Show us what you got: Carleton students start “sex positive” nudie mag
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“Being naked should be fun,” said Mollie Wetherall, co-editor-in-chief of Carleton College student’s new nudie mag Skin Deep. “For me that idea is revolutionary.”
Cheating schools, students and taxpayers
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What’s next after Minneapolis Public Schools terminated its $375,000 contract with Community Standards Initiative? The Star Tribune’s Alejandra Matos reported in detail on the story back in September, and nothing has happened since then to make MPS or CSI look any better. CSI, led by Clarence Hightower and Al Flowers, still has the first $46,000 payment — so the taxpayers are out that money. Going back a few years and looking at other contracts makes MPS look even worse. Continue Reading
“Better” is just not good enough; Excellence is required
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As one of nine Board members at Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS), this blog is a platform for my perspectives on community as a mother, teacher and policymaker. I do not speak for the Board; that is the role of the School Board Chair. Rather, this is an opportunity to offer a perspective when I, as a board director, feel that we, as a school board, have fallen short. With this goal in mind, I present Why We Can’t Wait blog #6. Continue Reading
Girls explore creative coding at Katie DoJo
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Since my return from the Code for America 2014 Summit I have replayed – virtually and literally – the images of the presenters. One image keeps recurring – the image of creative young women working with users to craft techie tools that solve real-life human needs. For so many of these young women the story was not so much about the tool but about the ways in which the app improved someone’s life. That implicit purpose seemed uniquely explicit in the presentations of dozens of young female coders. Continue Reading
Macalester students fight administration over controversial art project
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Students at Macalester College have once again demonstrated their ability to think constructively and enact change in the face of academic and artistic repression, even if the culprit is their own administration.This is a Community Voices submission and is moderated but not edited. The opinions expressed by Community Voices contributors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the TC Daily Planet.Months ago, Macalester College senior Elsa Goossen proposed a community art installation to the Macalester administration, to be on display during its 21st annual International Round Table. This project, which would take the form of a chain link fence decorated with student art and writing, was to highlight migrant experiences and bust myths surrounding worldwide borders. The administrative body approved the mock border wall, agreeing to place it on Old Main Lawn, the highest-traffic location on campus.Three weeks ago, citing dubious concerns over student and community sensitivities, the administration changed its mind about both the length the wall would be allowed to stay and its location. Goossen and other organizers proposed many compromises, including a two dimensional “tape border” in the same area, obelisks (an historical border marker) leading from the originally accepted location to the new location, and multiple fence “sections” that would lead along and only partially bisect the walkway of the newly imposed location.None of these last-minute compromises were accepted by the administration, despite its inability to provide reasons that student art of this nature should not be on display during an international event concerning migration. Continue Reading
We need to talk about education reform
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Have you seen that Jon Stewart video? The one where he tries to talk about Israel, and, before he can get a word out of his mouth, a crowd of detractors jumps up to correct him and shout him down? Continue Reading
Worries linger over Postsecondary Teaching and Learning closing
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When the Department of Postsecondary Teaching and Learning announced last week that it will shutter in two years, it left some faculty members worried about their future in the college.
DFL seeks student debt relief, hopes to extend tuition freeze
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Some state leaders have pledged to extend options for student debt relief in the next legislative session and continue the University of Minnesota’s tuition freeze.
University of Minnesota to close Postsecondary Teaching and Learning
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The University of Minnesota will close its Department of Postsecondary Teaching and Learning in two years, school officials announced Tuesday.The department’s programs, staff and faculty members will be disbursed throughout the College of Education and Human Development and continue “under different administrative structures” beginning in the 2016-17 academic year, according to an email announcement from the CEHD dean, Jean Quam.“The current complement of PsTL faculty and staff will provide for the best possible realignment across the college,” Quam said in the email sent to the department’s students and faculty and staff members.After the Board of Regents voted in 2005 to eliminate a few University colleges, including the General College, the University created the PsTL department, which serves many of the same functions.The department has more than 40 faculty and staff members. CEHD students spend two semesters in the department’s First-Year Experience program, which acclimates students to the University. Continue Reading
English, education and employment: Cleaning the way for African immigrants
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Frank Dogbe gives his new employees from West Africa a one-year promise.