Dartblog
Special Feature: In Pursuit of a New President
The College is on the hunt for its seventeenth president after James Wright announced his June 2009 resignation. A search committee has been formed; its antecedental task is the resolution of this question: is this a time for steady-as-she-goes, or is there a mandate for fresh leadership? Updates here.
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Constitutional Cruelty
An interesting article in the New York Times today about animal cruelty and constitutional protection of depictions thereof, available here.
The crux of the debate is not whether animal cruelty itself is legal or illegal, but rather whether depicting legal animal cruelty, specifically for sexual purposes, is legal. The Third Circuit struck down the law prohibiting such depictions and the conviction of one man under the law by a margin of 10 to 3 but the issue is likely to go before the Supreme Court.
The law does contain an exception for materials of “serious religious, political, scientific, educational, journalistic, historical or artistic value.” But Eugene Volokh, a First Amendment specialist at the University of California, Los Angeles, said the exception was small comfort. “What constitutes serious value,” Professor Volokh said, “is very much in the eye of the beholder.”
Professor Volokh, who said he believed the law was unconstitutional, offered a prediction about its fate in the Supreme Court. “I think they’re going to strike it down,” he said. “It’s going to be at least 6-3, perhaps even unanimous.”
Featured posts
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May 31, 2009
Kangaroo Court, Indeed
In an interview with The Dartmouth, alumni-elected trustee T.J. Rodgers ‘70 explained his reasons for declining to participate in future evaluations of trustees up for “re-election,” namely the “kangaroo court” nature of such discussion in… -
March 23, 2009
Post Prop 8 Optimism
An interesting piece in the Washington Post today about the future direction of gay marriage in California vis-a-vis Prop 8. Dartblog has offered contrasting perspectives on the subject, see here and here, but agreed that… -
March 20, 2009
Faculty Politics in the Classroom
An article from Inside Higher Ed looks at a new study by Neil Gross, a researcher at the University of British Columbia on faculty politics, available here. This study and article raise a number of… -
March 5, 2009
Professors, Politics, and Purpose
An interesting article in Inside HigherEd reporting on survey data that shed interesting light on what university professors believe and how they conceptualize their role. Among some of the more interesting findings, there have been… -
March 2, 2009
A Template for College Governance
With the announcement of Dr. Jim Kim this afternoon, I thought that I would present a template for College governance. The humble points that follow are value-neutral; they do not mandate any specific course of… -
November 17, 2008
Reconsidering Prop 8
Dartblog has been covering and opining on the gay marriage debate, particular in reference to “Prop 8” California’s recent constitutional amendment to ban the practice. Some past thoughts here. I have been mulling the issue…