Free Republic

Congressional Leaders, Scholars Gather to Strategize on Black Male Issues by Jamal Watson NEW YORK — For the third consecutive year, more than a 1,000 academics, activists and political leaders gathered in New York on Friday to strategize on the problems that beset young Black males. The gathering, which was convened by Charles J. Ogletree, who teaches and directs the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice at Harvard University’s Law School, is part of “The Pipeline Crisis/Winning Strategies Initiative,” a national effort aimed at identifying ways to tackle the many barriers that limit the number of young Black...

Victim of Noose Incident, Columbia U. Professor Is Fired Amid Plagiarism Charges by Jamal Watson NEW YORK Last October, hundreds of students, faculty and community activists rallied on Columbia University’s campus to protest the hanging of a noose on the office door of a popular African-American professor. Now this same professor, Dr. Madonna G. Constantine, has been fired from her teaching post amid charges that she repeatedly plagiarized the work of two former students and a colleague. Constantine, 45, a tenured professor who has taught psychology and education at Columbia’s Teachers College for the past decade and is an expert...

Current Issue : Feature Stories POLITICOS TURNED PROFESSORS by Jamal Watson May 15, 2008, Former politicians are turning down lucrative job offers elsewhere to teach students who are interested in, but sometimes cynical about, the political process. While John F. Street, a former two-term Philadelphia mayor, chose to teach at Temple University because of his longstanding relationship with the school, he says he is impressed with the institution’s commitment to the community. Not long after John F. Street had closed one chapter in a long career as a powerful force in Philadelphia politics, he embarked on another chapter. This time,...

Controversies Crop Up Around Commencement Speaker Selections by Jamal Watson May 5, 2008, 22:24 Earlier this year, NAACP chairman Julian Bond journeyed to the U.S. Supreme Court to interview Justice Clarence Thomas. The event was somewhat historic, in part because Bond — a staunch supporter of affirmative action and other social programs — has long been a critic of the policies and positions espoused by Thomas. But now, both of these historic figures in Black history are the subjects of much scrutiny as they prepare to deliver commencement speeches this month at two East Coast universities. A group of conservative...

Thousands Flock to Memphis to Reflect on King’s Legacy by Jamal E. Watson MEMPHIS — After their four-hour meeting concluded on the afternoon of April 4, 1968, Jesse Epps extended a dinner invitation to the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who had arrived in Memphis with other civil rights leaders to rally on behalf of the city’s striking Black sanitation workers. King politely declined the invitation. He had already agreed to dine at the home of Samuel “Billy” Kyles, a local Memphis preacher, who arrived at the Lorraine Hotel shortly before six that evening to pick him up. “I...

By Jamal Eric Watson David A. Paterson may become New York’s first Black governor amid speculation that Eliot Spitzer may step down after he was allegedly implicated in a prostitution scandal. Paterson, 53, who hails from Harlem is currently the lieutenant governor and ran as Spitzer’s running mate in 2006. Before becoming lieutenant governor, Paterson — who hails from a powerful Black political family — served as the minority leader in the New York Senate, becoming the first non-White to ever hold that position in New York history. In the Senate, he was praised for his ability to create consensus...

By Jamal Watson Growing up, it was no secret in Clay Westfall Mering’s house that his great-great grandfather had been a wealthy slave owner. In fact, James S. Rollins, who is known today as the "founding father" of the University of Missouri, had as many as 36 slaves on his sprawling plantation. Mering, 52, who works as an architect in Tucson, Ariz., hadn’t thought much about Rollins until he read in the newspaper that the Rev. Al Sharpton’s great-grandfather, Conrad Sharpton, was once owned by Julia Thurmond, whose grandfather was Sen. Strom Thurmond’s great-great grandfather. "That got me thinking about...

Dr. F. Javier Cevallos, president of Kutztown University, a publicly funded college located in Pennsylvania, is facing new pressure to step down from his post amid criticism from the university’s faculty union. The union’s leadership — which is comprised of a 10-member executive board — is planning to call for a vote of no-confidence in Cevallos later this week, claiming that he has mismanaged the day-to-day operations of the university, leading to an increase in class size, cramped office space and poor building conditions across campus. In addition, they charge that the morale among faculty is at an all-time low....

When Diversity Training Goes Awry by Jamal Watson Jan 24, 2008, 17:00 When Diversity Training Goes Awry Done incorrectly, what should be a useful exercise can and has backfired on some colleges and universities. By Jamal Watson Initially, Courtney Halligan, a first-year student at the University of Delaware, was not opposed to attending a diversity training session that was required of all incoming freshmen. In fact, the 18-year-old New Jersey native assumed that the experience would be an opportunity for her to learn more about students from different backgrounds. It didn’t take long for Halligan to change her mind. Dr....