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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: combjelly who wrote (275845)	2/21/2006 3:49:16 PM
From: tejek	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1575980

"I didn't realize creationism was that well established in OK. Are they teaching it in TX too? " Well, in the early 80's when equal time provisions between evolution and creationism were being weighed in many states, Oklahoma was debating that until someone pointed out that would require many schools to teach evolution... In Texas, many of the Christian schools have climbed on the ID bandwagon. Some of the public schools started teaching it because there is a religion program that is pushed at the schools and it includes a lot of material on ID. Having never lived in that part of the country.....is this simply business as usual, or is there a significant divergence developing between them and the rest of us. Last fall, we saw how PA went on this issue. I suspect that will be typical for most northern states? As I type this, I amazed we are having this conversation in the first decade of the 21st century which brings to mind a similar issue. Interesting development on the EGY Yahoo board this AM. Someone posted that there was more trouble in Nigeria. Its fairly common for people to post on the board geopolitical events that might effect the price of oil. However, this time several people complain........asking why was the article posted; what was its revelance to EGY. Their objections didn't make sense to me......so I went back and reread the article to see if there was something in the article I missed that might be objectionable to the more conservative members on the board. It turns out the article was discussing how Christians were mass killing the Muslims in Nigeria. They wouldn't admit it but I think that's why they were objecting. Apparently, several others on the board got what I got because we all almost simultaneously posted, saying we didn't object to the article and to keep them coming. This kind of duality or is it hypocrisy that exists in American life is very new to me. It takes a lot more energy to figure out where things are at. I don't like it.

To: combjelly who wrote (275845)	2/21/2006 4:20:23 PM
From: tejek	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 1575980

I was disappointed to read this article. I had understood there was a conflict between the new president and Harvard's academia. However, I had hoped they would resolve things amicably. I didn't find Summers positions quite as as confrontational and outrageous as apparently some Harvard professors did. Does that mean there is just as as much intolerance on the left as the right? It would seem so. Summers steps down as Harvard president Updated: 3:42 p.m. ET Feb. 21, 2006 Lawrence Summers, the embattled president of Harvard University, resigned on Tuesday in the face of a second no-confidence vote in 11 months. Mr Summers, whose five-year tenure was marred by high-profile stand-offs with disaffected faculty members, had come under fire in recent weeks after the abrupt resignation of a top dean. The criticism evolved into a campus-wide debate over what some perceived as Mr Summers's blunt management style. Many of his opponents had aggressively pushed the Harvard Corporation, which has sole authority to dismiss the president, to remove Mr Summers from office prior to a faculty meeting scheduled for February 28. Mr Summers, a former US Treasury secretary under President Bill Clinton, will step down at the end of the 2005-2006 academic year. Derek Bok, Harvard's president from 1971 to 1991, will serve as interim president from July 1. The search for the new president will begin immediately, Harvard said. Mr Summers's brusque manner and characteristically aggressive form of questioning had turned some on the faculty against him. Resentment built into a furore last year when the president – a Harvard-trained economist – gave a speech suggesting that "issues of intrinsic aptitude" might be responsible for the dearth of women in science and engineering positions at top universities. His comments angered some faculty members, culminating in a vote of no confidence in his leadership last March, which was passed by a 218-185 margin But other faculty members staunchly defended his leadership, and said his ousting meant the corporation had essentially ceded power to the faculty – and in doing so lost its control over the college's governorship. Harvey Mansfield, a professor of government at Harvard, said he thought the attacks on Mr Summers had their root in political differences. "My worry is that the feminist left and its sympathisers will take over Harvard, and I fear that the university will fall under the influence of a minority," he said. Mr Summers on Tuesday praised Harvard for its "ability to evolve as the world and its demands change". "Believing deeply that complacency is among the greatest risks facing Harvard, I have sought for the last five years to prod and challenge the university to reach for the most ambitious goals in creative ways," he said. "As I leave the presidency, my greatest hope is that the University will build on the important elements of renewal that we have begun over the last several years." Under Mr Summers, Harvard took important steps in its expansion into the Allston section of Boston – a controversial move among the largely Cambridge-based faculty. The university also undertook its first comprehensive review in a generation of the undergraduate curriculum, and ratcheted up fundraising to more than $2bn for the four years ending June 30 2005. Because of Harvard's prominence, Mr Summers's departure may have implications for other American universities. Margaret Miller, professor of higher education at the University of Virginia, said the tension between Mr Summers and the faculty centred around authority. "It's part of a larger question of who's in charge of a university – is it the faculty or is it the executive branch?" she asked. msnbc.msn.com