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The New York Times’ new columnist is a 29-year-old conservative named Ross Douthat. Ross was a columnist for the Harvard Crimson and a staffer (eventually editor) for the conservative Harvard Salient as an undergrad in the late ’90s and early 2000s, and Campus Progress has dug up some of his more … pungent writing. Here’s a taste, from an April 2001 Crimson column:
“If I really wanted to offend Harvard Asians, I might sit down and write an article in which I was, well, a tad critical of the Asian community. For instance, I might suggest that there was, let’s say, a slight trend toward ethnic self-segregation, or a slight proclivity for the sciences over the humanities among Asian-Americans. And I might, if I were so inclined (not that anyone would be), get downright nasty and suggest that a large chunk of these self-segregated, math-and-science types are self-absorbed, clannish and downright weird.”
Check out the whole rundown here.
Chas Freeman, the Obama nominee for chair of the National Intelligence Council has withdrawn his name from consideration. As we noted last week, Freeman once said this about China’s 1989 Tiananmen Square protests:
I do not believe it is acceptable for any country to allow the heart of its national capital to be occupied by dissidents intent on disrupting the normal functions of government, however appealing to foreigners their propaganda may be. Such folk, whether they represent a veterans’ “Bonus Army” or a “student uprising” on behalf of “the goddess of democracy” should expect to be displaced with despatch from the ground they occupy.
Freeman had come under heavy attack in recent days for his ties to Saudi Arabia and his criticisms of Israel, as well as his relationship with the Chinese government.
President Obama’s speech on education this morning provided few new details of his higher education agenda. He reiterated previously announced plans to raise Pell Grants, create a new tuition tax credit, expand direct lending for student loans, and simplify the FAFSA form, but — as far as I can tell — didn’t add any substantive new information about any of these proposals.
A transcript of the speech can be found here.
Quick updates on a bunch of stories we’ve been following…
- The University of North Carolina has become the twenty-first US campus to dump Russell Athletic in response to labor violations.
- A three-part analysis of the Power Shift 2009 conference: Background, Tactics, and The Future.
- A hundred NYU grad students held a “work-in” at Bobst Library yesterday afternoon.
- The economic crisis is leading students to transfer to cheaper colleges.
- Hillary Clinton has announced a million-dollar scholarship program for Palestinian students.
- President Obama will be providing major new details of his education plan at a speech this morning.
Hendrik Hertzberg blogs about Breach of Peace, a new book on the 1961 Freedom Riders. I was going to quote from his piece, but I kept cutting and pasting more and more of it, so go read what he has to say. It looks like an amazing book about an amazing moment in American history.
studentactivism.net 
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