Author Archives: cxpowell

By Chris Powell Despite the hysteria about the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision prohibiting racial preferences in college admissions — a policy long euphemized as “affirmative action” — as a practical matter the country no longer needs the practice if it ever did. For government agencies and larger businesses long have been striving to hire andContinue reading “‘Affirmative action’ didn’t fix Connecticut’s racial problem”

By Chris Powell Visiting Bridgeport last week, Governor Lamont celebrated newly enacted legislation he supported to require schools to provide translation services to parents who don’t speak English and to qualify more illegal immigrant children for state medical insurance, extending their eligibility age from 12 to 15. Bridgeport is a center of illegal immigration, andContinue reading “Can Lamont distinguish between legal and illegal immigration?”

By Chris Powell Schools purport to encourage the involvement of parents. But lately a big exception is being made around the country and in Connecticut. That is, schools increasingly want to conceal from parents the gender dysphoria of students who don’t want their parents to know about it, and last week with a friend-of-the-court brief Connecticut AttorneyContinue reading “Should schools deceive parents about child’s gender dysphoria?”

By Chris Powell Connecticut is missing the most important point about the recent assault of state Rep. Maryam Khan as she departed a Muslim religious service at the XL Center in downtown Hartford. Khan contends that the big issues here are whether the Hartford police and emergency responders treated her sensitively enough and whether thereContinue reading “Legislator who was assaulted could do something about it”

By Chris Powell Student performance continues to crash in schools in Connecticut and throughout the country. The results of the latest National Assessment of Educational Progress tests showed steep declines in the reading and math proficiency of 13-year-olds. Students are doing worse than a decade ago. But as usual there is much clamor to increaseContinue reading “Only insufferable students justify teacher raises now”

By Chris Powell Due process of law always hangs by a thread, dangling in the winds generated by mob instincts to which elected officials often pander. More resentment of due process has been generated by a decision last month by the state Supreme Court in a case involving students at Yale University. A female studentContinue reading “State Supreme Court upholds due process, but how long?”

By Chris Powell Exclusive zoning in the suburbs is getting all the blame for Connecticut’s severe shortage of housing, and Governor Lamont and the General Assembly are being bitterly criticized for not doing much about it during the recent legislative session. But troublesome as exclusive zoning is for driving up the cost of housing andContinue reading “Connecticut’s housing shortage goes beyond exclusive zoning”

By Chris Powell Despite the hysteria it has provoked, last week’s U.S. Supreme Court decision purportedly prohibiting racial favoritism in college admissions — euphemized as “affirmative action” — probably will make little practical difference. From the beginning of its consideration of racial favoritism in admissions, in the case of California v. Bakke in 1978, theContinue reading “College diversity will survive but remain only skin-deep”

By Chris Powell Few people will complain about the new contract just awarded by the University of Connecticut to its men’s basketball coach, Dan Hurley, who is fresh off a national championship. With a six-year package worth $32.1 million in salary, or about $5.33 million a year, Hurley will become Connecticut’s highest-paid state government employeeContinue reading “Basketball coach’s salary isn’t the one to question”

By Chris Powell Since Lowell P. Weicker Jr. won five out of six major elections in Connecticut as a Republican or former Republican while the state drifted more Democratic, his political talent can’t be denied. But with his death this week at age 92, it may be argued how much better the state and theContinue reading “Weicker’s biggest legacy was saving the government class”