Category: Education (higher ed)
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Virginia Board of Education: Stay the Course
Standards and Curriculum Framework are Both Needed – Not One Without the Other by Kathleen Smith In November, the Board of Education put off the approval of the Virginia History and Social Science Standards again. The Board members seemed quite perplexed as they were asked to approve only the Standards without the Curriculum Framework –-…
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Is there a Better Way to Manage Virginia’s State Colleges and Universities?
by James C. Sherlock My wife and I had the pleasure of dining recently with a woman pursuing a career in the financial services industry. I asked her about the leadership of her company. What was the climate in her workplace? She answered that the first thing she learned was to “color inside the lines.”…
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SCHEV’s Study on College Completion Rates Is… Incomplete
by James A. Bacon The dirty secret of the higher-ed industry is the high rate at which students drop out of college. The six-year graduation rate for full-time, in-state students entering Virginia’s public four-year institutions in 1995 was 60%, implying a drop-out rate of 40%, according to State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV)…
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Violence Prevention and TATs: A Dissenting Opinion
by Dick Hall-Sizemore There has been a lot of discussion on this blog about violence prevention committees and threat assessment teams (TAT). There have been disagreements over whether the University of Virginia is in compliance with state law as well as lamentations about the lack of enforcement where it is considered that an institution is…
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Shapira Hits All-Time Low in VMI Coverage
by James A. Bacon New rule at The Washington Post: it’s OK to insinuate that conservatives are racist for disagreeing with an authority figure who happens to be Black. No evidence of bias required. The democracy-dies-in-darkness newspaper set a new low yesterday in an article published Monday describing how conservative alumni of the Virginia Military…
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Virginia Should Enforce Threat Assessment Laws. Noting Lack of Compliance Not Enough.
by James C. Sherlock I have written about the Threat Assessment Teams (TAT’s) of two state universities, the University of Virginia and Virginia Tech. I assessed Tech to be compliant with state law. I reported that UVa is not. That of course raises the issue of the rest of Virginia’s colleges and universities. The Virginia…
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Threat Assessment Done Right — Virginia Tech
by James C. Sherlock Yesterday I harshly critiqued the structure, authorities and actions of the University of Virginia Threat Assessment Team. Today, in stark contrast, I offer Virginia Tech. Tech has complied with state law by simply doing what the law requires, and done it thoughtfully. As a result, Tech has established a far more…
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UVa Policy on Threat Assessment So Flawed It Seems Intentional
by James C. Sherlock I have reported in this space on the actions and inactions of the Threat Assessment Team (TAT) and its members at the University of Virginia in the case of the man now in jail for three murders and two woundings. I refer readers to my previous posts for my take on…
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Alleged Shooter’s Dorm Room on UVa Property Exposed Him to University Actions Not Taken
by James C. Sherlock Updated Nov. 19 at 8:50 AM. See details at end. So, the University of Virginia conducted a formal threat investigation of allegations of student possession of firearms on the Grounds. Except it really didn’t. The accused was found after three murders and two woundings to have possessed in his dorm room…
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Board of Education: Stick to Your Guns!
by James A. Bacon The Youngkin administration’s proposed revisions to the history and social-science Standards of Learning have run into a buzz saw of opposition from critics who claim the standards aren’t, for lack of a better word, “woke” enough. As The Washington Post summarizes the changes: “The new proposed version generally places less less…
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UVa’s Investigators Missed an Arsenal in Shooter’s On-Grounds Dorm Room
by James C. Sherlock The Daily Progress just reported: The student charged in the shooting deaths of three University of Virginia football players had a semi-automatic rifle, pistol, ammunition, magazines and a device used to make bullets fire faster in his on-Grounds dorm room, according to a search warrant inventory that the Daily Progress obtained.…
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Who is an “Appropriate Disciplinary Authority” at UVa? Excellent Question, as it Turns Out
by James C. Sherlock The University of Virginia, as required by state law, has a policy on Preventing and Addressing Threats of Acts of Violence. It defines “unsanctioned possession of firearms, weapons, or other dangerous items.” as Violent or Threatening Behavior. The policy currently states: The (Threat Assessment Team) TAT does not serve as a…
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AG’s Office to Review UVa Handling of Shooting Threat
Attorney General Jason Miyares has agreed to conduct an external review of the events that led up to the shooting deaths of three University of Virginia students Sunday. He will enlist special counsel to assist his office in the completion of its work, said spokesperson Victoria LaCivita. The review will produce a report to be…
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President Ryan’s Ship Has Hit the Shoals
by James C. Sherlock This is the Nov 16, 4:35 p.m. update to my highly controversial article on the failures of the University of Virginia to act against the alleged killer of three students before the crime. I was too gentle with the leadership of the University, my alma mater, in that article. I wrote…
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Religious-Rights Speaker Stirs UVa Controversy
by James A. Bacon Three days ago the National Lawyers Guild at UVa condemned the invitation of Erin Hawley, senior counsel for the Alliance Defending Freedom, to a Federalist Society event previewing a U.S. Supreme Court case touching upon religious freedom. The “progressive” law student group cited the Southern Poverty Law Center designation of the…