Thursday, November 01, 2007

Updates: Cooney at Vanderbilt, etc.

An engaging summary of Jim Cooney's recent appearance at the Vanderbilt Law School.

For those who haven't seen it, a reminder that the "diversity" crusade that motivated the Group of 88 is hardly confined to Duke.

FIRE's blog, The Torch, also has several posts commenting on the University's conduct in the lacrosse case.

Today's N&O provides a good example of the conflict-of-interest US Attorney Anna Mills Waggoner has in investigating the DPD: as Chief Jose Lopez stated (in talking about RICO prosecutions of gangs),
"The U.S. Attorney's Office is not saying we can't do it," said Lopez, who met with federal prosecutors based in North Carolina shortly after taking the chief job in September. "If we do have a good candidate for a RICO case, they would be more than willing to work with us."
So, Waggoner would be investigating a force that she works with on a regular basis.

And a reminder, for readers in the Triangle, my colleague Stuart Taylor will be speaking at Duke tomorrow night.

53 comments:

Anonymous said...

JLS says....,

The U of Deleware story is just flat amazing in the boldness of what people at a public institutions thought they could get away with.

Anonymous said...

"So, Waggoner would be investigating a force that she works with on a regular basis."

You know, it really does look like there is a quiet conspiracy to keep pushing all this equality and diversity stuff no matter how much harm it's doing.

Who's behind it I wonder?

Anonymous said...

For Peter's Sake:

" I'm especially embarrassed that Houston Baker, one of the more unapologetic of that group, was recently hired on here at Vanderbilt."

No discussion of a DukeLAX presentation @ Vandy would be complete w/o mention of Prof 'farm animal'.

Good for you, Peter.

mac said...

The potential for a RICO case in the hoax is enormous: start with the rights of the students to have their records kept private - (federal statute)- and look at the apparent or alleged complicity between Duke U. and the DPD to treat Duke U. students at variance with the rest of the population of Durham.

This gradient alone is the smoke that makes this particular fire visible from afar off.

Then, there is the evidence that has already been testified to in a court of law, under oath - that evidence was suppressed by three parties: the DNA lab, the DPD and the prosecutor's office -(note that I didn't say "Mr. Meehan" nor "prosecutor Nifong.")

There was an apparent effort to suppress the opinion and views of officers who doubted the accuser's stories, and repeated efforts to obtain testimony from Nurse Levicy, whose testimony (as recorded by the DPD) varied as the circumstances changed, with no apparent attempt by the prosecutor nor the DPD to verify her claims with the treating physician.

The collaborative efforts to pursue the false prosecution(s) are so egregious - (and far-reaching, including so far as to encourage and endorse racial threats, even in a court of law) - that it's hard to imagine WHEN a RICO statute might be utilized, if not in this case.

Furthermore, the the press was recruited and hand-fed by the prosecuting authorities - (and by the Duke administration/professoriate) - and as a result, the students were subjected to a mock trial, declared guilty, taunted, harrassed by fellow students, threatened with castration and death, an subjected to humiliations that innocent persons are not supposed to suffer under our constitution. Certain key figures in the media loom large in inflating and perpetuating this hoax.

This hoax was a whole lot better organized than a street gang.

Anonymous said...

As a NC resident, I was interested in the comment below.
---------
James Cooney on the Duke Lacrosse Case

“He also noted that his client was fortunate that North Carolina has a law mandating that prosecutors open their files to defense counsel, because Mike Nifong's deceptions were only revealed before trial because he had to turn that information over.”

Anonymous said...

According to today's NYT, "Prosecutors said they would drop the murder case against a retired Federal Bureau of Investigation supervisor, a law enforcement official said yesterday, after a reporter upended the trial with taped interviews showing that their main witness, a gangster’s mistress, had changed her account and damaged her credibility."

It's curious how the newspaper never figured out that the Duke case had the same problem...

Anonymous said...

I've never worked at the DOJ, but this sort of conflict has to be really common and I'd be very surprised if there weren't conflicts in place to deal with it.

As a practical matter, I don't think conflicts are what's keeping the DOJ at bay. They're going to let the State and the civil courts deal with Durham.

John said...

Holy crap! That University of Delaware "treatment program" is one of the most chilling and scary things I have ever seen in my 56 years. You know how nuts everyone goes about text book bias in other countries, i.e., Wahabbi grade school curricula, or the Japanese treatment of Manchuria, etc. and so forth? We ought to aim those lights a lot closer to home!

Anonymous said...

Is "Fire" Linwood Wilson's theme song? His Gospel group sang it at the convention center.

Anonymous said...

"JLS says....,

The U of Deleware story is just flat amazing in the boldness of what people at a public institutions thought they could get away with."

Not "thought".

Routinely do get away with.

Anonymous said...

Off the topic......
You know Nifong really made it big when he was the satire of a costume in the NYC Halloween Parade.
Cy must be really proud!

Anonymous said...

If a judge in a civil or criminal trial has an actual conflict of interest or, at times, even the appearance of a conflict of interest, that judge will recuse his (or her) self to avoid even the appearance of an impropriety. Given the working relationship between state law enforcement agencies and US Attorney Anna Mills Waggoner (as well as her staff), perhaps it would be best if Ms. Waggoner et al recuse themselves from any investigation into the Durham Police Department, DSI, Duke and Nifong. To avoid the appearance of impropriety, perhaps a US Attorney from another jurisdiction would best serve the interests of not only justice in Durham, but also the integrity of the legal system.

Surely, the civil and constitutional rights of the falsely accused victims of a rogue prosecutor and Stasi-like law enforcement are important enough to justify recusal, to err on the side of shining the brightest disinfectant light on the situation.

Or could it be that Ms. Waggoner knows something that she thinks is better left undiscovered and has a vested interest in blocking an investigation? Now that would be interesting.

W. R. Chambers said...

Education law in England prohibits the presentation of one-sided views without offering guidance to counter-act the "one-sidedness."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/7037671.stm

Anonymous said...

From the website linked in KC's post:

Essentially, the Durham Police Department and the District Attorney had to try very hard to ignore that evidence.

Actually, they didn't try hard at all. Nifong and the cops did ignore the evidence, but they didn't break a sweat doing so. They absolutely knew the case was a "crock" from the get-go. Nifong and the DPD can insist otherwise until hell freezes over and I won't believe him or anyone at the DPD.

Nifong went in with the idea that regardless of the facts he was going to ride this case to victory in the election for DA. Out of that would stem an increase in pension, but I'm quite sure Nifong wasn't doing all this for a $15K/year pension increase. I believe he had much grander designs. Had he gotten this to trial, resulting even in a hung jury (the best possible outcome for the defendants that could ever be expected in Durham), he would have been in a position to leverage that into thousands of dollars per speaking engagement, not to mention some lucrative post-DA career as a legal analyst in the media or maybe a federal government assignment in a future Democratic administration.

The DPD in the form of Gottlieb who has had a grudge against Duke students for years, and is as crooked as they come, and a young, inexperienced Himan were only too willing to oblige Nifong's scheme.

Aided and abetted by several others in Durham government, including judges who should have known better, at Duke, in the ridiculously biased media in Raleigh, Durham, and elsewhere around the country, in race pimp groups such as the NCNAACP and NBBP, and the general indifference to injustice in the Durham community, nobody tried very hard to do anything, except the lacrosse team that was fighting for their lives and reputations, and the defense attorneys who represented them.

All along, it was and still is just Durham being Durham.

Anonymous said...

I just went to the FIRE discussion of the University of Delaware residence hall's "indoctrination" program - and read - University of Delaware Office of Residence Life Diversity Facilitation Training

I was absolutely stunned when I read some definitions:

A RACIST: A racist is one who is both privileged and socialized on the basis of race by a white supremacist (racist) system. The term applies to all white people (i.e., people of European descent) living in the United States, regardless of class, gender, religion, culture or sexuality. By this definition, people of color cannot be racists, because as peoples within the U.S. system, they do not have the power to back up their prejudices, hostilities, or acts of discrimination. (This does not deny the existence of such prejudices, hostilities, acts of rage or discrimination.)" - Page 3

“REVERSE RACISM: A term created and used by white people to deny their white privilege. Those in denial use the term reverse racism to refer to hostile behavior by people of color toward whites, and to affirmative action policies, which allegedly give 'preferential treatment' to people of color over whites. In the U.S., there is no such thing as 'reverse racism.'" - Page 3


Oh my God, there is so much more. This is the moral equivalent of a hangman's noose carried by a diversity zealot, if there ever was one.

I wonder what Delaware's lacrosse team thinks of this.

Gary Packwood said...

John 9:48 said...

...Holy crap! That University of Delaware "treatment program" is one of the most chilling and scary things I have ever seen in my 56 years. You know how nuts everyone goes about text book bias in other countries, i.e., Wahabbi grade school curricula, or the Japanese treatment of Manchuria, etc. and so forth? We ought to aim those lights a lot closer to home!
::
Exactly!!!

This program originated within the office of student affairs because the people who work there have nothing to do.

It would be a really good idea for universities to study the PROPOSED job descriptions of student affairs people before they hire them.

These kids are being asked to attend meetings in the dorms (residence halls) and they are resisting of course because the 'meeting' are similar to classes which they attend during the day with ...real professors.

Kids know a scam when they see one but they are frightened.
::
GP

Gary Packwood said...

Ralph phelan 10:18 said...

..."JLS says....,
...The U of Deleware story is just flat amazing in the boldness of what people at a public institutions thought
...they could get away with."
...Not "thought".
...Routinely do get away with.
::
Are these 'public institutions' taking their lead from 'private institutions' who are doing the same thing with more resources?
::
GP

Anonymous said...

Can PUBLIC institutions do this? This is with TAX PAYERS' MONEY. Can this sort of bias be legal? I'm stunned!

Anonymous said...

Thanks for pointing out the policy at U of D. What are the policies at the Brooklyn College (please provide link)? I am in a University town and I will check on the policy here. I am curious how this happened at a public university.

Anonymous said...

I'm not sure that University of Delaware's "racial diversity" facilitators actually care whether their wards buy this nonsense or not.

After all, the definitive study* of "diversity training" in the corporate world showed that it doesn't work. On the contrary, as Time reported in its review of the study: Studies show that any training generates a backlash and that mandatory diversity training in particular may even activate a bias.

So why are they forcing students to do this? To show the students that they can, that the racialists have the power to make them do it. It's a political power play, pure and simple.

Like some we've seen at Duke U recently.

dave

*Apologies for what is essentially a re-post from an earlier thread, but the previous links didn't all work. The journal article, for those interested, is: "Best Practices or Best Guesses? Assessing the Efficacy of Corporate Affirmative Action and Diversity Policies" by A. Kalev (Cal), F. Dobbin (Harvard), and E. Kelly (U of Minn), American Sociological Review, August 2006, Vol. 71:589-617.

Anonymous said...

Scott at 10:24 I believe you are absolutly correct in your assessment of the event. It was just that simple. No conspiracies need apply.

Anonymous said...

Re: the University of Delaware "diversity facilitation training" -- I'd like to see if we can get the Southern Poverty Law Center involved here. The knee-jerk reaction of some may be "No way! They're going to side with the U of D!" but I think differently: they chart white supremacist groups and black supremacist groups and I am certain they'd have something to say about a college trying to indoctrinate its students that all whites in the United States are racist because they're white.

Anonymous said...

U. of Deleware has its "Deep Thoughts" moment.

Thanks, Jack Handy!!!

http://www.deepthoughtsbyjackhandey.com/media.asp?file=109

Anonymous said...

GP at 11:27 AM said --

These kids are being asked to attend meetings in the dorms (residence halls) ...

For the benefit of those that haven't read the FIRE website, this should not be interpreted to mean that UD dormitory residents, after being asked to attend these meetings, can elect to "opt out" . You know, like you can with an invitation to join the Chess Club or being asked to go out for coffee by that creepy guy in your Psychology class (disclaimer: I'm not implying that there is anything creepy about the Chess Club!).

The Resident Assistants in each dorm make it clear to the residents via email that these meetings are MANDATORY. You will show up and you will participate passionately or else. If missed, they must be made up at some future time or the student will be reported to the school administration.

After looking at what these meetings cover (including the all-too-personal one-on-one's with the Resident Assistant), if I were a UD student today ... well, I wouldn't be one tomorrow.

Anonymous said...

The Big Lead sports blog has an interview with John Feinstein (apologies if this has appeared elsewhere). DIW is mentioned in the interview comments.

From http://thebiglead.com/?p=3545

Q: REGARDING DUKE LACROSSE …
Feinstein: I was very angry when the story first broke especially after (Athletic Director) Joe Alleva’s initial, ‘this is an unfortunate incident,’ comment. If, in fact, a rape took place it went way beyond an unfortunate incident. I probably got sucked in by the rather naive notion that NO prosecutor could possibly be stupid enough or reckless enough to indict people with ZERO evidence. I was certainly wrong about that. IF a crime was committed and IF kids were refusing to talk to the police — which was initially reported before they all submitted to the DNA testing — they SHOULD have had scholarships pulled. Clearly, Pressler was made a scape-goat and the Duke administration handled the situation horribly stem to stern. John Burness, the incredibly arrogant PR guy, was still working until he violated the terms of the Pressler settlement and the school announced his “retirement.” Alleva is still there; the President is still there; the dean of students is still there. What I know upsets people is that I won’t accept the notion of the players as martyrs. Were they put through hell by Nifong? Yes. He’s been disbarred. They have been given multi-million dollar settlements (deserved) and there will always be a segment of America that WILL consider them martyrs. One more thing: If I HAD tried to defend the kids or Duke at the time I would have been hammered as a Duke apologist. One of your posters is probably right — I should never comment on anything Duke (I’m always asked for obvious reasons) because if I defend the school it is because I’m a grad; if I don’t defend it I’m a bad guy for not defending my alma mater.

John said...

This is the link to the response by Michael Gilbert, Ed. D., Vice President for Student Life at the Univ. of Delaware, to the FIRE letter on the referenced program.

http://www.udel.edu/PR/response/

(Sorry it's not active, I don't speak HTML real well.)

Gilbert states: (quote) The indoctrination you speak of serves no educational purpose and does not exist as part of a systematic effort on this campus. I assume that you have noted the absence of any policy, rule, or regulation pertaining to your concerns about disciplinary action being taken against students for unwillingness to be changed in the manner that you describe. (end quote)

So, because they won't discipline a student, a mandatory program, where files rating participants are kept, is not coercive or an indoctrination, I guess?

Gilbert leaves himself an out when he writes: (quote) I do acknowledge that there have been some missteps with the implementation of our program. This is a new effort involving over two hundred staff. As with any University educational endeavor assessment and feedback measures have been established to identify issues or concerns. Each of the issues FIRE presents are currently under review. In fact, we recently became aware that students in several residence halls were told their participation is mandatory at these activities and we have taken steps to clarify this misconception and to notify students of their rights in this area. (end quote)

Hmmmm ... I'm skeptical ... is it just that they've now been caught at it? One must keep an open mind, I guess.

And the repulsive definitions? Maybe they are presented with the strong caveat that they're just what some people think, and the students - all of whom have voluntarily decided to attend - are then encouraged, freely, to react and respond.

I guess everything is just PEACHY!

kcjohnson9 said...

To the 12.54:

Brooklyn College is not a residential institution. Therefore, it has no Office of Residential Life.

becket03 said...

Shakti Butler, PhD., the author of the laughable "Life Diversity Facilitation Training" pamphlet referenced above, got her doctorate from something called the "California Institute of Integral Studies," which doesn't appear to be affiliated with any university.

How astounding that the University of Delaware would commission her work.

Butler's CV (pdf)

Her CV doesn't mention a dissertation. Indeed, no publications whatsoever are listed, except for an ambiguous list of "Videos and Publications," where no distinction is made between what's a video and what's a publication.

It's the CV of a motivational speaker who got her PhD from a diploma mill. This is the "expert" the University of Delaware chose to indoctrinate its students.

beckett

John said...

Broadcast e-mail from the Univ. of Delaware President announcing halt to Residence Life program --

From: president@UDel.Edu
Sent: Thursday, November 01, 2007 5:59 PM
To: XXXXXX, John [USA]
Subject:

Nov. 1, 2007

The University of Delaware strives for an environment in which all people feel welcome to learn, and which supports intellectual curiosity, critical thinking, free inquiry and respect for the views and values of an increasingly diverse population. The University is committed to the education of students as citizens, scholars and professionals and their preparation to contribute creatively and with integrity to a global society. The purpose of the residence life educational program is to support these commitments.

While I believe that recent press accounts misrepresent the purpose of the residential life program at the University of Delaware, there are questions about its practices that must be addressed and there are reasons for concern that the actual purpose is not being fulfilled. It is not feasible to evaluate these issues without a full and broad-based review.

Upon the recommendation of Vice President for Student Life Michael Gilbert and Director of Residence Life Kathleen Kerr, I have directed that the program be stopped immediately. No further activities under the current framework will be conducted.

Vice President Gilbert will work with the University Faculty Senate and others to determine the proper means by which residence life programs may support the intellectual, cultural and ethical development of our students.

Patrick T. Harker
President
University of Delaware
104 Hullihen Hall
Newark, DE 19716-0101
E-mail: president@udel.edu

Anonymous said...

john @ 6:05

Evidently, President Harker recognized immediately the damning nature of the published "diversity" materials.

But this is only the start -- for if this material exists at a state university, and in the open with faculty and administration approval, imagine what the meetings of the New Black Panthers must be like. Imagine the rhetoric of radicals at historically black colleges.

Frankly, I'm glad that the sheet has been pulled off the head of a very insidious aspect of racism in this country.

Anonymous said...

Good for President Harker - a lesson to Brodhead with Donna Shula.

Anonymous said...

Brilliant! Conney at Vanderbilt. Right under Baker's nose. Pointy nose. Who nose... I supspect he's gonna be noseying along before long. Don't think he's gonna last long at Vandy. Nose what I mean?

Baker just needs to find himself a post where there aren't so many rich white boys. They seem to bring out the worst in him.

Anonymous said...

"It's the CV of a motivational speaker who got her PhD from a diploma mill."

While I do agree that "Doctor" Butler could not find her own a** even if given two hands and a diverse array of flashlights to search with, "diploma mill" usually refers to unaccredited institutions, whereas unless there's some focused lying going on, California Institute of Integral Studies is accredited after all.

Anonymous said...

Seeing this in writing is particularly chilling:

All whites are racist

The organization cited excerpts from the university’s Office of Residence Life Diversity Education Training documents, including the statement:
“A RACIST: A racist is one who is both privileged and socialized on the basis of race by a white supremacist (racist) system. ‘The term applies to all white people (i.e., people of European descent) living in the United States, regardless of class, gender, religion, culture or sexuality. By this definition, people of color cannot be racists, because as peoples within the system, they do not have the power to back up their prejudices, hostilities, or acts of discrimination….’”
The education program also notes that “reverse racism” is “a term created and used by white people to deny their white privilege.” And “a non-racist” is called “a non-term,” because, the program explains, “The term was created by whites to deny responsibility for systemic racism, to maintain an aura of innocence in the face of racial oppression, and to shift the responsibility for that oppression from whites to people of color (called ‘blaming the victim’).”

One Spook said...

The now-cancelled program at Delaware is one of the most disturbing things I have read during this entire debacle.

Delaware's President is to be commended for cancelling the program, but what is most troubling to me is that he had to learn of it first via FIRE, the press, and no doubt an avalanche of e-mail, snail mail, faxes and calls. Where is the administrative oversight on programs such as these? (I may not like the answer to that question!)

Another disturbing element is, while a number of students obviously complained to FIRE, what avenue was available to these students to voice complaints and concerns about this program through normal university channels?

Horwitz? Duke Prof? Where the hell are you when we need you? Weigh in here, Docs.

There are 16,296 students (58% women, 42% men; 5% African American, 4% Asian American or Pacific Islander, 4% Hispanic American, 0.4% Native American) at Delaware. How can a group of students today be so spineless and emasculated as to accept and tolerate this type of brainwashing? And, where are the voices of their parents?

If I learned that a university had required my daughter to recall the precise moment when she discovered her sexual identity and her race, I would remove her from that university and sue it faster than you can say "lacrosse." Actually, In truth I wouldn't have had to do that because my daughter, a university graduate last May, would have told them to stick their program where the "sun don't shine." Not surprising, she was hired by a Fortune 100 Corporation (her choice) for a position in her field even before she graduated.

We didn't raise any sissies, show-poodles, or lemmings at my house.

One Spook

Anonymous said...

Wahneema must be frothing @ the mouth to implement "treatment" curriculum to housing students.

"You first became a perrrfekt racist when you were born."

"Now fork over another 40 grand, offendor!"

mac said...

It is interesting that the U. of Delaware and others would declare white people (white males in particular) as the enemy; it is astounding that they would insist that white males should make themselves their own enemy!

If someone tells me that I should become my own enemy because of my race or sex, I will automatically consider that person to be my enemy.

How stupid do they think we are?

(Don't answer that: Brodhead fell for it, and so did others.)

Anonymous said...

one spook asks:

"How can a group of students today be so spineless and emasculated as to accept and tolerate this type of brainwashing? And, where are the voices of their parents?"

Maybe they got tired of bashing their heads against this sort of wall before they even graduated from Junior High?

AMac said...

I ran across an amusing parody of lefty professor Michael Berube's 2006 book What's Liberal About the Liberal Arts?"

Writer Chris Clarke imagines what Berube's sober Liberal defense of the University must look like to the fervent and fevered critics to his right. As a tribute to their (our?) presumed functional illiteracy, Clarke's satire takes the form of a Graphic Novel.

The over-the-top nature of Clarke's wit gains unintended poignancy when juxtaposed against the University of Delaware's imposition of a Long March to Political Correctness on its first-year students.

Anonymous said...

8:49 -- and if you have worked at all for corporate America, you toed this line on pain of losing your job.

becket03 said...

To 12:18 AM

After I posted, I investigated further and found that my description of the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS) as a "diploma mill" was unfair. CIIS is a small urban school specializing in alternative subject matter, e.g., somatic/spiritual philosophy. Its professors have standard, if not very impressive, credentials. CIIS appears to be a haven for Esalen Institute types, veterans of the 70s "new consciousness" of the Big Sur.

Even after perusing the CIIS website for some time, and reading fairly extensively on the interesting career of one of its top professors, Don Hanlon Johnson, I still wasn't able to figure out what CIIS prepares its students to do in the real world.

But if Shakti Butler is any indication, we know that at least one its graduates can't claim to be very well prepared at all.

beckett

Anonymous said...

Here is first-hand account of a "diversity facilitating session" required for Resident Assistants at Cal, similar to what U of Delaware was attempting to impose on its resident students. The writer is non-white. He'd be a pariah in certain quarters at Duke.

dave

AMac said...

A recent University of Delaware R.A. backs up FIRE's charges with his first-person account at SayAnythingBlog. Good links & comments chez David Thompson.

Anonymous said...

one spook wrote:

"Another disturbing element is, while a number of students obviously complained to FIRE, what avenue was available to these students to voice complaints and concerns about this program through normal university channels?"

The same "avenue" that was available to the Duke lacrosse players (and parents).

Oh, don't like walking through a mine field? Try this avenue: the "Office of Residence Life."

Such a complaint will of course be duly noted in the student's permanent file. And said student will be afforded all the faculty support that the G88+ provided to Duke students.

Thus the need for organizations such as FIRE.

Duke Prof

Anonymous said...

The policies described by FIRE are not liberal vs. conservative arguments. I have shown the “Fire” article to liberal friends including academics (I’m an independent) and they disowned it. This is more Orwellian Fascism then it is any of the standard political categories.

One Spook said...

Duke Prof @ 12:25 writes:

"Oh, don't like walking through a mine field? Try this avenue: the "Office of Residence Life."

Such a complaint will of course be duly noted in the student's permanent file. And said student will be afforded all the faculty support that the G88+ provided to Duke students.

Thus the need for organizations such as FIRE."


"I see," said the blind man to the deaf lady." Somehow I feared that would be the answer.

FIRE is quite an interesting group. Their website reports on an update of their support for a student group suing San Francisco State University for denial of free speech and to remove speech codes, here: Oral Arguments Today in SFSU Case

One Spook

AMac said...

SFM 1:43pm wrote --

> The policies described by FIRE are not liberal vs. conservative arguments.

Happily, I think you are right.

But that begs the question: who does devise and promote these policies?

As I've suggested before, the answer may be "disciples of Antonio Gramsci." His philosophy is described here, by Alberto Luzárraga.

Gramsci came to doubt that violence could successfully achieve a Marxist social order. Instead, he proposed using the institutions of bourgeois society to gradually subvert it. In his view, activist intellectuals shouldn't be searching for Knowledge, Truth, or the like. Instead (as at U. of Delaware), their function is to establish what subjects are worth thinking about, and how they should be engaged.

Perhaps Gramscians despise liberals as useful idiots. But how do liberals view Gramscians? Does "No Enemies on the Left!" apply?

Anonymous said...

A great movie set in East Germany, 1984. The parallels to American higher education are stunning.

Anonymous said...

Re: University of Delaware program of indoctrination.

This AM, a radio host said that the president of said University was tracked down in Communist China, and when questioned, acted as if he knew nothing about it. He called the college at once, and the indoctrination program is kaput, over and done.

The discussion went on as to WHY he didn’t know anything about it? Who does these things?

It seems the G-88 travel, does it not?

Anonymous said...

From the University of Delaware Website:

A Message to the University of Delaware Community

Nov. 1, 2007

The University of Delaware strives for an environment in which all people feel welcome to learn, and which supports intellectual curiosity, critical thinking, free inquiry and respect for the views and values of an increasingly diverse population. The University is committed to the education of students as citizens, scholars and professionals and their preparation to contribute creatively and with integrity to a global society. The purpose of the residence life educational program is to support these commitments.

While I believe that recent press accounts misrepresent the purpose of the residential life program at the University of Delaware, there are questions about its practices that must be addressed and there are reasons for concern that the actual purpose is not being fulfilled. It is not feasible to evaluate these issues without a full and broad-based review.

Upon the recommendation of Vice President for Student Life Michael Gilbert and Director of Residence Life Kathleen Kerr, I have directed that the program be stopped immediately. No further activities under the current framework will be conducted.

Vice President Gilbert will work with the University Faculty Senate and others to determine the proper means by which residence life programs may support the intellectual, cultural and ethical development of our students.

Patrick Harker
President

Anonymous said...

An FYI, UD's President Hacker just started at the University, so his acting so quickly is actually a good sign.

Also my understanding is that Delaware is a private institution that receives public support.

Anonymous said...

If you value the services provided by FIRE, it would be beneficial to make a donation, as I am.

Anonymous said...

AMAC: I enjoyed the Graphic Novel. For anyone who has noticed that many people blame George Bush for all of the nation's ills, it is a good read. I noticed that the protagonists blamed Bush for everything, but they did not give him credit for Spring Break!