…with an open hand. :what: Wow… just, wow!

via Think Progress

Two weeks ago, the University of Florida voted to deny Jeb Bush an honorary degree. By a 38-28 vote, the faculty Senate rejected the former governor’s nomination, citing concerns about some of Bush’s education initiatives, including his dismantling of affirmative action programs in the state:

In higher education circles, Bush’s greatest criticism came over his “One Florida” plan, which ended race-based admissions in state universities. Black enrollment dropped at UF and statewide after the change took effect, as critics predicted.

Bush’s policies of “rewarding and punishing schools according to students’ standardized test results and using vouchers to send certain students to private schools at public expense” also contributed to the rejection of his nomination.

Upset by this lack of Jeb Bush adoration, the conservative-controlled House Schools & Learning Council voted yesterday to force the university to rename its education school the “Jeb Bush College of Education.”

Over the faculty’s opposition, the school will now have “to erect ‘suitable markers‘ noting the college’s new name and include the revised name in all university documents, including catalogues and brochures.” The lawmakers acknowledge they “came up with the idea as an answer” to the faculty’s denial of Bush’s honorary degree.

Posted on April 11, 2007 @ 11:01am

Nevermind the irony of Jeb being W’s brother and getting a school of education named after him… when I first saw this, I thought, ‘what a narcissistic asshole’. But it turns out that the Florida Legislature did this without Jeb’s knowledge, because they felt he deserved that honorary degree, damnit! So the lawmakers reacted in true Nappy Roots fashion: “Awnaw! Hell naw! Y’all done up and done it!” And they added the amendment to name the school after Jeb to an existing bill.

What’s even funnier is the rationalizations given by some members of the State House.

While I didn’t agree with Gov. Bush on anything, I do believe he was sincere in what he wanted to do for education.

- Rep. Shelley Vanna, D-Lantana

In other words, the path to hell is paved with good intentions, but let’s name a school after him anyway. But wait there’s more from the guy who introduced the measure.

Whether you agree with him or disagree with him on the issue of education, he certainly pushed the debate and pushed the envelope on the issue.

- Rep. David Rivera, R-Miami

So all you need to do is propose some controversial educational measures to warrant a namesake at a major state university, regardless of what those actions actually did. Luckily we have state senator to trumpet the positive record of Jeb’s proposals.

Gov. Bush did a lot of amazing things in the area of education. Schools are performing better, children are reading better, performance scores are up.

- Senate Majority Leader Daniel Webster, R-Winter Garden

Daniel basically references one thing (performance) in three different ways. This would be a more reliable reference it it weren’t for the educational gerrymandering provided by the school vouchers there, or the standardized tests that are used to measure this performance.

Now, I’m not from Florida. And I, admittedly, don’t know a whole lot about their local politics. But the fact that the legislature would react to the university’s denial of an honorary degree by naming a school at the university after Jeb is absolutely dumbfounding. It’s a slap in the face to the University of Florida faculty, who voted the way they did. And for government to show this blatant disregard for its people in an effort to prop up a former governor is unequivocally and undeniably shameful.

The extent to which today’s governments, especially republican led governments of late, will go for posturing and status symbols is certifiably idiotic, completely transparent, and altogether useless in anything that should really matter to governments (i.e. not re-election). Granted, it’s not unusual for governments to sanction the naming of state schools after someone. But to do it as a specific response to a school’s denial of an honorary degree in an effort to rebuke their vote is unbelievable.

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