Articles

Articles

Jan 24, 2007 ·

Legislative agenda centered on PACE study

RALEIGH – Legislators return to Raleigh today for the start of the 2007 regular session, with Democrats holding stronger majorities in both the state House (68 Democrats to 52 Republicans) and Senate (31 Democrats to 19 Republicans). Within a week, legislators will begin to wade through wish-list items from the University of North Carolina system. The list includes policy changes and a large spending request to give more money for faculty salaries.

The first General Assembly session of the new year will be held at noon. Today’s sessions are primarily ceremonial, with swearing-in ceremonies and the official transfer of the Speaker of the House chair to Orange County Democrat Rep. Joe Hackney. Democrats elected Hackney to replace the embattled Rep. Jim Black. Senate Democrats elected Sen. Marc Basnight to serve an unprecedented eighth term as Senate President Pro Tem.

Jan 18, 2007 ·

Duke’s Curtis Crisis

Last spring, 88 Duke faculty members signed a public statement stating unequivocally that something “happened” to the accuser in the Duke lacrosse case. They promised to “turn up the volume” regarding the “social disaster” the lacrosse players had unleashed. And the professors said “thank you” to widely publicized protesters who had put up “wanted” posters with the lacrosse players’ photos while carrying signs reading “Time to confess” and “Castrate” outside the lacrosse players’ house.

The “Group of 88” included Kim Curtis, who before late March had compiled a lengthy if unspectacular tenure as a longtime visiting political science professor. Then came the lacrosse incident. For faculty members predisposed to an extreme version of the race/class/gender trinity, the case was too tempting not to exploit. Before signing onto the Group of 88’s statement, Curtis attended rallies denouncing the players (background, in this photo). On March 29, she emailed fellow Durham activists expressing outrage that defense attorneys had (correctly) stated that no DNA match would occur to any lacrosse player. “The self assurance,” wrote Curtis,

in the statement issued yesterday by the team that they will be exonerated by the results of the DNA testing makes me wonder if we’ve gotten the full story about who was at the house that night. Were there others present who in fact carried out the rape and who are being protected by everyone else who was there? How do we know who was there?

Jan 17, 2007 ·

Private colleges, universities want part-time students to receive grants

RALEIGH – The state’s association of private, non-profit colleges is pushing to extend the state’s Legislative Tuition Grant program to part-time students. Hope Williams, president of the North Carolina Independent Colleges and Universities, made the appeal at a meeting of the Joint Legislative Education Oversight Committee in December.

The legislative tuition grant (called NCLTG) is a popular state program that has been in effect since 1975. In 2006, the General Assembly raised the maximum grant per student from $1,800 to $1,900 per year.

The program originated in efforts to “strengthen the academic, management, and financial quality and viability of the private higher education sector,” says education researcher Nat Fullwood, In the 1970s, the University of North Carolina system was expanding rapidly and it was evident that private colleges and universities would lose students to the state system.

Jan 17, 2007 ·

UNC to propose minimum admissions standards

The University of North Carolina is considering a minimum admission standard for all campuses, Harold L. Martin, senior vice president for academic affairs, told a meeting of the education planning committee of the Board of Governors Jan. 11. Such a standard could be proposed as early as June.

Currently, the requirement for attending any UNC campus is high school graduation and a minimum number of specified courses (such as 4 units of English and 4 units of math). A tougher admission standard could take the form of a minimum high school grade point average, class rank, and/or a minimum SAT score.

Jan 11, 2007 ·

Can You Find the Fake Course?

What follows are descriptions of four college courses. Three of them are real courses and one is not. Can you identify the fake?

A. The Adultery Novel. Students will read a series of 19th and 20th century works about adultery and watch several films about adultery. They will apply critical approaches to place adultery in its aesthetic, social and cultural context, including: sociological descriptions of modernity, Marxist examinations of the family as a social and economic institution, and feminist work on the construction of gender.
B. Queer Musicology. This course explores how sexual difference and complex gender identities in music and among musicians have incited productive consternation during the 1990s. Music under consideration will include works by Franz Schubert, Holly Near, Benjamin Britten, Cole Porter, and Pussy Tourette.
C. Whiteness: The Other Side of Racism. This course will spark critical thinking on these questions: What is whiteness? How is it related to racism? What are the legal frameworks of whiteness? How is whiteness enacted in everyday practice? And how does whiteness impact the lives of both whites and people of color?
D. Foodways, Heteronormativity, and Hungry Women in Chicana Lesbian Writing. This course will analyze foodways in recent Chicana lesbian literature, examining writings that illustrate the cultural endurance of heteronormative constructions of gender even as they demonstrate how these beliefs are disrupted, destabilized, and transformed in queer literary kitchens.

Jan 9, 2007 ·

North Carolina State Faculty Challenge Potential Donation

Outspoken faculty members with a strong political agenda have once again interfered in discussions about a potential donation to a North Carolina university.

Toby Parcel, dean of the College of Humanities and Social
Sciences at North Carolina State University, had quietly approached the Pope Foundation to explore funding for academic programs. But in a stormy public meeting in early December, some faculty members loudly and rudely made it clear that they don’t want their college to get any money from Pope.

Apparently opposing the Pope Foundation for its conservative political philosophy, several faculty members used over-the-top language, calling the money “dirty money” and saying that to accept funds would be “a very dangerous step.” (The discussions had involved support of a study abroad program and French and German language programs.)

Jan 4, 2007 ·

Can States Use Higher Education as an Economic Tonic?

Politicians in three Midwestern states – Michigan, Indiana, and Wisconsin – have lately been working on plans that are based on the idea that higher education can spur state economies along to better performance. While the details differ somewhat, all are rooted in the concept that increasing the number of residents with college educations is an investment for the government. Put some money in now, get much more money back later.

Will it work?

In Michigan, Governor Jennifer Granholm calls the new Michigan Promise scholarship a cornerstone of her economic plan to revive Michigan’s lagging economy. The program provides a $4,000 scholarship to students who complete two years of post-secondary education at a two- or four-year school in Michigan, public or private, provided that they have a GPA of at least 2.5. In her press release, Governor Granholm stated, “A $4,000 scholarship makes earning a college degree or technical certification a real possibility for every student. It’s an amazing opportunity for our students and a critical necessity for our economy.” This new scholarship is part of an effort by the state to double the number of college graduates within the next decade.

Dec 27, 2006 ·

The Top 10 Nuttiest Campus Events in 2006

Tis the season for traditional fare, and here it’s been tradition to take one last, not-so-fond look back at ten campus events of the expiring year that made us blush, cringe, or otherwise experience unpleasantness.

Dec 21, 2006 ·

Speech codes still plague college campuses

Some people would have you believe that the age of “political correctness” is over. Supposedly, the movement to stifle speech that could be regarded as offensive by individuals in certain “protected” groups has lost its impact, especially in the institution where political correctness activists found their strongest support – higher education.

Unfortunately, that simply isn’t true.

Dec 21, 2006 ·

Duke course among YAF’s

A course at Duke University entitled “American Dreams/American Realities,” was recently named one of the most bizarre political correct courses by the Young America’s Foundation.

Gerald Wilson taught the course in the spring semester as part of the school’s history curriculum. It was ranked 11th among the 12 courses highlighted by the Young America’s Foundation, which attempted to find what it considered the most troubling examples of leftist activism in the college classroom. The Young America’s Foundation is a Washington-based think tank that promotes conservative ideologies among college students.