Tag: James A. Bacon
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Who Really Runs UVa?
by James A. Bacon Earlier this month, an anonymous group distributed a pamphlet, “We’re Pissed Off: You Should Be, Too,” on the University of Virginia grounds that issued a broadside against the university’s governance structure. Although Board of Visitors member Bert Ellis was the primary object of their ire, the authors criticized the Board generally…
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Lords of the Lie
by James A. Bacon I never imagined it possible to exceed the vitriol heaped upon University of Virginia board member Bert Ellis over the past few months. I thought for sure that the nastiness would die down. I was naive. Yesterday the Democratic Party of Virginia labeled him a “eugenicist” — an advocate of the…
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Virginians Ship Another 22 Ambulances to Ukraine
Departing from Harrisonburg, a convoy of 22 ambulances arrived at the Port of Baltimore this morning and boarded a cargo ship bound for Ukraine. In total now, non-profit Ukraine Focus, founded by former USAID official Brock Bierman, has shipped 112 of the life-saving vehicles to Ukrainian medics on the frontlines of Russia’s aggression. Ukraine Focus…
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“Anti-Racism” in Action: Fairfax Schools Edition
by James A. Bacon Do you have an 8th grader who wants to go to college? Does he or she fall into one of several marginalized groups, including Black or Hispanic racial/ethnic identity? If so, Fairfax County has a special College Partnership Program to help. Although the program apparently allows Whites and Asian students to…
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Empty Gesture? UVa Board Endorses Diversity of Thought.
by James A. Bacon The University of Virginia Board of Visitors did more than endorse free speech on university campuses Friday when it voted to adopt a Council of Presidents statement on free speech: it endorsed the principle of viewpoint diversity. In 2021 the Board had embraced a statement on free speech by a commission…
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Ceaser Crosses the Rubicon, Refuses to Give DEI Loyalty Oath
by James A. Bacon Jim Ceaser runs the Program for Constitutionalism and Democracy at the University of Virginia, which provides civic education on American ideas in politics and political economy. The courses are unusual these days in surveying the thought of mostly dead White men: from Aristotle and Montesquieu to Edmund Burke and Alexis de…
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School Superintendent Balow a Casualty of the Culture Wars?
by James A. Bacon Jillian Balow, Virginia’s top K-12 school official, has submitted her resignation effective March 9. She gave no reason but appears to depart on good terms with the Youngkin administration. In a press release, Balow thanked Governor Glenn Youngkin for the opportunity to serve, and pledged her support for the governor’s agenda…
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UVa’s Lawn Applications Down… Again. Why?
by James A. Bacon Forty-seven University of Virginia students have been offered a room on the Lawn for the 2023-24 academic year. They were selected from a pool of 152 applicants, reports The Cavalier Daily. The number of applications was down from 189 last year and 221 two years ago. Why the decline? There was…
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Norfolk’s Progressive Prosecutor Comes Under Fire
by James A. Bacon Excellent reporting by the Virginia Mercury’s Jim Morrison highlights the debate in Norfolk over the rising homicide rate since 2020. In this two-part series (here and here) he describes how the city’s “progressive” Commonwealth Attorney Ramin Fatehi, who campaigned on the premise that structural racism is the root cause of criminality,…
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Explaining the Decline in English Majors
by James A. Bacon Once upon a time, the University of Virginia was known for the excellence of its English Department — one of the most highly regarded in the country. Perhaps it still is. But you wouldn’t know it from the decline in the number of students earning B.A. and graduate degrees. The number…
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Virginia’s New Population Growth Leaders
by James A. Bacon The COVID-19 pandemic changed the dynamics of population growth in Virginia. For decades Northern Virginia, with Fairfax County at its core, led population growth in Virginia. And in the 2010s, Virginia’s central cities experienced a population renaissance. But the combination of COVID-19 and sky-high real estate prices have pushed growth out…
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Time to Bring Back the Blue Books?
by James A. Bacon It’s hard to know how much credence to give to trend data extrapolated from online search queries. But if we imbue the findings of software firm Tiny Wow with any significance, one recent search trend is worrisome indeed. Tiny Wow analyzed Google Trends for the search queries “essay writer,” “essay ai…
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Electric Grid Reliability at Risk by 2030, PJM Says
by James A. Bacon The regional interconnection organization PJM has identified four trends that could put the reliability of the electric grid for Virginia and a dozen other member states at risk by 2030. Dudes, that’s seven years away! According to a new study, “Energy Transition in PJM: Resource Retirements, Replacements & Risks,” the four…