MORE POWERFUL THAN THE EIGHTH AIR FORCE. "Kyrill" sounds vaguely Russian, but he's neither Koniev nor Zhukov.

The decision to suspend all train movements nationwide was made in Deutsche Bahn's (DB) operations center in response to the massive winter storm called “Kyrill” which lashed Germany, Holland, Belgium, England and Poland with hurricane force winds for two days last week. DB management took the action to avoid stranding numerous passenger trains in between stations in case of loss of electrical power, signals, or obstructions in the right of way. The shut-down decision left many thousands of travelers stranded overnight in dozens of different train stations across Germany. The lucky ones were able to sleep in trains parked in numerous stations during the nationwide shut down.

Although the action itself brought praise from various consumer advocacy groups, passenger rail supporters and government officials, they were at the same time highly critical of the lack of communication and information provided by DB to the travelers during the period. A spokesman from “Pro Bahn” a Germany based rail transit advocacy group similar to NARP in the USA stated: “We are totally dismayed with the lack of news and information Deutsche Bahn provided to train travelers during the storm. There is no excuse for the lack of information about the planned shut down of the nation's rail system on the day of the storm. Thousands of travelers were not allowed to know what was happening or when it was planned to begin to move trains again.” There were also numerous reports that a hotline which was set up by DB to provide information to rail travelers during the crisis was mostly unavailable or busy during the storm.

Amtrak recently fired several senior managers for reasons that the latest print edition of Trains gives as related to the carrier's poor performance during the December snowstorm in the Midwest. Whether that will encourage the others remains to be seen. Details from Germany will be provided when I find them.

I SUPPOSE IT'S TO BE EXPECTED. Students at Indiana University petitioned to cancel class the Monday after the Super Bowl, and a few Northern Illinois students thought it wouldn't hurt to ask.

According to NIU Vice Provost Earl Seaver, there are no plans to cancel classes on the day after the Super Bowl, despite the student petition that originated on Facebook.

The group hosting the petition was created on the online networking Web site last week by freshman English major John Talarico,, urging students to join an effort to get the university's attention with hopes they would cancel classes the day after the Super Bowl.

"I have already heard that a lot of students will not be attending class on Monday due to being out of town, with some even going to the game in Miami," Talarico said. "Having the extra day off would be ideal."

When asked about student petitions, Seaver said, "The university has no such provision, as far as I know, in our bylaws regarding petitions."

The original idea for the group came from a student at Indiana University in Bloomington. According to the group, if enough people were able to petition to cancel classes, the university would look into it. But when asked about the situation, Damon Sims, Indiana University's associate vice president for Student Affairs, shot down the rumor.

"The university has no formal policy about petitions because they are not part of formal decision-making processes," Sims said.

Unofficial requests to accommodate attendance at Tuesday night football are another matter.

On the Sunday of the game, however, much of the campus will be standing down. I have learned of shorter hours at the libraries and of the closing of the afternoon open swim session.

Blue and orange remain the theme until Monday morning.

YOU, TOO, ARE MORTAL.

Cue the closing meditation from Patton.

Here's University Diaries on the joys of teaching.

Because you really put yourself out there, and because a bad class session can end with your feeling both aggrieved and exhausted, teaching is humbling. From humbling it can tumble down to humiliating.

The larger your self-importance -- university professors are notorious for a certain anxious, unsteady self-regard -- the more you're liable to hate teaching. The professional world venerates you. The pishers in Room 12 C think you bite the big one. MacArthur says you're a genius. Miss Nose Ring blows you off as a jerk...

Miss Nose ring will live, in an absolute sense, better than the mightiest Caesar. In a relative sense, she might do no better than the slave on the chariot. Her role, however, is as vital.

COME OFF IT. The dean at Anonymous Community contemplates the difficulty of writing a letter for a female colleague in such a way as to make her appear motivated and responsible without sending what might be code words for "strident" or "ball-busting." (The post says more than it knows about the lack of a publishing hierarchy in his field: if my reference letter says "Colleague XX's proof in Journal of Economic Theory is a result that scholars have not completely exploited and she is at work on an even better extension" the message is clear to any economics search committee.)

His post, however, is topic drift from yet another lament by yet another semi-anonymous humanities type.

Women faculty will often have stricter policies on attendance, when assignments are due, when a student can have access to her (i.e. email policies or strictly observed office hours), strictly observed caps on course enrollment, and very carefully worked out grading rubrics. If you put the syllabi of women faculty next to men's, the women's will be longer, more detailed, and probably include a great many pages devoted to policies and procedures. Maybe you haven't noticed this. Or, maybe you have and thought the women were far more uptight than their male counterparts.

There is a simpler explanation: the course outline metastasizes into a document slightly shorter than the Consolidated Code of Operating Rules that Margaret Soltan at University Diaries refers to as the Syllabum Omnium at the urging of numerous functionaries within the university seeking the proper legal butt-covering or publicizing their support services or simply anticipating all the tricks that students will attempt.

What many people don't notice, including the colleagues of women faculty who are young and untenured (although tenure doesn't always solve the problem), is that these same women are physically and emotionally exhausted most of the time. Women faculty spend many more hours, on average, prepping for their classes. They also have to spend a great deal of time handling complaints from students that male faculty cannot even fathom. Why do women faculty have such strict policies? Why do they have grading rubrics that spell out with painstaking detail how they graded your work? Because women faculty get challenged on everything. Why do they spend hours prepping? Because if a woman walks into the classroom and doesn't appear to be an expert, which is proven by total mastery of the subject matter, the students will challenge her all semester.

I'd like to see some systematic evidence on the incidence of goldbricking in classes taught by females compared to the incidence in classes taught by males, and there is probably enough public information available to put in all sorts of dummy variables to naively "control" for age, skin color, or accent as confounding factors.

Some realities: First, when a student challenges a professor, it's business, not personal. Part of personal development is learning where the limits are and whether or not they are credible. One simply has to learn to say "no" very pleasantly and stick to it. (I don't get paid to prepare my notes, I don't even get paid to check the marginal conditions in my research. I get paid to say no and to enforce standards.) Second, some people -- not always college students -- confuse kindness with weakness. Bromides, like everything else, emerge in response to realities. That is true of "give him an inch." Third (and I'm laboring the obvious), what is a nonexpert doing in a classroom?

The post's concluding paragraph is a call for further commentary.

Teaching is one of the best jobs out there, but if teachers aren't properly supported by colleagues and administration, it can become one of the hardest, most draining jobs around.

No kidding. Here are three ways (I suspect there are more) that things can go wrong.

First, from time to time I have picked up on discussions of classroom incivility. That's not a problem limited to female faculty, it's the predictable consequence of years of treating "transgressiveness" as a virtue. Fortunately, there are some corrections in sight. Second, the academy's use of graduate assistants and freeway flyers for introductory courses sends the wrong message. The post speaks of office hour policies. How many students are taking classes from temps who have no office hours because they have no office? And what authority does such a surrogate professor have? (To repeat some pet themes of mine, one reason the military is more effective at developing troops is that the boot's introduction to the service is a senior noncom. The cub dispatcher who has tied up the railroad for the third time in a week has a conversation with a crusty general superintendent of transportation along the lines of "let's discuss a different career.") Third, the access-assessment-remediation-retention model of higher education impedes such correctives. A struggling source of tuition revenues student becomes somebody to be placated rather than somebody to be encouraged to face reality. A commenter on the lament recognizes the problem.

And the worst of it is, I think that as we add more"teaching support" services on university campuses, we get more and more like 3rd grade teachers. That is: "support" means that we learn how to build ever longer syllabi, rubrics, details, feed-back that "protect" us up front (but they don't really, because it just leads to increased demands).

Worst of all, from a pedagogical perspsective, it does not move the students toward greater independence of thought, or capacity to self-discipline. I'd say that all these efforts to be more inclusive and meet the "needs" (an implicit rights based imperative) of all these students actually does them a great disservice and violates their actual right to development of their autonomy (by preventing it for ever longer periods of time through strucutred dependence built into rubrics, syllabi, etc).

To repeat another of my pet questions: why are we letting the College of Education call the shots on curricular matters?

IS THIS THE LESSON WE'RE SUPPOSED TO LEARN? Northern Illinois employees get a dirty do-over for completing ethics training too fast.

Eric Castellucci was one of several student employees who avoided ethics training repercussions.

Of the 8,400 NIU employees who completed online ethics training last fall, more than 600 people have been issued a packet in response to completing ethics training in 10 minutes or less, said Deborah Haliczer, director of Employee Relations and Ethics Training administrator in Human Resources.

Castellucci, a sophomore marketing major and student manager at Pizza Plus, said he was told by other students to use the suggested 30-minute completion time when taking the online test.

"A lot of people just went on Facebook, or did whatever they could to kill time," he said. "We all just thought it was a blank threat to make sure you completed it."

Let me see if I understand this. It's wrong to treat the training as something to blitz through in 10 minutes, but it's right to multi-task a little so as to stretch the time logged on to a more satisfactory 30 or 60 minutes?

TO REMEMBER. Cold Spring Shops notes the passing of three giants of ferroequinology.

Bruce J. Walthers turned a small Milwaukee manufacturer of primarily O Scale kits into one of the largest hobby supply companies.

He was born in 1919 in Plymouth, Wis., and was a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He served in the Navy during World War II as a meteorologist on Kwajelein Atoll in the South Pacific.

The company is mostly out of O Scale now, but for the flea-gaugers it's probably still true that "your dealer can get it from Walthers."

Bill Janssen hired out with Illinois Terminal and later made "The Joes and the Sputniks" possible.

After serving in World War II, he worked as a motorman on Chicago streetcars, the first of three or four stints with the Chicago Transit Authority. In the 1950s, he joined the Milwaukee Road, where he developed the control system to allow electric and diesel-electric locomotives to run in multiple. Janssen was in charge of the North Shore Line's substations from 1960 until the road shut down in 1963. He worked for the South Shore Line 1967-1973 as assistant superintendent, mechanical. Among other transit-related jobs, Janssen inspected rolling stock built in Japan for Philadelphia's SEPTA.

His Roaring Twenties and Depression era traction photographs are part of the Krambles-Peterson archives.

Senator George Smathers saw the wisdom of a balanced regulatory policy for transportation.

In 1969 Smathers retired from the U.S. Senate and took the reins at a new organization, America's Sound Transportation Review Organization (ASTRO). Under his direction, ASTRO conducted a comprehensive analysis of the regulatory laws surrounding railroads and impact of taxpayer-subsidized competition on the industry. The resulting report laid out a program for restoring the health of the railroad industry, including a substantial amount of deregulation. Many of those recommendations were finally enacted when the Staggers Rail Act of 1980 became law.

The Interstate Commerce Commission still serves as a canonical example of what philosopher-kings can get wrong.

A GLOBAL WARMING THEME, AN ICE AGE PASTIME. For the past 20 years, there has been an Illinois snow sculpting competition in Rockford's Sinissippi Park. I had never viewed these efforts, but today seemed like a good day to check out the works.

There was some worry about getting this show under way. Last year, it was postponed for a week. This year, in early December it appeared as though there would be plenty of snow, but that all melted by Christmas, and from mid-December to mid-January, there was a near record warm spell. Just before classes resumed, a cold snap came, which shows no sign of letting up anytime soon, and enough snow fell at the Rockford airport to provide raw materials for this year's contest.

But one polar bear is contemplating longer summers.


The park is on some hills that form the Rock River Valley north of downtown Rockford. Some of the park buildings look intriguing.


Contestants have a 12 foot high block of snow to use for their efforts. They are supposed to prepare a concept sketch. It is not required that the sculpture make contiguous use of the block although the mouse in the foreground had to be cut out of the block.


There's a separate division for high schoolers. A tall block of snow well might work for carving out some office towers.


Visual puns based on winter themes are in order.


I did a bit of radio surfing and came up with WEKZ out of Monroe, Wisconsin playing oom-pah music on AM 1260, including something called "Roller Coaster Polka" performed by Peter and Paul, perhaps out of New Ulm, Minnesota.

TAKING ADVANTAGE OF CHARITY. On occasion, the Lady Huskies hold a fund-raiser in which the team shoots free throws and donors base their contributions on the free throws the sponsored player makes out of 100. The team is among the national leaders in free throw percentage, and that ability helps in difficult situations.

“I thought that Northern Illinois won the game on the foul line today,” said [Buffalo Sabres] head coach Linda Hill-MacDonald. “I have to give credit to them because I thought they did a nice job taking advantage of penetration and going hard to the offensive boards and causing us to foul. We have to do a better job boxing out because today it killed us and you can win a game on the foul line.”

Or, if the opposing coach gets the message, get the game finished faster. The strategy of fouling to get the ball back, which prolongs the final two minutes of far too many games, is not effective if the other team is making its free throws. Buffalo have a team that has many of its games by small margins, somewhat like Northern Illinois a year ago.

Elsewhere, Badgerball returns with an emulation of the football team, scoring two touchdowns and a field goal unanswered to end the first half.

SOME LOSS. We generally leave the war commentary to others, but this Strategy Page evaluation of the liberation of Iraq warrants notice. There are ten points in all.

4-Overthrowing Saddam Only Helped Iran. Of course, and this was supposed to make Iran more approachable and open to negotiations. With the Iraqi "threat" gone, it was believed that Iran might lose its radical ways and behave. Iran got worse as a supporter of terrorism and developer of WMD. Irans clerical dictatorship did not want a democracy next door. The ancient struggle between the Iranians and Arabs was brought to the surface, and the UN became more active in dealing with problems caused by pro-terrorist government of Iran. As a result of this, the Iranian police state has faced more internal dissent. From inside Iran, Iraq does not look like an Iranian victory.

5-The Invasion Was a Failure. Saddam's police state was overthrown and a democracy established, which was the objective of the operation. Peace did not ensue because Saddam's supporters, the Sunni Arab minority, were not willing to deal with majority rule, and war crimes trials. A terror campaign followed. Few expected the Sunni Arabs to be so stupid. There's a lesson to be learned there.

Via Insta Pundit.

A BASKETBALL RECRUITING SCANDAL. In college, that's old news. In high school, it's not unheard of, but it is news.

Pius [XI High School] is again the talk of Milwaukee's basketball community. This time, though, it is for controversy surrounding some new faces in the boys program.

The private Catholic school that sits at the intersection of 76th and Stevenson has drawn ire for the six student-athletes who transferred in before the school year. The group was headlined by one of the nation's most praised players, Korie Lucious.

People outside of Pius, and many within the school's circle, believe the transfers were done illegally and unethically. High school basketball message boards called the program "cheats," and the overall theme of many of the posts was that "there's something obviously very fishy" going on at Pius.

Years ago, the ability of the religious high schools to recruit and to offer tuition assistance tantamount to athletic scholarships was a sore point with coaches and athletic directors in the public schools. In those days, they had to make do with whoever lived in the neighborhood. I understand that there is now statewide open enrollment, and it is not unknown for students to register at public high schools that are known for their sports programs. There remain, however, limits on financial aid for public school students.

Ultimately, will the transfers to Pius have any effect on the basketball team's standing? There is now one state tournament combining similar-sized public and private high schools in several divisions, rather than the two previously run for the government schools and for the "independent" schools. Milwaukee, Madison, and Janesville teams continue to fare well in the combined tournaments.

I KNOW IT'S NOT POLITE TO SAY "STRIDENT." Sometimes, however, that's the right adjective.

"Thank you all," she yells in that harsh tone her voice gets when she's going for volume. "Well," she says, now properly modulated and holding her hands out, palms up. "I'm Hillary Clinton." She leans forward and laughs, like it's a big joke that she actually is Hillary Clinton. The crowd laughs, either because they get the "joke" or they actually are jazzed up at the experience of witnessing the grand personage in the flesh.

"I'm running for President, and I'm in it to win it." Has she been going around saying "I'm in it to win it"? This sounds clever for half a second, and then you get distracted thinking about what other possible reasons might lead a person to run for President.

The House and Senate elected in November took their offices and already it's all Iowa and New Hampshire, all the time. Bleah.

TO REMEMBER MILTON FRIEDMAN. Monday, 29 January 2007 is Milton Friedman Day. Virginia Postrel has a few details and links to some tributes.

USING THAT PHOTO PERMIT. The Midvale Maritime Steel blast furnace is operating. Safety first!

On the high line, the State of Maine Northern pulled the empty hoppers we saw last week, to deliver more coke and iron ore. The buggy goes in such that it will be properly placed when the empties depart.


At the plant level, a bottle car of iron is bound for the open hearth shop. The car is from the MTH line, modified for two-rail scale operations. I have a few more that will also be dirtied up in proper steel-mill fashion.


The plant switcher is Rivarossi's model of the Prussian BR80 shifter, dirtied up to run as a U.S. industrial locomotive. (There's a Lima 4F that might receive similar treatment.)


Now that the hot metal has been delivered to the open hearth shop, the crew has to pull the slag cars (also by MTH; these started as Chicago and North Western (!) cars) and move that gon of fines to the sinter plant.

OOPS. Influencing policy isn't as easy as it looks.

We tried for years - decades - to get them to listen to us about climate change ... But now they are listening. Now they do believe us. Now they say they're ready to take action. And now we're wondering if we didn't create a monster. We're wondering if they realize how uncertain our projections of future climate are. We wonder if we've oversold the science.

... I think some people feel that we've created a monster by limiting the ability of people in our community to question results that say "climate change is right here!" ... Many of us are downplaying uncertainties for fear of not being listened to.

... Dealing with uncertainty is exactly what Congresspeople do, and they do it a lot better than we do ... For politicians and unelected decision-makers, uncertainty is life-or-death, yet decisions must still be made. [must they?] Politicians constantly make decisions amid levels of uncertainty that would stifle the publication of any academic climate change paper. We need to realize that, give the politicians their due, and get the hell out of their way.

Voluntary Xchange, who provided the link, adds,

Oh gosh ... now there's more reason than ever to make sure that economics is a GenEd requirement.

Here we have a well-informed, reasonable and influential climatologist who has an engineer's view of the public policy process. He lives by garbage-in-garbage-out and thinks the inverse has to hold: so the key to outputting good public policy is to input good (climate) science. And yet the whole point of why public choice is so influential is that it provides a reasonable explanation of why you don't have to put garbage in (to democratic decision-making processes) to get garbage out.

Y'all know I'm moderately convinced of global warming, and completely unconvinced of its anthropogenic causes ... but that isn't the point here.

Read the rest.

MERCANTILISM STRIKES? Minnesota's legislators fear they're losing money on the tuition reciprocity agreement with Wisconsin, under which Wisconsin residents get to attend Minnesota public universities at Wisconsin rates, which are lower than Minnesota's. (Is that confusing enough?) (Via SCSU Scholars.)

QUOTE OF THE DAY. The dean at Anonymous Community struggles with the Popularity Penalty.

Professors who become popular with the students find their sections perennially full, which increases their grading load. Professors whom students avoid like a bad smell wind up with fewer students, and therefore lighter grading loads, for the same salary.

Institutional arrangements such as union contracts and tenure, which are not without equivalents elsewhere in civil service and the private sector, inhibit his ability to reward the productive and sanction the shirking.

From an administrative point of view, the popularity penalty is hard to address. I like to hear that students like their classes, and the soulless bean-counter in me can do the math well enough to realize that the books balance better when the classes are full. That said, there's something perverse about the better teachers having to do more work for free, and the dregs getting a free ride.

It's difficult to design an incentive-compatible pay-for-performance algorithm. One could use the eight-week enrollment counts as one dimension of merit money, but then there's the temptation to be undemanding in the first eight weeks. Or one could use consistent low enrollments relative to other sections as evidence of ineffective teaching, but that's going to be harder to implement the more esoteric the section offerings are.

The Quote, however, is in the comments.

I am pissed off in practice I feel like I'm being punished for being good at what I do. No, it's not my job to worry about what's happening with Prof. X, and I try not to do so, but after a while, it begins to feel like one is being used, and that makes it really hard to be an effective teacher.

Immediately below is a response that captures the dilemma.

The catch, of course, is that it can be difficult to differentiate between the instructors who are popular because they're good, and those who are popular because they're ridiculously easy.

There might be ways of identifying Mickey's producers, but those would require somebody to do hard analysis of messy facts.

A LITTLE RAILROAD VIEWING. Book reviews will resume in the near future. For now, some quick observations on National Geographic Channel's Inside Grand Central, a recent DVD purchase. Some of the business history is wrong, and the use of stock footage from the London and North Eastern and the Boston and Maine at North Station distracts, as does the use of steam action shots and an Acela bound for Penn Station in the discussion of the electrification. On the other hand, the reporting on the complete rehabilitation of the world's greatest passenger terminal, complete with time-lapse photography of the cleaning is instructive, and I wasn't aware that some of President Roosevelt's secret train is still stabled at the Waldorf-Astoria platform. I was also pleased to see that Metro-North's Dan Brucker, who showed a group of O Scalers through some of the high-security areas before September 11, is still showing guests behind the scenes. There really is a power house that looks like it might have been the Penguin's lair underneath the headhouse, and the power desk and dispatchers' offices are impressive. And it now looks like some Long Island Rail Road trains will be terminating at new platforms east of the existing lower level loop tracks. There are also plenty of vintage shots of the terminal during the glamour years of the Twentieth Century Limited, as well as footage of the ETTS era. The terminal serves well as omnium-gatherum for commuters, and check out the shots of those trains arriving and the invading hordes charging up the ramps!

GOING FAR AWAY FOR COLLEGE? College Affordability's Bryan O'Keefe picks up an intriguing story.

Marketplace has a very interesting story about another possible alternative to paying $44,000 a year for American higher ed: studying abroad at a prestigious school for a fraction of the costs. As the story points out, the cost of a year at Oxford is only $10,000, which is considerably less expensive than Harvard and Yale and even less expensive than many second rate and third rate colleges.

That's the phenomenon we refer to as "bypass."

SOMEONE ELSE IS UNDERWHELMED. Charles Featherstone visits some of the war memorials in Washington, D. C. and offers this impression of the new World War II memorial.

It's gray marble and concrete combined with already-weathered bronze make this memorial look like something Albert Speer would have designed to celebrate Nazi Germany's final victory against the decadent West and Bolshevik Russia. The wreaths each look like they'd easily fit a swastika, and I cannot get images of harsher-looking eagles with much straighter lines hanging over each entryway. This is not so much a memorial to World War Two as it a memorial to the American version of National Socialism, of state supremacy, of rule by rightly guided elites, of global conquest and domination. Much like the Temple of Father Abraham, this memorial is designed to awe and overwhelm anyone who visits – "this is the state, and it means everything. You mean nothing."

I'm not sure about the parallels in the concluding sentences, but I do remember writing this.

Image from Alphecca.

MEASURING INPUTS, NOT OUTPUTS. The state's ethics board doesn't like people rushing through their online ethics training.

"The state feels that if you take the test too quickly you must have cheated, which apparently must be unethical," Paul Stoddard, president of the Faculty Senate, said.

NIU President John Peters said 10 percent of employees across the state failed to pass the state exam, even though most answered all the questions correctly.

Peters said the discrepancy occurs when the employee finishes the test in less than 10 minutes.

As King noted when fast test-takers got flagged at Southern Illinois, this is ethics, not rocket science.

DO I REALLY WANT TO KNOW? What's the purpose of the trailer-hitch scrotum? There's a larger version for vehicles with the ground clearance of a G.I. deuce-and-a-half, complete with a comment page for customers and others. It is possible to over-analyze.

On my drive to school a few days ago, while I was stopped at a red light, behind a Chevy pick-up, I saw something I didn’t understand. A pair of anatomically correct, flesh colored plastic testicles dangled below the truck’s Missouri license plate. Was this what the state legislator had in mind when they adopted the official nickname, “The Showme State?” As the bull-sized balls swung back and forth to the rhythm of the trucks idling motor, I wondered why anyone would accessorize their truck in this way.

So I asked my freshman composition class. The women had the usual short-guy-fast-car theories. Interestingly, all of their adjectives— redneck, low-life, hillbilly, hoosier —placed the proud owner of “truck nuts” on society’s lowest rung. During this discussion, all the men in class remained silent, apparently worried that merely having similar accoutrements tainted them. The women also pondered driving around with a set of cabbage-size hooters on the hood of their cars. Finally, they decided, who needs it.

Or to grouse.

What seems to me most culturally significant about the truck scrotum is the way it imposes crudeness; it forces before others' eyes a representation of a body part once so personal that a synonym is "privates." Unlike the schoolboys all those years ago, who at least made the effort to disguise their naughtiness with wordplay, someone equipping his vehicle with genitals is provoking without artifice or deniability.

Or to muse, or to speculate.

THE WRONG KIND OF CAPACITY. Discouraging news from Florida, via Phi Beta Cons.

Jolting the foundations of 11 Florida universities is a consultant's master plan looking ahead to 2030.

It suggests creating bachelor's degrees-only institutions - out of an existing university, community or private college or from the ground up - to counter Florida's low ranking of 43rd in the nation in adults ages 18 to 44 with four-year degrees.

As if further investment in access-assessment-remediation-retention is going to help Floridians or expand the share of knowledge workers in gross state product. But that appears to be exactly what this consultant has in mind.

For Florida State University, one potential fallout is the idea of limiting the number of expensive research universities supported by the state.

FSU is in the midst of striving to enhance its research reputation in order to be invited into the elite Association of American Universities. Yet if fewer research-level universities are funded, that sets FSU up for more competition with places such as University of Central Florida, University of South Florida and Florida Atlantic University, all trying to become research giants like University of Florida.

For Florida A&M University, there may be paranoia about a repeat of when former chancellor Adam Herbert tried to push FAMU to the bottom tier of universities. It may be defending itself against becoming only a bachelor's degree-granting institution, at a time when it wants to raise its research profile.

The report lists FAMU, where 87 percent of students are undergraduates, as one of six universities that "would be natural choices to form the foundation of the new state college system."

And the idea of basing state funding in part on a university's graduation rate could be tough for FAMU, with its six-year graduation rate of 42 percent. FSU's six-year graduation rate is 67.5 percent.

"We hold ourselves to a high standard, and we're going to be treated as all the universities in the state," Austin said of FAMU. "Whatever goals the board may have, we certainly will meet them, because we want to be the best."

What's that line about "he doesn't know the territory?" In an environment where there is excess demand for places at selective universities, which may well reflect a flight from perceived degree mills operating under access-assessment-remediation-retention principles, the creation of additional capacity that looks like a degree mill is unlikely to make good use of tax dollars, and the imposition of the responsibilities of a degree mill on faculty who aspire to more is unlikely to do much for their morale.

THE DAYS OF HIGH SCHOOL-IN-COLLEGE MAY BE NUMBERED. Encouraging news from Washington.

Colleges, like factories, need to work with their “supplier community” to improve the quality of the raw materials they end up shaping, a business leader told a group of about 120 college leaders and state policy makers gathered in Washington Monday for a summit on higher education’s role in improving America’s high schools.

“You want products to come to your factory that are suitable,” Craig Barrett, chairman of the Intel Corporation’s board said in industry speak, pragmatically pointing to a challenge for higher education that so often is couched in more tender terms.

Speakers at Monday’s “Advancing College Readiness” summit outlined the role higher education leaders should play in ensuring that high school graduates learn the right skills and graduate ready for college and the workforce. But some in the audience, while enthusiastic about the premise and willing to work toward it, seemed a bit skeptical about the potential for change within a seemingly intractable system — skeptical, and even a bit cynical.

The first comment at the post has the right idea.

There are steps that can be taken.

1. Gradually migrate existing first-year writing and mathematics, and any remedial instruction, from the universities to the high schools.

2. Give dual credit for the non-remedial courses.

3. Require the universities to certify and prepare the instructors who must hold the same qualifications as today’s first-year writing and math instructors (some of whom are already moonlighting and retired high school teachers.)

4. Require the universities to assess and continuously improve the program.

Many states already have such programs for elite high school students. Gradually expand the programs, and secondary school performance will improve.

The ensuing bull session is worth visiting.

ASK THE KIDS WHO DID THE JOB. They're pleased with what they're seeing.

The former Huskie stars were impressed.

Tammy Hinchee, the top rebounder (1,099) and third-leading scorer (1,921) in NIU history, said the Huskies are better prepared this season.

“It's very noticeable, just look at their record,” Hinchee said of NIU's improvement. “They have more confidence in themselves, [coach Carol Owens] has them prepared better and they know what they're doing out there. I think they've cut their turnovers down and they play better defense.”

Denise Robinson, who Owens called instrumental in her development as a freshman as teammates, said the team executed better and younger players improved since last year.

“I came last year when she first got the job and ooh, they stunk up the place,” Robinson said, laughing. “You can see a difference in the crispness of their game. You can see they have worked hard and the recruits they have brought in have helped. You can see the growth in last year's recruits from their freshman to sophomore year. Obviously they are doing something right, the record says it.”

Foss, the top scorer in Huskie history with 2,500 points, said it is a difficult task to take over a program and win with another coach's players, but Owens has the Huskies believing in her system.

“I think she's done a great job,” said Foss, an NIU season ticket holder. “It takes a little bit of time, but she's done it quick. The record shows she's turned the team around. Coming into a program with players who are not all your kids, then adopting those players as your kids and making them believe in you is a hard thing. I think she's done it. They trust her.”

The alumnae believe this season is just another step toward a return to prominence. Many of the returning alumnae played with Owens when the Huskies were perennial postseason visitors. In Owens' final season, she led the Huskies, along with Foss and Hinchee, to NIU's first NCAA appearances.

“Of course,” Hinchee said when asked if Owens could return NIU to past glory. “She knows how it's done because we did it and she will bring these guys back to the height of the program where it was before, maybe even better.”

Robinson said she believes Owens will need just a couple more seasons to recruit and teach to transform the Huskies into a contender.

There are still setbacks, but as is the case with poor regatta results, these are learning opportunities.

OUR MISSION IS ELIGIBILITY. Inside Higher Ed visits a Minnesota community college that recognizes the Faustian bargain inherent in getting football players eligible to play in Division I.

Hibbing’s administration took a good, hard look at those numbers and drew one obvious conclusion: Although the small college might sacrifice its diversity, and risk a serious hit on its enrollment figures, academics are paramount and football has got to go – at least for awhile. “We’re concerned that the players aren’t benefiting by being here, that academics isn’t a priority,” said Simberg, who explained that the administration has recommended a suspension and expects to make a final decision by next week. Two forums on the subject — one announcing the deliberations to faculty, and another seeking public input — were held last Tuesday and Thursday.

But another obvious conclusion that could be drawn is that these football players – largely out-of-state students who lack the grades and scores to get into four-year colleges – come to Hibbing because they see a place to play ball. Given their prior academic records and motivations for coming, their poor classroom performance is not surprising, and arguably for an open-access institution a situation worthy of greater intervention and stricter eligibility standards for athletes, not suspension.

“It sounds like Hibbing is blaming the student athletes for not doing the work as opposed to the system that sounds like it was set up to bring in very marginal students who overwhelmingly require that mediation,” said Richard Lapchick, chair of the DeVos Sport Business Management Program at the University of Central Florida and director of the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport. Suspending the team, Lapchick said, “seems counterproductive to ever having the possibility of having student athletes.”

Yet, Hibbing’s administration argues that the status quo, with dozens of students coming to the college for love of the game and distaste for the classroom, has got to stop. Students are coming and going ill-prepared, first bound for Hibbing’s classrooms, and then for the world of work, saddled with loans and little academic progress to show for them. And Simberg stressed that the opportunity for these students at Hibbing will always remain – in the academic sphere. “That’s where we want to see the importance placed.”

“I am recommending a suspension because I do think that we need to take the time to look at this from a lot of different angles,” he said. The length, or finality, of a potential suspension hasn’t been determined yet. The program, if suspended, may not ever return, he said. Or it may return, at some undetermined point, fundamentally changed: “What changes can we make where we aren’t in the situation where we are now, that situation being that the majority of the students on our football program are not maintaining satisfactory academic progress according to our policy?”

Kurt Zuidmulder, the head football coach, said that students must complete a total of 24 credits with at least a 2.0 average to return to play sophomore year. Although only 5 of 63 players were sophomores this year, he said that’s a down year for a team with a 37 percent retention rate. “Basically, if you look at why these kids come here, yes they want to play football. . .but for one reason or another, possibly a low ACT score, poor grades, it stopped them from going to a four-year school after high school. I feel as a junior college, it’s our job to give those kids a second chance to get those grades and move on.”

“As recently as last year,” he added, “we had 16 of 18 sophomores that were given scholarship opportunities [to transfer to four-year schools] that they wouldn’t have had if they hadn’t come here.” Without football, he said, most of these students wouldn’t be coming to Hibbing at all, and if football is their carrot, so be it. “I believe that football is the avenue and their motivating factor to get an education. Without this opportunity, I don’t see these kids making it a priority to work on their education,” he said. “If, through the positive efforts of not only the football program, but also the tutors, the counselors, and the advisors. . .if they use those avenues and come out of here with an education, that’s great.”

One wonders how much of an "education" they received (eligibility studies, anyone?) and how much of a major they will receive in the next two or three years.

There's a bit more to the story.

But academics aside, Hibbing’s football team has at times been a controversial presence in small-town Minnesota. When three current players and one former one were arrested in October in connection with the alleged gang rape of an 18-year-old high school senior in a college residence hall, it stirred memories of a town that has at times over the past 15 years been shaken by racial tensions and mistrust, as The Star Tribune reported. Among the incidents reported by the paper are attacks against black athletes, racist threats and suspicions that players were guilty of rape. The out-of-state recruitment has been a source of tension not just at Hibbing, The Star Tribune reported, but also at nearby Mesabi and Vermillion community colleges.

Simberg stressed that the decision to potentially suspend the team is not a result of the alleged October rape. And while Zuidmulder said he doesn’t know if the town’s racial tensions were a factor in setting the stage for the proposed suspension, he thinks the situation needs to be
scrutinized.

Hibbing’s mayor, Rick Wolff, said the mostly white, 16,500-person town will suffer a big setback if the football players stop coming, as about 60 to 70 percent of the town’s diversity comes from the college. “If the football team is suspended, something will be lost,” he said. But ultimately, Wolff respects the administration’s responsibility to safeguard the college’s academics. “First and foremost, I think the college is an academic institution,” he said. “The number one concern that they have to have as administrators of that university is the academic performance of students. It’s supported by tax dollars, and if the people who are attending aren’t getting an adequate education, there’s a problem with it being funded by tax dollars.”

Now, if the players were, oh, participants in an upper-class sport at a rich peoples' university, there'd be an easy solution? Nah.

WE GET CITATIONS. Joanne Jacobs picks up the commentary on the three, now two, freshmen, the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel has been following through Wisconsin-Milwaukee. She recommends College Puzzle's advice to matriculants so as to avoid some of the difficulties the three encountered.

1) Sooner is better than later. Start college right after high school graduation.

2) Take as many classes per semester as you can handle given other time demands (full-time is best)

3) Part-time attendance (less than 12 credits per semester) at any point proved to be detrimental to the ability of students to complete degrees. But continuous part-time enrollment is less damaging than excessive stop-out periods.

4) Earn at least four credits in the summer.

5) Do not withdraw from or repeat courses unless it is absolutely necessary. No-penalty withdrawals hinder degree completion and may be the principal cause of increased time-to-degree.

6) If you have academic trouble in the first academic year, the second year is crucial because many students recapture their momentum in the second year and complete gateway courses in basic subjects.

The conclusion:

Students are not passively passing through an academic pipeline to college completion. They can be active in creating their own path to college success.

Amen.

Phil Miller's Market Power extends the meditation on scarcity.

A second grader can understand that scarcity need not be conceived of in Malthusian terms.

John Palmer's EclectEcon extends the opportunity cost argument, where the connection between greater visibility in intercollegiate athletics and greater visibility in higher education is concerned.

I realize that some universities claim that having a top-ranked athletic programme will attract better scholars, better students, and more donations for academic programmes. I have yet to see any evidence supporting this argument.

King Banaian, who must have access to my great-grandfather's passport, provides a bit of the evidence.

There may be indirect confirmation of the link Toma and Cross identify in my back yard. The recent successes of Northern Illinois football, at the margin, might be bringing more students to campus (although the population boom in Greater Chicago and the Corn and Cheddar Free Trade Zone must not be discounted.) But without the efforts of a lot of people to hold the line on academic standards and staff development during the years of budget cuts and losing streaks, we'd not be able to serve those additional students well at all.

AN END TO ONE-WAY MULTICULTURALISM? Christopher Hitchens weighs in on America Alone, which I reviewed last year. (Via Milt Rosenberg.)

A WEATHERMAN CONTEMPLATES GLOBAL WARMING. Long-time WTMJ meteorologist Jim Ott retired from the fourth estate to run for public office. He recently responded to an inquiry about global warming.

The mainstream media has played an important role in fostering the idea that global warming is happening, and that it’s due to human activity and that it will get worse. That’s because much of the nation’s media, like the TV networks, are based on the east coast. Whenever there is an unusually warm weather event there, it is a story to them, and they bring in some climatologist or other researcher who believes that global warming is caused by human activity. When the weather on the east coast is cooler than normal, we do not see reports stating that maybe global warming isn’t happening.

Imagine an observer who was present in North America 10,000 years ago as the most recent continental ice sheet was melting. He would have observed the same thing we have observed for the last 20-25 years, but on a much grander scale: a warming climate that spanned hundreds, and probably thousands of years, and the associated melting of the ice.

All of this was happening without the impact of human activity.

(Via Charlie Sykes.)

NOT TRIGGERED BY COALITION TROOPS. Beirut is not garrisoned, but Michael Totten reports there is an insurgency in progress anyway.

QUOTE OF THE DAY. The Northern Star interviews the Director of Judicial Affairs.

Disciplining is a form of education, so let's say this: I like educating students. When I levy sanctions on students, it is to educate them. It is to teach you about academic honesty. In the real world, when you commit a crime, you go to jail. In this world (NIU), you see a man named Larry Bolles. It's all a part of a learning process.

He goes on to note that the most enjoyable part of the job is hearing from students who took their lessons to heart.

KILLING HIS INNER SUBVERSIVE? All-everything counter-terrorist operative Jack Bauer is the son of the West Coast dealer in aftermarket triggers for Soviet-era portable nuclear devices (you mean vacuum tubes aren't required) and brother of the shadowy Council on Foreign Studies type running dog capitalist (with that annoying portable radio on his ear) who was the real power behind disgraced ex-president Nixon Logan. More analysis at Below the Beltway. King Banaian suggests the show has jumped the shark. (Perhaps, but there are four portable devices still awaiting their triggers.)

DIFFICULT LESSONS LEARNED. Last fall, the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel started following three freshmen through the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (home of the "Milwaukee Panthers," for sports fans.) After one semester, one is making good progress, one is managing the additional freedom and might manage the academics, and one is out. The paper's conclusions: a stronger high school matters, passion for the work matters, compatible friends matter, and the record of student support services is mixed. Universities might not be able to control the high schools their applicants attend, but they can send the message to high schools that the days of high school-in-college, otherwise known as "remediation," are over. They may not be able to control the commitment students have for their work, but essays and test scores might tell admissions offices something about that motivation. The screen for motivated students might have the effect of screening out the party set, making it more likely that freshmen will encounter relatively more motivated classmates.

REDISCOVERING THE PRINCIPLE OF DERIVED DEMAND. Dean Edward Snyder, of Chicago's Graduate School of Business, contemplates the "consumer" model of the MBA program.

Instead of the customer is always right, we ought to go with a version of you get what you put into it. If we do, then the interesting and important question becomes how can we get our students to put more into their MBA educations?

My answer is that we should engage our MBA students with a combination of “stretch and support.”

- We should set high expectations of our students. When they meet them, shine the light and recognize them. When they don’t, kick them in the butt.

- We must care deeply about our students, their experiences, and what they are trying to achieve. This naturally leads schools to support them day-by-day and in truly profound ways.

If we get the right balance of stretch and support, then we move to a more productive equilibrium, in which students put more in (because they feel both challenged and supported) and they get more out of their experience.

They'll also be more likely to land jobs, he notes. (Via Newmark's Door.)

RETHINKING HIGHER EDUCATION. Arnold Kling favors more variety, not less.

Granted, it is better to train people for specific occupations than to have them waste four years earning what I call the "Wizard of Oz" diploma. However, in a dynamic economy, we have to recognize that vocational school is far from a panacea.

He elaborates:

Historically, European and Japanese youth were subjected to very severe tracking. An exam taken in one's early teens would determine whether the person is destined for higher education or for trade school. What [Charles] Murray is suggesting [in his Opinion Journal triptych] strikes me as similar.

Formal tracking is distasteful, for a number of reasons. First, I believe that it is better to have multiple, competing elites than to go the route of having an "upper class" and a "lower class." Disparate elites are more easily penetrated by outsiders, which is important. Disparate elites also provide natural checks and balances. A unified elite would be a frightening proposition.

Second, the American narrative rests on equal opportunity. We know that people are born with advantages and disadvantages, but we like to think that we provide reasonable chances for people to overcome disadvantages and move up the social and economic ladder. Making college accessible to as many people as possible may represent a misguided attempt to err on the side of providing opportunities for upward mobility that are not realistic. However, formal tracking policies err in the other direction, by restricting opportunity. As an American, I see holding someone down with an artificial ceiling as a much more serious offense than extending a futile helping hand that fails to lift someone up.

Let's leave for another day the implicit message about that "unified elite" of The Nation or The Washington Monthly or Reason announcing to the world the hiring of their latest crop of interns from Harvard, Columbia, and Princeton.

HALAS, LOMBARDI, OUTDOOR FOOTBALL. The Packers' offensive line and secondary would not be any better if some team other than the Bears went to the Super Bowl. A Nightmare for Packers Fans...the Bears Made the Super Bowl.

No nightmare, not here. The Seahawks, coached by Mike "I'm Too Busy Negotiating with Paul Allen to Prepare for the 'Niners" Holmgren? Please. The Saints, better known for their fans' paper bags. A southern team that plays in a dome???? The opposition: the Baltimore Indianapolis Colts, first reassigned to the funny league in the merger, then pioneers of the "Build us a better stadium or we'll leave" hold-up.

Blue and orange are OK at Cold Spring Shops for the next two weeks.

BURYING THE LEAD. Some academic administrator at a place not on our coaches' poll burns a lot of neutrons on "Defining Academic Vision." After much stumbling and mumbling, he concludes with "I remain convinced of my original reply: the best academic vision builds on intellectual curiosity and the impulse to teach."

I wonder who he was trying to convince with the bulk of the column.

CAN WE BUY SOME CLASS SIX TRACK? Destination:Freedom offers particulars on the latest bipartisan Amtrak bill.

The bill enables Amtrak to match state funds for investments in the railroad. At present, Illinois, Missouri, California and eleven other states have funded corridor service that Amtrak otherwise would not provide. California currently contributes $73 million for the Pacific Surfliner and two other trains it runs jointly with Amtrak. Last year, Illinois doubled its annual subsidy to Amtrak to $24 million after several years of rapid growth in ridership on routes connecting Chicago with St. Louis, Carbondale, and Quincy. Missouri paid Amtrak $6.5 million in 2006 to help with service connecting St. Louis and Kansas City, which had 119,000 passengers that year.

States can only do so much without the availability of matching funds for capital improvements, said Jason Tai, director of public and intermodal transportation for the Illinois Department of Transportation. “Unlike other modes of transportation ...highways, transit, even waterways, there is no dedicated substantial funding for rail. It is an unlevel playing field,” he said.

Under the Lautenberg-Lott legislation, states would receive 80 percent federal matching funds for capital projects.

That's not quite as generous as the 90-10 split for Highway Trust Fund capital projects (when Congress authorizes such expenditures rather than sitting on the money to make the deficit look smaller) or the 100% funding in earmarks, but progress.

No mention of whether Amtrak will offer some refresher courses on the proper behavior of crews on delayed trains.

WHY ASPIRANTS DON'T SAY "HECK, YES, I'M RUNNING." This Ron Elving column explains more than many would care to know about presidential exploratory committees and formal announcements of candidacy. Much of that foofaraw is driven by campaign finance "reforms."

And then the candidate's dance of the seven veils has begun.

The next step is another veil -- usually the formation of an exploratory committee to consider formal candidacy. The exploratory committee has been around for decades, and technically it creates a legal shell for a candidate who expects to spend more than $5,000 while contemplating an actual run. Under the rules, exploratory money may be raised without the full disclosure of sources required of true candidates. Only when the candidate drops the exploratory label does the full responsibility of transparency apply.

The balance of the article is similarly instructive.

Must research Duncan Hunter.

MAKING THE COACHES' POLL. Sometimes there's more effort in quantifying what the universities are doing than in doing the universities' business.

According to the Top Research Universities in the 2005 Faculty Scholarly Productivity Index by Academic Analytics, [Northern Illinois] is ranked 17 out of the top 20 small research universities.

The people who are supposed to call attention to good news are doing their work.

While many research facilities attempt to rank universities based on various qualifications, it is difficult to rank a university based on just certain attributes, said Melanie Magara, assistant vice president for public affairs.

"This set of rankings came out of dissatisfaction of the methods of other rankings," Magara said.

Magara also said it is equally difficult to rank a university's productivity.

"How do you judge the productivity of a university?" Magara asked. "It depends on who you ask. What are you asking and who are you asking?"

Despite the difficulty in ranking a university, Magara said that 17 out of 20 of the top 20 small research universities is still an accomplishment.

"It's relative," Magara said. "We're there, as opposed to not being there. Whereas thousands of universities are not there."

The dean of the graduate school aspires, not unjustifiably, to more.

In contrast, Rathindra Bose, the vice president of research and graduate
studies, is disappointed by the ranking.

"[NIU] should be in the bigger classification, not the smaller one," Bose said.

Bose also said that NIU would rank higher if the classifications of universities were more specific.

"If you exclude the medical colleges, I think we would be in the top 100 doctoral colleges," Bose said.

Additionally, Bose said that the scope of faculty productivity should be larger.

"I can name many faculty who are highly productive, but they don't contribute to the graduate program," Bose said.

The productivity of faculty is ranked by the index based on articles and books written, as well as the amount of citations received by each faculty member contributing to a graduate program at the university.

Grrr. One of these days Northern Star editors will learn to distinguish "number" from "amount."

On a happier note, my colleagues understand opportunity costs (unlike some people who ought to know better.)

"Our scholars teach more than at other universities," Magara said.

Magara said that from the student perspective, it is important to acknowledge that studying with real professors as opposed to graduate students allows less time for professors to do research and more time for one-on-one contact between the student and professor.

The topic of discerning NIU's focus was also discussed at the Faculty Senate meeting Wednesday.

"The argument is that we are not going to be U of [Illinois, which ranked 34 out of the top 50 large research universities], we can't be research only and turn over the teaching to our graduate students. That's not us," said Daniel Kempton, associate professor of political science.

Kempton suggested a division of teaching and researching to balance both necessities.

"We can't compete with liberal arts colleges and do only teaching," Kempton said. "We are a place for both research and our students."

A place that continues to be oversubscribed.

[Northern Illinois] listed the fall semester's 10th-day enrollment at 25,313 students, the university's highest enrollment level since 1987, when it listed an enrollment of 25,455, according to the NIU Data Book.

Headquarters understands that there are limits.

[Assistant vice provost of enrollment services Brent] Gage said NIU's goal is to recruit talented students while closely watching enrollment numbers to make sure the university can provide all students with the necessary resources. Gage said consequently, the enrollment numbers may drop so NIU can continue to effectively manage resources.

Resources, by the way, that are circumscribed by the state. Our colleagues at Urbana sometimes demonstrate the mind-set that successes in DeKalb or any of the other state universities reflect poorly on them. That would not be a good mind-set if there were an excess supply of spaces in selective universities. It is particularly troubling under the current conditions of excess demand for such degrees.

ANOTHER GIANT PASSES. Richard A. Musgrave, 1910-2007.

Mr. Musgrave took about 20 years to conceive, write and publish the 1959 work for which he is best known, “The Theory of Public Finance,” an analysis of how governments allocate resources and respond to social needs.

“It still stands unchallenged,” the economic historian Mark Blaug wrote decades later. “Anyone with a question in the theory of public finance can be told even now, ‘it’s all in Musgrave.’ ”

Before Mr. Musgrave’s research, most theoretical work by British and American economists was geared toward understanding the behavior of prices, supply and demand as they interacted with other market forces. Governments played a secondary role, stepping in mainly to fill gaps when the markets failed.

Mr. Musgrave had a different view, his wife said. He saw the government as having an important economic role and developed a theory on the way taxes and other factors interact in areas where goods and services — roads, schools, courts and national defense, for example — were best provided by the government.

I still refer to my well-thumbed Public Finance in Theory and Practice, the undergraduate version by Richard and Peggy Musgrave.

He and Paul Samuelson benefitted by trading ideas.

A case in point: a three-page paper by Samuelson that appeared in a symposium in the Review of Economics and Statistics in 1954 titled "The Pure Theory of Public Expenditure." It began, "Except for Sax, Wicksell, Lindahl, Musgrave and Bowen, economists have rather neglected the theory of optimal public expenditure, spending most of their energy on the theory of taxation."

Whereupon Samuelson proceeded to restate Musgrave's argument as a mathematical model of the overall interdependence between public and private goods – with immediate and explosive results. Overnight, the language of public finance, at least cutting edge public finance, became mathematics.

"Never have three pages had so great an impact on the theory of public finance," Musgrave wrote thirty years later. They spawned a large volume of literature, with many variations on the theme, but the basic model had been set. The conditions of Pareto optimality had been expanded to include public goods and the optimum optimorum based on a social welfare function had been restated accordingly.

"The excitement lay in the moment Samuelson chose to write his paper. It was a little like Babe Ruth pointing deliberately to the wall before his next home run. In the early 1950s, resistance to increasing formalization was widespread.

Resistance was futile. I may not have a copy of The Theory of Public Finance, but I do have several ring-binders full of works from Journal of Economic Theory, Journal of Political Economy, Quarterly Journal of Economics and the like full of the mathematical conditions. (Or as I was teasing our job candidates, "public finance is general equilibrium theory with funny first-order conditions.")

But the proof of the pudding was the mathematical restatement of "The Voluntary Exchange theory of Public Economy" that Samuelson concocted on short notice, based on his "dim remembrance" of a diagram in Musgrave's paper. So obviously superior was the treatment, at least to the mathematically well-versed, that it was a devastating response to Novick's charges.

Musgrave, for his part, was delighted – at least for the most part. He and Samuelson had been close friends for 20 years, ever since they had been graduate students together. Musgrave frequently expressed pleasure in later years at having led Samuelson to the problem that he so successfully solved. Samuelson in turn occasionally mused that perhaps he had cost Musgrave -- or Abram Bergson or John Rawls or some combination – a Nobel Prize.

Then again, Musgrave did periodically permit himself a demurrer.

In Samuelson's famous model, Musgrave would sometimes observe, rather than become bogged down in a morass of intractable game theory, he had simply set aside for some later date the problem of how an efficient solution of the public goods problem might actually be achieved in practice. For the purposes of model-building, Samuelson conveniently assumed the existence of a beneficent social planner who knew everyone's inner-most thoughts. No need for voting mechanisms when you've got a friend like that!

But then there's D. McCloskey's American Question: if you're so smart, why aren't you rich?

Civil servants became bureaucrats. The ways in which interest groups manipulate democratic processes to serve their own ends took center stage.

Which leads directly (and finally!) to Musgrave's second remarkable contribution to 20th century economics. In 1998, Hans-Werner Sinn, the leading economist at the University of Munich, invited Musgrave and his arch-rival in the study of political economy, James Buchanan, father of the relentlessly skeptical study of "public choice," to a carefully organized five-day debate.

The scholars took turns stating their positions. They responded to one another. They took questions from the floor. Then they restated their views more narrowly. The results were published in 1999 as Public Finance and Public Choice: Two Contrasting Visions of the State. [Emphasis and link added - SHK] Their debate was a textbook example of what psychologist Daniel Kahneman recently called "adversarial collaboration." So useful are both lenses for different purposes that it is not easy to form an opinion about who "won."

Marginal Revolution links to excerpts of that debate. I am considering buying the book.

THE CURRENT MESS, AND THE WAY FORWARD. Hammorabi suggests much of the past six years' unpleasantness could have been avoided.

We think that all of what is going on now and the attacks of the 11 September 2001 in NY could not have been happened if the war in Kuwait was avoided or at least if Saddam was toppled after that war and of no doubts that was much easier and better than the present situation. The mistake was that GWB the senior accepted the advise of the Saudis who themselves fed the ideology and strategy of September the 11th attacks and much more and seems to be more to come and may be so soon.

So much for the notion of preserving "regional stability" for its own sake?

The Mesopotamian has had a bad winter, and suggests that some of the present unpleasantness could have been prevented.

Safety of the ordinary people is the key to the safety of the troops and the general security situation, I said. But tragically, so much precious time was lost. I tell you, it would have been easier then and much more difficult now. I don’t say that nothing was done. A lot was done, and it must be admitted that you cannot safeguard the capital without some degree of control of the provinces, and a lot of work was done in the provinces. The situation in the Anbar, for instance, is drastically different today than it was before, and in a positive way. This was due mainly to the struggles of the American forces, after so many trials and tribulations. At long last the Americans are beginning to understand better the psychology and the nature of the people there. And indeed, the situation in Baghdad, in a way is the result of successes there and the influx of [Saddam loyalists, al-Qaeda operatives, and general delinquents] into the capital after having been driven out of the Anbar.

Yet there is this new American strategy, and the new security plan. We have to admit that for the ordinary people of Baghdad such announcements have lost much of their credibility due to successive failure of previously much trumpeted similar attempts. Nevertheless, deep down, there is a faint hope that something different might be achieved this time. And, you know, nothing succeeds like success. Any kind of appreciable change in the dismal situation will have a huge uplifting effect. If security in Baghdad can be restored to some bearable level, and if basic services, i.e. electricity, water, garbage collection etc. can be improved to something less absurd than the present levels; then this will have a tremendous effect completely out of proportion with the actual size of the achievement.

Best wishes to coalition and Iraqi troops and to Iraqi civilian authority. Are there any sewer Socialists in Baghdad?

HOW OFTEN DOES THE WEAK PLAYER DEVELOP A STRONG POSITION AGAINST A GRANDMASTER? And how often does the grandmaster go on to win?

SOCIALIZATION. The common schools used to inculcate the habits of the middle class (before "bourgeois" became a put-down.) Perhaps the common schools will rediscover this part of their mission.

Motivated by a declining sense of values in a society in which people are more likely to curse and less likely to offer their seat on the bus, schools in Wisconsin and across the country are turning the teaching of character into a formal part of the curriculum.

"I think that society has recognized that our young people - and not just the young people - have lost sight of what it means to be civil, of what it means to be polite," [Jefferson (Wisc.) school superintendent Michael] Swartz said.

Although some behaviors are evolutionarily stable and others are not, they have to be learned.

The growing consensus is that children are less likely than ever to absorb basic values more naturally - in the home, on the streets or in church.

"It doesn't always just happen," said Henry Tyson, the principal of St. Marcus [Lutheran School in Milwaukee]. "It has to be taught."

And the Habits of Effective People might be more useful to the students than, say, the times-twelve tables (although elementary teachers really ought to be more conversant with Steve Karlson's rapid calculation tricks!)

While some may criticize such lessons for straying from a school's academic mission, Marvin Berkowitz, a professor at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, notes that there's increasing evidence that when character education is done well, test scores can rise. He points to a study done between 1999 and 2002 at several dozen California elementary schools that found that schools that established stronger character education programs also showed greater test score gains.

Berkowitz attributes the rising interest in the last five years not only to a decline in civility, but also to increasing federal support for the programs. He's reluctant to publicize results showing rising test scores, though, out of fear that school officials may turn to character education as a quick fix.

The research isn't limited to the assessors. Chicago's James Heckman has been doing a lot of work of late on the role of noncognitive skills in human capital development.

MINNESOTA = NORWAY? Ya, py yumpin' yiminy, but not in de vay ya t'aught it vas.

(Mange takk Coyote Blog.)

PLAY VALUE. Every once in a while, one has to play with trains.

Thus, a Riverside line Suburban Tank winds up on Boston's North Shore hauling a boxcar I bought after the World Trade Center atrocity.


The ship's chandler receives a consignment of supplies. In the background is the blast furnace. I have an application pending for a photo permit on mill property.


A banana boat is due, and cars are being positioned for quick loading and shipment.

Just-in-time logistics sounds like contemporary business wisdom, but the railroads and the fruit packers were doing it early in the twentieth century. The real artistry took place at the docks: some green bananas were closer to turning yellow than others. Those would be loaded onto cars for the short destinations. The ones destined farther away (the Illinois Central, for example, would load at New Orleans for Dubuque or Omaha or Albert Lea) would ripen in transit.

MAYBE I SHOULD HOIST A SPRECHER. What's this loose talk about Christmas closure being a paid vacation for academicians? First, a weekend at the Embassy Suites chatting with potential future colleagues. Then some extended sessions with red pen and scratch pad fixing up a paper. (I have learned how to code in Scientific Word and how to convert documents to .pdf and assemble .pdf documents, but composing at the keyboard is for Mozart.) The assembled document went off for review today. Tomorrow I tackle some really messy Lagrangians.

MORE ON ECONOMIC INTEGRATION. A faster commute to Chicago might keep middle-and upper-middle income Milwaukeeans in state.

The Milwaukee area faces a stagnating economic outlook but can improve its fortunes by creating closer ties with Chicago, including a new commuter rail service, an executive told area real estate and financing professionals on Thursday.

That Cheddar Curtain free trade zone looks more and more promising. Wait a minute, the United States are already a free trade zone...

There's still enthusiasm for the Milwaukee Racine and Kenosha suburban train.

A commuter rail link from Milwaukee to Chicago - with stops at communities between both cities - would make it easier for professionals to live in southeastern Wisconsin and work in either or both cities, supporters say. That would greatly improve the region's ability to recruit such employees, and effectively create one large labor market between Milwaukee and Chicago.

That enthusiasm, however, is contingent on somebody else paying for it.

Congress has authorized $80 million for construction, and fares would bring in $3.8 million a year to help cover operating costs, the study says. Officials hope to get additional federal and state funds.

But the 33-mile extension cannot move forward without a local funding source, which would need approval from the state Legislature. A proposed sales tax for Milwaukee, Racine and Kenosha counties, amounting to 5 cents on each $100 purchase, failed to gain enough support at a Jan. 9 meeting of the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Transit Authority.

The project becomes somewhat more urgent, as Interstate 94 is to be rebuilt under traffic. Evidently new interstate highways are something else nobody's interested in paying for.

Authority members are trying to meet a June deadline to apply for federal aid. issing the deadline would prevent completion of the rail line by 2010, in time to provide an alternative during the main phase of work on rebuilding I-94 between Milwaukee and the Illinois state line. The authority's next meeting is set for Jan. 30.

New highway construction has advantages and disadvantages. In the early 1960s we didn't have to put up with summer construction delays because the interstates were being built on entirely new alignments. On the other hand, new construction doesn't really alleviate congestion: perhaps we get back to the "rush hour" instead of the "rush evening." There's a book review coming on that topic.

TEACHING YOUR OPPONENT HOW TO WIN. For background entertainment, I have the Illinois State at Indiana State game on one of the Chicago cable channels. Illinois State currently leads by double-digits. That's the same team that Northern Illinois beat rather badly in November, and the same team that beat current Mid-American West leader Ball State.

THE MORES OF THE HIPPIE COMMUNE, WITHOUT THE HIPPIES? First Things editor Joseph Bottum (via Stephen Bainbridge) has some scathing comments about Duke University, particularly the default position of much of its faculty when allegations of a lacrosse team party gone bad arose.

Sex and radical politics are supposed to fit together easily, but the Duke lacrosse case suggests that the casual hedonism of the nation’s campuses and a radicalized professoriate with real power cannot, in fact, live together. I’d just as soon lose them both. But one or the other has to change. It’s a good bet that most schools will see that protecting their students requires stripping power from the professors. A good start, but only half the lesson.

A Duke student working at First Things (via Hootsbuddy) takes a more measured tone. He agrees that some faculty members rushed to judgement.

In any reckoning of Duke’s actions during the lacrosse scandal, the actions of the Group of 88 must rank as particularly egregious. Rather than wait for the evidence, these professors took their all-purpose epistemology of racism, classism, and sexism and turned on their own students. Most of them defend themselves even now. Insofar as criticisms of Duke are directed at these faculty members, they are perfectly legitimate.

He goes on to note that not all professors still live their lives as if Bull Connor is Director of Public Safety and LBJ is sending your boy home in a box.

Thankfully, the Group of 88 does not represent the majority of professors at Duke. And as is the case in many universities, the loopy left at Duke represented by the statement was heavily concentrated in a few humanities departments. Recently, 26 members of the economics department signed a public letter in support of the lacrosse team, expressing regret for the actions of the Group of 88. Duke law professor James Coleman has publicly and frequently criticized Nifong and defended the lacrosse players. Any criticisms of Duke faculty members should be limited to the Group of 88 rather than the other 1,500 Duke professors who likely care very much about the students whom they teach daily.

And he makes a broader point about the collegiate rabbit culture.

Duke has in the past few years become something of a symbol for the libidinous, drunken social life that is supposed to characterize American universities. Tom Wolfe’s novel I Am Charlotte Simmons (which takes placed at “Dupont University,” by which he obviously meant Duke) had much to do with this. A graphic Rolling Stone article followed, and the Duke lacrosse scandal of course fit nicely into the narrative. From what I’ve learned of Duke’s social scene, both from reading reports and from talking to students, it’s obvious that some of these criticisms are true. Many students abuse alcohol, much of it takes place in the context of fraternities, and the sexual libertinism that Wolfe so lasciviously chronicled in his novel does indeed have some resemblance to the truth.

And yes, the Rolling Stone survey is lurid. Long-term readers will recall that the Chicago Sun-Times did a series on the rabbit culture at Illinois, and once we get more daylight and more warmth, an enterprising reporter could probably find similar goings-on in DeKalb.

CONTEMPLATING SCARCITY. Michael Mandel suggests the concept unnecessarily restricts economics.

My justification for a different definition is that there are big chunks of the economy where scarcity is not important, in any but a formal sense. If anything we seem to have an abundance of food and manufactured goods, and the cost of moving and manipulating information has fallen very very sharply. I'd also like to get in the sense that economics has a purpose.

Ralph Nader sees some of the same facts, with a completely different interpretation.

With tens of millions of Americans lacking the adequate necessities of food, fuel, shelter, health care and a sustaining job, this project is part of a 25 year trend by the economy, moving away from necessities and over to wants and whims. Among the fastest growing businesses for three decades in America are theme parks, gambling casinos and prisons.

Arnold Kling proposes that economists think more about the sources of prosperity.

I am two-handed on this issue. On the one hand, just because food, say, has become more abundant does not mean that we can ignore scarcity. At any moment in time, for a given state of know-how, the conventional definition of economics as dealing with the allocation of scarce resources among competing ends applies.

On the other hand, some of the most interesting economic observations concern relative abundance. Look at our standard of living compared to 100 years ago. Look at South Korea compared with North Korea. Robert Lucas famously said that "The consequences for human welfare involved in questions like these are simply staggering: Once one starts to think about them it is hard to think of anything else."

William Polley argues that there's still a lot of life in standard-issue economics.

My definition has three parts. Individual choice is the heart of all economics--even parts of economics that don't fit neatly into areas related to markets or government (e.g. game theory and bargaining). One could, I suppose, put a full stop right here and call it a day. It is beneficial, however, to single out the role of markets and the role of government as two identifiable arenas in which those choices play out. They are not the only such arenas, but they are the ones about which the body of knowledge in economics has the most to say. When I deliver this lecture in class, this is the context that I try to give my definition.

Let those of us who teach economics never forget that individual choices are the building blocks and that the manner in which an economy aggregates those decisions matters.

In a subsequent post, he notes that the problem of scarcity manifests itself in a different way.

But it's not the Malthusian, diminishing returns sort of scarcity that most people associate with the word (and with economics in general). So, in that sense, I understand why he would want to downplay it. Indeed, as I said in the previous post, I do not include the word "scarcity" in my one sentence definition even though I thoroughly address it in my classes.

And since the story can be told quite well by applying the old tools in new ways, I don't see any reason to radically change the definition of economics. However, I do hope that textbooks can catch up and tell the story of innovation and pricing with high fixed costs and low marginal costs. (There are some specialized texts that are starting to, but it hasn't filtered down all the way.) That would be an improvement.

I'll not be lacking for work: learning curves, network externalities, natural monopolies, and scarcity on the buyer's side. What's that argument about people having more trouble choosing from a surfeit of choices (28 varieties of jam rather than six?)

THE MOTHER OF ALL BATTLES. With echoes to this day.

Still, the outcome of the battle at Hamoukar in 3,500 B.C. helped change the trajectory of the region, with southern Mesopotamia becoming the dominant force, home to ancient kingdoms such as Babylonia.

CAN YOU CARRY WATER FOR A PATTERNMAKER? In Opinion Journal, Charles Murray argues "Too many Americans are going to college."

A reality about the job market must eventually begin to affect the valuation of a college education: The spread of wealth at the top of American society has created an explosive increase in the demand for craftsmen. Finding a good lawyer or physician is easy. Finding a good carpenter, painter, electrician, plumber, glazier, mason--the list goes on and on--is difficult, and it is a seller's market. Journeymen craftsmen routinely make incomes in the top half of the income distribution while master craftsmen can make six figures. They have work even in a soft economy. Their jobs cannot be outsourced to India. And the craftsman's job provides wonderful intrinsic rewards that come from mastery of a challenging skill that produces tangible results. How many white-collar jobs provide nearly as much satisfaction?

Even if forgoing college becomes economically attractive, the social cachet of a college degree remains. That will erode only when large numbers of high-status, high-income people do not have a college degree and don't care. The information technology industry is in the process of creating that class, with Bill Gates and Steve Jobs as exemplars. It will expand for the most natural of reasons: A college education need be no more important for many high-tech occupations than it is for NBA basketball players or cabinetmakers. Walk into Microsoft or Google with evidence that you are a brilliant hacker, and the job interviewer is not going to fret if you lack a college transcript. The ability to present an employer with evidence that you are good at something, without benefit of a college degree, will continue to increase, and so will the number of skills to which that evidence can be attached. Every time that happens, the false premium attached to the college degree will diminish.

Most students find college life to be lots of fun (apart from the boring classroom stuff), and that alone will keep the four-year institution overstocked for a long time. But, rightly understood, college is appropriate for a small minority of young adults--perhaps even a minority of the people who have IQs high enough that they could do college-level work if they wished. People who go to college are not better or worse people than anyone else; they are merely different in certain interests and abilities. That is the way college should be seen. There is reason to hope that eventually it will be.

The content of the essay suggests that the college that remains will not be organized on the access-assessment-remediation-retention model.

COMPLEX ADAPTIVE SYSTEMS DO PRETTY MUCH WHAT THEY PLEASE. The dean at Anonymous Community is taking stick for things that go wrong.

In the comments to yesterday’s post, it became clear that some of the crabbiness out there results from a faulty assumption: if something bad is happening, it's because someone bad is making it happen. There must be a villain somewhere, and he must be defeated; once that happens, all will be well.

Reality, however, is, well, more complex.

To me, one of the great intellectual contributions of the social sciences in particular has been to shift attention from a search for villains to understanding larger underlying structures. If you want to understand changes in, say, the distribution of wealth, you don't just look at a few plutocrats or the personal attitudes of selected elites. You look at the processes for the production of wealth, changes in taxation, shifts in technology, rising and declining industries, union membership, and so on. Individuals count, obviously, but they make their decisions in the context of shifting constraints that they themselves often don't understand and certainly don't control.

Donald Boudreaux writes a newspaper column that approaches the same phenomenon slightly differently.

Asked differently, doesn't human weakness and irrationality make the invisible hand of Adam Smith at least a bit palsied? And, if so, doesn't a palsied hand need some conscious guidance from caring attendants?

No.

The case for the market doesn't require that each of us behave in textbook rational fashion. One of the great benefits of free markets is that they both reduce the frequency of irrational behavior and temper the ill consequences that would otherwise occur when people do behave irrationally.

Finding that people sometimes behave irrationally says nothing about the frequency of such behavior. By imposing costs for mistaken behavior on the individuals who behave mistakenly (and by rewarding people who behave prudently with personal benefits), markets reduce the frequency of irrational behavior.

(The column also notes, somewhat amusingly, that a company called AMP Netconnect has resurrected AT&T's pre-divestiture "The System is the Solution" slogan.)

Some of higher education's troubles might reflect the weakness, in a subsidized and cartelized environment, of market tests.

The case for free markets rests chiefly upon the recognition that the competition and feedback within markets tend to weed out firms and practices that do not satisfy human desires. No one acting within markets needs to aim at generating beneficial system-wide outcomes.

Such outcomes emerge "spontaneously" (as the late Nobel economist F.A. Hayek put it). They emerge through the interactions of millions of people, each with his own limited knowledge and personal weaknesses.

The market system feeds and magnifies those practices that people find useful and starves and shrinks those practices that people find to be useless or harmful.

It will simply take trustees, deans, and faculty committees a little longer to discover that there is an excess demand for rigorous higher education (or at least the perception thereof) and an excess supply of access-assessment-remediation-retention McDegrees.

William Polley, in the midst of posting on an idea that will be a topic of a post later this week, gives some thought to the interplay of organizations other than for-profit businesses in the emergence of order.

Sometimes individual decisions are aggregated in markets. That implies certain outcomes. Other times, individual decisions are aggregated through direct voting or a representative form of government. That often implies different outcomes. Decisions made by firms are really the result of an aggregation process within the firm itself. Institutions matter. The "rules of the game" matter. (Here again, my thinking has been influenced by Heyne, et al.) What some might call society's choice is a particular combination of individual choices coordinated by markets and influenced though the law by government as well as the weight given to market and to government in the process. How much is market and how much is government is determined by many factors. Most of them are outside the scope of your average economics course, but are still worth thinking about.

In this more involved setting, there is still scope for the odd bad administrative decision, whether as a consequence of ordinary frailty or of malice.

THE INDUSTRIAL RESERVE ARMY ISN'T NECESSARILY UNEMPLOYED. Panic at the Economics Department: an instructor who hired out to teach a section of principles gave notice just before classes started. The chairman, assistant chairman, and office staff have managed to re-book 50 of the 80 students affected and we will take care of the other 30. But on top of ramping up for hiring and all the other joys of startup, that's one challenge we'd prefer not to rise to too frequently.

BUYING THE RAILFAN VOTE? Good news from the Quincy Herald Whig.

U.S. Sens. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., and Trent Lott, R-Miss., are expected to introduce legislation today that would, among other things, encourage more state investment in Amtrak by making federal matching funds available.

The sweeping bill, similar to one that passed in the Senate 93-6 last year but was never voted on in the House, calls for $12 billion in federal funding over the next six years. Many Amtrak supporters believe it has a better chance this year with Democrats in control of Congress.

But one aspect of the bill is relatively uncontroversial. The idea of matching funds for state investment in Amtrak is one that both supporters and critics of the railroad have embraced — and something states such as California believe is long overdue.

Existing money appears to be producing benefits, notes Madison's Capital Times.

Amtrak's Hiawatha Service, which runs trains between Milwaukee and Chicago, had more riders in 2006 than ever before.

An estimated 588,036 boarded the train at one of the five stations along the Hiawatha Service's route last year, up 8.2 percent from the 544,358 trips made during 2005, according to Amtrak.

"This is outstanding news, and it shows that the public wants, and will support, passenger rail service," state Department of Transportation Secretary Frank Busalacchi said. "With 26 straight months of record-breaking ridership, while maintaining among the best on-time performance records, the Hiawatha Service is the envy of Amtrak managers nationwide."

Now, about that Class Six track ...

DID POTEMKIN HOUSES HAVE PRETTY FRONT PORCHES? I have long taken issue with our director of athletics describing his operation as the "front porch" for a university. What goes on in the reading room and the kitchen also matters. At Northern Illinois, the students seem to understand this.

Elsewhere, evidence of deferred maintenance in the reading rooms and kitchens accumulates. University Diaries has been following developments at several campuses.

At Oregon, a number of professors have gone public with their objections to the administration's revealed preferences.

As professors at the university, we find it increasingly hard to tell whether the University of Oregon is an academic research and teaching institution devoted to the education of our state's students, or a minor league training ground for elite athletes. Academic departments struggle to make ends meet because of repeated budget cuts, but the president allows lavish spending by the athletic department. These actions have consequences for our students and faculty, and the university's academic stature.

This is the same Oregon administration that a few years ago decided the faculty needed more reeducation in cultural competence. But while the front porch gets a new rocking chair and the administrators establish their multi-cult bona fides, what goes on in the classroom sounds familiar.

Students are affected by poor resource allocation in other ways. Class sizes have grown since 2000 because of a 20 percent increase in undergraduate enrollment, without an equivalent increase in full-time faculty. Students are closed out of classes because there are not enough faculty to teach them. Graduate students, the life-blood of a research university, have dropped by 10 percent since 1970. Instead of hiring new faculty and attracting new graduate students, the university has devoted scarce resources to boosting the number of athletic coaches and staff by 25 percent since 1994. What's more important at the university, better education or better games?

(We continue to manage with half the faculty we had in the late 1980s, and I have now counted 10 or 11 requests to get into my closed classes, which sold out during November early registration. If there were some way I could run my classes as an independent contractor ...)

In Minnesota, Star-Tribune columnist Jay Weiner thinks about the previously unthinkable.

Chicago is ranked ninth among all universities in the nation, according to U.S. News and World Report; Minnesota is ranked 67th. Chicago, a private school, has an endowment of more than $4 billion, 13th largest in the nation. Alums still seem to be giving.

Long term, [Robert Maynard] Hutchins' university has thrived without big-time football. Can [Minnesota president Robert] Bruininks learn from that?

There might be some Nobel-class economists on the Minnesota faculty.

There's also discontent at traditional football school Alabama.

Such a very big payout also sends a very wrong signal regarding the priorities of the university. It now becomes very apparent that education is no longer the No. 1 priority in the campus. It is also now clear that boosters run the university, instead of academic minds.

It is also perplexing that the university is pleading for more money from the state educational trust funds, but at the same time has the audacity to squander annually $4 million of university funds to gain football prestige. UA is an educational institution, not an NFL franchise.

Tougher question: suppose Alabama allocated $4 million to attract world-class professors (perhaps to strengthen one or two already strong departments.) Would that be money well spent?

SECOND SECTION: Oregon's president (via University Diaries) demonstrates his staggering ignorance of opportunity costs.

In my 12 years as president of the University of Oregon, I have watched debates that pit the various elements of higher education against one another.

These debates assume that the success of one comes at the expense of the other - research or teaching, undergraduate education or graduate, in-state students or out of state.

Ask a professor to meet more classes or larger classes, see if he hits the top journals as frequently. Hire adjuncts to meet multiple sections of introductory classes: the remaining tenured faculty who were hired to direct dissertations will get the message. Devote some of your capacity to chasing the excess demand for prestige degrees, listen to the discontent from in-state parents and students.


Seventh graders grasp this concept. What is David Frohnmayer's excuse?

QUESTION OF THE DAY. (This day won't end until May.) From Rick Moran's initial 24 summary.

How do we keep the homeland safe while maintaining our freedom? Anyone who says that this is simple question or that one side or the other is either unpatriotic or in favor of establishing a dictatorship isn’t helping matters any.

The 007 show is off to a fast start, with special agent Jack Bauer ransomed from the Chinese to be sacrificed to the real bad guys who are attempting to elicit U.S. help in rooting out a former bad guy. Bauer gets away. A small nuclear bomb has already been set off somewhere in Los Angeles. There are other plot complications.

Again, the bad guys have better operational security than the good guys, with at least one Army guy working with the real bad guys, the shadowy Capitalist Cabal pulling strings somewhere, and the Counter-Terrorist Unit compromised. New analyst Nadia Yassir probably isn't the mole. I'm betting on Milo, with a Serbian connection (anybody remember the only power to shoot down a Stealth aircraft, during one of President Clinton's adventures?)

PICTURE OF THE WEEK. GDP Density (via Econ Log.)

FOR THE START OF THE NEW TERM. Observations from Rate Your Students.

Crap profs will always hide behind the argument that their students don’t know their ear from their elbow and have no right to evaluate their performance as an academic. But until these people wise up and treat their students with respect, show passion for their discipline, and take the time to create classes they are challenging, worthwhile and on task, they’ll get the derisive evals they deserve.

Read the rest.

HEARING THAT ECHO. Now it's Michael Barone running with the metaphor.

This sounds like a threat that we will withdraw unless the Maliki government gives us carte blanche to go after Shiite militias, including the Sadr militia. That threat was reinforced by Sen. Dick Durbin's response, in which he said that our commitment was not only "not open-minded" but that as far as the Democrats were concerned it should be ended pretty soon. That will probably be reinforced by the votes on the nonbinding resolutions on Bush's policy that the Democratic leaders have said they will hold. Opponents will presumably prevail.

That won't doom Bush's policy; remember when Speaker Dennis Hastert failed to get a majority vote supporting Bill Clinton's policy in the Balkans? But it should alert the Iraqis to the real possibility that some time in the 2007–08 cycle this Democratic Congress might move to shut off or limit funds for our forces in Iraq.

What we're seeing is a version of the good cop, bad cop routine. Bush is the good cop to Maliki, promising him support but reminding him it's contingent on his own behavior. Durbin, representing the congressional leadership, is the bad cop, telling him he'd like to cut off support very soon and suggesting he may well do it later.

(Via Betsy's Page.)

Sean Hackbarth's American Mind has a few more links (and it appears his buddies are using the old Wauwatosa Mama Mia's for a monthly gathering.)

SK-N-X-X-X. I had occasion to listen to Air America on Chicago's WCPT this afternoon. The programming I heard is unlikely to change many minds. The show was founder Al Franken himself, with guest Joe Conason. One would think that, with the widespread discontent with President Bush's continuation of the counterinsurgency in Iraq, there would be lots of things the founder and his guest could do to get people excited about inconsistencies in the Administration's position, or potential howlers by Administration officials in Senate hearings, or about making the case that the conditions of the Iraq Liberation Act (as if one government has the authority to pass such a law!) were met long ago, with perhaps the humor and liveliness of Rush Limbaugh, who, in much of the country, airs in the same time slot as Mr Franken.

No such luck. Imagine Garrison Keillor's "News from Lake Wobegon" in low gear. Fortunately I had a decent night's sleep and a medium mocha in the cup-holder. I've had yellow-dog Democrat Silent Generation colleagues who could find more humor in the situation than this lot did.

SHOT AT WITHOUT EFFECT? Somebody fired the Russian version of a LAW rocket at the U.S. Embassy in Greece.

An anti-tank rocket slammed into the U.S. Embassy on Friday, causing limited damage and no injuries but reviving fears of a resurgence of far-left Greek militant groups that carried out deadly attacks over three decades.

The shoulder-fired missile narrowly missed a large blue-and-white U.S. seal on the embassy's facade and damaged a third-floor bathroom near the ambassador's office.

U.S. Ambassador Charles Ries called the attack "very serious" and said no warning had been given.

"There can be no justification for such a senseless act of violence," he told reporters outside the cordoned-off embassy, which officials closed for the day. "The good news is no one was hurt and (there was) minimal damage."

Greek authorities blamed domestic militant groups that have carried out a bombings against police and government buildings despite a crackdown on terrorism before the Athens Olympics in 2004.

Police are examining the authenticity of two calls claiming responsibility from the group Revolutionary Struggle, which has carried out six bombings since 2003. The shadowy group has criticized the United States in past statements, citing treatment of prisoners at the U.S. military detention center in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

"It is very likely that this is the work of a domestic group," Public Order Minister Vyron Polydoras said. "We believe this effort to revive terrorism is deplorable and will not succeed."

Not officially Islamist terrorism. But (as was the case in the 1960s) communist sympathizers will make common cause with jihadists when it is convenient.

JUST BEFORE 0700 IN ATHENS. Possible explosion at the U.S. Embassy. Call me in the morning (Illinois time.)

PUSHING THE KIDS TOO HARD? Quick summary of a Census report on the time use of children.

The report provides a snapshot in time, a snapshot of American kids at home, school and on playing fields. In some ways, it appears America may be growing more like author Garrison Keillor's fictional Lake Wobegon, where "all the children are above average." Nearly one in four children in the 12- to 17-year-old age group was enrolled in a special class for gifted students or high school honors and Advanced Placement classes. Three in four kids in that age group were academically on track for their grades.

"The percentage of kids on track academically has consistently been going up," says Bill O'Hare, director of the Kids Count Program at the Baltimore-based Annie Casey Foundation. "The dropout rate is going down."

In other ways, America has further to go. Around 30 million children participated in the National School Lunch Program in 2003. Black and Hispanic children also lagged behind non-Hispanic white children in a range of areas, from being read to at home to participation in gifted classes at school.

Looks like lots of material to occupy policy analysts of all types.

FOURTH TURNING ALERT. Donald Sensing.

I am, for the first time, deeply pessimistic about the future of this country.

In my studies of American history, I cannot identify another time when both political parties were of such small ideals, little intellect, less vision and greater selfish interest than both parties are now. The American people are more poorly served by our national political figures now than ever. We've certainly had times when one party or the other was miserable, but fortunately there were some voices within them who were heeded for renewal and during such times there was a reservoir of excellence in the other party. Today neither the Republicans or the Democrats have anything to commend them to the admiration of future historians and there exists no one in either party who can possibly lead them out of the swamp. McCain? Pelosi? Obama? Gingrich? It is to laugh. Then cry.

Read the rest, including the discussion.

I THINK THIS IS CALLED WAR. U.S.-led forces detain 6 Iranian workers.

The raid came as tensions are high between Iran and the United States. The Bush administration has accused Iran of seeking to develop nuclear weapons and of helping fuel violence in Iraq. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, meanwhile, is trying to expand Tehran's role in Iraq as a counter to U.S. influence in the Gulf region.

Stennis and the jeep carriers are enroute. Debka is reporting explosions in Khorramshahr and Baluchistan.

The paragraph I cite above is from the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel and it strikes me as quite balanced.

IT USED TO BE A SELECTIVE SCHOOL. Now it's a domestic quagmire.

[A school employee who requested anonymity] described Bradley Tech as a high school where some students read at first- and second-grade levels. She also said many students at Bradley Tech had been expelled from other [Milwaukee] schools, a sure recipe for behavior problems.

Bradley Tech is the former Boys' Trade and Technical High School, which at one time offered apprenticeship programs for aspiring plumbers and electricians, in which students would have the equivalent of on the job training in a one-year program beyond the senior year of high school. In those years, it was the only Milwaukee high school offering a ninth grade (everybody else did ninth grade in junior high, even if at the same location as their neighborhood high school as was the case at Marshall and Lincoln.)

Now it appears as if a coeducational Bradley Tech (as in Bradley Foundation and Allen-Bradley) is just another dumping ground for problem students.

Where are the educational administrators who understand "couldn't carry water for a patternmaker" is as serious a pejorative as "can't grasp limits and derivatives?"

DO I HEAR AN ECHO? This morning, Charlie Sykes was commenting on last night's Iraq speech. He noted that President Bush might be warning the Maliki government to put it all on the line now or hope for the "tender mercies" of Dick Durbin and Nancy Pelosi. Advantage Cold Spring Shops.

The editorial board at the Chicago Tribune makes the same point, somewhat more subtly.

Wednesday night, the president made clear that "victory" is still in his vocabulary. It should be. Americans need a democratic Iraqi government, able to defend itself from extremists, in that difficult neighborhood. Iraq's leaders need to be much more aggressive in securing and building the new nation that they and their people need just as much.

SPIRO AGNEW HAD IT RIGHT. Vicars of Vacillation redux.

After listening tonight to Wesley Clark, Dick Durbin, Tom Vilsack, Nancy Pelosi, etc. I still can't for the life of me learn what they want to do. Not one will support Ted Kennedy's cut-off of funds. Apparently the party line is that we can't win, but we're afraid to pull out in case we do, and so we will equivocate as we watch the battlefield and make the necessary rhetorical adjustments just in time.

"Indecisive Artists," for sure.

IT DOESN'T TAKE A LOT OF BRAINS TO STOP FOR TRAINS. That's still asking a lot of some people.

A sport utility vehicle that got caught on the railroad tracks at the Seventh Street crossing was clipped by an oncoming train Tuesday afternoon, causing it to stop and block all seven at-grade crossings in the city for about 40 minutes.

According to DeKalb police Sgt. James McDougall, a 1992 Chevrolet Blazer driven by Johnnie Raymond, 55, of Sycamore was on the tracks at the Seventh Street crossing waiting for the red light at Lincoln Highway to change.

As a train approached from the east, Raymond tried to inch forward out of its way but did not have enough room and “the train clipped the trailer hitch on the rear of the car,” McDougall said.

When police arrived, there was no immediate sign that an accident had occurred as Raymond reportedly had driven away and parked the vehicle behind a residence in the 200 block of South Seventh Street. She was located soon after and was issued tickets for leaving the scene of an accident and disobeying a traffic signal indicating the approach of a train.

The train, which was not damaged, was stopped in town from about 2:55 p.m. to about 3:35 p.m., blocking at-grade crossings at First, Second, Third, Fourth, Sixth, Seventh and 10th streets.

THAT WOULD BUY A LOT OF CLASS SIX⁽*⁾ TRACK. Chicago's air carriers demonstrate the proper public-choice attitude.

"We are fundamentally opposed to any additional funding for the [O'Hare Modernization Program]," Sandra Widerborg, chairwoman of a committee representing the airlines, said in a recent letter to Chicago Aviation Commissioner Nuria Fernandez and Rosemarie Andolino, executive director of the modernization program.

The airlines rejected the idea of selling more bonds to cover the escalating costs because doing so would have put them on the hook for higher landing fees, rents and other charges the city would need to retire the debt.

Still in the early stages of construction, the O'Hare expansion is $400 million over budget, according to Andolino.

But there is at least $700 million in additional expenses, ranging from an airfield taxiway to interest payments, for which the city has not yet identified funding, according to a Tribune analysis.

In addition, the airlines have not agreed to terms for financing the second phase of the runway expansion plan, which is when most of the benefits to increase flights and reduce O'Hare delays would occur.

After being rebuffed by the airlines, the city's new application to the FAA is an attempt to cover some of the $400 million shortfall. FAA approval is required to spend ticket-tax revenue.

On Tuesday Andolino declined to spell out how or when the balance of the $400 million shortfall--$130 million--would be filled, assuming FAA approval of the rest of the money.

"The airlines said `no' for new money right now, and that's OK with us," Andolino said. "We have a problem to solve and we are solving it in a way that bypasses the need for new [revenue bonds]. The airlines still support the modernization program."

City documents submitted to the FAA show that the first phase of the project has grown to $3.28 billion from the $2.88 billion budget the airlines approved in 2003.

As long as somebody else pays for it.

At the other end of the Alton Route, Chris Lawrence discovers that St. Louis spent the equivalent of Amtrak's annual Federal appropriation (which does not provide for any capital upgrades) on runways that are going unused.

As major cities across the USA struggle to expand their airports to accommodate growing air traffic, St. Louis has massive excess airport capacity. And MidAmerica is only part of its problem. In April, Lambert-St. Louis International, the city's main airport, opened a new runway at a cost of $1.1 billion. The largest public works project in city history, the runway displaced 6,000 residents of suburban Bridgeton from their homes. John Krekeler, one of 16 Lambert airport commissioners, estimates that only 5% of flights at Lambert use the new runway.

"The runway is a white elephant and is not needed now," Krekeler says. "A ridiculous amount of money was spent for a 9,000-foot patch of concrete. It's asinine that it cost $1.1 billion, while it cost $315 million at MidAmerica for a passenger terminal and a runway."

Whether the excess airport capacity in greater St. Louis, the USA's 18th-largest metro area, is a matter of bad luck or bad planning is a matter of dispute. Likewise, local officials differ on whether the city can ever grow into its airports by attracting additional passenger and cargo service.

In part, the runways are going unused because American, after buying out Trans World, opted to move as much of the Trans World traffic through ... you guessed it ... Chicago, where American would be quite happy to benefit by additional capacity (or a relief hub at Peotone or Rockford or Milwaukee) that somebody else paid for. One wonders whether there would be as much growth in air travel if passengers had to pay a fare that reflected the long-run incremental cost of runways and betterments to the air traffic control system.

And people call the Amtrak subsidy a waste? Compared to what?

^(*)"Class Six track" is a Federal Railroad Administration designation for track structure and signalling capable of handling passenger and freight trains at 110 mph. In the Midwest, that would be sufficient. (Heck, steam locomotives on jointed rail protected by semaphores is sufficient.) For bullet trains and other hero projects, you'd be building to Class Eight or Nine, an extravagance in my view. (Do the algebra: an increase in average train speed from 60 to 100 buys a greater saving in travel time than boosting that average from 100 to 180.)

GREEN LIGHTS ARE GREEN. The DeKalb Citizens' Environmental Committee comes out in favor of synchronized traffic lights.

The whole concept is a “green” idea, [Northern Illinois geoscientist Paul] Loubere explained to the committee, because synchronization of lights helps reduce pollution emitted by vehicles and also helps reduce fuel usage.

Loubere said, “Internal combustion engines burn fuel least efficiently during acceleration, especially initial acceleration. This is particularly true of diesel engines that are in poor condition. The air quality benefit of synchronization will be largest where there is significant truck traffic.”

He continued, “Synchronization can also decrease the amount of fuel burned by the average commuter. This reduces costs to the commuter and it reduces greenhouse gases added to the atmosphere .... Depending on the travel path, the fuel consumption savings can be as large as 20 percent. Besides benefiting the commuter financially and psychologically, the air quality and fuel savings can be useful to a community that is attempting to meet emission goals for such programs as the Sierra Club's ‘Cool Cities... '”

One wonders, however, how in touch with reality "some environmentalists" are.

Synchronization isn't always considered a positive thing by environmentalists.

“Some green advocates have argued that synchronization encourages further traffic and auto use, rather than helping to promote more efficient transportation alternatives,” Loubere acknowledged.

Have those "green advocates" spent any time driving on roads with maltimed traffic lights? In some neighborhoods, one can beat the light changes by going fast enough. This behavior was common in Detroit, where the main streets had those primitive suspended-from-wire lights left over from the second Roosevelt administration. You could make a non-stop run from the north city limits to Wayne State by simply driving at 40-45 rather than the posted 30. (There may be a research topic in traffic-light-induced road rage: will drivers be more quick to hit the horn at a traffic light if they're on one of those stretches where they can get self-synchronized lights by speeding?) I'm glad these "green advocates" didn't get the label "progressive." Is it progress to get people to ride slower streetcars on the transit authority's schedules by making the use of the roads less pleasant?

The committee also deliberated the absence of train service in DeKalb. That's likely to be the status quo for some time. An additional sales tax in DeKalb County that benefits only the northeast corner of the county is a losing proposition politically.

EYES ON THE PRIZE. Clarence Page.

Indifference to education is unfortunately epidemic across racial and ethnic lines, and it is particularly damaging to the poor. For earlier waves of immigrants to America, unskilled jobs were much more plentiful. Upward mobility for most of today's kids already requires at least a couple of years of schooling beyond high school.

Or restoring respectability to the high schools, which is also a task for parents and civil-rights advocates.

LEARNING TO WIN. Although the Wisconsin Badgers prevailed in men's basketball Tuesday night, Ohio State might have learned a lot, losing on the road at No. 3 Wisconsin, No. 2 Florida (sound familiar?) and No. 1 North Carolina. Wisconsin led by as many as 16 late in the second half. Ohio State had the opportunity to tie the game with a well-aimed three-pointer on the final possession. The way to defeat the foul-to-stop-the-clock strategy is to make your free throws.

QUOTE OF THE DAY.

"There is no multi-tasking. There is only the monkey mind jabbering so fast it seems like multi-tasking." *

Complete with a To-Do List for Highly Effective People.

Highly Recommended.

Until employers understand that effective workers are not happy spending all of their time in the two-minute drill, they will continue to gripe about shortages of skilled workers.

DEPLOYING THE JEEP CARRIERS. Three US Norfolk-based amphibious assault ships set out for Persian Gulf Saturday.

In this evening's policy statement, President Bush mentioned the deployment of another carrier battle group to the Middle East and the provision of Patriot batteries. What's that Tom Clancy line about "rattling a saber makes noise, drawing it does not?" Immediate press coverage does not note this detail. Iraq's government might be taking a tougher line toward militias. What's that aphorism about the government holding a monopoly on violence?

Under pressure from the U.S., Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has agreed to crack down on fighters controlled by his most powerful political ally, Muqtada al-Sadr, a radical Shiite cleric, according to officials. Previously, al-Maliki had resisted the move.

"Prime Minister al-Maliki has told everyone that there will be no escape from attack," a senior Shiite legislator and close al-Maliki adviser said. "The government has told the Sadrists: 'If we want to build a state we have no other choice but to attack armed groups.'"

Senator Durbin, of Illinois, delivered the Democratic rebuttal. Interestingly, at the same time he's objecting to more troops being sent to the region, he's asking the Iraqi security forces to stand up faster. Where was I just reading about nation-building efforts being more effective if the locals were doing their own building? At the same time, the Democrats may be playing bad cop to the President's good cop in eliciting improvements from the Iraqi government.

COMPLETE THIS SENTENCE.

__________ will temporarily deploy additional __________ in __________ for the __________ but will not increase __________ that have been on duty in the city since a murderous crime wave began __________, __________ said __________.

Answer here. (Via Best of the Web.) The headline is also instructive.

WHY I DON'T FORECAST INTEREST RATES. It's no easier being a football prognosticator. Here's USA Today's Erick Smith last December, with the results.

Poinsettia Bowl— Northern Illinois vs. Texas Christian, Dec. 19 ... TCU 30, Northern Illinois 14.

TCU 37-7. Ouch.

Las Vegas Bowl— Brigham Young vs. Oregon, Dec. 21 ... Brigham Young 30, Oregon 21.

BYU 38-8.

New Orleans Bowl — Troy vs. Rice, Dec. 22 ... Rice 20, Troy 19.

Troy 41-17. Oops.

Papajohns.com Bowl — East Carolina vs. South Florida, Dec. 23 ... East Carolina 24, South Florida 23.

South Florida 24-7.

New Mexico Bowl — San Jose State vs. New Mexico, Dec. 23 ... New Mexico 17, San Jose State 14.

San Jose State 20-12.

Armed Forces Bowl — Utah vs. Tulsa, Dec. 23 ... Utah 24, Tulsa 21.

Utah 25-13.

Hawaii Bowl — Arizona State vs. Hawaii, Dec. 24 ... Hawaii 42, Arizona State 28.

Hawaii 41-24.

Motor City Bowl — Middle Tennessee vs. Central Michigan, Dec. 26 ... Central Michigan 31, Middle Tennessee 20.

Central Michigan 31-14.

Emerald Bowl — Florida State vs. UCLA, Dec. 27 ... UCLA 20, Florida State 17.

Florida State 44-27.

Independence Bowl — Oklahoma State vs. Alabama, Dec. 28 ... Oklahoma State 26, Alabama 20.

Oklahoma State 34-31. Will T. Boone Pickens put up the money to hire Saban from Alabama?

Holiday Bowl — Texas A&M vs. California, Dec. 28 ... California 34, Texas A&M 28.

California 45-10.

Texas Bowl — Kansas State vs. Rutgers, Dec. 28 ... Rutgers 21, Kansas State 20.

Rutgers 37-31.

Music City Bowl — Kentucky vs. Clemson, Dec. 29 ... Clemson 34, Kentucky 26.

Kentucky 28-20.

Sun Bowl — Missouri vs. Oregon State, Dec. 29 ... Missouri 28, Oregon State 27.

Oregon State 39-38.

Liberty Bowl — Houston vs. South Carolina, Dec. 29 ... South Carolina 33, Houston 26.

South Carolina 44-36.

Champs Sports Bowl — Purdue vs. Maryland, Dec. 29 ... Purdue 24, Maryland 21.

Maryland 24-7.

Insight Bowl — Minnesota vs. Texas Tech, Dec. 29 ... Texas Tech 42, Minnesota 30.

Texas Tech 44-41.

Meineke Car Care Bowl — Navy vs. Boston College, Dec. 30 ... Boston College 26, Navy 21.

Boston College 25-24.

Alamo Bowl — Iowa vs. Texas, Dec. 30 ... Texas 28, Iowa 14.

Texas 26-24. Quite the comedown for last year's champs.

Chick-fil-A Bowl — Virginia Tech vs. Georgia, Dec. 30 ... Virginia Tech 23, Georgia 14.

Georgia 31-24.

MPC Computers Bowl — Nevada vs. Miami (Fla.), Dec. 31 ... Nevada 21, Miami (Fla.) 20.

Miami 21-20. Margin of error.

Outback Bowl — Penn State vs. Tennessee, Jan. 1 ... Tennessee 24, Penn State 13.

Penn State 20-10.

Cotton Bowl — Nebraska vs. Auburn, Jan. 1 ... Auburn 24, Nebraska 17.

Auburn 17-14.

Capital One Bowl — Wisconsin vs. Arkansas, Jan. 1 ... Arkansas 24, Wisconsin 19.

Wisconsin 17-14. Yay!

Gator Bowl — Georgia Tech vs. West Virginia, Jan. 1 ... West Virginia 30, Georgia Tech 20.

West Virginia 38-35.

Rose Bowl — Michigan vs. Southern California, Jan. 1 ... Southern California 21, Michigan 17.

Southern California 32-18.

Fiesta Bowl — Boise State vs. Oklahoma, Jan. 1 ... Oklahoma 33, Boise State 20.

Boise State 43-42, overtime.

Orange Bowl — Wake Forest vs. Louisville, Jan. 2 ... Louisville 38, Wake Forest 23.

Louisville 24-13.

Sugar Bowl — Notre Dame vs. Louisiana State, Jan. 3 ... LSU 34, Notre Dame 21.

Louisiana State 41-14.

International Bowl — Western Michigan vs. Cincinnati, Jan. 6 ... Western Michigan 20, Cincinnati 19.

Cincinnati 27-24. More bad news for the Mid-American. Why is this bowl mixed in with the championship series?

GMAC Bowl — Ohio vs. Southern Mississippi, Jan. 7 ... Southern Mississippi 30, Ohio 17.

Southern Mississippi 28-7. Same observation, same question.

BCS National Title Game — Florida vs. Ohio State, Jan. 8 ... Ohio State 27, Florida 20.

Just ended. Florida 41-14.

Fourteen misses, including the alleged championship game, in 32 tries, and a number of victory margins misplaced. Sports-bar prognosticators can do as well with a coin flip.

REVEALED PREFERENCES. The allegations of rape by members of the Duke lacrosse team are without merit. Professor K. C. Johnson's Durham-in-Wonderland has done yeoman work addressing the failures both of the prosecutor and of the university administration, and the follies of assorted vanguardists on the faculty. But I have to wonder if the case tells us more about the administration and the vanguardists than simply their capacity to be outraged. Start with an observation by LaShawn Barber.

I’ve had the misfortune of knowing the type of privileged, ungrateful professors who inexplicably paint themselves as “victims” of “white male privilege.” They sounded stupid to me even when I was younger and liberal. I’d agree with what William Anderson, an assistant professor of economics at Frostburg State University, said about the Group of 88: “These young men represented everything these faculty members despised, and they were not going to permit something as bourgeois as truth stand in the way of their attempt to remake Duke University in their own image.”

The rot, dear readers, starts at the top. Consider the "Letter to the Duke Community" President Richard H. Brodhead issued on April 5, 2006.

Compounding and intensifying these issues of race and gender, they include concerns about the deep structures of inequality in our society—inequalities of wealth, privilege, and opportunity (including educational opportunity), and the attitudes of superiority those inequalities breed. And they include concerns that, whether they intend to or not, universities like Duke participate in this inequality and supply a home for a culture of privilege. The objection of our East Campus neighbors was a reaction to an attitude of arrogant inconsiderateness that reached its peak in the alleged event but that had long preceded it. I know that to many in our community, this student behavior has seemed to be the face of Duke.

There is more of the same in his January 8, 2007 "Letter to the Duke Community."

One thing that has made this event so difficult is that particular charges against individuals have tended to be conflated with larger community issues of race, gender, privilege, and respect. During these hard months, some have seemed to imply that if you insist on the students' innocence, then you must not care about the underlying issues. Others have seemed to suggest that if you insist on the underlying issues, then you must not care about fair treatment for the students.

But it is essential that we separate the legal case from the larger cultural issues and give each its separate, appropriate response. The Campus Culture Initiative, begun last year and due to report this spring, is not a referendum on the party last March. It is an effort to visualize the best community we could make for students to grow and learn in, a community of mutual respect and vibrant mutual engagement. It will be all of our work to advance toward that goal. I see this as a chance to build on existing strengths in our educational experience and to press toward higher ambitions: the latest chapter in Duke's long history of self-improvement.

That's about what Betsy Newmark anticipated in her Raleigh News-Observer column.

I expect we’ll hear instead calls for healing. The players will be urged to get on with their lives and not to focus on suing Durham or the D.A. They’ll be reminded that Durham is not a wealthy county and can’t afford an expensive civil suit.

Those who were quick to say that this story was emblematic of racism at elite colleges will say that the lesson is still true, even though this one specific story was a hoax. Wahneema Lubiano, the Duke professor of African and American Studies who led the group of 88 who published that ad, wrote back in May that, no matter the outcome, the whole story exposed deeper truths about racism on Duke’s campus. Expect that storyline to be repeated if the charges are all dropped. The song of “fake but accurate” will be sung again.

In another News-Observer column, Duke English professor Cathy Davidson reconsiders her position, while continuing to maintain that it's more important to denounce what happened rather than find out what happened first.

Last April I added my name to an ad published in the Duke Chronicle. The ad said that we faculty were listening to the anguish of students who felt demeaned by racist and sexist remarks swirling around in the media and on the campus quad in the aftermath of what happened on March 13 in the lacrosse house.

The insults, at that time, were rampant. It was as if defending David Evans, Collin Finnerty and Reade Seligmann necessitated reverting to pernicious stereotypes about African-Americans, especially poor black women. Many black students at Duke disappeared into humiliation and rage as the lacrosse players were being elevated to the status of martyrs, innocent victims of reverse racism.

As it turned out, 87 other faculty members were alarmed at this distressing side-effect of the lacrosse incident and signed the ad. I am positive I am not the only professor who was and continues to be adamant about the necessity for fair and impartial legal proceedings for David, Collin and Reade while also being dismayed by the glaring social disparities implicit in what we know happened on March 13.

A team of distinguished athletes at an elite and highly respected university hired two local women to strip at a house filled with men (including those underage) who had been drinking too much. That's sleazy, to say the least. That those women were women of color underscores the appalling power dynamics of the situation.

As a professor at Duke, I felt shame when the media's account of the behavior in the lacrosse house came to stand for all Duke students and the institution itself. So many students, faculty and administrators here work hard to live down our unflattering old segregation nickname, "the Plantation." Yet after March 13, Duke again came to symbolize (seemingly for the entire world) the most lurid and sexualized form of race privilege.

What, did all these academic hotshots wake up one morning and discover, "hey, we're working in a gilded ghetto, the academic equivalent of a gated community?" Professor Davidson continues,

We are in the midst of a social disaster where 18 percent of the American population lives below the poverty line and a disproportionate number of those are African-American. We live in the midst of a social disaster where 30 percent of our students do not graduate from high school (making the U.S. No. 17 in the world). We live in the midst of a social disaster where women's salaries for similar jobs are substantially less than men's (and, as of this year, starting to go down again, not up). We live in the midst of a social disaster where we do not have national health care or affordable childcare. And we live in a situation where a group of white athletes at a prominent university can get drunk and call out for a stripper the way they would a pizza.

As if a few college athletes hiring out a stripper is bidding up the price of childcare (hint: Say Aggregation Principle and power couples, many with professional degrees) or, more troublingly, as if an English professor has taken the time to understand "broken down by occupation, experience, and industry."

As if President Brodhead and Professor Davidson and the rest of the priviligentsia who signed that faculty letter have done anything concrete to address the "social disaster" she identifies. These people are working at Duke. The president used to be a high-level administrator at Yale. Have any of these people ever hired out at Temple or Wayne State or DePaul or Anonymous Community or any of the other institutions of higher learning where faculty struggle to establish their professional reputations while dealing with the perception that their work can't be as good as the stuff being done at Yale or at Duke and while attempting to work with precisely the students who those presidential letters and that op-ed suggests are being disrespected by the Dukies? (Sorry about the run-on sentence.) The disrespect begins with the administration and with the faculty, revealing a preference to mau-mau some of their students and condemn real or imagined social inequities, while leaving the real work of improving the lot of less-privileged students to invisible others. Mere de crisse, calisse d'tabarnac.

ON THE SPLIT LEVEL. The Austro-German version of the Chicago gallery car rolls on New Jersey Transit.

Destination:Freedom image. More pictures there.

DEFINING VICTORY. Victor Davis Hanson.

What then is the problem since we are still fighting in both Afghanistan and Iraq after brilliant victories over the Taliban and Saddam Hussein?

Most obvious is the inability of our conventional forces to translate amazing tactical success in Afghanistan and Iraq into rapid strategic victory, a transition of establishing a stable postbellum government that requires everything from winning hearts and minds to inspired counter-insurgency. These questions about the transition from conventional to asymmetrical warfare always have nagged—why did the armies of Sherman and Grant who crushed nearly half-a-million Confederate soldiers in a little over a year from summer 1864 to spring 1865, not secure Reconstruction in 12 miserable years of failure, in the face of a few thousands Klansmen, and assorted night riders?

In the case of Iraq, when the easier conventional war ceased in victory after a few days, our generals (cf. Tommy Franks) simply retired. Political restrictions (pulling back from first Fallujah or allowing Moqtadar Sadr to be freed from his encirclement) hampered military options and projected a sense of perceived weakness. Too often retired generals simply blamed the present problem in establishing security on “too few troops”, as if Donald Rumsfeld alone had drawn up the plans of the invasion, or that an army that defeated Saddam Hussein in three weeks was inherently unable to squash an insurgency of far fewer combatants. And it is always easier to shoot a uniformed Republican Guard marksman than to pick out a terrorist from his ten brothers and sisters after his bomb attack on a US squad stringing telephone wire or painting schools.

It is now a cliché that there “is no military solution” in Iraq. But, in fact, the political solution—three successful elections and a constitutional government in place—has outpaced the military effort. What we need is a massive clamp-down on militias and terrorists to give the government confidence and public support, and that can’t be accomplished when we do not crush the terrorists, whether inside Iraq or flowing in from Syria and Iran.

It is worth remembering that the "political solution" to the Old Confederacy is still a work in progress: whether one is speaking of Federal troops in Memphis in the 1960s or of talk of secession from "Jesusland" more recently.

THE TORCH HAS BEEN PASSED TO AN OLD GENERATION. Born in the last century, untested by war, spoiled by an easy adolescence, guilty of our ancient heritage—and willing to upset any traditional commitment simply because they can. (Apologies to President Kennedy.)

Extreme Mortman (via Instapundit):

Remember “The Greatest Generation,” that endured the Depression and won WWII (including all presidents from John F. Kenendy to Bush ‘41)? And the “Baby Boomers” (born 1946-’64), who are responsible for ALL Life As We Know It? (Clinton & W.)

Well, the new Speaker & House Majority Leader, Sen. Majority Leader & Whip - THEY belong to NEITHER. All were born between 1939 - 1944.

We have much to look forward to. These are representatives of the cohort The Fourth Turning characterizes as "indecisive Artists." (The italics identify a generational archetype. The book's hypothesis is there are four, always in the order Prophet-Nomad-Hero-Artist.) More to the point, this relatively small cohort was too young to be called to Korea, too old to be called to Vietnam, and just in time to enter adult life when the economy was adapting to serve the families being formed during that Baby Boom. In the academy, these are the people who were able to secure tenured posts at a time when tenure was a bureaucratic formality and the academic job market had sufficient churn that the easiest way to get rid of a bothersome colleague was to deny his pay increase and he'd get a better offer elsewhere. When the game of musical chairs stopped, these are the people who clung to their tenured posts for the next thirty years while holding new blood to a much higher standard. The mess that is today's higher education is a mess of their making. In politics, Michael Dukakis of this cohort spared us a repeat of the Carter administration by riding around in a tank: the mess that was the Carter administration is as close as the country has come to Artist governance. At home, these are the people who invented no-fault divorce and conceived of the mid-life crisis, and they are the parents of the crude Thirteenth Generation (Nomads in the cycle.)

By their fruits will we know them.

RUNNING EXTRA. Heh.

CHEDDAR CURTAIN FREE TRADE ZONE. The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel sees advantages in expanding interstate trade even if that turns Cedarburg into the northernmost suburb of Chicago.

Some Wisconsin natives have long viewed with disdain Milwaukee's relative closeness to the Windy City. The FIB acronym and the phrase Chicago-style politics are not compliments.

But new homes and businesses continue to fill some of the undeveloped gaps between the two cities. Although Milwaukee and Chicago likely will retain their separate identities - no rooting for the Bears in the playoffs - there's a growing sense among many business and government leaders that southeastern Wisconsin should better exploit the economic ties with northern Illinois, home to the nation's third-largest metropolitan economy (after New York and Los Angeles).

The article recognizes a bid-rent curve at work in housing prices the farther one locates from Chicago. But new residents north of the State Line are likely to be surprised when the Law of Peak Hour Traffic Congestion catches up with them.

Karin Hembrock's interior furnishings business, From Afar, draws at least one-third of its business at its Walker's Point store from northern Illinois.

Four years ago, Hembrock opened a second store, in the Chicago suburb of Winnetka, which has helped push more Chicago-area residents to her Milwaukee location. Her Illinois customers tell her it's easier to drive from the northern Chicago suburbs to Milwaukee than to downtown Chicago. Once they're here, they can combine shopping with a trip to the Milwaukee Art Museum or other attractions, she said.

The availability of fast Hiawatha service from Mitchell Field to Glenview is also inducing North Shore travelers to fly out of Milwaukee (or is it the availability of chocolate chip cookies on Midwest Express?) Some people are boosting the Milwaukee-Racine-Kenosha commuter service.

Many area business operators support the rail project, said Karl Ostby, president of Kenosha-based Southport Bank. A region tied together by commuter rail would allow southeastern Wisconsin companies to draw employees from a much larger talent pool, said Ostby, the transit authority's chairman.

The creation of rail stations also would stimulate development, said Richard Hansen, president of Racine-based Johnson Financial Group, which operates Johnson Bank.

"You look at every Metra stop, it turns into a great growth area," Hansen said.

In proper public-choice fashion, the bankers appear to like the idea of being located close to a commuter train stop on a train line that somebody else paid for. What happened to the idea of the trolley company building the electric park to keep the cars active on Sundays or stringing transmission wires in order to sell more lightbulbs and appliances. (Consider the full implications of The Milwaukee Light Heat & Traction Company.)

On the other hand, perhaps the recognition of a Cheddar Curtain Free Trade Zone will convince Wisconsin policymakers to give their indentured-servitude-tuition break (which Inside Higher Ed picked up, two months after we had it, and which the dean at Anonymous Community has trashed) the burial in an unmarked grave it deserves.

What the Wisconsin plan utterly fails to grasp is the nature of the educated worker. If you want to attain a critical mass of young creative-class types, you won't do it by trapping them. You'll do it by attracting them, until they start attracting each other. Pour the money that would have gone into tracking down those miscreants who moved at age 28 for a spouse or a job into something actually useful, like maybe upgrading a second campus to Madison level or upgrading some Madison programs to the next level, or even strengthening the academic transfer core programs at Wisconsin cc's. Maybe refurbish some downtowns or improve some light-rail systems or slow the rate of tuition increases generally or cut somebody's taxes. But don't try to clip the wings of ambitious young people whose idea of the world stretches beyond the state line.

Now you are beginning to catch on.

And never mind spending that money on downtown or on restoring the interurbans: the tollway, Metra, and the Hiawathas are a good place to start. The Journal-Sentinel has a public forum going on the crossborder phenomenon, and one participant has an interesting wish list.

I hope it creeps right up into the Fox Cities. A high speed rail would hugely benefit both Wisconsin and Illinois. Imagine if you could take a high speed train from Appleton or Green Bay or Milwaukee to downtown Chicago. You could theoretically live in Wisconsin and work in Chicago or vice versa. It certainly works on the East Coast. We have so much to offer in Wisconsin from the Illinois border to Green Bay - let's take advantage of our benefits and tie the two states together for mutual economic advantage. I am generally opposed to taxes, but even I would support a huge sales tax increase to fund high speed rail between pretty much anywhere in Wisconsin and Chicago. Let's do it!

I'd recommend building it by increments, the way Illinois and Wisconsin have been doing it on the St. Louis, Carbondale, and Milwaukee lines. First, get the 110 mph track working between Dwight and Springfield, then give the Hiawathas free rein to 110 the way K. F. Nystrom and C. H. Bilty intended, then put the second track and the 110 back in on the Illinois Central, then get something resembling the old 400 corridor started north of Milwaukee. (Perhaps a photo essay on vanished Midwestern corridors is in order.)

HEADLINE OF THE DAY. The Importance of Economics.

Yesterday, it was refreshing to see a group of professors step up and do the right thing--just because it was the right thing to do.

More details about the letter from a number of economics faculty to the Duke Chronicle at Durham-in-Wonderland, as well as extended bull sessions in the comments to both posts.

MARKING OFF. Speaking of the job meetings, it's time to go hire some economists.

RETIMING THE JOB MEETINGS. The Modern Language Association does some housekeeping.

The Modern Language Association’s Delegate Assembly voted overwhelmingly Friday to endorse shifting the dates of the annual convention away from the traditional time slot in the week between Christmas and New Year’s, and passed a resolution calling for the replacement of the term “illegal aliens” with “undocumented workers” (and a guarantee of in-state tuition for those fitting under the label).

I have to wonder how many of the delegates who voted yes on that second resolution will actually have to teach any illegal immigrants, but that's a rant for another day. The change in the start date of the job meetings is one I can agree with, despite the tradeoffs.

The MLA meeting is a must-attend event for thousands of English and foreign language professors each year — not only for the content, but also because it is the site of initial rounds of job interviews. So those on search committees or job hunting have had to cut their vacations short.

The proposed change in the convention start date to early January was overwhelmingly endorsed 138 to 9 by the assembly, with little opposition voiced, despite the fact that MLA’s executive director, Rosemary G. Feal, acknowledged that the change will inconvenience some members who teach in colleges on a quarter system, have early spring semester or winter session start dates or teach abroad, where terms often begin earlier than in the United States. The earliest that the change could go into effect, assuming it’s approved by the MLA Executive Council, would be three years from now, due to plans already in place.

I'm not sure what the columnist is writing about, "vacations," the weeks between finals and spring term registration are good for getting some research done while the students are resting and the campus politicians are away from their offices.

The Economics job meetings also used to be immediately after Christmas, and I recall waiting for airplanes just after Christmas or just before New Years and thinking "there has to be a better way." The meetings now begin after New Years, possibly even on that "Thursday after" formula (The schedule may already be in place for three years hence, but I'm not that curious.)

THIS IS HOW IT STARTS. John Palmer buys an electric train.

From small beginnings, they can end up taking over a basement.

Marquette, Iowa, fall of 1954.

HISTORIC 1912. Wisconsin defeated Ohio State in Columbus that year, also defeating Arkansas. The next time a Wisconsin football team won in Columbus was in 1982. The next time Wisconsin played Arkansas was a few hours ago. They won the Capital One Bowl (was that once the Citrus Bowl?) 17-14, in a game where both defensive coordinators prepared well for their opponent's running game.