This essay analyzes the rhetorical framing tactics of a group of disability activists to understand how they use key words, topic shifts, and other framing maneuvers to amplify marginalized voices in public debates. Focusing on a town hall meeting and a legislator update meeting between activists and lawmakers, the author uses "stasis"…

Debates over the efficacy of tenure are longstanding but tenure reform is now more prominent in the public eye given recent high-profile legislative battles in states like Ohio and Wisconsin. This focus on tenure also is a natural outgrowth of the large body of research showing that differences between individual teachers can have profound effects…

This paper examines the debate in the U.S. Senate over the reasons why state governments have decreased funding for higher education. One side believes that federal mandates on states to pay for Medicaid have forced them to reduce spending on higher education. The other side believes that states unwisely reduced taxes, which decreased their…

This classroom note describes the lessons I learned from the use of formal debates during the two semesters I taught "Paul and Early Christianity" to undergraduates at a liberal arts college in Ohio. The purpose of the course was primarily to give students the exegetical skills to understand Paul in his own context. The secondary purpose…

This report examines the effects of exposure to various elements of a civics curriculum on civic participation, two forms of political knowledge, internal political efficacy, political cynicism, news elaboration, discussion elaboration and various forms of interpersonal and mediated political communication behaviors. The data are based on a…

Discusses the bicentennial celebration of the United States Constitution and the Northwest Ordinance held during September and October 1987 in Milford, Ohio. Organized by university faculty, town officials, citizens, and students, the celebration included speeches, debates on constitutional ratification, and the publication of documents and other…

In the spring of 1987, several coaches at a forensic tournament expressed concern over a general lack of "safe debate" competition for novices. The coaches agreed that the solution was mutual support among themselves and a supportive environment which placed new debaters on an equal footing. That same spring, three colleges took part in…

Depending on who's talking, the Bush administration's signature education law either imposes an onerous financial burden on schools or provides enough aid for states and schools to administer it. This article discusses the study released by the Ohio Department of Education estimating that the state will spend about $1.5 billion a year to meet the…

A course conducted between classes in Sweden and Ohio used online debate via synchronous and asynchronous computer-mediated conferencing (CMC) to augment intercultural understanding. Assumptions about CMC discourse were challenged by the international context. The process was restructured to allow asynchronous conferencing for predebate…

The decision whether to keep or to change a university's nickname is an "intense no-win situation" for a new president. To some, the name is racist and insensitive; to others, it reflects great pride and tradition.

Building upon a related 2005 panel presentation at the 25th annual Lilly Conference on College Teaching, Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, the authors, several tenure-track assistant professors and tenured associate professors who have participated in a Research and Teaching Faculty Learning Community at Bowling Green State University, share their…