Archive for April, 2008
OSU Hui-o-Hawaii Luau
Wendy and I went to the OSU Hui-o-Hawaii Luau for the third time last night. Once again, it was amazing. The food was terrific and the show was spectacular. It was nice to see so many of my advisees performing on stage. I am very proud of their accomplishments.
The Hawaiian club at Oregon State University shares what their luau means to them.
Hui-o-Hawaii Luau Commercial
Father Michael Pfleger
A white anti-racist Catholic priest speaking up for Jeremiah Wright almost caused a Fox News reporter’s head to pop off.
via Resist Racism, Zuky, and Slant Truth
For further info, check out Tim Wise: Of National Lies and Racial Amnesia – Jeremiah Wright, Barack Obama, and the Audacity of Truth
OSU Bridge to Success Program
Oregon State University leaders have announced a new financial aid initiative that in its first school year, 2008-09, will enable a full 10 percent of the Oregonian students who attend OSU to do so free of charge.
The Bridge to Success Program will pool federal resources with funds from the Oregon Opportunity Grant, the Campaign for OSU and redirected institutional monies to cover all tuition and fee costs for 1,500 in-state students this fall. Additional funds will cover books and supplies for half of those students.
Awards will be based on financial need and students’ ability to show satisfactory progress toward completion of degrees, including taking 15 credits each term.
Ward Connerly = Darth Vader?
Ward Connerly reminds me of Darth Vader.* In a sea of 99.9% of the white folks in the Star Wars trilogy, Darth Vader is a “Nubian god” who is voiced by James Earl Jones. Then, in Return of the Jedi, Darth Vader’s helmet is removed to reveal a “crusty white man.” Darth Vader is black on the outside and white on the inside. Ward Connerly presents as a person of color, but he engages in a campaign against folks of color that seems to be driven by internalized oppression, tokenism and assimilation. Ward Connerly’s efforts to disassemble affirmative action reek of white supremacy. Ward Connerly’s words and actions are counter to social justice and anti-oppression work. In seeking to end affirmative action, Connerly is dismissing the realities of historical context, present day discrimination and white privilege. Fortunately, his anti-affirmative action campaign was recently halted in Oklahoma due to a lack of signatures. Unfortunately, like Darth Vader, Ward Connerly’s campaign is wreaking havoc in the galaxy. Affirmative action policies in Arizona, Colorado, Missouri and Nebraska are all being targeted by Connerly.
Campus maps and Google
Several higher education websites have revamped their campus maps. The map-making-mashup technology of choice seems to be the Google Maps API.
Here are a few examples of university campus maps that utilize Google Maps:
Campus newspaper theft
The campus newspaper at Oregon State University, the Daily Barometer, published a story on Friday about a recent drug bust that involved several OSU students.
After a month-long investigation, police from Albany, Corvallis and the Benton County Sheriff’s Office have arrested seven Corvallis residents in connection with a drug-trafficking ring.
Six of those connected, arrested on April 14 and 15, were OSU students.
The men were arrested on accusations of distributing cocaine, marijuana and Ecstasy in the area.
I had seen the story on another Oregon news site Friday morning, but was unable to find a copy of the Daily Barometer when I arrived to campus. I checked the Barometer’s website today to find an interesting announcement on the homepage:
This morning, many of the Barometer kiosks were found empty. Staff of the Barometer has confirmed that the paper was delivered.
It seems that a majority of the 7,000 copies had been removed from the kiosks and dumped in dumpsters and recycling bins.
If you have any information regarding the theft of The Daily Barometer on Friday, April 18, please contact Editor in Chief Lauren Dillard by e-mailing editor@dailybarometer.com or calling 737-3191.
I highly doubt that this is just a coincidence. This type of occurrence seems to happen quite frequently on college campuses. A negative event happens involving students, the campus newspaper prints a story (usually featured on the front page above the fold), and someone destroys or steals the majority of that particular edition of the paper.
Optomap of my eyes
My eye doctor has this spaceage device called an Optomap that takes a picture of the back of your eye – the retina. I was getting my eyes checked a few weeks ago and had my eyes photographed using this system. The images were amazing. I asked my doctor if I could get a copy sent to my email address. (Yes, I am a total geek!) Here are Optomap images of both my right and left eyes. My eyelashes appear at the bottom of each image.
Left eye:
Right eye:
Arizona State Legislature
The state legislature in Arizona seems to be under the control of a white supremacist group. A recent proposal targets race-based groups (note that groups that are all or mostly white are not mentioned) that largely consist of students of color.
Arizona public schools would be barred from any teachings considered counter to democracy or Western civilization under a proposal endorsed Wednesday by a legislative panel.
Additionally, the measure would prohibit students of the state’s universities and community colleges from forming groups based in whole or part on the race of their members, such as the Black Business Students Association at Arizona State University or Native Americans United at Northern Arizona University. Those groups would be forbidden from operating on campus.
The creator of this racist, Euro-centric measure is Republican Russell Pearce. Pearce who was formally the Maricopa County Deputy Sheriff, sneaked the measure into a state senate bill on homeland security.
NASPA National Conference
The NASPA National Conference is finally coming back to the west coast! Woohoo! Washington DC was nice, Orlando was saved by Al Gore’s keynote, and I didn’t make it to Boston due to a lack of funds.
The 2009 NASPA National Conference is going to be held in Seattle, Washington. This is fantastic news for west coast student affairs practitioners who may have wanted to travel east but were unable to afford the costs of traveling across the country. I’ve actually never been to Seattle. Methinks that a trip prior to 2009 is in order.
Note: NASPA is the acronym for the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators. Most of the higher education association acronyms sound like a sneeze. NASPA, ACUHO-I, NACADA, ACPA, ASJA et. al. Their names make me want to say “gesundheit“.
Web 2.0 footprint
Recently, the head space that I am devoting to various Web 2.0 sites and applications has begun to feel quite cumbersome. I decided to create a post on my “Web 2.0 footprint.” My usage of each of these sites ebbs and flows. This list represents Web 2.0 services that I use at least once per month. Without further ado, here is a list in no particular order (with links to my personal profiles) of the Web 2.0 sites and services that I currently engage with on the interwebs:
WordPress.org: It runs my blog. I’ve tried Blogger and heard a lot about Movable Type, but WordPress has my blogging heart in its php basket.
Twitter: I’m still not sure what it’s good for 
. My virtual journal consists of my blog, my live journal account and my twitter account. Sometimes I just need a few words in the Twitterspace to get something out of my head.
LiveJournal: Everything that does not get posted on my blog or on Twitter is posted on my LiveJournal account. Private groups get treated to spectacular rants and it serves as a space for me and my local friends to share all sorts of thoughts and feelings.
Flickr: Only a few of the gigabytes of photographs that I have taken are on my Flickr account. I really need to upload more when I get some spare time.
Facebook: I use Facebook on a daily basis. It’s a great place to connect with friends. It enables me to stay connected with a lot more people than I probably would be able to in the “real” world. Facebook isn’t perfect, but in my opinion, it is the only show in town for my social networking needs.
