Community thanks UPS driver with surprise party
/#GOODNEWS
ideas that challenge / comfort / inspire
Shifting your zip code
/Shifting your zip code to a religious address won’t prevent your own personal box of character flaws from being delivered promptly to your doorstep.
The meaning of Life
/In September 1942, Viktor Frankl, a prominent Jewish psychiatrist and neurologist in Vienna, was arrested and transported to a Nazi concentration camp with his wife and parents. Three years later, when his camp was liberated, most of his family, including his pregnant wife, had perished — but he, prisoner number 119104, had lived. In his bestselling 1946 book, Man’s Search for Meaning, which he wrote in nine days about his experiences in the camps, Frankl concluded that the difference between those who had lived and those who had died came down to one thing: Meaning, an insight he came to early in life. When he was a high school student, one of his science teachers declared to the class, “Life is nothing more than a combustion process, a process of oxidation.” Frankl jumped out of his chair and responded, “Sir, if this is so, then what can be the meaning of life?”
Emily Esfahani Smith
Writing in The Atlantic
Articles of Interest about higher ed - March 22
/***COVID-19
What the science says about 7 common COVID-19 vaccine myths
Many in U.S. face mental health issues as COVID-19 enters year two
Do you still need a COVID-19 test after you’ve been vaccinated?
How The Pandemic Has Changed The Way We Grieve
Researchers report delayed skin reaction to COVID-19 vaccine
Why your arm might be sore after getting a vaccine
Fauci and Collins join interfaith leaders at cathedral vaccine ‘confidence event’
***FINANCES LAYOFFS & CUTS
Oakland's historic Mills College to stop granting degrees after 2023
200 Layoffs Planned at City College of San Francisco
Cabrini University cuts 46 positions, 15 programs
Leader of Pa. State Universities: make a change or “dissolve” the system
Emporia State makes adjustments and plans for more changes
***HIGHER ED IN COURT
St. Louis lawsuit alleges university leaked confidential records to kill Title IX bill
University of Oregon professor’s equal pay lawsuit can proceed to jury trial
***TEACHING
How college students learned new ways to cheat during pandemic remote schooling
***ACADEMIC LIFE
Brown Prof Gets Hounded Off Twitter for Article Saying It’s OK to Take Your Kids on Vacation
A University of San Diego professor under investigation for racial comments in a blog
After grad student suicide, misconduct findings, university suspends professor
Law School Invites Professor Who Uses Racial Slurs To Encourage ‘Dialogue,’ Then Shuts Off Comments
One NJ professor's struggle with the 'Asian fetish' stereotype
***ADMINISTRATORS
Oregon Tech Faculty Call for President's Resignation
LSU administrator gave rapists, stalkers and other Title IX violators slaps on the wrist
Santa Clara University President Investigated for Alleged Misconduct, Inappropriate Comments
Brandeis University president takes bitter contract negotiations public
Oregon State puts F. King Alexander on probation for his role in LSU sexual misconduct scandal
Survey shows college presidents emerging from COVID-19 more confident in their institutions
***NEW ADMINISTRATORS
Stephen F. Austin State University names new provost
Bentley University names new president
***CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS
Oral Roberts and 12 other March Madness teams with religious affiliations
Offensive language prompts Wheaton College to revise plaque for slain missionaries
How Faculty on Christian Campuses Can Support Asian and Asian American Students
Taylor University announces new president: former Gordon College president
Houston Baptist University plans new buildings, community revitalizations
***CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS & LGBTQ ISSUES
Actor Says Catholic University Canceled Contract Because of Sexual Orientation
Lee U. clarifies marriage stance, alumni start LGBTQ+ petition
Survey finds LGBTQ+ students attending religious colleges struggle with belonging
The Equality Act Through the Eyes of a Christian College President
***CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS & POLITICS
Conservative Activist Charlie Kirk Leaves Liberty University Think Tank
What America Can Learn From My Experience Being Black in a Trumpland Christian college
***RESEARCH
Is preprint the future of science? A thirty year journey of online preprint services
Scientists Should Admit They Bring Personal Values to Their Work
The open access effect in social media exposure of scholarly articles
***RETRACTIONS
Retracting publications doesn’t stop them from influencing science
Research integrity in the COVID-19 era: insights from Retraction Watch co-founder Ivan Oransky
***CAMPUS SPEECH
Biden administration commits to anti-Semitism definition that could stifle campus speech
High school football coach who prayed after games loses appeal
***STUDENTS & MENTAL HEALTH
‘When Normal Life Stopped’: College Essays Reflect a Turbulent Year
News Study reports that CUNY students’ mental health has worsened due to the pandemic
Mindfulness program in campus dorms, groups improved students’ mental health
Study: College students’ mental health suffered when displaced by pandemic
Half of U.S. college students battling anxiety or depression, study finds
5 Mental Health Tips for College Students
***RACIAL ISSUES ON CAMPUS
San Diego law professor under investigation over Chinese reference in coronavirus blog post
Reports of racism on Wisconsin college campuses have increased in past year
Why Did Boise State Suspend Its Mandatory Diversity Course?
Episcopal seminary deans respond to racial incidents at Sewanee
***DATA SECURITY
Victoria University of Wellington accidentally deletes all files stored on desktop computers
FBI Warns of Increased Ransomware Attacks Targeting Colleges
There will come a time
/There will come a time when you believe everything is finished. That will be the beginning. –Louis L’Amour (born March 22, 1908)
Feeling felt
/When we “feel felt” by another it helps us to develop the internal strength of self-regulation, to become focused, thoughtful, and resourceful. -Daniel J. Siegel
What if...
/What if you turn your energy from impressing strangers to being completely present with the people you love? -Arthur C. Brooks
Science Is Truth Until It Isn’t
/No religion can claim all its priests are holy, so it’s probably not surprising that science can’t claim all its researchers are pure of heart. In most examples of scientific fraud, “follow the money” seems to answer the question “why?” For scientists lured to do fraudulent research for tobacco, energy or perpetual-motion companies, the capitalist money bags loom large – if not for direct personal gain, then at least for nice laboratories and tenured career paths at desirable universities. In these challenging times for higher education, science remains a career-driven field. A good reputation brings support and funding, and reputation is still built on that old cliché, “publish or perish”. Therein lies the constant temptation for a struggling or fame-seeking researcher to maybe tweak the data a little.
Thomas O’Dwyer writing in 3 Quarks Daily
Articles of interest about religion - March 18
/***COVID-19
Why the second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine can make you feel lousy
The Pandemic and the Limits of Science
Moderna begins testing next-generation coronavirus vaccine
***RELIGION & CRIME
The Alleged Atlanta Shooter’s Church Tried to Disappear From the Internet
Christian leaders wrestle with Atlanta shooting suspect’s Southern Baptist ties
Church in Seattle hit with anti-Asian graffiti for fourth time this year
Founders of Mo. Christian Reform School Charged with Abuse After Daughter's Viral TikTok Videos
***THE BIBLE
A new English-language edition of the Gospels
Dead Sea Scrolls discoveries are first ancient Bible texts to be found in 60 years
***RELIGION
What It’s Like to Leave the Evangelical Community
Scholar and Biden adviser Jon Meacham joins National Cathedral as canon historian
***RELIGION AND CONSPIRACY THEORIES
Pastors are leaving their congregations after losing their churchgoers to QAnon
***CHRISTIAN PUBLISHING
Beth Moore Shakes Up Evangelical Publishing
***CATHOLIC CHURCH
LGBTQ Catholics stung by Vatican rebuff of same-sex unions
Catholic order commits to making $100 million in slavery reparations
Catholics React To Vatican Ban On Clergy Blessing Same-Sex Marriages
Catholic Leaders Voice Moral Concerns About Johnson & Johnson Vaccine
***CHRISTIAN SINGERS
Kirk Franklin's son releases explicit audio of their conversation
Activist And Christian Hip-Hop Artist Remembers His Friend, George Floyd
Anthony Brown’s gospel music is about creating connections ($)
***RELIGION IN COURT
Supreme Court's COVID-19 cases stir up battle between religion, same-sex couples over foster care
Vimeo's Section 230 Win in Pastor's Discrimination Suit Affirmed by Appeals Court
***ISLAM
The youngest Muslim elected official in the country wants you to know her name
***PASSED
Evangelist Luis Palau dies at 86
Christian scientist John Polkinghorne dies at 90
Equality Act is creating a historic face-off between religious exemptions and LGBTQ rights
***CULTS
"Cult City" Scientology tours rile Clearwater
Belgian Court hits Jehovah’s Witnesses with €96,000 fine for discrimination
***RELIGION & LGBTQ ISSUES
Amazon defends decision to remove conservative Christian scholar's book on transgenderism
72 Percent of Protestant Pastors View Trans Identity as 'Immoral'
Eugene Peterson authorized biography backs up that ‘yes’ on LGBTQ inclusion
The greatest teaching
/The greatest teaching is not teaching what you know. The greatest teaching is teaching what you’re learning. -John Maxwell
Learn to Expect
/Learn to expect, not to doubt. In so doing you bring everything into the realm of possibility. This does not mean that by believing you are necessarily going to get everything you want or think you want. Perhaps that would not be good for you. When you put your trust in God, He guides your mind so that you do not want things that are not good for you or that are inharmonious with God’s will. But it does definitely mean that when you learn to believe, then that which has seemingly been impossible moves into the area of the possible. Every great thing at last becomes for you a possibility.
Norman Vincent Peale, The Power of Positive Thinking
still on the journey
/What am I here to do? I am still on that journey because it changes. -Alice Walker
Articles of interest about journalism, fakes, social media & more - March 15
/***COVID 19
Why We Can’t Make Vaccine Doses Any Faster
***JOURNALISM
When writing about race, abuse follows. Especially for journalists of color and women
How Yahoo News reached 1 million followers on TikTok in 1 year
Journalists face record levels of persecution globally
News deserts and weak ethics laws allow corruption to run rampant in SC
***THE BUSINESS OF JOURNALISM
Most local papers are gasping for life, and if they die it will be their readers who lose the most
Less than a third of the world’s top editors at major outlets are women
America rebalances its post-Trump news diet
BuzzFeed Announces Deep Cuts To HuffPost Staff After Acquisition
Donald Trump Loses Libel Suit Against N.Y. Times
***FREE SPEECH
Des Moines reporter's acquittal lauded as victory for press freedom
How the Russian government accidentally blocked its own websites
***WRITING & READING
Rod Serling talks to college students about the craft of writing
***FAKES, FRAUDS & SCAMS
How to stop robocalls: Every way we know to block the annoying scam phone calls
I went down the ‘rabbit hole’ to debunk misinformation – here’s what I learned
***DEEP FAKES
Pa. woman created ‘deepfake’ videos to force rivals off daughter’s cheerleading squad: police
Slick Tom Cruise Deepfakes Signal That Near Flawless Forgeries May Be Here
***COVID MISINFORMATION
YouTube removed 30,000 videos with COVID misinformation
QAnon groups switches focus to attacks on coronavirus vaccines
***SOCIAL MEDIA
Hootsuite's Social Media Image
He got Facebook hooked on AI. Now he can't fix its misinformation addiction
How Different Are Americans’ Facebook Feeds?
Instagram led users to Covid misinformation amid pandemic – report
Texas Wants to Ban Facebook and Twitter ... From Banning
***PRIVACY & SECURITY
Microsoft Confident Exchange Hack Is State-Sponsored Operation
Here's what we know so far about the massive Microsoft Exchange hack
***LANGUAGE
Meet the people fighting to keep a language alive online
***BOOKS & LITERATURE
50 Very Bad Book Covers for Literary Classics
Want to borrow that e-book from the library? Sorry, Amazon won’t let you.
***POETRY
Why kids need poetry in their lives, and how to spark their interest in it
Margaret Atwood pens poetry for new songs about violence against women
How can I be useful to you?
/I used to ask my patients, "How can I help you? " But that kind of question makes them Humpty Dumpty, waiting around on the pavement to be put back together again. And it makes me the kings horses and the kings men, ultimately powerless to fix another person. I’ve changed my question. Now I say, "How can I be useful to you?" How can I support you as you take responsibility for yourself?
Auschwitz survivor Edith Eva Eger in her book The Choice
Articles of Interest about higher ed - March 14
/***COVID-19
How worried should we be about COVID variants?
Does it matter which one I get? Comparing the three COVID-19 vaccines
How America’s Vaccine System Makes People With Health Problems Fight for a Place in Line ($)
***HIGHER ED & COVID
UC Davis offers students money to not travel during spring break
Here’s how colleges are working to reduce outbreaks
Duke University orders students to stay-in-place until March 21 following uptick in COVID-19 cases
San Diego State University plans to offer in-person commencement this spring
***HIGHER ED & POLITICS
Biden's Covid relief won't shield many public colleges from pandemic's blow
***LAYOFFS & CUTS
Layoffs at Ithaca College are forcing people out of academia (and out of town)
Michigan’s Kettering University will end 5 programs
University of Tennessee Health Science Center lays off 70
***COLLEGE FINANCES
COVID-19 pandemic worsens financial distress for private liberal arts colleges
Chegg CEO: ‘25% of colleges could go out of business’
U.S. Colleges’ Mind-Blowing Cost Of Tuition (infographic)
***HIGHER ED
Hackers Target University of Texas at El Paso
Southern New Hampshire Acquires Coding Boot Camp Kenzie Academ
Colleges continue losing undergraduate enrollment this spring, even as graduate enrollment climbs
***ACCREDITATION
Colleges Are Fleeing a Troubled Accreditor. Can They Find a New One?
Wheeling University placed on probation by Higher Learning Commission
***HIGHER ED IN COURT
Supreme Court keeps ex-students' lawsuit alive in college speech zone case
Federal Court Dismisses Tuition Refund Lawsuits in Rhode Island
Former Berkeley law student sues UC over immigration error that cost him ‘dream job’
DePaul sued over facial recognition tech used for online test proctoring
***TEACHING
Coursera IPO filing reveals a company successfully monetizing MOOCs
Schools Are Abandoning Invasive Proctoring Software After Student Backlash
***ACADEMIC LIFE
Faculty and Staff Often Don’t Trust One Another. How Do We Fix That?
New Nonpartisan Faculty Group Will Promote and Defend Free Speech, Academic Freedom
***ADMINISTRATORS
Calls increase for Oregon State president to resign over handling of sexual harassment claims
University of Scranton’s President dies from ALS complications
A new president takes the reins at University of Dallas
***CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS
College of the Ozarks says its athletics program is ending its relationship with the NAIA
Anti-LGBTQ sign at Calvin University sparks students speaking out, silent sit-in protest
Cornel West returns to Union Theological Seminary after Harvard tenure dispute
California Baptist women's basketball team has perfect record but won't make NCAA Tournament
Samford University trustees elect Beck Taylor as new president
Science and Creationism in Serious Colleges ($)
Wesley Theological Seminary wants to tap into the school's most valuable asset — its land
***RESEARCH
Re-engineering Scholarly Journal Publishing
Tips about dealing with the scientific literature
Separating out Predatory publishers from the Legitimate ones
The Unstoppable Momentum of Outdated Science
***STUDENT LIFE
Pandemic spurs increase in depression among college students
NLRB withdraws rules to quash graduate students’ right to organize as employees ($)
AP study: Nearly 90% of esports scholarships going to men
University of Tampa students revolt to throw their own graduation
Student suspensions are shaking up the University of Vermont campus
Is This the End of the Romance Between Chinese Students and American Colleges?
College Students Are Still Paying for Services, Buildings That Remain Off Limits
The Lost Year: What the Pandemic Cost Teenagers
***SEXUAL HARASSMENT & ASSAULT
Eight ways colleges, like LSU, shield sexual assaults from the public
Biden directs fresh review of Title IX rule on campus sexual assault
***RACIAL ISSUES ON CAMPUS
UT Austin finds no racist intent behind 'Eyes of Texas' alma mater that football players protested
Three Alabama professors on leave over racially insensitive Halloween pictures
Georgetown law professor under fire for comments about Black students' performance
The important thing
/The important thing is not to stop questioning. -Albert Einstein (born March 14, 1879)
Welcome to another fantastic day
/Welcome to another fantastic day of opportunity and chance to drink in life! Make sure you get your daily recommended allowance.