Category: Education (higher ed)
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If You Thought Virginia Higher Ed Couldn’t Get Worse…. You’re Wrong
by James A. Bacon The State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV) announced today that it has joined forces with dozens of higher education and student organizations in a “shared commitment” to make “democracy learning” a top priority for higher education. In a SCHEV press release, this commitment is expressed in the most neutral…
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How Not to Create a Diverse, Welcoming Workplace
by James A. Bacon Michelle Vermillion was raised an old-fashioned liberal. She grew up thinking that people should be treated as individuals, judged, as Martin Luther King once dreamed, by the content of their character, not the color of their skin. She supports civil rights causes and endorses diversity in the workplace. Getting to know…
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Intellectual Enslavement at UVa
by Jock Yellott “This year, members of the Class of 2025 are required to attend a historical tour and debrief discussion centered around the history of enslaved laborers at the University.” — Sydney Hertzog, Cavalier Daily, Sept. 22, 2021. Why does this rankle? The University of Virginia, after all, has many mandates: • Social Sciences…
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How We Got Here…
by A.L. Schuhart The explosive spread of Critical Race Theory (CRT) and Diversity Equity & Inclusion (DEI) in American education can be traced in large part to the changes made to the Principles of Accreditation for Colleges and Universities and Schools during the Obama Administration. These changes have reoriented the mission of American colleges from…
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Bacon Bits: The Fraying Social Fabric Edition
Honor is an antiquated slaveholders concept anyway. The University of Virginia’s student Honor Committee has voted to alter the honor code to eliminate the single sanction against lying, cheating and stealing from expulsion to a two-semester suspension. Before the change can be adopted, it must be approved by a vote of the student body. Third-year…
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The Enrollment Gap Colleges Don’t Like to Talk About
by James A. Bacon While college administrators across Virginia and the United States fixate on the racial/ethnic makeup of their institutions, there’s a large and growing gender gap. Young women dominate enrollment at most higher-ed institutions these days. Fewer young men are applying, and even when they do, they’re dropping out more frequently. Administrators don’t…
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UVa, COVID, and Jim Ryan’s $200,000 Bonus
by James A. Bacon Like many other University of Virginia alumni, I was taken aback to hear that the Board of Visitors had granted President Jim Ryan a $200,000 bonus for the great job UVa had done in addressing the COVID-19 epidemic. Rector Whittington Clement put it this way: “When the situation this year became…
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Bacon Bits: Reality Sucks Edition
Bye, Bye, Brackney. The City of Charlottesville will not renew the employment contract of Police Chief RaShall Brackney, who took on the job in June 2018, the City announced on its website yesterday. No explanation was given. However, the announcement follows less than two weeks after publication of a survey of Charlottesville police officers showing…
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Unequivocal Support for Free Speech… but Not Transparency
by Walter Smith To the tune of “Unforgettable”… Unequivocal you’re not at all Unequivocal nowhere this fall Like an empty phrase that runs from me How your illusion does things to me Never before has something been less Unequivocal in every way The University of Virginia formed the Free Expression and Free Inquiry Committee in…
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Sorry, Educrats, the SOL Numbers Are Truly Dismal
by James A. Bacon The Standards of Learning pass rates for Virginia public school students were grim this year, showing declines of 20 to 25 percentage points in history, math and science from the 2018-19 school year. English reading and writing pass rates weren’t as poor, but that’s in large measure because the State Board…
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VMI, Media Bias, and Lies by Omission
by Larry Houseworth Charlie Beckett of the London School of Economics addressed journalism’s turn to emotionalism in a talk given at the 2015 Science Festival in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England (“How journalism is turning emotional and what that might mean for news.”) He stated, “the value of objective journalism is the idea that journalism can…
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Map of the Day: College Acceptance Rates
If you’re applying to one of Virginia’s four-year colleges, you stand the best chance of being admitted if you come from a non-metropolitan area, judging by this map compiled by the Virginia Public Access Project on the basis of recently published State Council of Higher Education for Virginia data. The odds are best of all…
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What’s the Best COVID Metric — Vaccinations or Antibodies?
by James A. Bacon The University of Virginia has “disenrolled” 49 students who had registered for fall classes but failed to comply with the school’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate. Another 184 temporary waivers were granted to students who have had trouble getting vaccinated, according to The Washington Post. University officials say that fewer than one percent…
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Challenging JMU with a Slingshot
by Joe Fitzgerald The reasons Jake Conley might win are moral and the reasons he might lose are legal. Jake Conley is the Breeze editor suing JMU over FOIA requests the student newspaper made for the location of Covid cases on campus. Call it the Dorms to Avoid suit. JMU declined to provide the info,…
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Complexity and Single-Party Rule in the Modern University
Bacon’s Rebellion publishes here a thought piece by University Professor Allan C. Stam, a professor of politics and public policy at the University of Virginia. Although the column describes research universities generally, Stam says that his critique applies to Virginia research universities and the University of Virginia. JAB by Allan C. Stam Large research universities…