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"Some college administrators seem so distracted with fund raising, academic infighting, and community initiatives that they set up their emergency communications departments very poorly. Training is poor to nonexistent, secretaries are pressed into service with tremendous responsibilities for running 'notification systems' 24/7 and on weekends because no one else knows how to do it and the administration won’t pay for additional staff. Procedures are seat-of-the-pants and dependent on HIPPO (highest paid person’s opinion), except when something like Virginia Tech happens and there is some sort of scramble to do something different." --Donna
Most Colleges Avoid Risk Management, Report Says
Jill Biden Shines a Global Spotlight on American Community Colleges
Speaking at a Unesco conference in Paris, the vice president’s wife stressed the importance of two-year institutions to the nation’s educational goals.
Connecticut Public Colleges Lose 200 Professors to Early Retirement
Administrators are scrambling to plug holes in their course schedules for fall, with most expecting to do so by hiring more adjuncts or increasing class sizes.
U. of Georgia Paid 2 Fraternities $2.4-Million to Relocate, Contracts Show
The two were among five with houses on property where the university plans to build new academic facilities.
New Allegations in Admissions Controversy at U. of Illinois Suggest Ex-Provost Played a Role
Linda P.B. Katehi, the incoming chancellor of the University of California at Davis, has insisted she knew nothing of the admission of politically connected applicants at Illinois.
Sonoma State U. Foundation May Lose $350,000 on Loan to Former Board Member
The foundation will be forced to issue fewer scholarships in the 2010-11 academic year because of a diminished endowment, a university official said.
College Suspends Student for Working in Gay Pornography | 58
President Obama's Visit to Notre Dame Carries Barely a Hint of Controversy That Preceded It | 58
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October 13, 2006
Mascot Flap Leads Illinois Professors to Urge Sports Recruits to Stay Away
Don’t come to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. That is the message 14 Illinois faculty members are sending to some of the university’s athletics recruits because of a controversy over Chief Illiniwek, the Illinois mascot that some people feel is hostile to American Indians.
Led by Stephen J. Kaufman, an emeritus professor of cell and developmental biology and a longtime critic of the university’s use of an American Indian mascot, the faculty members wrote letters to prospects advising them to “think twice about whether the university is a good environment for you to further your education and athletic career” because of the chief, according to today’s Chicago Tribune.
“After 16 years of debating the issue the Board of Trustees still refuses to take the necessary action, and no end appears in sight,” the letter says. “Do you want to play at a school that refuses to commit to equality for all races and that places more value on an outdated and divisive mascot than on a winning athletic program?”
More than 1,300 students have signed a petition asking the professors to send letters of retraction to the recruits and to resign from their university posts.
The university is facing the loss of NCAA tournament appearances if it does not drop the controversial mascot. A rumored deal in August that would have transferred ownership of the mascot to Illinois alumni appears to have gone nowhere. And a lawsuit was dismissed last month by a state court (The Chronicle, September 20).
Posted on Friday October 13, 2006 | Permalink |Comments
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I think this is phenomenal, kudos to Kaufman! I am an Illini alum and was horrified by their mascot while I was there, and even more horrified at the insistence of members of the alumni association of keeping it, despite the overwhelming desire from the students and others to remove it. I remember being thrilled when hearing the news that UIUC was definitely going to eliminate the racist mascot, and then shocked to find out it never happened.
— former Illini Oct 14, 07:38 PM #
My reaction is totally different from Former Illini. I believe that the NCAA has gone amok with its political correcness enforcement policies. Go Illini! And if liberals don’t like it, they can stay home.
— William Oct 14, 11:54 PM #
I lament the loss of the terms “human kindness”, “respect for others” to the term “political correctness.” It is a term of dismissiveness often used by those who whine about not being able to remain unpleasant, boorish, racist, sexist or just plain mean. They claim to not understand how they or what they support is wrong in a humane context just because there are a bunch of them who like the erroneous status quo. To them I say, “Poor baby. Suck it up. Get over it. This is the 21st century already. The Illinois mascot was the sappy invention of some wrong-headed boy scout for white people hiding from their nation’s guilt. If you don’t like confronting the truth go back to where you came from. Heck, even an old racist and segregationist like Strom Thermond accepted the inevitibility of enlightened change – at least on the surface. Enough of the retro manufactured nostalgia for a way of thinking and living that was wrong from its begining. Shine a light on your 19th century “might makes it right” and “mine, mine, mine” mentality. Then clean it out of your system. You may not even miss it.
— Mvto Oct 16, 07:00 PM #
I’m Irish/German American…what about the “Fighting Irish”...
Frankly, I think the Chief is not to be ridiculed. He is worthy of respect. I think he is a symbol of all that history, spiritual, or real, of what Native Americans embodied, before we white folk pillaged and plundered. I fail to see what is so repugnant about a beautifully clad fellow, agily dancing across a football field. I suppose the drum beats will be the next to go.
I’m a liberal, democrat and find this argument against the chief insane…and deeply flawed.
If I were native American, I’d want the chief to symboloize my past instead of the casinos symbolizing my present.
— jo Oct 26, 01:19 PM #