Not All Presidents Are Celebrating Today

Emory President James Wagner

President Yudof may be celebrating his impending liberation (in August).  According to Inside Higher Ed, however, Emory University President James Wagner may not be celebrating this Presidents' Day:

Emory University President James Wagner has infuriated many on his campus and scholars elsewhere by using the president's letter in the new issue of Emory Magazine to say that the "three-fifths compromise" of the U.S. Constitution was a model for how people who disagree can work together for "a common goal." Following an explosion of social media criticism Saturday as word of Wagner's letter spread, he released an apology. "To those hurt or confused by my clumsiness and insensitivity, please forgive me," he wrote...The three-fifths compromise expanded the political clout of the slave states by codifying that black slaves counted for purposes of allocating seats in the House of Representatives as 60 percent of a white person (even though the slave states gave black people 0 percent of the voting or other rights of white people)...

Full story at http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/02/18/emory-president-sets-uproar-statements-three-fifths-compromise-and-then-apologizes 


Update at http://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2013/02/19/critics-emory-president-arent-satisfied

Further update at http://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2013/02/21/emory-president-censured