The Happy Catastrophe

A fire broke out backstage in a theater on opening night of a new comedy production. A clown realized the danger and pushed through the curtains to alert the audience. 

They applauded.

The clown repeated his warning more urgently. By now he was center stage, flailing his arms, his eyes wide with panic. 

The crowd went wild. Whistles. Cheers. Raucous laughter. Never had they seen such a routine!

Is this how the world ends? The human race stands in thunderous ovation, calling for an encore, convinced it’s just another happy joke.

what he hides

Man is not what he thinks he is, he is what he hides.  -André Malraux

A Look back at the Biggest Events of the 2010s

2010

The deadliest natural disaster of the decade happens in the first month of 2010: A 7.0 earthquake hits Haiti. 

Scientists at the Large Hadron Collider successfully trap anti-matter for the first time.

Another team of scientists became the first to successfully create "synthetic life.”

Apple debuts the iPad.

Instagram and Pinterest launch. 

2011

The death of Osama bin Laden.

The space shuttle fleet is retired.

The world’s first synthetic organ transplant.

Occupy Wall Street.

The Arab Spring rises.

The number of social media users around the world reaches 1 billion.

Google+ and Snapchat launch.

2012

Hurricane Sandy hits the US East Coast.

A mass shooting at a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado is followed months later by the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.

The first license is issued in the United States for a self-driven car.

2013

The Black lives matter hashtag is first used.

A terror attack takes place at the Boston Marathon.

The Mayan calendar reaches the end of its cycle—leading to a bit of hysteria.

Personalized DNA sequencing is available for under $100.

The Oxford English Dictionary selects “selfie” as the word of the year.

2014

Google Glass is launched.

The deadliest outbreak of Ebola starts in West Africa.

The US begins restoring diplomatic relations with Cuba.

The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge begins.

2015

The first Apple watch is officially released. 

The Supreme Court strikes down state bans on same-sex marriage. 

195 countries agree to the Paris Climate Agreement.

The number of PCs used around the world reaches 2 billion (it took 30 years to reach one billion but only 8 years to reach two billion).

The number of social media users (worldwide) also reaches 2 billion.

3D printing enters the consumer market.

The New Horizons probe arrives at Pluto while Voyager I enters the heliopause (the outer edge of our solar system).

2016

The US gets its first female presidential nominee of a major political party.

Britons vote in favor of Brexit—the UK withdrawal from the European Union.

The Chicago Cubs ends the longest drought in baseball by winning the World Series (the last time the Cubs won a World Series was in 1908, 108 years earlier).

2017

TicToc is released.

Hundreds of thousands of people descended on Washington, DC for the Women's March. Though an activist first coined the phrase #MeToo back in 2006, what’s typically known as the #MeToo movement exploded in late 2017 when a New York Times article revealed accusations against an influential Hollywood producer.

2018 

A school shooting takes place at a high school in Parkland, Florida. 

California becoming the sixth state to legalize the sale of recreational marijuana. 

In the wake of Hurricane Maria, much of Puerto Rico is left without electricity—for almost an entire year.

2019

Simone Biles raises her medal count to 25 world medals and 19 gold—the most of any gymnast, male or female, in history. 

Donald Trump becomes the 4th US president to face possible impeachment.

The world’s top supercomputers achieve exaflop speed—that’s a million trillion calculations per second (a thousandfold improvement over machines at the beginning of the decade).

Wanting a Person

There may be those who have first felt mere sexual appetite for a woman and then gone on at a later stage to “fall in love with her”.  But I doubt if this is at all common. Very often what comes first (with true love) is simply a delighted pre-occupation with her in totality. A man in this state really hasn’t leisure to think of sex. He is too busy thinking of a person. The fact that she is a woman is far less important than the fact that she is herself.

 CS Lewis, The Four Loves

creative disrupters

Surround yourself with like-minded creative disrupters.

Disenchantment

The lesson of disenchantment begins with the discovery that if you want to change – really to change, and not just to switch positions – you must realize that some significant part of your old reality was in your head, not out there. The flawless parent, the noble leader, the perfect wife, and the utterly trustworthy friend are an inner cast of characters looking for actors to play the parts. One person is on the lookout for someone older and wiser, and another is seeking an admiring follower. And when they find each other they fit like the interlocking pieces of a puzzle.

Or almost. Actually, the misfit is greater than either person knows, or even wants to know. The thing that keeps this misperception in place is an “enchantment,” a spell cast by the past on the present. Most of the time, these enchantments work fairly well, but at life’s turning points they break down. Almost inevitably, we feel cheated at such times, as though someone were trying to trick us. But usually the earlier enchanted view was as “real” as we could manage a the time. It corresponded to a self-image and a situation and it could not change without affecting ourselves and others.

William Bridges, Transitions

Articles of Interest about Higher Ed - Dec 13

***HIGHER ED

The number of Americans training to become teachers has dropped by a third since 2010, and it's creating a critical educator shortage that will affect every state https://www.businessinsider.com/one-third-fewer-people-are-training-to-become-teachers

Following discoveries of racist vandalism at Salisbury University, the administration is creating a brand-new position https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2019/12/09/can-salisbury-prevent-racist-incidents-chief-diversity-officer

Author discusses his new book on problems with legal education. https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2019/12/12/author-discusses-book-problems-law-schools-face

Distance learning enrollment inches upward, report finds https://www.educationdive.com/news/distance-learning-enrollment-inches-upward-report-finds/568912/

Wider Definition of Judaism Is Likely to Aid Crackdown on Colleges https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/11/us/politics/trump-anti-semitism-judaism-nationality.html

***HIGHER ED & FINANCE

U of Phoenix to pay $50M Over False Claims in Ads https://www.usnews.com/news/business/articles/2019-12-10/u-of-phoenix-agrees-to-50m-settlement-over-false-ad-claims

Betsy DeVos Overruled Education Dept. Findings On Defrauded Student Borrowers https://www.npr.org/2019/12/11/786367598/betsy-devos-overruled-education-dept-findings-on-defrauded-student-borrowers

Moody's upgrades higher ed's outlook to stable https://www.educationdive.com/news/moodys-upgrades-higher-eds-outlook-to-stable/568923/

I taught at a 'for-profit' college. They're predatory disasters

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/dec/09/i-taught-at-a-for-profit-college-theyre-predatory-disasters

***HIGHER ED IN COURT

Kennesaw State cheerleader settles for $145,000 over school’s attempt to stop her national anthem protest https://www.thefire.org/kennesaw-state-cheerleader-settles-for-145000-over-national-anthem-protest/

Rhode Island lawsuit: Students sue for the right to learn civics https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Education/2019/1212/Rhode-Island-lawsuit-Students-sue-for-the-right-to-learn-civics

Ruling Narrows Title IX Obligations https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2019/12/13/federal-court-decision-favors-limited-application-title-ix

***TEACHING

Study attempts to debunk criticisms of student evaluations of teaching as reliable measures of teaching effectiveness, but critics remain https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2019/12/09/study-attempts-debunk-criticisms-student-evaluations-teaching

***ACADEMIC LIFE

Harvard Students Protest, Pen Open Letter In Response to Professor’s Tenure Denial https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2019/12/3/garcia-pena-tenure-denial-protest/

Conflicts cost University of California as professors fail to share outside income https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2019-12-06/conflicts-cost-university-of-california-as-professors-fail-to-share-outside-income

UMass removes accounting lecturer Catherine Lowry for showing ‘offensive’ student-produced videos https://www.masslive.com/business/2019/12/umass-removes-accounting-lecturer-catherine-lowry-for-showing-offensive-student-produced-videos.html

***CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS

Professors Sue 2 Local Private Universities Over Inadequate Wages https://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/professors-sue-2-private-san-diego-universities-for-not-paying-adequate-wages/2229331/

Canisius College receives $1.8 million grant from John Templeton Foundation https://www.wnypapers.com/news/article/current/2019/12/09/139417/canisius-college-receives-1.8-million-grant-from-john-templeton-foundation

Pat Robertson’s Regent University receives re-accreditation https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/pat-robertsons-regent-university-receives-re-accreditation/2019/12/11/07498b04-1c4f-11ea-977a-15a6710ed6da_story.html

President of a Bible college in Louisiana arrested, accused of sexually touching student on airplane https://www.nola.com/news/crime_police/article_85efd9e6-155f-11ea-bfe2-ffd459c2b184.html

Professor Forced out at Baptist Seminary for Sharing Biblical Views on Sexuality and Sex Abuse (opinion) https://capstonereport.com/2019/12/03/professor-forced-out-at-baptist-seminary-for-sharing-biblical-views-on-sexuality-and-sex-abuse/33411/

***CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS & DENOMINATIONS

SMU Sued as it Moves to Cut Ties with United Methodist Church https://www.christianheadlines.com/blog/smu-sued-as-it-moves-to-cut-ties-with-united-methodist-church.html

Monks at St. Anselm sue, worried about college's Catholic identity https://www.unionleader.com/news/courts/monks-at-st-anselm-sue-worried-about-college-s-catholic/article_3e54b642-07b4-5a0f-9353-ba663a10c548.html

***LIBERTY UNIVERSITY

Accreditor asks for info after Falwell reports https://www.register-herald.com/accreditor-asks-for-info-after-falwell-reports/article_9cb8434c-8dc4-5555-9043-b1244bf6bbdf.html

Jerry Falwell Jr.'s false gospel of memes (opinion) https://theweek.com/articles/881726/jerry-falwell-jrs-false-gospel-memes

The mystery of Rudy Giuliani's spokeswoman: a Liberty University online alum https://www.yahoo.com/news/mystery-rudy-giulianis-spokeswoman-100049936.html

***RESEARCH

When Journals are driven by profit, not evidence https://hospitalnews.com/when-journals-are-driven-by-profit-not-evidence/

***STUDENT LIFE

The Crisis in Youth Suicide https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/02/well/mind/the-crisis-in-youth-suicide.html

6 Million Students Used Tobacco And Nicotine Products In 2019 https://www.npr.org/2019/12/06/785445093/6-million-students-used-tobacco-and-nicotine-products-in-2019

‘Adulting’ is hard. UC Berkeley has a class for that https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2019-12-10/adulting-is-hard-uc-berkeley-has-a-class-for-that

How Professors Help Rip Off Students https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/11/opinion/textbook-prices-college.html

U.S. Students Show No Improvement in Math, Reading, Science on International Exam https://www.usnews.com/news/education-news/articles/2019-12-03/us-students-show-no-improvement-in-math-reading-science-on-international-exam

Baby boomers are more sensitive than millennials, according to the largest-ever study on narcissism https://www.insider.com/baby-boomers-are-more-sensitive-than-millennials-large-study-finds-2019-12

Speak

Speak when you are angry and you will make the best speech you will ever regret. -Ambrose Bierce

Falling in Love

Because love is not simply a feeling of romantic excitement; it goes beyond intense sexual attraction; it exceeds the thrill at having "captured" a highly desirable social prize. These are emotions that are unleashed at first sight, but they do not constitute love. I wish the whole world knew that fact. These temporary feelings differ from love in that they place the spotlight on the one experiencing them. 'What is happening to Me? This is the most fantastic thing I've ever been through! I think I am in love!'

You see, these emotions are selfish in the sense that they are motivated by our own gratification. They have little to do with the new lover. Such a person has not fallen in love with another person; he has fallen in love with love! And there is an enormous difference between the two.

Real love, in contrast to popular notions, is an expression of the deepest appreciation for another human being; it is an intense awareness of his or her needs and longings for the past, present and future. It is unselfish and giving and caring. And believe me these are not attitudes one 'falls' into at first sight, as though he were tumbling into a ditch.

James Dobson, Emotions, Can You Trust Them?

Articles of Interest about Literature, Journalism, Writing & Languages – Dec 11

***JOURNALISM

Race to fill local newsrooms https://www.axios.com/race-to-fill-local-newsrooms-28d95883-1378-4301-9263-ff4f3590c395.html

How a San Diego newspaper reporter helped expose Rep. Duncan Hunter's corruption https://www.cnn.com/2019/12/03/media/duncan-hunter-san-diego-reliable-sources/index.html

Justices debate allowing state law to be “hidden behind a pay wall” https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2019/12/justices-debate-allowing-state-law-to-be-hidden-behind-a-pay-wall

Scripted KUSI Interview with Duncan Hunter Debated by Journalism, PR Pros https://timesofsandiego.com/business/2019/12/04/scripted-kusi-interview-with-duncan-hunter-debated-by-journalism-pr-pros/

Journalist group condemns governor's method of demanding retraction from Indianapolis Star https://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/journalist-group-condemns-governor-s-method-of-demanding-retraction-from/article_30241622-4805-5421-acc1-f812371e21c5.html

How phones are reshaping how we interact with the news https://www.cnn.com/videos/business/2019/12/08/how-phones-are-reshaping-how-we-interact-with-the-news.cnn/video/playlists/video-day-top-5/

Georgia man identified as runner who slapped TV reporter on backside: He’s a youth pastor at a Methodist Church https://nypost.com/2019/12/10/runner-who-slapped-reporters-butt-on-live-tv-identified-as-youth-minister/

China, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Egypt are world's worst jailers of journalists https://cpj.org/reports/2019/12/journalists-jailed-china-turkey-saudi-arabia-egypt.php

Atlanta newspaper sues Clint Eastwood over film's portrayal of reporter https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/dec/10/atlanta-newspaper-ajc-sues-clint-eastwood-olivia-wilde-reporter-richard-jewell-film

Greta Thunberg is TIME's Person of the Year https://time.com/person-of-the-year-2019-greta-thunberg/

News podcasts go mainstream https://www.axios.com/news-podcasts-pulitzer-prize-audio-journalism-65b0e234-2606-47bd-8c7e-0adffb0f7f1a.html

***THE BUSINESS OF JOURNALISM

Google's next local news investment is in Oakland https://www.axios.com/google-berkeleyside-oakland-local-news-media-f72053ef-88f9-49ce-b21f-48aa99e95768.html

Traffic tools help publishers go viral https://www.axios.com/big-tech-publishers-data-viral-stories-google-2945cde6-3de0-488d-b7e4-f4159870b066.html

***STUDENT MEDIA

CU Student Newspaper Gets Cut https://www.denverpost.com/2019/12/09/cu-independent-university-colorado-student-mediaommunication-and-information/

Central Washington University Board of Trustees student representative proposed defunding student media https://cwuobserver.com/14158/news/board-of-trustees-student-representative-proposed-defunding-student-media/

At least 30 people said they never spoke to ex-Daily Texan reporter accused of making up quotes https://www.kxan.com/news/local/austin/at-least-30-people-said-they-never-spoke-to-ex-daily-texan-reporter-accused-of-making-up-quotes/

***FAKES

China makes it a criminal offense to publish deepfakes or fake news without disclosure https://www.theverge.com/2019/11/29/20988363/china-deepfakes-ban-internet-rules-fake-news-disclosure-virtual-reality

Politicians Are Getting in Trouble Over Fake Qualifications https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-11-21/politicians-are-getting-into-trouble-over-fake-qualifications

Singapore’s fake news law should be a warning to American lawmakers https://www.theverge.com/interface/2019/12/3/20991422/singapore-fake-news-law-censorship-politics-usa

I Worked for Alex Jones https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/05/magazine/alex-jones-infowars.html

Samoa arrests anti-vaxxer amid measles epidemic https://www.dw.com/en/samoa-arrests-anti-vaxxer-amid-measles-epidemic/a-51553140

Why Are Cops Around the World Using This Outlandish Mind-Reading Tool? https://www.propublica.org/article/why-are-cops-around-the-world-using-this-outlandish-mindreading-tool

Overlooked No More: Rose Mackenberg, Houdini’s Secret ‘Ghost-Buster’ https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/06/obituaries/rose-mackenberg-overlooked.html

Everyone Involved In The Viral GoFundMe Scam Involving A Homeless Man Giving A Woman His Last $20 Has Now Pleaded Guilty https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/salvadorhernandez/man-pleads-guilty-viral-gofundme-scam-homeless

***SOCIAL MEDIA

TikTok accused in California lawsuit of sending user data to China https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-tiktok-lawsuit/tiktok-accused-in-california-lawsuit-of-sending-user-data-to-china-idUSKBN1Y708Q

The newest strategy for marketing to young people is stealing their jokes. https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2019/12/why-brands-steal-viral-jokes-and-memes/603169/

***GRAMMAR

Apostrophe campaign ends due to 'ignorance and laziness' https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-lincolnshire-50602665

Merriam-Webster declares ‘they’ its 2019 word of the year https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/books/story/2019-12-09/merriam-webster-2019-word-of-year-they

***LANGUAGE

Argentine teenagers rewrite the rules of language to eliminate gender https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2019/12/05/teens-argentina-are-leading-charge-gender-neutral-language/

The Hawaiian language nearly went extinct. Now it’s being taught in dozens of immersion schools https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2019/12/how-hawaiian-language-was-saved-extinction/603097/

The Language You Speak Influences Where Your Attention Goes https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/the-language-you-speak-influences-where-your-attention-goes/

***LITERATURE

Machine learning has revealed exactly how much of a Shakespeare play was written by someone else https://www.technologyreview.com/s/614742/machine-learning-has-revealed-exactly-how-much-of-a-shakespeare-play-was-written-by-someone/

Without women the novel would die https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/dec/07/why-women-love-literature-read-fiction-helen-taylor

Nobel literature winner dreams of a new narrative style https://www.beloitdailynews.com/article/20191207/AP/312079950

***POETRY

Developing a Strong Poetic Voice Can Be Uncomfortable for the Poet https://www.coloradocollege.edu/newsevents/newsroom/developing-a-strong-poetic-voice-can-be-uncomfortable-for-the-poet#.XeXwST-Ibn4

Poems on how to write poems: Why you should read this award-winning poet's latest book https://www.edexlive.com/people/2019/dec/03/poems-on-how-to-write-poems-why-you-should-read-this-award-winning-poets-latest-book-9377.html

How standardized education tortures all meaning out of studying poetry (opinion) https://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/commentary/2019/12/03/how-standardized-education-tortures-all-meaning-out-of-studying-poetry/

Best poetry of 2019 https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/nov/30/best-poetry-of-2019

Three new poetry collections grapple with injustice, grief — and the nature of truth https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/three-new-poetry-collections-grapple-with-injustice-grief--and-the-nature-of-truth/2019/12/09/2a005c50-f68d-11e9-a285-882a8e386a96_story.html

A decade of instapoets and what they mean for poetry https://www.michigandaily.com/section/arts/decade-instapoets-and-what-they-mean-poetry

***FILM

Filmmakers Sue Over Visa Social Media Disclosure Requirement https://www.courthousenews.com/filmmakers-sue-over-visa-social-media-disclosure-requirement/

***PRIVACY & SECURITY

Government may require U.S. citizens on international flights to be photographed at airports https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2019-12-03/us-proposal-photograph-citizens-airports

Happiness Depends

Happiness doesn't depend on how many external blessings we have snatched from life. It depends only on our attitude toward them. -Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (born Dec. 11, 1918)

Self-respect

Self-respect is the fruit of discipline: the sense of dignity grows with the ability to say no to oneself.  -Abraham J. Heschel

Abandoned by God

Meanwhile, where is God? This is one of the most disquieting symptoms. When you are happy, so happy that you have no sense of needing Him, if you turn to Him then with praise,  you will be welcomed with open arms. But go to Him when your need is desperate, when all other help is vain and what do you find? A door slammed in your face, and a sound of bolting an double bolting from the inside. After that, silence. You may as well turn away.  -CS Lewis, A Grief Observed

Living on Past Victories

Never take it for granted that your past successes will continue into the future. Actually, your past successes are your biggest obstacle: every battle, every war, is different and you cannot assume what worked before will work today. You must cut yourself loose from the past and open your eyes to the present. Your tendency to fight the last war may lead to your final war.

Robert Green, The 33 Strategies of War

you are going to die

Remembering that you are going to die is the best way that I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. -Steve Jobs

Progressive Inhibition

As John Mazziotta the neurologist at UCLA said, “People don’t realize that the brain is really an inhibition machine.” Mazziotta pulled out a neurology textbook with pictures of a woman kneeling and praying next to a man who was also kneeling and praying. The woman, Mazziotta explained, had suffered brain damage and could no longer inhibit certain actions. She had not the slightest interest in kneeling and praying at that moment, but she could not stop herself from doing what brains want to do, imitate the action they see, like a monkey behind the glass at a zoo, making faces back at you. 

Another thing to remember, Mazziotta said, is that many of the brain’s systems are running all the time. “Think of an airplane,” said Mazziotta. “Most people think that when it lands it has its engines on low and it’s just floating in. But that’s not always so; in landing, an airplane often has to be at full throttle in case it has to react quickly if something happens.” The brain, too he says, is set up to be whirring all the time. Even when we think of it as resting, its neurons are often firing at a low level, ready and waiting, so it can react in time before, for instance, it’s eaten by a bigger, quicker brain.

The brain is working constantly, and one of the tasks it works at is to inhibit itself from a variety of actions. It is striving to resist the urge to raise the coffee cup like the guy across the table, and striving not to do a number of things that might not be in its best interest. As the brain develops- in children and, science is now learning, in teenagers- it is this very inhibition machinery that is being fine-tuned. 

“Development,” says Mazziotta, “is progressive inhibition.”

Barbara Strauch, The Primal Teen

Preach the gospel

Preach the gospel all the time; if necessary, use words -St. Francis of Assisi

Hurting from Loss

Love anything that lives—a person, a pet, a plant—and it will die. Trust anybody and you may be hurt; depend on anyone and that one may let you down. The price of cathexis (letting something or someone become important to us) is pain. If someone is determined not to risk pain, then such a person must do without many things: having children, getting married, the ecstasy of sex, the hope of ambition, friendship - all that makes life alive, meaningful and significant.

Move out or grow in any dimension and pain as well as joy will be your reward. A full life will be full of pain. But the only alternative is not to live fully or not to live at all. The attempt to avoid legitimate suffering lies at the root of all emotional illness.

M Scott Peck, The Road Less Traveled

Articles of Interest about Higher Ed - Dec 1

***HIGHER ED

How activists at one college are getting out information out about what they claim is a poorly operated institution https://www.boldlybankrupt.com/

Parents ‘bigger problem’ than essay mills (sub. req’ed) https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/mums-and-dads-bigger-problem-essay-mills

Colleges Struggling to Keep Up with Student Mental Health Needs https://www.campussafetymagazine.com/mental-health/college-student-mental-health-needs/

More college students are seeking help for mental health, but what happens when there aren't enough counselors? https://www.thedickinsonpress.com/news/education/4794643-More-college-students-are-seeking-help-for-mental-health-but-what-happens-when-there-arent-enough-counselors

Why the Dept. of Ed decided to treat Grand Canyon University as a for-profit, even though it’s registered with the IRS as a non-profit https://www.forbes.com/sites/dereknewton/2019/11/30/no-the-irs-does-not-make-a-college-a-non-profit/

***HIGHER ED & CRIME 

ICE arrests 90 more foreign students at fake university created by DHS in Michigan https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/11/27/university-farmington-ice-arrests-more-fake-michigan-college/4317788002/

US Man Allegedly Plotted ISIS-Style Attack After Suspension From Colleges https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/florida-man-tried-enlist-isis-attack-colleges-suspended-expelled-him-n1091141

***HIGHER ED & FINANCE

Dawn Of The Dead: For Hundreds Of The Nation’s Private Colleges, It’s Merge Or Perish https://www.forbes.com/sites/schifrin/2019/11/27/dawn-of-the-dead-for-hundreds-of-the-nations-private-colleges-its-merge-or-perish/

University Reverses Its Decision to Stop Accepting Medicaid http://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2019/11/27/byu-idaho-retracts-earlier-medicaid-decision

***HIGHER ED IN COURT

Settlement reached in suit over video captioning at Harvard https://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/settlement-reached-suit-video-captioning-harvard-67347654

Supreme Court won't throw out climate scientist Michael Mann's defamation suit against National Review https://www.cnn.com/2019/11/25/politics/supreme-court-climate-scientist-michael-mann-national-review/index.html

Law School Donor Sues After Learning His Name Isn’t On Degrees The Law School Doesn’t Give https://abovethelaw.com/2019/11/law-school-donor-sues-after-learning-his-name-isnt-on-degrees-the-law-school-doesnt-give/

Yale University Employees file class-action lawsuit claiming the institution’s wellness programs violates federal law https://www.heartland.org/news-opinion/news/employer-wellness-program-is-illegal-lawsuit-contends

***ACADEMIC LIFE 

Academic freedom breached at Thompson Rivers University, investigation finds  https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/academic-freedom-breached-thompson-rivers-university-1.5365146

Plagiarism in Brazil: A perspective of 25,000 PhD holders across the sciences https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/825026v1

Federal data show proportion of all instructors who work full-time is rising, even as total faculty workforce contracts slightly. https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2019/11/27/federal-data-show-proportion-instructors-who-work-full-time-rising

Plagiarism charge against UCCS professor dismissed https://gazette.com/news/plagiarism-charge-against-uccs-professor-dismissed/article_dc62743a-1093-11ea-965c-87a5fa15141d.html

***RESEARCH 

On the troubling trail of psychiatry’s pseudopatients stunt https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-03268-y

The Challenges of Sharing Data in an Era of Politicized Science https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2756117

***STUDENT LIFE

Tales From the Teenage Cancel Culture  https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/31/style/cancel-culture.html

WHO warns adolescents get too little exercise as screen time prevails https://www.cnbc.com/2019/11/21/who-warns-adolescents-get-too-little-exercise-as-screen-time-prevails.html

Study: Students show ‘troubling’ lack of news literacy skills  https://newslit.org/updates/study-students-show-troubling-lack-of-news-literacy-skills/ 

Millennial and Gen Z Republicans stand out from their elders on climate and energy issues https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/11/25/younger-republicans-differ-with-older-party-members-on-climate-change-and-energy-issues/

***SEXUAL HARASSMENT & ASSAULT 

Students Disrupt Philosophy Professor’s Course, Call For Resignation https://dailynous.com/2019/11/22/students-disrupt-philosophy-professors-course-call-resignation/

Exploiting the Exploited? Insiders Accuse Charity Of Cashing In On Sex Trafficking Concerns  https://www.nbcsandiego.com/investigations/Exploiting-the-Exploited-Insiders-Accuse-Charity-Of-Cashing-In-On-Sex-Trafficking-Concerns-565502951.html

Sadness

Sadness is a wall between two gardens. -Kahlil Gibran