April 5, 2010

Ross Ramsey


It's like finding out the last season of your favorite TV show was a dream sequence: Kay Bailey Hutchison was never really leaving the U.S. Senate after all.

Don't act so surprised. Hutchison promised she would limit her time in office to two terms and is currently serving her third. She said she would resign the federal job to run for the state job. She decided she needed to remain in office until after the primaries, until health care and cap-and-trade energy legislation were out of the way. And now that the primary season is over and she finished more than 300,000 votes behind Gov. Rick Perry, she says she intends not to leave but to instead serve out the remaining two years of her term.

In fact, nothing she has said so far would prevent her from running for reelection to a fourth term in 2012. After all, Perry wasn't going to seek a third full term this year, was he?

04/07/2010

Dave McNeely

SAN ANGELO, Texas — Kay Bailey Hutchison’s tap dance about when and then whether to resign from the U.S. Senate brings to mind that old song “Undecided.”

“First you say you do, and then you don’t.

“And then you say you will, and then you won’t.

“You’re undecided now, so what are you gonna do?”

Her latest answer, on March 31, is that she’ll serve out her term. If she does, she’ll turn into a civilian on Jan. 3, 2013.

During her unsuccessful challenge to her fellow Republican, Gov. Rick Perry, the senator told a radio talk show host last July that she’d resign probably in October or November of 2009.

April 12, 2010

Wick Allison

FrontBurner Blog


Despite opposition from academics and administrators, the Dallas state rep and chair of the House Higher Education Committee will be holding hearings on April 20 to consider requiring Texas colleges and universities to offer a broad survey of Western civilization. The charge from Speaker Joe Straus:

Study the feasibility of offering an optional curriculum that emphasizes ethics, Western civilization, and American traditions to satisfy portions of the Texas Core Curriculum.

University courses have become little more than a hodgepodge of professors’ particular scholarly interests.  A true education is a broad education.

April 15, 2010

By Taylor Lack

SMU Daily Campus

On April 14, the Democracy Matters student organization hosted “So you think you can be a politician?” a discussion on the experiences of elected office. The panel featured Texas Representatives Dan Branch and Rafael Anchia as  well as Desoto ISD Trustee and SMU student Warren Seay.

The panel opened with a question: What motivated you to do what you do?

For Seay it was “a sense of urgency. Something needed to be changed.”

Anchia had similar feelings. “Its about seeing a need, understanding the benefit I had received and think[ing] I could make a difference,” he said.

Next the panel discussed what had thus far surprised them in their positions. The answers varied amongst the men, but overall, they agreed that what was most unexpected was the difficulty in getting anything done and the long process it takes to accomplish anything.

Discoveries Revealed the Separate Functions of Left and Right Hemisphere

April 21, 2010

Press ReleaseSpecialists on the reasoning and flexibility of the brain gathered recently in Dallas to look ahead at emerging research as well as to reach back in neuroscience history to honor a leading explorer of the mind.
Dr. Michael Gazzaniga, professor of psychology at the University of California, Santa Barbara, received the first Charles L. Branch BrainHealth Award at a symposium hosted by the UT Dallas Center for BrainHealth. The award was created to honor neuroscientists who have made breakthroughs in brain discovery.

April 21, 2010


AUSTIN, TX – The House Committee on Higher Education held a public hearing today to address two of the committee’s interim charges, including a charge to study the feasibility of offering an optional curriculum that emphasizes ethics, Western civilization, and American traditions to satisfy portions of the Texas Core Curriculum.

“There is a crisis of ethics in this country that is undeniable,” said Dr. Robert Koons, professor of philosophy at University of Texas at Austin. “Historically, higher education has played an important role in morals and ethics.” 

Koons stated that there is a diminishing focus on ethics, Western civilization and American traditions in colleges and universities nationwide.  He expressed the need for an optional integrated sequence of interdisciplinary courses that focus on the great books of Western civilization.

April 21, 2010

Press Release


DALLAS (SMU) — Former President George W. Bush and Former First Lady Laura Bush ('68) each received the Medal of Freedom from SMU’s John Goodwin Tower Center for Political Studies in Dedman College during formal ceremonies Wednesday, April 21. The Medal of Freedom is presented every two years to an individual, or individuals, who have furthered the cause of freedom throughout the world.

“During one of the most challenging times in the nation’s history, President and Mrs. Bush worked tirelessly to promote freedom initiatives throughout the world, and they continue those efforts through programs at the George W. Bush Presidential Center,” said SMU President R. Gerald Turner. “We are proud to present them with the Tower Center Medal of Freedom.”

SBOE could learn a few things on how to treat thorny problem

April 22, 2010

Kimberly Reeves

Interim charge #8 to House Higher Ed Committee:  8. Study the feasibility of offering an optional curriculum that emphasizes ethics, Western civilization, and American traditions to satisfy portions of the Texas Core Curriculum.

A House committee’s discussion of the foundations of Western Civilization and ethics in undergraduate degrees earlier this week sounded a lot like the more civilized and certainly less rancorous version of the State Board of Education’s debate over social studies.

That’s not to say that the road to Western Civilization in higher education has been without peril – witness the issues surrounding efforts to

April 23, 2010

By Andy Hogue


The question before the House Higher Education Committee April 20: What’s the responsibility of lawmakers in making sure college students are equipped with ethical education — as well as the historical and philosophical background to understand where those ethics come from?

“Why are we doing this?” asked Rep. Donna Howard (D-Austin), as the committee considered the interim charge to “study the feasibility of offering an optional curriculum that emphasizes ethics, Western Civilization, and American traditions to satisfy portions of the Texas Core Curriculum.”

Members of the PTA from East Dallas' Stonewall Jackson Elementary hosted the 2010 "Shake Rattle & Roll" silent Auction and concert in Deep Ellum. Rep. Dan Branch helped in sponsoring the event and joined members of the Stonewall community for a night of camaraderie.