I just love the budget priorities this year when it comes to pay raises.

This year, it includes money for a teacher pay raise of up to $450 and a $35,000 raise for Gov. Rick Perry.

Fortunately, though, they decided to go back to fully funding the pension system this year.

And according to the wrong-wing BayAreaHouston blog, those are not the only two pay raise obsecenities.

Pay raise for our Texas school teachers: $430.

Pay raise for Governor Rick Perry: $32,000.

Pay raise for Attorney General Abbott: $25,000

Pay raise for the Commissioner of the Teacher Retirement System: $151,000.

Here's hoping the governor line-item vetoes the last three -- or better yet, vetoes the whole bill and brings them back to try again.

I'm curious, though, about whether or not the legislature gave itself a huge increase in pay this year. I wonder if John's leaving that out is because there isn't one -- or because it might make his Democrat cronies look bad for voting in favor of a budget that lines their own pockets, like they did last time around.

Oh, and for those of you who are curious -- if we average the two figures mentioned above, it works out to a raise of $2.35 per contract day for each teacher in the state. It's great to know how I am valued by my state legislature -- less than the cost of my lunch in the school cafeteria.

Posted by: Greg at 05:15 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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As a conservative, I hate to see anything run out of Washington. As a teacher, I particularly despise federal mandates in the realm of education, because all too often they are based upon pie-in-the-sky theories that bear little relationship to what actually goes on in the classroom.

However, might it not be a good idea to set a clear standard for what students should learn in high school, so that a diploma actually means something? Right now, it really does not, for core classes are not necessarily rigorous.

It's no secret to most high school students that taking the required courses, getting good grades and receiving a diploma don't take much work. The average U.S. high school senior donning a cap and gown this spring will have spent an hour a day on homework and at least three hours a day watching TV, playing video games and pursuing other diversions.

This is sometimes a surprise to adults, particularly state legislators and school board members who thought that by requiring a number of courses in English, math, science and social studies they had ensured that students would dig in and learn what they need to succeed in college.

Guess again, says a new study, "Rigor at Risk: Reaffirming Quality in the High School Core Curriculum," by the Iowa City-based testing company ACT Inc. "Students today do not have a reasonable chance of becoming ready for college unless they take a number of additional higher-level" courses beyond the minimum, the report said. Even those who do, it concluded, "are not always likely to be ready for college either."

Using research on the college success of students who took the ACT college entrance test, and comparing their test scores to their high school records, ACT researchers found that many core courses were not carefully constructed or monitored and that students often received good grades in the core courses even if they didn't learn much.

State requirements also leave something to be desired, the report said. More than half of states do not require students to take specific core courses in math or science to graduate. Many students pick up diplomas having taken "business arithmetic" rather than geometry or "concepts of physics" rather than a physics course with labs and tough exams.

let's set a rigorous standard nationally for education -- with course expectations that actually teach the important concepts that prepare a student for college or the work world. Furthermore, let's mandate a sequence that makes sense, and that will allow a student to move from district to district, and from state to state, without having their academic credits become a complete hash that delays graduation.

Posted by: Greg at 03:28 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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If the goal of affirmative action programs is to help the disadvantaged, let's make sure that the disadvantaged -- regardless of race and ethnicity -- are the beneficiaries. That is the goal of this program.

Concerned that the barriers to elite institutions are being increasingly drawn along class lines, and wanting to maintain some role as engines of social mobility, about two dozen schools — Amherst, Harvard, Princeton, Stanford, the University of Virginia, Williams and the University of North Carolina, among them — have pushed in the past few years to diversify economically.

They are trying tactics like replacing loans with grants and curtailing early admission, which favors the well-to-do and savvy. But most important, Amherst, for instance, is doing more than giving money to low-income students; it is recruiting them and taking their socioeconomic background — defined by family income, parents’ education and occupation level — into account when making admissions decisions.

AmherstÂ’s president, Anthony Marx, turns to stark numbers in a 2004 study by the Century Foundation, a policy institute in New York, to explain the effort: Three-quarters of students at top colleges come from the top socioeconomic quartile, with only one-tenth from the poorer half and 3 percent from the bottom quartile.

Race-based preferences are inherently immoral and contradictory to the spirit of US Civil Rights law and the Fourteenth Amendment -- in addition to often "helping" the most advantaged members of ethnic communities instead of those most in need. By focusing on actual evidence of need rather that blithely making the racist assumption that skin color is a surrogate for being disadvantaged, it may be that affirmative action programs may accomplish an important goal -- helping qualified individuals who truly need the assistance.

Posted by: Greg at 01:37 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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If you havenÂ’t met the requirements to graduate, why should you be permitted to walk across the stage at the graduation ceremony?

Students who had been planning to walk across the stage at graduation ceremonies this weekend were instead walking a picket line Thursday morning.

The Trimble Tech High School seniors marched in front of Fort Worth Independent School District headquarters to protest Wednesday's decision by trustees to bar students who failed the TAKS test from commencement exercises.

About a dozen young people, carrying signs and chanting, began picketing at 8:30 a.m. Thursday. They represent the 613 Fort Worth seniors who did not pass the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills exam.

Take these young ladies.

Crystal Martinez complained that while she finished at the top of her class with a 3.5 grade point average, she is now blocked from graduation by failing the TAKS test.

"We know we're not going to get our diplomas, but we just want to walk across the stage," Martinez said. "That's all we ask for right now."
Classmate Chloe Walker agreed. "I believe that I have at least the right to walk the stage with all my friends," she said. "I made it this far, and I have all my credits I need. I deserve to get my certificate of completion."

Oh, the humanity! They haven’t met the legal requirements for graduation, but they want to get the perks that go with graduation – including a piece of paper that effectively says “Yeah, she showed up.”

And it isnÂ’t like they donÂ’t have a chance to actually get the diploma and graduate.

School officials said non-graduating seniors will have a chance to take the TAKS test again in July. If they pass, they can participate in a separate commencement exercise in August.

You know – whenever they have actually met the standard and accomplished the goal for which the accolade is being offered. Otherwise it is the equivalent of giving holding a wedding reception for a couple just shacking up together. What they do not recognize is that participating in the graduation ceremony is an honor for accomplishment, not a right.

Sadly, there are too many districts that have forgotten the true significance of the ceremony and let those who haven’t met the graduation standards put in a cameo appearance and "walk the stage." I’m glad my district does not. I wonder – is it time for the Texas Legislature to pass legislation to put a stop to this absurd practice?

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Posted by: Greg at 12:15 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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You know, when you start applying objective academic standards and not racial preferences, that is what happens.

However, some folks are not happy about the University being forced to follow the Fourteenth Amendment.

Cordelia Martin, a senior at Farmington Hills' Mercy High School, believes Proposal 2 is the leading culprit for her denial.

"If affirmative action would have still been allowed in the admissions process, I think U of M would have considered the odds that I strived to overcome more and taken my racial ethnicity into account," said Martin, who will attend Michigan State University in the fall. She's also a plaintiff in a lawsuit to repeal Proposal 2.

So you see, she’s upset that she was not admitted to the University of Michigan despite her failure to meet the color-blind admissions requirements. As far as she is concerned, she should be judged by the color of her skin and not the content of her character – or the quality of her intellect. Not that she is particularly harmed by this outcome, given her admission to Michigan State University.

Interestingly enough, U-M officials acknowledge that Prop. 2 has resulted in an increase in academic ability.

U-M officials did not comment Wednesday on the diversity of the class. However, they said it should be one of the "most highly qualified and intellectually dynamic ever admitted."

Now if one presumes that the purpose of a university is to educate, and that a top-tier university is supposed to be taking the top-tier intellects, then Prop 2 has done exactly what it is supposed to do.

And if those who donÂ’t measure up lose out to those who do, then what we have is justice, not racism.

Posted by: Greg at 12:17 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I'm glad to see that some folks in a position of power are starting to speak out about the problem of field testing for state exams.

Place a group of school superintendents in a room, and the conversation inevitably turns to testing students.

At a recent meeting in Houston, the topic drawing the most wrath was state-mandated field testing. These are tests that don't count for anything but instead allow the testing company to try out questions for future exams to ensure fairness and reliability.

About 80 percent of schools in Texas had to give students at least one field test this year. In coming years, high school students could face more of these tryout tests because state lawmakers appear intent on replacing the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills at some grade levels with a dozen new end-of-course exams.

"With field testing, you're just testing kids to death," said David Anthony, superintendent of the Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District. "The field testing's about to go out the roof if they pass the end-of-course exams. It will be worse."

Students could get some relief under pending legislation. The House has passed a bill that would limit field tests at a school to once every four years. The Senate's version would keep field testing to an every-other-year practice statewide — but only after the end-of-course exams are developed.

My school has lost at least one day a year to field testing every year in the last five -- and some of our most academically challenged kids have lost more due to their being pulled out of class for additional field testing of the specialized tests for special education and ESL students. Everyone knows these tests don't matter, so the kids simply do not try.

And then you get the objection that came from one of my students, who just failed her math TAKS by one question -- after taking a test with several embedded field test questions. Since those questions didn't count towards her score, isn't it possible that she actually met the standard on the test she took -- only to have enough correct answers excluded from her score to keep her from passing? Isn't it possible that she spent extra time on questions that didn't count, causing her to miss questions that did? I wish I had a good answer for her.

Posted by: Greg at 10:08 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Seems to me that Chicago Tribune columnist Mary Schmich makes a really valid point here – while it is great that we celebrate student-athletes for their accomplishments, we really need to be much more serious about honoring the kids who are doing the heavy lifting of education. You know, the valedictorians and other kids who are excelling at the curricular activities of a school, not the extracurricular ones.

Michael Dotson wanted to be his high school valedictorian because he hates to see his mother sad.

He hated how sad she seemed when he was in 7th grade and started making C's and D's instead of A's. So when he entered Julian High School, he vowed to shape up.

"If I didn't have my mother and I was valedictorian, it would be like, so what?" he said Thursday, sitting in an office at the school. He's a heavyset young man with a soft voice who wears baggy jeans and braids his hair.

"When I found out I was valedictorian, I thought: My mother's going to be the happiest person in the world."

And this young man has succeeded in more ways than one.

By junior year, he realized he had a real shot at graduating first in his class. He studied a little harder. He wound up as one of only 17 boys among this year's 86 Chicago public school valedictorians.

The principal at Julian had hoped Dotson would go to Tuskegee, a revered African-American university in Alabama. Dotson, who hopes to be a video game programmer, chose the University of Advancing Technology in Tempe, Ariz., a school he discovered at a Navy Pier college fair.

He was sold by the brochure about "geeks at birth" that showed a fetus working at the computer.

Nudged by school officials, he applied to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for a scholarship. The day the letter arrived, his mother ripped it open. He hadn't even wanted to apply, knowing the odds were against him.

She shouted for joy.

"I was my calm self," he said. "Then I went into my room and called a friend and started screaming."

I know how hard it is to get one of those scholarships. We’ve had kids at my schools win National Merit Scholarships and other prestigious awards but not make the cut for the Gates awards. This young man has shown his ability, and also his individuality – he could have given in to the pressure to pick a college other folks wanted him to attend, but he instead followed his own heart in making that choice.

Yet into Michael Dotson’s life there has come tragedy – his mother recently suffered a stroke. But the good news is that she will be there to see her son graduate from high school at the top of his class, a tribute to his effort and her parenting skills.

Its great to see one of these kids get recognition for this ort of success, but it also makes me stop and think about the out-of-whack priorities we set. Last week, one of our alums (a former student of mine) was brought back to campus to give a motivational speech to a group of kids who might charitably be labeled as “troubled”. He is a starter in the NFL (tagged as his team’s franchise player) and making millions – and is someone of whom we are all quite justifiably proud due to his success and his high moral character. And yet no one would ever think of bringing back one of his classmates, the valedictorian who got accepted at MIT and who is now finishing medical school here in town, or his sister who went to Harvard and is now a microbiologist, or his other sister who followed them to academic excellence and who is finishing her final year at Harvard with a degree in science. These young people grew up in the same neighborhood and faced many of the same challenges as that much-admired football player, but for some reason we seem unwilling or unable to hold them up with the same sort of pride and respect for their accomplishments. Why not – and what can we do to change that?

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Posted by: Greg at 12:31 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Seems to me that Chicago Tribune columnist Mary Schmich makes a really valid point here – while it is great that we celebrate student-athletes for their accomplishments, we really need to be much more serious about honoring the kids who are doing the heavy lifting of education. You know, the valedictorians and other kids who are excelling at the curricular activities of a school, not the extracurricular ones.

Michael Dotson wanted to be his high school valedictorian because he hates to see his mother sad.

He hated how sad she seemed when he was in 7th grade and started making C's and D's instead of A's. So when he entered Julian High School, he vowed to shape up.

"If I didn't have my mother and I was valedictorian, it would be like, so what?" he said Thursday, sitting in an office at the school. He's a heavyset young man with a soft voice who wears baggy jeans and braids his hair.

"When I found out I was valedictorian, I thought: My mother's going to be the happiest person in the world."

And this young man has succeeded in more ways than one.

By junior year, he realized he had a real shot at graduating first in his class. He studied a little harder. He wound up as one of only 17 boys among this year's 86 Chicago public school valedictorians.

The principal at Julian had hoped Dotson would go to Tuskegee, a revered African-American university in Alabama. Dotson, who hopes to be a video game programmer, chose the University of Advancing Technology in Tempe, Ariz., a school he discovered at a Navy Pier college fair.

He was sold by the brochure about "geeks at birth" that showed a fetus working at the computer.

Nudged by school officials, he applied to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for a scholarship. The day the letter arrived, his mother ripped it open. He hadn't even wanted to apply, knowing the odds were against him.

She shouted for joy.

"I was my calm self," he said. "Then I went into my room and called a friend and started screaming."

I know how hard it is to get one of those scholarships. We’ve had kids at my schools win National Merit Scholarships and other prestigious awards but not make the cut for the Gates awards. This young man has shown his ability, and also his individuality – he could have given in to the pressure to pick a college other folks wanted him to attend, but he instead followed his own heart in making that choice.

Yet into Michael Dotson’s life there has come tragedy – his mother recently suffered a stroke. But the good news is that she will be there to see her son graduate from high school at the top of his class, a tribute to his effort and her parenting skills.

Its great to see one of these kids get recognition for this ort of success, but it also makes me stop and think about the out-of-whack priorities we set. Last week, one of our alums (a former student of mine) was brought back to campus to give a motivational speech to a group of kids who might charitably be labeled as “troubled”. He is a starter in the NFL (tagged as his team’s franchise player) and making millions – and is someone of whom we are all quite justifiably proud due to his success and his high moral character. And yet no one would ever think of bringing back one of his classmates, the valedictorian who got accepted at MIT and who is now finishing medical school here in town, or his sister who went to Harvard and is now a microbiologist, or his other sister who followed them to academic excellence and who is finishing her final year at Harvard with a degree in science. These young people grew up in the same neighborhood and faced many of the same challenges as that much-admired football player, but for some reason we seem unwilling or unable to hold them up with the same sort of pride and respect for their accomplishments. Why not – and what can we do to change that?

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Posted by: Greg at 12:31 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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No, not the stuff about suspending the teacher for threatening to shoot students. That is a proper move.

No, I mean this little tidbit at the end of the article.

In February he was reprimanded for including a biblical account of creation in an assignment on myths.

Excuse me, but the creation stories found in Genesis meet all the criteria for being included in the literary category of “myth”. Why should there be any discipline meted out for making use of those stories to illustrate the concept?

Now I've heard on the radio that this guy is a pretty outspoken atheist, and that makes some students uncomfortable -- but really, his method is not all that outrageous. In fact, an old colleague from my days as an English teacher and I talked about this thing this afternoon and laughed -- because the two of us, both active Christians, have taught precisely the same sort of assignment with 11th graders.

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Posted by: Greg at 12:39 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Let’s be honest – the aide should not have said this, even though the truth of the statement is well-documented.

The father of a middle school student in Spring is upset about comments a teacher's aide made in class. They had to do with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

David Glasker is used to answering questions from his 12-year-old son. But there was one question last week about civil rights leader Martin Luther King that he wasn't prepared for.

Glasker recalled, "'Dad, what is a womanizer?' I looked to him, 'Son, where did you hear this term?'"

His son claimed that's how his teacher's aide described King during a discussion last Thursday. The students were in math class talking about the civil rights leader when he claims the teacher's aide injected her opinion. It's an opinion Glasker is not only offended by, but feels had no place in a math class.

"This is math, this is not American history," he said. "If you're going to talk about a subject, let's keep it to what the class is about."

So, is he objecting to a discussion of MLK in class? Or to the characterization of the civil rights leader?

Well, it quickly becomes clear what the problem is. The parent just doesn’t like having the truth told about King – and doesn’t know the difference between a fact and an opinion. Not that King’s apparent human weakness in any way diminishes his greatness or his accomplishments.

While Glasker isn't against the aide for having her opinions -- in fact, others have written similar statements about King in the past -- he feels based on what his son told him, the aide didn't provide context to the class nor verifiable documentation. Other parents agree.

"I would want the kids to find out the truth, and not something that somebody's assuming," said parent McCoy Brown.

So rather than deal with the facts, parents want the aide sanctioned – which may be an appropriate course of action in this case. After all, is the sex life of a long-deceased American hero a particularly appropriate topic for discussion with young children? However, the basis should be educational appropriateness, not some sort of politically correct sanitizing of history.

Posted by: Greg at 01:30 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I cannot fathom what possible valid educational objective there could be in this incident? How can scaring the crap out of a bunch of children like this possibly be justified?

Staff members of an elementary school staged a fictitious gun attack on students during a class trip, telling them it was not a drill as the children cried and hid under tables.

The mock attack Thursday night was intended as a learning experience and lasted five minutes during the weeklong trip to a state park, said Scales Elementary School Assistant Principal Don Bartch, who led the trip.

"We got together and discussed what we would have done in a real situation," he said.

But parents of the sixth-grade students were outraged.

"The children were in that room in the dark, begging for their lives, because they thought there was someone with a gun after them," said Brandy Cole, whose son went on the trip.

Some parents said they were upset by the staff's poor judgment in light of the April 16 shootings at Virginia Tech that left 33 students and professors dead, including the gunman.

During the last night of the trip, staff members convinced the 69 students that there was a gunman on the loose. They were told to lie on the floor or hide underneath tables and stay quiet. A teacher, disguised in a hooded sweat shirt, even pulled on a locked door.

After the lights went out, about 20 kids started to cry, 11-year-old Shay Naylor said.

"I was like, 'Oh My God,' " she said. "At first I thought I was going to die. We flipped out."

Principal Catherine Stephens declined to say whether the staff members involved would face disciplinary action, but said the situation "involved poor judgment."

Yes, you read that right -- an assistant principal was a full participant in this "learning experience". And administrator was involved in putting children in fear for their lives.

I hope Tennessee has some process for revoking the certification of educators who abuse children in this manner -- and I hope it is immediately used. And at a minimum, I hope the district involved uses every available legal remedy to fire each and every teacher involved in this disgusting abuse of authority -- which is, in the end, nothing less than the psychological abuse of each and every one of the children in their care.

UPDATE: Looks like there may be real penalties after all. One teacher and one AP have been suspended -- and I hope that this is done with a view towards termination. What will happen to the rest of those involved? And will there actually be serious sanctions?

Posted by: Greg at 10:42 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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That possibility seems to be getting closer.

The Texas House on Monday gave tentative approval to a bill that would replace the high-stakes, highly unpopular TAKS test with a series of end-of-year exams that could make graduation easier for high school students who excel in class but do poorly on tests.

The House bill would eliminate the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills, or TAKS, in stages beginning in 2011 for grades six through 12. High school students in grades nine through 11 would be required to take standardized end-of-year exams in four core courses — English language arts, math, science and social studies.

But in a dramatic change to the state's 20-year-old testing requirements, those students, under one amendment, could conceivably graduate from high school without passing the exams — if they excel in their courses.

The exams would constitute 25 percent of a student's grade in each course. The TAKS is not part of a course grade, but students must pass it to graduate.

The bill's author, Rep. Rob Eissler, R-The Woodlands, was quick to dispel any suggestion that his proposal would weaken academic standards.

"We're intensifying standards," said Eissler, by encouraging teachers to focus on their subject areas and "teach to content, not teach to the test."

"Teachers can go into greater depth and rigor," he added.

I'm for the change -- after all, the test my kids currently have to pass includes absolutely no content from my course, but my teaching is evaluated based upon how they do! An end of course test will actually measure what goes on in my class.

Now I'm not sure about the amendments that are discussed in the article, but I somehow doubt that the Senate will accept them -- especially given teh requirements of NCLB.

Posted by: Greg at 10:31 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Here's one school board member who clearly feels that obtaining the consent of the governed is simply too inconvenient.

But some elected school board members bristle at that suggestion and resent having to ask voters to increase their own tax rates.

"I've already been elected to make that decision," said Rhonda Lowe, president of the Deer Park board.

No, Rhonda, that isn't the case at all. Sorry that the requirements of state law are too much of a burden for you to follow. I'm sure that the voters of Deer Park will be more than willing to replace you with someone who has more respect for them and the requirements of state law.

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This doesn't look good -- but the university seems to be handling it well.

The senior class president at the Rutgers University campus in Piscataway, N.J., will not be graduating with her classmates next week, university officials said yesterday, after being charged with burglary in the dormitory where she was a resident adviser.

The student, Christa Olandria, 23, a biology major, was arrested along with another Rutgers senior, George Calhoun, 23, on Monday after they were discovered breaking into a room on the seventh floor of Lynton Towers, which houses about 700 undergraduate students, university officials said.

In addition, the university police are investigating whether Ms. Olandria and Mr. Calhoun may have been involved in seven other burglaries in the dormitory that have been reported since September, according to Rhonda Harris, the chief of the Rutgers University Police Department on the schoolÂ’s main campus in New Brunswick, N.J.

Campus crime is covered up in too many instances. I applaud Rutgers for not sweeping this one under the ruig -- and for not trying to keep this case out of the legal system.

Posted by: Greg at 10:25 PM | Comments (17) | Add Comment
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ItÂ’s a good thing Jonathan Swift isnÂ’t a student at Tufts University.

A judicial panel at Tufts University on Thursday ruled that a conservative campus journal "harassed" blacks by publishing a Christmas carol parody called "O Come All Ye Black Folk" that many found racist.

The decision by the Committee on Student Life, a board of professors and students that hears complaints against campus groups, ruled that The Primary Source was guilty of harassment and creating a hostile environment in violation of the school's nondiscrimination policy.

The body ruled that an editor now must sign all of the magazine's work. The panel also recommended that Tufts' student government "consider the behavior" of the magazine when allocating money -- a statement that Primary Source editors say could lead to de-recognition.

Hundreds of students, including the president of the student body, have signed a petition against the magazine, said Douglas Kingman, an editor.

At Tufts, criticism of affirmative action is now deemed to be racial harassment and the creation of a hostile environment. Apparently the only diversity that will be tolerated there is diversity of skin-tone and sexual orientation – diversity of thought and opinion will be ruthlessly rooted out and punished.

But I am curious about this statement from one of the deans.

Bruce Reitman, the school's dean of students, said the school is opposed to censoring The Primary Source. Still, he said he was pleased that the committee found a way to reprimand the magazine for writings he said left many students feeling "unwelcome" and "wounded."

"I'm proud of the committee," he said. "I was pleased to see them balance both values of freedom of speech and freedom from harassment, without letting one dominate the other."

Doesn’t this decision leave students who dissent from the politically correct orthodoxy of liberalism feeling “wounded” and “unwelcome”? Or is that irrelevant, given that those are only rights for those who the school views as worthy of inclusion? After all, the panel has essentially recommended the defunding and derecognition of the campus publication in question.

UPDATE: Captain Ed reproduces the text of the ad about Islam. I don't know about you, but I certainly find it frightening that quoting the less flattering verses of the Quran or talking abut documented historical facts about Islam is now considered harassment of Muslims.

Islam Arabic Translation: Submission In the Spirit of Islamic Awareness Week, the SOURCE presents an itinerary to supplement the educational experience.

MONDAY: “I will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve. Therefore strike off their heads and strike off every fingertip of them.” – The Koran, Sura 8:12 Author Salman Rushdie needed to go into hiding after Iran’s Ayatollah Khomeni declared a fatwa calling for his death for writing The Satanic Verses, which was declared “blasphemous against Islam.”

TUESDAY: Slavery was an integral part of Islamic culture. Since the 7th century, 14 million African slaves were sold to Muslims compared to 10 or 11 million sold to the entire Western Hemisphere. As recently as 1878, 25,000 slaves were sold annually in Mecca and Medina. (National Review 2002) The seven nations in the world that punish homosexuality with death all have fundamentalist Muslim governments.

WEDNESDAY: In Saudi Arabia, women make up 5% of the workforce, the smallest percentage of any nation worldwide. They are not allowed to operate a motor vehicle or go outside without proper covering of their body. (Country Reports on Human Rights Practices 2001) Most historians agree that MuhammedÂ’s second wife Aisha was 9 years old when their marriage was consummated.

THURSDAY: “Not equal are those believers who sit and receive no hurt, and those who strive and fight in the cause of Allah with their goods and their persons. Allah hath granted a grade higher to those who strive and fight with their goods and persons than to those who sit. Unto all Hath Allah promised good: But those who strive and fight Hath He distinguished above those who sit by a special reward.” – The Koran, Sura 4:95 The Islamist guerrillas in Iraq are not only killing American soldiers fighting for freedom. They are also responsible for the vast majority of civilian casualties.

FRIDAY: Ibn Al-Ghazzali, the famous Islamic theologian, said, “The most satisfying and final word on the matter is that marriage is form of slavery. The woman is man’s slave and her duty therefore is absolute obedience to the husband in all that he asks of her person.” Mohamed Hadfi, 31, tore out his 23-year-old wife Samira Bari’s eyes in their apartment in the southern French city of Nimes in July 2003 following a heated argument about her refusal to have sex with him. (Herald Sun)

If you are a peaceful Muslim who can explain or justify this astonishingly intolerant and inhuman behavior, weÂ’d really like to hear from you! Please send all letters to tuftsprimarysource@gmail.com.

I've also tracked down the other "offensive" satire, which is held to harass African-Americans.

O Come All Ye Black Folk
Boisterous, yet desirable
O come ye, O come ye to our university
Come and we will admit you,
Born in to oppression;
O come, let us accept them,
O come, let us accept them,
O come, let us accept them,
Fifty-Two black freshmen.

O sing, gospel choirs,
We will accept your children,
No matter what your grades are FÂ’s DÂ’s or GÂ’s
Give them privileged status; We will welcome all.
O come, let us accept them,
O come, let us accept them,
O come, let us accept them,
Fifty-Two black freshmen.

All come! Blacks, we need you,
Born into the ghetto.
O Jesus! We need you now to fill our racial quotas.
Decendents of Africa, with brown skin arriving:
O come, let us accept them,
O come, let us accept them,
O come, let us accept them,
Fifty-two black freshmen.

Frankly, I think it does a lousy job of satirizing affirmative action -- but it neither qualifies as harassment nor merits the sort of response the university has had to it.

UPDATE II: Interesting analysis from Volokh.

Lovely: Harsh criticism of Islam doesn't -- in the Committee's view -- "promot[e] political or social discourse." Rather, it is an "unreasonable attack[]" (and it's up to the Committee to decide which attacks on religions are reasonable and which aren't).

What's more, this "unreasonable" speech violates the "rights of other members of the community." What are those rights? Apparently the right "to exist on campus without being subjected to unreasonable attacks based on their race or religion" (including attacks on the religion generally, even those that don't give any student names in particular). And apparently the right to be free of "attitudes or opinions that are expressed verbally or in writing" that "create[] a hostile environment" for students "on the basis of race, religion, gender identity/expression, ethnic or national origin, gender, sexual orientation, disability, age, or genetics."

In this case, the punishment for the speech is a ban on one newspaper's ability to publish anonymous speech -- while other newspapers that express favored views remain free to shield their contributors from social ostracism and other retaliation through anonymity. It requests "that student governance consider the behavior of student groups," which is to say the viewpoints those groups express, "in future decisions concerning recognition and funding."

But more importantly, the ruling finds that the speech violated general campus rules that make such speech "unacceptable at Tufts" and require "prompt and decisive action." Though it looks like no individual students are being disciplined in this instance, if the Tufts Administration accepts the ruling, it will send a clear message that students who express "attitudes or opinions" like this will be seen as violating campus anti-harassment rules, and will be subjected to "prompt and decisive action," which campus rules say may involve "the disciplinary process," against individual students as well as against organizations. After this decision, what should Tufts students feel free to say in criticizing religions, or in criticizing affirmative action?

H/T Wizbang

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Don’t dare question the policies of Hamline University. It can get you tossed out and declared a threat to the university – and required to submit to psychological examination and forced counseling.

ThatÂ’s what happened to Tony Scheffler after he raised the issue of allowing guns on campus following the Virginia Tech massacre and HamlineÂ’s offer of counseling to all students.

Scheffler had a different opinion of how the university should react. Using the email handle "Tough Guy Scheffler," Troy fired off his response: Counseling wouldn't make students feel safer, he argued. They needed protection. And the best way to provide it would be for the university to lift its recently implemented prohibition against concealed weapons.

"Ironically, according to a few VA Tech forums, there are plenty of students complaining that this wouldn't have happened if the school wouldn't have banned their permits a few months ago," Scheffler wrote. "I just don't understand why leftists don't understand that criminals don't care about laws; that is why they're criminals. Maybe this school will reconsider its repression of law-abiding citizens' rights."

After stewing over the issue for two days, Scheffler sent a second email to University President Linda Hanson, reiterating his condemnation of the concealed carry ban and launching into a flood of complaints about campus diversity initiatives, which he considered reverse discrimination.

The result was Scheffler being suspended without a hearing, banned from campus, and ordered to submit to a psychological evaluation and any recommended treatment plan. Furthermore, an armed guard was stationed outside his classes to prevent him from entering – and an administrator made a presentation in one class that made it clear that he was to be considered a threat. Furthermore, university officials refuse to communicate with him, even by telephone.

Captain Ed makes a great observation.

Hamline is a private university and can set its own standards for admission and retention. However, it should be made clear to its students and its potential students that Hamline has no room for intellectual dissent from its attendees. Students have to accept the victimology dogma of the administration in silence, and in return Hamline will help them cope with their powerlessness. If by chance one of the students challenges the university directly on its philosophy, they will treat him or her like a psychotic and hire the guards they should have hired when they decided to keep their students disarmed.

I agree completely – and would like to offer the suggestion that Hamline University change its name to Ham-Handed University.

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Newspaper thefts on college campuses are usually based upon ideology, and are very serious affairs.

This one is a bit different.

Two female college students who bared their bellies at a lacrosse game couldn't stomach a front-page newspaper photo of their stunt and now are in trouble for swiping copies, campus officials said.

They apparently felt the photo made them look fat, the paper's faculty adviser said.

The photo in the April 27 edition of The Gatepost at Framingham State College shows seven fans at a women's lacrosse game with “I (heart) N-O-O-N-A-N,” the name of a team member, spelled out on their stomachs. They are wearing hip-hugger shorts and abbreviated tank tops.

Campus police won't pursue criminal charges, but two students face possible disciplinary action, college spokesman Peter Chisholm said.

English professor Desmond McCarthy, the faculty adviser, said he was told by other students the women who took the papers thought they looked fat.

I'll agree with the paper's adviser -- this is the most stupid reason for stealing a newspaper ever.

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This sad situation has torn up a community -- and i suspect the people will not be happy unless this young perp is charged as an adult.

A 16-year-old Needville High School student admitted to starting the blaze that destroyed part of his school and caused students to retake the state-mandated TAKS tests, his attorney said Monday.

The 10th-grader arrived at the Fort Bend County courthouse with his attorney Steven Rocket Rosen on Monday and spent a couple of hours giving investigators a statement. He could be taken into custody today.

"He has admitted the wrongdoing. He is the one who started the fire," Rosen said. The teen's name is not being released because he is a juvenile. School officials said he was serving an in-school suspension when the fire occurred.

Rosen declined to discuss the motive for the April 23 fire but did say it had nothing to do with TAKS tests administered the week before the blaze. The test booklets were destroyed by the fire, which razed a large portion of the high school in the rural community.

"This was the best thing for Needville, for him, for the family, for the community and for law enforcement," Rosen said about the teen's admission. Rosen said he expects the teen to be placed in the juvenile detention center soon.

There's a lot more to come out in this case, but given that the kid set the fire in two locations and caused millions of dollars in damage to the facility I am unable to see how this will be treated as merely a juvenile case. the political pressure will be too great -- and the reality is that the act merits such serious prosecution.

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As a teacher, I am all for strong measures to ensure school security. But must we really reach this point?

Like some others in the Washington area, Loudoun County schools soon will greet all visitors with something new: a locked front door, a video camera and a button-activated intercom to request entrance. Inside, office staff will screen the visitors and decide whom to buzz in.

The video intercom, common in apartment buildings around the world, is turning up increasingly in public schools. After the 1999 Columbine High School shootings and subsequent school tragedies, limiting access is a top concern for every school administrator.

Loudoun's $550,000 video intercom solution, to be installed beginning this summer, was proposed after the Amish schoolhouse shootings in Nickel Mines, Pa., in October, in which a gunman killed five students and himself. The proposal, included in the school budget, won overwhelming approval days after the Virginia Tech shooting rampage last month that left 33 dead, including the gunman.

"I realize that schools cannot provide fortification against the crazy events that occur in society," Loudoun School Superintendent Edgar B. Hatrick III said. But he said school officials can at least take steps to secure buildings.

"By using the intercom video system, we can control who actually comes in the front door," he said.

I'm all for uniforms and IDs for students, but can does putting schools on a perpetual lockdown effectively deal with security issues, or does it really constitute an illusion of safety? And what is the cost to the psyches of our children?

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Well, maybe.

the Liverpool Central School District, just outside Syracuse, has decided to phase out laptops starting this fall, joining a handful of other schools around the country that adopted one-to-one computing programs and are now abandoning them as educationally empty — and worse.

Many of these districts had sought to prepare their students for a technology-driven world and close the so-called digital divide between students who had computers at home and those who did not.

“After seven years, there was literally no evidence it had any impact on student achievement — none,” said Mark Lawson, the school board president here in Liverpool, one of the first districts in New York State to experiment with putting technology directly into students’ hands. “The teachers were telling us when there’s a one-to-one relationship between the student and the laptop, the box gets in the way. It’s a distraction to the educational process.”

I'm curious -- is it really that "the box gets in the way"? Or is the problem (as at one school included in the article) an unwillingness or inability of teachers from to work with the technology? We had one teacher nursed along by the rest of us because he couldn't figure out how to use the online gradebook -- or his email. I can't imagine how Bob would have survived in a world where the text and assignments were electronic rather than paper. Could it be that we need to wait another 10-15 years before teachers are ready for the technology their students take as second nature?

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A case of “free speech for me, but not for thee” at a prestigious East Coast university.

On Monday evening at Tufts University, I attended a long, grueling show trial -- the kind of show trial that doubtless will be repeated at campuses across the United States. This show trial was convened with the sole purpose of punishing The Primary Source, Tufts' lone conservative periodical.

What was The Source's sin? On December 6, 2006, The Source printed a tasteless parody carol entitled "O Come, All Ye Black Folk." The carol was written from the perspective of an admissions officer, admitting students solely based on racially discriminatory stereotypes: "All come! Blacks, we need you, / Born into the ghetto. / O Jesus! We need you now to fill our racial quotas." The point of the carol, the editors later said, was that affirmative action is inherently degrading to racial minorities. After the carol was misinterpreted, the editors repeatedly apologized for printing it.

In the April 11, 2007, issue, The Source printed a page entitled "Islam: Arabic Translation: Submission." The page carried quotes from the Koran juxtaposed with facts about certain adherents of Islam -- their involvement with terrorism, discrimination against women, and the slave trade, among others.

This material is clearly political speech. Though Tufts is a private university, the student handbook explains that "the university is committed to free and open discussion of ideas and opinions."

Well, not that committed. "Harassment involves attitudes or opinions that are expressed verbally or in writing, or through behavior that constitutes a threat, intimidation, psychological attack, or physical assault," says the handbook. "Harassment is prohibited at Tufts and may result in disciplinary consequences." And being offended, according to the Committee on Student Life (CSL), constitutes harassment.

Read the rest of the column – it sounds like the trial scene from A Tale of Two Cities, or maybe something that goes on in Castro’s Cuba or amongst the head-chopping terrorists of al-Qaeda.

And as FIRE points out, this whole thing violates TuftsÂ’ explicitly stated policies.

In seeking to punish political satire—the type of speech that lies at the absolute core of the First Amendment—Tufts University is displaying the most despicable hypocrisy. Although Tufts is a private university, and thus is not bound by the First Amendment, Tufts has chosen to promise its students and faculty the right to unfettered free speech. In Tufts’ student handbook, The Pachyderm, students are greeted by a welcome letter from the Dean of Student Affairs that states:

You should anticipate stimulating and sometimes controversial dialogue about issues important to you. You should also anticipate that you may be shocked when another student voices an opinion radically different from yours. We should cherish the opportunity to be learning in a place where controversial expression is embraced. (Emphasis added).

Moreover, the “Speakers and Programs” policy in The Pachyderm provides that:

Tufts is an open campus committed to the free expression of ideas. It is inevitable that some programs and speakers will be offensive to some members of the communityÂ…That offensiveness will not be seen as a reason to prevent the program. In fact, the university will strive to uphold the right of a campus organization to invite speakers or hold programs, even controversial ones, and to hold them without interruption. (Emphasis added).

I guess that only means if you happen to be a non-diverse (white, Christian, heterosexual) student of non-diverse (conservative, Republican) political, social, or economic ideology.

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