Opinion

There is a theorem in Economics known as “Arrow’s Impossibility Theorem” that, as proposed by the Nobel Prize winning economist Kenneth Arrow, discusses the impossibility of coming to a conclusion that completely satisfies the preferences of a multiple of voters. I thought of this theorem recently when I attended the memorial service for a former colleague who had done what I thought was impossible. As plans for this service came together, I learned that he did not just die suddenly, as the announcement of his death informed us. In fact, he had actually taken his own life. I found myself at a complete loss in explaining what happened to him to my daughter, who, until now, has been relatively sheltered from this dark reality.

Social reading startup Highlighter partners with the 20 Million Minds Foundation for an interactive and openly-licensed Introduction to Sociology textbook

I encountered my first case of academic integrity as a third year graduate student teaching assistant. Although concentrating on U.S. history, I assisted Professor Thomas Africa, a beloved and noted historian of Ancient Rome, at Binghamton University. The year was 1983, fall semester. As I read through a paper on what exactly now I do not recall, I vividly remember the sense that came over me when I hit a paragraph in the middle of the term paper that instinctively struck me as odd. At the time, I was not even aware of what the problem was. I was not looking for plagiarism.

College leaders are being urged to transform institutions. Joan Hinde Stewart writes that one of their obligations is to identify the qualities and values they shouldn't alter.

Let's begin with a hypothetical scenario*: When an individual Twitter account increases from having 3,000 followers to more than 20,000, one might think that that particular account was benefiting from some sort of notoriety. However, in this hypothetical situation, let's say that said Twitter account "magically" grows its following daily like clockwork.

My Twitter account got hacked yesterday, so if you follow my feed and got a sketchy-seeming DM from “me,” ignore it. In retrospect, I should have picked a less obvious password than “PaulRyanLooksLikeEddieMunster12.” Live and learn.

This afternoon I participated in an excellent demo from Groopex, a startup that provides seamless WebEx integration and value added features to Moodle (and hopefully soon Blackboard as well).

A change in status for yours truly.