“President Bob Kustra targets negative statistics with the philosophy ... - Arbiter Online” plus 4 more |
- President Bob Kustra targets negative statistics with the philosophy ... - Arbiter Online
- Iran condemns Oxford for honoring slain protester - WTOP Radio
- Michael Miller - Acton Institute
- Iran rips British scholarship in activist’s name - MSNBC
- Gandhi's Grandson In Chattanooga - WTVC
| President Bob Kustra targets negative statistics with the philosophy ... - Arbiter Online Posted: 11 Nov 2009 06:55 AM PST  NIK BJURSTROM/THE ARBITER Tony Fernandez, LCSC Provo, looks over notes with Tracie Bent before the State Board of Education Meeting. The Idaho State Board of Education met Monday at the Stueckle Sky Center to propose a new vision statement with updated goals and objectives. The current vision statement is summarized in four words – A well-educated Idaho. He said only 66 percent of first year students attending four year colleges returned for their sophomore year in 2008, ranking Idaho as the lowest performing state. President Bob Kustra said statistics work well for general purposes but can not be assumed to be accurate on all levels. "Numbers are deceiving," Kustra said. "This data is totally unrealistic when it leaves many students unaccounted for." He cited the example of a student moving from a community college after the first or second year to complete their degree at a university. A comparison of the U. S. with other countries shows a national need of four million graduating students with associate or bachelors degrees by the year 2020 to become the most educated in the world. Kustra said we would probably never be able to compete with China and other countries because of budget and other constraints. Idaho also ranked low in state need-based grant dollars per undergraduate student. Idaho is listed at $17 compared to Washington's $756 for the year 2007-2008. "What do we do?" Kustra said. "We take from those who can afford it and redistribute to those who need it. We do it quietly as public institutions and without fanfare." Young people from the lowest income nationally account for seven percent of college graduates compared to 60 percent from high income families. Kustra remains focused on attracting new students while acknowledging the shortage of available scholarships and the need to create more funding. "If we increase tuition by double digits, it must be returned to need-based students," he said. The suggestion of a double digit increase is new and would impact every student at Boise State. ASBSU President Trevor Grigg is researching and planning ways to avoid any increase in student tuition and fees. He is meeting with other student presidents from around the state this week to brainstorm new ideas. "Student activities will be my focus," Grigg said. "There should be less staff members in areas that do not benefit the majority of students. Raising tuition is not the answer." Related Posts:This content has passed through fivefilters.org. |
| Iran condemns Oxford for honoring slain protester - WTOP Radio Posted: 11 Nov 2009 01:43 PM PST By ALI AKBAR DAREINI Associated Press Writer
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Iran has protested to an Oxford University college over a scholarship in memory of the slain Iranian student who became an icon of mass street protests sparked by the disputed June election. In Tehran, a small group of hard-line women demonstrated Wednesday against the scholarship in front of the British Embassy. The women chanted "Death to Britain," the semi-official Fars news agency reported. Oxford's Queen's College established the Neda Agha Soltan Graduate Scholarship in Philosophy earlier this year, named for the 27-year-old student fatally shot on June 20 on the sidelines of a Tehran demonstration. Her dying moments were caught on a video viewed by millions on the Internet, and she became a potent symbol of the opposition's struggle. "It seems that the University of Oxford has stepped up involvement in a politically motivated campaign which is not only in sharp contrast with academic objectives" but also linked to British interference in Iran's post-election turmoil, Iran's Embassy in London said in a letter to the provost of the British university's college. Queen's College confirmed it had received the letter dated Tuesday. Iran has in the past accused Britain of playing a role in the protests following the June 12 presidential election and meddling in its internal affairs. The opposition said President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won the election by fraud. But hard-liners have described the massive protests as a plot by Iran's enemies to overthrow the system of clerical rule through a 'velvet revolution.' The Iranian letter said Soltan's "suspicious death" is still a criminal case being investigated by the police at home. It said she had been shot on an isolated street far from the protesters and her "murderers" had filmed her and her companions for 20 minutes before the killing. The letter also mentioned Arash Hejazi, an Iranian doctor who was with Soltan at the time she was shot and said he tried to save her life. Hejazi is studying at Oxford and was visiting Iran at the time. "Surprising, an Oxford fellow, Mr. Arash Hejazi, who had arrived in Iran two days before Neda's killing, was present on the scene when she was bleeding to death and immediately left for London the day after her horrible death," the letter said. "There is further supporting evidence indicating a pre-made scenario and other complications yet to be investigated. In July, a couple weeks after Soltan's death, Iran's police chief said intelligence officials were seeking Hejazi. That came after Hejazi returned to London and told the BBC that Soltan apparently was shot by a member of the volunteer Basij militia, which is linked to Iran's powerful and elite Revolutionary Guard corps. Hejazi said protesters spotted an armed member of the militia on a motorcycle, and stopped and disarmed him. Iranian police claimed this was a fabrication and the incident had nothing to do with the street riots. Police did not say why officials want Hejazi, but the regime repeatedly has implicated protesters and foreign agents in Soltan's death. The protesters in Tehran Wednesday accused Hejazi of being behind Soltan's killing and demanded his extradition, even though he is not facing any charges in Iran. "We want you to extradite Neda Agha Soltan Murderer" read a placard carried by the women. They also chanted "U.K. and U.S. perpetrators." The provost of Queen's College, Paul Madden, said the names of scholarships were decided, "within reason," by donors. The college did not disclose the donors behind the Soltan scholarship, but said the key individual was a British citizen who is well known to the college. The scholarship is open to all philosophy students, with preference given to Iranians and those of Iranian descent. The first holder is Arianne Shahvisi, studying for a master's degree in the philosophy of physics. (Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
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| Michael Miller - Acton Institute Posted: 11 Nov 2009 09:04 AM PST Acton Institute phone: 616.454.3080 This content has passed through fivefilters.org. |
| Iran rips British scholarship in activist’s name - MSNBC Posted: 11 Nov 2009 10:23 AM PST LONDON - Iran has written to an Oxford University college to complain about a scholarship in memory of a slain Iranian student who became a symbol of anti-government protests in her country, the college said Wednesday. Queen's College established the Neda Agha Soltan Graduate Scholarship in Philosophy earlier this year. The 27-year-old student was shot to death June 20 on the sidelines of a Tehran demonstration against the re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Her dying moments were caught on a video viewed by millions on YouTube, and she became an icon in the opposition's struggle. Queen's College confirmed it had received a letter from the Iranian Embassy in London. Iran's state-run Press TV reported that the letter called the scholarship a "politically motivated move." Press TV said the embassy deplored the "involvement of the university in Iran's internal affairs" and repeated Tehran's claim British media "played a leading role" in the postelection protests. The embassy could not immediately be reached for comment. The provost of Queen's College, Paul Madden, said the names of scholarships were decided, "within reason," by donors. The college did not disclose the donors behind the Soltan scholarship, but said the key individual was a British citizen who is well known to the college. The scholarship is open to all philosophy students, with preference given to Iranians and those of Iranian descent. The first holder is Arianne Shahvisi, studying for a master's degree in the philosophy of physics. This content has passed through fivefilters.org. |
| Gandhi's Grandson In Chattanooga - WTVC Posted: 11 Nov 2009 11:41 AM PST Arun Gandhi will be the first to say that he learned a lot from his grandfather. Even as a young boy, he understood non-violence--a philosophy his grandfather, Mahatma Gandhi, stood for. "The issue my grandfather taught me is never to ignore the issue that caused the anger but to find constructive ways of resolving that issue, so that we don't have this problem," he says. It's something that Arun Gandhi continued to talk about for most of his life. And today, he brought that philosophy to students at Chattanooga State. "It's deliberately there because I know the young people are the leaders of tomorrow and they're going to inherit this world, and if a change has to be made, it'll come through them," says Gandhi. And he hopes to change will come in a world that he says is full of anger. We asked him for his perspective on recent stories on the Fort Hood shootings, and on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. "To me, it's an indication where this culture of violence is taking us," he says. "Increasing violence in our lives in every different ways that we never even thought of." Gandhi says it's not weak to go to the bargaining table and discuss, and work out anger through non-violent means. And he believes people--no matter who they are, and no matter what situation they're in--are capable of laying down their arms and talking. "If we stop this whole culture of violence and replace it with a culture of non-violence," Gandhi says, "we can make a big difference." This content has passed through fivefilters.org. |
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