Angry Thoughts

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Problems of anger begin as seed thoughts of self-pity, discouragement, jealousy, or some other negative thought. One’s thought life is the key ingredient in behavioral and emotional control; therefore, thoughts prior to and during times of anger are important. Thoughts give emotional feelings prolonged existence and strength, and lend interpretation to vague emotions.

When anger feelings begin, people should “listen” to themselves think. Their minds are constantly making value judgments, decisions, and comparisons. Therefore, there always exists the opportunity to intercept anger by changing these thoughts.

Mark Cosgrove, Counseling for Anger

Articles of interest about higher ed - Nov 11

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***HIGHER ED & POLITICS

 What Community Colleges Won and Lost on Nov. 3

With DeVos out, Biden plans series of reversals on education

Biden’s plan for colleges

Kamala Harris to be first vice president who graduated from HBCU

***HIGHER ED  

The colleges with virtually no coronavirus cases

***LAYOFFS & FURLOUGHS 

Faculty, administration clash at Misericordia University over tenure and layoffs

Colleges Have Shed a Tenth of Their Employees Since the Pandemic Began ($)

Major Cuts Ahead For Guilford College Faculty

Turmoil Marquette planned cuts

**PROGRAMS CUT

Doane’s Board of Trustees approved budget cuts that could eliminate 18 academic programs

Clemson to discontinue men’s track and field and cross country program

Western Michigan University to consider ending Cooley Law School affiliation

***COLLEGE FINANCES 

Nearly All States Suffer Declines in Education Jobs

Authors discuss recent book 'Runaway College Costs'

Employers boosting programs that cover tuition amid pandemic

***EDUCATION IN COURT 

Professor claims Brooklyn College unfairly gave him the boot

Suit accuses Lycoming College of tolerating sexual misconduct of female students

Appeals Court Rules Against University of Texas in Free Speech Lawsuit

Supreme Court ruling: Dayton shooter school records will not be released

***HUMANITIES 

Can These Colleges Be Saved? Whither the small liberal arts college?

Survey on American Attitudes on the Humanities

***ONLINE CHEATING

Problems using the Canvas Activity Log to catch cheating 

Online cheating surges during the pandemic; universities struggle to find a solution ($)

***ACADEMIC LIFE  

Professors fight Face-to-Face Teaching Mandates

The Pandemic Is Dragging On. Professors Are Burning Out ($)

Doane accused of making false copyright complaint against faculty website

***ADMINISTRATORS

U of West Georgia faculty: No-confidence vote in president

Belmont University President to retire after two decades at the helm

***CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS  

Many Christian university are trying to look cheaper than they really are

Cornerstone University’s president to step down in 2021

Southwestern Baptist adjunct professor, wife, struck and killed by drag racer

Assumption University president ‘deeply’ regrets that language in document hurt LGBTQIA students

College Student, 20, Found Dead in Dorm Room at Christian college After Testing Positive to COVID-19

***LIBERTY UNIVERSITY 

Liberty Moves Toward Separate President, Chancellor

Lynchburg judge unseals documents in Falwell defamation suit

John Piper’s Liberty Convocation Pulled After Election Post

Trump becomes the first Republican to lose Virginia city where Liberty University is located since 1948

***RESEARCH 

A widely ridiculed paper about jade amulets protecting against COVID-19 makes us wonder what systems are in place to review outlandish claims  

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Scholarly Research Integrity

Improper publishing incentives in science put under microscope around the world

***STUDENT LIFE 

The Big Question: Is a College Degree Still Worth It? ($)

Meet Covid-19’s Freshman Class

College applications slide, especially for low-income students

Nearly half of high school seniors haven't started applying to college, survey reveals

Even if you’re asymptomatic, COVID-19 can harm your heart, study shows – here’s what student athletes need to know

Analysis sheds first light on youth voting trends

***STUDENT MEDIA

The Enduring Relevance of College Radio

Covid Is the Big Story on Campus. College Reporters Have the Scoop ($) 

Doane to cut budget of Doane Student Media 

Reporting by High school journalism students takes down the head of Kentucky police

***ENROLLMENT

Cal State schools see enrollments surge during COVID-19 pandemic

Five of the 10 Church of Christ-affiliated universities have record enrollments this fall

***SEXUAL HARASSMENT & ASSAULT

Advocates say updates to Stanford sexual misconduct policy don’t fix narrow scope

New Title IX Rules Regarding Rape Assailed by Alleged Victim 

***RACIAL ISSUES ON CAMPUS 

Student’s racist video sparks First Amendment controversy at FAU

Texas band won't play at final 2 home games amid dispute over spirit song tied to minstrel shows

What does it mean to say ‘I’m in favor of diversity’ when you haven’t even reckoned with what the state of diversity is in your own institution?

What the Bathroom scales can tell you

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When our bathroom scale delivers bad news, we hop off and then on again, just to make sure we didn’t misread the display or put too much pressure on one foot. When our scale delivers good news, we smile and head for the shower. By uncritically accepting evidence when it pleases us, and insisting on more when it doesn’t, we subtly tip the scales in our favor. 

Psychologist Dan Gilbert in The New York Times

How does this information make me feel?

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We don’t need to become emotionless processors of numerical information – just noticing our emotions and taking them into account may often be enough to improve our judgment. Rather than requiring superhuman control of our emotions, we need simply to develop good habits. Ask yourself: how does this information make me feel? Do I feel vindicated or smug? Anxious, angry or afraid? Am I in denial, scrambling to find a reason to dismiss the claim?

Before I repeat any statistical claim, I first try to take note of how it makes me feel. It’s not a foolproof method against tricking myself, but it’s a habit that does little harm, and is sometimes a great deal of help. Our emotions are powerful. We can’t make them vanish, and nor should we want to. But we can, and should, try to notice when they are clouding our judgment.

Tim Harford, How to Make the World Add Up

Articles of interest about religion - Nov 5

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***RELIGION & THE VIRUS

Charlotte church ordered to close, linked to 3 deaths & more than 120 coronavirus case

COVID-19 cases tied to Charlotte church reported in 2nd county, total exceeds 100 

California Pastor Wants To Take Case Against COVID-19 Restrictions To Supreme Court 

A Christian School Sued Over Michigan’s Mask Mandate—Officials Just Shut It Down

***RELIGION 

A Tale of Two Evangelicalisms - Sweden and the US (opinion)

Bible from A-Z: Software rewrites entire King James version alphabetically

Most Americans see Bible, Quran and Book of Mormon as ‘expressions of the same truths’

Carl Lentz, pastor of Hillsong East Coast and Justin Bieber, terminated for ‘moral failures,’ says church

***RELIGION AND POLITICS

Biden did worse than Hillary Clinton with evangelicals in 2020, poll shows

Election 2020: 3 Things We Learned About Faith And Voting

'Jesus Matters' activist who defaced BLM murals, stabbed outside White House

Exit polls show strong white evangelical support for Trump

Two Religion Reporters Cover Where Faith and Politics Meet ($)

***RELIGION IN COURT 

Supreme Court takes up religious freedom, anti-gay discrimination laws in Philadelphia foster care case 

UK venues sued after Franklin Graham cancelled after LGBT protests

***CATHOLIC

Exorcism: Increasingly frequent, including after US protests

Trial Of A Priest Charged With Sexually Abusing An Altar Boy To Resume In Vatican

***MEGACHURCHES

Texas Megachurch pastor accused of abusing children 

Coronavirus outbreak strikes John MacArthur‘s megachurch that defied public health orders 

 

The Backfire effect 

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Once something is added to your collection of beliefs, you protect it from harm. You do it instinctively and unconsciously when confronted with attitude-inconsistent information. Just as confirmation bias shields you when you actively seek information, the backfire effect defends you when the information seeks you, when it blindsides you. Coming or going, you stick to your beliefs instead of questioning them. When someone tries to correct you, tries to dilute your misconceptions, it backfires and strengthens them instead. Over time, the backfire effect helps make you less skeptical of those things which allow you to continue seeing your beliefs and attitudes as true and proper.

David McRaney  

Articles of interest about higher ed - Nov 2

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***HIGHER ED & THE VIRUS 

What counts as success when it comes to containing COVID

Colleges with high case counts show no signs of shutting down

Colleges Turn To Wastewater Testing In An Effort To Flush Out The Coronavirus

Why More Colleges Are Testing Off-Campus Students for Covid-19

Despite Strains, Small Colleges Find Advantages In Dealing With COVID-19 On Campus

***LAYOFFS & FURLOUGHS 

$1.1M faculty furlough plan takes shape at Boise State

More than 100 professors at Pa. state universities may be out of a job come spring

University of Akron rejects ‘interference’ by national union following faculty layoffs

Cal U. announces cost-cutting plan without faculty layoffs

Indiana University of Pennsylvania notifies 81 faculty members of pending job losses

Park Point University staff laid off due to the $9 million deficit

The University of Delaware lays off 120+ in round of cuts

Univ of South Florida faculty discusses budget cuts, potential layoffs with administration in virtual forum

A Student-led Rally At NYs New School after 122 Staff Layoffs

LSU athletics lays off employees, reduces pay, cancels coaches' bonuses as revenue falls

***COLLEGE FINANCES 

American University to lose up to $116 million to coronavirus expenses  

Colleges Slash Budgets in the Pandemic, With ‘Nothing Off-Limits’ ($)

Moody’s Forecasts Widespread Drop in Tuition Revenue ($)

 ***HIGHER ED  

Clemson University has found 604 unmarked graves on its South Carolina campus. But who were they?

'A big concern': After we couldn't find students or faculty at college, agency scrambled to crack down

Why small, private universities continue to champion the residential experience

***HIGHER ED & POLITICS 

GW tells students to prepare for unrest following election

How a Republican plan to split a Black college campus backfired

Political Divide Over Colleges' Fall Reopenings

***HUMANITIES 

Scientism, the coronavirus, and the death of the humanities

The Humanities in the Time of Covid-19 (podcast)

Degree Programs Under the gun for a Decade may not survive a Pandemic ($)

***ONLINE CLASSES   

‘Zoom U’: A variable experiment

Zoom end-to-end encryption preview arrives: How to turn it on

Zoom rival clocks a staggering 600 million users in September 

It’s easy to mistake engagement for learning. Here’s how I learned the difference

***ONLINE CHEATING   

With classes online, a wave of cheating is ravaging Penn’s academics

Cheat Codes: Students Search For Shortcuts as Virtual Schooling Expands  

***ACADEMIC LIFE  

Jewish Faculty Refute Illinois Anti-Semitism Complaint

Cal State East Bay professor accused of publishing racist teachings linked to eugenics

Academic mobbing is even more damaging than you think ($)  

***ADMINISTRATORS

Black Administrators are rare at the top ranks (and it’s not just a pipeline problem

Click to copy RELATED TOPICS Alaska Anchorage California Alaska university chancellor accepts new job in California

Northwestern president faces calls for resignation as students protest to abolish campus police

***CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS  

Wheaton College among top 15 schools by Alumni ratings 

First Point Loma Nazarene Student to Contract COVID-19 Shares Experience  

Surf Studies at PLNU (opinion)

***LIBERTY UNIVERSITY 

How Falwell Kept His Grip on Liberty Amid Sexual ‘Games,’ Self-Dealing

Jerry Falwell Jr. sues Liberty University for defamation

A Liberty University think tank pushed the boundaries on political advertising and messaging this year.

***RESEARCH 

How hot are hot papers? The issue of prolificacy and self-citation stacking  

Paleontologists See Stars as Software Bleeps Scientific Terms ($)

A bibliometric analysis of academic misconduct research in higher education

Disseminating Scientific Results in the Age of Rapid Communication

Plagiarism in dentistry - a systematic review 

I do wish that journal editors would not take six years to perform an investigation and to retract

Are research Publishers Learning from Their Mistakes?

Research is in a crisis of credibility

Sexism in Science

***COVID RESEARCH   

Researchers are flooding the zone with COVID-19 papers that do little to advance the state of the science

Widely cited COVID-19-masks paper under scrutiny for inaccurate stat

Scientific fraud vs. financial fraud: is there a scientific equivalent of a “market crime”?

The damage of predatory marketing journals

***RETRACTIONS

Which research journals cite the most retracted work?  

An increase in retractions of research publications is an issue for Medical Physics

Where Are The Self-Correcting Mechanisms In Science?  

***STUDENT LIFE 

What Does a College Student Look Like? Stock Images From the Quad Are Getting an Update ($)

Virtual Education Is Impacting College Students' Access To Voting

As Freshmen, They Voted for Trump. Has College Changed Their Minds?

Gender Bias in TA Evals

Students, staff at Ohio U discuss reality of academic burnout

***RANSOMWARE

FBI warns ransomware assault threatens US health care system

Thousands of personal information stolen in last month's ransomware attack on Guilford Technical Community College

University Dodges A Bullet As Fake Covid-19 Survey Leads To Ransomware Attack

***CRIME ON CAMPUS 

Cops used pepper spray to subdue activists who allegedly hurled bricks while pushing to abolish Northwestern’s police force

 ***RACIAL ISSUES ON CAMPUS

Texas Band does not not participate, in 'Eyes of Texas' after game in protest—players stay and stand

Will conversation turn to action when it comes to issues of racial equity in college admission?

Virginia Military Institute Leader Resigns After Allegations Of Racism On Campus

The Cycle of Bitterness

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Bitterness leads to a helpless, hopeless cycle around our distasteful feelings. Like the child first learning to ride a bike, we keep moving without knowing how to stop and not crash. We pedal on and on, afraid to quit, yet wishing desperately for someone to come and break our ring of futility. Only forgiveness can do that. Only forgiveness can disrupt our endlessly dull rotation in the same senseless orbit around a lumpy ball of bitter feelings. 

Stephen Goforth

How to turn a simple disagreement into a feud

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1. Maintain a healthy fear of conflict.

2. Be vague and general when you state your concerns.

3. Assume you know all the facts and you are totally right. (Do most of the talking)

4. With a touch of defiance, announce your willingness to discuss the matter with anyone but avoid any constructive conversations about it.

5. Latch tenaciously onto whatever evidence suggests the other person is jealous of you.

6. Judge the motivations of the other party based on previous experience, keeping track of failures and angry words.

7. Avoid possible solutions and go for total victory and unconditional surrender.

8. Pass the buck!

Ray Kraybill

(adopted from) Repairing the Breach

Articles of interest about journalism, misinformation, & writing - Oct 29

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***THE VIRUS 

We can now save many more lives from Covid-19 — until hospitals reach capacity

Immunity to coronavirus lingers for months, study finds

***JOURNALISM

AP to call elections for Alexa and other Big Tech channels

Political operatives are trying to disguise political propaganda as local journalism

Texas A&M University-Commerce cuts Mass Media and Journalism program

***THE BUSINESS OF JOURNALISM

Salt Lake Tribune to stop printing daily newspaper, ending a 149-year run

The coronavirus has closed more than 60 local newsrooms across America. And counting

***FAKES & FRAUDS

New ‘Media Manipulation Casebook’ from Harvard teaches how to detect misinformation campaigns ($)

Fake naked photos of thousands of women shared online

How a Fake Rent-a-Hitman Site Became an Accidental Murder-for-Hire Sting Operation

Twitter blocks White House Science Advisor's tweet ... for posting false or misleading information

How a Road Trip Through America's Battlegrounds Revealed a Nation Plagued by Misinformation

Confronting Misinformation

***COVID MISINFORMATION

Wikipedia and W.H.O. Join to Combat Covid Misinformation

A guide to overcoming COVID-19 misinformation 

***ELECTION MISINFORMATION

Authorities ramp up fight against misinformation and voter suppression 

Disinformation Moves From Social Networks to Texts

Robocalls, Rumors And Emails: Last-Minute Election Disinformation Floods Voters 

The Election Will Bring a Hurricane of Misinformation

Rightwing news sites fuel voter fraud misinformation 

***QANON

QAnon's 'Save the Children' morphs into popular slogan 

QAnon learns to survive -- and even thrive -- after Silicon Valley’s crackdown

TikTok’s QAnon ban has been ‘buggy’

No One Fights QAnon Like the Global Army of K-Pop Superfans 

***SOCIAL MEDIA  

TikTok to add AP interactive election map to its election guide 

8 facts about Americans and Instagram

Trolling for Truth on Social Media

Google, Facebook, Twitter clash with senators over free speech on social media

***RANSOMWARE

FBI warns ransomware assault threatens US healthcare system

Ransomware hits election infrastructure in Georgia county

New York County Computers Hit with Ransomware Attack 

***STUDENT MEDIA

Press groups call university president’s actions toward a student journalist ‘wildly unconstitutional’

19-year-old journalism student Sultan Quadri created a fact-checking organization to fight coronavirus misinformation in Nigeria

The University of South Carolina student newspaper staff is going on hiatus amid burnout concerns

Student Journalist arrested while doing his job

New study will assess the financial state of college newspapers

***LANGUAGE 

US Senators Can't Be Bothered To Pronounce The Google CEO's Last Name Correctly

***READING & WRITING

When Kids Say ‘I’m not a reader’: How Librarians Can Disrupt Traumatic Reading Practices

These Are the Words That Were Added to the Dictionary the Year You Were Born

***POETRY

DeafBlind poet, essayist receives $50,000 grant 

Sylvia Plath… Nature Writer? Marlena Williams on the Poet's Fraught Relationship with the Wild

10 Recent books by Asian American poets  

Teaching Opportunities

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Opportunities present themselves thousands of times while children are growing up when parents can either confront (children) with their tendency to avoid or escape responsibility for their own actions or can reassure them that certain situations are not their fault. But to seize these opportunities… requires of parents sensitivity to their children’s needs and the willingness to take the time and make the often uncomfortable effort to meet these needs. And this in turn requires love and the willingness to assume appropriate responsibility for the enhancement of their children’s growth. 

M Scott Peck, The Road Less Traveled