Tweet
GENOCIDE DENIERS SUE UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA, STUDENTS SUFFER FROM UNIVERSITIES' PART-TIME FACULTY
By Jeff Dugas
Campus Progress
http://campusprogress.org/articles/genocide_deniers_sue_university_of_minnesota_stude nts_suffer_from_universit/
Dec 1 2010
The University of Minnesota was sued in federal court this week over
allegations that a website for its Holocaust studies center violated
First Amendment and due process rights in the way it portrayed a
Turkish-American organization. The Turkish Coalition of America was
named by the website as an "unreliable" source of information on the
treatment of Armenians during World War I. Though a consensus exists
among most genocide scholars that the treatment of Armenians by the
Turkish government during this period constitutes genocide, a number
of groups disagree, including the Turkish Coalition of America. The
University of Minnesota insists that the material naming the group
was removed as a part of a "routine review" and not as a result of
the allegations. [Inside Higher Ed]
College students may be learning from instructors who "lack the
time and training to use effective teaching practices" according
to a new study out of Michigan State University. The researchers
focused on the differences between full-time and part-time faculty,
and their findings show that part-time adjunct instructors are more
likely to use teaching methods that are both less time-consuming and
less effective. The researchers noted that they were not blaming the
instructors themselves for the shortfalls, but rather the conditions
under which they are forced to work. The researchers argue that
colleges and universities should focus on converting multiple part-time
positions into a few full-time positions, which is a change they say
would benefit both the instructors and the students.
[Chronicle of Higher Education]
Education reformer Geoffrey Canada and former U.S. Secretary of
Education Margaret Spellings met with prominent business leaders
in Denver on Tuesday with a very simple message: "If the business
community doesn't get involved in [education reform], you are just
going to watch this country decline." At the Denver Metro Chamber
of Commerce luncheon, Canada and Spellings urged business leaders to
encourage innovation and reform in education while citing the United
States' low worldwide rankings in math and science as well as the high
dropout rates that have become the norm in much of the country. The
dropout rates, he said, are a matter of national security - the
Pentagon estimates that 75 percent of Americans ages 17 to 24 are
ineligible to enlist in the military due to failure to graduate high
school, criminal records, or physical fitness issues. [Denver Post]
The Louisiana state school board is coming under criticism for its
approval of life-science textbooks that do not provide information
questioning the theory of evolution. Defenders of the textbook say
that the criticism is simply a veiled attempt to promote a religiously
infused creationist perspective on the origins of life. Those who have
criticized the textbook feel that the approval is a manifestation
of the "anti-Christian movement" in the country. The controversy is
one in a long history of such evolution debates that have occurred
in Louisiana since the 1980s. [Education Week]
Jeff Dugas is the online communications intern at Campus Progress. He
is currently completing his undergraduate education at George
Washington University.
From: A. Papazian
By Jeff Dugas
Campus Progress
http://campusprogress.org/articles/genocide_deniers_sue_university_of_minnesota_stude nts_suffer_from_universit/
Dec 1 2010
The University of Minnesota was sued in federal court this week over
allegations that a website for its Holocaust studies center violated
First Amendment and due process rights in the way it portrayed a
Turkish-American organization. The Turkish Coalition of America was
named by the website as an "unreliable" source of information on the
treatment of Armenians during World War I. Though a consensus exists
among most genocide scholars that the treatment of Armenians by the
Turkish government during this period constitutes genocide, a number
of groups disagree, including the Turkish Coalition of America. The
University of Minnesota insists that the material naming the group
was removed as a part of a "routine review" and not as a result of
the allegations. [Inside Higher Ed]
College students may be learning from instructors who "lack the
time and training to use effective teaching practices" according
to a new study out of Michigan State University. The researchers
focused on the differences between full-time and part-time faculty,
and their findings show that part-time adjunct instructors are more
likely to use teaching methods that are both less time-consuming and
less effective. The researchers noted that they were not blaming the
instructors themselves for the shortfalls, but rather the conditions
under which they are forced to work. The researchers argue that
colleges and universities should focus on converting multiple part-time
positions into a few full-time positions, which is a change they say
would benefit both the instructors and the students.
[Chronicle of Higher Education]
Education reformer Geoffrey Canada and former U.S. Secretary of
Education Margaret Spellings met with prominent business leaders
in Denver on Tuesday with a very simple message: "If the business
community doesn't get involved in [education reform], you are just
going to watch this country decline." At the Denver Metro Chamber
of Commerce luncheon, Canada and Spellings urged business leaders to
encourage innovation and reform in education while citing the United
States' low worldwide rankings in math and science as well as the high
dropout rates that have become the norm in much of the country. The
dropout rates, he said, are a matter of national security - the
Pentagon estimates that 75 percent of Americans ages 17 to 24 are
ineligible to enlist in the military due to failure to graduate high
school, criminal records, or physical fitness issues. [Denver Post]
The Louisiana state school board is coming under criticism for its
approval of life-science textbooks that do not provide information
questioning the theory of evolution. Defenders of the textbook say
that the criticism is simply a veiled attempt to promote a religiously
infused creationist perspective on the origins of life. Those who have
criticized the textbook feel that the approval is a manifestation
of the "anti-Christian movement" in the country. The controversy is
one in a long history of such evolution debates that have occurred
in Louisiana since the 1980s. [Education Week]
Jeff Dugas is the online communications intern at Campus Progress. He
is currently completing his undergraduate education at George
Washington University.
From: A. Papazian