“Despite impassioned pleas from her supporters, the Ocean County College board of trustees voted unanimously Monday not to reappoint Karen L. Bosley as faculty adviser to the student newspaper, a post she has held for 35 years. ‘Are you committed to free speech and free expression on this campus?’ William Kanouse, an associate professor of English supporting Bosley, asked the trustees following the vote. ‘Because there seems to be an element of retaliation in this decision.’ Kanouse and other teachers and students charged that Bosley’s termination at the Viking News was in response to the newspaper’s periodic criticism of college President Jon H. Larson and his administration’s policies. The administration flatly denied the accusation,” Joseph Picard reports for The Asbury Park Press. “Bosley, a tenured humanities professor, will continue to teach, although she also has been reassigned from teaching journalism courses.”
Picard reports, “The teachers and their supporters, on the other hand, had plenty to say. The board waived its privacy policy regarding personnel matters at the request of the four teachers, and each addressed the board prior to its vote on their contract. Bosley rebutted the two reasons she was given for not being renewed as newspaper adviser — that the paper contains too many errors and that student staff, because they use Macintosh computers, are not being prepared for the real world.”
“Bosley pointed to awards the Viking News has won from the New Jersey Press Association and the Society for Collegiate Journalists. She also quoted research showing that 75 percent of U.S. colleges use Macintoshes, and claimed that Viking News students do not lack technical expertise. She then strongly implied that neither errors nor technology were at the root of her removal. ‘I hope you will not allow yourselves to become part of a pattern of punishing students for what they publish,’ she said to the board,” Picard reports. “‘This is not a reflection on the work of the students at the newspaper, but on the supervision there,’ said trustee Stephan R. Leone, as he moved the vote on Bosley’s nonrenewal. Stoically and without further comment, board members voted her out.”
“Elizabeth Mitchell, mother of Patrick Mitchell and a teacher at the college since 1968, was the most blistering in her comments, claiming that Larson had her son dismissed to retaliate against her. ‘I’m furious. I’m indignant,’ said Mitchell, an English professor and outspoken critic of Larson. ‘They’ve harassed Karen Bosley, trying to force her to resign. Now they’ve taken away her position. And her only fault was her failure to make the Viking News into a house organ under Larson’s control.’ Mitchell said administrators were Larson’s puppets and the board his rubber stamp. Bosley, who will remain as newspaper adviser until June 2006, said she is exploring possible legal action against the college. ‘They have not heard the last from me on this,’ she said.”
Full article here.
[bold emphasis added by MacDailyNews]
Macintoshes dominate newsrooms around the world; appropriately so, since Apple brought desktop publishing to the world with the Mac. To not use a Mac for a student newspaper would be a fine example of not preparing your students for the real world. But, you don’t teach platforms, you teach concepts. Platforms change too rapidly (recent Windows excepted). Schools should use Macs, since they’re easier to maintain, virus-free, and just plain better quality hardware and software overall. Students will be as okay as they can be with whatever Mac operating system copy that Microsoft has on the market when they graduate. It’ll still be a disappointing step down to learn on Macs and be stuck with Windows in a cubicle, but they’ll know how to use a computer when it’s working just fine. That’s the point, right? The amount of ignorant people in the world, who are for some reason or another allowed to make decisions affecting others, sometimes boggles the mind.
Contact information:
Ocean County College President Jon H. Larson
jlarson@ocean.edu
(732) 255-0400 x330
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Duh,
it’s really sad how many people think like you in the U.S. today. It seems you and your ilk are now running that once proud country.
And here in Europe … well we’re counting the torture victims – European citizens being dragged off by the CIA and disappearing into secret interrogation centres.
Not to mention the American government’s record on the environment! …
An American friend of mine here in Berlin said that the US is the only country in the developed world where ‘liberalism’ is often considered a dirty word and he’s ashamed of the fact.
The ‘conservatives’ are dragging America’s good name through the dirt.
HEY, They are preparing them for the real world using PC’s. When they go and work for some idiot who uses PC’s, then they’ll know all about the viruses, spam & other problems & they’ll be ready for them….
How? Will we drag it over your white flag? Say that in German or no, say that in Arabic.
Macintosh computers are in nearly all newsrooms in the U.S. and are dominate in most photo and graphics departments.
Not knowing the Macintosh is a hindrance if you are in preparing for a career in the news business.
Side note – My newspaper placed their order yesterday, looking forward to using Aperture next week.
homepage.mac.com/daddysteve
http://www.presstelegramphoto.com
Point #2
“the paper contains too many errors” is another way of saying “we own the student newspaper and they have no right to criticize us!”
Putting the trustees in charge of their watch dogs has never been a good idea. With that kind of power, they just can’t be, er, trusted. (sorry)
Well, it’s safe to say if they didn’t run with the Mac User reason for termination, no one would’ve ever known about this.
Ole Larson must be ripping out his hair that this cat got out of the bag.
It must be strange, getting thousand of hate emails from Mac fanatics around the world, yet no one around him would even know.
“Hello John! Meet you for lunch at the College Club?”
“Not now, Howell, I’m a bit shook up over that chick who hates me and got her fired.”
“Oh, come on — that issue is all done now. Let’s have a martini, John.”
If they are preparing for the future, shouldn’t they learning on the computer of the future?
I work for my college paper and I’m proud to say we do not have a single PC in our entire media building.
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Charko, Nothing like hearing from an enlightened ( Ha Ha) socialistic euro liberal bashing America and preaching about their God ” the environment”
Your counting the torture victims? European citizens being dragged off by the CIA and disappearing into secret interrogation centres. Yep the evil USA again. Take innocent people and in-slaving them. Thank God we are there you would be speaking Chinese or Arabic if we where not there. You guys would just wave the white flag Liberalism doesn’t have to be a dirty word. I consider myself liberal in some areas but Extreme liberals here in the US and most of you over in Europe base everything on feelings and not logic. You live is some kind of Mr Rogers( goody goody feel goodism) utopia world when it is not. You need balance, you need conservatives and liberals. That’s how clueless you really are. You need both viewpoints. Europe and the USA have slide farther to the left in the past 25 years. Europe especially, you guys would love to be full blown socialists if you could. If you where to listen to President Kennedy and Senator Humphrey’s speeches ( both held up as liberal icons) done in a different voice, you would think they where conservatives making the speech.
Charko, Tell your Euro Governments to stop building and using all tthose nuclear power plants. You a going to wreck our environment over here in the US when your out of control radical Muslim community bombs one of those. See if your white flag will save you from that.
“whatever Mac operating system copy that Microsoft has on the market when they graduate. It’ll still be a disappointing step down to learn on Macs and be stuck with Windows in a cubicle, but they’ll know how to use a computer when it’s working just fine. That’s the point, right? The amount of ignorant people in the world”
It’s obvious that the writer is in fact one of these ignorant people, otherwise they’d know that what he/she just wrote was plain bullshit, and just not true.
Using Windows would benefit these students alot more than this foolish teacher.
The Daily Egyptian at Southern Illinois University Carbondale uses Macs on their newspaper.
Unbelievable. Ocean County College is 5 minutes from where I am right now. My grandmother worked there for 20 years for God’s sake.
Honestly, this is no surprise. That college is certainly nothing to be proud of, and President Larson has many more problems in addition to a technological ignorance such as this. What a shame!
The real world is overrated.
RevNeal, you really beat the hell out of that strawman. Way to go.
Can you point me to one quote from one of these “radical atheists” (not sure what that would be) or anyone else saying that Christian school students aren’t being prepared for the real world? (I have heard something like that about home schooling, but that’s more about social skills than religion.)
Let’s say we round up all the public school kids who could afford to go to private schools if they wanted, and whose behavior would not get them kicked out of those private schools, and test *them* against the Christian school kids. Big difference. Private schools get to choose their students. Public schools let everyone in. How many of those Christian schools have special ed? Probably none.
“Can you point me to one quote from one of these “radical atheists” (not
sure what that would be) or anyone else saying that Christian school
students aren’t being prepared for the real world? (I have heard something like that about home schooling, but that’s more about social skills than religion.)”
In a Nov. 20, 2005 article in the New York Times entitled: “University Is Accused of Bias Against Christian Schools”, charges of discrimination are detailed against the University of California System. This is not the first example of such discrimination, nor is it likely to be the last.
“How many of those Christian schools have special ed? Probably none.”
By “Special Ed” if you mean Resource and other such programs, they most CERTAINLY DO. Or … have you never had anything to do with a Roman Catholic Parochial School?
Did I engage in a bit of hyperbole in order to make my point? Yes, I did. This is not a wide-spread problem … yet.
MDN Magic Word: “ideas” as in … ideas that run contrary to scientific orthodoxy are taboo subjects and any school that teaches such — even teaches such ALONG WITH that Scientific Orthodoxy (as they must in order to be certified by the state) — are beginning to discover that their students are finding it more and more difficult to get into Public Universities.
35 years?
Sounds like a case of pecking order blues.
Protest?!? I’m up for a protest.
I’m a Lab Admin in Philly and proud to say that 102 of the 120 computers that we use to teach engineers are Macs (I’m workign on the other 18, stupid people and their “PC was better 10 years ago so it must still be better now, even though i’ve never actually tried a Mac.”
But seriously, who’s in the Jersey/East PA, southern NYC, northern DE area and up for telling these people that they’ve got it wrong?
The State News (Michigan State Universities Newpaper) is run on all Macs, it’s considered one of the most successful college newspapers in the world.
Hmmmm.
Haha. Mac fanbois, freaking out because their beloved toys are being naysayed. While you’re off whining about ‘innovation’ and other rhetoric, I’ll be using my cheaper, faster, and more powerful machine to develop, game, and generally kick ass in the computer sense.
Actually, I didn’t read many of the comments, but I’ll go out on a limb that the macboys are out in full force. Oh, and I’m not sure what the political arguing is about. Probably started by the fucking conservative assholes who didn’t get to fire their guns into the air about this. HA! Fucking conservatives.
why are we even surprised about this decision? new jersey is the armpit of america with the only other possible worst place being its immediate neighbor new york
anyway, Macs rule and clearly we should join Merlyn in a protest
For those of you who STILL don’t understand that a
Mac is a PC,please leave the room and let the people who know what they are talking about discuss
the issue.
Macs Suck, OS X Sucks. Get a life.
Hi everyone! I am the News & Photography Editor for the Viking News. Our adviser is the one you are all speaking of. We appreciate all your supportive comments and will stick to our guns. You can read all articles about this matter on our website. http://www.occvikingnews.com
Once again, thatnk you all for your support and sincere comments.