Aug. 22, 2017: Johnson *03 Calls For Removal of Texas Civil War Plaque; Carr ’00 on ‘Real Erasure’ in History; and More

Texas State Rep. Eric Johnson *03 called upon the State Preservation Board to remove a plaque in the State Capitol that states that the Civil War was not a rebellion or a fight about slavery. — Houston Chronicle

In a column on the Charlottesville demonstrations, CNN opinion producer Jane Greenway Carr ’00 writes about “what real erasure looks like” in the South, noting the absence of markers that acknowledge the region’s racist past. — CNN

Ray Arsenault ’69, author of Freedom Riders: 1961 and the Struggle for Racial Justice, discussed the role of the KKK in Florida during the Civil Rights era and in the decades since. — Tampa Bay Times

The Partition Museum in Amritsar, India, led by CEO Mallika Ahluwalia ’05, opened last week on the 70th anniversary of the partition between India and Pakistan. — Associated Press 

Northwestern University economist Diane Schanzenbach *02 and columnist Michael Strain called upon the Trump administration and Senate Democrats to quickly confirm a new director of the Census Bureau in order to be ready for the 2020 census. — Bloomberg

With Africa’s youth population expected to hit 830 million by 2050, Siddharth Chatterjee *11 and former Ghanian President John Mahama write that substantial investment must be made to strengthen Africa’s economy to prevent a migration crisis. — Thomson Reuters Foundation

Jon Pritchett and Ed Tiryakian ’52 write that “willful and controversial CEO activism” should lead to shareholder lawsuits if shareholders can argue that the executives are not acting in their best interests. — The Wall Street Journal

“It’s counterintuitive, but our democracy has often been at its best when our constitutional soul has been poked and prodded and has stood up on its hind legs to defend itself.” 

Charlottesville Mayor Michael Signer ’95, who rejected calls to restrict the rights of white nationalists, in a New York Times opinion column. Read more in The New York Times

In a recent Q&A, New Yorker staff writer Peter Hessler ’92 discussed his conversations with residents of one Colorado town, the basis of a story about how President Donald Trump’s rise has affected rural America. — Columbia Journalism Review

To draw awareness to elephant poaching in Africa, Paula Kahumbu *02, the CEO of Kenyan nonprofit WildlifeDIRECT, commissioned an 18,000-pound ice sculpture of an elephant that melted throughout the day in New York City. — Smithsonian

Citing several studies, Daniel Edelman *15 proposes giving released prisoners a sufficient cash grant along with “traditional reentry interventions” to reduce recidivism rates. — Stanford Social Innovation Review

Accenture Senior Managing Director Kathleen O’Reilly ’88 details her career path and gives advice to women on how to enter the technology-consulting industry and how to maintain a work-life balance. — Huffington Post

Golfer Greg Jarmas ’14 won the 101st Pennsylvania Open Championship at the Gulph Mills Golf Club, shooting 16-under par in the three-round event. — The Sentinel

Softball player Claire Klausner ’17 was a member of the U.S. team that won a gold medal in softball at the 2017 Maccabiah Games in Israel. — Town Topics

Melissa Thomas-Hunt ’89 has been named vice provost for inclusive excellence at Vanderbilt University, where she will focus on advancing diversity and inclusion initiatives. — Vanderbilt News

Arts journalist Charles Riley II ’79 will be the next director of the Nassau County Museum of Art in New York, where he has curated exhibitions on Picasso and surrealism. — Broadway World

Victor Reis *62 will be the third recipient of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s John S. Foster Jr. Medal for his work to advance science and technology in support of U.S. national security. — The (Livermore, Calif.) Independent

Former Department of Defense Senior Asia Adviser Daniel Kliman *10 has been named a senior fellow in the Asia-Pacific Security Program of the Center for a New American Security. — GovConExecutive

Former J.C. Penney executive Edward Record ’90 has been named the chief financial officer of HBC, the parent company of Canadian retailer Hudson’s Bay, the oldest company in North America. — Business Wire

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