Cincinnati Bell Chair Phil Cox: Leads Ohio CEO Group's Education Reform Push

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- Cincinnati Bell Chairman Phillip R. Cox has been serving as co-chair of the Ohio Business Alliance for Higher Education and the Economy. The corporate organization pushes school reform, including more stringent standards in science and math, and wants to see more college graduates in the state. Cox is a prominent corporate leader who says he has a bachelor of science degree from a prestigious, private university -- but the school says it has no record of awarding him a diploma. Cox's CEO group has been advocating increased baccalaureate degree production in the state.

Xavier University in Cincinnati said its records show Cox attended classes in the 1960s. But Cox, who also serves on the University of Cincinnati board of trustees, says he has a BS in political science from Xavier. If Xavier is correct, Cox would appear to be a fabricator.

Cox has been active in the education improvement campaign, including the push to emphasize science, technology, English and math in Ohio's high schools -- which is commonly known by the acronym STEM. Cox shows up as a preeminent figure in Ohio STEM as co-chair of the Oho Business Alliance for Higher Education and the Economy.

The group is described as a non-profit 501(c)3 organization "designed to be a catalyst, mediator and advocate for an enhanced and more strategic role for higher education as a significant contributor to the state's economic growth. The Board of Directors consists of 12 CEOs from throughout Ohio who share a passion for higher education and its linkage to long-term economic growth."

Cox's panel lists three goals:

"1. Establishing new STEM secondary schools to build the 'supply chain' of STEM-literate graduates who go on to college, obtain their degrees and remain in Ohio, contributing to our economic growth as the next generation of innovators and productive citizens.

2. Using quality data to help state policymakers understand the right kinds of higher education investments that will increase the yield of BA and BS degrees in the STEM disciplines.

3. Examining the feasibility of a serious, sustained, professionally-run education marketing campaign to increase college enrollment and degree attainment in Ohio."

Inquiring minds may wonder: Would there be any irony if someone who claimed a college degree -- but did not have one -- headed the corporate community's efforts to increase college enrollment and degree attainment in Ohio? Would it seem to send a message that fabricating a degree might pay off better than academic achievement and hitting the books.

There is more about Cox's education reform efforts here and here, where a news reports says he testified before a legislative panel in favor of making Ohio's higher education chancellor an appointee of the governor.

Missouri Referendum: Initiative Seems To Declare That Down Syndrome People Aren't Human

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- A pro-life group based in the Midwest may have stumbled badly by offering a ballot initiative in Missouri that defines human beings as having a "complete set of 46 chromosomes,'' when an egg is fertilized in a mother's womb. One problem: People with genetic diseases such as Down syndrome don't have 46 chromosomes. They have 47, and thus could be outside the legal definition of "human."

There are other genetic disorders such as Turner syndrome, which afflicts a person with 45 chromosomes.

The Missouri Coalition for Lifesaving Cures, which led a drive last fall to put a provision in the state constitution that allows embryonic stem cell research, said today the initiative filed last week was scientifically flawed. The coalition said a group called Cures Without Cloning (its proposed initiative appears on the link) was opposed to stem cell research. Cures Without Cloning has ties to the pro-life movement, and filed the initiative language with the Secretary of State's office on August 22. Closer scrutiny today raised the questions about who would be defined as a human being.

Dr. F. Sessions Cole, the chief medical officer of St. Louis Children's Hospital, said the new initiative was poorly worded and would eliminate people from the human race because of their chromosome abnormalities.

"It's impossible to know all the consequences of this vague and poorly written initiative, but there's one that's immediately clear. If you're one of the thousands of Missourians with a chromosome abnormality, the initiative declares you not to be human and enshrines that definition into our constitution. I find that deeply troubling . . ."

Cole supported the Stem Cell Amendment, and was speaking for a coalition that includes organizations looking for cures to diseases like Parkinson's and diabetes. Its Website is here, but the discussion of the new initiative's purported scientific flaws is not yet available. Officials said they should have a statement there within the next 24 hours.