Sunday, January 08, 2017



Affirmative action for blacks plus affirmative INaction for Asians?

Leftist racism is never far beneath the surface

An international relations professor is suing the University of Illinois at Chicago alleging that he was racially discriminated against for being Korean.

Seung-Whan Choi, 52, says he is being forced to teach a Korean politics class despite having no specialist knowledge of the subject and has also had to teach statistics because 'Asians' are good at math, according to legal papers.

Choi filed the lawsuit last Tuesday with the U.S. District Court in Chicago claiming that he was discriminated against by the political science department after he was forced to teach Korean politics by the department despite having no formal education in the field.

He said: 'Since I was raised in Korea, the department said I should know Korean politics very well.

'We are professors, we specialize in specific things. You don't ask someone to teach American politics because they are American. So me having to teach Korean politics because I am from Korea is actually ridiculous.'

The professor also says that he was forced to teach statistics while none of his colleagues were made to do so, specifically because of his race.

Choi claims he was told that 'Asians, especially Koreans, are very good at mathematics and statistics', the suit asserts.

The Korean-born U.S. citizen, who has taught at UIC since 2004, was fired in 2011. He was reinstated later that year after he reached a settlement guaranteeing his tenure.

Choi says he had been instructed to teach Politics in Japan and Korea by the department but had no experience with either subject.

He claimed that the only thing he knew about Japanese and Korean politics came from what he had read in newspapers and had to teach himself about the latter through textbooks he read on campus.

He said: 'That year when we got to prepare for the course, I asked around to people who taught it and asked what would work. When the students would ask me what happened to Japanese portion I had to keep making excuses.'

Choi claims he was denied pay raises comparable to 'unqualified' coworkers, promotion to full professorship and subject to constant harassment by his department heads.

In the suit, the father-of-one claims that information about the university's paternity leave wasn't given to him and that his wife was rejected of being hired through the school's 'partner accommodation policy.'

He claims: 'When a white woman asked for her husband, they hired him but not my wife.'

Choi, who received the 2012 Outstanding Reviewer Award from Political Research Quarterly, says in the case filing that he was wrongfully accused of lacking in academic contributions which had to be overturned by Chancellor Michael Amridis.

In 2015, one of his superiors didn't inform Choi that he was changing a student's grade, the suit claims.

When confronted about it, he allegedly said to Choi that 'as a foreigner, has to keep in mind who he is dealing with and what he is wishing for,' and that he 'knows that many Koreans are stubborn and do not understand American culture of compromise when dealing with their boss.'

The professor told the Chicago Tribune: 'They don't like Korean-Americans.

'I'm supposed to be very submissive to the department head, who is white-American.'

Prior to this suit, Choi settled a case in 2011 against the university to be reinstated and receive his tenure.

On three occasions, Choi was refused competitive counter-offers to outside jobs which is contrary to the college's policy. He says one of his superiors even went as far to inform the associate professor that he was not welcomed in the department and that he should leave.

Choi commented that he 'absolutely' feels trapped by the university but hasn't taken any of the offers from the schools, all of which are back in Korea.

'I'm miserable and it is frustrating but what can I say up until this point because I don't get anything from the department.

'When they have special department meetings, they didn't bother to invite me. 'I am the only expert in international relations, but they don't include me in there. 'It is getting worse and worse.'

Since filing the suit last Tuesday, Choi hasn't had contact with other members of the department because the semester doesn't start until Monday.

The professor claims that he has suffered depression, severe anxiety, shameful embarrassment, reputation damage, and has been unable to receive proper dental treatment due to high blood pressure.

He is seeking backpay, appropriate future earnings and reimbursements for income and fringe benefits with interest.  

He'll be teaching an international relations course and a Korean politics course.

A representative from the University of Illinois at Chicago said that they do not comment on cases that are open but that they are reviewing the matter closely.

SOURCE 





Scotland: Private schools ‘should lose tax breaks and charitable status’

Good old socialist Scotland.  Envy is the national emotion

A majority of Scots believe private schools should be stripped of their charitable status or banned, according to a poll for The Times.

The YouGov research found that almost half — 44 per cent — think that independent schools should no longer be regarded as charities, a status that allows them to enjoy tax breaks.

A further 7 per cent think they should be banned, with the same proportion believing they should be treated as charities without condition.

Independent schools, which must satisfy the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator that they offer a wider public benefit, receive tax deductions that are not available to schools in the state sector. Private institutions receive an 80 per cent reduction in non- domestic rates, for example

SOURCE 





Australia: Islamic school future in doubt after losing funding appeal

SYDNEY’s biggest Islamic school has been stripped of $19 million a year in federal funding after a tribunal ruled the money had been misused.

The Malek Fahd Islamic School, which has 2500 students in three campuses in Greenacre, Beaumont Hills and Hoxton Park, now faces immediate closure.

The federal government froze funding last year amid concerns that money had been funnelled to the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils, now known as Muslims Australia.

The school appealed to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT), which has now ruled in the government’s favour.

In a ruling published today, the AAT found that Muslims Australia had been charging the school too much rent.

It found that the school had been operating "for profit", with profits benefiting Muslims Australia.

A Malek Fahd Islamic School spokesman today said it would use school funds to appeal against the AAT decision in the Federal Court.

Federal Education Minister Simon Birmingham today said he had contacted NSW Education Minister Adrian Piccoli to try to "minimise the impact" on the school community.

"While this is a difficult time, I remain committed to ensuring that all school authorities meet the requirements of the Education Act to ensure that our taxpayer dollars and any private investment by parents is being spent to benefit Australian students," he said.

"Australians rightly expect that every taxpayer dollar committed to school education is genuinely expended on school education."

The school received a total of $76m in federal grants between 2012 and 2015

The school’s future was thrown into doubt in 2016 after the federal education department revoked its funding because a review found it was operating for profit.

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal has upheld that decision, finding that while improvements have been made to how the school is run, federal funding would continue to leak to the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils.

Federal grants account for two-thirds of the school’s funding and Senator Birmingham said it was "entirely a matter for the school" if it closed.

He said the federal and state education departments would help students "transition into other schools in the area".  "I know they are innocent students as are their families and the hard working teachers," he said.  "I do feel for them (but) we have to ensure taxpayer dollars are used for the benefit of students."

SOURCE



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