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Section: Opinion

Self-Hatred on Steroids: Sammy Sosa’s Extreme Makeover

Not since Michael Jackson’s de-pigmentation have we witnessed the likes of Sammy Sosa’s shocking skin lightening. Have you seen him? Since the pictures surfaced last weekend, there has been much speculation about the former slugger’s strange metamorphosis. People wondered: Is he ill? Has he lost his mind? Is he trying to be white? […]

November 11, 2009

Graduate School A Viable Option For HBCU Students

In June, I became the first member of my family to receive a Ph.D. To clarify, I have aunts and uncles with Ph.D’s, but I was the first to be educated entirely in the United States. In the decade or so since I received my undergraduate degree, I have done some things I’m proud […]

November 10, 2009

Getting Ready for the Praxis Exam

If your education students are a bit nervous or fidgety this week in class, here’s why: On Saturday, thousands of college students and pre-professionals across the United States will arise early in the morning — earlier than most college classes start — and trek to a nearby site to take the first battery of […]

November 10, 2009

Success Starts With A Support System

My niece is in the first grade and this weekend I helped her finish her homework. She had to complete a one-page report on capuchin monkeys and create a habitat in a shoebox depicting the monkeys in their natural environment. We spent time on the Web looking at videos and investigating what the monkeys ate […]

November 9, 2009

Racial Mis-Profiling Affects Black Men More Acutely

In my previous column, I took the position that Black men tend to bear the brunt of many of society’s frustrations and are often targeted in a negative manner. Well, in response to my column, I received a few e-mails and phone calls from people from various backgrounds. My supporters said they were glad someone […]

November 9, 2009

From the Ideal to the Real: A Daughter of the South Reflects on Obama’s First Year

“What a difference a year makes.” And when it comes to President Barack Obama, never has this truism been more, well, true. This time last year, I was euphoric —to the point of numbness. When I received official word that Barack Hussein Obama was elected 44th president of the United States, I was beside myself. […]

November 5, 2009

The Role of the Parent-Educator in Strengthening Urban Public Schools

The national debate on urban public education in the United States consistently involves strategies for improving K-12 academic achievement and contributes to our country’s educational performance globally. While strategies to improve academic achievement continue to evolve on the national front, in urban contexts one of the most valuable mechanisms to facilitate this achievement exists within […]

November 5, 2009

All Style, No Substance

The Rev. Bernice King has been elected president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Her election has been the biggest news to break out of the traditional civil rights organizations since the NAACP had a funeral for the N-word. The reality is organizations such as the SCLC, the NAACP and others have marginalized themselves by […]

November 4, 2009

Clare’s Couch: Keeping it real mentoring

I was invited to attend a mentoring session for junior faculty. Typically I don’t have time or I find some reason NOT to attend. You know, one more meeting. Although I consider myself a “team player” (depending on the game), I am just not “feeling” those little get-togethers anymore. Now don’t get me wrong, I […]

November 4, 2009

Learning When to Flip the Code Switch

When I was a teenager, I struggled to fit in with my peers because I always felt like an outsider in a society defined by a Black-White paradigm. I was uncomfortable in my own skin until I was 20 or 21, when I realized that being an Indian-American who could mix easily with diverse communities […]

November 3, 2009

Mismatched or Undermatched?

A few years ago, opponents of affirmative action claimed admitting students of color into institutions that were too challenging for them was setting these students up for failure. This “mismatch” theory explained why students of color were more likely to drop out without completing a degree. However, a new study has raised a more intriguing […]

November 2, 2009

Diary of a Mad Black Professor: A Critical Race Therapy Moment

I have been told the first step in getting over a problem is admitting that one has a problem. I made it to the first step because I can admit I am angry. No, heck no, I take that back; I am mad. I know people don’t get mad, only animals get mad. Even my […]

November 1, 2009

HBCUs, Student Protest and Lincoln University’s Library

“Every man of humane convictions must decide on the protest that best suits his convictions, but we must all protest.” —Martin Luther King Jr. A week ago, I attended the History of Education Society annual meeting in Philadelphia. On the program were four or five different papers about HBCUs and their historic traditions of […]

November 1, 2009

A People on the Precipice?

The recent news of the savage gang rape of a fifteen year-old girl in Richmond, California broke my heart. Again. I have thought of little else since hearing the gruesome details of the child’s ordeal, as others stood by-watching, cheering, filming, or partaking – for over two and ½ hours. For the second time in […]

October 28, 2009

A People on the Precipice?

The recent news of the savage gang rape of a 15-year-old girl in Richmond, Calif., broke my heart. Again. I have thought of little else since hearing the gruesome details of the child’s ordeal, as others stood by-watching, cheering, filming, or partaking – for over two and ½ hours. For the second time in recent […]

October 28, 2009

Professor, Academic Adviser, Personal Counselor

One of the biggest challenges I’ve faced since coming to Lincoln has been the added task of advising students. Many large universities have full-time advisers available within departments while others have advisers who stick with a student for the duration of their college careers. Not so at Lincoln, where the professor is also adviser. When […]

October 27, 2009

Perfectionism: Just Stop It!

The best piece of advice received in my academic career thus far was given to me by Dr. Wayne Urban, an historian and professor at the University of Alabama. During my first year as a faculty member, I walked into his office and asked, “Wayne, how do you write so much excellent scholarship, how […]

October 26, 2009

Cultivating Cultural Curiosity

I took Monday off to celebrate Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights. This was the first time in my teaching career that there wasn’t a campus community that observed Diwali, which has different meanings for followers of Hinduism, Jainism, Sikhism and Buddhism. Diwali is celebrated according to the lunar calendar. It dates to centuries B.C. […]

October 22, 2009