Castagnera on Higher Ed, HR, and Risk Management

Off to China... and off the air

2012-03-08T07:17:00.000-05:00

Image: Sura Nualpradid / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Tomorrow noon I head for China with a university colleague and 32 students, parents and alumni. Ten frantic days of travel: Beijing, Xi'an (home of the famous clay soldiers), and Shanghai. Why China? Herewith a sneak preview at my half of Saturday's "Generation Gasp" column by way of partial explanation:

THE GENERATION GASP

Column # 20

Are Mandarin Lessons a Good Investment?

By Claire and Jim Castagnera

JIM:

As you are reading this, (God willing) I’m in Beijing. Along with a Chinese colleague on my university’s faculty, I’m leading 32 students on a short-term study tour of China over Spring Break. In a breathless ten days we’ll also do Xi’an, where the famous clay warriors reside, and Shanghai, one of China’s showcase cities.

The People’s Republic of China has been puzzling to us Americans for about as long as I’ve been alive. In 1949, Mao drove Chiang Kai Shek off the mainland and onto Formosa, now Taiwan. When I was a grade school kid, Kennedy and Nixon debated the fate of Quemoy and Matsu, two tiny islands owned by Taiwan that the “Reds” shelled on every major Chinese holiday.

Some ten years or so later, Nixon visited China, gave Mao a hearty handshake, made funny faces while trying to eat Chinese cuisine and, basically, reopened China. In another ten years, Mao’s successor, Deng, started the Middle Kingdom down the path of capitalism.

The (now) 1.3 billion Chinese have, by and large, responded to the capitalist call with enthusiasm and success. Here’s a little test. I’ll betcha that every one of you is – right now, as you read your Times News – wearing something or using something that was made in China. An awful lot of good American manufacturing jobs went to China. The Peoples Republic holds a frightening amount of America’s national debt.

As consumers, we Yanks benefit from China’s success every time we shop in Wal-Mart. As workers, we can only see China as a threat.

That’s not to say the Chinese don’t have troubles of their own. Their cities are cheek to jowl with hicks from the countryside in search of a better life. Those left behind are said to resent their country lots. Privatization has left a few fabulously wealthy and more than a few poorer and less secure than under pure Communism. (Hmm… that doesn’t sound so different from here in the States, does it?)

Some worry that China’s dynamic growth has blown a great big bubble that will pop one of these days.

Me? I think that the two superpowers of the 21^st century will be – already are? – Uncle Sam and Confucius. Whether we are friends or mortal foes, we are stuck with one another.

China recently launched its first aircraft carrier, and Former Secretary of Defense Gates is talking a lot these days of reorienting our armed forces from the Middle East to the Pacific Rim and current Secretary Leon Panetta seems to agree. So do I, for whatever it’s worth. Good idea.

Maybe Mandarin is a good language choice for the younger generation. Sure looks that way to me.

http://www.tnonline.com/news/columns/thegenerationgasp

More of my views:

1. We've done all that we can for the Middle East. Now, either the Arab Spring succeeds or it fails. John McCain is wrong about intervening in Syria. We should distance ourselves as much as possible from the Middle East and North Africa.

2. At the same time we should do all that we can to free ourselves of dependency in Mid-East Oil. Obama is wrong about not building the new pipeline. We also need all the natural gas my home state of Pennsylvania can give us. (Clean energy is a lovely dream, but we are harnessed to fossil fuels for the rest of this old man's lifetime... at the very least.)

3. Uncle Sam needs to match China measure for measure on all fronts... economic, diplomatic, military.

And so, off to China with 33 other souls to see what we can learn that might help.

Meanwhile, I'll be off the air... no blogging, no email. I'll resurface, God willing, on Monday, March 19th.

T.C. Boyle's papers go to UT Austin

2012-03-07T15:34:00.000-05:00

http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/archive-watch-t-c-boyles-papers-go-to-texas/35694?sid=pm&utm_source=pm&utm_medium=en

News Release — March 7, 2012

Author T.C. Boyle's Papers
Acquired by Harry Ransom Center

File folder with notes for "The Tortilla Curtain" by T. C. Boyle.

AUSTIN, Texas—The Harry Ransom Center, a humanities research library and museum at The University of Texas at Austin, has acquired the archive of novelist and short-story writer Tom Coraghessan "T.C." Boyle, author of such acclaimed works as "The Tortilla Curtain" (1995) and "World's End" (1987). Spanning more than 30 years from the 1970s through the present, the archive covers the breadth of Boyle's prolific career.
"I am very pleased and honored to have my papers safely ensconced at the Ransom Center so that they may be preserved and made available to scholars," said Boyle. "With such an archive, there is always the danger of damage or even destruction, especially when the papers are stored in filing cabinets and cardboard boxes in the basement of a very old house. I am vastly relieved to know that they are now safe."
Boyle is the author of 22 books of fiction, and his short stories have appeared in The Atlantic, Esquire, Harper's, McSweeney's and The New Yorker. He was awarded the PEN/Faulkner Prize for best novel of the year in 1988 for "World's End" and the PEN/Malamud Prize in 1999 for "T.C. Boyle Stories" (1998). Boyle is currently a professor of English at the University of Southern California.
"T.C. Boyle is one of the most significant and respected authors writing today, and his archive will be a tremendous resource for the scholars who will study his work and career for generations to come," said Ransom Center Director Thomas F. Staley. "Boyle saved and organized all of his papers. Few archives so clearly capture the working life and imagination of an author."
The collection includes manuscripts, correspondence, professional files and teaching material. Nearly every published title is represented by a binder of manuscript notes, research material, drafts and proofs. Also included are about 140 short-story files.
Extensive editorial correspondence and letters to and from such contemporaries as Woody Allen, Russell Banks, Joyce Carol Oates, David Foster Wallace and Tobias Wolff reflect Boyle's meticulous research and generosity in the literary and teaching communities.
Boyle's materials at the Ransom Center will reside alongside the papers of such contemporary writers as Banks, Wallace, Don DeLillo, Denis Johnson, Norman Mailer, Jayne Anne Phillips and Bruce Sterling.
Boyle will appear in Austin at BookPeople on March 19 as part of a book tour for his novel "When the Killing's Done" (2011), recently released in paperback.
The Boyle papers will be accessible once processed and cataloged. High-resolution press images are available.

If you haven't discovered TC, I strongly recommend him to you.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:T._C._Boyle,_Leipziger_Buchmesse_2009-1.jpg

http://www.tcboyle.com/

The Prez wants our bucks

2012-03-07T15:28:00.001-05:00

James --

The fastest way to lose an election?

Waiting around.

Last night, the Republican candidates did themselves no favors by failing again to rally their party and choose a nominee. This may go on for a while.

Meanwhile, too many Obama supporters are falling into a trap: They're waiting to donate until we have a clear opponent.

There's too much at stake, and not enough time, to be doing that.

No matter who the Republicans nominate, we know they'll pursue policies that got us into the economic crisis in the first place. And they'll have a social agenda that turns back the clock on women's rights and health care.

Super Tuesday is over. I know you have already made a donation. But right now someone else is waiting for the next round of contests to make their first. We can't afford to wait for them.

Donate $5 or more to the Two-Term Fund to re-elect the President today:

https://donate.barackobama.com/Why-Wait

Thanks,

Messina

Jim Messina
Campaign Manager
Obama for America

"The wino and I know..."

2012-03-07T13:38:00.000-05:00

http://jezebel.com/5891177/go-ahead-and-buy-cheap-wine-you-cant-taste-the-difference-anyway

Image: Idea go / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

I'll Drink to That!

Jim:
The six Times News subscribers, who regularly read my late, great "Attorney at Large" column a few years ago, may recall my advocacy of cheap red wine. I come by my prejudice for inexpensive vintages honestly. My Old Man used to keep a gallon of Gallo under the sink. After retiring, he nipped at that jug from around noon until bedtime.
College in the sixties meant Saturday night keg-parties at my fraternity. Never an affluent bunch, we brothers bought the cheapest brands available. The names may conjure memories for you, as they do for me: Iron City, Sunshine, Kaiers, Pabst. What we didn't drink up on Saturday night, we had for breakfast on Sunday morning. Nobody ever got very drunk. Your stomach rebelled before you could glug down enough to get really wrecked.
As I've aged, I've followed in my father's footsteps. I make a weekly pilgrimage to the neighborhood State Store to see what's on sale in the wine section for $4.99 a bottle. And I'm not alone. Those five-dollar bottles disappear from the shelves almost as fast as the clerks can put them out there.
Not for me those fancy drinks the younger bar crowd seems to crave: Appleteenies, micro-brews, beers mixed with booze and christened Car Bombs. Who actually orders "Electric Lemonade"? ("Absolut citron, triple sec, sour mix, sierra mist and freshly muddled lemons chilled in a tall pint glass and tinted with Blue Curacao." I'm sure the mind is soon as muddled as the lemons, after a couple of these.) Let it be noted I've bought whole cases of beer for less than what any one of these drinks costs.
During my college days, the Kingston Trio recorded my theme song, "Bottle of Wine." Here's my favorite verse; perhaps it's a prediction of where, if the economy doesn't improve, I'll end my days:
A pain in my head
There's bugs in my bed
My pants are so old that they shine
Out on the street, I beg the people I meet
To buy me a bottle of wine
I think an old man could do worse. Will you drink with me to that?
Claire:
It is true that if you walk into almost any trendy bar in Philadelphia, you'll find at least 75 percent of the women (and probably a good 40 percent of the men) ordering something that comes with either an umbrella or a sugar rim. (And, for the record, a friend of mine, a guy no less, did buy an Electric Lemonade while we were out just the other night.) These fancy, sickly sweet, twelve-dollar confections have become the norm in many circles. They're delicious, they get you drunk, and most importantly, they taste nothing like alcohol. Yippee.
On the other end of the spectrum - well, not much has changed there. Frat boys and college kids in general still gleefully take part in the age-old tradition of buying 32-packs of Natty Light in their quest for the ultra cheap blackout.
In other words, drinking in America is in a sorry state, and seems to be heading in all the wrong directions. Luckily, some ghosts of drinking past manage to live on no matter what.
For example, growing up around my old man has turned me into a bit of an old-timey drinker myself. Like any surly old guy, I like my drinks strong and pure - rich black coffee, a dry glass of dark red wine, or a nice shot of whiskey with just the slightest hint of ginger. Occasionally I'll even indulge in a pint of Guinness - a drink that most of my supposedly macho male friends have dubbed "battery acid" and are afraid to touch with a ten-foot pole.
Of course, I have to credit my Irish grandmother for instilling in me a deep love and appreciation for plain ol' beer (at a scandalously young age, I might add). But I'm talking about real beer, because my grandmother wouldn't be caught dead drinking that Natty Light crap.
So while the tastes of the younger generations may be skewing sitowardntly toward the fruity and sugary or the bland and cheap, the wise ways of the older folks are still being passed down through some of us. And let's face it, the party doesn't really start until all the Nectarini- and Lemon Drop-swilling lightweights have long passed out or gone home. Am I right?

Quote of the day: from a friend in enrollment management

2012-03-07T08:57:00.000-05:00

"It's not helicopter parents anymore... it's velcro."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Velcro_Loops.jpg

Guest Article: 15 copyright rules very student should know

2012-03-07T08:23:00.000-05:00

http://www.onlinecolleges.net/2012/03/06/15-copyright-rules-every-student-should-know/

Image: Stuart Miles / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

The worm in the Apple

2012-03-06T18:24:00.000-05:00

Image via WikipediaApple criticized for sweat shops in China:

http://www.npr.org/2012/03/06/148049517/how-many-u-s-jobs-does-apple-really-create

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/26/business/ieconomy-apples-ipad-and-the-human-costs-for-workers-in-china.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all

Settlement reached between university and 2 blind students re: access to e-learning

2012-03-06T16:21:00.000-05:00

Image: imagerymajestic / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/150000-settlement-reached-in-blind-florida-state-students-e-learning-suit/35659?sid=pm&utm_source=pm&utm_medium=en

Penn State resolved a similar suit last October:

http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/quickwire-advocates-for-the-blind-resolve-tech-accessibility-dispute-with-penn-state/33615

Suits at other institutions remain pending:

http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/colleges-discriminate-against-the-blind-with-google-apps-advocates-say/30394

Where is Osama? (A reprise of the "Hitler" controversy?)

2012-03-06T10:56:00.000-05:00

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2012/03/06/was-osama-bin-laden-really-buried-at-sea-wikileaks-emails-suggest-al-qaeda-chiefs-body-was-flown-to-us-military-mortuary_n_1323138.html?ncid=webmail2

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:2001-12-13-frame-grab-DoD.jpg

This controversy is reminiscent of one involving Hitler's demise and the disposition of his remains:

http://www.blackraiser.com/nredoubt/identity.htm

http://www.blackraiser.com/redoubt/index.htm

Is America still Bonanza-land?

2012-03-06T07:22:00.000-05:00

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Dan_Blocker_in_Bonanza_opening_credits_episode_Bitter_Water.jpg

“The past went that-a-way. When faced with a totally new situation, we tend always to attach ourselves to the objects, to the flavor of the most recent past. We look at the present through a rear view mirror. We march backwards into the future.”

--- Marshall McLuhan

Are more guns the answer? Here's what I said four years ago:

2012-03-06T07:18:00.002-05:00

Are More Guns the Answer?
By
Jim Castagnera
In the red wake of the horrible tragedy at Virginia Tech in which more than 30 students died at the hands of a single crazed shooter, weirdness rules. On a number of college campuses across the country last week, sick hoaxes emptied dorms and classrooms. The weirdest sequel of all, however, was a call by the Virginia Citizens Defense League to permit students over 21 to carry concealed weapons.
VCDL’s President Phillip Van Cleave was quoted by the media as contending, “Imagine what would happen if the gunman was lining people up and somebody had pulled a gun and shot him in the head --- this would be over,” Never mind that the Virginia Tech killer reportedly entered classrooms randomly and just started spraying bullets. Would the result, if other students had been packing, more likely have been a sort of gunfight at the OK Corral?
More significant are these statistics for 2004, the most recent year for which comprehensive data is available on the web:
• Of 29,569 gun deaths in the U.S., 16,750 (56%) were suicides.
• Among 26 industrial countries, 86% of all gun deaths involving children occurred in the U.S.
• A gun kept in a home was 22 times more likely to be used in a domestic homicide, an accidental shooting, or a suicide than to be used in self-defense.
These stats from the Illinois Council Against Handgun Violence [http://www.ichv.org/Statistics.htm] suggest that arming all adults, as the VCDL proposal implies, will result in more shootings, not fewer.
Compared to America’s 29,000+ gun deaths in 2004, the United Kingdom reported 163 gun deaths in 2003. Most West European countries, as well as Japan, recorded similarly low incidents of gun-related injury and death. Why? In my humble opinion, it’s mainly because people in those countries don’t have easy access to guns.
Similar to VCDL’s crackpot notion that students over 21 should be authorized to carry concealed firearms is the notion, floated every time a students dies of alcohol poisoning, that the solution is to lower the drinking age to 18. Here it’s the proponents who have the advantage where our European cousins are concerned.
Yes, most European nations have lower drinking ages than the U.S. To my way of thinking, several crucial differences argue against going down the European path of low (or non-existent) drinking ages. First, the U.S. lacks the centuries’ old Continental tradition of treating wine and beer as common items on the lunch and dinner table. Our kids simply aren’t reared to consider alcoholic beverages as commonplace components of every meal.
Second, most Continental kids, like most European adults, especially in urban areas, rely on public transportation. Drunk driving isn’t the threat across the pond that it is in America, where even 16-year-olds have easy access to wheels.
Last but not least, our Euro cousins aren’t armed the way we are. Even the most avid firearm proponent would agree, I think, that booze and bullets don’t mix.
We’d all love a simple solution to the mindless carnage that occurs annually due to firearms and alcohol abuse. Living uncomfortably close to a city which averages in excess of one homicide per day, I would welcome a quick, painless remedy as much as the next guy.
Unfortunately, making firearms and alcohol more easily accessible to young adults is no silver bullet.

This organization believes the answer is more guns

2012-03-06T07:15:00.000-05:00

http://concealedcampus.org/

The Colorado Supreme Court agrees:

http://chronicle.com/article/Colorado-Supreme-Court-Says/131076/?sid=pm&utm_source=pm&utm_medium=en

Image: Roland Darby / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Idiot WInds... Blowin' through the caverns of the courts

2012-03-06T07:10:00.000-05:00

Colorado Supremes say university can't stop students from carrying guns on campus:

Image: Simon Howden / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

JUSTICE EID delivered the Opinion of the Court.

¶1 The Students for Concealed Carry on Campus, LLC, along with Martha Altman,

Eric Mote, and John Davis (collectively, the “Students”), filed a complaint against the

University of Colorado’s Board of Regents (the “Board of Regents” or “Board”) and

others alleging that the Board’s Weapons Control Policy 14-I (“the Policy”) — which

prohibits the carrying of handguns on campus by all persons but certified law

enforcement personnel — violates the Colorado Concealed Carry Act (“CCA”),

§§ 18-12-201 to -216, C.R.S. (2011), and the Colorado Constitution’s right to bear arms,

Colo. Const. art. II, § 13. The Board of Regents filed a motion to dismiss under C.R.C.P.

12(b)(5), which the district court granted. The Students appealed, and the court of

appeals reversed.

¶2 The court of appeals held that the Students stated a claim for relief because the

CCA expressly applies to “all areas of the state.” The court further concluded that the

Students had stated a claim for relief under article II, section 13 of the Colorado

Constitution, which affords individuals the right to bear arms in self-defense. See

Students for Concealed Carry on Campus, LLC v. Regents of the U. of Colo., No.

09CA1230, --- P.3d ---, 2010 WL 1492308, at *7, *11 (Colo. App. April 15, 2010).

¶3 We granted certiorari and now affirm. We hold that the CCA’s comprehensive

statewide purpose, broad language, and narrow exclusions show that the General

Assembly intended to divest the Board of Regents of its authority to regulate concealed

handgun possession on campus. Accordingly, we agree with the court of appeals that,

by alleging the Policy violates the CCA, the Students have stated a claim for relief.

Because we affirm on statutory grounds, we do not consider the Students’ constitutional

claim.

¶4 The Board of Regents adopted the Policy on March 17, 1994. The Policy prohibits

“the possession of firearms . . . on or within any University of Colorado campus, leased

building, other area under the jurisdiction of the local campus police department or

areas where such possession interferes with the learning and working environment.”

The only exceptions are for “peace officers or for others who have written permission

from the Chief of Police for those campuses which have such an officer or from the

Chancellor after consultation with the Chief of Police.” Any individual violating the

Policy will be banned from campus; if that person is a student, the “minimum

disciplinary sanction shall be expulsion.” In justifying the Policy, the Board of Regents

stated that firearm possession is “inconsistent with the academic mission of the

[University of Colorado] and, in fact, undermines it”; “threatens the tranquility of the

educational environment in an intimidating way”; and “contributes in an offensive

manner to an unacceptable climate of violence.”

¶5 In 2003, citing “widespread inconsistenc[ies] among jurisdictions,” the General

Assembly enacted the CCA to “occupy the field of regulation of the bearing of

concealed handguns” and to “provide statewide uniform standards for issuing permits

to carry concealed handguns for self-defense.” § 18-12-201(1)(e), (2)(b). Under the

CCA, when a permit is issued, the permittee is authorized “to carry a concealed

handgun in all areas of the state, except as specifically limited” by the statute.

§ 18-12-214(1)(a). One specific limitation prohibits permittees from “carry[ing] a

concealed handgun onto the real property, or into any improvements erected thereon,

of a public elementary, middle, junior high, or high school.” § 18-12-214(3). Section

18-12-214(3) does not include an exception for the University of Colorado campuses. A

“local government” is prohibited from “adopt[ing] or enforc[ing] an ordinance or

resolution that would conflict with any provision of [the CCA].” § 18-12-214(1).

¶6 On December 11, 2008, the Students filed a complaint in El Paso County District

Court, alleging that the Policy violated the CCA and the Colorado Constitution’s right

to bear arms. 1 The complaint asserted that Martha Altman, Eric Mote, and John Davis

wanted to possess a handgun when traveling to, from, through, or on the campuses of

the University of Colorado for self-defense. Altman contacted the Chief of Police at the

University of Colorado Denver requesting permission to carry a concealed weapon on

campus, while Mote and Davis contacted the chancellor of the University of Colorado at

Colorado Springs requesting the same. Each asserted that they held a valid

concealed-carry permit under the CCA. All three requests were denied, with the

officials citing to the Policy.

In addition to naming the Board of Regents as a defendant, the complaint named, in

their official capacities, the individual regents, the chief of campus police of the

University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, the chancellor of the University of

Colorado at Colorado Springs, the chief of campus police of the University of Colorado

Denver, and the chancellor of the University of Colorado Denver.

¶7 The Board of Regents filed a motion to dismiss arguing that the Students had

failed to state a claim for relief, which the district court granted. The court concluded

that because the CCA prohibits only “local governments” from adopting or enforcing

laws contrary to the CCA, and the Board is not a “local government,” the Board was not

divested of authority to regulate concealed handgun possession on campus.

¶8 In addition, the district court found that the right to bear arms is not a

“fundamental right” and “can instead be highly restricted by the state’s valid exercise of

its police power.” Consequently, the right to bear arms is “not subject to strict

constitutional scrutiny,” but is only subject to the “rational basis test” — an inquiry that

the Policy “easily pass[es].” The Students appealed, and the court of appeals reversed.

¶9 On the statutory claim, the court of appeals focused on the CCA’s plain language

and its desire for statewide uniform standards to conclude that “all areas of the state”

includes university campuses. --- P.3d ---, 2010 WL 1492308, at *2-*7. Accordingly, the

court held that the Students’ allegations, “when accepted as true, state a claim for relief

that the [P]olicy violates the CCA.” Id. at *7. On the constitutional claim, the court

noted that the Students had limited their claim’s scope “to the ability to possess a

firearm in a motor vehicle when traveling on or through a University of Colorado

campus.” Id. On this question, the court concluded that, rather than the rational basis

test, a “reasonable exercise” test applied. Id. at *11. Thus the Students’ allegations did

state a “claim for relief concerning the ability to carry a firearm in a motor vehicle when

travelling on or through a University of Colorado campus.” Id.

¶10 We granted certiorari2 and now affirm. We hold that the CCA’s comprehensive

statewide purpose, broad language, and narrow exclusions show that the General

Assembly intended to divest the Board of Regents of its authority to regulate concealed

handgun possession on campus. Accordingly, we agree with the court of appeals that,

by alleging the Policy violates the CCA, the Students have stated a claim for relief.

Because we affirm on statutory grounds, we do not consider the Students’ constitutional

claim.

II.

¶11 We review a trial court’s order granting a motion to dismiss de novo; we accept

all factual averments as true and view the allegations in the light most favorable to the

plaintiff. Pub. Serv. Co. v. Van Wyk, 27 P.3d 377, 386 (Colo. 2001). A motion to dismiss

for failure to state a claim should not be granted unless it appears beyond doubt that no

set of facts can prove that the plaintiff is entitled to relief. Id. at 385-86.

¶12 We turn first to the statutory question of whether the CCA divests the Board of

its authority to regulate concealed handgun possession on campus. In enacting the

CCA, the General Assembly found that jurisdictions were inconsistent in issuing

We granted certiorari on the following issues:

1. Whether the General Assembly intended the Concealed Carry Act to

divest the Board of Regents of its constitutional and statutory authority

to enact safety and welfare measures for the University of Colorado’s

campuses.

2. Whether a constitutional challenge to a statute or ordinance regulating

the right to bear arms is governed by the deferential “rational basis”

standard of review or a more stringent “reasonable exercise” standard

of review.

concealed-carry permits and in identifying “areas of the state where it is lawful to carry

concealed handguns.” § 18-12-201(1)(a), C.R.S. (2011). Instead, the General Assembly

found, the criteria and procedures for lawfully carrying a concealed handgun “should

be consistent throughout the state to ensure the consistent implementation of state law.”

§ 18-12-201(1)(d). Moreover, it was “necessary that the state occupy the field of

regulation of the bearing of concealed handguns since the issuance of a concealed

handgun permit is based on a person's constitutional right of self-protection and there is

a prevailing state interest in ensuring that no citizen is arbitrarily denied a concealed

handgun permit and in ensuring that the laws controlling the use of the permit are

consistent throughout the state.” § 18-12-201(1)(e).

¶13 Based on its findings, the General Assembly concluded that the “permitting and

carrying of concealed handguns is a matter of statewide concern,” and, therefore, “[i]t is

necessary to provide statewide uniform standards for issuing permits to carry

concealed handguns for self-defense.” § 18-12-201(2)(a)-(b), C.R.S. (2011). Accordingly,

the General Assembly enacted the comprehensive scheme known as the CCA. See

§§ 18-12-201 to -216.

¶14 To bring about its “statewide uniform standards,” the General Assembly

declared that “[a] permit to carry a concealed handgun authorizes the permittee to carry

a concealed handgun in all areas of the state, except as specifically limited in [section

18-12-214].” § 18-12-214; see also § 18-12-204 (“A permit issued pursuant to [the CCA] .

. . is effective in all areas of the state, except as otherwise provided in section 18-12-

214.”). Further, a “local government” is prohibited from “adopt[ing] or enforc[ing] an

ordinance or resolution that would conflict with any provision of [the CCA].”

§ 18-12-214(1)(a).3

¶15 The exclusions to the CCA — areas of the state where a CCA permit is

“specifically limited” under section 18-12-214 — prohibit the carrying of a concealed

handgun (1) into a place where the carrying of handguns is prohibited by federal law;

(2) onto the real property “of a public elementary, middle, junior high, or high school”

except in enumerated circumstances; and (3) into a public building at which security

personnel and devices screen each entrant for weapons and subsequently the security

personnel require any weapons to be left in their possession while the entrant is in the

building. § 18-12-214(2)-(4). Although the General Assembly expressly listed other

educational institutions as excluded from the CCA, it did not place the University of

Colorado campuses on the list. See § 18-12-214(3). In addition, the CCA does not limit,

restrict, or prohibit any rights that a “private property owner, private tenant, private

employer, or private business entity” may have to exclude handguns. § 18-12-214(5).

¶16 The Board of Regents is granted broad authority by both the Colorado

Constitution and statutes. The Colorado Constitution vests the Board with “the general

Similarly, section 18-12-201 prohibits sheriffs from further regulating or restricting the

issuance of permits. “An action or rule [1] that encumbers the permit process by

placing burdens on the applicant beyond those sworn statements and specified

documents detailed in [the CCA] or [2] that creates restrictions beyond those specified

in [the CCA] is in conflict with the intent of [the CCA] and is prohibited.”

§ 18-12-201(3).

supervision of [its] respective institutions and the exclusive control and direction of all

funds of and appropriations to [its] respective institutions, unless otherwise provided

by law.” Colo. Const. art. VIII, § 5. The General Assembly has authorized the Board to

“enact laws for the government of the university,” § 23-20-112(1), C.R.S. (2011), and to

“promulgate rules and regulations for the safety and welfare of students, employees,

and property,” § 23-5-106(1), C.R.S. (2011). It is pursuant to this authority that the

Board adopted and enforced the Policy.

¶17 The Board argues that the CCA does not divest it of its authority to adopt and

enforce the Policy. The Board asserts that it holds special, constitutional authority to

enact policies governing the University of Colorado. Pointing to article VIII, section 5’s

phrase “unless otherwise provided by law,” the Board contends that the CCA does not

“provide by law” that the authority has been divested in this instance. Instead, it

argues that such divestment must be done expressly, which, it contends, was not done

in the case. The Board also points out that the CCA only prohibits “local governments,”

a phrase that would not include the University of Colorado, from adopting or enforcing

laws that conflict with the CCA.

¶18 We disagree with the Board. Instead, the CCA’s comprehensive statewide

purpose, broad language, and narrow exclusions lead us to conclude that the General

Assembly divested the Board of Regents of its authority in this instance. In other

words, under article VIII, section 5 of the Colorado Constitution, the CCA “otherwise

provide[s] by law.”

¶19 In its legislative declaration, the General Assembly makes clear that the CCA is

meant to be a statewide comprehensive scheme. The General Assembly found it

“necessary that the state occupy the field of regulation of the bearing of concealed

handguns.” § 18-12-201(1)(e). Further, the General Assembly found that the

“permitting and carrying of concealed handguns is a matter of statewide concern,” and

that therefore “[i]t is necessary to provide statewide uniform standards.”

§ 18-12-201(2)(a)-(b).

¶20 The CCA achieved its intent to bring about “statewide uniform standards”

through its substantive provisions. Twice the CCA expressly states that, except as

limited by the CCA itself, a permit to carry a concealed handgun authorizes the

permittee to carry a concealed handgun “in all areas of the state.” § 18-12-204(1)(b)

(emphasis added); § 18-12-214(1)(a) (emphasis added). Further, the CCA’s exclusions

— “specifically” noted under section 18-12-214 — are narrow and do not include public

universities. Relevant here, the CCA expressly excludes public elementary, middle,

junior high, and high schools, but not public universities. § 18-12-214(3). We agree with

the court of appeals that, “[h]ad the legislature intended to [exclude] universities, it

knew how to do so.” Students for Concealed Carry, --- P.3d ---, 2010 WL 1492308, at *4;

see also Beeghly v. Mack, 20 P.3d 610, 613 (Colo. 2001) (citing the interpretive canon

expressio unius exclusio alterius — “the inclusion of certain items implies the exclusion

of others” — and concluding that because the legislature had included a particular

remedy in one statute but not in another, the legislature could not have intended the

particular remedy in the latter).

¶21 In fact, when it enacted the CCA, the General Assembly amended a related

criminal statute that applies to universities expressly. S. 03-24, 64th Leg., 1st Sess.

(Colo. 2003); § 18-12-105.5(1), C.R.S. (2011) (making it a class six felony to carry a deadly

weapon onto real estate of “any public or private elementary, middle, junior high, high,

or vocational school or any public or private college, university, or seminary” (emphasis

added)). Moreover, the amended language in the criminal statute actually directs the

reader back to the CCA’s school exclusion, where universities are notably absent.

§ 18-12-105.5(d.5).

¶22 Our conclusion is not changed by the fact that “local governments” are expressly

prohibited from “adopt[ing] or enforc[ing] an ordinance or resolution that would

conflict with any provision of [the CCA].” § 18-12-214(1)(a). Although the Board is not

typically considered a “local government,” see § 24-32-102, C.R.S. (2011) (defining a

“local government” as “all municipal corporations, quasi municipalities, counties, and

local improvement and service districts of this state”), the CCA is clear that a permittee

is authorized to carry a concealed handgun in “all areas of the state, except as

specifically limited” by the statute, § 18-12-214(1)(a) (emphasis added). As explained

above, the University of Colorado campuses are not included in those “specifically

limited” areas. The fact that “local governments” are expressly prohibited from

adopting provisions that conflict with the CCA does not take away from the fact that a

permittee is authorized to carry a concealed handgun in “all areas of the state, except as

specifically limited” by the statute. Instead, the prohibition on local governments

merely reinforces the scope of the “all areas of the state” provision. To put it

differently, even if the Board of Regents is not considered a “local government,” the

Policy would still conflict with the CCA’s clear command that a permittee is authorized

to carry a concealed handgun in “all areas of the state, except as specifically limited” by

the statute.

¶23 Our conclusion that the General Assembly divested the Board of Regents of its

authority in this instance is further supported by our caselaw. The Board contends that

this case should be governed by Associated Students v. Regents of the University of

Colorado, 189 Colo. 482, 543 P.2d 59 (1975), superseded by statute, § 24-6-402(1)(d),

C.R.S. (2011), and Uberoi v. University of Colorado, 686 P.2d 785 (Colo. 1984),

superseded by statute, § 24-72-202(1.5), C.R.S. (2011). We disagree and instead find that

Ramos v. Regents of the University of Colorado, 759 P.2d 726 (Colo. 1988), provides the

proper analytical framework in this case.

¶24 In Associated Students, we were tasked with determining whether the Open

Meetings Law of the Colorado Sunshine Act of 1972 — which applied to “[a]ll meetings

of two or more members of any board . . . or other policy-making or rule-making body

of any state agency or authority . . . except as may be otherwise provided in the

constitution” — divested the Board of its authority to hold executive meetings closed to

the public. 189 Colo. at 484, 543 P.2d at 60-61 (emphasis added). We concluded the

constitutional phrase “unless otherwise provided by law” allows the Board’s authority

to be divested only “when a legislative enactment expressly so provides.” 189 Colo. at

485, 543 P.2d at 61. And “the [Sunshine] Act contain[ed] no such language.” 189 Colo.

at 485, 543 P.2d at 62. We did not discuss the effect of the Sunshine Act’s limiting

clause, which limited the act to all meetings “except as may be otherwise provided in

the constitution.”

¶25 A decade later, we addressed a similar question in Uberoi, where we considered

whether the Open Records Act divested the Board of its authority to keep certain

records confidential. 686 P.2d at 786-87. Like the Sunshine Act in Associated Students,

the Open Records Act was broadly worded and included a limiting clause. The act

provided that “all public records shall be open for inspection by any person at

reasonable times . . . except . . . as otherwise specifically provided by law.” Id. at 788

(emphasis added). Using the same rationale as Associated Students, we concluded that

the relevant provisions of the Open Meetings Law did not divest the Board of Regents

of its authority. Id. at 788-89. We noted that “the specific supervisory control over the

university granted to the [Board] can be divested only by a legislative enactment

expressly so providing.” Id. at 788. And the Open Records Act “nowhere specifically

refers to the [University of Colorado] nor to governing bodies of educational

institutions.” Id. at 788 (quoting trial court opinion).

¶26 Finally, we revisited the issue of the Board’s authority in Ramos. In that case, we

considered whether a civil rights statute divested the Board of Regents of its authority

over certain employment discrimination matters, instead placing such authority in the

Colorado Civil Rights Commission. Ramos, 759 P.2d at 727. The statutory scheme

covered “employers,” which included “the state of Colorado or any political

subdivision, commission, department, institution, or school district thereof, and every

other person employing persons within the state,” except for certain religious

institutions. Id. at 729. The Board argued, similar to its argument here, that the

statutory scheme failed to explicitly identify the university as an “employer,” and

therefore, under Associated Students and Uberoi, the statutory scheme did not divest it

of authority. Id. We rejected the Board of Regents’ argument, finding that the General

Assembly meant to include the university in the statutory scheme.

¶27 We noted that the statutory scheme applied on a “statewide basis,” id. at 731,

and was “comprehensive,” id. at 732. We found “especially significant” the “breadth of

language used by the General Assembly in defining the word ‘employer.’” Id. at 731.

Further, we noted that the General Assembly “expressly exclude[d] from the definition

[of ‘employer’] certain religious organizations and associations but no other category of

employer.” Id. We thought it would make little sense for the General Assembly to

define “employer” so broadly and set forth the Act’s only exclusion expressly, yet still

intend to exclude the university. Id. at 731. Accordingly, we held that “the supervisory

autonomy of the Regents must yield” to the statutory scheme. Id. at 735.

¶28 Importantly, we distinguished Associated Students and Uberoi on the ground

that the statutes in those cases contained a limiting clause, whereas the statutory

scheme in Ramos did not. Id. at 733-34. As noted above, the Sunshine Act in

Associated Students applied to all meetings “except as may be otherwise provided in

the constitution,” 189 Colo. at 484, 543 P.2d at 60-61, and the Open Records Act in

Uberoi applied to all records “except . . . as otherwise specifically provided by law,”

686 P.2d at 788. In both cases, the legislature had included statutory language that

arguably preserved the Board’s preexisting statutory and constitutional authority to

adopt policies governing the university. It therefore made sense in those cases to

conclude that, in the absence of express statutory language directed toward the Board’s

authority, its preexisting authority was preserved. See Associated Students, 189 Colo.

at 485, 543 P.2d at 62 (noting that, because of the presumption against implied repeals,

the court would not hold that the Sunshine Act impliedly repealed the Board’s

preexisting statutory and constitutional authority to govern university affairs); Uberoi,

686 P.3d at 787-89 (applying this reasoning to the Open Records Act).

¶29 By contrast, we concluded that the statutory scheme in Ramos — which not only

lacked a limiting clause, but also contained a comprehensive statewide purpose, broad

language, and narrow exclusions — did not permit the conclusion that the legislature

had preserved the Board’s preexisting authority. 759 P.2d at 733-34; see also City of

Littleton v. State, 855 P.2d 448, 454 (Colo. 1993) (holding that, under Ramos, a statutory

scheme with broad purposes that applied to “any public or private user” applied to the

State Community Colleges Board). Like the statutory scheme at issue in Ramos, the

CCA lacks a limiting clause, and as discussed above contains a statewide purpose,

broad language, and narrow exclusions. Consequently, we hold that, as in Ramos, the

CCA does not permit the conclusion that the Board’s preexisting authority to regulate

concealed handgun possession was preserved.4

¶30 In sum, we hold that the CCA divested the Board of Regents of its authority to

regulate concealed handgun possession on campus. Accordingly, we agree with the

court of appeals that, by alleging the Policy violates the CCA, the Students have stated a

claim for relief. Because we affirm on statutory grounds, we do not consider the

Students’ constitutional claim.5

III.

¶31 For the reasons set forth above, we affirm the court of appeals on the ground that

the Students have stated a claim for relief by alleging that the Policy violates the CCA,

and remand the case for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

Prof. Ely Karmon on Iran's Nuclear Threat

2012-03-05T08:54:00.000-05:00

NIAC and the Iranian nuclear threat

Image: Idea go / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Dr. Trita Parsi, is President and founder of The National Iranian American Council (NIAC), a Washington, D.C.-based non-profit organization "dedicated to advancing the interests of the Iranian-American community.”

Practically all his academic writings as well as the activities of his NGO make every possible effort not only to denounce any talk or steps for a possible military solution to the Iranian nuclear threat but also argue “that additional sanctions are not a substitute for diplomacy and their inevitable failure would put the United States back on a path to war with Iran.”

On March 4, Dr. Parsi published his “Reaction to Obama's AIPAC speech” which you can read below.

Today, March 5, NIAC posted a Full Page Ad in Washington Post: No Iran War of Choice (see below);

The Ad, signed by several American high level military and intelligence officers is citing Secretaries of Defense Gates and Panetta and the last two Chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dempsey and Mullen out of context, giving the impression that they actually are part of the signatories of the ad.

NIAC and Dr. Trita Parsi have been accused in the past by several journalists that they are connected to the Islamic Republic.

I will not enter the dispute what is exactly the status of NIAC and its precise objectives.

It seems however that there is no serious attempt there to analyze the threat from a nuclear Iran to the national strategic interests of the United States and its allies, not only Israel but first of all the Gulf and Arab countries.

But I ask also how the regime in Tehran is evaluating these positions and if they will not convince themselves that with such “objective” allies, to use the Marxist terminology, there is indeed no real American military threat to their nuclear military ambitions and they can continue to cheat on the proposed “diplomatic” track.

Ely Karmon

Ely Karmon, Ph.D.

Senior Research Scholar

International Institute for Counter-Terrorism (ICT) and

The Institute for Policy and Strategy (IPS) at

The Interdisciplinary Center (IDC)

Herzlyia, Israel

Tel.: 972-9-9527277

Cell.: 972-52-2653306

Fax.: 972-9-9513073, 972-9-7716653

E-mail: ekarmon@idc.ac.il

Web: http://www.ict.org.il/

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Reaction to Obama's AIPAC speech

Please see below my thoughts on President Obama's speech at AIPAC. Feel free to quote.

Trita Parsi

“Despite the words of friendship, the diverging perspectives of the Obama administration and the Netanyahu government on key issues in the Middle East – the Arab uprisings, the Palestinian issue and the Iranian nuclear program – are profound.

The dispute on the nuclear issue is centered on red lines. Israel, like the Bush administration, considers a nuclear capability in Iran a red line. It argues that the only acceptable guarantee that Iran does not get a nuclear weapon is for Iran to have no enrichment program.

The Obama administration puts the red line not at enrichment – which is permitted under international law – but at nuclear weapons. This is a clearer, more enforceable red line that also has the force of international law behind it.

While expressing his sympathy and friendship with Israel, Obama did not yield his red line at AIPAC. With the backing of the US Military, he has stood firm behind weaponization rather than weapons capability as the red line.

He said: “I have said that when it comes to preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon (emphasis added), I will take no options off the table, and I mean what I say.”

This is crucial because it is essentially a question of war and peace.

Critically, Obama’s rejection of containment at AIPAC was in the context of containing a nuclear-armed Iran, not a nuclear capable Iran.

He said: “Iran’s leaders should know that I do not have a policy of containment; I have a policy to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.”

Nowhere in the speech is he aligning himself, or even mentioning, the Israeli red line of “nuclear capability.”

The President’s tough words regarding his readiness to use military action is all in the context of preventing a nuclear weapon in Iran, not a nuclear capability. Strikingly, the president uses the D word – diplomacy – more than the M word – military action – in his speech (even though he primarily presents it as move that enabled greater sanctions on Iran.)

The Israeli red line is a fast track to an unnecessary and counterproductive war. This is why the US military and Obama so adamantly opposes this red line – because it ensures both war and a nuclear-armed Iran down the road.

Guest Article: 10 college majors said to earn equal pay for women

2012-03-05T07:39:00.000-05:00

http://www.bestcollegesonline.com/blog/2012/03/04/10-college-majors-that-earn-women-equal-pay/

Image: Tina Phillips / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Guest Article: 10 Cool Gaming Tools in MBA Education

2012-03-05T07:36:00.000-05:00

http://www.onlinemba.com/blog/10-cool-gaming-tools-in-mba-education/

Image: photostock / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Obama Truth Team Launches Facebook Page

2012-03-04T12:38:00.000-05:00

James --

When we first launched the Truth Team site, I asked you to write back with your thoughts. Many of you sent some great feedback on how we can work together to set the record straight. One thing stood out: You want to see the Truth Team on Facebook.

So this week, I'm excited to introduce you to the Truth Team Facebook page. You'll find content from our site right on your newsfeed, and you'll be able to get the word out in real time as we post new items. We'll continue working to make the Truth Team as effective as possible. And remember, you're always welcome to drop me a line with your suggestions at truthteam@barackobama.com.

Now, here's this week's tipsheet -- take a look, and arm yourself with the facts.

#1 WOMEN'S HEALTH CAN BE "MORALLY OBJECTIONABLE"?
Thursday, the Senate voted down a bill that would have allowed employers to deny women coverage for birth control and any "objectionable" medical service, possibly even flu shots. Senators Roy Blunt and Marco Rubio's amendment would have allowed any employer -- not religious institutions, because they are already exempt -- to make this call on behalf of their female employees. That means a woman's boss at a restaurant, retail store, law firm or anywhere would have control over what health care she could receive. After an hour during which he was on the record opposed to it, Mitt Romney said, in typical flip flop fashion, "Of course I support that amendment." Of course he does. And we can thank him for paving the way -- he also said he would have supported a "personhood" amendment in Massachusetts, which could have banned abortion in any circumstance, some contraception, and even fertility treatments like IVF. Get the facts out:

#2 WHY THE GOP THINKS GAS PRICES ARE HIGH
The truth is, there's no silver bullet that can bring gas prices down. But according to Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels, "The doubling of gas prices ... is a conscious policy of this administration." That's an imaginary plot spread by our opponents that contradicts the facts: Under President Obama's leadership, our dependence on foreign oil reached a 16-year low, and the toughest-ever fuel economy standards will save Americans $8,000 per car by 2025. Share what the President has accomplished to lessen the pain at the pump:

#3 ROMNEY'S MIDDLE-CLASS TAX CUT CLAIM
This week, Mitt Romney said: "[President Obama] also promised he'd cut taxes for middle-income Americans. Hasn't done that, either." But just days ago, President Obama signed the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012, extending the payroll tax cut, and giving working Americans a total of $110 billion in tax relief. That's about $1,000 in working families' pockets this year. And that's not even the beginning of the tax relief middle-class families have seen. For some contrast: Romney's own tax plan mainly involves showering tax cuts on the wealthiest Americans, but barely anything for the middle class. Don't let this lie gain traction while flying under the radar:

#4 TAX FAIRNESS: INFOGRAPHIC
Check out this new infographic showing how a typical American couple pays a higher tax rate than millionaires. President Obama's Buffett Rule would close the tax loopholes that make this possible, and ask the wealthiest Americans to pay their fair share -- something many are glad to do. Share the infographic:

As Senator Blunt said this week, right after his over-reaching amendment failed in the Senate: This fight is far from over. And with Super Tuesday coming right up, Republican candidates will be on the spot to court their Tea Party base, so here's to having all the facts on hand.

Thanks,

Stephanie

P.S. -- Infamous oil profiteers Charles and David Koch claim that their front group, "Americans for Prosperity," is made up of "tens of thousands of folks" from "all walks of life." So campaign manager Jim Messina wrote the Kochs a letter with one request: Prove it by actually disclosing your donors. You can add your name to Messina's letterhere.

Have you had enough of this windbag?

2012-03-04T12:29:00.003-05:00

Image via Wikipedia

Clicking here will automatically add your name to this petition to advertisers on the Rush Limbaugh show:

"Pull your advertising from Rush Limbaugh's radio program immediately and permanently. He called a Georgetown Law School student testifying before Congress about women's access to birth control a "slut" and a "prostitute." His reprehensible remarks are an attack on all women, including women who are your customers."

Automatically add your name:

Learn more about this campaign

Tell Limbaugh's advertisers to stop supporting his unforgivable attacks on women.

Dear James,

When Sandra Fluke, a Georgetown Law School student, testified before Congress to protest rightwing attacks to limit women's access to birth control, Rush Limbaugh called her a "slut" and a "prostitute."

Here's what Limbaugh actually said:

"What does that make her? It makes her a slut, right? It makes her a prostitute... She wants to be paid to have sex. She's having so much sex she can't afford the contraception."¹

Unfortunately, what Rush Limbaugh says matters. He has a bigger audience than any other commercial radio host in the country, and what he talks about on air has the power to drive the Republican agenda — an agenda that is already obsessed with radical backslides of womens' ability to protect their own health.²

Tell Rush Limbaugh's advertisers: Stop Supporting Rush Limbaugh's attacks on women. Click here to automatically sign the petition.

Sandra Fluke's testimony before Congress included important points about why access to affordable birth control is so crucial, including the story of a friend who had lost an ovary because she couldn't afford the birth control needed to manage her ovarian cysts.

Rush's unforgivable translation of that was "slut" and "prostitute." Sandra Fluke rightly has called Rush Limbaugh's comments "an attack on all women."³ We agree.

Every American enjoys the right to free speech, but that doesn't mean that advertisers who are accountable to their customers should pay people like Rush Limbaugh who make such appallingly hateful and sexist comments.

Already the mattress retailer Sleep Train has pulled its advertisements, explaining in a Tweet: "We are pulling our ads with Rush Limbaugh and appreciate the community's feedback." ⁴

Rush's other advertisers need to hear from us loud and clear — if you advertise on Rush Limbaugh, you are supporting his reprehensible attacks on women.

Tell Rush Limbaugh's advertisers: Stop Supporting Rush Limbaugh's attacks on women. Click here to automatically sign the petition.

In the fight against the Susan G. Komen Foundation we proved that when women and the men who support them fight back against those who would restrict women's access to healthcare, we can win. And MSNBC's recent firing of commentator Pat Buchanan after a campaign protesting his white supremacist rhetoric shows that there will be consequences when certain lines are crossed.

Rush Limbaugh has a long history of hateful rhetoric. But with his comments this week, Rush Limbaugh has crossed the line at a moment when women, and the men who believe in equal rights for women, are more organized than ever and are ready to fight back.

Click below to automatically sign the petition:
http://act.credoaction.com/r/?r=5538088&id=36014-3441008-F9xoRGx&t=9

We will not let the rightwing take away women's access to birth control. We will not let Republicans brand women who assert their right to health care as "sluts" and "prostitutes."

Thank you for joining CREDO in taking action to stop the escalating attacks on women and hold Rush Limbaugh and the Republican message machine accountable.

Becky Bond, Political Director
CREDO Action from Working Assets

1. Rush Limbaugh calls law student a 'slut' for wanting contraception to be covered by health insurance at religious institutions, New York Daily News, March 1, 2012
2. "List of most-listened-to radio programs," Wikipedia.
3. Rush Limbaugh calls law student a 'slut' for wanting contraception to be covered by health insurance at religious institutions, New York Daily News, March 1, 2012
4. Advertiser bails from Rush Limbaugh show, Politico, March 2, 2012

The Generation Gasp (March 3): Through the Looking Glass

2012-03-03T10:17:00.000-05:00

http://www.tnonline.com/2012/mar/03/through-looking-glass

No weather report for Cuccinelli

2012-03-02T16:00:00.000-05:00

Virginia Supreme Court says AG can't have researcher's climate-change info.

http://www.courts.state.va.us/opinions/opnscvwp/1102359.pdf

The target of Cuccinelli's probe is Michael Mann, a former UVA prof, who wrote a book accusing the AG and others of plotting to cast doubts on the reality of climate change:

http://cup.columbia.edu/book/978-0-231-15254-9/the-hockey-stick-and-the-climate-wars

Image: Jennifer Ellison / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Registration is now open for NAFSA's annual conference

2012-03-02T07:30:00.002-05:00

NAFSA 2012 Annual Conference Registration and Hotel Reservations Now Open!

Registration and hotel reservations are now open for NAFSA’s 2012 Annual Conference & Expo, “Comprehensive Internationalization: Vision and Practice,” in Houston, Texas, May 27-June 1, 2012. Join NAFSA for the ultimate event in the field of international education.

· Register Now Through April 13 for Early-Bird Savings

· Make Your Hotel Reservations Online by April 27

Don’t miss this opportunity to come face-to-face with more than 8,000 of your colleagues in the field—from all parts of the globe.

· Expand your professional network of “go-to” people with more than 50 networking events.

· Learn best practices and cutting-edge strategies from more than 200 sessions and seminars.

· Advance your institution through new solutions and partnerships—meet more than 400 exhibitors from around the world at the International Education Expo.

· Be challenged and inspired by our plenary speakers: Robert M. Gates, former U.S. secretary of defense; Nobel Peace Laureate Leymah Gbowee; Jan Eliasson, former Swedish minister of foreign affairs; and author and U.S. public television travel series host, Rick Steves.

Explore and take advantage of all that the NAFSA Annual Conference & Expo has to offer by visiting the NAFSA Web site today.

Follow and Connect with Us on: Twitter, Facebook,

Homeland Security announces new higher ed advisory council

2012-03-02T07:25:00.000-05:00

http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2012-03-01/pdf/2012-4897.pdf

http://chronicle.com/article/New-Committee-Will-Advise/131013/?sid=pm&utm_source=pm&utm_medium=en

One area of high interest to DHS is little-known colleges exploiting legal loopholes to recruit foreign students into fly-by-night programs.

http://chronicle.com/article/Little-Known-Colleges-Make/126822/

Last year, ICE agents raided a number of such operations.

http://chronicle.com/article/Agents-Raid-Virginia/128433/

In at least one instance, administrators were charged with visa fraud.

http://chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/president-of-institution-accused-as-a-sham-university-is-arrested-on-visa-fraud-charges/32657

Secretary Napolitano Announces Academic Advisory Council

Release Date: March 1, 2012
For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
Contact: 202-282-8010
WASHINGTON—U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano today announced the formation of the Homeland Security Academic Advisory Council (HSAAC), comprised of prominent university presidents and academic leaders charged with advising the Secretary and senior leadership at the Department on several key issues.
“The formation of this Council represents an important milestone towards engaging the academic community in our homeland security efforts,” said Secretary Napolitano. “Their collective expertise will be a critical asset to the Department, and I look forward to working with them.”
The new council underscores the Department’s commitment to working with the academic community. Secretary Napolitano has asked the group, which will be chaired by Dr. Wallace Loh of the University of Maryland, to provide advice and recommendations on issues related to student and recent graduate recruitment; international students; academic research; campus and community resiliency, security and preparedness; and faculty exchanges.
The group’s inaugural meeting will take place on March 20 in Washington, D.C. A notice in the Federal Register formally announced the first meeting, which is open to the public.
Members* appointed to the HSAAC are:
Dr. Joseph E. Aoun, President of Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts
Ms. Carrie L. Billy, President of the American Indian Higher Education Consortium in Alexandria, Virginia
Dr. Walter G. Bumphus, President and CEO of the American Association of Community Colleges in Washington, D.C.
Dr. David M. Dooley, President of the University of Rhode Island in Kingston, Rhode Island
Dr. Royce C. Engstrom, President of the University of Montana in Missoula, Montana
Dr. Antonio R. Flores, President and CEO of the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities in San Antonio, Texas
Dr. Rufus Glasper, Chancellor of the Maricopa Community Colleges in Tempe, Arizona
Dr. Jay Gogue, President of Auburn University in Auburn, Alabama
Ms. Marlene M. Johnson, Executive Director and CEO of the Association of International Educators (NAFSA) in Washington, D.C.
Dr. Eric W. Kaler, President of the University of Minnesota in the Twin Cities, Minnesota
Dr. R. Bowen Loftin, President of Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas
Dr. Wallace Loh, President of the University of Maryland in College Park, Maryland
Dr. Gail O. Mellow, President of LaGuardia Community College in Long Island City, New York
Ms. Ruby G. Moy, President and CEO of the Asian Pacific Islander American Association of Colleges and Universities in Washington, D.C.
Dr. Hunter R. Rawlings, III, President of the Association of American Universities in Washington, D.C.
Dr. John Sexton, President of New York University in New York City, New York
Rear Admiral Sandra Stosz, Superintendent of the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut
Dr. Dianne Boardley Suber, President of Saint Augustine’s College in Raleigh, North Carolina
Dr. Holden Thorp, Chancellor of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in Chapel Hill, North Carolina
*There are outstanding appointments still being determined at this time.
For more information, please visit www.dhs.gov.

Despite the class action suits against law schools, I stand by what I said about the value of an education in the law way back in 1996

2012-03-01T08:17:00.002-05:00

http://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?collection=journals&handle=hein.journals/thurlr22&div=7&id=&page=Why America Needs All the Lawyers It can Get

Thurgood Marshall Law Review
Fall, 1996
19 WHY THE NATION NEEDS MORE LAWYERS
James Ottavio Castagnera
Copyright (c) 1996 by the Thurgood Marshall Law Review; James Ottavio Castagnera

“The U.S, is loaded with lawyers.” That was the lead in a Business Week article earlier in this decade. [FN1] As proof the magazine presented seemingly compelling statistics. In 1992 the U.S. was cursed with 307.4 lawyers per 100,000 persons, while Japan was blessed with only 12.1 attorneys per 100,000 population. Britain and Germany claimed 102.7 and 82 lawyers in the same per capita ratio. [FN2] Since Germany and Japan rank among America's most successful and dangerous rivals, the clear implication was that something must be very wrong with this picture. The article, aimed primarily at touting alternative dispute resolution techniques as superior to litigation, went on to chronicle business persons' concerns with their legal fees and litigation exposure. This concern was characterized as stimulating nothing less than a revolution. “The legal revolt among corporations is only one facet in an unprecedented rethinking of the U.S. Justice system.” [FN3]
But, like calls for the American labor movement to abandon its confrontational ways and embrace employee participation programs, [FN4] the corporate and Congressional cant for less lawyers and litigation in emulation of a Nipponese model ignores in the first instance vast cultural gulfs. These gulfs make the Pacific Ocean seem but a stream separating the two societies. Despite the samurai image, revived in the militarism that helped precipitate World War II, the Japanese tradition of societal cohesion, homogeneity and aesthetic sensitivity has been traced still more deeply into that nation's history. [FN5] By contrast Europe *20 has historically been a contentious and bumptious society, [FN6] and even colonial America has been identified as highly litigious and lawyer dominated. [FN7]
In early America people sued each other over the ownership of a dead fox [FN8] and a beached whale. [FN9] Our state supreme courts have been required to contend with such trivial matters as a contract claim by a disappointed shopper for a $100 rabbit fur stole [FN10] and a surgery patient whose damaged hand had been made fully functional again, albeit with the onset of puberty the hand grew hair. [FN11] Such reported decisions are legion. Thus, to complain about the proliferation of lawyers and lawsuits in America at the millennium is merely to at last take note of a cultural characteristic of deep and abiding nature in our society.
Of course, to suggest that an evil should be tolerated, even embraced, simply because it is an evil we have long known, is an argument lacking in persuasive power for all but the most hidebound of its hearers. Something more is needed, I am quite sure, to bring the majority of readers along the path I propose to pursue in this piece of writing.
To begin, I ask my readers to recall a scene from the sixties film, “A Man For All Seasons,” in which Sir Thomas More inquires of his ultimately-unfaithful law clerk what will happen when all the laws are cut down in the name of expediency, like so many trees in a great forrest. Then, warns the lawyer-saint of England, the winds will howl across the barren plain. The work of Sir Isaac Newton “was the high noon of certainty,” [FN12] and More's winds began whistling shortly thereafter. With the sudden appearance of two scientific papers, penned by an obscure Swiss patent officer in 1905, “certainty exploded out of sight and reach.” [FN13] Thus,
[t]he grounds of certainty were quaking with seismic upheaval even before the First World War. It is tempting to see the terrible *21 catastrophe of 1914-18--cataclysmic, unpredicted, destructive of four empires and of a whole generation of Europe's elite--as a volcano which buried any lingering feelings of security under layers of lava. [FN14]
As those who experienced the world wars of the first half of this century age and pass from the scene, we Americans who have experienced only cold war and brush fires such as Vietnam can gain some sense of the qualitative, as well as quantitative, differences, by reading the unremitting, mind-numbing accounts of the carnage in the works of historians such as Martin Gilbert [FN15] and John Keegan. [FN16]
And but for the survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, we can only imagine the horrors of nuclear holocaust. No matter… “[t]echnological change seems likely to take over from unaided human wickedness as the focus of fears of barbarism.” [FN17] From satellite-borne ‘kiddy porn’ to the Frankenstein monster of artificial intelligence, new technological threats join nuclear terrorism on our millennial horizon. [FN18] How are we to deal with them? Science itself seems entirely incapable of controlling its worst creations, as it persues ‘truth’ wherever it may lead. Pop culture has donned electronic garb, replacing substance with glitz. [FN19] Thus the most successful and popular films of recent years--for example the “Indiana Jones” and “Star Wars” trilogies and “Jurasic Park”--are propelled predominantly by rapid action and awesome special effects. [FN20] Cliches stand in for real values. Comic book characters careen through the story with minimal personal relationships.
Cultural relativism has formed a strong partnership with the electronic media to create an ‘almost-anything-goes' attitude toward the artifacts of pop cult. This relatavistic posture draws its inspiration from both the ‘hard’ and the social sciences. Albert Einstein, the greatest scientist of our century, opened it with two papers dealing with his theories of relativity. Mid-way through the century, Thomas Kuhn introduced the term “paradigm”--a common set of beliefs shared by *22 scientists upon which they predicate explanations of physical phenomena--in his argument that scientific ‘truth’ is a shifting concept, as for instance when Newton's earth-bound laws gave way to Einstein's relativistic theories of what goes on in deep space. [FN21] Also in this century, anthropologists and psychologists abandoned Darwinism in favor of the view that all cultures and customs have value, if only their utility to their respective societies might be discerned. [FN22]
Perhaps the marriage of ‘hard’ science relativism with social science relativism is best illustrated in the famous science fiction novel, Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert Heinlein. Published in 1961, the book depicts the adventures of a young man, raised improbably by Martians and returned to earth, where his views and powers combine to create a near-revolution. [FN23] Among the views held by this ‘Man from Mars' is the notion that a high honor is bestowed upon a friend whose body you consume following his death. In one hilarious but provocative scene, the famous lawyer-physician Jubal Harshaw, who has become the protagonist's protector early in the yarn, debates the merits if this Martian custom with his handyman and bodyguard, a stalwart conservative from America's heartland. The handiman, Duke, insists (ala Darwin, if you will, though he surely does not know of Darwin's work) that an aversion to canibalism is instinctual. Harshaw insists it is a cultural trait, his proof being that many cultures have an early history of engaging in canabalistic rituals. [FN24] Heinlein's college educated audience was predisposed, of course, to side with Harshaw.
The decline of religious belief paralleled and aggravated the slide toward relativism and away from anchored values. Thinkers such as Walter Lippmann vainly tried to substitute humanistic values for religious faith and the moral tenets that accompany it. [FN25]
The law, too, has experienced its spate of relativistic theories of jurisprudence. Theories of natural law and legal positivism have given way to so-called critical legal studies, which contend that law is what those in power say it is, burdened with all the political and ethical prejudices of the judges and legislators who render it. The various branches include critical race studies and critcal women's studies. [FN26]
*23 But pendalums have a way of swinging. As noted, in the film “A Man for All Seasons,” the lawyer-saint Thomas Moore asked his wayward student, who will later betray his mentor through perjured testimony, what will happen when we have cut down all the laws like so many trees… what then will prevent the winds from blowing across the land. The winds have blown very hard indeed across our land and they have started the pendalum moving back toward fixed values. The born-again-Christians best represent this phenomenon in the religious realm. In anthropology and psychology influential thinkers are turning back to evolution and genetics as immutable influences upon human nature. [FN27]
In law, too, significant efforts have been made to reverse the pendalum's swing. Most notably, Judge Richard Posner in a long succession of books and articles argued for the underlying rationality of the common law, developing a theory and starting a movement, both of which have become well-known by the label Law and Economics. [FN28]
In all of these diverse fields of inquiry the underlying tenet is that there exist objective, non-relative values and goals. Some such goals are ‘good’ and others ‘bad’, or at least desireable and undesireable. In a society where political correctness stands ever ready to condemn any criticism, no matter how constructively intended, as racism, sexism, or some other such forbidden “ism”, some courage is required to take such a stance. But some have been willing to do so.
The UCLA professor of anthropology and psychology, Robert Edgerton, has challenged quite explicitely the earlier paradigm, established by such giants of anthropology as Franz Boas of Columbia University, [FN29] that all cultural traits and customs are somehow adaptive and that the anthropologist's job is to penetrate the the puzzles presented by complex socio-cultural matrices and discern the positive purposes of seemingly negative behavior patterns. Edgerton scoured the literature for examples from around the world of maladaptive practices, which he argues ably ought to be branded candidly as such.
*24 For example, Edgerton points to the phenomenon that some societies have at times viewed morbid obesity to be beautiful. “[N]ot surpisingly, most politically powerful people tended to be grossly overweight. The Zulu King Cetshwayo's legs were so stout that he could not walk without chafing them painfully, and some Polynesian chiefs and their wives were too obese to walk at all.” [FN30] Even more dramatic is the tale of the Xhosa people, who in 1858 stopped tilling the their soil and killed all their cattle, because a prophet, Nongqawuse, predicted that such a cleansing was the necessary preface to the return of the ghost warriors of old, who would lead the people in expelling the white intruders. [FN31]
Edgerton concludes, “Traditional Darwinian theory has held that because of forces of natural selection, existing genetic variation must have a positiive function….” But, he continues, “Motoo Kimura's ‘neutral theory’ argues that much of the genetic variation in any species, including humans, is adaptively neutral. Under certain circumstances, such as mutation and genetic drift, these neutral genes can become either more adaptive or maladaptive.” [FN32] So too is this true of social and cultural traits, which may be neutral to begin, but which may become malaadaptive over time. [FN33]
Professor Emeritus Gertrude Himmelfarb of Brooklyn College and the City University of New York has argued with equal candor for the superiority of Victorian-era virtues over the relativistic values of the 20th century. [FN34]
But, though they are accomplished academicians, Himmelfarb and Edgerton are unlikely to turn the tide against relatavism, any more than the religious right is likely to command the allegance of a majority of Americans any time in the foreseeable future. This being so, this author contends that it falls to the lawyers and the law schools to carry the torch toward the millennium marking the end of the American century.
To understand why, let's return first to Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land. About a third of the way into Heinlein's sci-fi classic the lawyer-writer-doctor Jubal Harshaw discusses religion with Valentine Michael Smith, the young man born and raised on Mars. Harshaw is an avowed agnostic. He is slightly appalled that Smith has become enamoured to a TV evangelist. In his heart he wants to convince *25 the “Man from Mars” that religion is bunk. But he can't quite bring himself to do it.
“He had intended to take the usual agnostic approach… and found himself compulsively following his legal training, being an honest advocate in spite of himself, attempting to support a religious belief he did not hold but which was believed by most human beings. He found that, willy-nilly, he was attorney for the orthodoxies of his own race against--he wasn't sure what. An inhuman viewpoint.” [FN35]
As noted early in this article, historians have traced Americans' litigious nature deep into our past. Perhaps it is no accident that the passion for court room conflict comes down to us hand-in-hand with the marketplace of ideas. Perhaps litigation is the handmaiden of democracy. Perhaps in a society which is unlikely to embrace voluntarily any single philosophy or religion or political party, and which will not allow any of the foregoing to be imposed upon us, method must stand good for ideology. This, then, is this article's major proposition.
More specifically, the proposition is that the legal method is the framework which has, still does, and should support our socio-political system. Thus this author's contention that America must train more, not fewer, of its citizens in the profession, or more accurately the method, of law.
What then is the legal method?
Many complicated explanations and descriptions exist. [FN36] But to best understand the legal method we will do best to turn to those stalwart keepers of the flame: the legal research and writing professors who commonly labor in our law school vinyards for lesser pay and at lower status then the so-called “doctrinal” faculty who continue to belch forth periodically their law review articles which notoriously obfuscate the self-same method. This article shall look to two of the most popular authors to whom legal methods professors look when seeking to adopt their texts for teaching their courses at law schools across the country. My examination of these sources begins with one of the most straightforward and least complex of these standard textbooks. [FN37]
The author, like virtually every author of such texts, presents in only slightly-personalized form what virtually every law professor (and virtually every first year law student facing her first examinations) calls *26 IRAC. [FN38] IRAC is to legal analysis what “Force = Mass x Velocity” is to Newtonian physics. IRAC--Issue, Rule, Application, Conclusion--is the way law students answer exam questions and structure the discussion sections of their legal memoranda and briefs. Also it is how real, practicing attorneys visualize problems.
As an offensive weapon, as in a brief supporting a motion made to a judge, IRAC can be used to shade the truth in favor of the advocate's client. But in an interoffice legal memorandum, IRAC is a technique intended to get at the truth, or more precisely, to help the writer (lawyer A) and the recipient (lawyer B, who is usually the more senior of the two attorneys) to predict how a case can be argued in an adversarial yet reasonable manner, and how it most likley will come out in court eventually… or how an agency will respond to a client's application… or some similar result somewhere down the road of legal representation. Our first author gives this advice to students using her text:
“Because it will be used to determine what course to take in a legal dispute involving a client, your inter-office memo should be thorough and unbiased.” [FN39]
The strict restriction against bias is based upon the reality that the attorney who kids herself or her client has embarked down a slippery slope toward disaster. By contrast, “A brief is distinguishable from an inter-office memorandum, which objectively analyzes the law and facts. The purpose of [a] brief is to persuade the… court to rule in your favor.” [FN40] But not only the rules of ethics, but more importantly the litmus test of judicial skepticism demand an underlying logic and intellectual integrity support arguments (at least when made to the bench [FN41]). This approach--unvarying to my knowledge in American law--explains why Jubal Harshaw of Stranger in a Strange Land found himself “being an honest advocate in spite of himself.”
In a slightly more sophisticated legal methods text [FN42] Thomas Kuhn's classic term, “paradigm”, turns up. The author speaks of “A Paradigm for Structuring Proof.” [FN43] The paradigm turns out to be a more elaborate iteration of the old, familiar IRAC. The application (‘A’) *27 the author labels “rule proof.” By that he means, “proof of the rule through citation to authority, through explanation of how the authority stands for the rule, through anlyses of policy, and through counter-analyses…” [FN44]
This is the formula--the paradigm--we legal methods teachers drum into the heads of our first-year law students. We do not do this drumming because we believe our paradigms can convey Truth with a capital “T”. But we do believe-- and rightly, I think--that this paradigm forces the writer to express her opinion or position in an orderly, logical and defensible fashion. This is what senior partners in law firms and judges upon their benches demand. “[T]he skeptical, law-trained mind instinctively wants to know what principles of law require the [writer's] conclusion instead of others.” [FN45]
In our relativistic world, where sixty-second commercials and thirty-second sound bites overwhelm our senses, “the skeptical, lawyer-trained mind” is a human resource which, I submit, cannot be overproduced or in a state of surplus. The well -trained lawyer's way of thinking, indeed her habit of thinking, as represented in so simple but elegant a fashion as the IRAC paradigm, is a resource that all sufficiently-bright students can use to their, and their society's, great benefit.
Some three decades ago the Canadian professor and theorist of mass communications, Marshall McLuhan, predicted that “in the electric age, the very instantaneous nature of co-existence among our technological instruments has created a crisis quite new in human history.” [FN46] The crisis is clear enough to those who currently decry the decline of literacy or the relativistic nature of our social values. [FN47]
The legal method with its paradigm cannot, and would not wish to, impose a set of values or ‘Truths' upon our society. But what it can do is force society's citizens to think about values and ‘Truths' in an organized way which puts proponents' views to its test. The scientific method seeks to do that, and has succeeded to a great extent in the hard sciences, Kuhn's views not withstanding. But as Edgerton and other convincingly suggest, it has hardly succeeded in the social sciences. Only the legal method has any hope of imposing such rigor upon the socio-cultural realm in America. And that is why this author argues that America needs more lawyers.
*28 If I am right, then our law schools are overlooking a splendid opportunity to defend against the declining enrollments which they are expeiencing at the present time. And the bar is foregoing a fine argument with which to combat the negative publicity directed at the profession in recent years. Never before in the history of civilized societies has the lawyer's mind and method--the attorney's habit of thinking--been needed so badly as in America today. The J.D. and all that it implies are invaluable tools to the business executive, the politician and public servant, the military man, and the professional communicator.
To turn Will Shakespeare on his ear, I say, “First thing we do, let's train more lawyers!”

This writer asks, Can we overproduce a degree?

2012-03-01T07:33:00.000-05:00

http://chronicle.com/blogs/onhiring/can-we-overproduce-a-degree/30516?sid=pm&utm_source=pm&utm_medium=en

Image: digitalart / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

I think so. Just ask the law schools who are being sued right now:

http://abovethelaw.com/2012/02/twenty-additional-law-school-class-action-suits-are-in-the-works-is-your-school-one-of-them/

A NAFSA Webinar on surviving a federal immigration review at your school

2012-02-29T15:23:00.002-05:00

When Federal Agents Come Calling: Educating Campus Stakeholders

March 22, 2012
3:00 p.m.-4:30 p.m. (EDT)
$149 NAFSA Member; $189 Nonmember
Registration Deadline: March 15, 2012

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) recently launched Project Campus Sentinel and began visiting DSOs and schools throughout the United States with the apparent goal of visiting every school that hosts international students. The government is closely analyzing the data you provide, paying attention to your international students and faculty, and planning visits. Prepare for contact from federal agents by having policies and procedures in place and educating your campus stakeholders.

Come away with strategies for building positive relationships with federal agents and dealing with difficult situations.

Webinar Objectives:

Understand which federal agencies are contacting campuses and why;
Learn how to best manage interactions and establish relationships with federal agents;
Gain insights on developing and adapting policies and procedures for your campus.

Gather Your Colleagues to Participate!

NAFSA's webinars are a very cost-effective method of staying abreast of the hottest topics facing the field today. With one computer, a projection screen, and a speaker phone, you can invite as many attendees as will fit in a room!

Presenters:

Ellen Badger
Director, International Student & Scholar Services
Binghamton University, State University of New York

In her position, Ellen Badger leads a staff of nine who provide programs and services to more than 2,100 F-1 and J-1 international students, scholars, and faculty. Binghamton is a 2004 recipient of the NAFSA Senator Paul Simon Award for Campus Internationalization. Badger is the coauthor of the NAFSA resource: "How Can I Prepare for Contact from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)?". She is also a former member of the NAFSA Board of Directors and a frequent presenter at NAFSA conferences.

Scott Cooper
Partner and Managing Attorney - Troy Office
Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy, PLLC
Scott Cooper currently serves as immigration counsel to public and private universities, national research institutions, cultural institutions and foundations representing U.S. professionals, faculty, and researchers. In addition to serving in numerous leadership roles within the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) and NAFSA, Cooper has also been a contributing author and editor of NAFSA publications and theCUPA Journal.

Kathleen C. Gasparian, Esq.
Senior Associate, David Ware & Associates, LLC

Kathleen Gasparian has coauthored several articles on various aspects of immigration law and frequently presents on a variety of immigration issues. She is a member of the AILA and a past chair of the AILA Mid-South Chapter. She also serves on the AILA national liaison committee to the Executive Office for Immigration Review.

Call for Papers: Association for the Study of the Middle East and Africa

2012-02-29T15:01:00.000-05:00

Image via Wikipedia

CALL FOR PAPERS ***

5th Annual ASMEA Conference

History and the "New" Middle East and Africa

October 11-13, 2012
Key Bridge Marriott Hotel * Washington, D.C.

ASMEA is currently seeking proposals for paper presentations at the 2012 annual conference. Members from any discipline, tenured or untenured faculty or those otherwise affiliated with a recognized research institution, may submit proposals to participate in the conference. Unique proposals from senior graduate students (ABD) will also be considered. Abstracts on topics related to the Middle East and Africa should consist of a one-page outline of the proposed subject to be presented. A recent C.V. and all contact data must be attached to the proposal (name, e-mail, phone number, affiliation). The due date for proposals is Tuesday, May 15, 2012.Proposals should be sent to: info@asmeascholars.org. Completed papers are due by August 31, 2012.

VIEW the list of paper's presented at the 2011 Annual ASMEA Conference.

Referees and Discussants
ASMEA Members interested in participating in the conference as referees of papers or discussants should contact ASMEA by e-mail with a letter of interest containing the topics that can be covered. Please include a C.V. and all current contact data (name, e-mail, phone number) and a brief recitation of your past experience in these roles. Send e-mail to: info@asmeascholars.org.

Any questions or for more information, contact ASMEA at 202.429.8860 orinfo@asmeascholars.org.

Association for the Study of the Middle East and Africa
www.asmeascholars.org

Honestly... I'm sick of writing about this topic

2012-02-29T07:27:00.000-05:00

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/28/ohio-school-shooting-victim_n_1307438.html

One TV commentator this morning called the latest school shooting "unimaginable." Unfortunately, it's become easy to imagine.

I've been writing about such shootings for years now:

http://www.todayscampus.com/articles/load.aspx?art=218

http://www.todayscampus.com/articles/load.aspx?art=227

http://www.todayscampus.com/articles/load.aspx?art=236

http://www.todayscampus.com/articles/load.aspx?art=238

September 22, 2007

When Will All These Classroom Killings Stop?

A piece I wrote several months ago concerning a classroom shooting incident in Pennsylvania seems to be just a pertinent today:

When Will These Classroom Killings Stop?
By
Jim Castagnera
On Monday a crazy gunman opened fire in a Virginia Tech residence hall and a little later in a classroom across campus, killing some 30 people in what is being labeled “the deadliest shooting rampage in U.S. history.” The gunman subsequently was killed, bringing the death toll to 31. As I wrote this column, no one knew the murder’s motive.
Virginia Tech’s president was quoted by the Associated Press as saying, “Today the university was struck with a tragedy that we consider of monumental proportions. The university is shocked and indeed horrified."
In 21st century America we have almost come to accept these horrible mass murders as natural disasters. This community has been hit by a hurricane. That one has been torn up by a tornado. Oh, and that one over there has been blasted by a madman with a gun. The Tech student body no doubt will be afforded free access to “grief counselors.”
We used to say, "Everybody talks about the weather, but no one does anything about it." Should we now say, "Everybody talks about gun violence, but no one does anything about it?" Living here in suburban Philadelphia, I watched as the City of Brotherly Love averaged one homicide per day in 2006. Philly passed the 100-homicide mark during the first quarter of ’07, suggesting it well may be on its way to breaking last year’s record. Here, too, students are, often as not, counted among the innocent victims of gun violence gone out of control.
Yeh, I know… guns don't kill people, people kill people. But these killers are better armed than ever before. When I was a Franklin and Marshall College student a lifetime ago, I witnessed plenty of fights, often of the town v. gown variety. A group of fraternity punks, such as myself, might get a bit rowdy in a local tavern. The blue-collar crowd at the opposite end of the bar might take umbrage. The upshot might then be a quick exchange of fisticuffs. On a rare occasion a knife or a broken bottle could come into play.
My point is: almost nobody carried a gun.
By contrast today, if you are confronted by a belligerent bar fly, run for your car.
Odds are better than even the guy is packing.
No need to look for trouble in a local bar, however. Virginia Tech is not the only school where guns have gotten into classrooms. Just last year a local high school student entered one of our county’s Catholic high schools, discharged his father’s AK-47, then shot himself. We could only be grateful that the troubled youth didn’t first kill his classmates, making Delaware County the scene of a new Columbine massacre.
The Canadian college professor, Marshall McLuhan - best known during my college days for saying "The medium is the message" - asserted that Americans live in "Bonanzaland," i.e., the Wild West of the 1880s. Well, folks, that time is long past. Our K-12 schools have rightly adopted zero-tolerance policies toward weapons in their halls and classrooms. Colleges, too, have clamped down on violence --- even the fisticuffs of my era.
Obviously, this isn’t enough.
Neither are grief counselors enough.
The Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution may give us all the right to bear arms… though some judges and scholars have questioned the Supreme Court’s reading of that bit of the Bill of Rights. Regardless of what rights we want to read into the Second Amendment, I say our daughters and sons have a higher right: to enjoy and benefit from their educations without looking over their shoulders and wondering whether today is the day their classroom is riddled with bullets.
I don’t have the answer, folks. I just know in my guts that, until we dispense with the grief counselors and the platitudes, and get mad as hell about travesties like this latest massacre at Virginia Tech, the killing is just going to continue.

September 22, 2007 | Permalink

http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/highered/2007/09/when-will-all-t.html

We Americans certainly love our guns... and our nukes. My fear is that, as Americans inevitably slip still farther behind in the global economic race, the temptation will be overwhelming --- both at the national and the individual levels --- to turn to military force and personal vigilanteism.

Honestly... I'm just plain sick of the whole topic. And writing about it doesn't seem to help.

That TV commentator, quoted above added, now the community has turned its attention to mourning and remembrance. It's the same old script.

Our schools have improved their lock-down procedures and adopted zero-tolerance policies where weapons are concerned. And still the tragedies occur.

Why? Because we have not addressed the causes.

Panel says R1s need to change their ways

2012-02-29T06:52:00.000-05:00

http://chronicle.com/article/Panel-on-Research-Universities/130961/?sid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en

Image: jscreationzs / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Uncle Milty on higher education

2012-02-29T06:46:00.000-05:00

Image via WikipediaRecognizing that Uncle Milty (aka Mitt Romney) will say anything to win votes and get his robo-butt into the desk chair of the Oval Office, here's what is available on his alleged views of higher education:

http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2012/02/29/republican-candidates-record-higher-education

http://mittromney.com/issues/human-capital

Robo-candidate stays in the race

2012-02-29T06:36:00.001-05:00

Image via WikipediaRomney wins in Arizona and Michigan:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/feb/29/mitt-romney-arizona-michigan-primaries?newsfeed=true

Some (admittedly quite liberal) colleagues and I were discussion Romney and Santorum yesterday. A few points made in the conversation:

1. Mitt (or Uncle Milty, as one colleague calls him) is, like W before him, a guy who was born on third base and believes he his a triple.

2. Does he believe in anything, other than being in the White House?

3. How can he be so insensitive to the values and feelings of ordinary Americans?

Here's a retrospective of "Bush {ilot," possibly the funniest satire produced during W's years in office:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBo9K05qCLg

Tell me it doesn't go double for Mitt.

Guest Article: 20 best novels about being a teacher

2012-02-29T06:27:00.000-05:00

http://www.onlinecolleges.net/2012/02/28/the-20-best-novels-about-being-a-teacher/

Image: Stoonn / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

A Victory for the Free Exchange of Knowledge

2012-02-28T07:43:00.004-05:00

http://chronicle.com/article/Legislation-to-Bar/130949/?sid=pm&utm_source=pm&utm_medium=en

The bill that died aborning:

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c112:H.R.3699:

And the boycott that helped to abort it:

http://chronicle.com/article/As-Journal-Boycott-Grows/130600/

http://thecostofknowledge.com/

Guest Article: 10 Greatest Cases of Fraud in University Research

2012-02-28T07:24:00.000-05:00

http://www.onlineuniversities.com/blog/2012/02/the-10-greatest-cases-of-fraud-in-university-research/

Image: renjith krishnan / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Guest Article: The Pros and Cons of Social Media in Education

2012-02-27T07:50:00.002-05:00

http://www.onlineuniversities.com/blog/2012/02/pros-and-cons-of-social-media-in-education/

Litigation against higher ed increases, due to promises we can't fulfill

2012-02-26T19:42:00.002-05:00

Image via Wikipedia

http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/2/prweb9164650.htm

http://abovethelaw.com/2012/02/twelve-more-law-schools-slapped-with-class-action-lawsuits-over-employment-data/

http://www.courthousenews.com/2012/02/03/43614.htm

At the close of the 21st century’s first decade, no one working in higher education blithely challenges potential plaintiffs with the old saw, “So sue me!”
One school that certainly isn’t doing so is the University of Pennsylvania. A couple of years ago, a news headline was, “Exec wins $435k in suit over nonexistent Wharton degree.” The winning plaintiff was a graduate of Penn’s Executive Master's in Technology Management (EMTM) program. His 2006 suit claimed the school misrepresented the offering, which was co-sponsored by the Wharton School, and taught by faculty in both the engineering school and Wharton. After investing a year in what he thought was a dual-degree program, Reynolds learned that Wharton would only award him a certificate and that he would not be deemed an alumnus of Penn’s prestigious business school.
Tenacious dental student
Even less likely to be inviting a lawsuit is the University of Michigan School of Dentistry, against whom expelled student, Alissa Zwick, won a $1.7 million verdict in December. Ms. Zwick began her dentistry studies back in 2002, and her troubles began a year later, when she performed poorly on exams and claimed to have trouble paying attention in class. A psychiatrist diagnosed attention deficit disorder. Zwick and her clinical faculty disagreed on reasonable accommodations. In May 2004, her continued shortfalls led to a dismissal by the school’s Academic Review Board. Zwick appealed and was reinstated.

Ms. Zwick continued to be plagued with poor grades. In June 2005, a number of faculty wrote uniformly negative letters concerning Zwick’s potential for success in the dental profession. Plaintiff was notified of another dismissal on June 20th, and argued her appeal before the Academic Review Board with counsel present on December 8, 2005. The board denied the appeal and again recommended dismissal. Plaintiff appealed that decision to the Executive Committee of the Dental School, and argued her appeal before the committee on January 11, 2006, losing again – and then dismissed from school.
Zwick was able to lay her grievances before a jury in a courtroom late last year. During the trial, her attorney, Deborah Gordon, elicited some damaging admissions from the school’s former dean (see adjacent box), which no doubt influenced the jury in rendering its banner verdict and $1.72 million award to Ms. Zwick.
Zwick trial testimony that did not help the University of Michigan’s defense
Q You would agree with me that based on Alissa's transcript, there is nothing to support your statement that she had deficits?
A I disagree.
Q Let's look and see what you said at your deposition. Page 89:
Q So is there anything on her transcript that you can see that would
legitimize your statement that the reason for the decision is past and continuing
clinical performance deficits?
A If this is the only information I have with which this deposition is based, I
would say she has a B in clinical.
Q So let me just sum this up then. Based on her transcript alone, just alone, you do not see any basis for your statement that she is being dismissed on past and
continuing clinical performance deficits.
Your answer: Just based on that, I can't extract anything other than that she did B
work.
A Okay. I will -- I agree.
Q Correct?
A Yes.
Q She's one of the few students in the D3 level that's ever been dismissed, correct?
A I can't recall who in the past has.
Q Very few, correct?
A Correct.

A sampler of relatively recent suits
• Radke v. University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign (U.S. District Court, Northern Illinois, 2009): A class action suit by applicants who claimed they were denied admission in favor of other applicants, who were on a university “clout list.” Result: Despite the political scandal this case was dismissed for lack of jurisdiction.
• Kashmiri v. Regents of the University of California (California Court of Appeals, 2007): Professional program students claimed the university was obliged to maintain their fees at the same level as the year they were admitted. Result: The court agreed with the students. Furthermore, the state’s financial crisis did not constitute an emergency that excused the school from adhering to the implied contract in its catalog.
• Blake v. Career Education Corporation (U.S. District Court, Eastern Missouri, 2009): Students claimed that the defendant’s Sanford Brown College violated the Missouri Merchandising Practices Act, when it claimed its associate and bachelor’s degrees in criminal justice were valuable. Plaintiffs claimed in fact they had very little practical, real-world value. Result: Case dismissed for failure to plead the facts of fraud with the specificity required by the state’s law.
• Diallo v. American InterContinental University (Georgia Court of Appeals, 2009): Students brought a fraud action, alleging the education they had received wasn’t worth its cost. Result: The courts denied class-action status to the students, but allowed individual students to go forward and try to prove their unique cases.

An article on Syria by a friend and colleague, Prof. Amos Guiora

2012-02-26T09:22:00.000-05:00

http://jurist.org/forum/2012/02/amos-guiora-syria-intervention.php

Amos N. Guiora

Professor of Law

University of Utah

S.J. Quinney College of Law

http://www.law.utah.edu/amos_guiora

I think he raises some fair questions that are hard to answer.

"Generation Gasp" has made The Urban Dictionary

2012-02-26T09:13:00.002-05:00

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=generation%20gasp

"You know, every time I talk to my dad, he says a few things that just bother the heck out of me, and I know it's just the generation gap rearing its proverbial head again. It happens so often now, but of course always in a friendly way between younger daughter and older father, that it's more like a generation gasp these days, than a generation gap!"
--- Claire Castagnera

Court Reporter Transcripts --- allegedly real --- from a friend in Vittorio Venetto, Italy

2012-02-26T09:10:00.000-05:00

lawyers (Photo credit: nishwater)

These are from a book called Disorder in the American Courts, and are things people actually said in court, word for word, taken down and now published by court reporters that had the torment of staying calm while these exchanges were actually taking place.

ATTORNEY: What was the first thing your husband said to you that morning?

WITNESS: He said , 'Where am I, Cathy?'

ATTORNEY: And why did that upset you?

WITNESS: My name is Susan!

____________________________________________

ATTORNEY: Are you sexually active?

WITNESS: No , I just lie there.

____________________________________________

ATTORNEY: This myasthenia gravis , does it affect your memory at all?

WITNESS: Yes.

ATTORNEY: And in what ways does it affect your memory?

WITNESS: I forget..

ATTORNEY: You forget? Can you give us an example of something you forgot?

___________________________________________

ATTORNEY: Now doctor , isn't it true that when a person dies in his sleep , he doesn't know about it until the next morning?

WITNESS: Did you actually pass the bar exam?

____________________________________

ATTORNEY: The youngest son , the 20-year-old , how old is he?

WITNESS: He's 20 , much like your IQ.

___________________________________________

ATTORNEY: Were you present when your picture was taken?

WITNESS: Are you shitting me?

_________________________________________

ATTORNEY: So the date of conception (of the baby) was August 8th?

WITNESS: Yes.

ATTORNEY: And what were you doing at that time?

WITNESS: What do you think!!

____________________________________________

ATTORNEY: She had three children , right?

WITNESS: Yes.

ATTORNEY: How many were boys?

WITNESS: None.

ATTORNEY: Were there any girls?

WITNESS: Your Honor, I think I need a different attorney. Can I get a new attorney?

____________________________________________

ATTORNEY: How was your first marriage terminated?

WITNESS: By death..

ATTORNEY: And by whose death was it terminated?

WITNESS: Take a guess.

____________________________________________

ATTORNEY: Can you describe the individual?

WITNESS: He was about medium height and had a beard

ATTORNEY: Was this a male or a female?

WITNESS: Unless the Circus was in town I'm going with male.

_____________________________________

ATTORNEY: Is your appearance here this morning pursuant to a deposition notice which I sent to your attorney?

WITNESS: No, this is how I dress when I go to work.

______________________________________

ATTORNEY: Doctor , how many of your autopsies have you performed on dead people?

WITNESS: All of them.. The live ones put up too much of a fight.

_________________________________________

ATTORNEY: ALL your responses MUST be oral , OK? What school did you go to?

WITNESS: Oral...

_________________________________________

ATTORNEY: Do you recall the time that you examined the body?

WITNESS: The autopsy started around 8:30 PM

ATTORNEY: And Mr. Denton was dead at the time?

WITNESS: If not , he was by the time I finished.

____________________________________________

ATTORNEY: Are you qualified to give a urine sample?

WITNESS: Are you qualified to ask that question?

______________________________________

And last:

ATTORNEY: Doctor, before you performed the autopsy, did you check for a pulse?

WITNESS: No.

ATTORNEY: Did you check for blood pressure?

WITNESS: No.

ATTORNEY: Did you check for breathing?

WITNESS: No..

ATTORNEY: So, then it is possible that the patient was alive when you began the autopsy?

WITNESS: No.

ATTORNEY: How can you be so sure, Doctor?

WITNESS: Because his brain was sitting on my desk in a jar.

ATTORNEY: I see, but could the patient have still been alive, nevertheless?

WITNESS: Yes, it is possible that he could have been alive and practicing law.

Laugh out loud-it's good for you!!!

The Generation Gasp: February 25, 2012

2012-02-25T09:13:00.000-05:00

Image via Wikipedia

http://www.tnonline.com/2012/feb/25/it-time-knowledge-workers-union

Is it time for a knowledge workers' union?

Saturday, February 25, 2012

By CLAIRE AND JIM CASTAGNERA tneditortnonline.com

JIM:
Like so many men in hard coal country, my dad was a United Mine Worker. Before him, my grandpappy was Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers. During the 1950s and 1960s, one American worker out of three belonged to a labor union. No matter what your feelings about organized labor, the AFL-CIO was why men and women on the assembly lines of Detroit and Cleveland and Pittsburgh made it into the middle class. Good pay, generous health and pension plans, and job security weren't gifts from the Fords and Carnegies and Rockefellers of America. They were the hard-won trophies of organizing and collective bargaining strikes.
When first Japan, then China, and now South and Southeast Asia entered the global contest for manufacturing jobs, not even the most powerful labor unions could keep the multinational companies from closing plants and exporting those jobs overseas. But don't worry, we told our younger generations. You'll all go to college. You'll have the "brain" jobs. Let the Asians and Mexicans and South Americans have the "brawn" jobs.
The trouble is that the Chinese now have more kids in college than we do. Indian IT professionals, often educated at U.S. universities, are moving back home. For half the salary they'd make in America they can live twice as well in South India's answer to Silicon Valley.
American lawyers and accountants are no safer than their high-tech counterparts. Some East Coast law and CPA firms ship files off to offices in India and elsewhere on the other side of the globe. When the American law and accounting partners turn off the lights and go home for the evening, young attorneys and accountants half a world away are waking up and checking their email accounts for the work they'll be doing. Their work products will be waiting in the U.S. firms' email bins, when those partners boot up the next morning back in Jersey or New York.
The sad fact is that a good education no longer guarantees a high-paying position in America. Often, the 21st century version of the 20th century assembly line is a room full of cubicles equipped with computers.
Unions have fallen out of fashion. Only 6.9 percent of the private-sector workforce is organized today. To some extent, unions got what they deserved. John Mitchell of my dad's UMW called a nationwide strike in the midst of WWII. Jimmy Hoffa drove his Teamsters down the road to perdition. The Longshoremen were riddled with Reds. In other words, the big unions are no more immune to greed and megalomania than are the big banks and corporations.
Just the same, if the challenges facing the younger generation resemble those that faced their grandfathers, then maybe the solution is also similar: an International Knowledge Workers Union.
CLAIRE:
Technology is an amazing blessing, and a complex curse. Today many jobs can be accomplished from anywhere in the world, as long as there's an Internet connection nearby, and more and more employees are working from home part- or full-time. It's often more convenient for the employer and the employee, and almost always cheaper.
On the other hand, working remotely has the effect of turning real people into abstract concepts. I'm sure I'm not the first person to have ever gotten a bit ill tempered while talking on the phone to an IT worker about the problems I'm having with my Dell laptop - because let's face it, it's a lot easier to yell at some guy in India, whom you've never met before, over the phone than it is to yell at someone in person. It's difficult to feel a human connection with a distant, disembodied voice, and so we often treat those voices like machines rather than people.
Add to that the proliferation of social media websites, such as Facebook and Twitter, where people routinely gain thousands of "friends" without ever having a single meaningful interaction, and I think it's clear why any international union would be difficult to organize. Forming a group of people who have never met, whose members are no more than email addresses to one another, does not strike me as the most efficient path to camaraderie. How can we have our Norma Rae moment if we can barely even picture the people with whom we're supposed to be uniting?
Finally, because technology has made many jobs so mobile, those jobs simply can't be compared to more traditional forms of labor. A teachers' strike can be crippling to a community, but if a company's information technology workers (who happen to be working from China) go on strike, the infrastructure can be moved to different workers (living anywhere from India to Indianapolis) in no time at all. When employers have such flexibility, what leverage do the workers have?

... and Mitt lacks wit.

2012-02-25T09:06:00.002-05:00

Image via Wikipedia

James --

Mitt Romney spoke in front of 65,000 empty seats at Ford Field in Detroit today to outline his economic plan. With all eyes on the Michigan primary next week, this is a critical time to spread the truth.

The differences between his plan and President Obama's go much farther than the fact that he would've "Let Detroit Go Bankrupt." We've laid out a few in this week's tipsheet.

Take a look, then pass these on right now while the story's still hot:

#1 KEEPING HIS WORD: THE AMERICAN AUTO INDUSTRY
As Romney speaks in Detroit, folks shouldn't forget that he and every other GOP candidate opposed the auto recovery, preferring to let the industry go bankrupt. From Day One, President Obama has stood with the American auto industry, saying, "We cannot, and must not, and we will not let our auto industry simply vanish." He's kept his word: More than 1.4 million American auto industry jobs have been saved, 200,000 created, and more than 150,000 are expected in the next few years. Make sure folks know who's on the right side of this one. Pass it on:

#2 GOP CANDIDATES ANNOUNCE TAX PLANS THAT WOULD EXPLODE DEFICIT
Not a day goes by without hearing Romney and Santorum push for cutting the corporate tax rate. But what you don't hear is how they'll pay for it. President Obama plans to make our businesses more competitive by cutting the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 28 percent -- and closing special-interest loopholes and subsidies to cover the difference. Romney and Santorum want to cut it, too, but they're sure not willing to close any special loopholes to do it. They actually offer no plan to make up the difference, meaning these corporate savings add straight to the deficit. Keep these self-proclaimed budget hawks honest:

#3 MITT FIGHTS TO KEEP THE CARRIED INTEREST TAX LOOPHOLE
Carried interest is tax jargon for letting Wall Street private equity and hedge fund managers pay a lower tax rate than most middle-class Americans -- and Mitt Romney is determined to protect it. Why? Maybe because he's earned $13 million from it the past two years, and paid a 15 percent rate when his normal income would be taxed at more than double. President Obama recently announced he'd close this loophole, saving $13 billion in the next 10 years. Folks need to know that when the President's working towards a system where everyone pays their fair share, Mitt Romney's working to protect millionaires and billionaires. Read more on carried interest, and tell others, too:

#4 ROMNEY HEADLINES KOCH BROTHERS EVENT
Tomorrow, Mitt Romney will be speaking at an event sponsored by the Koch brothers. These are the same guys who made their billions by jacking up prices at the pump -- and have already spent millions spreading lies about climate change science. It's good to remember that, while President Obama has outlined a strategy to ease gas prices, Mitt Romney quintupled a tax on gas as governor -- on top of the gas tax Massachusetts motorists were already paying. Get the truth here -- and spread the word:

#5 MITT ROMNEY: THE MOST EXTREME ON IMMIGRATION
In case you missed Wednesday's GOP debate, Mitt Romney reaffirmed his position as the most extreme GOP candidate on immigration. He praised Arizona's radical anti-immigration law, SB 1070, which forces all immigrants to carry "alien registration" documents and allows police to question them at any time, with or without cause. Add this to his support of encouraging "self-deportation" and promise to veto the DREAM Act, and you can see why he wins at being most extreme. Make sure folks know he actually called Arizona's immigration law a model for the nation. Spread the word now:

It takes a lot of time to sort out and fight back on this stuff, but I know that with you on our side, we can get the truth out there.

Thanks for your help,

Stephanie

P.S. -- After you've spread the word, kick back and enjoy this:http://my.barackobama.com/Sweet-Home-Chicago

Detroit Mercy seeks a Provost

2012-02-24T17:00:00.002-05:00

Dear Dr. Castagnera:

We are writing to request your help in identifying outstanding persons who should be considered for the position of Provost/Vice President for Academic Affairs at the University of Detroit Mercy (UDM).

This opportunity for academic leadership of the largest Catholic university in Michigan is outstanding. The new provost will join recently appointed President Antoine Garibaldi as “first among equals” in the President’s Cabinet. The Provost, in collaboration with the Academic Leadership Team and the faculty, will play a key role in advancing UDM’s distinguished history of educational accomplishment and service to the city of Detroit and the state of Michigan.

A complete search profile for this position, including application details, is available on the AGB Search website at www.AGBSearch.com or by accessing this link:

http://agbsearch.com/searches/provost-and-vice-president-academic-affairs-university-detroit-mercy

Additional information is available on the university website at www.udmercy.edu.

If you know of individuals who offer the potential for exceptional leadership for UDM, please let us know. All names and information will be received in complete confidence.

We would be pleased to hear from you if you are interested in exploring this opportunity. As noted in the search profile, this search is nearing the final stage. However, the search committee will continue to accept application materials until March 9. The new provost is expected to assume office on July 1, 2012.

Thank you for your thoughtful consideration of this position.

Sincerely,

Blenda J. Wilson, Ph.D.

Senior Consultant

AGB Search

bjw@AGBSearch.com

781-475-2414

Thomas B. Courtice, Ph.D.

Senior Consultant

AGB Search

tbc@AGBSearch.com

614-395-3229

Feeding at the trough

2012-02-24T07:33:00.000-05:00

http://chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/for-profit-colleges-get-majority-of-education-benefits-of-active-duty-service-members/40800?sid=pm&utm_source=pm&utm_medium=en

Image: Tom Curtis / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

http://harkin.senate.gov/documents/pdf/4f468d002ae0a.pdf

It's not the vets who are benefitting. Take a guess who is:

http://chronicle.com/article/Graphic-CEO-Compensation-at/66017/

Well, at least these CEO's are "Gainfully employed" thanks to Uncle Sam's largess!

It's about time somebody took a look!

2012-02-24T07:26:00.000-05:00

http://chronicle.com/article/US-Senate-Panel-Examines/130909/?sid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en

Image: Rawich / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

http://harkin.senate.gov/documents/pdf/4f468d002ae0a.pdf

Adjunct faculty: the tip of the spear

2012-02-24T07:21:00.001-05:00

In previous posts, I've highlighted a book I read recently called THE GLOBAL AUCTION in which the authors argue that knowledge workers are the new assembly line workers, and that being well-educated and being in the knowledge business do not insure a fulfilling career or a good return on investment. This fact is underlined by the plight of the growing numbers of adjunct faculty in American higher education, as the following story confirms:

http://chronicle.com/article/Accidental-Activist-Collects/130854/?sid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en

http://copy--paste.com/

http://adjunctproject.com/flash-tales-100-word-snippets-of-adjunct-life/

More evidence of why for-profit educational organizations are not the answer

2012-02-23T07:34:00.000-05:00

http://chronicle.com/article/Graduates-of-For-Profits-Lag/130900/?sid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en

Image: duron123 / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

http://capseecenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/ForProfit_Nimble-Critters_Feb-2012.pdf

I think I'm going to really hate the Supreme Court this year

2012-02-23T07:30:00.000-05:00

http://chronicle.com/article/College-Affirmative-Action/130903/?sid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/43/Supreme_Court_US_2010.jpg

If the "group of five" go the way I fear on Affordable Health Care and also on affirmative action. I expect to be one unhappy camper. After giving us 8 years of George W, plus the PAC distortion of our political process, they seem determined to rewrite other vast swaths of what seemed to be settled law.

Whoops... DOL requires AAUP to re-run its election

2012-02-23T07:23:00.000-05:00

http://chronicle.com/article/AAUP-Will-Reconduct-2011/130898/?sid=pm&utm_source=pm&utm_medium=en

Image: taoty / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Office of Labor-Management Standards (OLMS)
Voluntary Compliance Agreements 2012
On January 23, 2012, OLMS entered into a voluntary compliance agreement with the American Association of University Professors (AAUP), located in Washington, D.C., concerning its election of officers completed on April 15, 2011. The OLMS investigation concluded that there was a lack of secrecy because the third party balloting agent could determine how members voted, a person who was no longer a member was a candidate, the nomination notice for the Association of State Conferences (ASC) Chair position was inadequate when it was only emailed to members for whom the union had email addresses, some members were denied the right to vote in that they were not informed that the electronic ballot could not be sent to certain institutional email addresses or they were not sent an electronic ballot even though they provided a personal email address, and the union failed to provide adequate safeguards when employers and AAUP employees had access to some members’ voting credentials. The union agreed to conduct new nominations and a new election for the ASC Chair and new nominations, if needed, and a new election for three at-large council members and District 1 through 10 council members under OLMS supervision. The agreement follows an investigation by the OLMS Washington District Office.
On January 13, 2012, OLMS entered into a voluntary compliance agreement with International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) Local 1969 (located in Portage, Ind.), concerning the union’s non-uniform application and retroactive use of a candidate qualification. The union agreed to conduct new nominations, a new election for the offices of president, business agent, and auditor, and an installation of officers under OLMS supervision. The agreement follows an investigation by the OLMS Chicago District Office.
On January 9, 2012, OLMS entered into a voluntary compliance agreement with Our Virgin Islands Labor Union (located in Christiansted, St Croix), concerning the union’s failure to hold its regularly scheduled election of officers and representative council. The union agreed to conduct nominations, an election, and installation of officers and representative council under OLMS supervision. The agreement follows an investigation by the OLMS Atlanta District Office.

Here's Where I'm Headed!

2012-02-23T07:18:00.000-05:00

http://www.businessinsurance.org/10-successful-businesses-that-were-started-in-retirement/

Image: Ambro / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Guest Article: The Digital Classroom

2012-02-23T07:12:00.000-05:00

http://www.onlineuniversities.com/digital-classroom

Image: David Castillo Dominici / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Somebody's notion of the 10 best lines from films featuring lawyers

2012-02-22T07:49:00.000-05:00

http://blawmovies.tumblr.com/post/17558900264/from-the-paper-chase-to-a-few-good-men-from

Image: digitalart / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Uni Global Bulletin 2012, No. 1

2012-02-22T07:45:00.002-05:00

Dear Dr. James Ottavio,

UNI Post & Logistics Global Union

Global Bulletin N°1, 2011-2012

Here are the articles from our latest Bulletin:

Six hundred workers dismissed during postal strike in Kenya
An interview with Serrana Bassini, UPU Director General candidate
Never give up! Canadian postal workers remarkable victory
Brazil's expansion of postal service requires more workers
Vietnam Country Project in developing social dialogue
Royal Mail & Post Office Ltd. Ink Agreement Ahead of Separation
Commissioner Barnier initiates the postal users forum
Save America's Postal Service: Postal unions are taking action
CWU Ireland seeking to have union representative on UPS works council
Postkom to fight extremism

http://www.uniglobalunion.org/Apps/uni.nsf/pages/sec_postEn?OpenDocument&exURL=http://www.uniglobalunion.org/Apps/UniNews.nsf/vwLkpById/0E55277432C6755EC12579AC00352784?OpenDocument

Supremes to hear arguments in case of liar who claimed he'd won the Medal of Honor

2012-02-22T07:39:00.002-05:00

http://jonathanturley.org/2012/02/19/lying-about-receiving-a-medal-of-honor-its-shameful-but-it-shouldnt-be-a-crime/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Medalsofhonor2.jpg

Or was this blabbermouth merely exercising his First Amendment rights?

Decision in the U.S. Court of Appeals:

United States Court of Appeals,Ninth Circuit.

UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee,
v.
Xavier ALVAREZ, aka Javier RGK-1 Alvarez, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 08-50345.Argued and Submitted Nov. 4, 2009.
Filed Aug. 17, 2010.

Background: Defendant was convicted in the United States District Court for the Central District of California, R. Gary Klausner, J., of falsely verbally claiming to have received the Congressional Medal of Honor, in violation of the Stolen Valor Act, and he appealed.

Holding: The Court of Appeals, Milan D. Smith, Jr., Circuit Judge, held that Act was facially invalid under the First Amendment, and was unconstitutionally applied to make a criminal out of a man who was proven to be nothing more than a liar.

Reversed and remanded.

Bybee, Circuit Judge, filed dissenting opinion.

West Headnotes

[1] KeyCite Citing References for this Headnote

92 Constitutional Law
   92XVIII Freedom of Speech, Expression, and Press
     92XVIII(H) Law Enforcement; Criminal Conduct
       92k1807 k. Particular offenses in general. Most Cited Cases

169 False Personation KeyCite Citing References for this Headnote
   169k1 k. Nature of offense in general. Most Cited Cases

Stolen Valor Act, which proscribed false verbal or written representations about one's being awarded Congressionally authorized military honors and decorations, was facially invalid under the First Amendment, and was unconstitutionally applied to make a criminal out of a man who was proven to be nothing more than a liar; Act was not sufficiently analogous to an antidefamation law or anti-fraud law to bring it within the scope of the historical First Amendment exceptions for laws punishing defamation or fraud, and Act was not narrowly tailored to achieve a compelling governmental interest in honoring and motivating the troops. U.S.C.A. Const.Amend. 1; 18 U.S.C.A. § 704(b, c).

[2] KeyCite Citing References for this Headnote

92 Constitutional Law
   92VI Enforcement of Constitutional Provisions
     92VI(C) Determination of Constitutional Questions
       92VI(C)3 Presumptions and Construction as to Constitutionality
         92k1006 Particular Issues and Applications
           92k1018 k. Freedom of speech, expression, and press. Most Cited Cases

92 Constitutional Law KeyCite Citing References for this Headnote
   92XVIII Freedom of Speech, Expression, and Press
     92XVIII(A) In General
       92XVIII(A)1 In General
         92k1490 k. In general. Most Cited Cases

All speech is presumably protected against government interference by First Amendment, and government is left to demonstrate, either through a well-crafted statute or case-specific application, the historical basis for or a compelling need to remove some speech from protection; although such an approach may result in protection for a number of lies, which are often nothing more than the distasteful abuse of the First Amendment privilege, it is constitutionally required because the general freedom from government interference with speech, and the general freedom to engage in public and private conversations without the government injecting itself into the discussion as the arbiter of truth, contribute to the “breathing space” the First Amendment needs to survive. U.S.C.A. Const.Amend. 1.

[3] KeyCite Citing References for this Headnote

92 Constitutional Law
   92XVIII Freedom of Speech, Expression, and Press
     92XVIII(H) Law Enforcement; Criminal Conduct
       92k1800 k. In general. Most Cited Cases

First Amendment prohibits criminally punishing negligent speech about matters of public concern. U.S.C.A. Const.Amend. 1.

[4] KeyCite Citing References for this Headnote

237 Libel and Slander
   237IV Actions
     237IV(A) Right of Action and Defenses
       237k73 k. Persons entitled to sue. Most Cited Cases

Right against defamation belongs to natural persons, not to governmental institutions or symbols.

[5] KeyCite Citing References for this Headnote

92 Constitutional Law
   92XVIII Freedom of Speech, Expression, and Press
     92XVIII(H) Law Enforcement; Criminal Conduct
       92k1800 k. In general. Most Cited Cases

For First Amendment purposes, false factual speech as a general category is not, and cannot be, proscribed under threat of criminal prosecution. U.S.C.A. Const.Amend. 1.

West Codenotes

Held Unconstitutional

18 U.S.C.A. § 704

Today is the 228th anniversary of America's first trading voyage to China

2012-02-22T07:29:00.000-05:00

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empress_of_China_%281783%29

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:StateLibQld_1_149231_Empress_of_China_%28ship%29.jpg

And just look what's happened since then:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/afontevecchia/2011/10/18/china-could-face-trade-deficit-that-threatens-social-stability-and-70-of-jobs

http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2012/02/22/apple-and-proview-battle-in-a-shanghai-courtroom/?section=money_topstories&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fmoney_topstories+%28Top+Stories%29/

http://www.globalmarket.com/exhibition/2012/2012-East-China-Fair-942.html

Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the admissions pool

2012-02-22T07:19:00.000-05:00

Image: duron123 / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

The Supremes revisit what we thought was settled about affirmative action in college admissions by the Grutter decision.

http://chronicle.com/article/Supreme-Court-Takes-Up/130885/?sid=pm&utm_source=pm&utm_medium=en

http://chronicle.com/article/Federal-Appeals-Court-Hands/127957/

http://chronicle.com/article/Appeals-Court-Upholds/125993/

http://chronicle.com/article/Federal-Court-Throws-Out-Ch/48023/

St. Louis University announces two faculty positions in emergency management

2012-02-22T07:13:00.001-05:00

Dear Academic/Preparedness Partners,

Please see the attached recruitment announcement for 2 faculty positions for our BS in Emergency Management and MPH in Emergency Management and Crisis Leadership Programs here at Saint Louis University. We would appreciate your help in circulating this information to others you believe may be interested in applying for these positions. Let me know if you have questions or ideas for further circulation of this information. We appreciate your help.

Best regards,

Kate

http://www.slu.edu/x47890.xml

School-related 501(c)(3)s --- Barely Legal?

2012-02-21T10:27:00.000-05:00

Image: Stuart Miles / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

To the Point Question of the Week

February 21-28, 2012

Our school system has several 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations that raise money for extracurricular activities. We all maintain our own checkbooks, file our own taxes and do everything that we have been told we need to do. Now the administration is trying to get all of the clubs to turn their monies over to the school so the treasurer at the board of education has control over the money, and the athletic director has to approve everything that is purchased. The treasurer, who is new to the school system, says that our system is "barely legal" in allowing these 501(c)(3) groups to operate on behalf of school clubs without running the finances through the school. With the school funding system as it is, and the lack of trust in the administration, we have great concern about changing the procedure that we think is best for our clubs. Can you tell me if we are "barely legal" and/or to whom we could turn to for legal advice? —From the Website.

There is certainly no federal tax reason why your various 501(c)(3) organizations can’t raise money for school activities, and it sounds as though you are doing what is necessary to comply with applicable requirements. I would be very suspicious about any effort to take control over the money that you raise for the school, especially when the basis is that the current situation is “barely legal.” Barely legal, of course, translates into legal, a little bit like barely pregnant translates into pregnant.

There is no way that I can tell whether there might be some real legal impediment to the present system under the local school law applicable to your district. You should consult with a lawyer who is familiar with the applicable school law on that question. But the announced rationale for the change isn’t very convincing, and if there isn’t more, actually confirms that what you are doing is okay.

More related content from the Nonprofit Issues website.

From our free content:

Does school group need exempt status?

Is it illegal for one nonprofit organization (school) to give to another nonprofit organization (another school) for a fundraiser?

Subscribers have access to this story:

Nonprofit Law YOU Want to Know - Special Edition

Your questions about volunteer organizations, sports leagues, booster clubs, etc.

Here are some of the questions previously answered in To the Point.

quesAre there standards for solicitation materials used by organizations with a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status? I'm concerned about a particular organization that insists the U.S. government is covering up the existence of UFOs, and part of the material they use to solicit donations has been repeatedly challenged and disproved. Can they get away with this? Answer

ques Our 501(c)(3) organization owns an historic property. We purchase many items online with a credit card and would like to obtain a card that does not require a personal guarantee. How do we go about getting one? We have an excellent credit rating. Answer

ques Our organization raised about $5000 10 years ago for a building that was never built. We still have the money and would like to put it in the general fund. We do not know who all of the contributors were and the ones we do know about are no longer around. Can we transfer the funds? Answer

Notice: The replies to "To the Point" questions are intended as a general discussion of legal issues and not as legal advice or a legal opinion. They do not create an attorney-client relationship between recipient and Nonprofit Issues or Don Kramer. Seek independent counsel to act upon any issues discussed in this communication.

Have a question for Don Kramer? Don is a Philadelphia lawyer with more than 35 years of experience representing nonprofit organizations. He answers a question each Tuesday in this form of direct e-mail notice and within each of our full editions.

You can search our site to find answers to many of your questions.

You can submit your written question by clicking here.

Talk with the Editor, March 1, 2012

Or better yet, you can ask your nonprofit question directly during one of our Talk with the Editor telephone calls. Our next call is March 1 at 1:00 ET. Join the call. You won’t get legal advice but you will get Don’s reactions based on more than 35 years of experience with nonprofits. Subscribers are eligible for a discounted rate. Can't join this call? See our schedule of upcoming calls.

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Somebody should tell this judge about the birds and the bees

2012-02-21T07:53:00.000-05:00

He doesn't think breast feeding relates to pregnancy.

Image: duron123 / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Equal Employment

Opportunity Commission,

Plaintiff,

versus

Houston Funding 11, Ltd., et a[.,

Defendants.

Civil Action Har 1,2442

Amended Opinion on Summary Judgment

I. Introduction.

The commission sued an employer, saying it fired a worker because she wanted to pump

breastFmilk while at work. The employer says that sex discrimination does not include that

aspect of motherhood. The employer will prevail.

2. Background.

In 2006, Donnicia Venters started working for Houston Funding. On December I,

2008, she took a leave of absence to have a baby. Ten days later, she gave birth to a girl.

Although the company knew that she would give birth shortly, she did not talk with anyone

about how long she would be gone or when she expected to return. The company had no policy

on maternity leave. A few days after the birth, she talked to the vice-president, Harry Cagle, and

he asked her when she would return. She said that she did not know and that the date depended

on her doctor's advice. On December 20, 2008, an employee in the human-resources

department sent an e-mail to Robert Fleming, a floor manager, asking him if Venters quit. He

had been in contact with her and said that she had not quit and was on maternity leave.

By January of 2009, her caesarean incision was infected, complicating her recovery. On

January 9, Fleming left the company. Venters continued to call team leaders and to pay her

insurance premium at the company. Between January 7 and February 6 she talked on her

cellular telephone with workers there for Ir 5 minutes, but did not talk to Cagle. During those

conversations she did not mention a date for her return, but she expressed a hope that she

would be back soon.

On February 10, several employees, including Cagle, met; they decided to fire Venters

No written record of the meeting is available. The effective date of her firing was February 13.

On February 16, she was told by the doctor's office that she could return to work. That

day, she did not reach Cagle by telephone, but left a message that she had the doctor's approval.

The next day, she called Cagle to tell him that she was ready to return to work and wondered

if she could use a back room to pump milk. Cagle told her that they had filled her spot because

they had not heard from her and assumed that she abandoned the job. When she mentioned

that she had been paying her premium, he responded that the insurance was her own business

and was not through the company. When she asked for her firing date, he told her that he

would call her back with that information.

On February 26, Venters received the letter firing her for job abandonment, dated

February 16, and sent on February 20.

3. Discrimination.

The commission says that the company fired her because she wanted to pump breast,

milk.' Discrimination because ofpregnancy, childbirth, or a related medical condition is illegal.

Related conditions may include cramping, dizziness, and nausea while pregnant.'

Even if the company's claim that she was fired for abandonment is meant to hide the

real reason - she wanted to pump breast.milk - lactation is not pregnancy, childbirth, or a

related medical condition. She gave birth on December I I, 2008. After that day, she was no

longer pregnant, and her pregnancy-related conditions had ended.

Firing someone because of lactation or breast-pumping is not sex discrimination.:

42 U.S.C. § zoooe-z(a) (I) (2006); 42 U.S.C. § zoooe(k) (2006).

Cerrato v. Durbam, 941 F. Supp. 388, 393 (S.D.N.Y. 1996)

Puente v. Ridge, No. M-04-267, 200 j U.S. Dist. LEXIS 46624, at *II-12 (S.D. T~x. July

6, roo5); Martinez v. NBC Inc., 49 F. Supp. rd 305, 311 (S.D.N.Y. 1999); lacobson 2,. fIesent

Assisted Living, Inc., No. CV-98-564-ST, 1999 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7680, at *2g-30 (D. Or. Apr. 9,

1999); Wallace v. Pyro Mining Co., 789 F. Supp. 867, 869 (W.D. Ky. 1990).

Overseas "Gold Rush" Leaves Some Prospectors Red Faced

2012-02-21T07:38:00.000-05:00

http://chronicle.com/article/Investigations-Raise-Questions/130861/?sid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en

Image: Salvatore Vuono / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Albania perhaps not the best market?

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/13/world/europe/13iht-educlede13.html?_r=1

A sham foreign-students program in North Dakota of all places?

http://bismarcktribune.com/news/state-and-regional/violations-found-in-dickinson-state-university-s-foreign-student-program/article_2a062be0-5455-11e1-8f8c-0019bb2963f4.html
http://ndus.edu/uploads/reports/94/dsu-internal-review-ddj-final-draft1-020912.pdf

And what the heck are these community college cowboys doing in Qatar?
http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/Faulty-planning-may-be-to-blame-for-HCC-Qatar-3039161.php

Castagnera on Higher Ed, HR, and Risk Management

Off to China... and off the air

T.C. Boyle's papers go to UT Austin

News Release — March 7, 2012

Author T.C. Boyle's PapersAcquired by Harry Ransom Center

The Prez wants our bucks

"The wino and I know..."

Quote of the day: from a friend in enrollment management

Guest Article: 15 copyright rules very student should know

The worm in the Apple

Settlement reached between university and 2 blind students re: access to e-learning

Where is Osama? (A reprise of the "Hitler" controversy?)

Is America still Bonanza-land?

Are more guns the answer? Here's what I said four years ago:

This organization believes the answer is more guns

Idiot WInds... Blowin' through the caverns of the courts

Prof. Ely Karmon on Iran's Nuclear Threat

Guest Article: 10 college majors said to earn equal pay for women

Guest Article: 10 Cool Gaming Tools in MBA Education

Obama Truth Team Launches Facebook Page

Have you had enough of this windbag?

The Generation Gasp (March 3): Through the Looking Glass

No weather report for Cuccinelli

Registration is now open for NAFSA's annual conference

Homeland Security announces new higher ed advisory council

Secretary Napolitano Announces Academic Advisory Council

Despite the class action suits against law schools, I stand by what I said about the value of an education in the law way back in 1996

http://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?collection=journals&handle=hein.journals/thurlr22&div=7&id=&page=Why America Needs All the Lawyers It can Get

This writer asks, Can we overproduce a degree?

A NAFSA Webinar on surviving a federal immigration review at your school

Call for Papers: Association for the Study of the Middle East and Africa

Honestly... I'm sick of writing about this topic

September 22, 2007

When Will All These Classroom Killings Stop?

Panel says R1s need to change their ways

Uncle Milty on higher education

Robo-candidate stays in the race

Guest Article: 20 best novels about being a teacher

A Victory for the Free Exchange of Knowledge

Guest Article: 10 Greatest Cases of Fraud in University Research

Guest Article: The Pros and Cons of Social Media in Education

Litigation against higher ed increases, due to promises we can't fulfill

An article on Syria by a friend and colleague, Prof. Amos Guiora

"Generation Gasp" has made The Urban Dictionary

Court Reporter Transcripts --- allegedly real --- from a friend in Vittorio Venetto, Italy

The Generation Gasp: February 25, 2012

Is it time for a knowledge workers' union?

... and Mitt lacks wit.

Detroit Mercy seeks a Provost

Feeding at the trough

It's about time somebody took a look!

Adjunct faculty: the tip of the spear

More evidence of why for-profit educational organizations are not the answer

I think I'm going to really hate the Supreme Court this year

Whoops... DOL requires AAUP to re-run its election

Here's Where I'm Headed!

Guest Article: The Digital Classroom

Somebody's notion of the 10 best lines from films featuring lawyers

Uni Global Bulletin 2012, No. 1

Supremes to hear arguments in case of liar who claimed he'd won the Medal of Honor

UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee,v.Xavier ALVAREZ, aka Javier RGK-1 Alvarez, Defendant-Appellant.

West Headnotes

West Codenotes

Held Unconstitutional

Today is the 228th anniversary of America's first trading voyage to China

Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the admissions pool

St. Louis University announces two faculty positions in emergency management

School-related 501(c)(3)s --- Barely Legal?

Somebody should tell this judge about the birds and the bees

Overseas "Gold Rush" Leaves Some Prospectors Red Faced

Author T.C. Boyle's Papers
Acquired by Harry Ransom Center

UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee,
v.
Xavier ALVAREZ, aka Javier RGK-1 Alvarez, Defendant-Appellant.