20070924 college journalists looking for a job at the New York Times

Just a couple of college journalists looking for a job at the New York Times

September 24th, 2007

Ah, and speaking of Bush Derangement Syndrome, click on this college student newspaper moment of intellectual endeavor – after you understand that what you are about to view, albeit, in a student newspaper, in part supported by taxpayer dollars, is fairly off the scale offensive: Student Newspaper Strikes Out.

Hat Tip: The Baltimore Reporter – “Our Future MSM Reporters Display Their Brilliance.”

But of course, President George W. Bush had nothing to do with the incident.

For that matter, neither did Senator John Kerry, who certainly appeared to attempt to ameliorate a bad situation promulgated by someone intent on calling attention to himself by being extraordinarily obnoxious and then shoving a police officer.

One may be able to argue that there is a place in society for civil disobedience – but one must always be willing to accept the consequences and always remember that police officers have guns.

As far as the budding student journalists ... one could also argue that the folks at “The Rocky Mountain Collegian” were just looking to develop a resume item for the New York Times, which says the same thing, every other day, with different adjectives.

(Meanwhile, you may want to contact them: “Since 1891, The Rocky Mountain Collegian has been the student voice of Colorado State University. The Rocky Mountain Collegian's purpose is threefold: serve as a news source, create a platform for discourse and provide skill development opportunity for staff. The Collegian strives to cover and explain the relevance of issues that impact the Colorado State community, primarily students, by providing a broad scope of perspectives.”)

Fox News has more…

Thanks again to “The Baltimore Reporter.”

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20070922 We hear from a reader on President Ahmadinejad

We hear from a reader on President Ahmadinejad.

Aryeh Amihay has left a new comment on your post "20070921 Columbia won't cancel Ahmadinejad speech":

I think the issue is not so much his views, as is his ability to implement them.

In other words, he's not invited to Columbia because he wants to destroy Israel, but because he might have the power to do so.

Not any antisemite in the US, interested in the destruction of Israel would receive the same invitation from CU. Therefore, it's not a matter of which views are being represented, but which views are actually shaping our world, affecting Mideast politics and US foreign policy.

More on this on my blog:

http://mostlyonisrael.blogspot.com/2007/09/some-comments-on-iran-ahmedinejad-and.html

_____

Thanks for your comment Mr. Amihay.

Thanks for calling to my attention your blog. I took a quick tour of your web site and I’ll be placing a link on my blog to your site the next chance I get. I’ll look forward to checking-in as frequent as possible.

As a journalist, if I had a chance to attend the presentation of Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad - I would. For me, his right to free speech in our country is not the issue.

It is wonderful that he have the forum to prove, once he opens his mouth, that his positions are not in-line with a just and peaceful world.

Free speech is rather important to me as it should be to all Americans and as much as I am concerned, to say the least, about what it is that the Iranian president has to say – or the power to do; my problem is more with Columbia University’s persistent inconsistencies.

The esteemed institution piously, self-righteously, if not - condescendingly proclaims to be the standard-bearer for a “long-standing tradition of serving as a major forum for robust debate.”

Yet anecdotally, that is not its track record. The wonders of information dissemination by way of the internet allow us to be aware that the esteemed university does not extend meaningful invitations to those for whom, the university appears to collectively - not agree.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if Columbia University were to extend an invitation to all Americans of varying political ideologies the courtesy that it so easily extend to Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

With all due respect sir, for me the wheels come off the cart in your commentary when you misuse Spragens Political Theorem in your fourth paragraph; by utilizing conclusions in your equation that are certainly not agreed upon as facts.

Please read: “19981216 President Clinton explains Iraq strike.”

It was disconcerting how quickly your otherwise intelligent commentary was compromised when it drifted from President Ahmadinejad to diatribes about President George W. Bush.

First things first.

There is no firm foundation for a scholar to simplistically buy-in to the notion that because attempts at nuclearization in the Middle East are occurring on President George W. Bush’s watch; it is because this president “has managed to secure” it. The slow and steady desire of Middle Eastern nations to acquire nuclear capability began long before President Bush’s term in office. (“…The attack of the Iraqi Nuclear Reactor in 1981…”)

Suggesting that the war in Iraq, promulgated in an attempt, in part, to stop the de-stabilization (and nuclearization of the region,) has, in affect, caused a phenomenon which had already begun antecedent to the U. S. intervention in Iraq is logically suspect, if not simplistic and presents itself as agenda driven.

(As an aside, I can criticize the conduct of the war with the best. Please see "The Crocodile Dundee Factor." Or “Iraq: Into the Heart of Darkness.”)

But that does not mean that I am opposed to challenging the global forces of terrorism with force. Or that I don’t yearn for peace. No more than you when you wrote on September 1, 2007, that you “will criticize Israel more often and in more detail than other parties of the conflict. This does not mean that I think Israel is more to blame in the conflict than anyone else. As an Israeli, I have a better understanding of Israeli politics than of politics of any other country.”

Like you, my ideal, in spite of how often I come-up short, is “Above all, this blog is concerned with the truth, not in taking sides.”

However with that in mind, what was particularly disconcerting for me is to read is that a PhD student in the Dept of Religion at Princeton University is presenting a scholarly commentary that includes the phraseology, “contrary to the pubic image of a complete idiot, George W. Bush…”

Of no doubt, any well-read person has seen President Bush characterized as such. Nevertheless, that is usually where I stop reading. I am unaware of any definitive research that allows me to know what “the public image” is with the exception of that tired canard being trotted out in the lexicon of folks who wish to monopolize the dominant narrative by repeating such a baseless conclusion ad nauseum until the less informed accept it as a “fact."

Fundamentally, your argumentation that a “connection between the war in Iraq and the rise of oil prices has been noticed by many,” is equally suspect. No doubt, the price of oil has been affected by the hostilities in the region.

However there is a preponderance of information that an historic (see 1973 oil crisis and 1979 energy crisis) destabilization in the price of oil would have persisted in the face of the unchecked continued radicalization of Syria, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, and Iraq.

Ultimately, any continued United States foreign policy based on our continued dependence on foreign oil is a ticket to failure.

Finally - blaming the phenomena of the erratic fluctuations in the price of oil; the Middle East’s appetite for nuclear proliferation; the continued inability of the šī at Alī (Shias) and ahl al-sunnah wa-l-jamaa (Sunnis) to get along; and the rise of Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad presents as a manifestation of “Bush Derangement Syndrome” at worst (as defined by Dr, Charles Krauthammer – or click here.)

Or in the least, it smacks of the “… problem … (in) that it once more captures the over-simplistic dichotomy in which many people conceptualize politics, namely the "bad guys" vs. "good guys" view,” (a college freshman’s Hagel’s Dialectic Progression) for which you decry.

Generalizations that all the ills of a dangerous world lay at the feet of President Bush are abusive and contribute to a dangerous polarization for the purpose of bankrupt political expediency such as what characterized the dysfunctionate appeasement in the 1930s that preceded the military defeat of France in 1940 and a world in grave peril.

Meanwhile, thanks again for the feedback. As always, your thoughtful consideration is appreciated regardless of the outcome on any particular issue. Whether we agree or disagree, always find my door open for friendly civil and constructive dialogue. I’ll be up at Princeton in several times this fall. Lunch is on me – isn’t there an Indian restaurant near the intersection of Chestnut and Nassau Streets?

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20070919 President Bollinger’s Statement on President Ahmadinejad

Columbia University’s President Bollinger's Statement About President Ahmadinejad's Scheduled Appearance

Hat Tip and thanks to “Mostly on Israel”

Published: Sept. 19, 2007

On Monday, September 24, the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is scheduled to appear as a speaker on campus. The event is sponsored by the School of International and Public Affairs (see SIPA announcement), which has been in contact with the Iranian Mission to the United Nations. The event will be part of the annual World Leaders Forum, the University-wide initiative intended to further Columbia’s longstanding tradition of serving as a major forum for robust debate, especially on global issues.

In order to have such a University-wide forum, we have insisted that a number of conditions be met, first and foremost that President Ahmadinejad agree to divide his time evenly between delivering remarks and responding to audience questions. I also wanted to be sure the Iranians understood that I would myself introduce the event with a series of sharp challenges to the president on issues including:

the Iranian president’s denial of the Holocaust;

his public call for the destruction of the State of Israel;

his reported support for international terrorism that targets innocent civilians and American troops;

Iran's pursuit of nuclear ambitions in opposition to international sanction;

his government's widely documented suppression of civil society and particularly of women's rights; and

his government's imprisoning of journalists and scholars, including one of Columbia’s own alumni, Dr. Kian Tajbakhsh (see President Bollinger's prior statement).

I would like to add a few comments on the principles that underlie this event. Columbia, as a community dedicated to learning and scholarship, is committed to confronting ideas—to understand the world as it is and as it might be. To fulfill this mission we must respect and defend the rights of our schools, our deans and our faculty to create programming for academic purposes. Necessarily, on occasion this will bring us into contact with beliefs many, most or even all of us will find offensive and even odious. We trust our community, including our students, to be fully capable of dealing with these occasions, through the powers of dialogue and reason.

I would also like to invoke a major theme in the development of freedom of speech as a central value in our society. It should never be thought that merely to listen to ideas we deplore in any way implies our endorsement of those ideas, or the weakness of our resolve to resist those ideas or our naiveté about the very real dangers inherent in such ideas. It is a critical premise of freedom of speech that we do not honor the dishonorable when we open the public forum to their voices. To hold otherwise would make vigorous debate impossible.

That such a forum could not take place on a university campus in Iran today sharpens the point of what we do here. To commit oneself to a life—and a civil society—prepared to examine critically all ideas arises from a deep faith in the myriad benefits of a long-term process of meeting bad beliefs with better beliefs and hateful words with wiser words. That faith in freedom has always been and remains today our nation’s most potent weapon against repressive regimes everywhere in the world. This is America at its best.

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20070921 Columbia won't cancel Ahmadinejad speech

Columbia won't cancel Ahmadinejad speech

Friday, September 21st, 2007

Perhaps this is a “whatever?” As much as the things that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has to say are anathematic and loathsome, having him speak is quickly reduced to a freedom of speech issue.

However, the context gets muddy when one takes into consideration that Columbia University has developed a reputation for not being tolerant of conservatives making presentations.

Columbia President Lee Bollinger, was quoted in the article to say, “in announcing Ahmadinejad's upcoming appearance, described the event as part of ‘Columbia's long-standing tradition of serving as a major forum for robust debate.’”

Word on the street indicates that such has historically not been Columbia’s tradition. Rather – it has a tradition of being an inadequate forum for discussion and dialogue as security for conservatives who speak there is so lax that folks avoid the forum.

Columbia’s stated policy is one thing; however, it has proven, de facto, to not be a tolerant or meaningful venue for folks for whom the university appears to be unsympathetic.

In this context, Columbia places itself in an awkward position of being off limits for conservative presenters, yet always willing to go that extra mile for lefty presenters – or in this case, someone who has alleged to be complicit in the deaths of American men and women in uniform.

This of course, lays Columbia open to criticism that it may very well be sympathetic to President Ahmadinejad’s message. And there lies the rub.

Columbia won't cancel Ahmadinejad speech: Columbia University said it does not plan to call off a speech by Iran's president despite pressure from critics including the City Council speaker, who said the Ivy League school was providing a forum for "hate-mongering vitriol."

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is traveling to New York to address the United Nations' General Assembly. He was scheduled to appear Monday at a question-and-answer session with Columbia faculty and students as part of the school's World Leaders Forum.

The State Department calls Iran a state sponsor of terror, and Ahmadinejad has called the Holocaust "a myth" and urged for Israel to be destroyed.

[…]

White House deputy press secretary Tony Fratto said Friday that Columbia made the decision on inviting Ahmadinejad, "and I don't believe we had any play in it."

"This is a country where people can come and speak their minds," he said, adding, "It would be wonderful if some of the countries that take advantage of that here allowed it for their own citizens there."

[…]

Read the rest of the article here: Columbia won't cancel Ahmadinejad speech

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if Columbia University were to extend an invitation to all Americans of varying political ideologies the courtesy that it so easily extend to Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

___

On the Net:

Columbia: http://www.columbia.edu/

City Council: http://www.nyccouncil.info/

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070921/ap_on_re_us/ahmadinejad_columbia

20070417 Monday April 16 Virginia Tech Timeline of Events

Monday April 16 Virginia Tech Timeline of Events

http://www.vt.edu/tragedy/timeline.php

Tragedy at Virginia Tech - Timeline of Events

Where is Blacksburg, Virginia, USA: (This is an AP graphic… some folks are unaware as to where the Virginia Tech campus is located.)

See additional images

For one of the initial Associated Press reports from 10:12 am PDT Monday, April 16, 2007 By SUE LINDSEY -- Associated Press Writer

Click here: http://dwb.sacbee.com/24hour/front/story/3600198p-12876407c.html

7:15 a.m.

Virginia Tech Police Department (VT PD) receives a 911 call to respond to a dormitory room at West Ambler Johnston Residence Hall.

Within minutes, Virginia Tech Police and Virginia Tech Rescue Squad respond to find two gunshot victims, a male and a female, inside a dormitory room within the Hall. The residence hall was immediately secured by VT PD, and students within the hall were notified and asked to remain in their rooms for their safety. VT PD immediately secured the room for evidence collection and began questioning dorm residents and identifying potential witnesses. In the preliminary stages of the investigation, it was believed the deaths were an isolated incident, domestic in nature.

Blacksburg Police Department was also on scene assisting VT PD with establishing a safety perimeter around the residence hall and securing Washington Street.

7:30 a.m.

Investigators were following up on leads concerning a person of interest in relation to the double homicide. Investigators from VT PD and Blacksburg PD were actively following up on various leads.

8:25 a.m.

Virginia Tech Leadership Team, which includes the university president, executive vice president, and provost, assembled to begin assessing the developing situation at the residence hall and determining a means of notifying students of the homicide.

9:00 a.m.

Leadership Team was briefed on the situation by VT PD Chief W.R. Flinchum on the latest developments in the ongoing investigation at the residence hall.

9:26 a.m.

The Virginia Tech community – all faculty and students – were notified by e-mail of the homicide investigation and scene at West Ambler Johnston Residence Hall, and asked to report any suspicious activity. The Virginia Tech Emergency/Weather Line recordings were also transmitted and a broadcast telephone message was made to campus phones. A press release was drafted and posted on the Virginia Tech website.

9:45 a.m.

The VT PD received a 911 call of a shooting at Norris Hall, which contains faculty offices, classrooms, and laboratories. VT PD and Blacksburg PD immediately responded to Norris Hall. Notice in leadership command center via our police rep of a shooting in Norris.

Upon arrival to Norris Hall, the officers found the front doors barricaded. Within a minute, the officers breached the doors, which had been chained shut from the inside.

Once inside the building, the officers heard gunshots. They followed the succession of gunshots to the second floor. Just as the officers reached the second floor, the gunshots stopped.

The officers discovered the gunman, who had taken his own life. There was never any engagement between the responding officers and the gunman.

9:55 a.m.

By the same means as prior notice, Virginia Tech notified campus community of the second murder scene. Other notifications followed via other means.

_____

20070416 Virginia Tech update from 445 PM

Campus remains closed; convocation Tuesday at Cassell

04/16/2007, Updated 4:45 p.m.

http://198.82.160.236/

Two shootings on campus today have left 33 dead. Thirty-one, including the gunman, died at Norris Hall; two died at West Ambler Johnston Hall.

Counseling assistance for students is available at West Ambler Johnston and McComas halls until 9 p.m. tonight. Students are encouraged to utilize these services.

Counseling for faculty and staff is available in the Bowman Room on the fourth floor of Jamerson Athletic Center, accessible from Jamerson or the Merryman Athletic Facility.

The university will remain closed Tuesday. Essential personnel are to report for work. Classes are canceled.

A public gathering will be held Tuesday at Cassell Coliseum at 2 p.m.

All students are urged to contact their parents as soon as possible to let them know individuals are safe.

Students, faculty, and staff who have any information related to the incidents are encouraged to go to the Blacksburg Police Department to make statements, or call 540-231-TIPP (8477), or 231-6411.

More information will be released during a news conference at 4:30 p.m.

_____

Campus remains closed; convocation Tuesday

http://198.82.160.236/tragedy/

UPDATE: 3:45 p.m., April 16, 2007

Virginia Tech remains closed on Monday, April 16, 2007. Vehicular entrances to campus are severely restricted to essential personnel only. Additional security remains on campus as the investigation continues.

Counseling assistance for students is available at West Ambler Johnston and McComas Hall until 9 p.m. Monday night. Students are encouraged to utilize these services. Counseling for faculty and staff is available in the Bowman Room on the fourth floor of Jamerson Athletic Center, accessible from Jamerson or the Merryman Athletic Facility. Students may also gather at the Old Dominion Ballroom in Squires Student Center.

The university will also be closed on Tuesday, April 17. Essential personnel are to report for work. Classes are canceled.

A public gathering will be held on Tuesday, April 17 at Cassell Coliseum at 2 p.m. (a time change from the originally scheduled gathering).

All students are urged to contact their parents as soon as possible to let them know they are safe.

Students, faculty, and staff who may have any information related to the incident at West Ambler Johnston Hall and Norris Hall are encouraged to go to the Blacksburg Police Department to make statements, or call 540-231-TIPP (8477), or 231-6411

Parents with concerns are asked to call the Dean of Students Office at 540-231-3787.

Individuals injured in the two shootings have been taken to area hospitals.

---

Statement by President Charles W. Steger

http://198.82.160.236/tragedy/

12:10 p.m., April 16, 2007

The university was struck today with a tragedy of monumental proportions. There were two shootings on campus. In each case, there were fatalities. The university is shocked and horrified that this would befall our campus. I want to extend my deepest, sincerest and most profound sympathies to the families of these victims which include students There are 22 confirmed deaths.

We currently are in the process of notifying families of victims. The Virginia Tech Police are being assisted by numerous other jurisdictions. Crime scenes are being investigated by the FBI, University Police, and State Police. We continue to work to identify the victims impacted by this tragedy. I cannot begin to covey my own personal sense of loss over this senselessness of such an incomprehensible and heinous act The university will immediately set up counseling centers. So far centers have been identified in Ambler Johnston and the Cook Counseling Center to work with our campus community and families.

Here are some of the facts we know:

At about 7:15 a.m. this morning a 911 call came to the University Police Department concerning an event in West Ambler Johnston Hall. There were multiple shooting victims. While in the process of investigating, about two hours later the university received reports of a shooting in Norris Hall. The police immediately responded. Victims have been transported to various hospitals in the immediate area in the region to receive emergency treatment.

We will proceed to contact the families of victims as identities are available.

All classes are cancelled and the university is closed for the remainder of today. The university will open Tuesday at 8 a.m. but classes are cancelled. The police are currently staging the release of people from campus buildings.

Families wishing to reunite with the students are suggested to meet at the Inn at Virginia Tech. We are making plans for a convocation tomorrow (Tuesday) at noon at Cassell Coliseum for the university community to come together to begin to deal with the tragedy.

20061115 Current state of discussion and dialogue in Carroll County

Current state of discussion and dialogue in Carroll County

November 15th, 2006 by Kevin Dayhoff

A recent letter to the editor of the Carroll County Times by Carroll County Commissioner Dean Minnich might mark a chance of Carroll County to start putting the past 18 months to bed and begin the productive process of moving the ball forward.

The current state of discussion and dialogue by responsible members of the community – especially the leadership community, is currently dead in the water.

The best description of problem identification and resolution in Carroll County is that it is at an intellectual level rivaled only by garden tools.

Considering the events of the last year-and-a-half: Who, pray tell, in their right mind, would ever want to wade into this morass?

We should all be thankful for one small blessing – that we are all in Carroll County 2006 and “not Salem 1692. In Salem, they hanged you or crushed you under stone. Here they just humiliate you and raise doubts about your integrity.” (I got the idea for this explanation from an old Dan Rodrick’s column about another matter… It just fits Carroll County November 2006, so well…)

No responsible person, who loves their pride, dignity and family would ever venture to express their opinion in Carroll County these days as immediately the morally superior among us will question your integrity; suggest that you are doing so for your own personal gain; or for the benefit of your profession; or as a part of the wildest, most bizarre and convoluted conspiracy theory imaginable.

What ever happened to the idea that some folks actually disagree about ways to move the ball forward and they disagree based upon a different assessment of the merits of a given approach…

Read the preceding two paragraphs very carefully, because I am not just referring to the negative campaigning by the right-wing conservatives of Carroll County, I am also referring to the folks who wanted a different district map for the “Five Commissioner initiative,” than the one chosen by the Carroll County Delegation to Annapolis… Or the toxic campaign waged against folks who disagreed with the proposed transfer tax…

If I read one more account about how the folks who voted against Code Home Rule were uninformed Neanderthals who were just voting in “their own short-term interests,” …

On a personal level, many folks, some who have supported me in the past and amazingly, some who haven’t supported me in the past - - were in touch when one opinion writer wrote a column expressing outrage and moral indignation at the negative campaigning of the last election; when he was the fulcrum of negative campaigning in my last election.

To the initiated observer of the current zeitgeist of Carroll County politics, one could easily assume that no one has all their Cornflakes in one box.

One of the best ways to explain the current state of affairs was written by the Washington Post in a discussion about the political rancor and unpleasantness that pervades the current environment in our country: “The numbing repetition of uncorrected falsehoods creates a phony atmosphere of uncertainty around key questions which in fact have already been resolved. Eventually voters throw up their hands and accept the fact that they’ll never know for sure what the truth is, and confusion ensues.”

A recent letter to the editor of the Carroll County Times by Carroll County Commissioner Dean Minnich might mark a chance of Carroll County to start putting the past 18 months to bed and begin the productive process of moving the ball forward.

Yes, please stifle your itching blazing fingers at the keyboard, I am well aware of the argument by many folks that Commissioner Minnich “started it” after the 2002 election. Yet the folks who take Commissioner Minnich’s side explain that he was only reacting.

Okay, everyone sit down and shut-up. Most of us don’t care anymore who started it and who didn’t… And the local newspapers could do us all a favor by banning three-quarters of the folks who have been writing opinion columns and letters to the editor in the last 18 months. Many folks I have heard from, simply do not read that drivel anymore anyway.

Whether Commissioner Minnich started it or didn’t start it – I don’t care anymore. Everyone’s reaction has been well beyond prudence.

But credit belongs where credit is due and Commissioner Minnich wrote a stand-up letter to the editor and I think that folks ought to do something productive with this opportunity and read the “olive branch” carefully and do something productive with it instead of jamming it up his nose.

Commissioner Minnich wrote in a letter to the editor which appeared in the November 14th, 2006 edition of the Carroll County Times, “Carroll government will move forward.”

“Carroll government will move forward”

Editor:

In a little more than three weeks, the dynamics of local government with change with the departure of Commissioner Perry Jones and the arrival of Michael Zimmer to join incumbents Julia Gouge and myself.

How is that going to work? It's a good question, and one that has already been asked, and will continue to be scrutinized in the weeks and months to come. As one of the incumbents, and a survivor of a rancorous election campaign, I would like to give my take on how it can and should play out.

First of all, we have an obligation to put any personal differences aside as we consider the work of governing. Election campaigns are full of rhetoric and emotional display; governance should be about dialog, thoughtful consideration of the complexities of issues and meetings of the minds.

There may be principles that cannot be compromised, and that may lead to conflicts. But differences do not have to be personal, and one disagreement cannot be transferred into every subsequent consideration. We need to get over the past and look to the county's future.

We all must remember that it is the future of the county that constitutes our reason for meeting as a board of commissioners. We are not there to further personal careers or carry the ideological flag for any political faction. Partisanship or personal politics may serve as a platform and provide a base for candidacy to public office, but once elected, we serve the population at large.

Over time, I believe we can build on the will of the people to develop respect, honest communication, constructive debate and cooperation.

I remain committed to managed growth (including attention to water and environmental concerns), progress in education, building on our initiatives for economic development and responsible fiscal policy.

My expectation is that we will find that we will share more in common than election rhetoric might suggest. The citizens of the county deserve a good faith effort to put politics and personalities aside and get to work - together.

Dean Minnich

Westminster

The writer is a member of the Carroll County Board of Commissioners.

_____

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Kevin Dayhoff writes from Westminster Maryland USA. E-mail him at: kdayhoff@carr.org www.thetentacle.com Westminster Eagle Opinion and Winchester Report www.thewestminstereagle.com www.kevindayhoff.com has moved to http://kevindayhoff.blogspot.com/

20061005 Professor Simon Stow at William and Mary

Professor Simon Stow at William and Mary

Posted by Kevin Dayhoff October 5^th, 2006

Posted above is a photomontage from the class I observed Thursday, October 5^th, 2006 at the College of William and Mary. For more explanation, please see my previous post: “Breakfast and a class at William and Mary.”

I attended a Government 303 class: “Survey of Political Philosophy – Ancient Political Thought, Fall 2006.

Today’s lecture was on Plato’s Republic, Books III-VI.

I did not take my laptop to class. I wanted to quietly observe in the back of the room and I was concerned that bringing a laptop would attract undue attention.

I was incorrect in that assumption. Out of about 40 students in the class, 7 took all their notes on a laptop.

And for another even greater reason that I was wrong; the students in the class were very focused and could have cared less nor have noticed that an aging political scientist was in the back of the room taking notes. I could have taken a clanky typewriter to class and I don’t think anyone would’ve noticed.

I’m not in a position to keyboard much more this evening as I am on deadline for my next Westminster Eagle column…

But I was very impressed with the class and the professor - although, of course, drawing conclusions from one brief experience may be erroneous. Then again, I have had a good opportunity to take many classes and observe many professors and I liked this professor.

Indeed, I have been very impressed with William and Mary and the students who attend.

But getting back to the class I observed; ‘Ancient Western political theory and thought’ is a very difficult class to teach. Professor Stow really brought Plato’s Republic to life. The professor was animated, engaging and he successfully brought the Republic to the today with contemporary references and examples of relevancy.

I'm a big fan of Plato's Republic as it is the basic foundation of all western government and a political scientist will draw upon it throughout a professional life and the students in this class have a great opportunity with this professor to learn, what is otherwise dry and difficult material.

I took many pages of handwritten notes; however, a nice William and Mary student e-mailed me electronic notes from the class… (A big thank you.) I’ve pasted a sampling of the major issues discussed in the class below, from the students notes...

Stowe’s Recap- Glaucon missing the point of the ideal city; too many details

Socrates- justice nothing to do with laws- cutting the head off of a hydra 104 426c

Diodotus says the same in Thucydides- he took from that that laws aren’t enough, led to might becomes right; Not what Socrates was saying, he’s saying it’s who you are, not what you do

Objective= fixed standards; Subjective=contextualized/Arbitrary; Intersubjective= grey area- widely shared values

Justice is about who you are-

Why is Socrates claiming agent based case?

About training the soul to become more just

In an era when many pundits are busy at the keyboard writing about examples of left-wing professor’s running amok on today’s college campuses. I have not seen too many examples in what I have observed at William and Mary and McDaniel College in Westminster.

To be sure, I can only imagine that examples exist to perpetuate passages such as this one I read recently: “Sadly, in regard to extreme liberalism being force fed to our children, many colleges and universities are still, as they were in the 1970s, havens for professors who profess politically correct, virulent anti-American thinking.”

I’m back to work on my next Westminster Eagle column.

Kevin Dayhoff writes from Westminster Maryland USA. E-mail him at: kdayhoff@carr.org http://www.thetentacle.com/ Westminster Eagle Opinion and Winchester Report http://www.thewestminstereagle.com/ www.kevindayhoff.com has moved to http://kevindayhoff.blogspot.com/

20060915 Harvard overrated

Harvard angst

September 15, 2006

For everyone that is in a tizzy over Harvard’s recent announcement that it will stop early admissions – just stop it already.

All the hand wringing and gnashing of teeth would be comical if this were to be a Saturday Night Live skit.

Maryland Conservatarian puts it all in perspective in their Tuesday, September 12^th, 2006 post: “Screw Harvard:”

“Stop the presses: Harvard Drops 'Early Action' Admissions.

“Despite having Ted Kennedy on its alumni roll, Harvard continues to enjoy an over-hyped reputation…and apparently its administration buys into its own press clippings.”

…

“Harvard, after experimenting with an early-action policy that allowed students to seek similar treatment from other schools, ultimately returned to a policy similar to Yale's and Stanford's.” No sanctions planned for schools violating early-admissions guidelines

Oh Whatever. I’m going to take a nap now. Wake me up when this is all over…

Read the rest of the MC’s excellent post here.

Kevin Dayhoff writes from Westminster Maryland USA. E-mail him at: kdayhoff@carr.org www.thetentacle.com Westminster Eagle Opinion and Winchester Report www.thewestminstereagle.com www.kevindayhoff.com has moved to http://kevindayhoff.blogspot.com/