Category: Education (higher ed)
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Is There Something about Restrictive Speech Environments that Attracts Journalism Majors?
by James C. Sherlock Most of the best journalists in American history had only a high school diploma. Charles Dickens, a voracious reader with a very limited and interrupted formal education, was a journalist and one of the most honored writers ever. The Columbia School of Journalism offers, if that is the right word, a…
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If This Doesn’t Get You Admitted to UVa, What Will?
@limmytalks did you get them right? #collegeapps #collegeadmissions ♬ original sound – Limmy 💛 The producer of The School of Limmy, a Korean-American neuroscience major at Duke University, posts short videos about college admissions on TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram. One of his schticks is reading the qualifications of student applicants and listing the colleges that…
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You Support Free Speech? Show It.
by James A. Bacon The leaders of Virginia’s colleges and universities are sensitive to the public’s distrust of higher-ed’s ability to protect freedom of speech and “cultivate robust and divergent viewpoints.” “Today’s students may hesitate to discuss difficult topics for fear of retribution or ostracism,” write four Virginia higher-ed presidents in an op-ed published in…
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FOIA Council Responds on Request to UVa for Threat Assessment Team Records on Shooter
by James C. Sherlock On Sunday I asked the FOIA Council to provide an advisory opinion on the University of Virginia’s decision that information about that school’s threat assessment team deliberations in the case of the November shooter, Christopher Jones, will not be released as I requested. I received the answer this afternoon, which is…
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The War on Merit Takes a Bizarre Turn
by Asra Q. Nomani For years, two administrators at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (TJ) have been withholding notifications of National Merit awards from the school’s families, most of them Asian, thus denying students the right to use those awards to boost their college admission prospects and earn scholarships. This episode has…
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Dead Students, UVa, and the Virginia Freedom of Information Act – Part One – Only One Client
by James C. Sherlock Updated Dec. 18 at 16:30 The deck is stacked against the press, at least in the first step. The University of Virginia, unsurprisingly, considers it not in its interests to release information to the press about the work of its threat assessment team in the case of Christopher Darnell Jones. Mr.…
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Alumni Free Speech Alliance to Safeguard VMI Campus Free Speech
The Cadet newspaper and The Cadet Foundation were honored, by unanimous acclimation, to become full members of the Alumni Free Speech Alliance (AFSA). By this honor, Virginia Military Institute (VMI) cadets, alumni, faculty. and staff at VMI now join a prestigious collection of alumni groups representing Ivy League and other major institutions of higher education…
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UVa Law Rejects U.S. News Ranking Methodology
by James A. Bacon The University of Virginia School of Law has announced that it will no longer cooperate with U.S. News & World Report in compiling its ranking of top law schools. The school currently ranks No. 8 in the country. Here’s the reason given by Dean Risa Goluboff: “As they currently stand, the…
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Can Threat Assessment Teams Function in Schools Practicing PBIS?
by James C. Sherlock Last I read, Attorney General Miyares’ Loudoun County special grand jury is still empaneled. There is another matter worthy of investigation in the cases of the rapes of two school girls in Loudoun County high schools. That is the matter of the threat assessment teams (TATS) in each school. The special…
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Public Education and the Management of Change
by James C. Sherlock Peter Drucker’s famous five questions should always be asked by and of government. What is the mission? Who is the customer? What does the customer consider valuable? What are the results sought and how are they to be measured? What is the plan, to include both abandonment and innovation? So, in…
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Helping Minorities Thrive in STEM
by James A. Bacon There is a shortage of doctors, scientists, engineers and other employees with STEM (science, technology, engineering, and medicine) backgrounds in the U.S. economy. One reason is that American institutions of higher education aren’t turning out enough graduates with STEM degrees. And a big reason for that is that roughly half the…
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Red Brick or Limestone for the Temple of Democracy?
by James A. Bacon The University of Virginia’s newly formed Karsh Institute of Democracy will be housed in a signature building, a key part of the Ivy Road corridor in Charlottesville that will include an Olympic sports center, the football program, the School of Data Science, a conference center, and structured parking. Expecting to invite…
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How UVa Responded to Grief
by James A. Bacon The shooting of five University of Virginia students Nov. 13 on a bus back from a field trip in Washington, D.C., was understandably traumatic for the young people who witnessed the horror, as it was for family and close friends of the victims, three of whom died. Indeed, the event was…
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How UVa Addresses Student Loneliness, Depression
by James A. Bacon A new preoccupation of college administrators across the United States is how to give students a sense of “belonging.” The concern is understandable. There is increasing awareness that America is experiencing a “loneliness” epidemic, as reflected by a 40% rate nationally of anxiety, depression and other diagnosed mental illnesses among college…
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Grand Jury Report on Loudoun Schools Raises Threat Assessment Issue – Again
by James C. Sherlock Update Dec. 7 at 7:33: LCPS Superintendent Scott Ziegler was fired yesterday by the school board. That does not begin to resolve the issue of threat assessment. The University of Virginia Threat Assessment Team (TAT), with knowledge of a threat, failed to intervene before tragedy in the case of the student…