Author: James A. Bacon
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The Ugly American
When The Washington Post and Wall Street Journal publish articles about a heretofore unrecognized social phenomenon at about the same time, you know something is going on. People are behaving rudely in movie theaters. They are taking selfies, chatting on their cell phones, talking smack to characters on the movie screen, getting into slap fights,…
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Racial Check Boxes Out at UVa Admissions. Racial Life Experiences In.
by James A. Bacon The University of Virginia will eliminate the race/ethnicity checkbox on admissions applications but will allow students to describe how their “personal experiences” — including but not limited to race or ethnicity — “shaped their ability to contribute,” announced President Jim Ryan in an announcement emailed to the University community Monday.
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Tech to End Racial and Legacy Preferences in Admissions
by James A. Bacon In the wake of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling, Virginia Tech has announced that it will eliminate race and legacy status as factors in admissions. Information about an individual’s race/ethnicity will no longer be visible during the application process. “Much of our recent success in attracting and graduating students from underrepresented…
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Bettinger v. Ryan, Groves and UVa
The Jefferson Council has obtained a file-stamped copy of a lawsuit filed on behalf of Morgan Bettinger against University of Virginia President Jim Ryan, former Dean of Students Allen Groves, and the University of Virginia. The allegations must be demonstrated in court. If proven true, they paint an unflattering picture of civil rights (for anyone…
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Youngkin at the Border
Yeah, yeah, I know, Governor Glenn Youngkin is angling for a spot on the Republican presidential ticket next year, and he doesn’t do anything without considering the political implications first. But that doesn’t mean he’s wrong. Even politicians can do the right thing once in a while. Such is the case with Youngkin’s decision to…
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UVa Donations Skewed More Democratic Than Ever in 2022
by James A. Bacon You’ve finally heard it from someone other than The Jefferson Council: political donations by University of Virginia employees skew overwhelmingly to the left. In the 2022 election cycle, found Daily Progress reporter Luke Fountain, “UVa faculty and staff favored Democratic candidates over Republican candidates, based on donations, by a ratio of…
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Hadley Departs UVa Without Explanation
Robyn Hadley, the University of Virginia’s dean of students, will leave her job effective Aug. 1, announced President Jim Ryan and Provost Ian Baucom yesterday in a letter to the university community. The letter provided no explanation for Hadley’s sudden departure. Hadley had served two years in the position, which oversees 300 employees engaged with…
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Info-Wars at UVa: Who Decides What the BoV Needs to Hear?
by James A. Bacon Last October University of Virginia Provost Ian Baucom briefed the Faculty Senate executive committee about a package of four multimillion-dollar academic initiatives that were in the works. The camera angle in the video recording shows him as a tiny, barely discernible figure at the far end of a long conference table.…
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Is Hopewell the Next Petersburg?
by James A. Bacon Long-time Bacon’s Rebellion readers will remember the fiscal saga of Petersburg, a struggling rust-belt city whose finances were so mismanaged that the city had to call in outside consultants to fix them. The City of Hopewell, another struggling rust-belt industrial town, may be facing the same fate. City Council has appointed…
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Youngkin Upholds Parents Rights in Transgender Debate
by James A. Bacon With educational outcomes for Virginia public school children collapsing across the board, I’m not sure that the use of pronouns and restrooms for transgender students is the most urgent policy facing our schools today. But both sides of the culture wars are determined to fight this battle, so it continues to…
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Empty, Airy Words
by James A. Bacon After the U.S. Supreme Court issued its ruling restricting the use of race as a higher-ed admissions criteria, University of Virginia President Jim Ryan and Provost Ian Baucom released a statement proclaiming that they would do everything in their power to admit a class of students that is “diverse across every…