I’ll have a more substantive post up Wednesday; for today, however, a few loose ends:
[Update, 12.29pm Tuesday: An excellent post, using material gleaned from the recent civil case filings, from sceptical at Liestoppers regarding the pernicious role in the case played by former SANE nurse-in-training Tara Levicy. The post is well worth reading in its entirety.]
1.) For those interested, I have an article at Minding the Campus looking at the transformation of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) from an organization committed to upholding academic freedom into a group whose leadership is obsessed with protecting the majority viewpoint in the contemporary academy.
2.) As has been widely noted, an appeals court ruled that Mike Pressler’s suit against Duke could go forward, though the ruling was on procedural grounds and doesn’t indicate much one way or the other regarding the substance of the case.
3.) The lacrosse case helped to illustrate the unintended, and largely negative, consequences on college campuses of denying people who can vote and serve in the military the right to consume alcohol. The problem, of course, isn’t just as Duke—as this depressing tale from Haverford reveals.
4.) A chilling article from the New Yorker, on how Texas almost certainly put to death an innocent man.
32 comments:
Two depressing stories, when you follow the links ...
the police busting a freshman drinking party (advertised in Facebook) ....
and .. and... and ...
Police: Nature Trail Assault a Hoax
Monday’s sexual assault on the nature trail was a hoax, according to police reports and an e-mail sent by President Dr. Stephen G. Emerson ‘74 this afternoon.
According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the student lied to police in addition to fabricating evidence.
Emerson, along with members of the Dean’s Office, Safety and Security, and Psychological services will hold an open meeting on Thursday, April 16 at 8 p.m. in Founders Great Hall.
http://www.biconews.com/?p=17497
BiCo = BiCollege (Bryn Mawr and Haverford)
Great article on Academic Freedom KC. I am very grateful to you for your stewardship on this issue. It takes guts. Bravo.
As for the underage drinking....well. Our police forces have basically become "morality squads" who are overly involved in issues that once were the domain of parents and especially fathers. Now that fathers have been disempowered and removed from so many homes the age old call of "Just wait until your father gets home" has been absent from all too many American homes. Now the call has changed to "Just wait until the police get here." I have seen too many young men arrested for smoking pot and eventually going to jail. Our jails are filled with people who have been targeted by the morality squad for alcohol or marijuana use, or other morality infractions. So sad, these young people are not criminals but they are treated as though they are. Then there is the next step up where the morality squad is called for non-payment of child support and thousands of out of work American men who couldn't make their child support payments are tossed in jail, or maybe we should call it debtors prison since that is much more accurate. Then there's the domestic violence industry that routinely arrests men for having been involved in a brawl with their wife or worse yet were victims of an abusive wife. Then we can add on the men who are jailed for using prostitutes. Our police today are making themselves very busy in being "daddies" and keeping the single parent families or our culture in general morally upright. I for one would like to see them go back to arresting criminals and get the dads back in the home.
The culture of advertising upcoming illegal activity and subsequently posting video of the activity online still doesn't register with this grumpy old man. Nothing like ruining the college experience one week into it, as you try to explain to mom and dad what you did with their initial $40,000 allotment. Is mankind being dumbed down through the process of evolution? Or am I just a stick in the mud?
Is Burness a Communist?
The party at Haverford is one that occurs (more or less) at most colleges across the nation. Go into almost any student dorm and one will find beer in the fridge and more often than not hard liquor bottles on the book shelves of underage freshmen and sophomores. Also, the rite of passage on almost college campus is the de rigeur "pub crawl" and boilermakers that are consumed by the 21 year old birthday boy or girl.
I agree wholeheartedly with hose bhind the Amethyst Petition. If we consider the age of eighteen the legal age in order to purchase tobacco and to enlist in the military, then it should also be the age of consent for all other things as well. The puritan attitude that exists in this country toward alcohol (let me state for the record that my consumption is limited to a glass or two of wine) is harmful rather than helpful. If children were brought up to see alcohol as something to be consumed as part of a meal, to be respected as to its possible dangers and this was done as an ongoing process within the family from an early age, we would see far fewer incidences of alcohol abuse on the nation's campuses.
Part of the college experience is the ability to be a grown-up but with something of a safety-net. Carousing has been a part of the college experience from almost the beginning of the university system in Europe centuries ago. However, those carousing students did not feel the necessity of hosting alcohol parties because one could - the carousing was done as a part of the conviviality that students shared as students. Universities were not in the business, as they are forced to be now, of enforcing drinking laws.
Who does the binge drinking on college campuses? Anecdotal evidence suggests that is is that subset of students who are legally not eligible to drink liquor. It would seem to me that there would be fewer problems if the lure of the forbidden (underage drinking because one is free from the stricture of home) were legally removed by lowering the drinking age to 18.
As a parent of college students, I gave my children the talk about the legal drinking age (many times). I also told them that if they were foolish enough to drink and if the authorities discovered that, their ability to attend college would be severely compromised - the funds from home would be cut off making their ability to remain as students impossible. Furthermore, they were to never get into a car with anyone who had even had a whiff of alcohol. Did they engage in underage drinking - yes, they did. Was I happy about that fact - no. Were they careful not to get caught - yes. Could I have pulled their funding and forced them to find employment - yes. My compromise - they needed to keep their grades up and be circumspect - which encouraged a flouting and disrespect of the law - which is wrong. However, this is the position that many parents of underage college students find themselves in today.
cks
The New Yorker article about how Texas put to death an innocent man is now out on the web, and it is chilling.
What real power does the AAUP have? None that I can think of. They seem fairly inconsequential.
Henry Gates recent incident with the Cambridge police had less to do with his color, and everything to do with a law enforcement apparatus that grows more oppressive every single day.
Remember this: cops see the world in black and white. All people fit into one of two categories - bad people and other cops.
Haverford and Bryn Mawr Issues.
If the leadership of Haverford and/or Bryn Mawr believe they have a problem with underage drinking, binge drinking and inappropriate social media advertising it would be quit easy to determine if they have done anything about it.
Just audit the curriculum of the Office of Student Affairs.
Which Haverford/Bryn Mawr employee(s) conducted what seminars for which student groups on what dates; where were the seminars offered and...where are the student 'sign-in' sheets?
If those little seminars have not been offered, one could assume Haverford and Bryn Mawr are enabling errant behavior.
'Everyone says' violence against women and binge/underage drinking are conflated. That said, the Violence Against Women Act is up for congressional reauthorization in 2010.
And concerning the Whistler Blower. Is Sam working at Haverford or Bryn Mawr this year?
::
GP
To the 1.25:
It may be, as you say, that the nation's oldest faculty organization, which has the power to censure colleges and universities for failing to protect academic freedom, has no power within the academy, though that's not my sense.
I think the group has little or no influence outside the academy--largely from a perception (accurate) that they have abandoned their core mission.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/09/07/new.york.beating/index.html
One must assume that Jesse Jackson already has the check made out to a graduate school of his choose?
Inre: Is Burness a Communist?
Well in the context of his PR efforts in the "Water Buffalo" incident and the Duke hoax relative to the Communist activity in Italy during and after WWII one could make the case he acts like one.
"...the story of the Resistance is a highly political one and that Italians have many different views of it. After the War, the Italian Communist Party, through deft public relations management, was able to lay claim to more credit than the facts justified, both in terms of the role of the Communists in the Resistance and the importance of the Resistance in Italy’s liberation. Be sure not to take anything at face value about the Resistance since the events of 60 years ago are still being interpreted very much in light of current events in Italy...” - A LOYOLA ROME STUDENT’S GUIDE TO WORLD WAR II IN ROME & ITALY”, By Philip R. O’Connor, Ph.D., Loyola University Chicago Rome Center. 1968-69, page 19
Of course the difference between "deft" PR and outright lies and intentional malignment of his own students for political ends is a very thin one.
It appears he plays from the same play book, wouldn't you agree? Though the Burness actions in the water buffalo incident and the Duke hoax were much more deplorable than just PR.
So maybe Burness is more like Van Jones than Van Jones.
"I think the group has little or no influence outside the academy--largely from a perception (accurate) that they have abandoned their core mission."
Huh? Nobody outside of the academy knows who they are. That's why they have little to no influence. It doesn't have anything to do with some perception of them abandoning their mission. Ask your non-academic friends if they know what the core mission of the AAUP is, and see if you don't get blank stares back.
"No people will tamely surrender their Liberties, nor can any be easily subdued, when knowledge is diffusd and Virtue is preservd. On the Contrary, when People are universally ignorant, and debauchd in their Manners, they will sink under their own weight without the Aid of foreign Invaders." --Samuel Adams, letter to James Warren, 1775 (Founder's Quote Daily)
Thanks K.C. for diffusing knowledge and preserving virtue.
To the 2:54 PM ( 9/7/09 )
"Henry Gates recent incident with the Cambridge police had less to do with his color, and everything to do with a law enforcement apparatus that grows more oppressive every single day."
Nah ... It was never a good idea to get into altercations with the cops. A single cop, dispatched to a reported house break in by TWO men ... and only sees ONE of them ... is not interested in a shouting match.
All Gates had to do was show some ID, confirm he was the occupant and wave good bye to the officer.
Of course, then he would not have gotten a free beer at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
________________
Cambridge, MA is very, very PC.
Sgt. James Crowley was chosen by the black police commissioner to serve as an instructor for a Lowell Police Academy course entitled "Racial Profiling," which Crowley has taught since 2004.
To the 7.57:
"Ask your non-academic friends if they know what the core mission of the AAUP is, and see if you don't get blank stares back."
I did so with a few this morning, and did not receive blank stares. But many of my non-academic friends also know something about the academy; perhaps your friends are less engaged with the intellectual world.
Many thanks for your comments, but I'm afraid I am disinclined to clear additional anonymous comments making claims about the AAUP's influence. I would, of course, be happy to clear any specific evidence you care to offer.
Duke Dad,
Professor Gates said that he did show identification, although that poinnt may be in dispute (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/21/us/21gates.html).
No Justice, No Peace,
Larry Moneta had a role in the Water Buffalo, but I was unaware that Burness did. Can you clarify?
Chris
TO (1:09 PM)--
The New Yorker article was mentioned in a previous thread.
Chris has also covered the topic at his blog.
Some people might not think this alignment of the stars is noteworthy; however.......
......the fact that the scurrilous Allan Gurganus will be taking part in the Literary Festival being held this week.......
.......whose keynote speaker will be none other than John Grisham......is irony unmatched.
I'm sure everyone remembers Gurganus' contribution in the NY Times in the Spring of 2006.
And I'm sure everyone has read Grisham's glowing praise of Until Proven Innocent.
These two in the same room should have a lot to talk about.
Debrah : Gurganus has always been trying to hide from his NY Times piece since 2006. Can't blame him, since it makes that "new voice of the south" look like such a doofus.
Halides1 :
Lots of "points differed". Gates also said that he had a throat infection acquired during his Asian trip, and had a medical receipt to prove it... and therefore he could not shout.
However, both Sgt Crowley and Officer Carlos Figueroa wrote police reports stating that Gates was shouting.
Further, the tapes of Crowley's radio transmissions clearly record a man shouting in the background.
Figueroa's report (written separately from Crowley's) states, "As I stepped in, I heard Sgt. Crowley ask for the gentleman's information which he stated "NO I WILL NOT!". The gentleman was shouting out to the Sgt. that the Sgt.. was a racist and yelled that "THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS TO BLACK MEN IN AMERICA!"
Crowley's report states that Gates initially refused, then finally gave him a Harvard ID (which does NOT have home address). Gates' yelling and race-baiting were also noted.
Police Reports:
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2009/0723092gates2.html
There was no call for Gates' belligerent behavior.
Wrt state of the "elite" education today and especially educating Gang88 extremists, here is a candid confession from Van Jones (the self-admitted 9/11 truther, marxist and race-hustler who advocated overthrowing capitalism by means of ecoactivism):
"I had a professor who encouraged me to apply to Harvard and Yale [for law school], which was almost unheard of for students coming from the kind of public schools that I was coming from in the rural South. I was accepted to both places, and decided to go to Yale because Yale didn't have any grades and was smaller than Harvard. I figured, once I enroll I'm guaranteed to graduate, so I can just go and be a radical hell raiser student, and they can't do anything about it. Which is pretty much what happened. "
Read: Any AA student (well, at least any marxist AA student) would automatically be admitted to Yale/Harvard and automatically graduate there. There won't be an end to the new generation of Gang88ers.
Did Gurganus ever apologize? Set things right? Ask the NYT for the chance to write another opinion piece?
That's the least I would feel I would have to do, just as a human being (even though I would feel humiliated at having to do it).
Two or three columnists (not more) did apologize.
Where are the rest?
Inre: halides1 said...
My mistake, please excuse my error binding the buffalo incident to Mr. Burness and not Mr. Moneta. Thanks for bringing this error to my attention.
Duke professor Timothy Tyson still race baiting with this class in Wilmington NC.
From Camilla Paglia
snip-
"But affluent middle-class Democrats now seem to be complacently servile toward authority and automatically believe everything party leaders tell them. Why? Is it because the new professional class is a glossy product of generically institutionalized learning? Independent thought and logical analysis of argument are no longer taught. Elite education in the U.S. has become a frenetic assembly line of competitive college application to schools where ideological brainwashing is so pandemic that it's invisible. The top schools, from the Ivy League on down, promote "critical thinking," which sounds good but is in fact just a style of rote regurgitation of hackneyed approved terms ("racism, sexism, homophobia") when confronted with any social issue. The Democratic brain has been marinating so long in those clichés that it's positively pickled."
snip-
I do admire Ms. Paglia.
Observer
That is a great article by sceptical. Discovery will shed further light on the timing issues raised in the article. Telephone logs, cellphone bills, emails, calendars, notes -- it will all help. Very good cover-to-cover read, with some information I'd forgotten and some that I was reading for the first time. MOO! Gregory
http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=combating_the_campus_rape_crisis
Any thoughts from anyone about this?
I am not much of a Salon.com fan but read this and thought your readers would enjoy it:
“But affluent middle-class Democrats now seem to be complacently servile toward authority and automatically believe everything party leaders tell them. Why? Is it because the new professional class is a glossy product of generically institutionalized learning? Independent thought and logical analysis of argument are no longer taught. Elite education in the U.S. has become a frenetic assembly line of competitive college application to schools where ideological brainwashing is so pandemic that it's invisible. The top schools, from the Ivy League on down, promote "critical thinking," which sounds good but is in fact just a style of rote regurgitation of hackneyed approved terms ("racism, sexism, homophobia") when confronted with any social issue. The Democratic brain has been marinating so long in those clichés that it's positively pickled.”
Camille Paglia
Too Late for Obama to turn it around?
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
She seems to have a pretty good handle on the current state of higher education.
To those still interested in the Duke case--please read the Liestoppers link re Levicy.
Amazing. If its true she changed the medical record---heads should roll at Duke.
I can't believe this is not still a national story. Changing the medical record is considered a terrible thing to do........
I have said it here many times before.
Tara Levicy is the key to the whole fraud.
And now, we know why, and how.
If the allegations against her are true, she without doubt (reasonable or otherwise) commited medical malpractice of the worst sort, and seemingly engaged in criminally actionable behavior as well (I am not a lawyer, but a physician.)
The above linked post lays out in clear and convincing detail the genesis of the fraud and nexus of the conspiracy.
There is no doubt in mind whatsoever, that this case will NEVER get to discovery and that DUMC and DU will settle.
Whether or not Ms. Levicy will retain her license to practice is anyone's guess.
MeTooThen
Well Doc at 2:06PM, Nurse Levicy has gotten two new RN licenses since the event in NH and Maine. She has a perfectly good license in NC listed inactive. She has NO discipline actictions taken against her by any of the three Boards of Nursing. A safe bet is that she will and obviously, still is licensed to practice.
NO ONE has seen any evidence that the allegations are true about the Sexual Assualt Report. Its just a story and allegations.
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