Campus Progress Updates

The Plaza: Immigrants Marching For Their Children, To Keep Families Together

Erin Rosa — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 10:46:48 EDT

CampusProgress is proud to present The Plaza, a blog that brings news from Spanish-language media outlets to an English-speaking audience.

Today the daily Hoy Nueva York interviews two families who are planning to participate in the March for America on Washington this Sunday, as part of a personal struggle support immigration reform and to keep their families from being torn apart.

As map, from Reform Immigration For America's website, shows who is traveling to Washington DC for the massive "March For America" mobilization taking place Mar. 21.

In The March For Their Children – Hoy Nueva York
By Cristina Loboguerrero
WEST PATERSON, N. J. — Evelyn and José Villalobos will be parents within 7 months, and they are deciding to participate in the pro-immigration reform march on March 21 in Washington D.C. because they want to fight for a change that will allow them to keep their family together.
Evelyn, a 23-year-old Salvadoran who has lived in the United States for 16 years, is now an American citizen. That’s contrary to her spouse, José, who is under a Temporary Protected Status, and can’t legally stay in the country if immigration reform is not approved.
“Now I’m going to have a child, and it’s hard to know that some day they can deport me back to El Salvador and I won’t be able to return and see my baby,” said the 29-year-old, who arrived in New Jersey a decade ago.
“We know that unity is strength,” noted Evelyn. “We are going to wear white and carry an American flag.”
“We want to tell politicians that we exist,” added the young woman, who works in a nursing home.
At 6 am on March 21, the couple will leave Union City and travel a route spanning approximately 226 miles in one of more than 50 buses that will carry hundreds of participants to the so-called March For America.
Twenty miles away from the Villalobos, in Morristown, also located in New Jersey, the Castros, an Ecuadorian family with three small children, have also enthusiastically enlisted to participate in the march.
On immigration reform, Laura [Castro], a 33-year-old who works cleaning houses, states: “It’s the only way to be certain that in the future I won’t be alone, and my children will not be left without a father."
Sergio [Castro], her husband of five years, was arrested by immigration agents at the end of last year, and now he is in danger of facing a deportation order.
Laura came to live in Morristown 15 years ago and has already become a citizen, but she hasn’t been able to submit a petition for her husband.
“The only option that we have now is reform,” she reiterates. “Every member of my family, 7 total, will be going to the march, because we understand that our voices should be heard.”
The bus that will take the Castro family to Washington will leave from the headquarters of an organization called Viento del Espíritu in Morristown, where they will depart with other vehicles that will be providing transportation for 250 people.
A study published by the Pew Hispanic Center last year estimates that New Jersey has the fifth largest undocumented immigrant population, after California, Texas, Florida, and New York. It’s calculated that the state has a undocumented population of half a million.

Tips? Know a good newspaper to read en español? Tell me about it on Twitter.

MTV: CNN Wrong, No Ban on Lady Gaga's 'Telephone'

Andrew Bluebond — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 18:37:43 EDT

CNN’s crack news team has done it again. It has brought you the most up to the minute news about today’s most important stories, including MTV’s decision to “ban” Lady GaGa and Beyoncé’s 10-minute long video for “Telephone.” The problem? MTV never banned the video, and CNN has yet to remove the segment from its website or issue a correction.

The CNN clip started a chain of misinformation spreading to Mediaite and Jezebel, but it didn’t take long for a few people stop and think, “Wait, I already saw that video on MTV.” Mediaite issued a correction yesterday, and MTV offered an official refutation this morning. "MTV did not ban Lady Gaga and Beyoncé's 'Telephone' video — in fact, we premiered it on Friday, March 12, on-air and online at MTV.com, two days before this story was falsely reported," said MTV Executive Vice President of Music and Talent Amy Doyle.

A Quick Note on the Census

Emily Rutherford — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 16:51:20 EDT

I'll be writing in more reported detail about the Census and how it impacts young people before too long, but for now I wanted to briefly offer some of my own thoughts.

I am so excited about the 2010 Census, which is going to be hitting the mailbox of every single person in America in the next couple weeks. The Census is critically important: it only happens once every ten years, and it documents what America looks like in that decade. It allocates funding to the communities which need it most, it determines Congressional representation, and it's a repository of democratic data. It tells us that our country is racially and ethnically and economically diverse. And for many undergraduate and graduate students, and other young adults, it's our first Census! Those of us who spend most of the year away from our permanent addresses are counted as separate households and must file our Census forms individually—even if we're considered our parents' dependents in the eyes of the IRS and other agencies. So get ready!

Another reason to get excited about the 2010 Census is that this is the first Census in which LGBT couples in same-sex relationships will be counted. Box Turtle Bulletin has just posted a very clear and comprehensive FAQ about how members of the LGBT community should confront the Census; the most exciting and salient point is that married same-sex couples can indicate that they are married, regardless of the jurisdiction in which they were married and regardless of whether same-sex marriage is legal in the state in which they reside. If you're living with but not married to your partner, you can indicate that too, which I think is wonderful. The 2010 Census is based entirely on self-identification, and it's not going to unmarry you the way that the IRS does. This is very good news indeed, and part of why the Census is so, so important this time around: unlike most other aspects of the federal bureaucracy, the Census will hopefully provide an accurate count of how many LGBT Americans are in same-sex marriages, civil unions/domestic partnerships, or committed relationships, which is obviously very relevant data in the fight for marriage equality and other forms of legal recognition. This is information we really want the government to have if we want to stop being second-class citizens in the eyes of the state.

What's less good news is that there are still only two boxes on the "sex" line. Box Turtle Bulletin reports that "Transgender respondents should select the sex with which they identify," I presume regardless of whether that's the sex on your legal documents—but that still leaves out plenty of people who identify as neither male nor female, which is frustrating and problematic and won't provide an accurate count of anything. I hope that by the 2020 Census, the bureaucracy will be well-educated enough to allow individuals to self-identify on sex/gender the way that we can on other parts of the form.

The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force is running a campaign called Queer the Census, which is pushing for the recognition of queer people in the Census. The Task Force is distributing stickers for people to put on their Census envelopes with the following text:

Attn: U.S. Census Bureau
It's Time To Count Everyone!

Are you (check all that apply):
_ Lesbian
_ Gay
_ Bisexual
_ Transgender
_ A Straight Ally

Everyone deserves to be counted. It's time to QueertheCensus.org

Now, some of my Princeton colleagues are participating in the campaign, and I support their efforts. But I nevertheless have very mixed feelings about this language, and about the idea in general. In the first place, many queer people do not identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender, and only including this set of boxes (no fill-in, unlike the Census's own race question) does not allow people to self-identify. This is not in the spirit of the Census. In the second place, if the aim is to encourage a count of queer Americans, why is there a "straight ally" box? I love straight allies. Some of my best friends are straight allies. And I very strongly believe that queer activists need not alienate their straight allies, who may be some of the most active and influential members of their movement. But the option's presence on this list is confusing, and makes me wonder what the Task Force is actually trying to do. Are they advocating the accurate collection of data, which is the purpose of the Census? Or are they advocating a more general statement of support for queer Americans? If so, perhaps that statement of support would be more effective somewhere else.

This leads me to my biggest question: is the Census the right place for "we're here, we're queer"? It's a sentiment that has become one of the guiding principles of my life, whether advocating for activist causes or working to write the narratives of queer people's and queer cultures' contributions to our common history. But if there's anything I'm learning in working towards writing those narratives, it's that identity is fluid and mutable and hard to classify. I think we could come up with a more accurate, fairer, and more inclusive sex/gender question on the Census. But could we ever design language that accurately records what sorts of people a person is sexually attracted to? And would we want to do that? Is it really in accordance with the aims of queer activism to classify and pigeonhole American sexualities? Is whom you sleep with a data point that belongs on a government form? Maybe I'm wrong, and maybe sexual orientation is a demographic more analogous to race—that it's something we would want to know about our country, that when people self-identify, it can produce accurate data, and that it's possible to put enough options down on the form that we can gain a close-to-accurate understanding of the demographic composition of this country. But to me, "we're here, we're queer" is not about demographics, it's about political and cultural identity—something that's hard to sum up in volumes upon volumes of academic literature, much less in a single question on a government form, and something which a significant number of LGBT people don't even believe exists.

I think that if we are going to record sex in the Census, we need to count trans people accurately. I think that if we are going to record marital status in the Census, we need to count same-sex couples, married or unmarried, accurately. But no one has yet made a good case to me why I should make my sexual identity (which is as political and cultural as it is personal, and which is to me so much more fluid and incomprehensible and unclassifiable than my race and ethnicity, my marital status, or my biological sex) fit easily into a box on a form. No one has made a good case to me why the government needs to know whom I want to sleep with. Yes, I know that they need to know we exist if we expect them to stop discriminating against us, and I certainly invite you all to explain why a sexual orientation question on the Census is a better idea than I think it is. But I can't help thinking that a question about sexual orientation like the one the Task Force proposes is going to lead to some pretty damn inaccurate data.

(cross-posted)

The Far-Right Flips Out: Immigrant Marchers Will ‘Wave Flags’ In ‘Whatever Language Is Known by Them!’

Erin Rosa — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 13:29:18 EDT

Anti-immigration group NumbersUSA, routinely quoted by mainstream media outlets, has finally lost it.

As if discussing the idea of turning women with Mexican heritage into “the new welfare queens” in the United States wasn’t enough, we now have Exhibit B, an E-mail sent to supporters last week disparaging the March For America, a pro-immigration reform rally that will take place in Washington on Mar. 21.

In a clear attempt to fill its coffers with money that will no doubt later be used to flood Congress with phone calls and faxes, the group’s vice president, Jim Robb, writes the following (bold formatting not added by me).

“We're Facing Pro-Amnesty Invasion March 21,” the title of the E-mail reads, in a ginormous 54-pixel font. “A week from Sunday, on March 21, our opponents say they will be busing as many as 100,000 pro-amnesty protestors to Washington, D.C., to march on the Capitol.”

“Did you read that carefully? 100,000 pro-amnesty protesters!” the mailing reads. “Remember the illegal alien marches of three years ago. American flags being burned. Angry speeches and ugly scenes. They are not asking for an amnesty, they are demanding one.”

Of course there’s no evidence for any of these claims. Although since calling Mexican-American women the “new welfare queens” isn’t considered to be a problem for NumbersUSA, I’d really hate to know what they mean by “angry speeches and ugly scenes.” But the E-mail continues.

“Frankly, this is the time to break the piggy bank and send us a gift. Today! Right now!” reads the message, which claims to need $75,770 to oppose the March. “They can turn out a giant crowd to wave flags and shout slogans in whatever language is known by them.”

Do they mean people like this guy, who was one of the millions across the nation who marched for immigration reform on May 1, 2006?

The horror! The horror!

It’s at this point that one wonders how many would give NumbersUSA money just to get the yammering messages to stop?

The Optimistic Argument for Health Care Compromise

Pema Levy — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 13:27:50 EDT

One problem with passing health care reform is not about bypassing Republican obstructionism, but getting liberal Democrats on board. To answer liberal hesitation, Kevin Drum at Mother Jones posted this optimistic portrait of health care reform over the weekend:

Look at virtually every other advanced economy in the world. They started off with small programs and grew them over time. Germany spent over a century getting to universal healthcare. France started after World War II and didn't finish until 1999. In Canada, national healthcare started in Saskatchewan in 1946, spread to the other provinces over the next couple of decades, and became Medicare in 1984. The trend here is pretty obvious: once people get a taste of universal healthcare, they like what they see and they don't stop until the job is finished...Take a look at social programs in the United States. Social Security provided meager benefits and only modest coverage when it was first passed. Over the course of the next 40 years it became a full-fleged universal pension plan. Medicare passed in 1965 with a limited payment structure and has been improved ever since...(Why do you think [Republicans are] resisting it so rabidly? They know perfectly well that entitlement programs practically never go away once they've been passed.) Then, down the road, future congresses will start to make changes... It won't happen overnight, but within 20 or 30 years the current bill will almost certainly turn into de facto national healthcare.

So here's the problem as I see it: Even if historically, this is a big achievement that will open the door to universal care in the future, politically, a lot of people feel let down. Progressives went from advocating for single-payer to a public option, to hoping inadequate subsidies for mandated health care won't bankrupt them. Polling shows that if those oppose health care reform because it doesn't go far enough are counted as pro-health care reform, a clear majority of almost 60 percent want reform (enough to break a filibuster). I get emails every day from liberal groups trying to keep the public option alive.

This is partly a problem with political messaging. Politicians don't get elected by promising mediocre reform and a bill weakened with compromise. But that's the reality. Similarly, the grassroots and people outside of government get really excited about reform before a bill is hashed out, and in doing so set high expectations that aren't met. But given the lessons of history that Drum optimistically uses to defend the bill, health care reform should have more backers.

How do we minimize this letdown? How do we get everyone thinking like Kevin Drum? First, Democrats numbers will go up after the bill passes. That's what triggered Republicans' last ditch attempt at reverse psychology. But Democrats will help their cause by amend the Senate bill, reminding liberals that progressive change can come in one big package, followed by a few little ones. Earn back liberal distrust. Maybe Drum has a better idea, but the rest may be left to history.

Gallery of Lesbian Couples at Prom

Kay — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 10:47:44 EDT

Via Miriam at Feministing, Autostraddle is gathering photos of lesbian couples that go to prom. The photo below comes from a lesbian couple that went to prom in 2008 in Ontario.

You can view more adorable photos (and submit your own) here.

Campus Informer: Hip-Hop Blog at Brown University Makes Waves, Mike Huckabee Complains at NYU

Rebecca Foerg-Spittel — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 10:23:41 EDT

Former Poet Laureate, Billy Collins, read his poetry and discussed writing for a packed audience at Cornell Thursday night. [Cornell Daily Sun]
Two Brown University students have a popular blog that explores both commercial and underground hip-hop culture. [Brown Daily Herald]
Former presidential candidate and Fox news host Mike Hucakabee spoke to the College Republicans about his disappointment in the media and his 2008 run for the presidency at NYU Wednesday. [Washington Square News]
The University of Texas held its first human rights fair Thursday afternoon. It brought together campus human rights groups for common goals. [Daily Texan]
After the popular traditional “Undie Run” at UCLA, where students race in their underwear, was cancelled last spring, students are organizing their own underground versions, and the administration is looking for a similar alternative.
[Daily Bruin]

School Makes Bad Move In Lesbian-Prom Case

Erin Rosa — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 16:06:54 EST

Since Campus Progress was one of the first media outlets to report on the case of Constance McMillen, a high school student in Mississippi who was banned from going to her senior prom because she dared to bring a same-sex date to the event, the case has garnered mountains of media attention—especially since the school recently decided to cancel the entire prom rather than risk being sued (and losing).

Here’s what I said on Mar. 2:

But the funny thing about this case, and all similar cases like it that inevitably get reported around prom season, is that it’s the school administrators who are always found to be in the wrong. You would think after numerous legal threats and subsequent cases won by LGBT students on this very issue, school officials would be more nuanced with their bigotry, but apparently in this Mississippi town they haven’t gotten the memo yet.
…
Your move, Itawamba Agricultural High. Your move.

So, knowing they couldn’t win in court by discriminating against the student and her partner, they cancled the entire prom as an act of retaliation.

But that hasn’t stopped them from being sued , and now various people from Louisiana and around the region have stepped up to offer students travel and lodging for a privately organized prom that will be LGBT friendly.

Kudos to Constance McMillen, who had the courage to not only stand up for herself, but also to stand up for every other student at the school who won’t be getting a prom because of old-school hate.

Progress in LGBT Health Care

Lisa V. Gillespie — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 11:16:25 EST

The organization Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays is offering a new guide designed to help healthcare providers offer more effective care to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender patients.
The guide, “Straight for Equality in Healthcare,” is a first step in acknowledging that patients can even be LGBTQ. The guide offers “case studies” where nurses and doctors express unease when suspicious that a patient may be LGBTQ. They don’t know how to ask, don’t want to assume and don’t know how that patients issues may different from a straight person.

Scenario: a young boy is in the coming out process and wants to know what he should be doing to be safe (teaching heterosexual safe sex in school is still a huge hurdle, my hunch is that it’ll be a while before LGBTQ sex is explored), but he doesn’t want to out himself to this doctor, who knows his family. It’s an uncomfortable situation. Unless the doctor has it in his/her head to ask, the boy probably isn’t going to bring it up. And will not know the implications of detrimental actions. He gets all his info from friends or does not get it at all.

It is a first step. The likelihood of LGBT people having appropriate messengers and/or messages is rare within traditional settings, given societal assumptions of heterosexuality and the fact that most health professionals are poorly informed about the health care risks of LGBT patients. A 1998 survey of all U.S. medical schools found an average of only 2.5 hours devoted to this topic in the 4-year program. Beyond communication, there is a lack of knowledge about LGBTQ health over all and how it might differ from heterosexual health. Should a lesbian use a dental dam (female condom)? Can a lesbian get an STD through sex? If a doctor does not know these questions, what is a patient to do?

Heterosexuality is still assumed in most medical settings. This guide is a step in the right direction, but more needs to be done to change the institution.

Campus Informer: Anti-Sweatshop Activists Evaluate Cornell Goods, Victory for Virginia LGBT Students

Rebecca Foerg-Spittel — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 09:45:35 EST

As dissent grows at Columbia University over issues like delaying gender-neutral housing, a student reflects upon what rights students actually have. [Columbia Daily Spectator]
In response to pressure from Cornell University’s chapter of Students Against Sweatshops, the university has created a permanent committee to investigate and make recommendations on fair work practices at companies that make Cornell goods. [Cornell Daily Sun]
A George Washington University couple became one of the first same-sex couples married in D.C. under the law on Tuesday. [GW Hatchet]
Students at Texas A&M are producing a radio show called Invisible Jungle that explores the secret world of microbes. [The Battalion]
After days of protests by students and faculty at Virginia universities, Gov. Robert McDonell (R) has issued a statement saying that colleges may, in fact, include banning discrimination on the basis of sexuality in their non-discrimination clauses, a reversal of the recent announcement by Virginia's Attorney General Kenneth T. Cuccinelli II. [Inside Higher Ed]

Adam Smith: Down With The Cause?

Jake Blumgart — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 19:52:13 EST

You know him, you love him.

Well, you probably don't love him if you've ever bickered with a conservative friend about, well, anything. Those guys love to liberally sprinkle their conversations with Smith quotes and references. It doesn't matter if they are arguing for free trade, financial deregulation, or clubbing baby seals: they always manage to work him in somewhere.

Until now! I'm officially co-opting Adam Smith for my pro-soda tax argument. You may remember last year when the The idea of a soda tax was floated to help pay for healthcare—and then squashed by huge piles of industry money. But the idea itself is sound, and several states (California, New York) and cities (Philly) are considering soda taxes to help plug the ragged holes in their budgets. The argument is that soda isn't a food, but a luxury, and a ridiculously unhealthy luxury at that (akin to tobacco and booze). Therefore, when policy makers have to choose between cutting education or health programs for poor people and raising the tax on high-fructose corn syrup in a can, they can chose the latter.

Expect conservatives to raise their usual whinging chorus whenever any new tax is considered. But this time we can use the words of their hero against them.

Quoth the great capitalist sage of yore: "Sugar, rum, and tobacco are commodities which are nowhere necessities of life, which are become objects of universal consumption, which are therefore extremely proper subjects of taxation."

Boo-yah!

Slate.com Launches Daily Show-like Video Feature on Business News

Andrew Bluebond — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 18:25:22 EST

Slate.com’s debuted its newest feature this week, and it appears to be something like The Daily Show for business coverage. “The Bullet,” a daily video that takes a “fast, wry look at the biggest and funniest news stories of the day,” will be featured on The Big Money, the site’s business section and promises to inform and entertain at the same time.

The project is a joint venture with Starbucks, who is sponsoring the project. The editors want the project to be “creative, edgy, and fun” and they see Starbucks as “well-positioned to help [them] with those goals,” although it is not clear what Starbucks is bringing to the table other than cash and desire for advertising space all around the video. But hey, mention The Daily Show and Starbucks in your promotional materials and young people are bound to come clicking, right?

Citizens United and a "Third Way" for Corporate Campaign Financing

Pema Levy — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 15:03:59 EST

The Supreme Court's January 21, 2010 Citizens United decision was immediately decried for its tenuous legal doctrine and potential to undermine Democracy, but the possibility of corporate-sponsored elections is still up for debate. How big of an impact will Citizens United really have on elections? The LA Times has a piece out that examines one way the ruling could impact elections.

The Times profiles the recent politicking and growing influence of the Chamber of Commerce, the business association that has veered rightward in the last decade. This chart shows the increased spending of the Chamber in comparison to other corporations. Since a 2007 Supreme Court decision that ruled banning issue ads in the lead-up to an election unconstitutional, the Chamber has upped its political attack ads which endorse pro-business candidates. (SCOTUS is seriously on a roll). Now, however, organizations like the Chamber of Commerce - nonprofits which still handle vast sums of money - are in a great position to become the biggest financiers of political advertising.

Here's how it works: The Citizens United decision opened corporate coffers to political campaigns. However, the ruling left intact disclosure requirements from McCain-Feingold Campaign Finance law. Further, ads sponsored by campaigns would be forced to bear a disclaimer like the ones politicians are forced to tack on to their ads (e.g. This ad brought to you by Shell Oil). Despite these disclosure laws, the Times argues that the Supreme Court decision has gone a long way to shift the culture of political giving; corporations want to start giving, are being courted by politicians, and simply need to make sure that their political financing doesn't earn them bad publicity.

This March, go mad with environmental pride!

Tristan Fowler — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 10:54:07 EST

If March Madness brackets frustrate you, or if you don’t even like college hoops, then there is an alternative way for you to sport a little college rivalry without all the sweat, buzzer beaters and face paint. Well, actually, keep the face paint. You may need that.

Second Nature, which assists the American College and University President’s Climate Commitment, or ACUPCC, is sponsoring a friendly competition between all colleges and universities, not just Division I schools. It’s a bracket-themed, green-spirit contest, called the “Green Bracket” competition. Second Nature is asking students, faculty, staff, alumni (whoever) to submit stories, photos or videos of how their athletic department is becoming a beacon of sustainability.

The ACUPCC is a network of colleges and universities that has taken a pledge to become carbon neutral. Each signatory has self-imposed deadlines to achieve this. Presently, many of the nearly 700 institutions have developed a plan to go carbon neutral.

Even though a school doesn’t need to be a signatory of the ACUPCC or a Division 1 school to participate in the “Green Bracket” competition, schools can receive extra points for this. Schools will receive 5-points for every story, photo or video they send in. They get additional 5-points if their men’s or women’s basketball team wins a game during the March Madness tournament. They also receive another 5 points for being a signatory of the ACUPCC.

Entry ideas include photos of banners or signs at games that promote sustainable attitudes, such as “Big Red goes Green!” Or a video of coaches talking about the importance of being eco-friendly. Or a press release about green initiatives within the athletic department.

The school that wins this tournament will probably not face students rushing their quad, or rioting on campus. But the school will have some pretty neat bragging rights, and a decent publicity package showcased on the Green Brackets and ACUPCC Web site.

This is the latest of many college competitions to become more sustainable. Other types of competitions include Recyclemania – currently underway – which institutions compare which institutions can recycle their bottles, cans, paper and compost their food. The best recycle rate over a 10-week period is the winner. Also, two Division I schools faced-off two see which could reduce their carbon emissions the most. Syracuse University and Notre Dame fought for a $10,000 prize offered by NBC, as a part of its Green Week.

Though it’s doubtful there will be any Cinderella stories at the end of this Green Madness season, it’s true that all the losing schools will be green with envy.

Students in VA Stand Up for Gay Rights, Against the AG's Orders

Pema Levy — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 10:17:29 EST

As Emily reported last week, Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli sent a letter to Virginia Universities asking them to rescind policies that ban discrimination based on sexual orientation in hiring and admissions. Cuccinelli is not simply refusing to support gay rights, he is demanding that universities rescind their equal rights protections. Last week, students and faculty responded with indignation. This week, students are mobilizing against Cuccinelli's bizarre and intolerant demands. The Washington Post reports:

Campus activists across Virginia put spring break on hold Monday to mobilize against Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli II, who has riled student groups with a letter advising public universities to retreat from their policies against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. More than 3,000 people joined the Facebook page "We Don't Want Discrimination In Our State Universities And Colleges!"...Students at Virginia Commonwealth University, one of the few in the state not on [Spring] break, planned a rally for noon Wednesday, with several hundred students committed.

And it's not just students, faculty and staff at the University of Virginia have signaled they will help students organize and protect the anti-discrimination measures. They are worried not only about the mistreatment of gay students and faculty, but many have signaled concern that repealing protections would jeopardize the prestige and competitiveness of Virginia schools. Senator Mark Warner warned it would "damage the Commonwealth's reputation for academic excellence and diversity."

I've spent the last few days researching young people as a political demographic, and one of its obvious traits is its tolerance for gay rights. The organizing going on in Virginia is solid proof that when the values young people believe in are directly challenged, students and young adults will gather their forces and fight for what they believe.

The well-known fact that young people are dedicated to equal rights underscores why Cuccinelli's bizarre attempt to roll back anti-discrimination rules is not only morally reprehensible but politically foolish. Republicans can get away with stalling on the progress of civil rights, even attempting to obstruct marriage equality with arguments about traditional marriage, but arguing that people should be discriminated against in a campus setting is something the majority really can't stomach these days. It also puts his fellow Republicans in a precarious position, like Governor Bob McDonnell who balked at his AG's letter, saying something like, I agree legally but I won't tolerate discrimination, "It's all separation-of-powers issues." Nice try McDonnell.

Students gathered at UVA last night to plan a response. A protest is slated for 12pm today. As students trickle back to campus from Spring break, I expect the issue to heat up, and eventually, the conservative opposition to wither.

Campus Informer: New Sustainable Development Major at Columbia, Online Clubs for Distance Learners

Rebecca Foerg-Spittel — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 10:13:04 EST

Starting in the fall, students at Columbia University can pursue a major in sustainable development. [Columbia Daily Spectator]
Alumnus Joey Green, cartoonist, author, and prankster, spoke at Cornell University Monday about the importance of humor. [Cornell Daily Sun]
New York University has been named to the president’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll with Distinction, an award that recognizes community service from the student body, for its wide range of community service programs that include everything from America Reads to assistance to residents on the Lower East Side.[Washington Square News]
At some distance learning colleges, students are creating clubs and holding online meetings in order to recapture the campus community lost in distance learning. [Inside Higher Ed]
The Obama administration is promising to be more vigilant about civil rights in education, and will be conducting investigations of civil rights compliance in six unspecified colleges. [Chronicle of Higher Ed]

Marching To the Beat of an Activist’s Drum

Tommaso — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 18:12:14 EST

Guest Post by Christian Pittman, one of the stellar Advocacy Interns at Campus Progress.

This week more than 5000 Americans desperate for reform gathered in Washington D.C.’s Dupont Circle to march on the America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) conference at the Ritz-Carlton. This was a rally unlike those I’ve attended since the health care debacle began. In addition to sheer numbers (AP’s measly “dozens of health care activists” doesn’t even come close), it was organized to a tee. There were unions represented by their color-coordinated attire (the purple SIEU, the yellow UFCW, the green AFSCME) that marched down New Hampshire Avenue to the beat of theRhythm Workers Union. The drums weaved in and out of sync with the ever-changing chants, revealing an atmosphere more expected of a parade than a protest.

Same-Sex Couples Marry in D.C.

Kay — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 11:23:28 EST

Remember when I wrote about Angelisa Young and Sinjolya Townsend's plans to marry once it was legal in the District of Columbia? Via Think Progress, the first gay and lesbian couples are officially getting married in Washington, D.C. today after picking up thier marriage licenses. Young and Townsend's wedding is in the video below.

(Apologies for the poor sound quality.)

Campus Informer: Feminists Come Out at Harvard, Steve Coll Speaks at Cornell

Rebecca Foerg-Spittel — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 10:56:09 EST

Sorry about the delay today!

Harvard University opened “Feminist Coming Out Day,” sponsored by The Feminist Portrait Project, on Monday night in a gallery that featured portraits of campus feminists. [Harvard Crimson]
The president of the Yale College Council is working on a plan to rent council-owned phones and laptops to students for a week at a time in the contingency that a student's device breaks. [Yale Daily News]
Pulitzer prize-winner Steve Coll discussed international journalism and the truth about Osama Bin Laden at Cornell Monday. [Cornell Daily Sun]
A mechanical engineering major at Texas A&M and his sister won an Urban Dare race, which combines the need for speed and resourcefulness as racers follow a trail and solve clues throughout cities. [The Battalion]
Nell Painter, author of the new book, “The History of White People,” discussed the myth of “whiteness” at Brown University on Monday night. [Brown Daily Herald]

Stanley Fish: Bush Wasn't a Bad Prez, 'Cause I Say So

Jake Blumgart — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 09:40:12 EST

Stanley Fish has done it again. The bane of my college career has a new Times column up, and he proves still capable of making eloquently nonsensical arguments for the sheer sake of contrarianism.

Fish has always seemed to pride himself on the ability to deflate popular wisdom. Where there are heated emotions around a common consensus (particularly among people who may have actually heard of him, i.e. urban liberals) he has taken great delight in arguing the opposite side. Sometimes that has merits (see: his writings on the “war” between science and religion), but sometimes he does it just to do it. Today’s column on the merits of George W. Bush is a case in point.

Fish argues that W’s legacy is already being revived (just as the good professor predicted, natch). His proof? There is one billboard in Minnesota, that great bellwether state, along I-35, that great bellwether highway, with a picture of our ex-president asking “Miss Me Yet”? Also, Obama’s popularity is way down, because he hasn’t been able to keep all his campaign promises while constrained by an antimajoritarian Senate, a poisonously obstructionist political climate, the continuing fallout from a recession, and a ballooning deficit his predecessor created. Because of this completely unprecedented occurrence (that’s sarcasm, by the way, his numbers still edge out Reagan’s at this point is his presidency) people must now embrace the fact that Fish was right all along, um, I mean, that Bush wasn’t such a bad guy.

He contention that Bush-haters are “indistinguishable in temperament from the professional Obama-haters” is simply insupportable. Fish argues that things in Iraq may be looking up. Sure, compared to the last more-than-half-decade of carnage. No one knows how things will end up in Iraq, but there can be no doubt that George W. Bush sent this country to war on a lie. He sacrificed many thousands of American lives, and countless Iraqis, for a poorly planned, poorly executed mission with no coherent end goal. And that doesn't even touch on unneeded tax cuts for the rich or his disastrously unpopular plans to privatize Social Security. Or his abandonment of low-income Americans and middle income Americans, not to mention our mission in Afghanistan, any semblance of fiscal responsibility, and our most cherished ideals. The Obama-haters don’t like countercyclical spending and a healthcare plan they cheerily proposed in 1994. It’s not quite the same thing Fish, old boy. Better luck with the next column.