ACTION

The University of St. Thomas in Minnesota cancelled an end-of-the-year event featuring a camel and a “petting zoo type of atmosphere” after students said that bringing a camel to campus would be racist towards Middle Eastern cultures, reports Campus Reform.

The “Hump Day” celebration was organized by the school’s Residence Hall Association and was to feature a local owner’s live camel that is rented out for special events.

Apparently, students were not on board with the festivities. They created a Facebook group named “Protest Hump DAAAAAAY!” to which over 100 students responded as attendees. The group called into question the $500 spent to rent the camel as well as the racial insensitivity that the event would display to those from the Middle East. The page was deleted Wednesday.

The Residence Hall Association addressed the protest on its own Facebook page. “RHA’s goal in programming is to bring residents together in a fun and safe environment where all people can enjoy themselves,” wrote RHA president Lindsay Goodwin. “It appears however, this program is dividing people and would make for an uncomfortable and possibly unsafe environment for everyone attending or providing the program. As a result, RHA has decided to cancel the event.”

When asked about the incident, a university spokesperson said plainly, “St. Thomas is a Catholic university that welcomes students of all faiths and cultures.”

But, apparently, the university doesn’t welcome camels.

Read at: http://redalertpolitics.com/2014/05/16/college-labels-camel-racist-cancels-hump-day/

Performance of 'YMCA' at talent show by first-grade class cancelled for being racist

FARGO, N.D., May 14 (UPI) --A North Dakota elementary school will not be allowing the young men and women in a first-grade class to perform YMCA at a talent show because a parent dubbed the planned performance "racist."

Students at Bennett Elementary School in Fargo were supposed to sing the famous Village People song during a May talent show.

The kids were supposed to come up dressed up like members of the '70s group - a policeman, a cowboy, a biker, a construction worker and a Native American.

Parent Elaine Bolman found it offensive that her daughter or her classmates would be asked to dress up like a stereotypical Native American caricature.

Read more: http://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2014/05/14/Performance-of-YMCA-at-talent-show-by-first-grade-class-cancelled-for-being-racist/6921400090141/#ixzz31wHlMkOB

A months-long Watchdog.org analysis of political influence on the admissions process at UT Law found there’s some truth, after all, to the old line about who you know mattering more than what you know. We found dozens of Longhorns who don’t know enough to be lawyers but know somebody important in the Legislature.

Two of those mediocre students are legislators themselves.

Some have connections to the leadership circle of House Speaker Joe Straus, others to powerful state Sen. Judith Zaffirini, who’s already been caught three times trying to pull end runs around the admissions process.

Wallace Hall, a University of Texas regent, cited dozens of emails and letters that he obtained in a records review to support claims that some members of the Legislature abused their positions to influence admissions decisions.

Barely two weeks after Hall began his investigation of influence peddling last June, the Legislature launched proceedings to impeach him. The correspondence Hall saw has been kept from the public, as have the conclusions of an inquiry into favoritism conducted by Chancellor Francisco Cigarroa.

This Watchdog.org review of the record is meant to shine the available light on a process shrouded in secrecy by education privacy laws and by top school officials reluctant to embarrass powerful politicians, some of whom happen to be their friends.

Watchdog.org found a pattern of overlapping political influence and underwhelming performance on the bar exam. Any single one of the cases we describe could have an alternate explanation, such as personal problems that derailed studies.

Taken as a whole, however, they offer clear evidence that political influence is the reason dozens of students who are unable to pass the bar are getting into the state’s top law school.

Wherever it’s possible to tell this story without using the names of people who are one or two degrees removed from public life, we’ll do so, for reasons of privacy. We will provide a complete list of names to any university official interested in a review.

Until now, the most striking piece of evidence for the favoritism charge is the result of the February 2014 bar exam, published by the state Board of Law Examiners. UT is usually near the top of the list, with a passage rate for first time takers of about 95 percent. In February, UT’s 59 percent pass rate was dead last in Texas.

That could be a fluke. But we’ve found two dozen reasons to think it’s not.

Read more at: http://watchdog.org/144169/ut-law-school-hookups/?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Watchdog%20Newsletter

Today a very serious and possibly tragic event was witnessed by a stadium full of football fans and countless viewers on television.  Tulane University was playing Tulsa University in Tulsa, Oklahoma.  With two seconds left in the first half a seemingly minor head-to-head collision of two Tulane players left Devon Walker unconscious and non-responsive on the field (http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/8352006/tulane-safety-devon-walker-hospitalized-suffered-broken-neck-collapsed-lung-hit ).  Medical people rushed to the site to begin administering aid, including CPR and a tracheotomy, to the stricken player.  An ambulance came onto the field, and after several tense minutes of work on Walker, he was loaded into the ambulance and taken to nearby St. Francis Hospital.  The latest report I have is that Walker suffered a broken neck and a collapsed lung.  

Read more:

http://www.conservativedailynews.com/2012/09/devon-walker-injured-a-scary-time-with-an-inspirational-response/