Criminal Reentry & California

As the last paragraph in the following excerpt from an article on criminal reentry from the Christian Science Monitor, notes, California plays a lead role in determining success or failure of any reentry efforts.

Based on the recent press release from the Criminal Justice Legal Foundation, which concludes: ““The evidence that the so-called ‘Public Safety Realignment’ law is reducing public safety is piling up across California,” said Foundation President Michael Rushford. “As the criminals that this law has dumped back into our neighborhoods are committing new crimes and hurting law-abiding citizens, one wonders whether the Legislative leadership and the Governor are paying attention,” he added.”, the current effort, as are virtually all of the other major rehabilitative efforts over the years, see our post, is a failure.

An excerpt from the Christian Science Monitor article.

“Jason Corralez donned a freshly pressed collared shirt. He had shaved neatly around his salt-and-pepper goatee. He looked like a man about to go on a job interview, which he was. It was a job he desperately wanted, but one question gnawed at him: Would they be willing to hire a convicted murderer?

“Mr. Corralez had one advantage as he applied for the position at Trader Joe’s in the Westwood neighborhood of Los Angeles. Both his brother-in-law and nephew worked at the grocery store. But as his wife drove him to the interview, Corralez was worried about that question on the application that asked if he had ever been convicted of a felony. He had written: “Will discuss during interview.”

“When he arrived at the store, the manager queried him about his résumé. Corralez went through his work experience, which all happened to be from his time in prison, where he had been since he was 17: upholstery work, yard maintenance, small engine repair, clerical tasks. “I explained my job experience,” he says. “All the courses I took – anger management, morals and values.”

“Corralez didn’t leave out why he went to prison, either. “I’m an ex-felon for the offense of second-degree murder,” he told the manager. A former member of The Mob Crew, an East Los Angeles gang, he served 24 years for killing a member of the rival MS-13 gang in a drive-by shooting. “This is the person I was,” he said, “and this is the person I am now.”

“According to Corralez, the manager stepped back, stunned. “Thank you for being honest,” Corralez recalls him saying. As the ex-prisoner walked to the bus stop, he knew what it meant. “I took everything that I had accomplished, everything that I had to do to get a second chance,” he says. “But I could see it in his reaction. It was like the nail in the coffin.” 

“Corralez’s struggle to transition from prisoner to free member of society is one that thousands of inmates across the country are going through as states trim their prison populations on a scale unseen in American history.

“From California to New York, Texas to Michigan, a record number of convicted criminals are either being released from cells or serving time in community-based programs as states, under pressure to cut costs, adopt new philosophies on how to handle nonviolent offenders and many inmates incarcerated in the 1970s and ’80s near the end of their terms. In some cases, lawsuits designed to reduce overcrowding are forcing authorities to open prison doors as well.

“These days roughly 700,000 ex-cons are hitting US streets each year – a new high, according to Marc Mauer, executive director of the Sentencing Project, a Washington-based advocacy group. While the vast majority of the inmates are nonviolent, some, like Corralez, served sentences for serious crimes and are now winning parole in higher numbers.

“The result is an unprecedented test – of authorities’ ability to monitor the newly released prisoners, of social service groups’ capacity to help them forge new lives, of the inmates’ willingness to start over, of communities’ tolerance to let them do so.

“Nowhere is this social experiment playing out with more intensity than in California, the nation’s largest jailer. It is looking to move as many as 33,000 prisoners out of state penitentiaries over the next year alone, many of whom could end up on the streets. It will provide the country’s clearest look at how ready many criminals are to be on the outside – and society’s readiness to have them there.”

Crime Data Misreported

In a serious misrepresentation—whatever the reason turns out to be—Milwaukee police reporting of crime statistics threatens public safety by incorrectly presenting a picture of a city whose crime rate is dropping when the truth is, that it is rising; as reported by the Milwaukee-Wisconsin Journal Sentinel.

An excerpt.

“When Milwaukee Police Chief Edward Flynn touted the city’s fourth-straight year of falling crime in February, hundreds of beatings, stabbings and child abuse cases were missing from the count, a Journal Sentinel investigation has found.

“More than 500 incidents since 2009 were misreported to the FBI as minor assaults and not included in the city’s violent crime rate, the investigation found. That tally is based on a review of cases that resulted in charges – only about one-fifth of all reported crimes.

“Yet the misreported cases found in 2011 alone are enough that Flynn would have been announcing a 1.1% increase in violent crime in February, instead of a 2.3% decline from the reported 2010 numbers, which also include errors.

“Missing, for example, was the case of Crystal L. Mitchell, 21, who last May grabbed a 9-inch serrated steak knife during an argument with her uncle, stabbed him in his thigh and slashed his arm.

“And the case of John F. Sanford, 57, who in December bound his 6-year-old stepson’s arms and legs, covered his mouth with duct tape and struck him some 90 times with a belt, later telling him: “I was trying to make you (expletive) on yourself.” A doctor at Children’s Hospital found cuts and bruises all over the boy’s body.

“Based on FBI reporting guidelines, both should have been classified as aggravated assaults, the city’s most common violent crime. Instead, they were reported as simple assaults, a category reserved for shoving matches and slaps to the face.

“At the request of the Journal Sentinel, FBI crime experts reviewed these and dozens of other incidents and confirmed that they should have been labeled as aggravated assaults. In addition to the more than 500 misreported incidents, the investigation found at least 800 more that fit the same pattern but could not be confirmed through available public records. The Journal Sentinel has submitted an open records request for those cases.

“The misclassified crimes included cases where perpetrators threatened to kill victims; stabbed or cut them with knives; and beat them with canes, crowbars and hammers.

“Nearly one-third of the assault cases identified by the Journal Sentinel involved the abuse of children – most were struck in the head with belts and electrical cords, causing cuts, bloody eardrums and black eyes.

“Instead of accurately reporting the weapons used as firearms, knives or blunt objects, the department reported them to the state and FBI in a way that avoided triggering scrutiny by those who review the numbers.

“Criminologists reviewed the Journal Sentinel’s findings and said they showed a pattern of misreporting that has helped drive down the city’s crime rate.

“Misreporting is cheating the public,” said Michael Maltz, criminology professor at Ohio State University. He called the Journal Sentinel findings just “the tip of the iceberg.”

“If they are playing fast and loose, they will do it with the cases they don’t send to the prosecutor,” said Maltz, senior researcher at the university’s Criminal Justice Research Center. “If it’s this bad at this level, how bad can it be on the cases that don’t reach eye level?”

“The FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting system is aimed at helping the state and FBI monitor crime and trends. A city’s overall crime rate is made up of eight categories – four violent crimes (homicide, rape, robbery and aggravated assault) and four property crimes (burglary, theft, motor vehicle theft and arson).

“All other incidents, such as simple assaults, are excluded from the official crime rate.

“When a crime is misreported as a lesser incident, to the general public it’s as if it never happened.

“Sam Walker, criminology professor at the University of Nebraska-Omaha, said the Journal Sentinel’s investigation identified patterns that raise questions about the department’s procedures.

“That clearly indicates a systemic problem in the department – there has to be a failure of leadership,” he said. “If (police) do it in one or two cases, it’s not a big deal. If they do it in a large number of cases, it’s suspicious and probably improper. It’s something that needs to be corrected immediately.”

Suing Catholic Colleges to Be Catholic

I would sign on quickly if any of the alumni at my alma mater, the University of San Francisco, also wanted to follow suit with the effort begun against Georgetown, as reported by the Catholic News Agency.

An excerpt.

“Washington D.C., May 19, 2012 / 05:03 pm (CNA).- The author of the best-selling book and award-winning screenplay “The Exorcist” has announced that he is leading an effort to file a canon lawsuit against Georgetown University for failures to live up to the demands of the school’s Catholic identity. 

“William P. Blatty, who graduated from Georgetown in 1950, told CNA on May 18 that he believes there is a need for disciplinary action against the university.

“As I recall it, the Lord knocked over a few tables,” he said.   

“Blatty, who has been honored by Georgetown with the John Carroll Medal for alumni achievement, will lead other alumni, students and members of the university community in the newly-formed Father King Society to Make Georgetown Honest, Catholic, and Better.

“The society is named for the late Jesuit Fr. Thomas M. King, a former theology professor at Georgetown who was rumored to be the inspiration for the priestly character in “The Exorcist.”

“Its website encourages members of the Georgetown community to join the canon lawsuit and share their grievances against the university with Cardinal Donald W. Wuerl of Washington, D.C. and Pope Benedict XVI.

“It also asks them to withhold their donations from the school for one year.

“Blatty believes that Georgetown has given scandal to the faithful on numerous occasions and has refused to comply with “Ex Corde Ecclesiae,” the document issued by Pope John Paul II in 1990 to outline the functions of Catholic universities.”

To the Source

An absolutely crucial aspect of retaining and strengthening your faith in a world which constantly attacks it, is to journey to the home of the source of all Catholic knowledge, The Vatican; and since the advent of the world wide web, access is a click away.

This was my journey during the period of my conversion and through the RCIA process and the rewards of pouring over the papal encyclicals and other Church documents is deep and lasting.

This article from The Catholic Thing reminds us of the need to visit the true authority on earth.

An excerpt.

“Take a careful look at this paragraph:

“We have no information on her childhood, but from her writings it seems that she spent it peacefully in an affectionate family environment. In fact, to express God’s boundless love, she valued images linked to the family, with particular reference to the figure of the father and of the mother. In one of her meditations she prays thus: “Most gentle Lord, when I think of the special graces that you have given me through your solicitude: first of all, how you took care of me since my childhood and how you removed me from the danger of this world and called me to dedicate myself to your holy service, and how you provided everything that was necessary for me: food, drink, dress and footwear (and you did so) in such a way that I had no occasion to think of these things but of your great mercy” (Marguerite d’Oingt).

“Pope Benedict XVI was speaking here about Marguerite d’Oingt and her part in the great Carthusian spiritual current in the Church.

“Esoteric? No, there is a lot to learn here. What parent, what daughter, what son, could not learn a fair bit about being a Christian just from this little paragraph? Pope Benedict’s words and those of some of the previous popes contain wonderful information to inform and inspire us.

“These particular words are from his audience on 3 November 2010. But they were not simply for the crowd at the audience. They can help us in our spiritual lives and give us some serious matter to reflect on. Certainly more than what we get from another Law and Order episode.

“This is especially vital because giving people the tools to keep on learning about Christianity throughout their lives is often passed over in efforts at education and evangelization. Also frequently missed is the Catholic’s obligation to remain informed, not only from what they see on the nightly news, but directly from the Church. And many of the tools are right here on the Vatican website….

“On the Vatican website – in the Resource Library – there are texts of the Bible, the teachings of the Second Vatican Council, the Catechism, and much more. Choosing to read just an article a day or one audience a day will help you to understand much.

“The real miracle here is that you will find yourself. Pope Benedict developed this point: “Each person finds his good by adherence to God’s plan for him, in order to realize it fully: in this plan, he finds his truth, and through adherence to this truth he becomes free (cf. Jn 8:32). [Then] to defend the truth, to articulate it with humility and conviction, and to bear witness to it in life are therefore exacting and indispensable forms of charity.”

Prison Love

Tourist’s love affairs with prisons (as well as attracting aspiring criminals to the criminal life) as reported in USA Today, largely stems from the glamorization of criminals that has permeated books, Hollywood and Broadway productions for generations.

An excerpt.

“Old prisons, from famous ones such as Alcatraz to less-known small state facilities, are becoming tourist attractions and drawing a growing number of visitors, operators say.

“We’ve been shocked by the interest and continue to work on expanding our operation,” said Steve Picker, director of the Jefferson City, Mo., Convention and Visitors Bureau, which has seen visitors through the shuttered Missouri State Penitentiary increase from 3,290 visitors in its first tour year in 2009 to 17,200 last year.

“We’ve been growing by double-digit percentages every year for the past 10 years,” added Sean Kelley, director of public programming at the Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia, which now draws more than 250,000 visitors a year.

“Operators say their visitors are made up of curious people, history buffs and increasingly, ghost hunters. Picker said his prison saw a big increase in visitors last year after it was featured on the cable television show Ghost Hunters.

“We offer a ghost hunting class and overnight paranormal investigations,” said Picker, adding that he’s never felt anything other-worldly but that visitors insist they have.

“Day tours of historic prisons take a couple hours and typically cost about $12. Nighttime tours, which typically attract the ghost hunters, cost more. A nighttime tour of Alcatraz runs $35. At the Missouri State Penitientiary, a three-hour ghost hunt costs $35 and an overnight paranormal investigation, which runs from 10 p.m. until 6 a.m., and costs $95. Ticket sales help offset costs, Picker said, but don’t cover the cost of maintaining the facility.

“As with any decommissioned building, it’s expensive to maintain,” Picker said.

“People have had some very unusual experiences,” he said. “We hear some of those stories from different people so it does make you wonder.”

“The prisons trade on formerly famous guests. Picker notes Sonny Liston learned to box while incarcerated at the Missouri State Penitentiary. Both Eastern State Penitentiary and Alcatraz in San Francisco can claim Al Capone as a former tenant.”

Drugs & Crime

As this article in the Huffington Post continues the false narrative, people unfamiliar with the real criminal world assume that drug use causes crime, while criminals know that taking drugs is as common in their world as hard drinking is among the law enforcement world.

It is how stress is reduced, concentration sharpened, fatigue lessened, conviviality enhanced, pleasure intensified, and life goes on; but as long as crime reduction efforts focus on the drugs rather than the interiority of criminals, their efforts will continue, as they always have, to fail, and our posted evaluation of rehabilitative programs—including a huge billion dollar prison drug program in California (#4 in the post) which made the problem worse—should be noted.

An excerpt from the Huffington Post.

“WASHINGTON, May 17 (Reuters) – U.S. crime statistics show illegal drugs play a central role in criminal acts, providing new evidence that tackling drugs as a public health issue could offer a powerful tool for lowering national crime rates, officials said on Thursday.

“An annual drug monitoring report, released by the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, also showed a decline in the use of cocaine since 2003, a sign that drug-interdiction efforts and public education campaigns may be curtailing the use of the drug’s powder and crack forms.

“The rate of overall illegal drug use in the United States has declined by roughly 30 percent since 1979.

“But Thursday’s report, based on thousands of arrestee interviews and drug tests, showed that on average 71 percent of men arrested in 10 U.S. metropolitan areas last year tested positive for an illegal substance at the time they were taken into custody.

“The figures ranged from 64 percent of arrests in Atlanta to 81 percent in Sacramento, California, and were higher for nearly half of the collection sites since 2007.

“U.S. officials held up the data as evidence to support President Barack Obama’s strategy aimed at breaking the cycle of drugs and crime by attacking substance abuse with treatment rather than jail for nonviolent offenders.

“Tackling the drug issue could go a long way in reducing our crime issues,” Gil Kerlikowske, head of the office that issued the report, told Reuters in an interview.

“These data confirm that we must address our drug problem as a public health issue, not just a criminal justice issue.”

“The arrest figures included men taken into custody on more than one charge as well as those arrested in drug busts.

“The data showed that on average about 23 percent of violent crimes and property crimes, including home burglaries, were committed by people who tested positive for at least one of 10 illegal drugs including marijuana, heroin and methamphetamines.

“Charlotte, North Carolina, had the highest proportion of drug-related violent crime offenses at 29 percent, while New York City had the highest for drug-related property crimes at 32 percent.”

The Argument Against the Abolitionist Movement in Criminal Justice

The arguments for abolishing capital punishment and the use of prisons as appropriate sanctions for most criminal felons—which have unfortunately been accepted by the American Bishops; see Responsibility, Rehabilitation and Restoration: A Catholic Perspective on Crime and Criminal Justice and A Culture of Life and the Penalty of Death.

The Catholic Church has a clear and ancient history of support for both criminal justice sanctions from revelation, scripture, and tradition.

James Q. Wilson demolished the three major arguments in his seminal book on crime: Thinking About Crime: Revised Edition (1983) New York: Basic Books. This excerpt doesn’t address capital punishment, only prisons, but the same arguments of cost and appropriateness, are central to both movements and Wilson’s words are as relevent now as when they were written.

An excerpt.

“Some persons find prison construction undesirable because they think prisons are deplorable. Such sentiments are sometimes organized into movements designed to place a moratorium on prison construction. It is never clear what alternatives such persons would suggest. As of November 1979, well over half (58 percent) of all state inmates were imprisoned for a violent offense [in December of 2009 it was 53%], 14 percent for murder alone. Only 7 percent were in prison because of drug offenses. Of the one-third who were serving time for nonviolent property crimes, over half were burglars [virtually the same in 2009]. Who among these prisoners should be released to relieve overcrowding and accommodate new commitments? And the number who would have to be released to eliminate overcrowding is very large, as can be inferred from the fact that, if one uses 60 square feet per prisoner as the standard, then 58 percent of all one-person cells and 90 percent of all two-person cells are overcrowded. Vague talk about “alternatives to incarceration” is no substitute for a clear, quantitative estimate of how many persons can be diverted, safely, from prison and where these diverted persons are to go.

“Indeed, much of the debate about incapacitation is not about its crime reduction potential or the relationship between imprisonment and a social concern for appropriate retribution; it is rather a set of diversionary arguments designed to make American penal policy look as bad as possible while sidestepping any serious confrontation with the hard policy choices.

“One such argument is: “The United States already imprisons a larger proportion of it population than any other civilized nation, or at least any civilized nation outside the Soviet bloc.” This is like disproving the need for hospitals by saying that the United States already hospitalizes a larger fraction of its population than any other nation. It implies that we are sending people to prison without any regard to the number of crimes committed (or sending them to hospitals without regard to whether they are sick). The proper question is whether we imprison a higher fraction of those arrested, prosecuted, and convicted than do other nations. No comprehensive international data exists on this subject, but such comparisons as do exist suggest that the argument that this country overimprisons is, to say the least, questionable. Kenneth I. Wolpin at Yale compared the probability of being convicted and imprisoned for various offenses in England and the United States. In the period 1961-1967, persons who were prosecuted for robbery in England were much more likely to be convicted than those prosecuted for that crime in the United States(about 79 percent were convicted in England, only 42 percent in this country). Of those convicted of robbery, a higher percentage (48 percent) were imprisoned in England than in the United States (31 percent). On the other hand, sentences for robbery tended to be longer in the United States.

“A second argument is “Sending a person to prison costs more than sending a person to Harvard.” God knows, Harvard is expensive enough. I am relieved to hear that something else costs more. But I assume that most parents send their children to college rather than to prison for reasons other than it being cheaper. Similarly, society send criminals to prison rather than college, despite the fact that it costs more, because society believes it is getting something for its money from prison that it could not get from college: greater safety (temporarily), some prospect of deterrence, and the satisfaction of its desire for lawful retribution. I wish persons who point to the costs of prisons as if that were a conclusive argument would apply that view consistently. For example: “It costs more to send children to Harvard than it would cost to send them to work in the coal mines.” Or, “We cannot afford to send sick people to hospitals because it costs $50,000 (or whatever) per bed to build a hospital.”

“A third argument: “If we build more prisons, we will fill them up whether we need to or not.” Or put in other words, the size of our prison population is determined, not by the crime rate, but by the capacity of our prisons. A much-heralded study by Abt Associates in 1981 seemed to provide evidence to conform this view. On the average, it claimed, new additions to prison capacity are filled to overflowing within two years after completion and filled past the level of overcrowding within five years. The Panel on Sentencing Research of the National Research Council took a close look at the Abt findings and concluded that they were seriously in error. To use the council’s words, the Abt study “provides no valid support for the capacity model.” Among the errors it discovered were computational mistakes, implausible assumptions, and a failure to look at the very different experiences of individual states (fifteen of which actually experienced decreases in their prison populations between 1971 and 1975).

“The problem of how best to manage our prison populations cannot, obviously, be left to such sloganeering. Neither can it be left to the whims of state legislators who find it politically irresistible to vote for tougher penalties for certain crimes but politically awkward to vote for the money to pay for the necessary additions to prisons or to allow new prisons to be built in their districts. It is possible to think sensibly about the uses of prison by asking what kinds of offenders should be sent to what kinds of facilities and for how long, by estimating carefully both the prison-capacity and crime-reduction implications of any proposed sentencing policy, and by avoiding the tendency to think that the best way to handle crime is always to impose the longest possible sentence.” (pp. 159-161)

Street Program

Using former criminals, this program in Baltimore seems to be working—though a rigorous evaluation (as defined in previous post) is needed to fully determine success—as reported by USA Today.

An excerpt.

“BALTIMORE– Two men scuffle on the ground one cool morning on the main strip of McElderry Park, near downtown Baltimore. A large man bursts from a storefront and separates the brawlers.

“That’s one of those Safe Streets dudes,” an onlooker says.

“The big man is Dante Barksdale, an outreach worker for Safe Streets, a program that enlists former convicts to battle neighborhood violence. Safe Streets and similar programs are winning plaudits from police, mayors and the Justice Department.

“The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health says the Baltimore program gets some of the credit for a 56% reduction in homicides in the Cherry Hill neighborhood from January 2009 through December 2010.

“The programs are modeled after one in Chicago called Cease Fire.

“It works, supporters say, because staffers’ prison backgrounds command respect on the streets.

“They scope out potential violence by being observant and keeping up with gossip.

“When they learn about a conflict brewing, they approach the people involved, get them talking and steer them toward turnaround opportunities such as school or jobs.

“The reason we have the ability to do what we do is we have the respect of the people on the streets,” says Gardnel Carter, 50, director of Safe Streets East, one of two Safe Streets branches in Baltimore.

“Even though the programs give tipsters confidentiality, police approve. In Baltimore, Safe Streets complements a city campaign targeting major drug dealers, says Anthony Guglielmi, public affairs chief for the Baltimore Police Department.

“The police department thinks Safe Streets works,” he says. In 2011, gun-related homicides in Baltimore were down 13% from 2000.”

Evangelizing Criminals

It is a process full of traps, for the criminal, more than the non-criminal potential convert, has lived a life defending his actions and, being asked to reject the intellectual basis upon which he has built his criminality as wrong, will stoutly defend it; and this is where the excellent advice from centuries ago may prove useful, as noted in this story from the Society of Saint Pius X blog.

An excerpt.

“The example of St. Basil of Caesarea shows that, even in a doctrinal crisis of the Church, the steadfast profession and defense of the Faith is not incompatible with a prudential attitude, seeking an accommodation with those who are in error – a practical, realistic approach, aimed at bringing them back to orthodoxy, while preserving the souls entrusted to us.

“In the fourth century, St. Basil, bishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia, confronted a hornets’ nest of theological controversy. The Pneumatomachian heresy, an offshoot of Arianism, denied the consubstantiality (homoousia) of the Holy Ghost. The Arians themselves held that the Son was a creature of the Father and the creator of all other things, and so it was only logical for them to consider the Holy Ghost as a creature of the Son. At the same time, some “conservative” semi-Arians, who believed the Son was of a similar nature (homoiousios) to the Father, and the Anomoeans, who denied any such similarity in nature, began explicitly teaching that the Holy Ghost was simply a higher-ranking angel. Even among orthodox Catholics, some considered the term “consubstantial” to be suspect, because not of biblical origin, and opposed its use by the Council of Nicaea on these grounds.

“Faced with this situation, St. Basil, while never yielding to error or denying the orthodox belief, carefully avoided the use of the term “consubstantial” (homoousios) in his discussions with heretics. Simply employing this word aroused immediate opposition and effectively ended any effort at discussion or proselytism. Therefore, in order not to burn down the bridges, Basil approached the question of the Holy Ghost’s divinity obliquely. He made use of the terms “community of nature” (physike koinonia) and especially “equality of honor” (homotimia). Each amount to the same meaning as “consubstantial,” since equal dignity and honor with the Father and the Son necessarily presupposes identity of substance. Thus, the traditional doxology implies the Holy Ghost’s divinity; one who is not God cannot be equal to God in dignity. Though his tactic avoided direct controversy, Basil made every effort to answer even insignificant objections with meticulous exactitude. He wanted not only to oppose the error, but also to bring as many heretics as possible back to orthodoxy.

“In a letter addressed to the clergy of Tarsus, Basil explained the motives and general attitude that guided his discussions with heretics. In it, he shows his doctrinal orthodoxy, his realistic understanding of the concrete situation, both his own and that of his church of Caesarea, and his zeal and prudence in seeking a solution for the greater good of souls and the preservation of his church:

“The present time shows a great inclination toward the destruction of the churches […]. Further, as to the building up of the Church, the correction of errors, compassion toward the weak among the brethren, and protection for those who are sound – not one of these things exists.[…]

“Therefore, there is need of great zeal and great care in such a time, so that the churches may receive some benefit. And it is a benefit to those hitherto separated to be united. Moreover, there would be union, if we would be willing to accommodate ourselves to the weaker in whatever matters do not harm to souls.

“[…] We ask you to receive in communion those who do not say that the Holy Ghost is a creature, in order that blasphemers may be left alone, and that either being ashamed they may return to the truth, or continuing in their sin may be held unworthy of credit because of their small number.

“Therefore, let us seek for nothing more, but hold out to the brethren who wish to be united with us the Creed of Nicaea; and, if they agree with it, let us require further that they must not say that the Holy Ghost is a creature, nor be in communion with those who say it.

“But I think that we should demand nothing beyond this. In fact, I am convinced that by a longer association and an experience together without strife, even if it should be necessary to add more for the purpose of explanation, the Lord who makes all things work together unto good for those who love Him will grant it.” (Italicizing added)  (Basil of Caesarea, Letter 113. FC (Fathers of the Church), vol. 13, pp. 239-240)

The Academy & Scholarship

1) In this article in the Wall Street Journal, commenting on her firing from The Chronicle of Higher Education Blog, Naomi Schaefer Riley writes:

“Recently, the Chronicle of Higher Education published a cover story called “Black Studies: ‘Swaggering Into the Future,’” in which the reporter described how “young black-studies scholars . . . are less consumed than their predecessors with the need to validate the field or explain why they are pursuing doctorates in their discipline.” The “5 Up-and-Coming Ph.D. Candidates” described in the piece’s sidebar “are rewriting the history of race.” While the article suggested some are skeptical of black studies as a discipline, the reporter neglected to quote anyone who is.

“Like me. So last week, on the Chronicle’s “Brainstorm” blog (where I was paid to be a regular contributor), I suggested that the dissertation topics of the graduate students mentioned were obscure at best and “a collection of left-wing victimization claptrap,” at worst.

“For instance, the author of a dissertation on the history of black midwifery began her research, she told the Chronicle, because she “noticed that nonwhite women’s experiences were largely absent from natural-birth literature.” Another graduate student blamed the housing crisis in America on institutional racism. And a third argued that conservatives like Thomas Sowell, Clarence Thomas and John McWhorter have “played one of the most-significant roles in the assault on the civil-rights legacy that benefited them.”

“The reaction to my blog post ranged from puerile to vitriolic. The graduate students I mentioned and the senior faculty who advise them at Northwestern University accused me (in guest blogs posted by the Chronicle editors) of bigotry and cowardice. …

“At first, the Chronicle stood its ground, suggesting that my post was an “invitation to debate.” But that stance lasted for little more than a weekend. In a note that reads like a confession at a re-education camp, the Chronicle’s editor, Liz McMillen announced her decision on Monday to fire me: “We’ve heard you,” she tells my critics. “And we have taken to heart what you said. We now agree that Ms. Riley’s blog posting did not meet The Chronicle’s basic editorial standards for reporting and fairness in opinion articles.”

2) In an article from National Review, the author notes the unscholarly poem mocking Schaefer Riley’s article, produced by a Professor of English.

“Why should we care? Well, the main scandal in Schaefer Riley’s firing, of course, is that the Chronicle has shown itself more interested in political correctness than in serious discussion. But it’s surely a subsidiary scandal that both the Chronicle and a major state university happily employ an English professor who knows so little about English verse. That fact seems to confirm what so many conservatives fear: not simply that the academy hosts a particularly intolerant brand of leftism, but that it is increasingly dominated by people who — however smugly they denounce their critics, and however confidently they proclaim themselves “real scholars” — know little about the fields they profess to teach.