Ted Kaczynski, the Unabomber, lists himself in Harvard 1962 alumni report; says ‘awards’ include eight life sentences.–Boston Globe, May 23, 2012
Show your colors! Ted’s bespoke crimson prison garb.
When last Miss wrote about Al Gore, he was hoping to rekindle his college romance with Jenny Cavilleri, having just split with his long-suffering wife Tipper.
Apparently things with Jenny didn’t work out, because the Washington Post is reporting that the former vice president has a new squeeze, California cutie one Elizabeth Keadle.
Wisely, the new couple are taking their romance step-by-step. According to the Post, their first big date was a closely chaperoned affair, combining romance with saving the world. They spent it with an
eclectic group of experts and VIPs (Richard Branson, singer Jason Mraz, actor Tommy Lee Jones) on a trip to Antarctica in January to raise awareness of climate change.
I don’t know about you, but the thought of Al Gore making out on an iceberg with a 50ish divorcee raises my gorge, but not much else.
Native Antarctic seal ROFLIAO at the lovebirds.
Eco-friendly living in Rancho Santa Fe; the lights are on but nobody’s home.
I wish the couple well. Seems like they were made for each other.
Hey, Elizabeth: pucker up!
Presenting a new feature on Call Me “Miss”!
“When Faculty Speak for Themselves: Words that Will Live in Ignominy” will be an occasional feature, soon with its own page, that will let academics speak for themselves. To be fair, Miss will provide proper context for all quotations, as well as links to the source. Let’s get started!
Today’s ignominiologue is our old friend Laurie Essig. Professor Essig is a faculty member at Middlebury College and blogs regularly for The Chronicle of Higher Education, from which this gem was mined:
There is a constant struggle between the fact that full citizenship in the U.S. is granted to those who are married (with over 2,000 federal rights and privileges) even as the majority of Americans are unmarried (and yet still, no doubt, mostly living in familial relationships and in need of those rights and privileges for their own loved ones).
As a single woman I feel an urgent need to know what I am lacking, citizenship-wise. True, I do not have a boyfriend, girlfriend, or transfriend, but I always thought that was a social/emotional deficit, not a reason to question the 14th Amendment.
This charming portrait of Elizabeth Warren has a place of honor in her Cambridge wigwam.
Part I starts with the reigning queen of the academic double standard, Massachusetts’ own Professor-Politician Elizabeth Herring Warren Mann. Professor Warren/Mrs. Mann/Princess Ticklefeather has been much in the public eye lately as the most recent victim of recovered oppression syndrome (ROS) when it was revealed that she is (or maybe not) .03% Cherokee.* Like her noble ancestors the blond, blue-eyed redskin has endured the bows and arrows of prejudice simply because of her complexion. So it is not surprising to learn that she gratefully took a puff from the Affirmative Action peace pipe offered by the Great White Fathers at Harvard Law School, where, surprisingly, she was hired to teach rather than make rain.
Click here for a look at Professor Warren's students responding to her claims of minority status.
We all know that Elizabeth Warren is Heap Big Hypocrite. But what of the GWF’s at the Law School, whose contributions to the defense of affirmative action policies, not to mention the substance of such policies, at colleges and universities across this great albeit stolen land of ours have been instrumental in shaping the landscape of higher education for decades? The magnitude of hypocrisy achieved by these academics is beyond astonishing. While the rest of the academy struggles mightily first to qualify minority students to join the professoriate, then to hire faculty of color, who understandably come at a premium many institutions can ill afford, the good folks at Harvard decide that Princess Paleface qualifies as an “affirmative action” hire. Voila! I can hear them now, “Faculty of color? Elizabeth is kind of pinkish, when she remembers her blusher.” No muss. No fuss. No minorities.
I wonder what the Great White Fathers will think when they get wind of Professor Warren’s plans for casino gambling on Brattle Street. Who knows? Maybe they’ll do the right thing and vote for Scott Brown.
No longer able to live the white man’s lie at Harvard, Princess Paleface makes tracks for the Charles River, where her blood brothers will aid in her escape.
It doesn’t happen very often, but when it does, it’s only fair that Miss takes note. Thanks to a mention in the Chronicle of Philanthropy, The Presidents’ Pledge came to my attention, and I could not be more impressed with what I learned.
Some 28 college and university presidents (current and retired) have agreed to donate a portion of their income to charities that fight poverty at home and abroad:
The Presidents’ Pledge Against Global Poverty is an initiative of current and former college and university presidents who are leaders in the fight against extreme global poverty.
These higher education leaders annually pledge five percent or more of their personal income to organizations that address the causes or effects of poverty in their communities and in countries across the globe.
Each president who participates in The Presidents’ Pledge makes this commitment as a tangible way to serve the public good, to inspire greater giving and resolve, and to spark action that alleviates global poverty.
Presidents’ Pledge participants give directly to organizations of their choosing. At least half of individual contributions are given to fund international projects; up to half of giving may be designated for anti-poverty causes in the U.S.
The presidents who have signed on to the pledge represent a broad spectrum of higher education; some are from elite institutions, others from more humble campuses. Thanks to my long career I know several of these individuals personally; and I recognize the names of many more, because over the years they have been true leaders in a field where leadership is all too often found wanting.
I confess that when I read the Presidents’ Pledge I felt the stirrings of admiration for college presidents, a feeling that has taken a beating in my emotional repertoire over the past few years. What’s important–and what gets me all misty-eyed–is that this group of academic CEOs are walking the walk on a path they are always asking others to travel. Any president will tell you that raising money for her institution is the most important thing she does. And due to the sorry state of financing in higher education today, she’s right.
One of the drivers of ferocious tuition bills, however, has been the bloated compensation packages college and university presidents and vice presidents demand–using of course the specious argument that they’d be worth that and more “in the private sector.” Uh-huh.
So it warms the heart to see some in this privileged cohort giving back. It’s a wonderful example to set for students and alums.
Late under indictment for felony, Professors Julie Jacko and Francois Sainfort have concluded their four-year flirtation with possible hard time by waving the victory flag.
The assistant attorney general for Georgia accepted a guilty plea from Professor Sainfort on a single count, in exchange for dropping charges against his wife Julie and the third member of their little crime family, Julie’s brother Robert. The Professor “pleaded guilty on Monday to making false statements related to his simultaneous, full-time employment,” according to the Chronicle of Higher Education.
Professor Jacko faints in relief as hubby Francois fills her in on the plea deal.
You may be asking yourself how, if Professor Sainfort pleaded guilty, this outcome could be viewed as a victory. Well, because the blot on the reputations of the two professors is pretty hard to see: they appear to be keeping their jobs-for-life at the University of Minnesota (you know, the full-time positions they started collecting paychecks for while still picking up same for same at Georgia Tech); Julie’s dodged the bullet entirely, and, courtesy of “Georgia’s First Offender Act[,] Sainfort’s guilty plea [will] be dismissed if he successfully completes five years of probation,” according to the Twin Cities Star Tribune. Soiled reputation notwithstanding, Sainfort’s real victory comes where it counts most to him and his greedy wife: the pocketbook.
Let Greg Lohmeier, Georgia’s assistant attorney general, tell the rest of the story, again courtesy of the Star Tribune:
“This was, always, a policy violation,” Lohmeier said. “The question became, OK, how is this a criminal case? That was one of the things we struggled with.”
Georgia Tech has agreed to accept the amount being ordered in restitution [$43,578] as settlement of any remaining claims, said a university spokesman.
Sainfort also had “a viable claim” against Georgia Tech for about $40,000 in unpaid vacation leave — close to the amount ordered in restitution, which was based on what he owed for improperly billing travel expenses, Lohmeier said. “Given the amounts involved,” he said, “we just called it a wash.”
Gotta love those hard-working professors and their enablers. Sainfort gets to apply his contested “vacation pay” towards his “restitution” to Georgia Tech.
The Sainfort-Jacko family is celebrating their victory by building a charming new folly on their lawn.
I do not believe there is any truth to the rumor that Sainfort and Jacko are contemplating suing the University of Minnesota for vacation pay earned while they were pulling down two (make that four) paychecks. But perhaps they should do just that. Afterall, when you are working full time on two campuses approximately 1200 miles apart, you don’t have time to take vacation. So you should be compensated, n’est-ce pas?
Academics can be full of surprises. Just when you are about to write off the lot of them as pompous and often criminally inclined boors whose bloated prose only a Judith Butler could love, they redeem themselves with a bit of self-aware mockery.
Wags at the University of Chicago have come up with nifty computer program that will write an entire scholarly essay for you.
University of Chicago Professor Lewis explains the sentence generator.
Fun, isn’t it? Until you remember the tens of thousands of tenured faculty whose jobs-for-life are predicated on that argot. Try not to lose your lunch.
For those of you yet to get the hang of the University of Chicago’s sentence-generator, read the passage below:
The trans policy committee is sorry to announce that Kate Bornstein is sick and is not able to make her performance of Men Women and the Rest of Us tonight at 7pm in the [gym]. We are working to reschedule Kate’s performance, and meanwhile are arranging for a Gender Speak Out in the faculty lounge…from 7-9. In this space, we hope to center lived experience of gender oppression at [Liberal Arts College USA]. Cisgender people (those who are comfortable with the gender societally aligned with the sex they were assigned at birth), are welcome and encouraged to attend. It may be beneficial to have a passing familiarity with transphobia and cissexism.
The most famous cisters of all.
