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University of Idaho College of Law Dean Don Burnett (pictured) has responded to 20 Republican lawmakers who are concerned with what they perceive to be a threat from the school over student attendance. In a message back 
to the group, Burnett apologized for the harshness of his tone in a message about diversity training, but says he plans to proceed with the workshops, slated for next week. “By the way, I have apologized in two open forums with students for the seemingly harsh tone of the language you have quoted,” Burnett wrote. “My intent was simply to be open and transparent, but I could have chosen my words more carefully”/Dustin Hurst, Idaho Reporter. More here.
Reaction?
D.F. Oliveria is a columnist and blogger for The Spokesman-Review. Huckleberries Online was judged the best 2008 Idaho newspaper blog by the Idaho Press Club. And the best 2007 news blog in the Pacific Northwest by the Society for Professional Journalist. Print Huckleberries is a past winner of the Herb Caen Memorial Column contest by the National Association of Newspaper Columnists. The Readership Institute of Northwestern University cited this blog as a good example of online community journalism.
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duroc on February 09 at 11:04 a.m.
Reaction? Those 20 Republican lawmakers should go back to writing worthless memorials and removing flags from hippies, and leave running the College of Law to the Dean and the University of Idaho.
Why is it that the legislators who scream the loudest about the Federal government telling us what to do are the first ones who seem hell-bent on micromanaging every detail of our lives at the state level?
Hypocrites, panderers, and blowhards.
Sisyphus on February 09 at 11:19 a.m.
That’s a piss poor assessment by Dustin of what happened. Those 21 legislators have lots of egg on their face for calling Dean Burnett on the carpet with only half the facts, which were probably delivered by the very students who jeopardized UI accreditation. Dustin doesn’t even mention that fact. Loss of accreditation would be devastating, particularly if it was due to a couple students expressing anachronistic regressive viewpoints against diversity. That would further cement the horrible reputation of north Idaho as a haven for bigotry.
Strong post to follow.
duroc on February 09 at 11:27 a.m.
@Sisyphus: Dustin works for Wayne Hoffman. We all know that Hoffman doesn’t care about anything but pushing his own regressive agenda. Dustin was probably told to push the “forced diversity training” angle to the exclusion of everything else, including the truth and the reality of the situation.
This is typical for the Idaho Reporter, and just another example of why many of us feel compelled to criticize the IR and its relationship with the IFF/Hoffman.
The Idaho Reporter is the propaganda arm of Wayne Hoffman’s Idaho Freedom Foundation. It is not a legitimate news organization. Period.
Sisyphus on February 09 at 11:37 a.m.
duroc, I get it. But while many of my friends were quick to jump on that bandwagon, I was willing to give Dustin some leeway, mostly out of respect for him and Dave. Dustin covered some things that no one else touched, and a lot of it was fair. But since Brad left I’ve noticed a definite tilt to Fox style misinformation and distortion, particularly in the last six months. I figured the game plan was establish some cred first. But these two stories, and the full week Luna puff pieces, pretty much destroy any accumulated cred.
duroc on February 09 at 11:42 a.m.
I know, Sisyphus, and I agree with everything you’ve said above. This sort of misinformation is incredibly frustrating, especially when the university is in danger of being undermined and damaged by these clueless legislators (and the clueless malcontents who should have never been admitted to UI College of Law) who think they get some street cred by blowing the “diversity!” dog-whistle.
I look forward to your strong post on this subject.
greenlibertarian on February 09 at 11:45 a.m.
Accumulated cred is meaningless in this situation and MUST be ignored when the underlying organization is FOUNDED on bias.
fortboise on February 09 at 1:45 p.m.
I appreciate IdR’s posting of the Dean’s letter to Sen. Pearce, and providing a forum where the likes of Ernest Cerulli can express the prevailing knuckle-dragging political sentiment in this state.
I answered that over there.
The quality of the reporting on Wayne Hoffman’s news outlet speaks for itself. The purported mission of it providing more, or more better coverage of the important issues of the day remains unfulfilled.
Sisyphus on February 09 at 3:16 p.m.
Here’s my take on the mess.
http://www.43sb.com/?q=node/6059
Digger on February 09 at 3:56 p.m.
Dean Burnett is a stand up guy. Every interaction I’ve had with him has been pleasant. While I tracked the content of his letter, I doubt that knuckle draggers like Nonini got much past the first sentence.