Author: James A. Bacon
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Whites Under-Represented in UVa’s Entering Classes
by James A. Bacon As the debate unfolds about how to apply the U.S. Supreme Court ruling restricting the use of race as a factor in college admissions, it would be helpful for the discussion to be rooted in reality. At the University of Virginia, any dialogue should be based upon the recognition that admissions…
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A New “Landscape” for UVa Admissions
by Walter Smith With the recent U.S. Supreme Court restricting “affirmative action” in college and university admissions, an all-consuming question in Charlottesville is how the University of Virginia might change its policies and guidelines for admitting students. While prohibiting the use of race as a decisive factor in admissions, Supreme Court Justice John Roberts allowed…
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Bacon News of the Week
When my daughter Sara Bacon was in high school, she had a good friend named Katie Macon. I always thought they’d make a great law firm — Macon Bacon & Associates, or some such. Never did I imagine that Macon Bacon would be the name of a college baseball team, much less that it would…
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Setting the Stage for the Great Race-in-Admissions Debate
by James A. Bacon People have been asking me what I think about the U.S. Supreme Court ruling prohibiting colleges and universities from using race as a specific basis for admitting students. I’m not a legal scholar, so I won’t offer any opinions on the legal or constitutional merits of the decision. I speak as…
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WaPo Eats Crow, Students’ Journalism Award Stands
by James A. Bacon It is sweet indeed to read the latest Washington Post article about the Virginia Military Institute: after calling into question a top journalism award bestowed upon The Cadet independent student newspaper, media reporter Paul Farhi found himself gulping down a serious helping of crow in a follow-up story headlined, “VMI student…
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Policing Ain’t Bean Bag… Or Maybe It Is
Upon hearing that the Fairfax County Police Department had scrapped conventional shotgun shells in favor of “bean bag” projectiles, my initial reaction was to mock the change. Bean bags? What’s the next tool in the police arsenal — pillows? Given the approving tone of the article in The Washington Post, I was tempted to…
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Who Guides the Guides?
by James A. Bacon In the spring of 2022 University of Virginia alumnus Warren Lightfoot emailed Rector Whitt Clement, a fraternity brother, to share the experiences of a friend and friend’s daughter during a university tour. Among other negative observations about UVa, reported Lightfoot, the student tour guide had made a point of noting that…
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How Wokeism Is Ruining Medicine
by James A. Bacon The Woke Revolution’s takeover of K-12 schools, the criminal justice system, higher ed, the media, the military, the C-suite, museums, and other cultural institutions has been highly visible, playing out in blogs and the media for all to see. The conquest of the healthcare system has attracted far less attention, though…
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Virginia Police Shooting Incidents Up 43% in 2022
by James A. Bacon Along with the surge in homicides and assaults on police officers, the number of police shootings in Virginia jumped 43% last year, according to data from the Virginia State Police 2022 Crime in Virginia report. The shootings resulted in 22 fatalities, up from 18 the previous year. The increase since 2019,…
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“The Worst Tour of the 14 Colleges We Have Been on This Year”
by James A. Bacon This past April a University of Virginia alumna took her son for a tour of the university conducted by a student-run organization, the University Guide Service. The woman had been a University Guide herself 25 years previously, an activity that accounted for some of her best memories and most enduring friendships…
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Assaults on Virginia Police Up 62% Last Year
by James A. Bacon Alongside the continued rise in the number of homicides in Virginia, the year 2022 saw a dramatic increase in the number of assaults on police. Two officers were killed and 2,903 assaulted, according to data released by the Virginia State Police in its 2022 Crime in Virginia report. The number of…
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What Hath Wokeness Wrought?
by James A. Bacon The surge in homicides in Virginia continued unabated for the third straight year in 2022, with number of deaths from homicide and non-negligent manslaughter reaching 621. The homicide epidemic in Virginia disproportionately affected Blacks. Blacks accounted for 90% of the increase in the number of murder victims since 2019, the year…