On March 5th in the Wall Street Journal, Peter Robinson penned an op-ed on the California higher education budget crisis entitled "The Golden State's Me Generation". Robinson begins not with the finances behind the tuition hikes and protests, but rather with the framing of the reaction. He cites participants in the "Strike and Day of Action to Defend Education" casting their efforts in terms of "Freedom Riders," "farmworkers," and the fight for justice in the 60s and 70s. Berkeley urban studies professor Ananya Roy provided a racial angle as well, announcing "We have all become students of color now."

"Evoking protests against the Vietnam War," Robinson observes, "one banner carried by students at San Francisco State University read, 'Shut It Down like '68.' 'Today we strike!' shouted a Berkeley student, 'Today we march! Today we show solidarity with the workers!'"

This is the vocabulary of the peace movement and civil rights and labor protections of migrant workers. It demonstrates, among other things, the continuing moral authority of those causes, even though they took place 40 and 50 years ago. But there is a giant problem with invoking the movements: if you want to align yourself with the Selma marchers, Cesar Chavez et al, then you better experience some of the same sufferings and indignities that they did. If not, then the citation of such honored and sometimes martyred precursors starts to look a lot more like vanity than politics.

This is, indeed, Robinson's conclusion: "Yet what did the protesters demand? Peace? Human rights? No. Money. And for whom? For the downtrodden and oppressed? No. For themselves."

Continue reading "Ideals and Realities in Student Protests" »

Both the Chronicle of Higher Education and Inside Higher Ed have reported on a newly-released study regarding faculty salaries from the College and University Professional Association for Human Resources. Both articles highlight how, in the past year, around a third of professors around the country have seen their salaries reduced. (Only at private, research universities has the average professor enjoyed a salary increase in the past year.) Both articles also suggest that the decline might last for some time, because higher education tends to lag behind the economy in reviving from recessions.

It seems to me that both articles buried the lede. We live in a time of nearly-double digit unemployment. Nearly 20 percent of Americans are underemployed. Yet higher education has been all but immune from faculty layoffs.

That, of course, should come as little surprise: though faculty salaries (especially in the humanities and social sciences) might not be as high as many professors would like, job security is higher for the professoriate than for just about any other profession. It's almost impossible to fire a tenured professor (unless he or she commits the type of massive research conduct associated with the likes of Ward Churchill), and only a college that wants to sacrifice all pretense of academic quality will dismiss untenured assistant or associate professors during economic downturns.

The AAUP, however, views the new figures as cause for grave concern. As the Chronicle reports, "University officials should seek faculty input on pay cuts, and state officials must chose priorities correctly, Mr. [AAUP director of research and public policy John W.] Curtis, said. 'I do think we're at a pretty critical juncture at looking at higher education as a public good and as a resource that contributes something to society. Unfortunately, a lot of governors and legislators are looking at higher education as only an expense.'"

Continue reading "The ''Pay Cut'' Crisis" »

People who have followed the effort to put initiatives on state ballots eliminating racial preferences from college admissions might remember this advertisement from 2008, which set Ward Connerly in Klan regalia. Two years before, a group called Think Progress posted a video on its web page under the headline "Leader of Michigan Initiative To End Affirmative Action Welcomes Ku Klux Klan Support."

Those are revolting examples. Not much less so are the occasions when Connerly has been shouted down and booed while speaking against racial preferences and supporting various ballot measures across the nation (see here for Connerly leaving the podium after repeated interruptions in Omaha).

Now, according to this story by Peter Schmidt in the Chronicle of Higher Education , the pro-affirmative action group Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action, Integration, and Immigrant Rights and Fight for Equality by Any Means Necessary (BAMN) has filed a lawsuit against California's ban, Proposition 209, and their target is Connerly himself and the organization he started, the American Civil Rights Institute. Challenges to 209 have been attempted before and failed, but BAMN believes that 209 nonetheless "violates the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution by placing a distinct set of legal hurdles in front of minority groups seeking to increase their representation on the university system's campuses."

It takes some tortured logic to reach that conclusion, and here are some of the statements in the actual complaint (which appears here).

Continue reading "The Tortured Logic of BAMN" »

Regulars at FIRE's must-read blog, The Torch, already know the ugly details of events at California-San Diego. A fraternity held an off-campus party that was at best tasteless and at worst racist. Appearing on a student-run TV station (which is funded by the student government through student fees), a student satirical organization defended the party in language, The Torch drily noted, "that many persons on campus found highly offensive."

The university response, however, was nothing short of extraordinary. UCSD president Marye Anne Fox---acting under pressure from various California state legislators---has threatened disciplinary actions against the students involved in planning the party. (That Fox's administration has elected to use a judicial code that was modified because its overly broad nature appears not to have worried the UCSD powers that be.) Even more incredibly, the student government president---working in concert with the university's counsel and other university administrators---has frozen funding to all student media organizations. This assault on the First Amendment drew public rebuke from both FIRE and the ACLU, but appears not to have troubled either Fox or her defenders.

The general outlines of the UCSD case should come as little surprise to close observers of contemporary higher education. Regardless of how offensive the student conduct was (and, in this case, it was pretty offensive), the abusive reaction of those with power at the university is far, far more troubling. In the name of promoting "diversity," Fox and her administration seem intent on massively violating due process for her own institution's students and ignoring the requirements that the First Amendment imposes on any public college or university.

Saturday, the New York Times brought its attention to events at the San Diego campus. The First Amendment issue received one sentence in reporter Randal Archibold's article: "The student association has suspended financing to all campus media while it studies what to do about the program about the party." The article ignored the protests against this draconian action. Likewise the Times saw fit to gloss over the civil liberties angle, blandly observing, "The administration is still investigating the Compton Cookout, and whether students can or should be sanctioned."

Continue reading "The Times Does San Diego" »

Early February featured an interesting development from Fresno. Students of Bradley Lopez, a health instructor at Fresno Community College, claimed that Lopez was using class time to spread his personal anti-gay views. Lopez denies the allegation, asserting that all of his comments fell "within the scope of health science."

The students' concerns attracted the attention of the local ACLU branch. In a six-page letter to FCC administrators, ACLU staff attorney Elizabeth Gill criticized Lopez for presenting "as 'fact' and 'science' inaccurate information that reflects his own highly discriminatory and religiously-based views." According to Gill's letter, students in Lopez's class reported him using a slide asserted that counseling or "hormonal therapy" were the "recommended treatment" for homosexuality. Neither academic freedom nor the 1st amendment, the ACLU letter maintained, applied to professors who present "factually inaccurate information."

The Gill letter also suggested that Lopez's inaccurate remarks might create a "hostile environment" for gay and lesbian students on campus.

The ACLU's "hostile environment" claim strikes me as very troubling. There's no evidence that Lopez punished any gay or lesbian students, or that he retaliated against students who failed to accept his anti-gay views. There's no evidence, in fact, that Lopez ever did anything inappropriate to any student. Surely, for instance, the ACLU wouldn't suggest that a professor opposing racial preferences in admissions produced a "hostile environment"?

Continue reading "Double Standards: Fresno and Columbia" »

A graduate of Wesleyan sent word that his alma mater now has a "Campus Climate Log" to chronicle "hate incidents and acts of intolerance" and help move "the entire campus towards a hate-free learning environment." The project, wrapped in conventional diversity rhetoric, is overseen by the Dean of Diversity and Student Engagement as well as the Vice President for Diversity and Strategic Partnerships. The Log can be accessed on on-campus computers, including public ones, but it not available elsewhere. The reports range from the obviously hateful ("kill fags and Jews" scrawled on a bathroom wall) to the banal (suggestive comments from a passing car) and a postmodern graffiti by a student uncomfortable with the belief that a man is a man and a woman is a woman ("f---gender binaries"). To their credit, the Log committeepersons wonder about the point of major publicity for minor stupidities ("Would it cause more incidents by demonstrating how a single act received so much attention?") Judging by the scarcity of complaints, either students don't care much or the campus is already pretty much hate-free: the log for this school year shows only seven reports from last fall, and one since January 1.

In these days of 6-year degrees and students graduating at 25 if at all, it's encouraging to see stories of far more intrepid matriculation - consider "The 10 Youngest College Graduates in U.S. History" at Online Degree. Number 1, Michael Keany, current holder of the Guinness World Record for "Youngest University Graduate." "At the age of 8, the homeschooled prodigy completed an Associate of Science degree in geology while at Santa Rosa Junior College. He would then go on to graduate with a bachelor's degree in anthropology from University of South Alabama at 10, a master's in biochemistry from Middle Tennessee State University at 14, and another master's - this time in computer science - from Vanderbilt at 17."

If those aren't accomplishments enough, how about Kathleen Holtz, number 8 on the list, who graduated from California State University at 15, immediately entered law school and, at 18 became the "youngest law student to ever pass the bar in California - if not the United States." She quickly tried several successful cases as an attorney. Take a look at the list for several more inspiring examples of early talent.