Monthly Archives: June 2007

The Clery Act and University Counsel Ken McKanders

The Clery Act, passed by Congress in 1990, mandates accurate disclosure of data pertaining to crimes on university campuses, and requires “timely warnings” be provided to the public of any on-going threats to the public safety. The law was passed in reaction to the murder and rape of a student, Jeanne Clery, in her dorm room at Lehigh University, in 1986. Her parents have championed the cause of student safety on American campuses, and they and the law named for their daughter have done a lot of good. All higher ed institutions that get federal funds must comply with the Act.

EMU hired Kenneth A. McKanders as University Counsel in November 1987, and he has held that job ever since — nearly 20 years, out lasting 4 or 5 university presidents. He is perhaps the longest serving top level administrator on campus. He is one of the most powerful officials on campus, though he is rarely in the public eye.

But is he effective?

The duties of a University Counsel include ensuring that the University complies with all state and federal laws and regulations pertaining to higher education. Mr.

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Common sense/old news front page AA News stories

I didn’t have a chance to see yesterday’s Ann Arbor News until this morning, but this greeted me on the front page: PR pro sees tarnish at EMU; Poor image will linger, he predicts. And then, while looking for this story online, I came across today’s front page story, EMU planning to re-key over 500 faculty offices. Isn’t this kind of a case of “no real news” and “old news?” Why is this big front-page stuff? Are the Ann Arbor News folks that hard up for stories to fill its pages?

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Is there a right to an education?

A comment by Eagle Talon to a recent post http://emutalk.org/?p=373 raised an interesting question: is education a right?

Perusing the Bill of Rights doesn’t help me much, http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data/constitution/amendments.html, because any specific right being addressed is referred to as a constraint on the federal government’s power: “… the right of the people [...] shall not be infringed.” Looking over the implied rights (which is all of them) in the Bill of Rights, e.g., freedom of speech and exercise of religion, none of them explicitly requires an active effort on the part of any other group or individual: freedom of speech says nothing about about the requirement of anyone else to listen, the right to bear arms implies nothing about subsidizing weaponry.

So here’s my problem: saying someone has a right to an education is a positive statement, not a negative statement. The Bill of Rights (negative statements on individual and group rights) does not help me as an analogy to understanding a possible right to education. So, would (note the subjunctive) a right to an education imply a right to being taught: is there some constraint on the teachers in the teacher/student dynamic that is forced by a right to an education? Would a right to education imply that someone, group or individual, has to subsidize or pay for it? So far, the right to freely exercise a religion does not imply that the government (or anyone) is required to subsidize religions. What if no accredited medical school will accept an applicant who wants to learn medicine — is his right to education being violated? How does prerequisite enforcement play in to the right to be educated? What other right has constraints analogous to prerequisite enforcement?

Obviously, I have no political science background, but if we’re talking rights, then I as an intelligent citizen should understand the arguments for a newly explicated right. What do you think?

Security on Campus: Why couldn’t we do something like this?

A friend and colleague of mine forwarded me CAMPUSWATCH #90 (RTF file), which is an email-based newsletter sent out by the Wayne State University police department.  I didn’t reproduce it all here because it’s kind of long– if you click the link, you’ll download an RTF version of the email.  But I’ll sum it up:

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The delicate balance between idealism and pragmatism (and other EMUTalk.org news)

I turned in grades for my spring term last night, and for no particular reason having to do with this group of students (both of my classes had highs and lows, but I think things ultimately “worked out”), I was reminded again of the balance all teachers face between idealism and pragmatism. Or, I guess, the world as we want it and the world as it is. Such a balance exists everywhere I suppose, and I certainly have been feeling it as of late in my role of sitedad.

Here’s what I mean:

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You too can talk at the EMU Regents

You can contact the EMU regents with your concerns and suggestions.

Here is their page on the emich website: http://www.emich.edu/regents/

Here is their email address: emu.regents@emich.edu

My advice:

  • keep it polite
  • keep it short
  • keep it specific
  • identify yourself
  • use good grammar/spelling (the lacksidaisical Web attitude toward spelling and grammar does not apply to an email to the regents)

The Student Government Wonder King Greg Jones Makes a Splash in Lansing

Students Speak Out against University Funding Cuts

6/25/2007, 6:19 p.m. EDT
By TIM MARTIN
The Associated Press

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — A group of university student government leaders from across Michigan on Monday called on state lawmakers to prevent budget cuts that have led to higher tuition rates. Continue reading

Public protest on campus?

A variety of students are talking about having a rally or other public protest on campus, to address the lack of ethical University response to the death of Laura Dickinson and to demand the resignation of Dr. Fallon (which that radical, extremist newspaper, THE DETROIT NEWS, has called for). And at least one student is talking about having a “support EMU” rally that would be neutral on the Hill Hall case, while attempting to show that EMU community members love EMU. This student, who I barely know, asked me about it last week, making her one of a half dozen who I heard talking about one kind of campus rally or another in a week’s time. I am very sympathetic to her goals, because the good work that EMU students, faculty, staff, and administrators do everyday is being overshadowed by the huge scandal over the cover up of the Hill Hall murder.

Students and others should, in my view, organize whatever kind of lawful protest they want; it’s the great American way of petitioning “for a redress of grievances,” as the First Amendment puts it. (The first campus protest I was part of at EMU was in 2000, when a lesbian student of mine was attacked by bigots outside of PrayHarrold, and the rally was a good means for healing and education.)

When anti-Fallon students recently asked me what I thought, I discouraged the idea that was floating around 10 days ago of having a protest at the Regents meeting. I saw no point in that, as the Regents are not the parties responsible for EMU’s unlawful deception about Ms. Dickinson’s death. That idea was set aside, and I credit the student activists for thinking the issue and the timing thru in a mature fashion. They are devoted to EMU, and devoted to the truth and to accountability; they are engaged, and they are the kind of people who make EMU proud.

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Wireless near EMU campus

Just to change the subject a bit, and just for a short time I’m sure : – (, but I’m interested in hearing the free wireless sites you’ve found near the EMU campus. Please include the name and location and brief review.

Here’s where you might find me when I’m avoiding campus:

  • Beaners, Washtenaw Ave across from Barnes and Noble. Good seats. Goodly number of outlets. Vanilla Bean over Ice is pretty good for a cold coffee drink. I avoid the “treats”. The wireless signal spreads out to the neighboring Chipotles
  • Cafe Luwak, Depot Town. Diner-style seats, quite good coffee. Quite excellent food. The signal spreads out to the AAUP office across the street.
  • Aubree’s, Depot Town. Love their pizza, but I’ve not actually been in this Aubree’s. I know they have a signal, though, because it also spreads to the AAUP office.
  • Panera, on Washtenaw next to Barnes and Noble. Overpriced food and not my favorite bakery, but the wireless is reliable, though it filters content.

Editorials and Reactions from Virginia and Grand Rapids

There were two editorials that I bumped into today, one from the Hastings area, where Laura Dickinson was from, and another from Virginia.  There is also an article in the New York Times.

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