by James A. Bacon
The more we dig, the more we find. Last week, The Jefferson Council highlighted University of Virginia art-history professor Christa Robbins, who caused a stir for cancelling class so students could vote on the Israel-divestment referendum. She has publicly employed the rhetoric of intersectional-oppression theory, so we were curious as to whether she used the same ideological framework in her teaching.
Through the Freedom of Information Act, The Jefferson Council’s research committee chair Walter Smith obtained a syllabus of one of her courses, “Engaging Aesthetics,” which numbers among the engagement seminars designed to introduce first-year Wahoos to the liberal arts and sciences.
There are hints of intersectional theory — students are asked to reflect upon the “historical, geographical, and cultural differences that shape cultural expressions and hierarchies” — but we stumbled across something totally unexpected. In the syllabus, Robbins gives a detailed exposition of “labor-based grading.”
It turns out that labor-based grading has become a thing in higher education. Bing’s AI describes it as “an alternative grading style where grades are based on the amount of labor that is agreed upon between students of the course and the course’s instructor. This approach assesses the quantity of work students do rather than the quality of the work.” Continue reading
The University of Virginia Board of Visitors voted Friday afternoon to rename Alderman Library to Edgar Shannon Library. Other than an abstention by Paul Harris, the tally was unanimous. Stephen Long cast his vote “with reservations” but it counted as a “yes.”
by James A. Bacon
