DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ Opinion | Can Civics Lessons for the Young Help Mend Society?
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-20 | by ( ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

To the Editor:Re “By Dropping Civics, Colleges Gave Fuel to the Culture Wars,” by Debra Satz and Dan Edelstein (Opinion guest essay, Sept. 7):As a humanities professor for three decades, I am frequently amazed at the — dare I say — hubris of my colleagues when it comes to their estimate of their capacity to mold the conscience of the Republic. Professors Satz and Edelstein believe that the decline in prevalence of “Western Civ” courses in the curriculum has been a key element in the degradation of our civic culture. Their notion that some 40 hours of class time turned students’ souls toward the light is indeed touching, but highly unlikely. They neglect to mention, for example, that in the days they look back on fondly, when freshmen wrestled with the eternal verities revealed by Socrates, these courses seldom moved Southern whites to rethink their subjugation of Black people, or Northern whites to call their Southern brothers and sisters to account. Colleges can do many things, but turning the culture away from its immemorial vices is not one of them.

Persons: Debra Satz, Dan Edelstein, Satz, Edelstein, Socrates Organizations: Civics, Colleges, Culture, Republic

When universities do not signal the intrinsic value of certain topics or texts by requiring them, many students simply follow market cues. In the absence of civic education, it is not surprising that universities are at the epicenter of debates over free speech and its proper exercise. Free speech is hard work. The basic assumptions and attitudes necessary for cultivating free speech do not come to us naturally. Universities and colleges must do a better job of explaining to our students the rationale for free speech, as well as cultivating in them the skills and mind-set necessary for its practice.

Organizations: Universities

☆ Florida prosecutors file motion to interview Parkland shooter trial juror after alleged threat from co-juror
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-14 | by ( Marlene Lenthang | Marlene Lenthang Is A Breaking News Reporter For Nbc News Digital. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +2 min

Prosecutors in the high-profile Parkland school shooter trial have filed a motion to have law enforcement interview a juror who reported feeling threatened by a peer on the panel. The motion by the Broward County State Attorney's Office was filed Thursday evening. According to the motion, a juror referred to as “Juror X” called the state attorney’s office around 2 p.m. and requested to speak with Assistant State Attorney Michael Satz, the lead prosecutor in the trial. The motion requests that law enforcement, rather than the court, conduct the interview with Juror X. Ultimately the aggravating factors did not outweigh the mitigating factors, the jury found, and the shooter was sentenced to life.

A jury reached its decision Thursday in the penalty trial of Nikolas Cruz, who gunned down 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, in 2018. The trial was to decide whether to sentence him to life in prison or the death penalty. The decision by the 12-person jury was determined about three months after opening statements began July 18 and after the jury received deliberation instructions Wednesday. The jury has to reach a unanimous decision for the death sentence. The gunman, then 19, had stormed the high school on Valentine’s Day wielding an AR-15-style rifle and releasing a spray of bullets.

Nikolas Cruz, 24, pleaded guilty last year to premeditated murder at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, about 30 miles (50 km) north of Fort Lauderdale. The Valentine's Day school shooting was among the deadliest in U.S. history. Broward County Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer recommended that jurors take "at least a few days" of clothing and medication. Cruz previously plead guilty to all 17 counts of premeditated murder and 17 counts of attempted murder in the 2018 shootings. Cruz was 19 and had been expelled from Marjory Stoneman Douglas at the time of the massacre.

☆ Judge in Parkland school shooter case refuses to step down
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-20 | by ( The Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +5 min

There was “absolutely no chance” Scherer would quit the case, said Bob Jarvis, a professor at Nova Southeastern University’s law school. Scherer, a former prosecutor, had never overseen a first-degree murder trial before being assigned the Cruz case. The prosecution, having expected the defense case to last much longer, wasn’t prepared to begin its rebuttal case. “This is the most uncalled for, unprofessional way to try a case,” Scherer said. “If I would have known earlier this was going to be happening, I would not have dragged you in here,” Scherer told the jurors.

Search resuls for: "Satz"

6 mentions found