DSL slowness

Sorry for the feeble number of posts the last couple of days. I believe I have the problem rectified.

Tip: If you have TiVo, it needs to be filtered. Right now I'm out of one phone line, off to Radio Shack to see if there is such a thing as a triple-headed DSL filter.

After that, I'll go running, then I'll work on part one of "Jamaica, yo problem!"

DePaul's president responds to the "affirmative action bake sale"

Sunlight is the best disinfectant.
Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis, 1856-1941

An anonymous tipster sent this to me last night. It comes from an e-mail, unexcerpted, sent to that tipster by the office of the president of DePaul University, Father Dennis Holtschneider.

If anyone can make sense of the italicized paragraph (done by me for emphasis), please leave a comment below.

Recently, a student organization held what has become known on college campuses across the nation as an "affirmative action bake sale." It was a provocative event viewed by many as an affront to DePaul's values of respect and dignity, inclusiveness and diversity. Concurrently, it raised questions about our commitment to free speech.

DePaul has completed a comprehensive review of the event to determine whether it violated our Student Code of Conduct or our new Anti-Discriminatory Harassment Policy. The reviewer interviewed or consulted with 20 people, including members of the DePaul Conservative Alliance (DCA), which hosted the event, and students who challenged the message it sent.

DCA explained in the review that its event was designed to be a "satirical protest" against affirmative action, particularly as it relates to admission policies, that would generate awareness and prompt discourse on the topic. The event, which included a menu board with prices based on one's race and gender, has been viewed by members of the university community as blatantly offensive and contrary to many of DePaul's core values.

The review concluded that the bake sale was a protest and was intentionally misrepresented by DCA in its promotion table application, violating the Student Code of Conduct. As a result of these findings, the organization has been censured, and sanctions have been applied. Our review also determined that the event did not violate the Anti-Discriminatory Harassment Policy because it was not directed at an individual, did not disrupt academic activity and did not demonstrate a pattern necessary to create a hostile environment.

DePaul has always been a pioneer in enrolling a broad array of students when other institutions would not. This proud legacy extends beyond racial minorities, to female, Jewish and Catholic students early in the 20th century. DePaul is proud of its history of welcoming students of many traditions and backgrounds to the university and then creating an atmosphere of respect and care for them. I support DCA's right to hold a protest on the topic of affirmative action. What I find troubling is that the protest was intentionally located across from the university's Cultural Center, a place where our students of color organize numerous enriching events for the campus community. I am not objecting that the event was, in DCA's own words, meant "to be incendiary." I am concerned that there is an appearance of having been directed specifically toward one group of the university community rather than the university community as a whole. In my opinion, this doesn't rise to the level of DePaul's commitment to create a welcoming atmosphere for all.

DePaul is committed to free speech, and as part of that commitment, we understand that we must allow even those activities that might startle or offend to take place, as long as those activities do not violate campus behavior policies. I hope our campus community knows that the university itself does not endorse a message merely because it permits it to be expressed. Our ancestors, who gave us the gift of free speech, understood that if we limit freedom of _expression for one, then we limit it for all. They taught us that the best way to counter speech with which we disagree is to greet it with more speech. Because of that, I am particularly grateful to the many student groups, faculty and staff who took the time to respond to this bake sale. They demonstrated both DePaul's deepest values and its commitment to vigorous debate.

To add to this response, I have asked Helmut Epp, executive vice president for Academic Affairs, and Elizabeth Ortiz, senior executive for Institutional Diversity, to sponsor a series of forums on free speech and affirmative action at DePaul. These events will engage the academic units, Faculty Council, Student Affairs, University Mission and Values, Institutional Diversity, Staff Council, the Student Government Association and student organizations in forums that will be open to faculty, staff and students. Information about these events will be posted on the Student Affairs Web site and available in the DePaulia once they are scheduled. This will complement the number of meetings and forums that already have been held to discuss the impact of this event on the DePaul community. I am very pleased that a diverse group of students have participated in these meetings and discussions.

Many universities are confronting these issues, and I anticipate a continuing conversation here as well. We engage in a daily balancing act as we affirm our strong commitment to free speech and academic freedom while living the values that are integral to our mission. Both intellectual discourse and the Vincentian tradition itself always begin with respect and dignity. Our community must hold firm to these foundational values as we explore these critical issues together.

Sincerely,

Rev. Dennis H. Holtschneider, C.M.
President

DePaul Academic freedom free speech Chicago Illinois

Coming tomorrow: Jamaica, Yo problem!

I'm working on some blogging posts about my Jamaican trip. It'll be interesting: My goal at the end of this exercise is to do to travel writing what poli-bloggers have done mainstream-media political writing.

DePaul follow-up

Michael O'Shea, the DePaul student who has drawn the wrath of the Chicago school's politically-correct administration, is a busy man. He has an opinion piece in the latest DePaulia, Time for Islam to grow up.

Hat tip to Steven Plaut, who was been keeping an eye on DePaul while I was in Jamaica.

Technorati tags: DePaul Illinois Chicago

Nothing changes....DePaul still harassing conservatives

Going thru my e-mail box: A tipster sent this my way.

From Townhall:

A DePaul University bake sale, mocking affirmative action, has exposed the student who organized the sale to an investigation on the grounds that he discriminated against and harassed other students.

The Chicago-based school is investigating whether senior Michael O'Shea may have violated the school's anti-discriminatory harassment policy with an "affirmative action bake sale" he organized with the DePaul Conservative Alliance (DCA).

Affirmative action bake sales, in which white and Asian students are charged more for baked goods than blacks and Hispanics, are popular among conservative activists on college campuses. They are designed to criticize affirmative action policies, not to raise funds.

After the DCA protest sparked what the school's student weekly newspaper called "a heated conversation" among students, university officials told organizers to shut down the bake sale. On Jan. 20, O'Shea received notification that the event was under investigation.

University spokeswoman Denise Mattson told Cybercast News Service that the review was launched because "there was a question about what the application for the event read and how it was characterized, versus how it unfolded."

Here's a Denise Mattson flashback from about a year ago, as she discusses the Thomas Klocek incident, courtesy of Inside Higher Ed:

Denise Mattson, a spokeswoman for DePaul, described the dispute in a different way. She said that the students noticed Klocek before he stopped by their table, walking back and forth and “acting in an odd way.” Once he arrived at the table, he was ‘belligerent” and “menacing,” Mattson said, shaking and pointing his finger very close to students’ faces. He was so threatening that other students who were present “ran to get help from staff, saying that students were being attacked by a professor.”

Mattson said no physical attack took place, and that the closest anything came to it was when Klocek threw some of the materials he picked up back at the students. And she said that Klocek returned to the activities fair even after university officials asked him to leave.

She said that the subject of the argument had nothing to do with the university’s concern. “It could have been about anything,” she said. “DePaul took action because we had to protect our students.”

After the incident, Klocek was placed on paid leave for the fall (the university says it was a mutual decision — he says he had no choice), given no courses for the winter quarter, and given the option of having one in the spring — if he apologized to the students he offended and agreed to let a program director periodically visit his classroom to see him in action.

When DePaul offered Klocek its conditions for his return to the classroom, he decided to hire a lawyer, and this month he staged his bound and gagged press conference. To him, the incident is about free speech. “The people who run this school are confusing Christian values with political correctness.”

But to DePaul, it’s anything but. “He’s becoming a cause célèbre for academic freedom, and he isn’t,” Mattson said.

Technorati tags: DePaul Chicago Illinois free speech Academic Freedom

Cartoons, cartoons

Well, after a week in Jamaica, I found a few things haven't changed. The Danish cartoon controversy is still raging.

To put this in perspective, one again....these cartoons were first published in September.

The two major papers in Jamaica, the Gleaner-Star and the Observer covered the ongoing riots, as did the Canadian CBC--which was available in my hotel.

UPDATE 1:05 AM Michelle Malkin reports that the Daily Illini, the campus newspaper of my alma mater, the University of Illinois, has suspended the paper's editor-in-chief and the opinion editor for running those cartoons. A Google cached version of the Daily Illini is here.

Technorati tags: Islam Tegninger Jyllands-Posten Cartoons Denmark Danmark

Back from Dye'r Mak'er

I've returned. Sorry 'bout no posts from Jamaica. I couldn't find a decent Internet Cafe, the ones I came across consisted of allowing someone like myself using the one computer in a retail shop. I'll blog a lot about my trip there, but the simplest transaction in most retail shops in tourist areas such as Montego Bay, involve a headache-inducing haggling experience.

D'yer Mak'er bound

In 1973, to the surprise of everyone--including themselves, the rock band Led Zeppelin landed a Top 40 hit with the song D'yer Mak'er from their album Houses of the Holy.

It's pronounced "Jer-make-er," as in Jamaica.

And that's where I'm off too. I'll blog a bit, so check back in, or head to Pajamas Media for the best blogging around.

Or drop by Brainster's trackback party!

Technorati tags: Led Zeppelin Jamaica Caribbean

Iran president: All nations must work for world peace

No, this one is not from The Onion. But it is from the Tehran Times.

President Mahmud Ahmadinejad said on Monday that all countries are obligated to work for world peace and security based on the observance of justice.

Well, I guess he's not such a bad guy.

Technorati tags: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Iran ايران

Northwestern University's tenured holocaust-denier, Arthur Butz

Known as a prestigious university, Northwestern University has a dirty secret: Engineering Professor Arthur R. Butz, a holocaust-denier.

Northwestern has been trying to find a way to get rid of Butz for almost thirty years. I first heard the name around 1978 while a student at Carl Sandburg High School in Orland Park, Illinois. A speaker from the Anti-Defamation League was addressing an assembly, not only was Butz' name brought up, but the ADL guy said he heard a rumor his nephew was a student at Sandburg. He was, and not only that, he was seated not too far away from me at the assembly, looking pretty embarrassed.

I haven't seen the nephew since I graduated from Sandburg. I wonder how he's doing?

Sometime around 1980, Professor Butz, who received his coveted tenure right before he delved into denying the holocaust, reached an agreement with the Evanston college: He wouldn't talk politics in the classroom, and in his writings--and for promotions for his speaking engagements--he'd be identified as Arthur R. Butz, Northwestern University Engineering Professor.

With out the tagline of the final two words, the implication for the uninformed would've been that Butz was a history of political science professor at NU.

Of course, just south of Evanston at Chicago's DePaul University, Norman Finkelstein actually is a political science professor. He's been called a holocaust-denier by the Anti-Defamation League.

Butz was in the news today, as reports surfaced that he made comments supporting Iran's holocaust-denying President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, according to the Daily Northwestern:

"I congratulate him on becoming the first head of state to speak out clearly on these issues and regret only that it was not a Western head of state," Butz said. His comments were reprinted in Saturday's Chicago Tribune.

That provoked a reaction at Northwestern. From the same article:

Stuart Loren, a Weinberg sophomore, created the petition against Butz on Saturday after reading the professor's statements in the Tribune. The petition has about 200 signatures.

"The importance of the petition is not so much whether he is fired or not, but to make a loud response from the Jewish community and the university as a whole," said Adam Dorsky, a Communication freshman who signed the petition.

Loren said he hopes the petition will encourage NU to clarify its standard of conduct for faculty and make wiser decisions when giving tenure to professors.

Good idea. Butz has tenure at Northwestern, but so does ex-Weather Underground terrorist Bernardine Dohrn, who made these 1969 comments shortly after the Manson "Family" committed the Sharon Tate murders:

Dig it. First they killed those pigs, then they ate dinner in the same room with them. They even shoved a fork into the victim's stomach! Wild!

The storm of controversy at Northwestern is even spreading to one of its heroes, David Protess, a journalism professor at NU. There are allegation that an innocent man was framed so a convicted death row inmate, Anthony Porter, could go free.

I could limit this blog to writing about the insanity known as "higher" education, and never run out of material.

Technorati tags: Northwestern Illinois Chicago Evanston Israel Holocaust Holocaust denial Iran DePaul Free Speech