Intergroup Relations

Two prominent national faculty organizations have accused Texas A&M University at San Antonio of dismissing an adjunct lecturer for publicly criticizing how the university had handled the intimidation she encountered when she complained about Christian crosses on a campus building.

Read more in The Chronicle of Higher Education: http://chronicle.com/article/Faculty-Groups-Accuse-Texas/132103/?sid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en

The 80-20 National Asian American Educational Foundation and the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights have filed an amicus brief Tuesday with the U.S. Supreme Court in support of the plaintiff in the Fisher v. University of Texas affirmative action case. The case is likely to result in a definitive ruling on the legality

Twenty-two current and former federal civil-rights officials have joined in urging the U.S. Supreme Court to strike down the race-conscious admissions policy at the University of Texas at Austin, arguing that it oversteps not only the Education Department’s guidelines but also legal advice given to colleges by higher-education groups.

Read more in The Chronicle of Higher

‘Oaxaquita’ (little Oaxacan) is used by other Mexicans to demean their indigenous compatriots — who are estimated to make up 30% of California’s farmworkers.

Read more in the Los Angeles Times: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-indigenous-derogatory-20120528,0,3018233.story

A national federation of more than 200 Indian-American groups has joined two other prominent Indian organizations in urging the U.S. Supreme Court to end race-conscious college admissions in a case involving the University of Texas at Austin.

Read more in The Chronicle of Higher Education: http://chronicle.com/article/Indian-American-Groups-Urge/132037/?sid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en

More than a decade after the City University of New York ended open admissions to its four-year colleges, a marked shift has occurred at its top institutions as freshman classes now enter with far better academic credentials and also a different demographic mix….

Read more in The New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/23/nyregion/at-cunys-top-colleges-black-and-hispanic-freshmen-enrollments-drop.html?_r=1&hp

Shortly after a 6-year-old boy was suspended for singing a pop song to a girl — deemed sexual harassment — Colorado moved to ease disciplinary policies in schools, as other states have.

Read more in the Los Angeles Times: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-zero-tolerance-20120523,0,61074.story

Political advocacy corrupts academic institutions. Why? Because the mind-set of a genuine academic teacher is in every important respect the opposite of a political activist’s. Academic teachers want to promote independent thought and analytical skills; political activists want conformity. The one fosters intellectual curiosity and encourages opposing viewpoints; the latter seeks to shut it down…

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