And another thing

Martin Luther King Redux, Again…

I have posted and reposted the following comments on Martin Luther King Day six or seven  times over the past years (but who’s counting?). Since they still seem relevant here they are again. On a past Martin Luther King day, several years ago, I noted (“Dishonoring Martin Luther King, Jr.”) that one of the saddest […]

Claudine Gay: The Kamala Harris Of Harvard

Claudine Gay is the Kamala Harris of Harvard, both affirmative action hires fighting far above their weight. Although in her resignation letter Gay laments the “doubt cast on my commitments to confronting hate and to upholding scholarly rigor” [doubt?], she emphasizes that it was “frightening to be subjected to personal attacks and threats fueled by […]

Do Anti-Israel, Pro-Hamas Protesters Support Genocide?

The recent Harvard Harris poll (December 13-14) reports that 73% of all respondents believe that Hamas’s attacks on Jews “were genocidal in nature” and that “the Hamas killing of 1200 Israeli civilians and the kidnapping of another 250 civilians” cannot “be justified by the grievances of Palestinians.” Very interestingly, however, 60% of respondents age 28-34 […]

July 4, Again

Below is the twelth recycling of a short statement celebrating July 4 that I published first in The Nation July 15, 1991, unchanged from the version I posted here last year. ——— Following is the eleventh recycling of a blog post I first posted, here, twenty years ago, and subsequently ten different times over the […]

Beyond Bakke

I have a review essay, “Beyond Bakke,” in the just-published Spring 2023 issue of the National Association of Scholars journal, Academic Questions. It is available online here. I argued more forcefully in an older draft that the Court could reach an equitable result (in the now older sense of fair and just) in the pending […]

UVa Men’s Tennis: There They Go Again!

First, STOP READING! There is a pre-requisite for reading this post. Do not read another word here until you re-read (you did read it last year, right?) UVa Men’s Tennis: A Dramatic, Perhaps Unique, National Championship! from almost exactly one year ago. Even assuming you did read it a year ago you’ve probably forgotten it by now […]

From Affirmative Action To DEI

There was a time, not very long ago, when it was regarded as insulting, even racist, to describe someone as an “affirmative action hire,” even though everyone knew when affirmative action hires were in fact affirmative action hires. That seems to have changed. “Notes of a DEI Search Chair,” which appears in this morning’s Inside […]

Wokery At UNC: If Balanced is Conservative, Then Unbalanced Must Be …

Inside Higher Ed reports this morning: Confusion Over a New Unit at Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s board chairman told Fox News a new school would provide equal opportunity for right- and left-of-center views. Faculty, caught off guard, have expressed concerns, while the provost says it’s not what it sounds […]

Stanford’s Words For The Woke

Stanford wants to improve its — and by implication, our — language. When the British say, “Can I have a word?,” that’s generally a request for a chat in private. Here, when a student is told, “The principal wants to have a word with you,” the kid knows he’s in trouble. In the current instance, […]

Martin Luther King, Redux Redux …

On a number of Martin Luther King days past I have posted version of the following. Since these comments still seem relevant, I post one version, linking others, here: On a past Martin Luther King day, several years ago, I noted (“Dishonoring Martin Luther King, Jr.”) that one of the saddest commentaries on the sorry […]