Now that we’re getting a look-see at what’s in the leaked diplomatic cables, the question inevitably comes up, do these disclosures help or harm the public interest? The Obama administration has “condemned [the leaks] in the strongest terms,”* although they stopped short of[...]
Archive for November, 2010
For-Profit Education and the Failure of Capitalism
Great Read at HorsesAss.[...]
Death of A Pioneer: Britton Chance
After Newton, science has had eras marked by new discoveries. One such era might be called the era of the pathway. Once we cell biologists learned about the parts of the cell, biochemistry and biophysics became dominant .. an era led by a few pioneers who determined the functions of these parts [...]
November 29th, 2010 - 10:25 am § in Uncategorized
To Big to be Known, Protecting Possible UW Presidents
Confidentiality Is Becoming the Norm in Presidential Searches By Dennis M. Barden Mr. Barden is a vice president at Witt/Kieffer, an executive search firm. Witt Keiffer is not the search firm hired by the UW for our search. from the Chronicle of Higher Eduation, November 28, 2010 Mr. Barden writes a[...]
November 29th, 2010 - 12:12 am § in Uncategorized
Interview with David Horowitz
The blog College Freedom has an impressive interview with David Horowtiz. For those unaware of Horowtiz, he is definitely more than just an irritant. He and his organization have used the concept of academic free speech to argue that university curricula are imbalanced because we, the faculty, so [...]
November 28th, 2010 - 6:13 pm § in Politics, The Ave Scene
Can governments legislate truth?
What happens when the government tries to legislate truth? I find the debate over medical marijuana very disturbing to my belief that our society can be a society of laws. The problem, as I see it, is that the laws prohibiting use of marijuana are not based on facts. That law claims that MJ is [&hel[...]
Public Records Laws In The Real World
I want to cover two disparate topics in this article, so the structure of this article is two unrelated discussions, one after the other. Public records laws exist at both the federal and state levels. At the federal level, we have the Freedom of Information Act, commonly referred to as FOIA. In Was[...]
PRIVATIZE THE UW!
Dick Startz, over at Crosscut has posted an article proposing a strange sort of state capitalism as a solution to funding the schools. I have excerpted relevant parts of his text below (in blue) but suggest you read the entire text at Crosscut. With all due respect to a faculty colleague, this pro[...]
Tuition Riots in England
This post began with a link to video of riots in England because the conservative government is raising tuition to near American levels. What I fear is that England is moving backward and we are moving forward, both toward the pre WWII system of Victorian England! “Thomas Jefferson was the pri[...]
November 24th, 2010 - 12:05 am § in Misc.
UW Faculty Council Chair Defends Stadium
Letter from William Rorabaugh (AAUP Listserv ay UW) Colleagues – A couple of points. First, revenue bonds have long been used by UW to build facilities. Parking structures are built with bonds to be paid off with future parking revenues. The Med School K-Wing’s research space was b[...]