Category: Education (higher ed)
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The Petersen Death Star Strikes Again
Letter from state Senator J. Chapman Petersen, D-Fairfax, to Scott Braband, superintendent of Fairfax County Public Schools. — JAB On Friday evening, February 4th, in my capacity as a parent, I received the attached press release from Fairfax County Public Schools which announced the ruling of the Arlington County Circuit Court on the Governor’s Executive…
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What Was More “Political”: Heaphy’s Firing or His Hiring?
by James A. Bacon The Richmond Times-Dispatch ramped up the mainstream media’s criticism of Attorney General Jason Miyares in a story published over the weekend. The headline: “Jason Miyares removed the head lawyer at 3 state colleges. Professors and Democrats say he’s wielding excessive influence.” The initial wave of Miyares-critical stories, most prominently in The…
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DEI For Thee But Not For Me
by James A. Bacon On Jan. 16, the University of Virginia announced that Provost Liz Magill had been chosen to serve as the President of the University of Pennsylvania. The same day, President Jim Ryan announced her replacement, Ian Baucom, dean of the College and Graduate School of Arts & Sciences. Baucom had been widely…
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These GMU Minions Refuse to Bend the Knee
by James A. Bacon Megan Darling, a 33-year-old George Mason University business school student, received two doses of the Pfizer vaccine in March and April and came down with a case of COVID-19 in December 2021, from which she acquired natural immunity as well. Like other students, she has been informed that she must get…
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Et Tu, Brute?
by Dick Hall-Sizemore The backers of Glenn Youngkin on this blog have got to be feeling confused, at least, if not downright betrayed. Youngkin promised to expand the number of charter schools in the Commonwealth. They cheered. Now, he has revealed his plan for charter schools. As reported today by the Richmond Times-Dispatch, the Governor has…
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UVA at the Intersection
by James C. Sherlock UVA has forged yet another academic/political merger and named it, with characteristic modesty, the Karsh (major donors) “Institute of Democracy”. To those who say the university has more “institutes” and “centers” than bricks, I say give this one a chance until a closer look. The executive director is Ms. Melody Barnes.…
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Times, Post Mangle the Heaphy Story
by James A. Bacon Here is what happens when The New York Times imposes its national narrative upon a Virginia story: we are afflicted with articles with headlines like this: “Top Jan. 6 Investigator Fired From Post at the University of Virginia.” “Democrats in Virginia,” says the sub-head, denounced the action as “a partisan move…
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Begun, the College Wars Have
by James A. Bacon Attorney General Jason S. Miyares has fired the university counsels of the University of Virginia and George Mason University: Tim Heaphy at UVa and Brian Walther at GMU. I have no inside knowledge about why Miyares took these actions, but they are, I believe, best understood as the opening salvos in…
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W&M Leadership Transformation (Purge?) Nearly Complete
by James A. Bacon Katherine Rowe took the helm of The College of William & Mary July 1, 2018. In three-and-a-half years as president, she has replaced most of the deans and senior administrators carried over from the tenure of her revered predecessor W. Taylor Revely III. The overhaul is summarized in the graphic below,…
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Why Would Any Self-Respecting White Male Attend College Today?
by A.L. Schuhart Why should a White male attend any American public college today? If I were a young man, being White and male, it would not be in my interest to go to college, at least in America. The most important reason is that it is not necessary to get a college education, as…
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Schools Gone Wild — Henrico Edition
by James A. Bacon This story gives a whole new meaning — a literal meaning — to the phrase, “hair on fire.” According to WWBT/Gray News, a teenager at John Rolfe Middle School in Henrico County seta fellow student’s hair afire with a lighter. The boy is at VCU Medical Center suffering from second- and…
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UVa on Third-Vaccination Mandate: Trust Us
by James A. Bacon So, the University of Virginia bumped up its deadline for students, faculty and staff to get a COVID-19 booster shot to today, one day before Glenn Youngkin, a foe of vaccination mandates, takes office. In an interview with CBS19 News, UVa spokesman Brian Coy says Youngkin’s ascension to office was not…
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Imprisoned by the Past
by James A. Bacon As a parting gift to Virginia, outgoing Attorney General Mark Herring has overturned 58 opinions issued by attorneys general between 1904 and 1967 that supported racially discriminatory laws from poll taxes to the prohibition of interracial marriage. “While these discriminatory and racist laws are no longer on the books in Virginia,…
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Excising the “Equity” from Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
by James A. Bacon The biggest challenge Governor-elect Glenn Youngkin will face during his four-year term, scheduled to begin four days from now, will be to undo the “progressive” policy prescriptions of the Northam administration inspired by Critical Race Theory. The trickiest of these is Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, or DEI, which is a benign…
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Government Attacks on Parental Choice in Virtual K-12 Public Education in Virginia – Chapter 1: Teacher shortages
by James C. Sherlock A great deal of the increase in demand for full-time virtual K-12 (FTVK12) education is driven by rising teacher shortages in the brick-and-mortar schools. I am not talking about COVID quarantine or other illnesses, but rather endemic shortages. Jobs that cannot be filled. And may never be. We have well-founded fears…