Compiled by Scholars at Risk
The Scholars at Risk media review seeks to raise awareness about academic freedom issues in the news. Subscription information and archived media reviews are available here. The views and opinions expressed in these articles are not necessarily those of Scholars at Risk.
Kazakh Government Wants Scientists Abroad To Return Home
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 11/12
Nasrin Sotoudeh Still on Hunger Strike; Allows Herself Water
International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, 11/11
Prominent Human Rights Attorney Nasrin Sotoudeh Must be Released
Amnesty International
London Tuition Hike Protests Turn Violent
Sarah Lyall, The New York Times, 11/10
Continue reading
Making Bad Movies Fun
I saw a really bad movie on Friday. Never mind which. One of the things I enjoy about writing this blog is that I get to be a critic without being critical, so I generally only write about works of art that I’d like to endorse. My mom would be proud that I am following her injunction to refrain from saying anything at all if you can’t say anything nice. So never mind the title. The point is that for two hours I was in a theater watching a movie that, had I know better, I would not have watched, let alone paid $12 for!!
The way I see it, when you are in that situation, your options are limited. You’ve paid a significant amount of money for a ticket. Which is more of a waste: losing the time you will spend watching a movie you aren’t enjoying, or losing the money you spent on the ticket? Theaters do not refund the ticket price because you didn’t like to movie. Moreover, its not always a straight-forward choice. For example, maybe you are at the theater with friends who want to stay.
Well, there is a third option.
Continue reading
Academic Freedom Media Review, October 30 – November 5, 2010
The Scholars at Risk media review seeks to raise awareness about academic freedom issues in the news. Subscription information and archived media reviews are available here. The views and opinions expressed in these articles are not necessarily those of Scholars at Risk.
Singapore suppresses dissident
Drew Anderson, Yale Daily News, 11/5
Scholars at Risk Expresses Concern Over Professor Denied Entry to India
Scholars at Risk, 11/4
Iran Sets New Conditions For Employing Teachers
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 11/4
News of Government Guidelines on ‘Pluralism’ Alarms Israeli Academics
Matthew Kalman, The Chronicle of Higher Education, 11/4
Continue reading
Get Seizure Smart!
November is National Epilepsy Awareness Month. In nearly all medical emergencies the first responder is usually witness or bystander who just happens to be there. Do you know what to do when someone has a seizure? Most people will witness one at some point, and more than you might think will have one or more during their lives. So learn what you need to know and Get Seizure Smart!
Find more videos like this on Epilepsy Foundation
Continue reading
Hey Candidates! Just Anwer the Questions and Check Your Facts: Mid-terms 2010
Every election year since 1992 Project Vote Smart, CNN and prominent national leaders from both across the political spectrum survey candidates for U.S. House & Senate, governor and state legislatures on key issues facing the nation. Called the National Political Courage Test, in fact what it revealed was an appalling lack of courage and a complete unwillingness to take a stand.
Only 17% of all 2010 candidates for U.S. House, Senate, governor and state legislatures are willing to tell voters their positions on key issues facing the nation. The rest are afraid of exposing themselves to their opponents.
I was kind of bowled over by that number. Perhaps one way of looking at it would be the way that Richard Kimball, Project Vote Smart President did in a piece he wrote today. In fact this number demonstrates that candidates for office have a great deal of courage. It takes guts to stand in front of a non-partisan public interest group, journalists, and voters themselves, and refuse to take a position, a fortitude that is new in politics, enabled by developments in media. He writes sarcastically:
Continue reading
Academic Freedom Media Review, October 23-29, 2010
The Scholars at Risk media review seeks to raise awareness about academic freedom issues in the news. Subscription information and archived media reviews are available here. The views and opinions expressed in these articles are not necessarily those of Scholars at Risk.
Warning on Bologna
Hannah Fearn, Inside Higher Ed, 10/29
Iranian Scholar Accused of Acting against National Security
Network for Education and Academic Rights (NEAR), 10/28
Students say: new report recommending specialised universities would spell disaster for accessible education and academic choice
CNW, 10/27
Scholars at Risk calls for letters on behalf of Svyatoslav Bobyshev and Yevgeny Afanasyev, Russian scholars held in pretrial detention since March
Scholars at Risk, 10/26
Continue reading
Frank v. Beilat, No Contest

The top mailing was meant to give me three reasons for firing Barney Frank, but in fact the mailings themselves were 3 reasons NOT to vote for Sean Beilat!
When I picked up my mail today I found a magazine, a fund raising appeal, and four political mailings relating to the elections next week, three of which were targeted against Congressman Barney Frank. According to the first mailing, Americans for Limited Government believe he “no longer represents ‘us'” and that Nancy Pelosi “has him in the palm of her hand.” Sean Beilat for Congress sent two mailings. The first claims that Frank “and his “rich friends… live by a different set of rules,” and the other that provides three reasons why voters should “fire Barney Frank on November 2,” claiming he caused the financial meltdown, bailed out friends in the financial sector, and accepted vacations from the people who got federal bail out money.
These claims are, at best, exaggerations, some of them outright falsehoods. They are examples of some pretty intense negative campaigning and an obvious attempt to mislead the public. Quotations are taken out of context, presented in the mailing to look like press clippings, and topped with the logos from the newspapers’ mastheads so they look like actual published news articles, when in fact they are taken from opinion pieces or editorials. They are not objective analyses.
Continue reading
Academic Freedom Media Review
October 16 – 22, 2010
Compiled by Scholars at Risk
The Scholars at Risk media review seeks to raise awareness about academic freedom issues in the news. Subscription information and archived media reviews are available at here. The views and opinions expressed in these articles are not necessarily those of Scholars at Risk.
——————————————————-
Tibetans Protest China’s Plan to Curb Language
Edward Wong, The New York Times, 10/22
Jailed Iranian Scholar Denies Charges in Court
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 10/21
Is affirmative action for men the answer to enrollment woes?
Carolyn Abraham and Kate Hammer, The Globe and Mail, 10/21
Appeals Court Hears Arguments in Ward Churchill’s Bid to Get His University Job Back
The Chronicle of Higher Education, 10/21
Continue reading
More on Truth in Political Advertising
Advertising laws are aimed at protecting consumers by requiring advertisers to be truthful about their products and to be able to substantiate their claims. All businesses must comply with advertising and marketing laws, and failure to do so could result in costly lawsuits and civil penalties. So before you start an advertising campaign, it’s important you understand some basic rules.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is the main federal agency that enforces advertising laws and regulations. Under the Federal Trade Commission Act:
- Advertising must be truthful and non-deceptive;
- Advertisers must have evidence to back up their claims; and
- Advertisements cannot be unfair.
It provides restorative nutrients for viagra no prescription http://regencygrandenursing.com/about-us/our-care-services the nervous system. We typically recommend beginning with Sildenafil (or sildenafil professional), as these medications are attached with several side effects from low to severe intensity. First, is the lower cost of viagra 50 mg regencygrandenursing.com medications bought from other countries, say Canada or Mexico. Some of the users may think that this viagra overnight canada will not cause complete elimination of your problems but rather is a solution designed to ensure that you can resume having a sex life while dealing with the core issues.
This means that if I were to start canning and marketing my mother’s spaghetti sauce, there are limits on what I can say to convince people to buy it instead of my competitors products. I could talk about taste, because that is based on a subjective judgement. I could say all kinds of good things about my ingredients of cooking process.
But I couldn’t claim It was because I use garlic grown in the ashy soils of Mount Vesuvius, if that wasn’t the case. More importantly, I couldn’t promote my sauce based purely on the deficiencies in my competitors’ products, particularly if my claims were not based on fact. I couldn’t claim those other sauces cause cancer, use rat meat instead of beef, or are owned by people with ties to organized crime if none of it was true.
Any yet in political campaigns few such requirements exist.
If the charges made in a campaign are reckless enough, one could be sued or prosecuted under libel or slander laws, but there is considerable time, effort and costs involved, and the bar on what constitutes those offenses is pretty high, and even more so in an election season. Obviously candidates seek to undermine the credibility of one another to some degree. It is an election, after all. Simply lying about your opponent is not enough.
But it goes too far when you get advertisements like this:
Continue reading
Scholars at Risk Academic Freedom Media Review
October 9 – 15, 2010
The Scholars at Risk media review seeks to raise awareness about academic freedom issues in the news. Subscription information and archived media reviews are available here. The views and opinions expressed in these articles are not necessarily those of Scholars at Risk.
Arrest and mistreatment of US Professor of Anthropology
Network for Education & Academic Rights, 10/15
Call for Urgent Action for Detained Mechanical Engineering Professor Abdul Jalil Al-Singace of Bahrain
Scholars at Risk, 10/14
Research Contracts Sponsored by Big Oil Companies Fail to Protect Academic Interests
The Chronicle of Higher Education, 10/14
Continue reading