Future of UI, Black?

Is the future of the University of Illinois black? Perhaps there will be a Black in its future, as state representative Bill Black has requested to be named as a Board of Trustee member since the fallout of the Admissions scandal.

We believe that Bill Black has been a well-established voice of the community in downstate ILL and believe as a result he will be an excellent voice on the board. Given too, his proximity to his constituency (and hence, the university) we would support him.

Black has previously said that "When I think they [the University administration] are wrong, I'm going to say so."

We hope so.

And yet, we have trepidations, since we feel Black will not send those responsible with their tails between their legs. His "no preconceived notions" of the culpability of White, Herman, etc. and his necessitating of examination in "and orderly fashion and with due process" worries us. The latter, no. The former yes.

It surpasses the bounds of belief that Black can have no preconceived notions of White nor Herman's unethical behavior. If the results of the Mikva report are not sufficient in its own right, then what? Perhaps White's admission of pushing for family member entrance via his official position (an obvious violation of UI ethics policy)? Or perhaps Herman's grudging acquiescence that Hurd's "facetious" nonsensical ramblings were indeed genuine ("Sometimes a plow is a plow," as Mikva himself observed)?

Black is up to the task of leading the university no question, but that cannot be seriously undertaken until the obstacles that prevent that are removed. Right now that is White, Herman, Hurd, Ghosh, DeBrock, Hardy, Kaler, et al. Unless the darkness that engulfs the Unversity now is disinfected with transparency and new light, there is no sense in adding more Black.

Posted by Hound No. 6

Yellow-tail Yale

One can imagine that we were just as shocked as Erin Conner over at Critical Mass when we saw the AAUP's response to Yale's blithering and dastardly refusal to include the the Jylland-Postens cartoons which critiqued the use of Mohammad for jihadist and islamic terrorist purposes in the soon to be published book "Cartoons that Shocked the World," by Jyette Klausen.

As American universities become more and more like the Netherlands (or more appropriately, the Nether regions based it's dedication to free speech) or Tehran. the AAUP's demonstrated that it can certainly surprise us all, who have been beaten to death by its usual self-centered blather machine.

Cary Nelson holds no punches and kicks away immediately:

"'We do not negotiate with
terrorists. We just accede to their anticipated demands.' That is
effectively position at Yale University Press..."

An the AAUP, which in the past has committed its own form of ideological terrorism ends with:

"We deplore this decision, and its
potential results."

The potential results, which based upon the previous points that the reader finds in the paragraph including academic freedom, seems a pithy statement since the results have already been actualized and are no longer potential. Nevertheless, the AAUP can consider itself TASSer-free.


At least for today.


Posted by Alpha Hound