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Welcome to The EDU Ledger! We’ve moved from Diverse: Issues In Higher Education.

Section: Opinion

Of a Black President, White Children, and Maintaining the Status Quo

Last week proved quite revealing. It began with the conservative hysteria surrounding President Obama’s education speech to the children of America, and it culminated with the extreme right wing 9/12 Tea Party March on Washington this weekend, billed as a gathering of “freedom loving patriots.” And just when you thought things couldn’t get any more outrageous, […]

September 13, 2009

Enrolling vs. Serving Latino Students

The Obama administration has articulated a goal to return to the top of the international rankings for degree completion by 2020. Due to Latinos’ youth and projected growth, the U.S. cannot reach its goals for international rankings without a tactical plan that includes Latino students. To reach this goal, higher education will have to do […]

September 13, 2009

What Educators Can Learn from President Obama’s Back to School Speech

We now know that President Obama’s recent speech to America’s youngest citizens was not, as some feared, a 4-page/18-minute ideological conversion into “socialism.” In the words of comedian Steve Harvey, “Now that we done got that out the way,” we can turn to a bit more productive and realistic dialogue including what educators at all […]

September 7, 2009

Come on People! What’s the Big Deal about a President Welcoming Students Back to School?

By Dr. Marybeth Gasman Ronald Reagan did it, George H.W. Bush did it, why can’t Barack Obama? Why can’t public school children listen to our president welcome them back to school? I’ll admit that I was not the biggest fan of our last president, but I would not have a problem with him speaking to […]

September 6, 2009

It’s HBCU Week in Washington DC: Let’s See What the Future Holds

Every year, I attend the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities Conference, which is held in Washington D.C. in September. It’s a unique event in that it brings together the leaders of both public and private HBCUs with members of the federal government, funders, and those representing the private and nonprofit sector. […]

August 31, 2009

The Growing Intolerance Must Be Confronted

Think about the following: • Former Alaska governor and Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin has made the claim that President Obama’s health care plan would establish “death panels” to oversee end of life care for the elderly and terminally ill. • A Swastika was found spray-painted on a sign fronting the office of U.S. Rep. David Scott, D-Georgia, (who […]

August 19, 2009

Get and Give All You Can: Advice for New Graduate Students

It’s that time of year — new graduate students are setting foot on campuses across the nation hoping to gain knowledge and have new experiences that will help them progress in their careers. As a professor and adviser, I get really excited about new graduate students. They are usually wide-eyed, excited, and eager to get […]

August 10, 2009

Navigating the Racial Highway in America

If you want to have a good debate or scare people away, then start talking about race. The ‘race’ word is a powerful one in America’s lexicon and seems to bring out passionate feelings in us. It is a catalyst for both change and status quo. It is my thinking that the word race has brought […]

August 8, 2009

White Privilege: What if Henry Louis Gates had been White?

By now, most enlightened people have heard about the incident involving Harvard University Professor Henry Louis Gates and the Cambridge, Mass., police. As a recap, the Cambridge police arrested the eminent scholar in front of his home. Just having returned from filming a PBS special in China, Gates, along with his Black taxi driver, were […]

July 23, 2009

Michael Jackson: A Transformative Human Being

Okay. I will confess that I was a huge Michael Jackson fan! From the time I was a teenager, I rabidly purchased all of his albums. To me, he was one of the greatest entertainers to live. To this very day, I still harbor that assessment. In fact, on the very evening of his passing […]

July 19, 2009

Racism, It’s Viral

“To entertain her daughter, Michelle Obama loves to make monkey sounds.” That’s the photo caption of Michelle Obama speaking to her daughter Malia posted on Free Republic. Disclaimer on Free Republic: “Free Republic does not advocate or condone racism, violence, rebellion, secession, or an overthrow of the government. ” For those of you who have argued vociferously […]

July 12, 2009

Paul Quinn College: To Save or Not to Save

Recently, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) voted to revoke Paul Quinn College’s accreditation, noting financial and academic problems. In the same breath, however, SACS acknowledged the excellent work being done by Paul Quinn’s president Michael Sorrell in recent years. Sorrell plans to appeal the SACS’s decision. The loss of accreditation at Paul […]

June 30, 2009

The Flawed Logic of Anti-affirmative Action Bake Sales

The Affirmative Action Bake Sale is used by conservative groups on college campuses to further polarize college campuses along racial lines using affirmative action as a hammer. Writing for Fox News, Wendy McElroy said, “Through Affirmative Action Bake Sales, conservative groups on campuses across America are satirically and peacefully spotlighting the injustice of AA programs that […]

June 24, 2009

Racial and Religious Extremism Rears Its Ugly Head

Last month, I wrote a column discussing the racial hostility, paranoia and potential violence that was increasing in America. A month earlier in April, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) released a report that attempted to inform Americans about a potential upsurge in right wing extremist violence. While there are some who may continue to […]

June 23, 2009

HBCUs a “Land of the Lost”? I Don’t Think So

Today, I came across a blog post written by a colleague who has worked in the HBCU community for many years. He titled the post “Land of the Lost” — after the Sid and Marty Krofft TV show and more recently, the movie. At first glance, I thought the post was a review of the movie […]

June 22, 2009

Black Males Need the “Old School Approach”

The behavior of some Black males has always been called into question. Adjectives like intimidating, aggressive and rude have been labels that have been affixed to us for as long as I can remember. It seems at times in today’s one-strike-and-you’re-out society that these aforementioned adjectives trump our education and our socio-economic status. It is […]

June 15, 2009

Trading an Education for Thug Life

In the past several weeks, we have witnessed “two Black men in a Cadillac” being accused of kidnapping a White woman. The truth was that the woman had voluntarily gone to Disney World and could not tell her husband. He would find it hard to believe that she would go to Disney. It was easier, […]

June 14, 2009

Understanding the “Tools of Whiteness” (Notes from AERA, Part 2)

A common figure in teacher education is that roughly 90 percent of public school teachers in the United States identify as White. As the percentage of ethnic minority students continues to rise, teacher training and professional development often include diversity training or a focus on multicultural education. Alternative routes into teaching such as Teach for America, […]

June 13, 2009