Invent Your Own College Contest!

Now's your chance folks! The Chronicle of Higher Ed is hosting a contest where you get to reimagine college. The prize is $500!

"If you could start your own institution of higher education from scratch, what would you build?

Sketch out your idea—in prose or poetry, a picture, a video, or even a song—and send it to us at reinvent@chronicle.com."

 

Here are the rules: http://chronicle.com/article/The-Chronicle-of-Higher/135126/

 

Good luck!

International Day of the Girl Child

Yesterday was International Day of the Girl Child.

http://dayofthegirl.org/

How ironic that it comes on the heels of the Taliban's shooting of 14-year-old Malala Yousafzai in retribution for her advocacy for girls' education. Current reports are that Malala is still fighting for her life...and that she's become a global icon. Not quite what the Taliban had in mind, I'm sure.

http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/10/malala-yousafzai-the-girl-shot-by-the-taliban-becomes-a-global-icon/263527/

Obviously Malala's plight has galvanized me. Dean Hayes and Dean Mitchell have generously agreed to fund the purchase of the "Half the Sky" video I wrote about previously so that we can have a public screening on campus. In doing so we will be creating awareness of the injustices and lack of opportunity that many girls and women around the world suffer from, including lack of access to education. I hope viewing this video will spark conversations that lead to action on their behalf. 

Stay tuned and keep Malala in your hearts.

Half the Sky

My heart is so heavy this morning. I just heard on the news that a 14-year-old Pakistani girl, Malala Yousafzai, was shot in the head by the Taliban in retribution for her efforts to secure education for girls in her country. Here is a link to the video clip from NBC:

http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/10/10/14332088-pakistani-teen-blogger-shot-by-taliban-critical-after-surgery?lite

And here is a link to the blog that Malala contributed to the BBC in 2009. She was in the 7th grade at the time:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7834402.stm

This comes, for me, on the heels of having watched a wrenching documentary on PBS last week called "Half the Sky," which detailed the oppression of women worldwide in forms such as human slavery, second generation prostitution, female genital mutilation, and lack of access to education.  Yesterday the book, on which the documentary was based, arrived in the mail for me, sent by my best friend Debbie, who watched the documentary with me in shock, horror, and sadness.

I feel like the universe is sending me a message with all of these events pointing to the need for women, like myself, in much more fortunate and secure positions, to DO SOMETHING to help those in other parts of the world, like Malala, who are being abused and killed, rather than being allowed to realize their full potential.

Here is a link to PBS where you see trailers for the documentary. There is also a lot of information about the book, as well as organizations that are working to change the future for women

http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/half-the-sky/

I welcome your comments on all of the above.

50 Years of Progress?

I am out of the office this week recruiting graduate students across the great state of Alabama. Listening to lots of radio during my drive time and a piece on NPR about today being the 50th anniversary of James Meredith's integration of Ole Miss captured my attention.  The NPR web site has good information for those of you who want to review recent history

http://www.npr.org/2012/10/01/162083705/ole-miss-students-look-back-at-integration In the transcript from the story that aired today, current Ole Miss students reflect on the past and question how integrated the institution really is today.

http://50years.olemiss.edu/photo-gallery/ Pictures taken of Meredith's first day of classes. Shocking and heartbreaking to view the classroom emptied of everyone, students and professor, leaving only Meredith.

http://microsites.jfklibrary.org/olemiss/home/ Information from the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum about Meredith's integration of Ole Miss. Kennedy was president in 1962 when Meredith enrolled at Ole Miss. He ordered 30,000 troops, federal marshalls and National Guardsmen to Oxford to help keep the peace. In spite of their presence, two people were killed and more than 300 injured.

For Ole Miss alum, please note that I am not picking on your alma mater by singling it out on this historic date. The University of Alabama has its own shameful segregationist past, as do many other southern institutions of higher education, as do many other cultural institutions for that matter. Witness Mobile's "proud" tradition of Mardi Gras, which to this day maintains separate white and black mystic societies with their own kings and queens. For a revealing look at this tradition, view Margaret Brown's documentary "Order of Myths."

And for James Meredith's own account of his experiences at Ole Miss, read "Three Years in Mississippi."