San Diego State has suspended 6 fraternities on their campus because it appears that members were involved in a massive drug ring. The fraternities in question are Theta Chi,Lambda Chi Alpha, Phi Kappa Psi, Phi Kappa Theta, Sigma Alpha Epsilon and Sigma Alpha Mu.

This comes after the arrest of 96 people, 75 of whom were San Diego State students. The arrests were the culmination of a nearly year-long investigation, spurred by the overdose death of a 19-year-old sorority member at the school last year.

Police seized cocaine, ectasy and guns.

The irony is that one of the students that got busted was about to graduate with a Masters in Homeland Security and another was majoring in Criminal justice.

Popularity: 4% [?]

This child, DeVaughn Davis, is one of 3,450 homeless children attending public school in Detroit.  His mother is out every day looking for a job and some place for them to stay.  But, for now, she gets $480/month on public assistance and is trying to save for a deposit on an apartment.

But, for now, she is forced to try to keep her family together by moving from homeless shelter to homeless shelter every few weeks.  These moves also mean new schools for DeVaughn and his sister, Cherish.

In the state of Michigan, some 20,000 homeless students join their struggle.  Who knows just how many homeless children their are that don’t attend school.  I shudder to think of what their circumstances lead them to do to survive.

In America, we can find money to build “bridges to nowhere” or fight wars with no end but, we it comes to helping out Americans, our concerns wane.  It is my hope that the DeVaughns of this world make it, despite their circumstances but, the fact is, too many won’t.

Popularity: 9% [?]

I’ll go on the record again to say that I don’t think abstinence-only education works.  I actually advocate something that I call “abstinence-preferred” education, meaning that it is okay to tell kids that the safest thing for them is to delay sex but, then to give them the information they need to protect themselves should the urges overtake them.

Now, with a report coming out of Florida, advocates for comprehensive sex education have plenty of ammunition for their arguments.

Florida currently offers abstinence-only education in schools and still has the 6th-highest pregnancy rate in the country.

But, here’s one of the most disturbing concerns about Florida teens.  A recent survey showed that some believed that drinking a capful of bleach could prevent HIV/AIDS and that drinking a Mountain Dew would prevent pregnancy.

This was part of a compelling case that Florida lawmakers used to propose a bill to create a more comprehensive sex education program, one that would still teach that the only certain way to prevent pregnancy and STDs is to abstain but, would also teach about birth control and disease prevention.

I hope that this passes because ignorance could literally cost kids their lives.

Popularity: 8% [?]

I remember complaining because I had student loans. But, I kept telling myself that it went towards a good cause. However, had I not gotten loans, I might not have been able to finish college.

Today, I read something that showed me how close to home this credit crunch is going to hit Americans.

It appears that some banks are now no longer offering student loans.

In the past fortnight, some banks, including HSBC, have pulled out of the $85 billion (£42 billion) a year US student loans market, fuelling anxiety that the turmoil that hit debt markets on Wall Street last summer is spilling over into the wider economy and making credit more difficult to secure for ordinary American households.

In the US, many undergraduates take out a federal guaranteed loan and top up their financial needs with a private loan from lenders such as Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase and Citi-group. In the academic year 2005-06, $17 billion in private student loans was used to finance higher education.

Banks have become reluctant to offer private student loans because worsening credit conditions have meant that they cannot package up the loans and sell them on.

Although the brightest students who win places at America’s rich Ivy League universities will be affected less because of generous bursaries - which do not have to be repaid – less able students applying to other institutions are expected to face difficulty in securing private loans to fund their study. At one end of the field is Harvard University, with $34 billion of endowments, and at the other are many community colleges and low-tier universities with limited resources.

So, unless you kid’s in an Ivy League school, chance are that securing a loan is going to be a problem. Mark my words: this will be the next cause for a major credit crisis. When scarcity becomes an issue, you’ll see the vultures swoop in, offering student loans at bad rates. When things subside in the housing market, these bad loans will be sold to them and default rates will skyrocket.

Why do I think this? It is because the current presidential administration’s answer is to bail out big business and leave the little guys to fend for themselves, which leaves them vulnerable to unscrupulous practices. So, I will not be surprised when the issue arises again, in a different form.

Popularity: 13% [?]

Okay, I have done enough of these stories about white college students in blackface to make it clear that this is an issue. However, while most of these incidents I talk about occur at off-campus parties, what should happen if such an incident takes place at a school-sponsored event.

This brings us to a recent event at North Dakota State University. With a student population that is 92% white, diversity is probably not high on the list of priorities. Okay, maybe this is not a fair statement but, it certainly makes for a fertile breeding ground for those who harbor acrimony towards people of color, as well as other groups.

Which, again, brings us to the incident in question. At the Mr. NDSU pageant on March 18, which was to benefit diabetes research, there was a skit performed by the NDSU Saddle and Sirloin Club. While it lasted only 30 seconds, they packed a lot of hate into such a short time. Here’s one account of the skit:

People who attended it said a pageant contestant from Saddle and Sirloin dressed as a woman from the Internet video “I Got a Crush on Obama” and performed a strip tease for another student who was wearing dark makeup and an afro wig.

In the background, two male students dressed as cowboys simulated anal sex while holding an Obama sign that one student ripped at the conclusion of the 30-second performance…

In a word…”wow!” I don’t know where to begin but, I get the impression that the school is not about to do much because of the following:

(NDSU Dean of Students Janna) Stoskopf said she expected the investigation could take until May 9, the end of the school year.

“One of the issues here is how do we balance what our policies and expectations about behavior are with the issue of freedom of speech,” Stoskopf said. “Where does all of that get us?”

It sounds like somebody’s getting a free pass. I wonder if one of the 1.5% of the black student population had gotten up and said something like, “God d*mn America” during a skit, would this be allowed to pass?

Popularity: 14% [?]

It seems that some in California wanted to make sure that the only black students in state colleges were the ones who could run, tackle or dribble.

This was because, in 2006, Proposition 209, led by the king of the buck-dancers, Ward Connerly, remove affirmative action considerations in admission to state schools.

What this meant was reduced black enrollment. However, more ironically, this reduced white enrollment at the University of California, as well. You see, when affirmative action was removed, Asian student numbers rose by 6%, Hispanic enrollment rose by 3% and white enrollment fell by 8%. This was certainly not what the backers of this initiative had envisioned.

Nonetheless, UCLA didn’t want to lose out on recruiting qualified black students, either. So, they set about working with private organizations to help make a University of California education possible and affordable for more black students. As a result, black freshman enrollment increased by more than 100% from the previous year. 100 freshman enrolled in 2006. In 2007, then number was 203. Certainly, this could be a lot better but, it is good to see things trending in a positive direction.

So, I say, welcome back, Black college students!

Popularity: 21% [?]

Before anyone gets on me about blaming Oprah or bashing a “leading black”, hear me out.

Recently, it was reported that allegations of physical and sexual abuse of girls at the hands of a matron (dorm parent) working at the all-girl Leadership Academy she opened in South Africa had surfaced.

According to South African police, the woman in question is accused of choking and beating some students and is also accused of fondling at least one girl there. The matron has been suspended. Another matron and the school’s principal, Dr. Mzimane, had already been placed on leave prior to the alleged fondling incident.

For her part, Oprah has issued tearful apologies to students and their families but, as far as I know, has not made any public statements about this issue in the U.S.

However, could it be that Oprah, unintentionally, created an environment where such abuse could thrive? One Chicago Sun-Times columnist thinks so and I am inclined to agree. The rules of the school state that parents are only allowed to visit their children once a month. Also, children are only allowed to use their cell phones and email on the weekends.

In this country, we know that abuse also goes on in schools but, knowing that a parent could show up at any time, that a kid could call a parent at any time or that, at day’s end, a parent could know what happened, would not embolden many to say the wrong thing to a student, much less put their hands on a child. By keeping these children, as the columnist put it, as “virtual prisoners”, they were left at the mercy of an abuser.

Also, let’s be real, this was supposed to be a dream come true for poor parents to offer their daughters an education that they might not have otherwise received. So, for the sakes of their children, they went along with the rules. But, from what I understand, many parents complained of this arrangement. It now appears that these complaints went unheeded, to the detriment of some students there and to the detriment of the school’s and Oprah’s reputations.

I believe that her school was and still is a wonderful idea. But, perhaps Oprah should actually listen to parents and learn the lessons that the abuse in her own past should have taught her — kids need to be able to talk to their parents about anything. In order to do so, they actually need to be given the actual ability to do just that. It is in silence and secret that abuses like these are allowed to flourish.

Popularity: 45% [?]

“The huge calamity of Katrina and the need to rebuild the Gulf Coast provides Congress and state legislatures with the opportunity to implement big ideas that could begin to transform America in the first decade of the 21st century. We have a golden opportunity to “green line” the Delta and Gulf Coast with government policies that facilitate and empower the private sector and private citizens.”

-Jack Kemp, Human Events, Sept. 2005

Before the flood waters had receded and long before the dead had been counted, the privatization vultures were circling. What was seen was a New Orleans to be molded in the white, conservative image of “free market” capitalism that excluded even the most basic needs of the people whose lives had been thrown in the chaos and whose families had been dispersed across the U.S. in a manner not much unlike enslaved Africans who saw their families sold off and scattered to the four winds.

What we have seen is black employment diminished by in influx of cheap (and too often, illegal) labor; black businesses debilitated due to contracts going to large, out of state operations; black families not being able to rebuild their lives due to delays in aid and, in some cases, flat-out fraud. Now, we can add public education to the list of victims.

Conservatives have long held on to the notion that government-funded programs don’t work and they prove it by trying to choke the life out of them when they’re in power. It’s like cutting a man’s legs off and then complaining about how slow a runner he is.

So, it’s little surprise that privatized charter schools have popped up all over New Orleans.

Now, let’s step back a little. Over the last several years, Republicans pushed for school vouchers in D.C. By doing so, this meant that money would come out of private schools and into public schools. The idea was that parents could get their kids out of “failing” schools and into schools where the educational opportunities were better. This all sounds good, right? Then, answer this, why weren’t these politicians able to get these initiatives going in their own states? Perhaps, the devil in in the details.

You see, in a nutshell, this whole plan had a fatal flaw — not just any student could benefit. You see, private schools, to maintain their elite attractiveness, rely on keeping a certain academic standard. So, it takes more than a voucher to get your child into such a school. These schools get to cherry-pick the best and brightest. So, if your kid’s not at the top of the academic pile, you’re out of luck. Also, given the level of students they expect, it is very unlikely that much is offered in the way of remedial help to get your child up to speed. However, these type of programs would exist in a properly-funded public educational system. But, remember, Republicans don’t like government money going to help people.

Read More… »

Popularity: 30% [?]

Renowned educator, psychologist and historian Dr. Asa Hilliard passed away Sunday night. He was 73 years old.

It is believed that Dr. Hilliard may have contracted malaria on a recent trip to Ghana, though autopsy has not yet been performed.

Dr. Hilliard authored and co-authored several books ranging on subjects from black consciousness to educating black youth.

We truly lost a giant. Rest in peace, Dr. Hilliard, and thank you.

Popularity: 60% [?]

I love how Republicans like to cheerlead from the sidelines on Iraq but, when asked to get in the game, they find all types of convenient excuses.

Max Blumenthal exposes they hypocrisy of the next generation of Republican “leaders”.

Also, check out the idiocy as they speak on abortion, gay marriage, etc. Sadly, it’s not youth. It’s the stupidity they received from people old enough to know better.

Popularity: 31% [?]