The NCAA needs to adopt the Rooney Rule which has worked very well in the NFL!

As an African American, I must say that I can’t tell what such stats tell us__ perentages are not people, and as such cannot be employed.

@11210666….”Why can’t we get pass all this diversity stuff?” Do you actually believe universities and corporations can be left to diversify their ranks on their own? Do you even believe universities or corporations should be diverse? Are you quite content with everyone in your workplace looking like you and coming from your background? I’m not. Even with diversity policies in place, there is still a lack of diversity in many universities and corporations. Absent a diversity policy, there would be even fewer. I marvel at the fact that many of us live and work in purely homogeneous settings and think nothing of it, black and white. Liberals like working only with liberals. Conservatives like only working conservatives. Southerners with southerners. Northerners with Northerners. Mid-Westerners with mid-westerners. Academics with academics. Lawyers with lawyers. Doctors with Doctors. Catholics with Catholics. Protestants with Protestants. Muslims with Muslims. Jews with Jews. Publics with publics. Ivies with ivies. Blacks with blacks. Whites with whites. Confederates with confederates. Yankees with yankees. Homosocial reproduction at its finest. Most of us are content with living out our lives around people that in some way remind us of ourselves. We pray to Gods in our image. We vote for candidates in our likeness (or who we can see our life story in, likability). There is something wrong with this picture. More importantly, I do not think diversity policy should just be about race. Class is more important. Geographic and viewpoint diversity is huge as well. America is made up of people from many different backgrounds and all should have an equitable shot at opportunity. Wealthy blacks fare better than poor whites. This is why I think affirmative action, as practiced, is seriously flawed. I also think the Ivies should not have a monopoly on opportunity in this country, which adds yet another diversity dimension. The criticism that our President smacks of elitism sticks because it seems that the majority of his appointees are Harvard, Yale, and Columbia grads (more so than even previous presidents). There are many great universities across this great land of ours and their graduates deserve opportunities as well. Diversity policy is so controversial because it affects access to opportunity. Imagine America as a long hallway with doors of opportunity on each side. At every door, there is a tall stately looking gatekeeper who will only let through those individuals that meet the mark. Now imagine “the mark” being an arbitrary measure that only the gatekeepers know. Whereas we don’t know the gatekeepers precise methodology for awarding entry, we do know the outcome of their selections. It seems a rudimentary analysis of their outcomes revealed that mostly short bald men from the island of Tupilkulca were ultimately selected. Now imagine a study of the gatekeepers revealed they were actually not tall and stately, but in fact were bald midgets from the island of Tupilkulca who wore toupees on their head and stilts under their pants to mask their baldness and shortness. We would think the process was rigged or the gatekeepers had been bought. We would find this outcome absurd and unacceptable, but this is exactly what is happening. Short bald men from the island of Tupilculca are running the world and the rest of us taller full-haired people on the mainland are left feeding off their scraps. The star-bellied Sneetches are winning. It may seem I am all over the map here, but what I am attempting to communicate is that we need a more expansive and comprehensive definition of diversity to allow a greater number of deserving Americans access to a better life. Baldness, height, and starred bellies are not good benchmarks. To accomplish this we will need to start with people who have the least opportunities in their field despite having the requisite credentials and experience. Minorities would be wise to understand that sometimes, that may not be them, especially if they have starred bellies.

And if they aren’t doing “a great job”? How about replacing every failing male coach or AD with a woman? How about replacing every failing white coach or AD with a minority person? How about not replacing fired coaches with coaches fired elsewhere who happen to be in the good ol’ boys network?

(Facetious about the first two. At least semi-serious about the last.)

Fantastic story. Captures the essence of determination and the nobler purposes of education and its power to redefine lives and help people discover themselves. Governor Walker needs to read this.

If he flunks the tests, does he pass the course? Is he rewarded for his earnest writing? It sounds like he is willing to bare his soul. I hope that is rewarded in the course assignments.

Ms. Osborn, Not only are you helping Pablo learn, but you are opening the doors to success for his daughters, too. I retired last year and miss the joy of assisting students towards achieving their dreams. Your respect and appreciation for your students is inspirational. Keep up the good work.

Thanks for sharing Pablo’s story. I love working with these students. You know you are making a difference.

Would someone explain to me what Gov. Walker did that would in any way change this lovely story? I heard a faculty member from Wisconsin say that the Governor destroyed higher education in Wisconsin and the bill hasn’t even taken effect yet. Please, can’t we once just enjoy the story of a teacher working with a student to improve him without some body putting a political spin on things. Enough.

My understanding is that he has particularly targeted teacher’s unions, and I think the commenter above made their comment in regards to what is beng seen as a disrespect for the hard and valuable work of teaching at every level.

I tutor students in a writing venter at a city college in California, and when the budget cuts cane through, our hourly pay took a 10% hit and the hours the center was open on Fridays was limited and it was totally shuttered on Saturdays. Every day that I tutor, I meet students whose struggles and achievements inspire me, especially those who have come as immigrants and turned to the public education system to help them adapt and grow in this new country. Just this year, I have met a student whose mother was in the process of being deported because she had illegally moved to the US from Mexico over twenty years ago , as well as an adult student from an area of Mexico so poor they went days without eating. When the public education system is weakened and teachers are weakened, the students most in need of support suffer.

http://www.stitchingincircles.blogspot.com

A family forever destroyed by a suicide of a college transfer student who came with above 3.7 GPA and despite being dyslexic, he was extremely determined, shy, but not depressed, and certainly bright. Yet, the state university’s psychology dpt. assistant prof.insisted the student was “cheating” on his home assignment that his only family member (mother) sent to this psychologist due to their financial circumstances, shared computer, etc….and the student as well as his mother were lied to by the acting faculty, he was not given an option to take less than 16-18 credits because he was receiving assistance. Mother (ill and disabled) could not share a single computer, hence the reason why she sent son’s work to the psychologist. This educator immediatelly called the student and drilled him insisting that he admits he was cheating and/or his mother wrote his work! He did not, and from what I learned later,the educator threw his papers that substantiated his effort on her office floor storming out. The student did not attend her class late in the evening and drive home obviously upset, mother eventually hospitalized him fearing suicide. He committed suicide soon after the dicharge at 21 years, as this empathetic university threatened to dismiss him. They did, but I hope he did not learn about it.
The only person who ever heped this student was his mother, and regardless of the insistence that the student attends a center for dyslexics, after he had made several attempts,the only “advisor” was another student who barely knew more about the subject (I read eventually her advising scribbled on his paper). Perhaps advising in other subjects might have been better, but in psychology it was extremely poor and utterly useless.
IThis university’s behavior, mails sent among the faculty behind the student’s back, etc. clearly point to a great culpability and the few individuals at the departmentsignificantly contributed to so determined and bright student. When I met this young man, he was playing sports, involved in his studies would have to inquire further. The ostracism was of such a degree that he chose in his final semester to commute 200 miles 3x/week and while there, spending time at the library instead of socializing. Yet, the transfer aparently happened because the advertised attention to disabled students. He was definitely not depressed when joining , all he was – dyslexic, and the university was provided with the proper paperwork. I recall theis student as shy, yet full of empathy and joy to attend a university claiming to help. Yet, he was treated with a genuine dislike; the first sentence from his “advisor”: apparently was:”You don’t belong here.” without knowing anything about him.
I would like to know if anything similar was observed by anyone in psychology/psychiatry clinical practice, and/or that affiliated with a college? What would such clinician do even few years later? Thank you, I’d appreciate any thoughts about such disturbing “education” and a “treatment” of the student who was certainly honest and knowledgeable. I wished I knew of at least two others he spoke about. He was not a drug-abuser, but was prescribed low dose for ADD that he did not take for years and if I recall, he would prefer sports instead of taking any medications. Still, no one pointed to anyone any need for antidepressant, and my opinion is that he was not depressed until when hospitalized. Any experience about similar situations would be welcome, as I want to write to the Department of Education re: this case.
I am a boarded psychiatrist with twenty-five years experience. What, if anything, can I accomplish?
I have known his mother well, and her son since he ad been 3 years old. Hence my evaluaton.