Suffolk University Law School graduates gave Abraham H. Foxman a standing ovation after his inspiring account of his transformation from growing up as a Jewish boy in Nazi-occupied Poland to becoming a crusader against hatred and injustice as national director of the Anti-Defamation League.
He fought fire with fire.
Foxman had come under fire from some students who sought to block him from speaking at the university and accused him of opposing US recognition of the 1915 Armenian massacre as genocide and an effort to build an Islamic community center and mosque near the World Trade Center, which ultimately failed.
At the end of his 15-minute speech Saturday afternoon at Citi Performing Arts Center, Foxman acknowledged the Armenian genocide, and said he has always considered the estimated 1.5 million deaths to be genocide.
“Had there been people of courage in 1915 when the Armenian genocide was happening [and] had there been international intervention in massacres in Cambodia, Bosnia, and the genocide in Rwanda when they were happening, innocent lives would have been saved,” Foxman told the graduates.
“If the ADL now supports the pending Congressional resolution, this would truly be a courageous act against injustice,” said Anthony Barsamian, a 1990 Suffolk Law School graduate and member of the Armenian Assembly of America, in a statement.
In an interview, Foxman said he has long articulated the belief in public statements and on the league’s website.
“It’s nothing new,’’ Foxman said. “I’ve said it before. People don’t want to listen.”
Nope. Haven't I made it obvious. Of course, were I one of the elite of Bo$ton for whom this of and for, I would like reading this. So I'm not complaining. Sitting in my seat, waiting for the next the pompous ass to start his 15-minute (hopefully) spew.
In a statement on the site, Foxman wrote: “Because questions continue to be raised about the Anti-Defamation League’s position on the Armenian genocide, we want to make clear that as we said in August 2008, ADL recognizes the Armenian genocide.”
Foxman also said, in response to critics, that while he supports the right to build a mosque, he questions whether it was wise to consider building a large one near the World Trade Center, which he said some victims have called their cemetery.
Before launching into his speech, Foxman hit back at critics who tried to block him as a graduation speaker, saying he had a right to speak and lauding the university’s refusal “to be bullied or intimidated” by those who oppose his views.
Foxman later explained that he was addressing a troubling pattern of graduation speakers bowing out after facing criticism from faculty or students who dislike their positions.
Foxman cited Christine Lagarde, the first woman to head the International Monetary Fund, and Condoleeza Rice, former secretary of state. Largarde canceled her speech at Smith College after facing IMF protests, and Rice, under fire over the Iraq war, bowed out at Rutgers University.
“There is a phenomenon happening in this country that I think goes against everything that academia represents, which is freedom of speech and freedom of expression,’’ Foxman said. “But if somebody decides what opinion you will hear . . . that’s not freedom of speech. That’s intimidation.”
OMG! Whine, whine!
Suffolk, which had 467 graduates Saturday, awarded Foxman and four others honorary degrees, including US Senator Edward J. Markey, who received an honorary doctorate in public service.
Time to say farewell, hopefully to both.
In Lowell, at the University of Massachusetts campus, scientist Bill Nye struck a hopeful note for scientific achievement, urging graduates to seek out the joy of discovery and find solutions to today’s dramatic population and climate shifts.
“We are now deep in the most serious environmental crisis in human history,” Nye said at Tsongas Center. “I believe you all can avoid disaster.”
Pffffffffft!
How odd that two issues I'm scrapping for the most part -- education because it's a $elf-$erving in$tutition of indoctrination and inculcation, and environment because it's agenda-pu$hing fart mi$t in the face of Fukushima, etc, etc --
Nye said a challenging political atmosphere is hindering environmental progress, and he beseeched graduates to reject conspiracy theorists’ assertions about climate change.
(Blog editor smiles while sitting quietly; one thing I did learn in college was to think for myself, thanks to the literature classes. I liked those stories)
At at Benjamin Franklin Institute of Technology in Boston on Saturday morning, Mayor Martin J. Walsh captivated graduates with his personal story of overcoming cancer, alcoholism, and poor choices to triumph as a state representative and now the mayor of Boston....
Oh, yeah, him.
--more--"
Related:
Walsh's Welcome to City Hall
Slumming With the Boston Globe
Treating you kids good is he?
Old plans won’t work in Boston’s emerging downtown
Bowdoin-Geneva back in the spotlight
5 office buildings in Cambridge, Boston get $2.1b
BRA board backs 6 percent employee pay raise
As they close the heroin clinic and turn it over to.... Bain?
Walsh's World
Let's get back there:
"Mayor Walsh received $1.4m in gifts for gala, transition; 54 contributors, many doing business with city, paid lion’s share of the cost" by Andrew Ryan | Globe Staff May 19, 2014
Mayor Martin J. Walsh received $1.4 million in private donations for his inauguration and transition as he swept into City Hall, with most of the contributions coming from corporations, developers, lobbyists, and others who do business with the city.
Related: Walsh Leaves Labor Off Inaugural Guest List
He hasn't let you in yet (firefighters and cops are already inside).
Conscious that the festivities would set a tone for his new administration, Walsh established limits.
They $ure did.
He used no tax dollars for the January inauguration, and he barred money from political action committees and organized labor, although unions hosted a private reception for the new mayor at an inauguration night gala.
Gotta keep you behind closed doors and in the closet.
The new administration suggested a cap of $25,000 for donors and voluntarily disclosed all contributions and expenditures when requested by The Boston Globe. In an interview, Walsh said that it did not pose a conflict to accept money from companies with interests before the city and that he did not “make one phone call” soliciting donations.
“Honestly, if you asked me today to name five people who gave money for my inauguration, I couldn’t tell you. And that’s a true story,” Walsh said. “I’m going to base my mayoralship on what’s right for the people of Boston, and I’m not going to compromise it for anything or anybody.”
If you $ay $o.
Critics suggested that the issue was not just the money. Big donors got special access to Walsh. The inaugural gala had an exclusive reception separate from the main ballroom. A VIP room was set up for friends, family, and donors who gave at least $15,000. A Walsh spokeswoman said that the inaugural gala became a free-for-all and that no one was barred from the VIP room. A Globe reporter was not able to gain access to the VIP room.
His first lie as mayor?
No big deal.
Some government watchdogs lauded Walsh for releasing the list of contributors and expenses but said his maximum donation level was set too high. A $25,000 check from a developer or company needing permits or other approvals from City Hall can give the appearance of a quid pro quo, said Pamela Wilmot, executive director of government watchdog Common Cause Massachusetts.
“Every inaugural has the same issue,” Wilmot said. “It creates a political climate where the wealthy and influential do very well and average citizens lose out.”
Top donors to Walsh’s inauguration and transition included Related Beal, a major real estate firm and developer building a complex at Lovejoy Wharf that will include headquarters for Converse Inc., 100 residences, retail stores, and a public park. Robert L. Beal, the company’s president, said its $25,000 contribution was “absolutely not” an effort to curry favor with the administration.
“I don’t look at it as a political contribution,” Beal said. “I look at it as helping Boston celebrate the transition.”
Related: What's The Big Beal?
Another top contributor was Comcast, which gave $25,000; a lobbying firm that represents the cable giant donated $5,000 more. As mayor, Walsh has regulatory control over the rates Comcast charges for basic cable. In a statement, Comcast said that as with previous inaugurals, the cable giant “is just one of many companies that contributed to the mayor’s inaugural fund.”
Related: Canceling Comcast
I didn't; it's the net neutrality rules that may be the problem.
Walsh also received $25,000 from Telecommunications Insight Group, a government relations firm. The firm’s clients include Verizon; Van Wagner, an outdoor advertising firm that sells space on Hubway bicycle sharing stations; and Commonwealth Ventures, a developer building two hotels across from the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center.
Paul C. Trane of Telecommunications Insight said his firm donated because he has known Walsh for 20 years.
“We represent some large corporations, so I’m sure at some point we’ll have some interaction with the administration,” Trane said. “But this is really about as a friend and an adviser, you want the term to start off in the right way.”
Governor Deval Patrick faced criticism in 2007 when he raised $1.9 million for his inauguration, mostly from corporations, law firms, developers, and others who do business with the state.
In other words, that is just the way Ma$$achu$etts government works.
Walsh raised $133,600 to pay for his transition and almost $1.3 million for the inauguration, which included three days of events and was likely the most expensive inauguration in Boston history.
“It does raise the question both for the governor and the mayor: Do inaugurations really have to be that lavish, requiring that amount of funds?” said Samuel R. Tyler, who served on Walsh’s transition and is president of the Boston Municipal Research Bureau, a fiscal watchdog funded by businesses and nonprofit institutions.
Walsh said his inaugural “wasn’t extravagant” but was a fitting celebration for Boston’s first new mayor in 20 years. Nearly 8,000 people attended both the inaugural and the evening gala, Walsh said, giving campaign volunteers a chance to commemorate what they had accomplished.
“I think it’s important for the position of mayor, whether it is Marty Walsh or someone else,” Walsh said. “Assuming I get reelected, the next inauguration will probably be much smaller scale. But this is the first time in 20 years.”
Records from former mayor Thomas M. Menino’s first inauguration in 1993 are no longer available, the Globe has reported. In 2005, when Menino won his fourth term, he raised more than $500,000 from 65 donors to pay for an inauguration that included a gala at the Boston Public Library.
Almost 1,400 donors contributed to Walsh’s inauguration. But nearly two-thirds of the cost was covered by just 54 contributors. Fifteen donors gave the maximum $25,000, including seven developers, real estate firms, or institutions with major projects in Boston; a liquor distributor based in Randolph; and a company run by Dennis Kraez, who also operates Super Duck Tours sightseeing.
“The last administration was very good for the city, but if you didn’t happen to be one of his favorites, it could be a problem,” said Kraez, who added he has not met the new mayor. “There was a change. We wanted to recognize the change and congratulate Marty.”
Other donations included $10,000 from McDermott, Quilty & Miller, a law firm with a specialty representing clients seeking liquor licenses. A $10,000 contribution came from the Boston Red Sox, whose principal owner, John W. Henry, is owner of The Boston Globe.
Maybe that's why the Globe hack didn't make a big deal of being $u$hed away from the VIP room.
Another $5,000 came from Donoghue, Barrett & Singal, a legal and lobbying firm whose clients have included the Massachusetts Medical Marijuana Association, McDonald’s restaurants, and the International Council of Shopping Centers.
Then that NEEDS TO BE RETURNED given Marty's stand against "substance abuse."
Now if you will excuse me, I need to get the the heroin clinic. Whadda ya' mean it's closed?!!!!
McDermott, Quilty & Miller and Donoghue, Barrett & Singal did not return messages seeking comment. The Red Sox declined to comment.
Didn't take it to the top floor and the bo$$?
Matthew A. Cahill, executive director of the Boston Finance Commission, said Walsh’s inauguration marked the ascent of Boston’s first new mayor in two decades and people deserved an opportunity to celebrate. The administration wisely did not use taxpayer money, Cahill said, and was right to disclose all donations and expenditures.
Okay, fine, but was booze served because Marty is an alcoholic.
“Making sure it’s public knowledge keeps everyone more honest,” said Cahill, whose commission is an independent city watchdog. “There should be extra care taken to make sure there is no quid pro quo.”
Can you send that memo to Washington D.C. please.
Events included a youth summit, a brunch for seniors, an interfaith service at Old South Church, a swearing-in ceremony at Boston College, and an inaugural ball at the Hynes Veterans Memorial Convention Center. Thirty people were on the inauguration’s payroll, many of whom worked on Walsh’s campaign and have since joined him at City Hall.
The inaugural committee spent $242,500 on food for the inaugural ball; $130,000 to pay BC for use of Conte Forum for the swearing-in; and hundreds of thousands of dollars for entertainment, event planners, and other costs.
Colette Phillips, a public relations executive, was paid $19,200 to produce the inauguration’s youth summit. In March, Phillips honored Walsh as a “diversity game changer” at a gala. Phillips said there was no connection between her pay from the inauguration and the award for Walsh.
I don't want to $poil the party so I'm not saying anything.
Walsh earned recognition, Phillips said, because he diversified the police command staff and hired people of color to three top city positions.
“The mayor got that award because of what he did in the first month,” Phillips said.
See:
More time sought to pick Boston superintendent
NEXT DAY UPDATE: Interim schools chief gets glowing reviews, but don’t ask him to stay
Not for lunch anyway.
Mayors from Boston, Cape Verde pledge cooperation
Minority sergeants urged for Boston police
I suppose the stereotype is they are never happy.
Like most new mayors, Walsh created a transition committee. The transition raised $133,600 from 22 donors. The Boston Foundation contributed $25,000 and gave $5,000 to the inauguration. The other $25,000 donor was Patrick J. O’Sullivan, owner of Perfectionist Painters, a painting company in Brighton. Walsh said he did not know O’Sullivan, who did not respond to a call seeking comment.
The city spent roughly $30,000 on office space for Walsh’s transition team, and the private donations paid salaries and covered costs for consultants and public meetings.
The paid staff included roughly 12 people, more than half of whom worked on Walsh’s campaign and joined the city payroll when Walsh took office Jan. 6.
--more--"
Time to let someone else talk:
"Mere disagreements no excuse to dump graduation speakers" May 17, 2014
The poet Robert Frost once called college “a refuge from hasty judgment.” What it’s not is a refuge from all contrary opinions. This year, there’s been a disturbing pattern of commencement speakers bowing out under pressure from students and faculty who simply dislike their views. Christine Lagarde, the first woman to head the International Monetary Fund, was supposed to speak at Smith College, but nearly 500 people signed an online petition asserting that the IMF is a “primary culprit” in pushing “imperialist and patriarchal systems that oppress and abuse women worldwide.” Lagarde pulled out earlier this week, as she put it in a statement, “to preserve the celebratory spirit of commencement day.” Also this week, Robert Birgeneau, former chancellor of the University of California Berkeley, declined his commencement address invitation at Haverford College outside Philadelphia after some students and faculty condemned his handling of campus protests in 2011.
These incidents followed the withdrawal earlier this month of former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as commencement speaker at Rutgers, after student protests and a faculty council resolution denouncing her role in the Iraq war. Similar complaints prompted the withdrawal of former Bush administration official and World Bank president Robert Zoellick from speaking at Swarthmore College. In all cases, would-be speakers were shooed away for their views on issues about which reasonable people can disagree.
According to an informal tally by the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, the number of withdrawals is rising. More liberal speakers have attracted protests, too: President Obama spoke at at Notre Dame in 2009 despite protests over his prochoice stance; Anna Maria College withdrew an invitation to Victoria Reggie Kennedy in 2012 over the prochoice and progay marriage positions that she shared with her late husband, Senator Edward M. Kennedy. But it’s notable that most of the recent withdrawals have been forced by left-leaning factions on campuses priding themselves on diversity.
It’s far better for students to counter speech with more speech. Instead, on the very day students are launched into the “real world,” a vocal minority would prefer to fend off speakers who’ve struggled with the complexity and contradictions that come with any high-level career.
No matter what one thinks about developing countries’ debt or Bush-era foreign policy, Lagarde and Rice have instructive stories to tell — including about their climbs to power against gender or racial barriers. Birgeneau’s withdrawal deprives Haverford students of a fuller narrative, one that includes him securing a large donation to increase financial aid for undocumented students. Students and faculty who censor commencement speakers may win silence for a day. But they lose much more.
Sorry, but I've had enough of their narratives and am not losing much by skipping it.
--more--"
Related: Open season on free speech
Also see: Breakfast Buffett
I'm proud of the kids, and the elite complying only confirms it. We are looking at the remnants of Occupy still sounding off.
"College speaker calls students immature, arrogant" | Associated Press May 19, 2014
HAVERFORD, Pa. — A commencement speaker on Sunday blasted college students as ‘‘immature’’ and ‘‘arrogant’’ for protesting another speaker who then decided to withdraw.
William Bowen, former president of Princeton University, used his commencement speech at Haverford College outside Philadelphia to criticize students who campaigned against Robert Birgeneau, former chancellor of the University of California, Berkeley.
Birgeneau is among several commencement speakers who canceled appearances this spring amid student protests.
More than 40 students and three professors had protested Birgeneau’s invitation to speak, objecting to his handling of a 2011 incident at Berkeley in which police used force at a student protest during the Occupy movement.
It was the infamous incident and photograph that showed a security officer pepper-spraying a young woman.
The group wanted Birgeneau to apologize, support payments for victims, and write a letter to Haverford students explaining his position on the events and ‘‘what you learned from them.’’ Birgeneau refused those demands and others in a terse e-mail.
That's a nice touch from the kids; make 'em do something they would make you do.
Bowen chastised students in his speech for driving Birgeneau away. Bowen also said Birgeneau had ‘‘responded intemperately, failing to make proper allowance for the immature, and, yes, arrogant inclinations of some protesters.’’
He called Birgeneau’s withdrawal a defeat for the school. His remarks drew a standing ovation.
That's why I don't care about you kids anymore. You are partners in your own demise. Have you opened that student loan payment yet?
--more--"
Since he mentioned arrogance:
"Patrick advised BU graduates to connect" by Joshua Miller | Globe Staff May 18, 2014
Governor Deval Patrick stood before thousands of graduates at Boston University Sunday and urged them not to allow the swift currents of modernity to keep them from truly connecting with other people.
Look up from the smartphone and the tablet, the endless texts and tweets, he exhorted, and engage with other people, face-to-face, being fully present.
Tell my friends!
“Real human connection, the nuance of empathy and understanding, is often more gradual and elongated than Twitter,” Patrick told the more than 6,800 graduates and some 25,000 guests seated at Nickerson Field. “It requires intimacy.”
Boston University’s commencement was one of many on Sunday that gave the region a festive air as thousands of students became alumni. Tufts, Brandeis, Framingham State, and Suffolk universities and Stonehill College were among the many institutions saluting graduates this weekend. Commencement speakers at each offered advice to students as they started a new chapter of their lives.
At Brandeis University in Waltham, Geoffrey Canada, who leads a New York City nonprofit, said he worries about the world graduates will face. But, he added, he also is heartened by the idealistic people who craft reality out of their dreams.
Former State Department official Anne-Marie Slaughter pressed graduates at Tufts University to build a life in which work and family are in harmony.
And at Boston University, Patrick, who is set to conclude his second term as governor in January, gave an apolitical address, focusing on the human connections that take place outside the digital realm. He offered examples of speaking with people — including one of his daughters — who were fully engaged with their devices, but not always with the men and women who stood beside them.
“My point is that human intimacy still matters,’’ he said before graduates in black caps and red gowns. “That’s how we build trust, how we convey kindness and grace, how we love, how we heal the world.”
This guy has a Jesus complex even in the face of the DCF failure, the meningitis murders, the state drug lab, and the endless other government failures coming to light as he leaves.
Human intimacy, he added, still depends on “looking someone in the eye, touching them, actively listening, being present.”
I have one word for him: Bridgewater
Many graduates put down their cellphones to rise as the crowd gave him a standing ovation.
Unlike what happened at UMass.
Patrick was one of six people, including actor and comedian Bill Cosby, who received an honorary degree.
Newly minted Boston University-alums lauded Patrick’s remarks after the ceremony.
Daryl Thomas, a 21-year-old who graduated with a bachelor of arts in computer science, said he thought the governor made a lot of good points.
“I think the most important take-away was to really enjoy the people around us, and not just to be glued to our devices,” he said.
At Brandeis, Canada used his address to reflect on his generation’s mark on the world. The 62-year-old will retire next month as president and chief executive of the Harlem Children’s Zone....
Them later.
--more--"
"Patrick tells UMass Amherst graduates to build community" by Dan Adams | Globe Correspondent May 10, 2014
AMHERST — Governor Deval Patrick urged 2014 graduates of the University of Massachusetts Amherst Friday to use their education for the greater good, saying “your education here at UMass is about more than being prepared to be good employees. It is about preparation for citizenship itself. . . . Good citizens don’t just live and work in a community. They build community.”
Overcast skies and a steady mist of rain did little to dampen the crowd’s enthusiasm at the afternoon ceremony.
About 20,000 family members and friends of the graduates sat and stood in the aisles of an overflowing McGuirk Alumni Stadium. Excited students threw beach balls, lit cigars, and stood on their chairs to lead classmates in competing chants before being awarded their degrees.
University officials said that Patrick was chosen to deliver the commencement address because of the outgoing governor’s commitment to public education, including fighting to preserve UMass’s funding during the recent recession.
Patrick’s remarks were a mix of personal reflection, advice, and stump speech on climate change and energy policy. He drew chuckles when he recalled his frustration with his own daughters, who loathed answering questions about what they would do after college.
Sigh. I'm glad I didn't have to go.
**************
By far the longest section of Patrick’s speech was devoted to climate change and energy policy.
After a chilly spring and record winter.
Citing a report released by the Obama administration on climate change, he said state leaders must set a new “clean energy standard” that would reduce emissions in Massachusetts by half before 2050 and would chart the course to “a future free of fossil fuels.”
Yeah, you couldn't miss that report, and it has really reached the point of rank offensiveness for them to be pushing that fart-mi$ting $pew. When they lie about the weather in front of you and the economy, too, well, they have lost the trust.
More immediately, he called on the Legislature to pass pending bills that would compel utilities to repair aging natural gas pipes and encourage the development of hydro and wind power.
Well, I agree on the gas lines (why were they neglected on your watch while gas companies made record profits, sir?) but I disagree on the higher costs.
Patrick also touted his environmental and energy accomplishments, saying the economy grew even as the state reduced its emissions, closed coal plants, and set aggressive energy efficiency goals.
If that is the way you have to remember it....
Patrick opened the segment of his speech by joking, “I’m aware of how important it is for me to get on and off as quickly as possible — I get it.” But his remarks on energy policy were lengthy and at times dense with figures.
I'm sure that revved up the crowd.
Some in the crowd seemed ready to celebrate. Impatient students cheered sarcastically when he boasted that the state had increased its solar energy capacity and then broke into a song that briefly threatened to drown out the governor.
OMG, he was HECKLED for his BULL$HIT!!
“People are wiseguys,” said graduating senior Janna Centrella, 22.
But the stadium quieted when Patrick invoked the memory of last year’s Boston Marathon bombings, and urged students to unite.
So he whipped out the old false flag hoax and scripted and staged crisis drills gone live card to get the kids to shut up, huh?
How lame and weak!
Btw, more and more people are coming to that conclusion regarding that sloppy as shit operation.
“We are all connected, to each other, to events beyond our control, to a common destiny,” he said.
Pfft!
Governor Deval Patrick walked among graduating recruits with State Police officials (PAUL KAPTEYN/TELEGRAM & GAZETTE).
Elitist scum amongst the thin blue line of protection.
The university awarded honorary doctoral degrees to former US representative John W. Olver and to journalist Gail Collins, a UMass graduate.
The university awarded honorary doctoral degrees to former US representative John W. Olver and to journalist Gail Collins, a UMass graduate.
The graduation of students from the university’s various schools at several commencements throughout the day created a logistical headache in Amherst. Thousands of cars clogged the town’s roads for most of Friday, inching toward distant parking lots.
Ooooooohh!
I'm sure the people in town LOVED THAT -- especially when you consider that they paid for it.
So HOW MUCH did the GREENHOUSE-GASSING CARBON FOOTPRINT of a CARAVAN COST?
--more--"
Related: Patrick again says he’s not running for president
It's not a good legacy here.
"UMass chief’s pay up 7.5%, data says; But campus salaries stay in midrange" by Matt Rocheleau | Globe Correspondent May 19, 2014
The University of Massachusetts increased compensation for its president and three of its campus chancellors last fiscal year by about 7.5 percent – slightly above the average increase given to leaders of public institutions nationwide, according to a new survey.
Nationally, the median annual compensation of top public higher education officials rose by about 5 percent between 2011-12 and 2012-13, according to an analysis of 256 leaders from 227 systems released Sunday by The Chronicle of Higher Education.
Even with the above average compensation increase at UMass, only one of its leaders, the system’s president Robert L. Caret, earned more than last year’s national median compensation of $478,896 a year, the data showed.
Caret received $592,921, 10.6 percent more than he made the year before, the survey showed. He ranked 59th in pay among public college and university leaders.
UMass officials said the survey, which the Chronicle publishes annually, reflects the university’s “mid-range approach” for compensating its president and chancellors.
“Our policy is to compensate senior leaders at levels that are comparable to what top officials earn at similar institutions,” said UMass spokesman Robert Connolly. “Our goal is to neither be at the highest nor lowest ends of the compensation spectrum, but we do seek to offer salary and benefits that will allow us to attract and retain talented, effective leaders.”
“We also believe that the overall success the university is enjoying is indicative of the strong leadership we have in place across the UMass system,” he added.
Among the other three UMass leaders included in the analysis:
■ UMass Boston chancellor J. Keith Motley received the largest proportional year-to-year increase, a 19.8 percent raise to $332,402, data show.
■ The $391,896 in compensation given to UMass Lowell chancellor Martin T. Meehan last year was an increase of 6.5 percent from 2011-12.
■ Compensation for the head of the state’s flagship campus in Amherst fell 4 percent from the previous year, to $400,664, as Kumble R. Subbaswamy took over the post from Robert C. Holub.
Subbaswamy ranked 134th, Meehan 140th, and Motley 187th among public college and university leaders last year.
UMass Dartmouth and the UMass Medical School in Worcester were not included in the survey.
Public and private colleges and universities in Massachusetts and elsewhere have been criticized in recent years paying hefty compensation packages to acting, and even retired, leaders.
I'm not criticizing; what it $hows me is even endeavor to find truth -- education -- has been corrupted and taken over by greedy money junkies.
The Chronicle’s latest analysis found that nine public higher education leaders earned more than $1 million in total compensation during 2012-13, up from just four the year prior.
The five highest paid public college leaders last year were: E. Gordon Gee, formerly of Ohio State University, $6,057,615; R. Bowen Loftin, Texas A&M University, $1,636,274; Hamid A. Shirvani, North Dakota University system, $1,311,095; Renu Khator, University of Houston main campus, $1,266,000; and Sally K. Mason, University of Iowa, $1,139,705.
Gee whi$, huh, kids?
--more--"
Back to BU:
"Man with two guns arrested outside Boston University" by Zachary T. Sampson | Globe Correspondent May 18, 2014
A 28-year-old Marshfield man was arrested Sunday afternoon after he tried to bring two guns into Boston University’s commencement ceremony, a school spokesman said.
Andrea Massa was stopped by BU police outside the ceremony on Nickerson Field, said Colin Riley, a university spokesman.
Are you sure he's a guy?
“He was arrested on his way into commencement; they have a security checkpoint and was found with two weapons,” Riley said, adding that the man is not a student.
During a brief telephone interview, a woman who would only identify herself as Massa’s relative said he was at the ceremony for his sister-in-law’s graduation.
“It was just a misunderstanding,” she said. “It’s going to get worked out.”
Really?
The university has implemented increased security measures for its graduation ceremonies since the Marathon bombings last year, Riley said. He said metal detectors were positioned at entrances to the field.
The scripted and staged show laid the foundations for it all.
On Friday, the university had advised graduates as well as their friends and families that strict security measures would be in effect.
“All students, faculty, staff, volunteers, guests, and vendors will be subject to screening when entering any commencement weekend venue, possibly with a metal-detecting wand,” the university said.
Riley said the matter is under investigation, but no one at the ceremony appeared to be at significant risk.
Massa faces charges of disorderly conduct, carrying a firearm on school grounds, and violating the terms of his license to carry for hunting and target practice, which is a civil offense, according to a spokesman for the Suffolk district attorney. He is expected to be arraigned Monday in Brighton District Court.
--more--"
And speaking of staged and scripted productions:
"Mental evaluation sought for man who brought guns to BU" by Peter Schworm | Globe staff May 19, 2014
Dressed all in black with military-style pants and dark sunglasses, Andrea Massa stood out from the crowd of families who filed into Boston University’s graduation ceremonies Sunday, and drew immediate notice from security.
Oh, WOW! This guy is either an idiot or this is a STAGED PSYOP!
When an officer approached with a metal detector, the 28-year-old objected loudly, according to police, and walked briskly away.
Concerned by his outburst and his refusal to submit to screening, police followed and ordered Massa to stop after noticing that he appeared to be carrying a gun.
They followed and didn't open fire, huh?
After a search, police found that Massa was carrying two guns, both fully loaded semiautomatic handguns. Massa was also carrying two additional magazines.
This is really starting to stink of a staged and scripted psyop -- if it ever happened at all. Just because it is in the Bosron Globe does not mean it is true.
That account emerged in court Monday, where Massa was ordered held on $100,000 bail after pleading not guilty to unlawfully carrying a firearm on school grounds and disturbing a public assembly.
“It caused a great security scare,” Assistant District Attorney Michael Glennon said at Massa’s arraignment in Brighton District Court.
Massa’s lawyer, Charles Humphreys, said Massa “had no intention to harm anyone” and believed that his hunting license allowed him to carry handguns legally.
“He believed he was within the law,” Humphreys said. “There's no question there’s ignorance and naivete involved.”
Really? No question, huh?
Glennon said that Massa left the security checkpoint as soon as he realized he would be screened, indicating he knew he should not have brought the weapons.
According to a report filed by BU police, Massa passed the security tables without notice, but was quickly stopped by an officer who had seen him approaching.
Massa told a security officer he had already been screened and asked, “What are the unauthorized items?” according to the report.
When the police officer touched him in an effort to guide him toward security, Massa “quickly spun away from me, saying ‘No, don’t touch me,’ ” according to the report.
That didn't bring a strong response?
When police followed him, they noticed him texting. Humphreys said he was texting his wife that he was not going to be able to get into the ceremony.
At the hearing, Glennon noted a 2003 episode in Scituate in which Massa allegedly expressed a desire to “shoot all of my teachers.” Humphreys said that case was dismissed.
Judge Patricia Bernstein ordered a preliminary mental health evaluation, which found Massa competent.
Through his lawyer, Massa said he had no history of mental illness. Massa was ordered by the judge to surrender his weapons and stay away from BU and other schools. His next court date is June 19.
Massa was attending the ceremony with his wife, whose sister was graduating, said Humphreys.
Massa, who lives in Marshfield, is a physical therapist who works in a rehabilitation facility on the South Shore.
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Related:
Landmark gun control billboard on Pike must seek new home
Pulling the Trigger on This Post
Or you can set off the bomb by iPhone:
"Quinnipiac graduaton bomb threat was ruse; Police say woman feared her family would learn she wasn’t a student" by Eric Moskowitz and Laura Crimaldi | Globe staff May 20, 2014
HAMDEN, Conn. — As the graduating seniors waited to march onto the sun-splashed quadrangle at Quinnipiac University, whispers circulated about the reason for an unexpected delay: The commencement speaker was missing. The president was running late. The sound system was broken.
The rumors were all wrong. Hamden police say that one of their own, a 22-year-old from Quincy in a cap and gown, had called in a pair of bomb threats in a last-minute attempt Sunday to keep her family from discovering that she had left school and pocketed the tuition money.
The move failed, with not just her family but much of the online universe discovering that Danielle C. Shea had allegedly phoned in the threats to try to conceal her secret, her forlorn mug shot bouncing around social media as Shea spent the night at the police station and the next morning in court.
By midday Monday, 80 news agencies from around the country had called Hamden police for a copy of Shea’s picture and details of her arrest, Captain Ronald Smith said.
:-)
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Citing an unspecified “security threat” — to minimize fears for nearly 400 College of Arts and Sciences graduates and thousands of relatives — campus officials asked the crowd to relocate from the quadrangle to the school’s basketball and hockey arena a mile and a half away, a Quinnipiac spokesman said.
About the same time the ceremony was finally beginning (an hour and a half late, about 7:30 p.m., police were closing in on Shea in the crowd at TD Bank Sports Center and pulling her out for questioning. Working together, campus security and Hamden detectives had quickly tracked the threatening calls to Shea’s iPhone, court records say.
Don't send your kids to Quinnipiac because they don't learn a thing.
Never heard of Snowden, girl?
Questioned at the arena, Shea admitted to making the threats, stating “that she panicked and made a mistake,” Detective William C. Onofrio wrote.
Yeah, a BIG ONE! Since 9/11, this stuff is TAKEN SERIOUSLY!! I can't believe her idiocy!
Shea was arraigned in Meriden Superior Court on charges of first-degree threatening and falsely reporting an incident. A woman named Kathleen Shea posted $10,000 bond. Danielle Shea is due back in court June 2, according to court records.
Her number had been disconnected by Monday afternoon, and a woman who answered a phone that appeared to be registered to Kathleen Shea declined to comment. No one answered the door at Shea’s North Quincy home address.
From afar, former classmates from Quinnipiac and Fontbonne Academy in Milton said Shea was a former track and field athlete — she still holds Fontbonne’s triple-jump record — and a diligent student who was well liked.
They struggled to understand what caused her to drop out last year while keeping up appearances on campus and online. Former classmates said she posted on Facebook about senior week until shortly before her arrest.
Shea made the dean’s list in spring 2012, posting a grade point average of at least 3.5, but was last enrolled in May 2013, when she had enough credits for sophomore standing, Quinnipiac spokesman John Morgan said. That meant she appeared to be behind her matriculating class.
Heroin addiction?
Shea had no disciplinary or academic issues, but left school for financial reasons, according to the police spokesman. She told investigators that she had trouble registering for classes at the beginning of this academic year “due to a delinquent balance.” Instead of telling her mother, she tried unsuccessfully to handle the situation herself, according to police.
That appeared to come to a head Sunday evening at the private university in southern Connecticut. Two other undergraduate commencement ceremonies had gone smoothly when a Quinnipiac Public Safety dispatcher answered a startling call at 5:38 p.m., with the arts and sciences graduation approaching.
“Bomb in the library,” Shea allegedly said, according to a transcript of the recorded line, prompting the dispatcher to say, “I beg your pardon.”
There is no false flag or security drill staged for today, so WTF?
Shea, who had purchased a cap and gown, apparently panicked after her family did not see her name in the program or at a check-in table where parents can arrange to take pictures of their graduate walking across the stage, police said.
So what she did she think? Tell her parents later "Oh, I got one, they just forgot to bring it."
When her call did not have the desired immediate effect, Shea called back five minutes before the ceremony was to begin, police said. “Several bombs are on campus,” she allegedly told the dispatcher. “You haven’t cleared out graduation. That is not a good idea.”
Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!!
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It's the Brandeis ceremony that got blown up:
"Jill Abramson won’t attend Brandeis commencement" by Jacqueline Tempera | Globe Correspondent May 16, 2014
Ousted New York Times editor Jill Abramson will not attend the Brandeis University graduation Sunday, where she was slated to receive an honorary degree.
“We were informed that she will not be attending commencement,” a university spokeswoman said.
Arthur O. Sulzberger Jr., publisher of the paper and the chairman of The New York Times Co., announced Abramson’s dismissal Wednesday, citing “an issue with management in the newsroom,” the Times reported.
See: Abramson Leaves 'Em Lying
“We are disappointed that she will not be attending,” Ellen de Graffenreid, the university’s senior vice president for communications, said in a phone interview. “But we look forward to finding another way to honor her in the future.”
**************
Earlier this week, Abramson confirmed her plans to deliver the commencement address Monday at Wake Forest University in North Carolina. This will be her first public appearance since her dismissal.
“I cannot think of a better message for the class of 2014 than that of resilience,” Wake Forest president Nathan Hatch said. “Jill Abramson’s accomplishments speak for themselves, and I am confident she will have an inspiring and timely message for our graduates.”
Abramson, the paper’s first female executive editor, took the position in September 2011. She is to be replaced by Dean Baquet, the paper’s former managing editor.
“I’ve loved my run at the Times,” Abramson said in a prepared statement. “I got to work with the best journalists in the world doing so much stand-up journalism.”
Pfft!
The abrupt firing of a woman who was the top editor at a world-renowned newspaper has spurred widespread comment and discussion about how women are treated in the workplace.
Attempts to reach out to Abramson through a New York Times spokesperson were unsuccessful.
Last month, Brandeis found itself in a commencement controversy when it said it would not honor Somali-born activist Ayaan Hirsi Ali at the ceremony. Administrators voiced concern about Ali’s inflammatory statements against Islam.
Ali accused Brandeis of stifling free speech.
What a slut.
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