Who knew the 45 words of the First Amendment came with buttered popcorn?

Entering 2014, it’s safe to say that none of us could have envisioned that one of the year’s biggest global collisions between freedom of expression and tyrannical suppression of speech would revolve around a lightweight movie comedy, “The Interview.”

What lessons does “The Interview” have for all of us: Well, as if we didn’t know before, it’s pretty clear that North Korea leader Kim Jong Un has NO sense of humor. More importantly the rest of the world learned how much Americans value free speech, and that free speech — whether from unknown bloggers or Hollywood stars or the President of the United States — can have real and immediate impact.

Consider the progression: North Korean hackers (so says the FBI) bully Sony Pictures into delaying or cancelling release of the movie. Americans speak out, outraged at this cowardly attempt by a despotic nation to limit free expression. Sony Pictures, imbued with the glow of public support, gives the movie wider distribution than planned.

The entire incident would be a laughing matter — except that it’s not. Not when terrorist attacks are threatened, criminals hack into the private files of a major company, and the personal data and e-mails of studio chiefs and working folks are strewn about the Internet for all to see — with threats of more to come.

This ultimate reality show joined other extraordinary challenges this year to our core freedoms.

Just last August the Middle Eastern thugs who call themselves ISIS burst into global politics via uploaded Web videos showing journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff, and captured aid workers, being beheaded. The worldwide outcry focused even more attention on the always dangerous mission of bringing news from war-torn zones such as Syria, the Ukraine, the Middle East, and anywhere an unfettered news media is an enemy to tyrants, gangsters and terrorists.

Russian authorities continued to extinguish independent news media that once flourished in the aftermath of the Soviet Union, while President Vladimir Putin deployed a sophisticated system of misinformation and propaganda in trying to rebuild his nation as a world power reminiscent of the Cold War.

At home, Congress failed to enact two major legislative initiatives, one upgrading the Freedom of Information Act; and a second that would have created a limited federal “shield law” allowing journalists in many cases to protect the identity of confidential sources.

In the U.S. Supreme Court, the justices finished their 2013 term by ruling in favor of First Amendment principles in the majority of the ten First Amendment-related cases it considered — and continued a trend of narrow holdings and exceptions for national security, and decisions supporting certain free-speech rights for corporations.

Once again, it was in the court of public opinion where First Amendment freedoms found their greatest use and loudest voice. From Ferguson, Mo., to New York City to most major cities in the U.S., protesters using their rights of free speech, assembly and petition challenged authorities — and public attitudes on race — as a result of the deaths of black youths at the hands of police.

Yes, some demonstrations turned violent — and in New York City, a mentally disturbed man used those deaths as an excuse to ambush two NYPD officers, a classic and tragic example of Gandhi’s admonition that “an eye for an eye will leave everyone blind.” But the focus on racial issues has revived a national conversation not heard as loudly in nearly 50 years.

We’ll enter the New Year without a leading voice for free expression, American author and poet Maya Angelou, who died on June 19. But we can keep in mind her thought about what’s ahead: “History, despite its wrenching pain, cannot be unlived, but if faced with courage, need not be lived again.”

As a nation, we may disagree over the nature and purpose of the continued street protests — but compare that history with the shutdown of the so-called “Umbrella Revolution” in Hong Kong, where after 75 days of marches and protests, police crackdowns and hundreds of arrests have blunted the movement — at least for now.

At the core of the global discord over what we call First Amendment freedoms is a basic clash of values: On one side, rigid regime control of words and images in the name of safety and security, combined with a fear that any deviation is a threat. On the other, the ideal that controversy, dissent and discord are the best method and means of sifting through alternatives and selecting the best course for the future.

We will have much to talk about in 2015 when it comes to First Amendment issues. But at least we’ll be able to talk about it freely — and occasionally even buy a movie ticket in support.

Gene Policinski is chief operating officer of the Washington-based Newseum Institute and senior vice president of the Institute’s First Amendment Center. [email protected]

Tom Brady, quarterback for the New England Patriots, has accumulated as many accolades as any pro football player in the NFL. Super Bowl rings, MVP awards, division championships, and a certain future nomination in the pro football Hall of Fame, are but a few of his many accomplishments.

But in week four of this 2014-2015 season, Brady and the Patriots came to Kansas City to play the Chiefs. On top of Kansas City’s phenomenal game plan and perhaps best defensive game of the year, Brady had probably his worst showing of the year and did not look like the quarterback worthy of any of this attention.

It was early in the second half when the sports announcers, who earlier had nothing but praise for Brady, now were singing a different tune. “Brady is 37, he’s over-the-hill, he’s all washed up he can’t play in the big leagues any more.” And on and on it went. Each incomplete pass, every third and out, and here came more of the barrage of negative comments from the commentators.

The fact is that since that fateful day, Brady has, to date, led the Patriots to 10 wins in 12 games and a division leading 12-4 record — hardly a washed-up quarterback’s performance.

Unfortunately, in the financial world, there are also those who will latch on to any occurrence, however insignificant it might be, and fill their readers or listeners with similar negative comments.

Since the stock market correction in 2008, we have had a very strong and steady increase. If we had reacted to every little hiccup in the market along the way, we’d have been in and out of the market a multitude of times.  Those who predict a correction in the market will eventually be right. If years and years of history are repeated, we will continue to have corrections, now and in the future.

However, if you jump out of the market, (maybe because you read a “doom and gloom” article) then you have to know when to jump back in. If you don’t know that exact time, unfortunately, you may miss a very profound surge that could increase your portfolio, substantially.

After the next correction does actually occur, those who predicted the downturn will write a book or appear on TV saying, “I told you so.” That makes sense, until you see how long, or how many times they’ve predicted the downturn.

Whether you invest on your own or have an advisor investing for you, set up a portfolio that reflects your age, time-frame, and your risk tolerance, and stay the course until one of those factors changes. A managed account allows intricate changes to be made in your account without you doing anything at all.   Many 401(k) plans have a model that adjusts on its own as you get closer to retirement.

So when you hear or read about the doomsayers spouting off at the first indication of a downturn in the market, remember Tom Brady and how inaccurate their information turned out to be.

Tim Schumacher represents Strategic Financial Partners in Hays. [email protected]

Before we all become buried in the new year, let’s look at this new beginning with a bit of humor.  Plenty of people trot out their lists of resolutions.  Often, such lists are as long as their arms and last as long as their pinky.

I’ve all but given up on New Year resolutions.  Seems I can’t keep them either.  But this year I’ve decided to do something different.  I’ve compiled a list of “lesser” resolutions – some things I believe I can accomplish in 2015.

Here’s what I will try to work in my new year:

• Remember that no time spent with your children is ever wasted.

• Don’t let a little dispute injure a great friendship.

• Never laugh at anyone’s dream.

• Don’t wash a car, mow a yard or select a Christmas tree after dark.

• When traveling, take two big safety pins so you can pin the motel drapes shut.

• Accept (always) a breath mint if someone offers you one.

• Keep the porch light on until the family is in for the night.

• Rehearse a joke before you tell it.

• Always try the house dressing.

• Believe in love at first sight.

• Send your mother-in-law flowers on your spouse’s birthday.

• Buy ladders, extension cords and garden hoses longer than you think you’ll need.

• Steer clear of any place with a “Ladies Welcome” sign in the window.

• Once in a while invite the person in line behind you to go ahead.

• Exercise patience when behind the wheel of your vehicle – hand gestures are out of the question.

• Own a hammock and use it.

• Never be photographed holding a cocktail glass.

• Give people more than they expect and do so cheerfully.

• Be as friendly to the janitor as you are to the board chairman.

• Overestimate travel time by 15 percent.

• Never wear a white bathing suit.

• Don’t miss a good idea simply because you don’t like the source.

• When you say, “I’m sorry,” look the person in the eye.

• Trust in God, but always lock your car.

• Have a wonderful 2015.

John Schlageck, a Hoxie native, is a leading commentator on agriculture and rural Kansas.

Kansas became the second state to take away tenure from K-12 teachers. Previously teachers had to work three years at a school to prove their effectiveness. During this probationary time, they could be “let go” without explanation. After tenure, they could only be dismissed for cause. Kansas teachers lost this due process in April when this action was tacked to a huge funding bill. 63 House members voted in favor of the bill—the minimum needed to pass. The Kansas Senate approved the action on a 22-16 vote were 21 votes were needed to pass. Kansas teachers now work in a forever-tentative job. In Kansas, conservative legislators saw tenure as the cause for incompetent teachers in the classroom. Several months later, California teachers also lost tenure—this time from liberals who pressed a lawsuit—an effort that is spreading to other states.

Kansas K-12 teacher retirements and vacancies accelerated as teachers who held off retirement during the 2008 recession finally left the classroom.

The numbers of new student teachers graduating from teacher education programs declined nationwide as well as in Kansas. New (initial) secondary science teaching licenses in Kansas dropped to an all-time low at under one-tenth the 1999 levels needed to replace retiring teachers.

In response to the desperate shortage of science teachers, the Legislature passed SB430 that allows a person who has “…at least a bachelor’s degree in one of the following subject matter areas: (1) Science; (2) technology; (3) engineering; or (4) math, has at least five years of work experience in such subject matter area and has secured a commitment from the board of education of a school district to be hired as a teacher to teach in such subject matter area.” This act ignores any need for training in teaching, admits persons into the classroom without any gatekeeping, and eliminates a teaching position for a genuinely qualified teacher—thus reducing the shortage on paper.

Realizing that the shortage of special education teachers was in part due to having made it a graduate level “add on” to another teaching field license in the 2003 “Redesign of Teacher Education,” special education was allowed to become an initial stand alone endorsement again. However, few teacher education programs have retooled to capitalize upon the idealism of new college students and roll back our desperate shortage of special education teachers in Kansas.

Kansas obtained federal approval to not release test results for the last school year. Results became invalid due to technical problems and cyber attacks that targeted the state’s computer-based assessment system. For a year, parents, teachers and school administrators will be freed from the data obsession and gaming-of-the-system driven by these scores. Two decades ago, under then-Commissioner Andy Tompkins, Kansas was a leader in computerized-assessment and placing assessment data online. Kansas is now a leader in being hacked.

Commissioner Diane DeBacker resigned effective May 14 and now serves as adviser to the director general of the Abu Dhabi Education Council of the United Arab Emirates. DeBacker faced many challenges including securing a waiver from NCLB without committing Kansas’s independent USD’s to major use of test scores for teacher evaluation. She also faced attempts by the Kansas Legislature to overreach into KSBE jurisdiction.

Randy Watson, superintendent of the McPherson school district was chosen by the KSBE to be the new Kansas Education Commissioner. He had been one of the first to seek a federal waiver from the No Child Left Behind Act, allowing McPherson schools to use other testing methods rather than NCLB-driven, state-mandated assessments.

Elections changed little in the political makeup of the Kansas State Board of Education. The KSBE consists of 10 members serving 4-year terms with half elected each 2-years. Most races were determined in the primary. In District 1, incumbent Janet Waugh (D) won against Nancy Klemp (R). Incumbents John Bacon (R) in District 3 and Ken Willard (R) in District 7 were unopposed. District 5 incumbent Sally Cauble (R) won against Meg Wilson (R). In District 9, Jana Shaver did not run for re-election and will be replaced by Jim Porter (R) who won against Martin Burke (R).

Severe tax cuts by the Kansas Governor and Legislature produced a $278 million revenue shortfall. Since Kansas is a Constitutionally-required balanced-budget state, this would normally result in a mid-year rescission where all state agencies and schools would have to give back some percentage of their annual budget. Instead, the Governor is proposing a one-time “transfer” of funds from the KPERS retirement fund and raiding the Department of Transportation. But many legislators favor even more tax cuts. With K-12 education consuming over half of every Kansas tax dollar and all other state agencies cut to the bone, another K-12 school funding reduction remains possible.

The Kansas Supreme Court ruled that cuts made due to the 2008 recession left unconstitutional gaps in funding between poor and rich school districts. This forced legislators to increase aid to poor districts by $129 million for the 2014-15 school year. While this addressed the “equity” part of the lawsuit, it did not address the larger “adequate funding” issue. The Supreme Court ordered the lower court judges to consider whether the state’s total spending on schools is adequate. If they order the state to restore the 2008 budget, Kansas will have to raise annual school funds by $450 million. If the courts agree with the school districts’ lawsuit, K-12 school funding would have to increase by over $1 billion.

It all makes you wonder where the words “where never is heard, a discouraging word” in our state anthem came from.

By JOHN P. TRETBAR

Kansas oil prices have reached depths some producers have never experienced. Old hands in the patch are reminded of those the bust years of 2008 and 2009 nearly every day as NCRA prices continue to plunge. On December 18 the price for a barrel of Kansas Common was $43.75, the lowest in McPherson since May 5, 2009. On Friday, December 19, prices rebounded, and the NCRA price jumped $2.50 to $46.25/bbl.

The drop in crude prices this year has hurt the economies of oil-producing countries, thus reducing demand. Current Brent prices are too low for ten of OPEC’s 12 members to balance their budgets, yet not low enough to force producers to scale back output. The U.S. is producing the most oil in three decades while OPEC members have pumped more than the group’s target level for each of the past six months.

The monthly demand forecast from OPEC is contributing to the continuing oil-price slump. The cartel now predicts demand for its product will fall to its lowest point in more than a decade next year, to 28.92 million barrels a day. That’s more than a million barrels less than OPEC’s current output.

Plunging crude prices are hitting some oil producers especially hard in Kansas, where the industry is dominated by smaller, independent operators who depend heavily on the cash flow from producing wells to pay for drilling new ones. The AP quotes Osage Resources President Robert Murdock saying if prices continue to decrease, he may not drill any new wells next year. When prices were higher, Murdock had plans to drill 20 wells in 2015. The Hutchinson producer says it costs between $2 million and $3 million to drill a horizontal well a mile deep with a lateral of one mile.

Tulsa-based Triple Crown Energy announced plans to drill up to 24 new wells in the Mississippian Lime play in Kansas within the next year. The company says the deals could lead to further development of some 40,000 net acres in Kansas.Joint ventures were set up with US Energy Development Corp and Millenial Energy Partners, which bought working interests in the projects in Hodgeman, Ness and Gove counties. The company says drilling operations are already underway.

The Federal Reserve Bank in Dallas says a prolonged oil price slump could cost the state of Texas 128,000 jobs by the middle of next year. But the Fed also said that would not be enough to slow the state’s job growth to zero. Texas is on track to add 390,000 jobs this year, so the job losses in the patch would amount fto about 1.1 percent of the state’s non-farm employment of more than 11.6 million jobs.

Declines in oil and gas severance taxes contributed to large drops in overall revenues for Alaska and North Dakota in the third quarter. The Rockefeller Institute of Government, a public policy research group, reported that Alaska saw its total tax collections drop 74.3 percent. In North Dakota tax revenues fell 46.7 percent. Revenues rose from year-ago levels in many other states where energy production helps power the economy, including Texas, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Oklahoma. Most states saw tax collections rise in the third quarter, and overall state revenue was up 4 percent from the same period in 2013, according to data collected from 48 states.

A new law in Oklahoma to reduce income taxes does not kick in until state revenues grow. But Secretary of Finance and Revenue Preston Doerflinger tells the Daily Oklahoman that “it’s iffy at best” whether the state will see the required income growth. Gross production tax receipts dropped below prior year collections in November for the first time in 19 months, based on a price of $93/bbl in September. The price is now MUCH lower, so tax colletions are expected to drop.

More than a dozen states now have gasoline stations boasting prices below $2 a gallon, with Oklahoma leading the way. The Sooner State’s average price is just over $2.27/gallon. That’s the second-lowest statewide average in the US and the least expansive average in Oklahoma since 2009. The average in OK has dropped for 48 consecutive days.

North Dakota Governor Jack Dalrymple expects the global oil market to rebalance next year. Dalrymple told Reuters express confidence his state will “comfortably” ride out OPEC’sw attempts to squeeze other producers. Dalrymple calls it a “clear, classic, commodity market shake-out.”

The Kansas Corporation Commission reports 469 new intent-to drill notices filed statewide in November, a seasonal dip from October’s 662 filings and a fairly steep drop from the 502 intents reported in November of last year. There were 23 intents filed in Barton County, but just six in Ellis County, eight in Russell County and two in Stafford County.

Baker Hughes reports 1,875 active drilling rigs nationwide last week, down 18 for the week. In Canada there were 391, down 40. The count in Kansas was 30 rigs actively drilling for oil and gas, up two. Independent Oil & Gas Service reports 101 active rigs across Kansas. The count east of Wichita was unchanged at 29. There were 72 active rigs in western Kansas, down eight, and 49 rigs await their next location.

The State of Kansas issued 80 permits for drilling in new locations last week, 48 in eastern Kansas and 80 west of Wichita. There was one new permit issued in Ellis County, one in Russell County and five in Stafford County.

Independent Oil & Gas Service reports 130 new well completions across Kansas last week. 68 were east of Wichita. Of the 62 in western Kansas, 15 were dry holes.

By RON WILSON
Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development

Let’s go to the Jefferson Cup Invitational. This event is sometimes called the Olympics of wine competitions, where the “best of the best” are selected from wineries in all of America’s wine-making regions. The results are in: Winning the top selection in its category is a wine from Somerset, Kansas. How did a winemaker in small town Kansas become a nationally known winery? Read on.

Dennis and Cindy Reynolds are the owners of Somerset Ridge Winery in Somerset, an unincorporated community in Miami County, Kansas. Dennis and Cindy grew up in the Kansas City area and met each other at KU. Dennis became a trial lawyer and Cindy a business executive, but they developed a passion for wine and grape growing.

Dennis’s parents retired to a place in the country in Miami County. The property sat on a limestone ridge. Having traveled to grape growing regions in Europe and America, Dennis thought that this setting might be ideal for grapes. He and Cindy had grown weary of the constant travel and the corporate life, so they decided to get back to their roots, so to speak.

Dennis is also a history buff. “I learned that this had been a large wine-making region before Prohibition,” Dennis said. “In 1901, more than 7,000 acres of grapes had been grown here. We’re the same latitude as northern California.”

Dennis and Cindy decided to give grapes a try. They began planting the vineyard in 1998 and established the winery in 2001. It was the first winery to be established in Miami County since 1881. Dennis and Cindy bought property adjacent to his parents and expanded operations in 2005.

The couple named the winery Somerset Ridge, after the large limestone ridge located on the property. “The limestone adds character to the grapes,” Dennis said. “In Europe, certain varieties are planted near rock beds for the mineral and for good drainage.”

Today, Somerset Ridge has 13 different varieties and more than 8,000 grapevines. The winery produces more than 5,000 cases annually, including the award-winning dry whites and reds, semi-sweet whites and reds, and dessert wines. The tasting room at the Somerset Ridge Winery is open Wednesday through Sunday. The winery also has an outlet at a store in Overland Park. In addition, Dennis and Cindy are active in the local food movement.

Many of the winery’s customers come from the Kansas City area which is only a 25 minute drive away, but the winery has also had visitors from as far away as Japan, China, Germany, France, Denmark, the Netherlands and more. Not only has Somerset Ridge become a destination winery, it has helped lead a remarkable renaissance of wine-making in the region. There are now several vineyards and five licensed wineries in Miami County.

Dennis and Cindy helped create the Somerset Wine Trail, a 20-mile route which connects the wineries in the region. Dennis served as vice president of the Kansas Grape Growers and Winemakers Association and was chair of the state Grape and Wine Council from 2008 to 2010. “We were able to get legislation through which helped the industry to grow,” Dennis said.

This is an impressive record for a winemaker in rural Kansas. The winery is located near the unincorporated town of Somerset with a population of perhaps 100 people. Now, that’s rural.

“We’re in the business of making people happy,” Dennis said. “It is very fulfilling to grow something in Kansas and see it through to the very end. It is truly value-added.”

For more information, go to www.somersetridge.com.

It’s time to leave the Jefferson Cup International, where a wine from Somerset Ridge in Kansas has won the award for best in its category. We salute Dennis and Cindy Reynolds and all those associated with Somerset Ridge Vineyard and Winery for making a difference with pioneering grape growing and artisanal wines. Their cup overflows.

And there’s more. Not only has this initiative stimulated other wineries, it has helped grow other businesses as well – including new life for a historic general store and Grange Hall. We’ll learn about that next week.

My dad, who turned 80 this year, told me that he didn’t want any gifts for Christmas, he just wanted everyone to be together.
The holidays are a special time for families and loved ones to gather.  The bonding that happens at holiday time is important.  The value comes from spending time together, not the money spent for gifts or travel.

There are many options for bonding through holiday activities. Some families enjoy caroling, serving at a soup kitchen, making Christmas cards, making homemade gifts or decorations, visiting nursing homes, picking out and decorating the family tree, baking and decorating cookies, watching holidays movies or attending worship services as a family.  Find something your family enjoys doing together and make it a holiday tradition.

Creating a strong family bond helps to ensure happier and healthier children.

According to The Journal of Marriage and Family, the benefits of family bonding include greater emotional connection to family members, children are able to see love and affection displayed in a healthy way, children have better academic performance, children experience fewer behavioral problems and children are at a lower risk of substance abuse.

The American Academy of Pediatrics reports that family relationships provide children with a critical sense of being valued and with a vital network of historical linkages and social support.  The family unit is vital to helping children develop positive interpersonal relationships and instills discipline and internalized codes of conduct.

By not setting aside time for family bonding, your family could face consequences such as poor relationships, feelings of being unloved, unsafe, insignificant or unimportant.  If strong family ties are not developed, children can have serious health and development complications.

While the holidays can be rich in family traditions, Extension experts suggest that families set aside time for bonding throughout the year as well.

Year-round family time makes it easier during the holidays when parents are encouraging their children to volunteer and share with others. For example, if parents have instilled in their children the importance of giving rather than receiving, then they will be more receptive to ringing the Salvation Army bell at Christmas or collecting and taking donations to the less fortunate.
There are plenty of options for year-round family bonding such as eating meals together, having game nights, attending a sports event or participating in a fun activity together such as bowling or seeing a movie.

The holidays are a special time for families to spend time together.  But it’s important to keep the tradition going throughout the year.   Make as many opportunities as possible for family time together.  Your family will be stronger for it.  Merry Christmas!

Linda K. Beech is Ellis County Extension Agent for Family and Consumer Sciences.

Earlier this year, the Los Angeles Times reported a presentation by Janet Napolitano, President of the University of California system, with the headline “UC’s Napolitano throws cold water on the online education craze.” While the shortcomings of these modern correspondence courses are apparent to most veteran teachers and professors, this was the first time that a major university leader has dared proclaim that the digital emperor has no clothes. And Napolitano detailed her objections.

According to the LA Times, in front of an audience of 500, she proclaimed” “It’s not a silver bullet, the way it was originally portrayed to be. It’s a lot harder than it looks, and by the way if you do it right it doesn’t save all that much money, because you still have to have an opportunity for students to interact with either a teaching assistant or an assistant professor or a professor at some level.”

Napolitano challenged the assertion that online courses might serve students needing remedial math or English: “I think that’s false; those students need the teacher in the classroom working with them.”

She likewise pointed to the growing evidence that when students are shut off from direct interaction with faculty, that they’re “less happy and less engaged.”

The LA Times placed her comments in the context of the recent California disaster with giving every K-12 student an iPad: “A good example is Los Angeles Unified School District Supt. John Deasy’s misbegotten iPad program, which threatens to saddle the L.A. schools with overpriced, obsolescent tablet computers that leave students uneducated.”

They also reported on another disaster that had just occurred next door: “The emblematic case is that of San Jose State University, which partnered with Udacity, a Silicon Valley start-up that [California Governor] Brown had talked up, on several introductory online courses. As was learned last July, more than half the enrolled students flunked, and the university had to put the program on hold for retooling. The revised program has shown better results, but that’s only after considerable human outreach and interaction. The experience only underscores what Napolitano said: Online learning is no silver bullet.”

This craziness over online courses appears to primarily be an obsession and bragging point for about one-third of higher education administrators. This difference in attitude between the teaching professionals and administrators obsessed with marketing and branding is evident in the recently released “2014 Inside Higher Ed Survey of Faculty Attitudes on Technology,” a 44-page report that can be accessed at www.insidehighered.com.

There is still low regard for online courses among faculty. The findings of this annual survey conducted by Gallup® should give many students pause in taking an online course, let alone pursuing a whole degree program delivered online.

“Few faculty members (9 percent) strongly agree that online courses can achieve student learning outcomes that are at least equivalent to those of in-person courses.” However, 36 percent of technology administrators strongly agreed.

Of course, universities hire technology officers to make the delivery of these courses possible. You would expect that most would support online as a superior method—and you would be wrong. Across eight specific areas measured, the majority of university technology officers did not support the view that “online courses are of better quality than in-person courses.” And “less than half of faculty and technology administrators strongly agree that their institution offers instructors strong support for online learning….”

Only one-sixth of university faculty strongly support their university’s expansion of online course offerings. And “most faculty do not feel that they have been appropriately involved with decision making surrounding the expansion of online course offerings.”

Napolitano’s exposé that the online emperor has no clothes does not come as a surprise. The University of California–Berkeley has an ongoing faculty policy of not accepting transfer online courses in the performing arts or lab sciences. To claim to teach acting, music performance, and lab skills online defies commonsense. But having a university administrator who has commonsense and is willing to speak out—well, that is a surprise.