HathiTrust Verdict Could Transform University Access for the Blind; Library Journal, 11/7/12

Meredith Schwartz, Library Journal; HathiTrust Verdict Could Transform University Access for the Blind: "Now that the HathiTrust verdict has held that digitizing works for the purpose of providing access to the blind and print-disabled is not only a fair but a transformative use, schools can feel safer hanging onto those scans until the next student who needs them comes along, and can spend their efforts on improving them or scanning more books, instead of doing the same bare minimum of texts over and over. And Goldstein believes making the text available to sighted persons to crowdsource the manual work would also be fair use. Even more revolutionary than just keeping their own book scans, the Honorable Harold Baer, Jr., held that the University of Michigan libraries can be considered an authorized Chafee entity. That means the library could make digitized collections available not just to the university’s own blind and print disabled students, or even to blind and print disabled students at other colleges, but to any American who qualifies as blind or print disabled under the Chafee amendment."

James Gunn apologizes for ‘poorly worded and offensive’ comments; ComicBookResources.com, 11/30/12

Kevin Melrose, ComicBookResources.com; James Gunn apologizes for ‘poorly worded and offensive’ comments: "Faced with growing criticism, Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn has apologized for insulting comments he made about women, gays and lesbians in a nearly two-year-old blog post, characterizing his remarks as “poorly worded and offensive to many.”

Out of the Closet and Into a Uniform; New York Times, 11/16/12

Rachel L. Swarns, New York Times; Out of the Closet and Into a Uniform: "Colonel Gary A. Packard Jr., who directs the Department of Behavioral Science and Leadership at the Air Force Academy and co-wrote a recent report on the effect of the repeal on the armed services, said that the transition has gone remarkably well at the military academies. “Are there still pockets of resistance? Absolutely,” said Colonel Packard, who said that some older staff members and retirees would prefer to see openly gay students barred from the academies. “But we hear more stories about the positive,” he said. “Cadets have a more open dialogue with each other because it’s now safe to have the conversation. You don’t see a great big coming-out-of-the-closet party. But what you do see is the ability to have a conversation that you couldn’t have before. That’s an important step.”"

Spinning Their Web: Book review of ‘Marvel Comics: The Untold Story,’ by Sean Howe; New York Times, 11/16/12

J.D. Biersdorfer, New York Times; Spinning Their Web: Book review of ‘Marvel Comics: The Untold Story,’ by Sean Howe: "Marvel’s attempts at diversification in the late 1960s and early 1970s — both in its characters and its media formats — are where the book gets particularly ­intriguing... “The X-Men,” another Lee and Kirby invention that first appeared in 1963, eventually gave Marvel an excellent platform for exploring social issues and making its readership more inclusive. By 1981, Howe writes, “the shocking revelation that the X-Men’s silver-haired archenemy had been a child prisoner at ­Auschwitz ramped up the title’s long-present themes of bigotry and persecution and pointed to the direction that ‘The X-Men’ would take for the decades to come, in which discrimination toward mutant characters was put explicitly in the contexts of racism and homophobia.”"

Lifelong Scholar of the Japanese Becomes One of Them; New York Times, 11/2/12

Martin Fackler, New York Times; Lifelong Scholar of the Japanese Becomes One of Them: "BUT what is perhaps most remarkable about Dr. Keene is that Japan, a racially homogeneous nation that can be politely standoffish to non-Japanese, has embraced him with such warmth. When he legally became a Japanese citizen this year, major newspapers ran photographs of him holding up a handwritten poster of his name, Kinu Donarudo, in Chinese characters...Mr. Tsujii said that Dr. Keene was accepted by Japanese scholars because he has what Mr. Tsujii described as a warm, intuitive style of thinking that differs from what he called the coldly analytical approach of many Western academics. He said that this has made Dr. Keene seem even more Japanese than some of the Japanese novelists whom he has studied, like Mr. Mishima, an ultranationalist influenced by European intellectual fads."

A Reboot in Recruiting Women Into Computer Science; Chronicle of Higher Education, 10/29/12

Ben Gose, Chronicle of Higher Education; A Reboot in Recruiting Women Into Computer Science: "Experts on the gender gap in computer science have increasingly come to believe that a multipronged strategy is needed to close it. The tactics would include the following: •More-diverse programming activities, to seize the interest of middle-school girls, in the same way that role-playing video games are embraced by boys. •A revamped introductory course, whether taken in college or as an Advanced Placement course in high school, to provide a broad overview of the real-world applications of computer science. •Early exposure to research projects during the first year of college. (Ms. Lamm was paired with her mentor, Mr. Gray, during her first month at Alabama.) •Opportunities for undergraduates to interact with women who have enjoyed successful careers in technology.... Some computer-science departments are venturing elsewhere on their campuses to make a pitch for their major. At Indiana University at Bloomington, for example, the nursing program is so popular that even students with strong grades sometimes don't gain admission. The university's School of Informatics and Computing encourages those women to consider majoring in informatics, or "the application of information technology to the arts, sciences, and professions." Informatics majors can choose to earn the equivalent of a minor in health, setting them up for a quick path to a nursing degree after graduation, should they choose. "We're always looking for strategic ways to interest people in coming into the program," says Maureen Biggers, assistant dean for diversity and education. The number of women majoring in informatics at Indiana has doubled within two years, to 150 students, or 18 percent of all the majors."

What Equality Sounds Like; New York Times, 10/25/12

David Firestone, New York Times; What Equality Sounds Like: "In his Denver speech, the president listed the repeal of the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy as among his most significant accomplishments. “I promised to cut taxes for middle-class families and small businesses and we have,” he said. “I promised to end taxpayer-funded Wall Street bailouts for good, and we did. I promised to repeal ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’, and today you can’t be kicked out of the military because of who you are and who you love.” He returned to the subject in the conclusion of his 16-minute speech, and got an even bigger cheer. “You can choose to turn back the clock 50 years for women, immigrants and gays,” he said. “Or in this election, you can stand up for that basic principle that we’re all created equal. That no matter who you are, no matter what you look like, no matter who you love, here in America you can make it if you try.”"

White Journalists Writing Overwhelming Number Of Newspaper Political Features: Study; HuffingtonPost.com, 10/25/12

Jack Murkinson, HuffingtonPost.com; White Journalists Writing Overwhelming Number Of Newspaper Political Features: Study: "A new study finds that there is a deep lack of racial diversity among the newspaper journalists writing about some of the biggest political issues of the 2012 campaign. The 4th Estate, which makes infographics about media trends, looked at 38 different newspaper front pages across the country from January through mid-October of 2012. It found that white journalists dominated when it came to writing feature stories about campaign issues."

Deans See Families as Key to Recruiting Hispanic Students; Diverse Issues in Higher Education, 10/25/12

Jamaal Abdul-Alim, Diverse Issues in Higher Education; Deans See Families as Key to Recruiting Hispanic Students: "Juan Garcia, Vice President of Student Success at NMSU Alamogordo, said the program is in line with Moder’s advice to start early and begin with the family when seeking to recruit Hispanic students. “If you’re going to recruit the Latino, you have to recruit the whole family,” Garcia said. If institutions fail to involve the family, he said, “you’re setting the students up for failure.” Moder—drawing from his past experience as president of St. Mary’s University in San Antonio, where more than half the students are Hispanic—offered a series of tips on working with Hispanic students and their families. Those tips, listed in a handout titled “Strategies for Recruiting Hispanic Students,” included..."

NYCC: Gay Marriage In Comics; ComicBookResources.com, 10/24/12

Jennifer Cheng, ComicBookResources.com; NYCC: Gay Marriage In Comics: "Jimenez agreed, saying "Stakes are high, particularly in mainstream superhero comics, simply because of the setup, with the alpha straight white male setting the standard. I'm more careful, some of my peers are more careful, because those [gay, female or minority] characters stand in for so much. When characters carry that burden, and they often do, you have to be more careful with them. People say, 'When are we going to see gay villains?' When there are so few of them, you can't explore options as readily." Parent characterized Kevin Keller as "the role model for gay characters at Archie Comics" and was conscious of the character's status as a representative."

Homeland is brilliant drama. But does it present a crude image of Muslims?; Observer, 10/13/12

Peter Beaumont, Observer; Homeland is brilliant drama. But does it present a crude image of Muslims? : "How we portray the "other" – those whom we fear or are suspicious of – reinforces cultures of conflict. In some respects it has always been thus. The author and journalist Robert Winder detailed in his book Bloody Foreigners how Charles Dickens, in creating the character of Fagin for Oliver Twist, refashioned a real social problem. The boys' "rookeries" were run by Italian gangmasters in Clerkenwell's Little Italy, but in keeping with contemporary suspicion and hostility to Jews Dickens made Fagin Jewish – something he later regretted... Stuart Hall, the cultural theorist who has examined the phenomenon of "reception theory" as applied to televisual media – building on the work of Hans Robert Jauss in the late 1960s – has argued, indeed, that the messages in television drama "intersect with the deep semantic codes of a culture and take on additional, more active ideological dimensions". In other words, television drama such as Homeland not only reflects cultural and social anxieties at any given time, it reflects back those anxieties, reinforcing and shaping them. Crucially there is strong evidence that counter-stereotypical fictional depictions in popular culture may have a positive impact, with some arguing that it can help turn around prejudicial attitudes."

Why a Bible belt conservative spent a year pretending to be gay; Observer, 10/13/12

Paul Harris, Observer; Why a Bible belt conservative spent a year pretending to be gay: "For an entire year Kurek lived "under cover" as a homosexual in his home town of Nashville. He told his family he was gay, as well as his friends and his church...The result was a remarkable book called The Cross in the Closet, which follows on the tradition of other works such as Black Like Me, by a white man in the 1960s deep south passing as a black American, and 2006's Self-Made Man, by Norah Vincent, who details her time spent in disguise living as a man...Kurek also said that he felt his experience not only should show conservative Christians that gay people need equal rights and can be devout too, but that it can also reveal another side of evangelicals to the gay community."

A Changed Court Revisits Affirmative Action in College Admissions; New York Times, 10/10/12

Adam Liptak, New York Times; A Changed Court Revisits Affirmative Action in College Admissions: "The Supreme Court on Wednesday heard arguments in a major affirmative action case, with the justices debating the nature and value of diversity in higher education and the role of the courts in policing how much weight admissions officers may assign to race."

Men, women on corporate boards split on diversity; Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 10/5/12

Joyce Gannon, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; Men, women on corporate boards split on diversity: "Men and women who serve on corporate boards of directors worldwide frequently agree on political and economic issues that impact business but they have widely divergent ideas on how to improve diversity in their own board rooms. Those are among the findings of a survey that polled more than 1,000 directors on issues ranging from environmental regulations to diversity quotas."

A Father-Daughter Dance Revives Charges of Discrimination; New York Times, 9/27/12

Jess Bidgood, New York Times; A Father-Daughter Dance Revives Charges of Discrimination: [A] single mother identified only as Melissa complained first to the district and then to the state affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union, which sent the school superintendent a letter citing federal Title IX rules that prohibit sex-specific events in educational settings unless “reasonably comparable” events are held. “A dance for girls and a baseball game for boys, particularly in light of the stereotypes they embody, are not, we submit, ‘reasonably comparable’ activities,” the letter from the state A.C.L.U.’s director, Steven Brown, said. “To the contrary; the stereotypes at their core undermine the goal of school anti-discrimination laws.”

Bias Persists for Women of Science, a Study Finds; New York Times, 9/24/12

Kenneth Chang, New York Times; Bias Persists for Women of Science, a Study Finds: "Science professors at American universities widely regard female undergraduates as less competent than male students with the same accomplishments and skills, a new study by researchers at Yale concluded. As a result, the report found, the professors were less likely to offer the women mentoring or a job. And even if they were willing to offer a job, the salary was lower. The bias was pervasive, the scientists said, and probably reflected subconscious cultural influences rather than overt or deliberate discrimination."

Voices from the Joint Conference of Librarians of Color; Library Journal, 9/20/12

Library Journal; Voices from the Joint Conference of Librarians of Color: "[Library Journal: More than one program item at the JCLC conference focuses on microaggressions; is this new research and if so, how does it change our understanding of how librarians should relate to one another or to their customers? Alanna Aiko Moore: The term microaggression was coined by psychologists in the 1970s, but psychologist Derald Wing Sue has expanded upon the theory in the past five to ten years. To paraphrase Sue, microaggressions are subtle, everyday insults, demeaning messages, and indignities which are sent to the targeted group by people who are often unaware of the hidden messages that they are sending. What makes microaggressions so dangerous is not only the impact of those subtle messages, but the uncertainty of not knowing if the oppression that the victim experienced really happened. It is vitally important that we discuss microaggressions in our profession. As a profession with few people of color, it is important to have trainings that prepare people with skills to acknowledge, name, and interrupt this behavior, so that we can work internally to stop microaggressions and build strong organizations. As a public service profession, it is imperative that we recognize and interrupt microaggressions when they take place in interactions with our patrons. As librarians, we serve incredibly diverse communities, and microaggressions can create unseen barriers to library use."

A New Inning, Late in the Game; New York Times, 9/22/12

Frank Bruni, New York Times; A New Inning, Late in the Game: "McClatchy, whose interview with The Times was his first public acknowledgment of his sexual orientation, could do considerable good. He remains well known in baseball — he’s been informally advising the mayor of Sacramento on the city’s interest in having a major league team — and is the chairman of the board of the McClatchy Company, which publishes more than two dozen newspapers, including The Sacramento Bee and The Miami Herald. And pro sports offers a frontier on which there’s considerable good to be done. One reason there has been so much attention lately to statements about homosexuality, supportive and derogatory, from prominent male athletes is that they inhabit a stubborn bastion of reductively defined masculinity, and many impressionable kids take their cues from it. If its heroes make clear that being gay is O.K., the impact could be profound: fewer adolescents and teenagers bullied, fewer young and not-so-young adults leading stressful, painful double lives... I asked one of them, the Minnesota Vikings punter Chris Kluwe, about the notion that such a teammate would make the locker room a less comfortable place. “That assumes that a gay person in the locker room is going to find you attractive, which I think is pretty narcissistic,” Kluwe said in a phone interview. “Isn’t that the shallowest kind of thinking: that all of a sudden if a gay guy comes out, he’s going be staring at you?”"

Since Suicide, More Resources for Transgender and Gay Students; New York Times, 9/21/12

Ariel Kaminer, New York Times; Since Suicide, More Resources for Transgender and Gay Students: "...[Ttoday, gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender students and their supporters can choose from four specialized housing options, three of them new, ranging from a service to pair them with like-minded roommates to Rainbow Perspectives, a floor in a residence hall organized around common interests. They can now turn for support to the 130 staff and faculty members who have been trained as official campus liaisons, or to the graduates of a new training program for “allies,” whose inaugural session is already booked to capacity. This year’s edition of a handbook that lists campus resources for “queer issues” is 92 pages long."

[Slideshow] Leading Gay and Lesbian Comic Heroes; New York Times, 4/16/10

[Slideshow] George Gene Gustines, New York Times; Leading Gay and Lesbian Comic Heroes:

DC Comics' Gay Superhero In The Works: Publisher Dan DiDio Hints At Established Character's Coming Out; HuffingtonPost.com, 5/21/12

HuffingtonPost.com; DC Comics' Gay Superhero In The Works: Publisher Dan DiDio Hints At Established Character's Coming Out:

"The homoerotic subtext of comic book superheroes has been a hot topic in the gay community for some time. Now comics fans and the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) blogosphere is abuzz with news that a major DC Comics character will "come out" in a future issue.

Details of the character and his specific story arc are relatively scarce thus far, but as Bleeding Cool is reporting, DC Comics co-publisher Dan DiDio told attendees at the Kapow Comic Convention in London that the superhero -- an established player in one of the series, and was originally introduced as straight -- will become "one of our most prominent gay characters.""

One Million Moms targets DC, Marvel over gay storylines; ComicBookResources.com, 5/24/12

Kevin Melrose, ComicBookResources.com; One Million Moms targets DC, Marvel over gay storylines:

"“Children desire to be just like superheroes,” reads the missive on the One Million Moms website. “Children mimic superhero actions and even dress up in costumes to resemble these characters as much as possible. Can you imagine little boys saying, ‘I want a boyfriend or husband like X-Men?’ This is ridiculous! Why do adult gay men need comic superheroes as role models? They don’t but do want to indoctrate [sic] impressionable young minds by placing these gay characters on pedestals in a positive light. These companies are heavily influencing our youth by using children’s superheroes to desensitize and brainwash them in thinking that a gay lifestyle choice is normal and desirable. As Christians, we know that homosexuality is a sin (Romans 1:26-27).”"

What's So Special About Marvel's Gay (Mutant) Wedding? ; ComicBookResources.com, 5/23/12

Brett White, ComicBookResources.com; What's So Special About Marvel's Gay (Mutant) Wedding? :

"The fact that this plot point is such hype-worthy news spotlights the United States' continued struggle with equality, but it just as much spotlights the way the modern comics industry machine works. If marriage equality fully existed, this would not be "The View"-worthy news. If North Carolinians hadn't come out in droves to support inequality earlier this month, this wouldn't be an issue. If the President didn't have to publicly confirm that, yes, he thinks that all humans should be equal to all other humans (you know, just one of those things our country was founded upon), this proposal wouldn't even be worthy of coverage on "The Talk" (I had to work a dig in on "The View's" competitor, I just had to). The fact that this proposal is A Big Thing shows just how far our culture has to go to before all men and women truly are treated as equal.

It also shows how committed Marvel is to being on the right side of history. Yes, gay marriage is controversial and yes, Marvel knows that two male character celebrating their nuptials is going to get attention (have I mentioned "The View" yet?...

But beyond Marvel knowing they are drumming up interest and sales for a book that needs it, this doesn't feel manipulative because it makes sense. This story isn't about two characters suddenly declaring their super gay love for each other and running to Vegas. This, so far, isn't plot misdirection. This is a natural progression for Marvel's oldest out character to take in his relationship with his longtime boyfriend."

Marvel Comics Hosts First Gay Wedding in 'Astonishing X-Men'; Rolling Stone, 5/22/12

Matthew Perpetua, Rolling Stone; Marvel Comics Hosts First Gay Wedding in 'Astonishing X-Men' :

"As an X-Man, Northstar routinely fights against bigotry, as he is a mutant, and mutants are the most feared minority group in the Marvel Universe. Astonishing X-Men writer Marjorie Liu looked to Northstar's relationship with Kyle as a way to write an inspiring story about characters who feel like outsiders even among outsiders. "Here are two people, trying to live their lives – mutant and gay, black and gay – empowered in their own ways, but also fringe-dwellers," says Liu. "And they're making it happen. They're living life on their own terms. It doesn't matter that it's a superhero comic, the message is: You can do the same thing.""

Obama Says Same-Sex Marriage Should Be Legal; New York Times, 5/9/12

Jackie Calmes and Peter Baker, New York Times; Obama Says Same-Sex Marriage Should Be Legal:

"“At a certain point, I’ve just concluded that for me personally it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same-sex couples should be able to get married,” Mr. Obama said.

Long a proponent of civil unions, Mr. Obama said his views had changed in part because of prodding by friends who are gay and by conversations with his wife and daughters."

Giving Women the Access Code; New York Times, 4/2/12

Katie Hafner, New York Times; Giving Women the Access Code:

"“Most of the female students were unwilling to go on in computer science because of the stereotypes they had grown up with,” said Zachary Dodds, a computer scientist at Mudd. “We realized we were helping perpetuate that by teaching such a standard course.”

To reduce the intimidation factor, the course was divided into two sections — “gold,” for those with no prior experience, and “black” for everyone else. Java, a notoriously opaque programming language, was replaced by a more accessible language called Python. And the focus of the course changed to computational approaches to solving problems across science.

“We realized that we needed to show students computer science is not all about programming,” said Ran Libeskind-Hadas, chairman of the department. “It has intellectual depth and connections to other disciplines.”

Dr. Klawe supported the cause wholeheartedly, and provided money from the college for every female freshman to travel to the annual Grace Hopper conference, named after a pioneering programmer. The conference, where freshmen are surrounded by female role models, has inspired many a first-year “Mudder” to explore computer science more seriously."

Justices Take Up Race as a Factor in College Entry; New York Times, 2/21/12

Adam Liptak, New York Times; Justices Take Up Race as a Factor in College Entry:

"A decision barring the use of race in admission decisions would undo an accommodation reached in the Supreme Court’s 5-to-4 decision in 2003 in Grutter v. Bollinger: that public colleges and universities could not use a point system to increase minority enrollment but could take race into account in vaguer ways to ensure academic diversity.

Supporters of affirmative action reacted with alarm to the court’s decision to hear the case. “I think it’s ominous,” said Lee Bollinger, the president of Columbia University, who as president of the University of Michigan was a defendant in the Grutter case. “It threatens to undo several decades of effort within higher education to build a more integrated and just and educationally enriched environment.”"

Lawsuit Pits Political Activism Against Campus Diversity; New York Times, 1/9/12

Adam Liptak, New York Times; Lawsuit Pits Political Activism Against Campus Diversity:

"Ms. Wagner, who graduated from the law school in 1993 and had taught at the George Mason University School of Law, was not hired. She sued, alleging discrimination because of her political beliefs. Late last month, a unanimous three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, in St. Louis, ruled that her case should go to trial, saying she had presented enough evidence to suggest that “Dean Jones’s repeated decisions not to hire Wagner were in part motivated by Wagner’s constitutionally protected First Amendment rights of political belief and association.”

Ms. Wagner’s lawyer, Stephen T. Fieweger, said the decision was a victory for an important sort of academic freedom.

“It’s gotten to the point where the law school’s diversity efforts are to eliminate everyone from the mainstream,” he said. “They espouse cultural diversity, but won’t consider the conservative viewpoint."