What Do You Give to a Failed Candidate?
Just three months after his campaign to become the Vice President of the United States ended, former Senator John Edwards has been given a new job that seems designed to keep him, at least occasionally, in the public eye.
Edwards is going to become the Director of a new organization called the Center on Poverty, Work, and Opportunity (CPWO for short) that will officially be a part of the Law School at UNC-Chapel Hill. His title will be University Professor. He will give occasional guest lectures and do whatever directing the CPWO entails. For that work, he’ll be paid $40,000 annually. That’s a lot less than a senator is paid, but money is really no object for the millionaire lawyer.
“Bake sale” stirs debate
CHARLOTTE — A planned College Republican-sponsored “affirmative action bake sale” at UNC-Charlotte has raised the ire of at least one school official, who said the event is offensive to minorities.
Members of the UNC-Charlotte College Republicans want to set up a booth Feb. 15 to offer baked goods with different prices for various groups of students. This is the third year the group has held the sale. Similar events have been conducted at college campuses across the nation in previous years.
Hayes fights for military recruiters
CHAPEL HILL — Rep. Robin Hayes, R-N.C., was among the leaders of a recent House resolution to express support for the continuation of a federal law that denies federal funding to colleges that do not allow military recruiters on campus. The resolution is in response to U.S. District Court of Appeals ruling in November that struck down the law.
Edwards’ new gig:
The Dionne article anticipated last week’s big Edwards news. He now has an issue: the alleviation of poverty. Dionne doesn’t write that Edwards has no idea about how to accomplish it; instead, as he graciously puts it, Edwards is “planning to set up a center to study ways to alleviate poverty.” That would be UNC’s new Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity, of which Edwards will be director.
Speeches offer Bush Higher Education Plan
CHAPEL HILL — Though most of the State of the Union address Feb. 2 dealt with reforms to Social Security and spreading freedom throughout the world, President Bush also focused attention on his higher-education goals.
During his fifth State of the Union address, Bush advocated increasing Pell Grant funding as well as providing more funding for workforce training initiatives for community colleges. Both proposals were ways, Bush said, “to make our economy stronger and more dynamic.”
What the [heck] class do you watch anti-war music videos in?
Critics of higher education often write about leftist bias in the classroom, barely literate students who somehow gain admission, dumbing down of course content, and academically disengaged students. Sometimes, however, those problems write themselves.
Revisionist attempt to erase history
In December, UNC-Chapel Hill Chancellor James Moeser retired the Spencer Bell Award after questions were raised over the award’s “integrity.” A January 12 article in The Daily Tar Heel explained the decision by citing a December 3 letter from the Chancellor. “Some esteemed women on our campus—women who I think could be considered for the Bell Award—were asked if they would accept it if it were offered. Their answer was ‘no.’”
That was enough to dump an award going back more than a century.
Cornelia Phillips Spencer is best known for her efforts to reopen UNC after reconstruction. Upon hearing that the University would reopen in 1875, Spencer ran to the University bell tower and rang the bell in an effort to inform others of the good news. Hence the title: Spencer Bell Award.
O’Dell speaks to NBC 17
Note: Here is a copy of an interview of North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics teacher Carol O’Dell. The interview was part of the NBC 17 program “At Issue” and was conducted by moderator Donald Jones and Donna Martinez of the John Locke Foundation. The topic of the interview was O’Dell’s assertions that NCSSM is declining academically. O’Dell was informed by school administrators that her contract would not be renewed mainly because she has been critical of the school’s apparent academic decline. NCSSM officials declined a request by NBC 17 to appear on the program. The interviewed aired December 19, 2004.
Tuition Waivers Challenged
CHAPEL HILL – A report released by the John W. Pope Center for Higher Education Policy today challenges the merits of the tuition waiver program at the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics, while shedding light on academic and administrative concerns at the school.
Despite the landmark Supreme Court ruling, race preferences continue to roil
RALEIGH — In June 2003, the Supreme Court heard two cases concerning racial preferences in Michigan higher education, Gratz v. Bollinger (on preferences used by the University of Michigan) and Grutter v. Bollinger (on preferences used by its Law School). The Court ruling against outright racial preferences in admissions while ruling in favor of considering race in admissions so long as it is used as only one of “pertinent elements of diversity.”