Category Archives: Solutions

Reclaiming Our Heritage: An Alpha College to Face the Future by Lawrence Clayton

Alabamians for Academic Excellence and Integrity Posted on by

A new bill—SB 129–was signed into law last winter severely restricting Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs in higher education in Alabama. The bill prohibits divisive concepts of race, sex, ethnicity, and other factors which undermine the traditional concept that excellence in education is obtained by merit and hard work, not by who we are. The answer to DEI is to restore the ingredients in higher education that endowed us with standards and strengths to build the world we all inhabit. We need to reexamine closely the values and ethics which gave this country its distinctive character. Then, before the … Continue reading →

Blueprints for Reform

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JAN 8, 2023 Martin Center Staff The university system in the United States has accomplished a great deal of good, but it has strayed from its chief goals of scholarly inquiry and responsible teaching, especially in the past 20 years. All too often, universities allow teaching to become shallow and trendy, failing to challenge students intellectually and disparaging traditional principles of justice, ethics, and liberal education. Students know little about the history of their country or the institutions that led to this nation’s freedom and prosperity. Students can get by without taking rigorous courses; non-academic activities overshadow scholarship. As a … Continue reading →

The Push Back by Lawrence Clayton

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As our country goes through trying times, the author put together the best of his op-ed columns, published in his local newspaper, The Tuscaloosa News, which deals with the issues facing our nation today. Clayton ranges all the way from the issues very close to home and family, such as what is being taught in our schools, colleges, and universities, to issues straddling the incredibly complex and often rancorous events in public life, from the presidency of the nation all the way down to local school boards. He not only identifies and analyzes issues we are all, more or less, … Continue reading →

Breaking News at UA

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By Lawrence A. Clayton When I was teaching, and for a few years chairing the Dept. of History, I had no idea, nor did I particularly care, about what was going at the top levels of administration that ran the University. No one stuck their political finger in my job, how we hired faculty, how we managed our affairs, etc. etc. Now hiring practices at UA resemble check lists for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) rules or orders. I retired in 2013 when we were doing our thing, quite well thank you. Then it all went downhill. I did a … Continue reading →

Alpha College

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By Lawrence A. Clayton Published as A Fix For the Country’s Woes: Alpha College in Sunday October 25, 2015, The Tuscaloosa News. In last week’s column I lamented the state of knowledge in the country. I promised to propose a fix. This is it. We need to reexamine closely the values and ethics which gave this country its distinctive character. And then, before the collective memory of those attributes fades away into some corner of our memory, a footnote—like the fall of the Roman Empire—to appear occasionally on history tests, then we need to recapture that spirit and bring it alive into the … Continue reading →

“Relationships Ruin Racism!”

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By John Covington That phrase was coined by a 25-year-old black man who was the youngest member of a “unity” small group through the Church of the Highlands in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. The group was started in February of 2021 to study/discuss racism using my most recent book, “Don’t Do Anything Stupid – A White Man’s Guide to Racial Harmony.” The group agreed that racism is a sin and you do not attack sin with a secular mindset. The group rapidly grew from five to 20 men, about half black and half white. Included in the group is the District Attorney … Continue reading →