Higher Education

Journalism Prof Who Wished Death on NRA Members' Kids Won't Return to Classroom This Year
By Ken Shepherd | October 25, 2013 | 2:30 PM EDT

"The chancellor of the University of Kansas announced Thursday that a journalism professor suspended over a tweet that angrily targeted the National Rifle Association after the Navy Yard shootings will not return to his classroom in 2013," John Milburn of the Associated Press reported yesterday. "[David] Guth will be given nonclassroom assignments, including service and administrative duties, which will be completed away from the Lawrence campus as much as possible. The decision is effective Friday," Milburn added later in his article, noting that KU's administration made the decision out of a concern for guarding against a disruption of the "learning environment" on the Lawrence, Kansas, campus. [h/t my colleague Dan Gainor]

Guth, you will recall, angrily tweeted a death wish on the children of NRA members, as well as his wish that God would "damn" gun-rights advocates who oppose more gun control legislation. You will also recall that Guth stubbornly doubled-down on his statements when given the chance to recant by Campus Reform reporter Katherine Timpf.

Walter E. Williams Column: Left-wing Professors Love to Hate Our Country
By Walter E. Williams | October 25, 2013 | 10:47 AM EDT

As I've documented in the past, many leftist teachers teach our youngsters to hate our country. For example, University of Hawaii Professor Haunani-Kay Trask counseled her students, "We need to think very, very clearly about who the enemy is. The enemy is the United States of America and everyone who supports it." Some universities hire former terrorists to teach and indoctrinate students. Kathy Boudin, former Weather Underground member and convicted murderer, is on the Columbia University School of Social Work's faculty. Her Weather Underground comrade William Ayers teaches at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Bernardine Dohrn, his wife, is a professor at Northwestern University School of Law. Her stated mission is to overthrow capitalism.

America's domestic haters have international company. 24/7 Wall St. published an article titled "Ten Countries That Hate America Most." The list includes Serbia, Greece, Iran, Algeria, Egypt and Pakistan. Ranking America published an article titled "The U.S. ranks 3rd in liking the United States."  Using data from the Pew Global Attitudes Project, it finds that just 79 percent of Americans in 2011 had a favorable view of Americans, compared with Japan and Kenya, which had 85 and 83 percent favorable views, respectively. Most European nations held a 60-plus percent favorable view of Americans, compared with countries such as Egypt, Pakistan and Turkey, with less than 20 percent favorable views.

Henry Louis Gates: End Affirmative Action For Affluent African-Americans
By Mark Finkelstein | October 22, 2013 | 9:18 AM EDT

For all his accomplishments, Henry Louis Gates might be doomed to being best remembered as the man whose arrest led to the "Beer Summit." But the Harvard prof had something surprising to say on today's Morning Joe: Gates questioned the need for affirmative action for affluent African-Americans, saying instead such programs should seek to help poor people, regardless of race.

Gates made the personal political, citing the case of his own two daughters, whom Gates described as having a "privileged" life."Do they really need to benefit from affirmative action?", asked Gates rhetorically.  View the video after the jump.

Journalism Prof. Defends David Guth; He Simply Chose 'Wrong Shooting' to Argue His Point
By Ken Shepherd | September 24, 2013 | 7:21 PM EDT

According to one Christopher Lamb, Kansas University professor David Guth is simply guilty of choosing "the wrong shooting to criticize the NRA." What's more, insists Lamb, Guth -- who, you may recall, wished damnation and death on NRA members and their children, respectively -- was a victim of the breezy nature of Twitter, which is prone to "misinterpretations" because of its "140-character" limit.

Lamb, a journalism professor at Indiana University-Indianapolis, made those arguments at the liberal Huffington Post site Sunday afternoon (h/t Dan Gainor; emphases mine):

Twitter Account of KU Prof Now on Leave Over Wishing Death on NRA Members' Children Has Been Deleted
By Tom Blumer | September 21, 2013 | 10:34 AM EDT

On Thursday, Ken Shepherd at NewsBusters noted that Kansas University journalism professor David Guth, in the wake of Monday's Navy Yard murders, tweeted, "The blood is on the hands of the #NRA. Next time, let it be YOUR sons and daughters. Shame on you. May God damn you." In an update which now also includes a defense of Guth by a former student, Ken noted that he has placed on administrative leave. Yesterday, I noted that the headline at the Associated Press's national site after Guth's suspension ("KU Professor Takes Heat Over Twitter Comment") avoided mentioning KU's discliplinary action against him. Perhaps in response to my post yesterday, the AP has changed the headline in stories with later time stamps to "KU Professor on Leave After Tweet Directed at NRA." But AP's updates still relay information about certain Kansas legislators' campaign contributions from gun rights groups — as if they're at all relevant.

In the wake of his placement on leave, Guth told AP, in the wire service's words, that "gun rights advocates had orchestrated a social media campaign against him," while asserting in his own words that "my plan is to be the calm in the center of the storm." Part of that "calm" apparently involves keeping others from digging into his Twitter history, because it's gone:

AP Headline Whitewashes KU Prof's Placement on Leave Over Wishing Sons and Daughters of NRA Members Dead
By Tom Blumer | September 20, 2013 | 3:53 PM EDT

The Associated Press, in story carried at Channel 6 in Lawrence, reported (HT Twitchy) that a Kansas University professor has been "placed on administrative leave" after he issued the following tweet concerning Monday's Navy Yard murders: "The blood is on the hands of the #NRA. Next time, let it be YOUR sons and daughters. Shame on you. May God damn you." A NewsBusters post by Ken Shepherd yesterday, since updated to note his placement on leave, noted that Guth is an avid gun-grabbing advocate and that his Twitter account links to KU.

The AP apparently wants those who peruse its national site to skip their story on Guth. The item's headline belongs in the "this is boring, don't waste your time" wing of the Journalism Hall of Shame:

UPDATED: Former Student Responds; Guth Suspended | KU Journalism Prof Defends Death-wish Tweets Directed at NRA Members' Kids
By Ken Shepherd | September 19, 2013 | 4:30 PM EDT

Update #2 (Sept. 20; 5:43 p.m. EDT): A former student of Prof. Guth's, who says he's a conservative and NRA member, emailed me to object to my characterization of his former instructor. See below the page break for his email, which he assented for me to publish, with his name redacted.

Update #1 (Sept. 20; 12:55 p.m. EDT): Kansas University has put Guth on administrative leave. Read Kat Timpf's story at Campus Reform here. |

An unrepentant David Guth doubled down on his hateful tweets wishing death and damnation on NRA members and their children, Katherine Timpf of Campus Reform reported this afternoon.*  "#NavyYardShooting The blood is on the hands of the #NRA. Next time, let it be YOUR sons and daughters. Shame on you. May God damn you," the Kansas University journalism professor tweeted on Monday afternoon.

Responding to Campus Reform, Guth refused to recant. "Hell no, hell no, I do not regret that Tweet.... I don't take it back one bit," Timpf quoted him as saying. For now, at least, Kansas University is standing by Guth (Twitter handle: @DWGuth):

Rangel: ‘There Is No Reason Why a Young Person Should Have to Pay for College’
By Noel Sheppard | August 22, 2013 | 4:39 PM EDT

President Obama made some proposals Thursday about how we can reduce college costs around the country.

Speaking about this on MSNBC’s Martin Bashir show hours later, Congressman Charlie Rangel (D-N.Y.) actually said, and I quote, “There is no reason why a young person should have to pay for college.”

NYT Op-Ed Economist Astonished That North Carolina Is 39th Richest State, 'Yet' 12th in 'Children Living in Poverty'
By Tom Blumer | July 16, 2013 | 1:07 AM EDT

Whatever they're paying Teresa Ghilarducci, who is "the Bernard L. and Irene Schwartz chair of economic policy analysis at the New School for Social Research," it's too much.

The bolded sentences seen after the jump which Ms. Ghilarducci included in a Friday New York Times op-ed (HT "Mungowitz" at the "Kids Prefer Cheese" blog via Megan McArdle) makes my contention an open and shut case (bolds are mine throughout this post):

CNN's Cuomo Calls Out House GOP, Tries to Shame Congress Into Lowering Student Loan Rates
By Matt Hadro | July 10, 2013 | 4:07 PM EDT

CNN's New Day continued its advocacy for Congress to "fix" student loan rates, on Tuesday and Wednesday, instead of asking why the House and Senate differ on the solutions and addressing the larger debate about rising tuition costs.

Co-host Chris Cuomo lectured House Republicans in particular. "The Republicans say education matters also," he called out the GOP on Tuesday's New Day. When co-host Kate Bolduan noted that the House GOP passed a bill in May indexing student loan rates to Treasury note rates, it wasn't good enough for Cuomo. "I know. But I mean, look at the rates. You've got to put the rates back, right?" he insisted.

ABC News Spins: GOP 'Perfectly Content' to Watch Student Loan Rates Double
By Andrew Lautz | July 9, 2013 | 1:10 PM EDT

ABC News’s John Parkinson parroted liberal talking points on student loan rates Monday, claiming the GOP “seemed perfectly content to watch rates double” while Democrats prepped a Wednesday vote in the Senate to keep rates at 3.4 percent.

In an online article, Parkinson pitted the “unrelenting” Democratic Party against a gleefully partisan GOP, apparently buying into Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) vicious attacks on Republican lawmakers over the issue.

Advocacy: CNN Begs Congress to 'Fix' Student Loan Rate Hike
By Matt Hadro | July 8, 2013 | 5:48 PM EDT

In a show of advocacy and not journalism, CNN skirted the policy details of the student loans debate and instead just paddled Congress for letting the loan rates double, on Monday's New Day.

Co-hosts Kate Bolduan and Chris Cuomo begged Congress to "fix" the student loan rate increase that automatically went into effect on July 1. They dubbed it the "'Come on Congress' campaign." Cuomo scolded Congress: "This student loans thing, we want to be on it just about every day. They can fix it. They know it was a mistake. You can't compromise education in the country, not this way."