Tag: James A. Bacon
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University of Lynchburg Bites the Bullet
by James A. Bacon In anticipation of shrinking numbers of college-bound students, the University of Lynchburg has taken proactive steps to reduce its cost structure. A small private institution affiliated with the Church of Christ, the university has announced that it is cutting employee headcount by 10%, with further reductions over the next three years.…
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BoV Secretary Edited Board Member’s Scathing Rebuke of Foe
by James A. Bacon Thomas A. DePasquale, an eight-year veteran of the University of Virginia Board of Visitors, is very unhappy with board colleague Bert Ellis. A dogged defender of President Jim Ryan, he took it upon himself in April to write a missive to other board members criticizing Ellis, who has made no secret…
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UVA to Pay $9 Million in Mass-Shooting Settlement
The University of Virginia has settled with the families of five victims of a November 2022 mass shooting that occurred after a class outing to Washington, D.C. The university will pay $2 million each to the families of football players Devin Chandler, Lavel Davis Jr. and D’Sean Perry and another $3 million to be divided…
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The Junk Science Behind a Property-Valuation Study
by James A. Bacon When you examine every issue through a racial lens, everything looks like racism. It’s even easier to find racism everywhere when you resort to junk science (or social science, as the case may be). A case in point is a new study by Housing Opportunities Made Equal of Virginia (Home), which…
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Wait, I’m Confused. Are Rising Housing Valuations Good or Bad for Black Neighborhoods?
by James A. Bacon It’s hard to keep up with the twists and turns of what progressives deem to be racist these days. Once upon a time, gentrification was considered racist because the phenomenon of White people moving into a neighborhood increased local property values, which increased taxes on long-time African-American residents and pressured them…
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Yes, You Can Fight City Hall
by James A. Bacon Sometimes it takes grumpy old men to get things done. Ken Davis, retired from a career in the Attorney General’s Office, lived with his wife in the Willow Lawn area of Richmond for more than 40 years. They paid their property tax bills on time and without complaint. But in July…
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Oppression of the Drinking Class
It’s time to proclaim a new class of the “oppressed” in the pantheon of society’s victims — bourbon drinkers and other imbibers of liquors. Virginia’s tax system engages in systemic bias in favor of the teetotalers. It’s not just that drinkers in Virginia must purchase their spirits at government-owned ABC stores or that they must…
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A Curmudgeon Counts His Blessings on Memorial Day
by James A. Bacon It’s Memorial Day, and I should be choosing an uplifting and patriotic image like an American flag to accompany this post. But I’m feeling more than ordinarily cranky this morning, so I’m using this image of an old man shouting at birds and the rain. That’s me, alright. Set aside my…
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Open the Books Digs Up 100 More DEI Employees at UVA
by James A. Bacon Back in March, Adam Andrzejewski and his team at Open the Books, a non-profit dedicated to transparency in government spending, concluded that the University of Virginia is spending $20 million in payroll for 235 employees (including student interns) on work relating to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. Describing Andrzejewski’s numbers as “wildly…
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Money Alone Won’t Solve Teacher Shortage
by James A. Bacon Virginia, like other states, is facing a teacher shortage. The debate over how to reverse the thinning of the ranks has been mind-bogglingly superficial. As a consequence, there is little prospect of solving it. The root of the problem is that the Virginia Education Association (VEA) and its ideological allies in…
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UVA Groups Are Hamas Proxies, Lawsuit Contends
by James A. Bacon Matan Goldstein, a first-year Israeli-American student at the University of Virginia, has filed a lawsuit against President Jim Ryan and Rector Robert Hardie, alleging that they stood by and did nothing while pro-Hamas groups subjected him to harassment, intimidation and abuse for his religious and ethnic identity. Goldstein drew attention as…
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Fewer Children Seeking ER Treatment for Cannabis Ingestion
by James A. Bacon The number of pediatric patients visiting hospital emergency rooms in cannabis-related incidents fell 21.5% in the first half of 2023 compared to the same period the year before, a decline that some attribute to bipartisan legislation regulating the production, sale, and potency of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) in marijuana-related products. A Virginia Hospital…
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UVA Grad Students Urge Withholding of Year-End Grades
by James A. Bacon The United Campus Workers of Virginia (UCWVA) at the University of Virginia has launched a campaign urging faculty and graduate students to withhold grades until the Ryan administration capitulates to its demands of amnesty for people arrested during the May 4 crackdown on the pro-Palestinian “liberation zone.” “UVA exec admin stood…
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The Crying Game
by James A. Bacon After President Jim Ryan ordered a breakup of their liberation zone for Gaza a week ago in what one might call a “mostly peaceful” police action, encampment veterans are posturing as victims of “brutal” fascist state “violence” and “trauma.” “I got brutalized by the police at a UNESCO World Heritage site,”…
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So Much for Empathetic Listening
by James A. Bacon Militant students and faculty at the University of Virginia — and elsewhere — often talk about having “hard conversations” about the tragic realities in Gaza. To see what those “conversations” sound like, click on the video above. It was hard alright — hard for President Jim Ryan. The students had…