On the Radio Discussing Bassam Frangieh

Charles Johnson on the Rick Amato Show from The Claremont Conservative on Vimeo.

On Monday, I was on the Rick Amato Show discussing Bassam Frangieh and the college's response to his pro-Hezbollah, pro-Hamas, pro-suicide bombing views. The clip is here.

I'll be posting tonight's interview some time later this week.

Stiletto Study From Harvey Mudd Prof?

In yesterday's Daily Mail, a Harvey Mudd professor explains why ladies wear high heels.

A new study of 18 to 33-year-olds has shown those who walked in high heels activated their inner and outer calf muscles much more evenly than those who used flatter shoes.

A shorter heel, worn by half the subjects, led to them having bigger inner calf muscles because they are exercised more, according to the findings published in the Royal Society journal Biology Letters.

Professor Anna Ahn, of Harvey Mudd College in Claremont, California, and colleagues said: 'Similar to pulling a door-closer to its hinge, the ankle must be extended by a greater force when muscles pull closer to the ankle joint with a shorter heel.

'Heel length may determine calf muscle size in humans.

'In order to generate these higher forces at the ankle, these individuals activate their relatively thicker muscles for a longer duration.'  

In the study the researchers analysed ten sedentary people, five men and five women, to ensure athletic training was not a factor in their performance.

They added: 'People come in different shapes and sizes. In particular, calf muscle size in humans varies considerably.

'Some people have short, stout lower leg muscles, while others have long, slender leg muscles.

'A possible cause for these differences in calf muscle size is the difference in neural signals received by the muscles, because muscles respond to increased neural activation with hypertrophy (excessive development).

'These individuals would also generate relatively higher muscle forces when walking, since muscle force increases with amplitude of muscle activity.'

I sure hope this wasn't funded by taxpayers.

FIRE's Speech Code of the Month is Claremont McKenna

FIRE (Foundation for Individual Rights in Education) announces its Speech Code of the Month for February 2011: Claremont McKenna College in California.

Claremont McKenna's (CMC's) policy on "Acceptable E-Mail Usage" provides that "[t]he College's system must not be used to create or transmit material that is derogatory, defamatory, obscene or offensive. Such material includes, but is not limited to, slurs, epithets or anything that might be construed as harassment or disparagement based on race, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, age, disability, or religious or political beliefs." (Emphasis added.)

This policy is truly breathtaking in its reach. You can be punished for any e-mail that might be construed as disparaging on the basis of religious or political beliefs? Or any e-mail that is found derogatory or offensive by some unspecified standard? Given that e-mail is a widely used mode of communication among college students and faculty, this policy prohibits a large amount of core political and religious expression—the kind of expression that lies at the heart of the First Amendment and that is crucial to the open debate that should characterize a prestigious college like CMC.

Although CMC is a private university, it very clearly promises to protect the free speech rights of its students and faculty. CMC's Guide to Student Life states that "[t]he College's commitment to freedom of speech generally, and to the particular ideals associated with academic freedom, requires that the advocacy of ideas in instruction, by both faculty and students, be protected, and requires the College to protect the rights of its faculty and students to pursue controversial, provocative, and unpopular topics and ideas in their teaching, learning, and research." The Guide further states that "[g]uaranteeing the rights of free speech and peaceable assembly is a basic requirement for any academic community."

This policy, which explicitly prohibits controversial political and religious expression, is a clear violation of CMC's promise of free speech. It also appears to violate California's Leonard Law, which requires that private nonsectarian universities refrain from punishing students for any expression that is protected by the First Amendment.