Maybe it’s because I’m originally from Virginia, where they don’t have an initiative process. Or maybe it’s because I was reared an Episcopalian, since Episcopalians are not known for populist enthusiasm. All I can say is that I seem to have an inbred skepticism about direct democracy. As a California voter, I put a pretty […]
Author Archive | Gail Heriot
Brown University:
Has Brown changed? Two years ago, after the Brown Daily Herald published a David Horowitz advertisement opposing slave reparations, a group of irate students reacted by stealing the entire issue. Rather than condemn the thieves, the University condemned the student-run newspaper for running a “deliberately and deeply hurtful advertisement.” A faculty forum was convened at […]
Accountants Say the Darnedest Things:
Is it just me or does this make your stomach turn? Evidently, some of the folks at Ernst & Young made a presentation at the State Government Affairs Council entitled “Turning Your State Government Relations Department from a Money Pit into a Cash Cow.” In it, they instructed the audience, consisting of representatives of major […]
OBIT:
Reagan dies.
I am a Merchant Ship
My colleagues at the University of San Diego sometimes tease that I am “not a real woman,” evidently because I am conservative, a bit outspoken, and good at math. (One or two of them are not kidding.) Today, however, I feel decidedly like a woman and a virtuous one at that–at least as that term […]
Sharpen Your Number Two Pencils
The Chronicle of Higher Education reports that a new study on that most dreaded of standardized tests, the SAT, will soon be published in the Journal of Econometrics. According to the Chronicle, the study’s author “argues that SAT scores can ‘launder’ an applicant’s background, such as race and family income.” “‘If colleges do not wish […]