Communication Arts

This paper examines the intercollegiate forensic events, highlighting the whitewashing of competitors and the activity. Through the examination of collegiate debaters to resisting normative constraints of the system through critical arguments and expanded to the NIET to examine unorthodox competitive behaviors and student success. Emporia State University, Towson University, The University of Louisville and others have demonstrated that collegiate debate teams can resist normative debate styles and community practices winning national championships. Through the examination of normative community practices, this article argues that such resistance to the white hierarchical system is impossible within normative means of the community and events. " Debate can be a welcoming home…however it has a long way to go to being an acceptable home. " Scott Harris (2013). This posits that participation does not mean that under-represented communities are welcomed within Forensics but face a " play by the rules " mentality from the community at large.

Secondary School Feature Articles * Animating Reactions: A Low-Cost Activity for Particle Conceptualization at the Secondary Level, by Robert W. Milne, p 50. * The Gravity of the Situation, by Damon Diemente, p 55. You must be the change you wish to see in the world. Mahatma Ghandi The beginning of a new year always brings with it a feeling of anticipation, a desire to achieve new goals, and a certain urgency to accomplish. Beginning the last year of the 1900s seems somehow to amplify these feelings. This week I was reminded twice of the challenge that lies in focusing on those things that we can change and not being fettered by those we cannot. The first example occurred in my office on a Monday afternoon. A young woman was considering the choice between entering graduate school or seeking a high school teaching position. After approximately 10 years in the workforce, she had entered college and was now within a semester of graduation. While pursuing her studies she had served as a substitute teacher in her home community, believing the experience would affirm her longstanding desire to teach. The behavioral characteristics of some students seemed to be at odds with her memories of high school only a dozen years earlier. Now she was questioning whether she could make a difference in young lives or if she should give up the idea of teaching in high school in favor of graduate degrees in her discipline, which would lead to a career in post-secondary education. Although I assured her that she could indeed have a great impact on high school students, I empathized with the concern she was feeling. The second example occurred the same day, in a class for chemistry majors who are preparing to teach high school chemistry. While considering the importance of performance assessment, with discussion centered on a JCE article ((a href="//1998/jan/abs64.html">Rasp, S. L. J. Chem. Educ. 1998, 75, 64-66), one class member asked why we only discussed and read about what teachers could do to improve the learning environment, with nothing being said about the student's responsibility. Sensing there was considerable emotion behind the question, I encouraged the individual to explain why he raised the question. He related his experience during the previous week in observing the class of an experienced and accomplished teacher. Although the teaching methods were appropriate and the delivery of instruction was excellent, several students returned to class the next day with incomplete assignments and a seeming air of indifference. As I looked around the class I could see others nodding their heads in agreement; evidently they had noticed similar behavior in their field experience observations. Soon, others in the class began discussing their similar experiences. In response I opened up the discussion to probe possible reasons for an apparent lack of self-motivation among the students. The list that resulted need not be repeated here because is so familiar. After relatively brief discussion, the class came to the consensus that even though the issues raised were out of their control, this did not grant them the right to surrender willingly to defeat. They would not allow themselves to give up and not put forth their best efforts as teachers, for in that surrender they would provide students with an example that would be easily lived up to-one of apathy and no self-motivation. A multitude of resources are available to help the high school chemistry teacher stay abreast of developments within the field and aid in the development of new methods. JCE is a rich source of practical information and research-based discussion of issues. In this issue are articles that may be of particular interest to high school teachers: misconceptions about molecular structure and bonding (page 124); a low-cost animation approach to conceptualizing reactions (page 50); using "amounts tables" to detect flawed stoichiometric reasoning (page 52); and instructions for student construction of a Ag/AgCl reference electrode (page 97). A report prepared by Steve Long contains a summary of articles about chemistry learning that have appeared in The Science Teacher (page 17). Each article is methodically cross-referenced to JCE and other sources. An article on page 8 contains a list of anniversaries of scientists who contributed to chemical understanding, which can be used to provide historical perspective to topics studied in first- and second-year chemistry classes. This month's JCE Activity Sheet involves lightsticks, which can be used to introduce kinetics or to study chemiluminescence. During the coming year we hope that you will find many articles that will be helpful to you-a new experiment or demonstration, a new teaching strategy, more effective assessment, connections with other disciplines, or updates on the results of chemical research. As always we welcome your suggestions for topics you would like to see included, your service as reviewers, and especially your contributions. High School Program, National ACS Meeting in Anaheim, Barbara Sitzman, Chair Mark your calendar! March 22, 1999 is designated "High School Day" at the National American Chemical Society Meeting in Anaheim. The high school committee with Southern California Section (SCalACS) support is planning a special day of workshops, presentations, and a high school/college interface luncheon. Paul D. Boyer, professor emeritus and Nobel Laureate, Department of Biochemistry, UCLA, will be the featured speaker. Teachers may choose from a variety of hands-on workshops such as computers in the chemistry lab, polymer chemistry, and gel chromatography. Division of Chemical Education symposia of particular interest to high school teachers will be offered on Sunday and Monday. Tickets for the luncheon are limited and will be sold only through preregistration. The high school committee welcomes chemistry teachers of all levels-high school, college, and university-to attend the program.

We destroyed dentate granule cells unilaterally or bilaterally by means of intrahippocampal injection of colchicine in rats. Subsequently, we observed behavioural changes following the intraperitoneal injection of 2 mg kg−1 methamphetamine or saline, in addition to quantitatively assessing Fos protein expression in several brain regions, including the medial prefrontal cortex, cingulate cortex, piriform cortex, dorsal striatum, and nucleus accumbens.Bilaterally lesioned animals, when administered saline, showed a marked increase in locomotor activity compared with those of non-lesioned animals. With respect to the methamphetamine response, bilateral destruction resulted in a marked enhancement of locomotor activity, while the unilateral destruction led to a marked increase in rotation predominantly contralateral to the lesioned side, with no identifiable change in locomotor activity.Bilaterally lesioned animals, when administered saline and having undergone an immunohistological examination, showed a marked increase in Fos expression in both sides of the nucleus accumbens. Bilaterally lesioned animals administered methamphetamine showed a marked increase in Fos expression in the right and left sides of all regions tested. Unilaterally lesioned animals administered methamphetamine showed a significant and bilateral enhancement in Fos expression in the medial prefrontal and cingulate cortices, and a marked and unilateral (ipsilateral to the lesioned side) enhancement of Fos protein in the piriform cortex, dorsal striatum, and nucleus accumbens.The present findings suggest that dentate granule cells regulate methamphetamine-associated behavioural changes through the function of widespread areas of the brain, mostly the nucleus accumbens.We destroyed dentate granule cells unilaterally or bilaterally by means of intrahippocampal injection of colchicine in rats. Subsequently, we observed behavioural changes following the intraperitoneal injection of 2 mg kg−1 methamphetamine or saline, in addition to quantitatively assessing Fos protein expression in several brain regions, including the medial prefrontal cortex, cingulate cortex, piriform cortex, dorsal striatum, and nucleus accumbens.Bilaterally lesioned animals, when administered saline, showed a marked increase in locomotor activity compared with those of non-lesioned animals. With respect to the methamphetamine response, bilateral destruction resulted in a marked enhancement of locomotor activity, while the unilateral destruction led to a marked increase in rotation predominantly contralateral to the lesioned side, with no identifiable change in locomotor activity.Bilaterally lesioned animals, when administered saline and having undergone an immunohistological examination, showed a marked increase in Fos expression in both sides of the nucleus accumbens. Bilaterally lesioned animals administered methamphetamine showed a marked increase in Fos expression in the right and left sides of all regions tested. Unilaterally lesioned animals administered methamphetamine showed a significant and bilateral enhancement in Fos expression in the medial prefrontal and cingulate cortices, and a marked and unilateral (ipsilateral to the lesioned side) enhancement of Fos protein in the piriform cortex, dorsal striatum, and nucleus accumbens.The present findings suggest that dentate granule cells regulate methamphetamine-associated behavioural changes through the function of widespread areas of the brain, mostly the nucleus accumbens.British Journal of Pharmacology (2001) 134, 1411–1418; doi:10.1038/sj.bjp.0704370

In this book, Sandra Petronio, a Professor in the Department of Communication and the School of Medicine at Wayne State University, takes us through the labyrinth of privacy and disclosure issues that engulf the human person in all facets of life – from the micro level to the macro level. Her goal is to demonstrate how our lives are immersed in the never-ending tension between privacy and disclosure and the role of communication within these continuous tensions.

The transnational nature of the contemporary educational ecology has placed many national accreditation boards under an enormous pressure in executing their mandate of monitoring, supervising, and granting accreditation to academic institutions and the programs they offer. In recent times, the Ghana National Accreditation Board (NAB from now on) has come under an immense public scrutiny for what the public may have rightly perceived as its failure to perform its gatekeeping role in safeguarding the credibility of educational products sold to the Ghanaian public by some unaccredited educational institutions.
Using a purposive comparative framework, we selected for interrogation cases of institutions and individuals who have come under public scrutiny for awarding and receiving academic qualifications and awards that the public considers questionable. This is to answer three pertinent questions:
I. What is the accreditation status of institutions selected for analysis?
II. Who are the individuals associated with these institutions?
III. What are the motives of these individuals for acquiring these degrees/awards?
The report indicates that some of the institutions in question are in breach of the NAB’s instrument of authority, while others have acquired NAB’s accreditation under questionable arrangements. The report further indicates that two categories of individuals are identifiable in these accreditation controversies.  While one group views higher academic qualifications as career tools, the other considers these awards as status symbols for self-actualization and a seal for the legitimization of their place of honor in the public’s eye. An uncritical-propaganda-dogged media coupled with an unquestioning public continues to fuel the practice.

Progressive Approach by UPSA " We write to commend the administration of the University of Professional Studies (UPS), which has been identified in our investigative report and many other articles in recent times on the question of academic standards, for coming up with a press statement on the issues. Unfortunately, the responses to the substantive issues, by any standards, are unimpressive, drab, and naïve (Follow the link to the UPS statement here http://www.dailygraphiconline.com/images/qrcodes/pdfs/UPSA_Press_Release.pdf). Before we delve into the main issues, we call upon the UPS administration to acquaint itself with the process of accreditation, locally and internationally. On the press release document are two logos: one for UPSA and the other for ACBSP with the word " Accredited " beneath it. For the benefit of readers, ACBSP is a body in the USA that accredit business programs offered by institutions. The two logos posted side-by-side suggests UPS is accredited by ACBSP. But this is gross misrepresentation because ACBSP does not have the jurisdictional mandate to accredit UPS! It may only accredit the business programs offered by UPS. These are two different things. Academic standards should not be trivialized. It is irrelevant whether or not the university (UPS) was pressed by circumstances at the time of making the decision to seek online doctorate degrees for its teachers. The idea of creating opportunities for junior lecturers at the university to upgrade themselves is laudable but this should be done the right way. It is regrettable that the University has taken the position that residential doctorate degree training is outdated. On the contrary, it is the convention all over the world, especially for individuals who aspire for academic jobs in properly accredited universities. Indeed, we are utterly surprised that the UPS administration got this wrong. The notion that over time, all doctorate programs will be offered online is not only ridiculous and absurd, but a clear manifestation of an institution whose leadership lacks a thorough understanding of the academic trajectory. This speaks loudly to the lack of understanding of what Ph.D. training entails, particularly for aspiring academics, and is an affront to the dignity of universities of good standing globally.

We wish to bring to the attention of the reading public that the Swiss Management Center (SMC), which is not accredited by any national accreditation authority anywhere in the world, has resorted to clandestine forms of communication to continue to malign us to its students for exposing their dishonest operations in Ghana. In a dispatch dated August 16, 2016, circulated among its Ghanaian students, the Vice-Chancellor of the SMC, Dr. Ted Sun, questioned the integrity of our PhDs, raised vague methodological and ethical issues concerning our report, and assured his students that all is well with the SMC. In the same memo, Dr. Sun went on to challenge, intimidate or threaten us as follows and we quote: " While you are reading the below lines, a coordinated legal effort within Ghana and the US has been initiated: " fake " , by dictionary definition relates to something as being " not true or real: meant to look real or genuine but not real or genuine " – thus mentioning SMC and their alumni, who spend years on thorough research to complete an accredited program, in such a context shall be treated and acted upon as attempted slander, duress and defamation. " All we can say is, bring it on. We hope to address each of the issues Dr. Sun raised in his memo. In the sixth paragraph of the said memo, Dr. Sun gave a historical narration of the Swiss accreditation regime. What is heartwarming about Sun's revelation is that, by his own clarification, the " Swiss government provided no options for private universities until 2015. " What sun failed to do in this historical narrative is to not educate his students on the reasons the Swiss authorities would not provide accreditation options for private universities in Switzerland, particularly those engaged in the teaching and award of online degrees. Even though Sun assured his students that those private institutions operate legally and offer " high quality education programs, " our concern has not been whether those institutions operate legally or offer high quality education. The unambiguous position is that SMC is not accredited by the Swiss accreditation authorities. No institution of higher learning can be a judge of its own academic standards. This is the reason institutional accreditation is mandatory for all universities operating in Ghana. Sun also pointed out that in 2015, " Swiss law was amended to enable accreditation of private universities, but only in theory. " As we raced through the memo, the preceding quote referenced only heightened our expectation that what would follow would indicate that the SMC, in both theory and practice, has applied for and has been granted that seal of recognition as an accredited private university, putting to rest the contentions of the last couple of weeks. Unfortunately, Sun again offered the excuse that " the thresholds and criteria for eligibility have been adopted from state-controlled facilities, leaving little to no room for small or specialized providers. " Sun explained that the very few private universities in Switzerland that are granted accreditation have to do that in partnership with the well-established public universities. Even though Sun failed to explain why, it must be obvious to the average reader that what Sun considered impracticable accreditation processes for private institutions in Switzerland are only stringent measures put in place to safeguard the quality of education in that country.

Dr. Esi Bani, the Issue of FERPA, and the Accreditation Debate in Ghana We are not oblivious to what afflict us as Ghanaians. We are aware of the dangers of viewing anything Ghanaian, first, from a political lens, especially for those of us who are positioned within the political structures to derive benefits from the status quo. But what we, the authors of the report Dr. Esi Bani set out to respond to, failed to appreciate is how deep political coloration has infiltrated even the academy, whereby even issues bothering on matters of intellectual dishonesty must be first viewed from a political angle. The danger is that once political colors are injected into what should be a policy debate, the desire to respond is not driven by the logic of the common good; the desire is purely political. This desire manifests itself in the following behavior: how do I shoot the concerns being raised by colleagues down because I know individuals who have been identified as culprits? First, it is important to educate Dr. Esi Bani on what exactly FERPA is and what it is intended to achieve. FERPA is a federal law that protects the privacy of students' educational records; meaning that, upon the attainment of 18, students have direct control over their educational record. Instructors CANNOT release such records to even parents without the consent of a student in question upon that student attaining the age of 18. What has FERPA got to do with the private educational records of individuals we have identified in our report? For other wider methodological issues that other contenders in this debate tried to raised, so they could deceitfully evade the issues in contention, please following the link to our rejoinder http:// www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/features/Rejoinder-response-from-SMC-on-recent-media-allegations-464150 The position Dr. Esi Bani took on the issue of FERPA suggests two things. The learned professor's position suggests that either she is completely ill-informed about what FERPA actually is and what it is meant to achieve or by her association with individuals (perhaps our NDC chairman and the IGP, since her husband is the current Minister for the Interior in Ghana), she has to sacrifice her hard-earned intellectual reputation to defend the indefensible. If the first suggestion holds true, then the University of Louisville has a problem on its hands, as the professor lacks understanding of what FERPA is. The implications of this position are numerous but not the task of this rejoinder. On the other, if by the fact of Dr. Esi Bani's association with those who wield power in Ghana, she must simply fish out for some confusing acronyms to baffle readers, then Ghana has a huge problem, as intellectuals of her stature are expected to promote and defend the common good, the reason why academic tenure is a necessary safeguard for academic freedom or liberty. Again, readers should be able to identify the implications of this position, as that is not the task of this rejoinder. Let's learn to be on the good side of history by evaluating issues critically before taking position on them. As intellectuals, we should not be in a haste to take position or be driven by other extraneous political considerations to position ourselves in ways that expose us to public ridicule. Readers can follow Dr. Esi Bani's position on the matter of contention below.

The IGP, (Dr.) John Kudalor, the Daily Graphic, and Diploma Mills The Daily Graphic on the issues of accreditation and diploma mills, in our view, has demonstrated an unimaginable degree of incompetence that may bewilder even the unschooled. Over the past couple of weeks we have reported on the poor judgment on the part of the Ghana National Accreditation Board (NAB) in accrediting Swiss Management Center (SMC), which is not accredited in Switzerland, but operating in Ghana and issuing certificates; and diploma mills, which are in the businesses of awarding certificates to unsuspecting Ghanaians and destroying the country's educational system. In one breath, the Daily Graphic published a cartoon which lampoons (Dr.) Gifty Anti, (Dr.) Kofi Portuphy, (Dr.) John Kudalor, and a fourth person we are yet to identify by name. The caption that accompanied this satirical representation: " Honors Gone Bad, " we thought was highly informative and revealing. Within the same week, the same newspaper publishes an advert in which it chose to publicize the induction ceremony of (Dr.) John Kudalor, one of the individuals it lampooned just days earlier. Interestingly, it chose to address him by the very title its own newspaper caricatured days earlier. The question is: does the Daily Graphic have an editorial board that examines its publishing processes? We wish to remind the editors of the Daily Graphic that printing and selling whatever item someone brings to them, without basic due diligence, is unethical and an indictment on their reputation. Perhaps this is one rare situation where the concepts of open market and the customer is always right—take money and publish anything—does not hold. If Daily Graphic argues that (Dr.) John Kudalor or the police service paid for the publication space, the editorial board of the Daily Graphic must appreciate that the things they publish shape the minds of the reading public. How would the Daily Graphic justify its editorial decision to lampoon an IGP who is refusing to respect the laws of the land in one edition of its paper and, within days, publicize the same individual with the same doctoral accolade they lampooned in an earlier edition of the same newspaper? This constitutes an unpardonable negligence and gross incompetence, considering the strategic position the Daily Graphic holds over Ghanaian lives as the most circulating and the most read newspaper in Ghana. National Accreditation Board (NAB) publicly denounced the IGP's doctoral degree and advised him to employ some discretion in this matter. Our humble advice to the IGP is to shelve that doctoral degree and refrain from using it. The attempt to use the Daily Graphic to validate what is considered even by the state accrediting body, NAB, as unwholesome does not speak well to his reputation and that of the country.

We wish to draw the attention of the National Media Commission (NMC) to a continuing infringement on our rights by the Editor and the Managers of the Daily Graphic, and to seek the intervention of the NMC for the restoration of the rights under infringement in compliance with Article 162(6) of the Constitution of the Republic of Ghana. On July 28, 2016, as public spirited individuals who are concerned about the falling standards of education in our dear country, Ghana, we travelled to Washington, DC, USA, to submit an investigative report we had been working on for the previous six months to officials of the Ghana Embassy, for onward submission to the Minister of Education in Ghana. This report identified some institutions and individuals who are in breach of the Ghana National Accreditation Board's (NAB) instrument of authority, Act 2007 (Act 744) and other amendments of the Act thereof. After officially handing the report to the Ghana Embassy in Washington, D.C, USA, the said report was made available to all media houses in Ghana via email, and, in some cases, hard copies were hand-delivered to particular media houses due to the strategic positions they hold on the Ghanaian media landscape. However, to say that attempts were not made by some of the media houses to stifle the said report will be an understatement. The maneuvers to undermine the report and cast doubts on it corroborate stories of earlier attempts by well-meaning citizens to expose the canker. Indeed, some of those pathfinders with whom we were privileged to have interacted during the process of compiling this report were maligned and subdued into servile silence. In our case, while a few of the media houses featured the story about our report, Daily Graphic, which was one of the recipients of the report, till today, has refused to publish it or any excerpts therefrom, as other media houses. Nonetheless, as the campaign was largely designed to use social media, we are proud to announce that the report forced itself into the Ghanaian media space. The sad thing about this campaign is that, despite the Daily Graphic refusing to publish anything about the report, it has persistently provided unhindered access to its media platforms—both in newsprint and online—to our antagonists to slam us. It is unfortunate to note that a national paper would be so compromised to the extent of dereliction of its duty in acting fairly on an issue of public interest. Below are a few examples to demonstrate the complicity of the Daily Graphic in taking a side on the issue:

For decades (perhaps, centuries) global media outlets have framed and represented Africa in a negative
light. These media representations have tended to overlook the diverse political, economic, social and cultural
experiences of individual African countries – a situation that has led to the uncritical lumping together of African
nations under the appellation of ‘Africa’. When this happens, the specific and unique conditions of her 55
nations are squeezed into a one-size-fits-all media frame. Historical and ideological forces, both from within
and outside the continent, have conspired to impose this fate on Africa. The philosophies of negritude and
the Organisation of African Unity were among the complicit internal forces helping to sustain such views. To
evaluate this phenomenon, this essay examines the underpinnings of the framing and representation of ‘Africa’
in global media through a review of the literature, and seeks to answer the question of whether the continent
can speak for itself, using four country-specific examples. Current media practices within the African continent,
enabled by local media policies and infrastructure, have tended to rhetorically position countries primarily in
accordance with their national identities, while attributing the African appellation as a secondary frame of
representation.

Days before the Christmas of 2013, Justine Sacco, a former Public Relations
Executive for InterActiveCorp (IAC), tweeted an HIV/AIDS slur she had
considered innocuous. The supposedly ‘harmless’ message drew a firestorm
from social media users and spilled over into the mass media. Using critical
communication approach in conjunction with hegemonic-framing, I placed the
text in a historical, ideological and political context. I argue that, as a feature of
the postmodern media landscape, the disruption in media hierarchies implies
that the subaltern can speak back into the image factory with repercussions.