Tag: University of Virginia
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How the Digital Rumor Mill Fed Incoherent Social-Justice Hysteria
by James A. Bacon When Emma Camp was a student at the University of Virginia in 2020, she heard the tale of Morgan Bettinger, another UVa student, who was said to have approached left-wing protesters in downtown Charlottesville and threatened to make “speed bumps” of them. The story, says Camp, was repeatedly endlessly on social…
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New York Times “DEI” Article Prompts Questions About Ryan’s Views
by James A. Bacon Kudos to Stephanie Saul for her front-page article in The New York Times this morning. She quotes Bert Ellis and me accurately and in context in an impressively even-handed account of the brewing controversy over Diversity, Equity & Inclusion at the University of Virginia. Followers of Bacon’s Rebellion will find that…
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Apologies Run One Way in Woke World
by James A. Bacon The woke witch trials of the 21st century don’t burn their victims at the stake, but they still do immense harm. We previously told the story of how Morgan Bettinger, a 4th-year student who ran afoul of the University of Virginia’s social-justice warriors, was vilified on social media, investigated by university…
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Who Runs UVa? Part II
Yeah, yeah, another UVa post. Think of it this way: the governance issues at UVa are similar to those of every public university in Virginia. by James A. Bacon In past posts The Jefferson Council has highlighted a recently published screed, “We’re Pissed Off; You Should Be Too,” that criticizes the governance structure of the…
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Marion Smith: a Thinker-Activist with a Global Perspective
*** Sponsored Content *** In The Jefferson Council’s meeting on April 4th, you will hear how the Council is fighting for free speech and intellectual diversity at the University of Virginia, and how our struggle is just one front in a nationwide alumni rebellion to reclaim America’s universities from the left. From Marion Smith, president…
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Glenn Loury Highlights Jefferson Council Event
*** Sponsored Content *** Glenn Loury is one of the foremost African-American intellectuals in the country. No, actually, that’s selling him short. He’s one of the foremost intellectuals – period — in America. As an economics professor at Brown University, an author, a columnist, a podcaster, and a self-described “liberal who has been mugged by…
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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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Is a Reckoning Coming for the Management and Administrative Costs at Virginia’s State Colleges and Universities?
by James C. Sherlock In 2015, Professor Paul Campos of the University of Colorado at Boulder wrote an op-ed for The New York Times that clarified for many a major issue in the rising costs of a college education — the exponential growth of the number and costs of administrators. According to the Department of Education…
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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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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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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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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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The Bert Ellis Feeding Frenzy
by James A. Bacon Virginia has now entered the feeding frenzy stage of the assault on Bert Ellis’ character. Abandoning all journalistic standards of impartiality and fair play, mainstream media outlets compete with one another to publish anything they can find to compromise Ellis, a member of the University of Virginia Board of Visitors appointed…
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Break out the Smelling Salts. Bert Ellis Called Someone a “Numnut”
by James A. Bacon And the hit jobs just keep on coming! After maligning Virginia Military Institute alumni dissident Matt Daniel two days ago, The Washington Post aims its guns today on Bert Ellis, a conservative alumnus and member of the University of Virginia Board of Visitors, with the publication of text messages obtained through…