True North

The Chronicle of Higher Education is an industry newspaper, that industry being colleges and universities. It reflects back the belief system of its readers -- as, I believe, any newspaper does, which is why I don't waste lots of electrons here venting about the liberal bias of the StarTribune. Readers want to hear their views confirmed by those who are supposed to be unbiased; academia and Minneapolis are liberal places.

This week's edition marks the 30th anniversary of the Bakke decision with a headline article "'Bakke' Set a New Path to Diversity for Colleges" (permalink; temporary link for non-subscribers.) It is, of course, from Bakke that we get the term "diversity" as the motivation for current university efforts at minority recruitment:

Scott Fischbach from Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life has an op-ed in the Star Tribune taking Rep. Phyllis Kahn to task for her advocacy of a bill that funds embryonic stem cell research in Minnesota. I wrote a little bit about the floor debate on Rep. Kahn's bill when the conference bill passed the House at the end of the session. What propmted Scott to write was a June 2 op-ed by Rep. Kahn herself, taking the governor to task for vetoing the bill. Rep. Kahn continues to insist many things about her stem cell bill but Mr. Fischbach obliterates the most disingenuous of Rep. Kahn's claims.

Kahn says her legislation "outlawed human cloning," but the bill explicitly authorizes "somatic cell nuclear transplantation" (SCNT), which is the technique by which cloning occurs. The National Institutes of Health calls SCNT "the scientific term for cloning."

Rep. Kahn suffered another blow to her argument for HESC research earlier this month. The Star Tribune reported on a mother whose drive and devotion to her sons led to the development of a cure for their very rare skin disorder.