Category: Education (higher ed)
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Woke War on VMI Is Just Getting Started
by James A. Bacon Washington Post reporter Ian Shapira does a victory dance in the newspaper today with his coverage of J.H. Binford Peay III’s resignation as superintendent of Virginia Military Institute. Last week the Post had published Shapira’s reporting based on quotes from a half dozen VMI cadets and graduates that alleged “relentless racism”…
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The Latest Casualty of the Culture Wars
J.H. Binford Peay III, superintendent of the Virginia Military Institute, has submitted his resignation, stating that Governor Ralph Northam and senior legislations had “lost confidence” in his leadership. The VMI board accepted his resignation “with regret.” Peay’s departure follows a Washington Post article alleging an atmosphere of “relentless racism” at the military college. Two days…
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Bacon Bits: Fear, Loathing, and Excess
Rise of the surveillance state. The Virginia Supreme Court has declared that Fairfax County’s mass collection of license plates does not violate legal privacy protections. Automated cameras can collect and store data even if a driver is not suspected of committing a crime, and police can access the data for 364 days after its entry…
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Department of Education Details Foreign Ties of Virginia Universities
by James A. Bacon Virginia’s five research universities received $170 million in foreign funding between 2014 and 2019, according to federal Department of Education disclosure data. Virginia Commonwealth University accounted for almost half the total sum, thanks mainly to contracts with the Qatar Foundation. VCU’s School of the Arts has operated a campus in Qatar’s…
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Sorority Member Put on Probation for Criticizing BLM
by James C. Sherlock I quote below a story from the New York Post posted today at 7:48 AM and authored by Lee Brown. Karl Marx is alive and living in Kansas. The sound you hear is George Orwell turning over in his grave. Does anyone think this can’t happen in Virginia? A University of…
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Virginia’s Higher-Ed Juggernaut Keeps on Truckin’
During what may be the sharpest economic contraction in United States history, Virginia’s public colleges and universities managed to increase their tuition & fees by 1.6% this year — 1.7% if you don’t include the community colleges, which enacted no increases at all. Despite the challenge of the COVID-19 epidemic and the recession, enrollment at…
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An Intellectual-Diversity Agenda for UVa
by James A. Bacon The University of Virginia’s insurgent alumni have made it very clear what they’re against. They don’t like profane signs on the Lawn that disrespect the University. They oppose contextualizing the Thomas Jefferson statue. They’re unhappy with the endless self-flagellation for the institution’s association with slavery and segregation, as if nothing has…
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Envision This: a Lawn with No Signage
by James A. Bacon In a letter written to Aubrey Daniel, one of the strongest critics of the UVa administration, Rector James B. Murray Jr. brings out new facts and arguments regarding Jim Ryan’s handling of the “F— UVA” Lawn sign controversy. Criticism has focused on a student’s use of profanity in a sign on…
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UVa’s Lawn Scandal — Bad Leadership and Worse Lawyering
by James C. Sherlock, University of Virginia, College of Arts and Sciences, 1966 Hira Azher’s profane sign on the door of her room on the University of Virginia’s Lawn has made headlines, and the ensuing controversy has raised many questions. This article will highlight a new issue. University administrators, I will argue, botched the handling…
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Only in Virginia…
Who came up with this idea? Now that Dominion Energy has completed reliability testing for its first two offshore wind turbines, the Northam administration is announcing the formation of the Mid-Atlantic Wind Training Alliance to provide industry certifications for wind-project operations and maintenance. What better place to base such a program than…. 200 miles away…
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Ryan Wilts in Conversation with Azher
by James A. Bacon I concluded my previous column, “Hira Azher Speaks,” by asking the question, what is it about the University of Virginia that foments such deep-felt aggrievement and resentment that Azher, a self-described Muslim person of color, would feel motivated to plaster the words “Fuck UVA” on the door of her Lawn residence?…
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The Cancel Culture Knows No Bounds. Where Does It End?
by James A. Bacon Thomas M. Neale, a lead organizer of the University of Virginia alumni revolt, has written a letter with 200 co-signatories to the Board of Visitors decrying the “cancel culture” permeating the university. The board has voted to rename the Curry School of Education, remove the George Rogers Clark statues, and contextualize…
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ODU’s Fumble
by Kerry Dougherty Here’s an unsurprising, entirely predictable tale. On Monday, The Virginian-Pilot published a story headlined, “With Few Students and No Fall Sports Business Dries Up Around ODU.” Businesses near the campus of ODU have been through mandated closures and restrictions on their capacity, but the fall semester has brought with it more trouble:…
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A Revolt in Williamsburg
By Dick Hall-Sizemore (Class of 1970) While some participants on this blog have been busy trying to foment an alumni revolt at the The University, there has been a real alumni revolt at The College. The alumni won. On the surface, the turmoil was over sports. But, at its core, it was over what should…
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Profanity Proliferates on the Lawn
by James A. Bacon After a resident of the Lawn at the University of Virginia posted signage saying, “Fuck UVa,” outraged alumni raised a stink in a series of letters to UVa President Jim Ryan. For the time being, said Ryan, Lawn residents’ free speech is protected by the First Amendment, but the administration is…