Berkeley geared up for the arrival of a conservative speaker, Ben Shapiro, on campus yesterday with a huge police presence, closed buildings, and . . . counseling. The counseling is for students and employees whose “
Thomas Jefferson called an educated public as “the only safe depositories of their own liberty.” If so, a new 
The McDonald’s coffee cup case has become something of an urban legend as people continue to talk of the woman who supposedly made millions off the spilling of hot coffee. The case is wildly misrepresented and Stella Liebeck, 79, only walked away with an award of $640,000 — after eight days in the hospital for skin grafts and two years of medical recovery treatment. 
As a Game of Thrones fan, I was surprised to hear that Hillary Clinton viewed herself as one of the main characters in the series. I assumed that the character would be such tough women as the Dragon Queen and “Breaker of Chains” 
We have been discussing the rise of groups on campuses that assert the right not to simply protest but to prevent other students from hearing speakers or participating in events. The latest such incident occurred last week at the University of Virginia where members of a social justice group called 
How exactly does this help? 
A couple of faculty members at the Elliott School of International Affairs sent me an email yesterday from their dean, 
I will be participating in a panel today on the Supreme Court’s October Term 2017 with a stellar panel of experts at George Washington University. This has the makings of a historic term with issues ranging from President Trump’s travel ban to gerrymandering to religious objections to providing services for same-sex weddings. The panel will speak about possible new cases and possible outcomes in existing cases with many leading Supreme Court journalists and lawyers in attendance.
The Miyazaki Prefectural Government was the scene of an accident that seems right out of a tort exam. Government officials wanted to show a dead and live blood-sucking tick that is spreading a lethal disease in Japan. The problem is that, after warning about the lethality of tick, the officials put the live tick on a table and it promptly escaped — sending panicked reporters and officials running for the doors. The tick was never found.
The 
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy 
As politicians celebrated the lifting of the debt ceiling in Washington, the United States