“The defendants’ argument that the interest which the plaintiffs have in attending a state university is a mere privilege and not a constitutional right was specifically rejected in the Dixon case, and the Court thinks rightfully so. Whether the interest involved be described as a right or a privilege, the fact remains that it is an interest of almost incalculable value, especially to those students who have already enrolled in the institution and begun the pursuit of their college training.”
–Knight v. State Board of Education (1961), quoted in the ACLU’s must-readApril 6 letter to the UC Berkeley administration.
The British newspaper The Guardian is reporting that the country’s Labour Party will endorse a 16-year-old voting age today.
Labour, which is currently in power in Britain, is releasing a new party platform in advance of national elections scheduled for next month. The elections, in which voters will elect the country’s parliament, are expected to be closely fought.
Incumbent prime minister Gordon Brown has endorsed votes for 16-year-olds in the past, as has Britain’s opposition Liberal Democratic party, but this will be the first time that Labour itself has embraced the concept.
A few weeks ago I passed along word that students in Idaho, one of the few states not to have a presence in the national March 4 Day of Action, had held a lobby day at the state capitol. And now comes word that they’re at it again, and upping the ante.
The Idaho Statesman newspaper reported this morning that students from the Idaho Student Association (Facebook, Twitter), a new statewide student group, are planning a sit-in protest at today’s meeting of the state Board of Education. The Board is expected to hike tuition at the state’s public colleges and universities by as much as twelve percent.
I’ll update this post with new info as I get it.
