Tag: University of Wisconsin-Madison

Pallo Jordan has no qualification

Comment was not immediately available on a Sunday Times report that senior member of the ANC and MP Pallo Jordan did not have the academic qualifications he claimed to have.

According to the publication, no evidence could be found that Jordan, who goes by the title ‘Dr’ has ever had an honorary doctorate bestowed on him.

Jordan has no degrees or diplomas from the University of Wisconsin-Madison or the London School of Economics (LSE), the two institutions cited on his CV.

He has no formal tertiary academic qualifications whatsoever, the publication reported.

The office of the registrar at LSE told the publication: “We can find no record of Zwelidinga Pallo Jordan having been awarded a PHD from the school.”

The newspaper said it had tried to get Jordan to confirm his qualifications but to avail.

The office of the student services registrar at the University of Wisconsin-Madison confirmed that Jordan did study there, but he obtained only 97 credits between September 16 1963 and February 24 1964 and never completed his degree, according to the newspaper.

The Sunday Times published a long exchange of text messages between Jordan and its journalist.

At one instance, Jordan promises to have the relevant documentation ready but it does not materialise.

Jordan later suggests the journalist could be his official biographer in exchange for not publishing the story.

At the end of the text messages, Jordan tell the journalist he would sue Times Media (owners of the Sunday Times).

“Tell me, does Tokyo (Sexwale) still own Times Media? I will not take an old friend to court, but I’ll take you to the cleaners, the dry cleaners plus the laundry!! So do what you wanna!!.”

Secretary of Parliament Baby Tyawa referred queries to the African National Congress.

“Parliament is not involved in that, he is a member of the ANC in Parliament. Parliament does not make requirements for a member to have a degree or PHD,” Tyawa said.

Comment from ANC spokesman Zizi Kodwa could not be obtained immediately.

The Government Communication and Information Services said it could not comment.

Jordan is a former minister of arts and culture, minister of environmental affairs, and minister of posts, telecommunications and broadcasting.

Source: Sapa

Diversity based grading

Historically underrepresented racial/ethnic” students be awarded ‘equitable’ grades to their counterparts, regardless

It sounds crazy on its face, but then again one comes to expect that from UW-Madison. But are they crazy enough to do race-based grading.

W. Lee Hansen, a professor emeritus of economics at UW-Madison wrote in an op-ed piece for the John William Hope Pope Center for Higher Education, a North Carolina-based think tank, about the latest “diversity” plan for the UW-System’s flagship school. The plan, completed in May, is your typical left-wing platitudes about commitments to “compositional diversity,” “equity mindedness” “representational equity” and other things for what has become a sacred cow to liberal academia.

But when you dig deeper into the definitions of these platitudes according to Hansen, you suddenly see that “representational equity” is being applied to levels never before seen.

Let us take a closer look at one of these working definitions included, namely “representational equity.”

It calls for “proportional participation of historically underrepresented racial-ethnic groups at all levels of an institution, including high status special programs, high-demand majors, and in the distribution of grades.”

We are not told exactly what adherence to this will entail. It appears to mean that directors of programs and departmental chairs will have to somehow ensure that they have a mix of students with just the right percentages of individuals who embody the various “differences” included in the definition of diversity. I cannot see how that is possible and even if it were, how it improves any student’s education.

Get all that?

UW-Madison’s diversity guidelines state that if a course, major or program is in high demand, special status must be given to ensure the make-up of the class (and thus those taking the major) is racially and ethnically diverse with “just the right percentages.” Meaning, it would be justifiable for a placement in hard-to-get-in classes and prerequisites for specific majors be awarded to students based sole on their race.

But it may be worse than that.

Especially shocking is the language about “equity” in the distribution of grades. Professors, instead of just awarding the grade that each student earns, would apparently have to adjust them so that academically weaker, “historically underrepresented racial/ethnic” students perform at the same level and receive the same grades as academically stronger students.

At the very least, this means even greater expenditures on special tutoring for weaker targeted minority students. It is also likely to trigger a new outbreak of grade inflation, as professors find out that they can avoid trouble over “inequitable” grade distributions by giving every student a high grade.

In short, the new diversity requirements seem to say that campus commitment to diversity is so important that the grading system itself must be sacrificed. This would mean, according to Hansen and others, an environment now exists where academic performance no longer matters. That for the diversity crowd, all that seems to be of value would be that “historically underrepresented racial/ethnic” students be awarded “equitable” grades to their counterparts, regardless.

If what Hansen is saying is true at UW-Madison, then it will be up to officials from the regents, to faculty, to parents and students, to begin questioning the mission statement of the university.

Are they still an institute of higher learning, or an institute of higher diversity?

Source: EAGnews.org