Dan Coleman's blog

You may have seen the news reports on the so-called "academic bill of rights" proposed in the legislature a couple of weeks ago. This legislation, similar to bills now in vogue in conservative circles across the country, aims to end so-called liberal bias in academia.

The bill's sponsor, Republican Senator Andrew Brock said that as written, the bill would protect the "conservative train of thought."

The chairman of UNC Chapel Hill's College Republicans acknowledged that "Not everyone's out to get conservatives. That's just part of the partisan rhetoric But there are some out there, and that's what the Academic Bill of Rights is for -- to create guidelines."

In particular, the right is concerned about studies that show professors are more likely to be registered as Democrats than as Republicans. They suggest that this reflects a bias in academia.

Chapel Hill Herald, Saturday, March 26, 2005

Last week I felt as if I'd climbed into Dr. Emmett Brown's souped-up DeLorean and ridden with Michael J. Fox's Marty McFly character back to 1985. The occasion was the annual State of the Local Economy Breakfast sponsored by the Orange County Economic Development Commission.

With a few exceptions, the report, as presented by EDC Director Dianne Reid, was a mundane and conventional affair. Despite stalwart efforts by past board members like Bob Hall, Mark Marcoplos and Bill Strom, the EDC seems to have missed out on the progressive trends that can be seen elsewhere in Orange County.

The event had its moments, however brief: celebrating the success of the recycling program, applauding open space preservation and lamenting the shrinking availability of modest-cost housing.

But, all in all, the presentation (56 slides in around 45 minutes) had little relevance to the lives of Orange County's working stiffs and much relevance to the business leaders who, along with a bevy of elected officials and government staffers, were on hand for the event.

An interesting debate has erupted nationally over the lack of women among the punditry. Katha Pollitt (niece of our own celebrated Dan Pollitt) wrote in the April 4 Nation about recent reports including one that only 20% of the LA Times op-ed authors were women. The Washington Post has only one woman among its 19 pundits and only 10% on its op-ed page.

Pollitt quotes the NY Times' Maureen Dowd that there are "plenty of brilliant women.... We just need to find and nurture them." To which Pollitt replies "Oh, nurture my eye. It may be true that more men than women like to bloviate and 'bat things out'--socialization does count for something. So do social rewards: I have seen men advance professionally on levels of aggression, self-promotion and hostility that would have a woman carted off to a loony bin--unless, of course, she happens to be Ann Coulter."