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Educators on Obama Ed Plan: Disappointed, Not Surprised

Colleen Flaherty Inside Higher Education
Many faculty advocates say Obama’s plan for higher education consists of a patchwork of conservative and liberal policies that fall far short of pleasing everyone -- or, depending on one’s opinion, anyone. More importantly, they said, the plan focuses on certain measurable student outcomes -- such as graduation rates -- but would do little to ensure actual student learning.

The Media and Chelsea Manning's New Gender: Two Takes

What is the best way to use pronouns in reporting on a transgender person, according to GLAAD and AP? Which media outlets did a good job with pronouns reporting on Bradley/Chelsea Manning? Wikipedia handled the revision of their entry swiftly and with little controversy. But in other media, the picture was decidedly more mixed.

When Comedy Went to School

The documentary When Comedy Went to School tells the story of the Borscht Belt as an escape for Jewish immigrants and a laboratory of American comedy. Opens on July 31 in select theaters

Richie Havens at Woodstock

Richie Havens was the opening performer at Woodstock in 1969, and this was his first song. Havens died in April this year, and his ashes were scattered at Woodstock this week in a ceremony attended by over 1,000 people.

Friday Nite Videos -- August 23, 2013

Portside
A New Generation of Civil Rights Fighters. The Story of Gershwin, Harlem and the Blues. Deport the Statue of Liberty. Cracking the Codes: A Trip to the Grocery Store. When Comedy Went to School. Richie Havens at Woodstock (in memoriam).

Saving Worker Education!

Gerald Horne Portside
The Graduate Center for Worker Education was a beacon of hope and ascendency for working class students seeking intellectual challenges, social advocacy and professional advancement. So I was shocked and dismayed to learn about the closing of the GCWE by Brooklyn College President Karen Gould, following a stream of attacks against the Center's working students, faculty, and staff.

Egypt - Two Views on Recent Events

Carl Finamore; John Haylett
Last month's removal by the army of the Mohammed Morsi government and the subsequent bloody dispersal of Muslim Brotherhood camps in Cairo have provoked contradictory emotions about the situation in Egypt. This is the second time in as many years that the generals have acted. In both cases, it was unparalleled, insurrectionary-like mobilizations prompting them to strategically head off boundless anger against two discredited rulers in a row.

The 1963 March on Washington Then and Now

Martin Bennett and Fred Glass Beyond Chron
The `new majority' of youth, minority, gay and lesbian, women, labor, and immigrant voters is the foundation of a new March on Washington coalition. A contemporary civil rights movement that incorporates immigrant rights, climate justice, reproductive rights, & marriage equality may converge with a revitalized labor movement committed to organizing low-wage, youth, and immigrant workers - to once again bring pressure from below to usher in a new era of progressive reform