At least two efforts currently being undertaken by fellow Phi Beta Cons bloggers deserve attention. First, our colleague David French headed off to Army basic training on Sunday. (As you may have read in The Chronicle, David felt called to join the Reserves and use his Harvard legal training to support our country in the JAG Corps.) He will be away from his wonderful wife Nancy and their two children (who, might I add, will be the flower girl and ring bearer in my wedding!) for several weeks. Those readers who are in the business of praying would do well to say a few for the French family. And, getting back to higher ed policy, our blog-mate Joe Malchow is currently taking the insiders up at Dartmouth to task for ham-handedly canceling an election as part of what he calls “a concerted effort [that] has been concocted to interdict future petition trustees.” (For background on the alumni trustee battles, see Duncan Currie’s excellent piece in “that other magazine.”) Joe’s posts over at Dartblog (see here and here) are both must-reads. Do not miss them.