Below is my column in The Hill on the recent victory of a California professor in challenging diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies on free speech grounds. It is a rare win for dissenting faculty as DEI policies become more expansive and mandatory.
Here is the column:
From academia to corporations to the government, diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies have expanded exponentially in the last 10 years. At colleges and universities, administrators now monitor compliance with DEI on every level, from teaching to hiring to promotions.
And there is little subtlety or nuance in these programs. You object to DEI statements, priorities and training at your own peril.
This week, federal magistrate Judge Christopher Baker issued a major 44-page report finding that Bakersfield College in California violated the First Amendment rights of Professor Daymon Johnson with its DEI mandates for faculty. If upheld, the report could be the foundation for a major free speech ruling.
The Johnson case is important because it challenges the claim of universities that DEI policies are simply guidelines and suggested practices. At the same time, universities have massively increased DEI offices and incorporated reviews in every aspect of academic life. The problem is that many DEI policies raise political, religious and academic values that some academics do not support. This can range from pronoun requirements to required perspectives taught in classrooms.
Johnson is one such dissenter. The history professor found himself the subject of a five-month investigation by the college after he criticized a 2019 Facebook post of English Professor Andrew Bond in which Bond called the United States a “piece of s**t nation.” Bond had added, “Go ahead and quote me, conservatives. This country has yet to live up to the ideals of its founding documents.”
Johnson did quote him, with the caption: “Do you agree with this radical [social justice warrior] from BC’s English Department? Thoughts?” A commentator on Facebook later added “Maybe he should move to China, and post this about the PRC in general or the Chinese Communist Party and see how much mileage it gets him. I wonder, do they still send the family the bill for the spent round?’”
Bond responded in September 2021 by filing an administrative complaint against Johnson for harassment and bullying. Although Johnson was eventually cleared, the college issued a clear warning to him that it would “investigate any further complaints of harassment and bullying and, if applicable, [taking] appropriate remedial action including but not limited to any discipline determined to be appropriate.”
Johnson said that he has experienced retaliation and harassment due to his opposition to DEI policies. Judge Baker’s review of Bakersfield’s policies found that they are clearly mandates, not suggestions. He found that the college used mandatory “shalls” to state the expectations of faculty, including “teaching, learning, and professional practices that reflect DEIA and anti-racist principles, and in particular, respect for, and acknowledgement of the diverse backgrounds of students and colleagues to improve equitable student outcomes and course completion.”
Bakersfield also requires that faculty “promote and incorporate culturally affirming DEIA and anti-racist principles to nurture and create a respectful, inclusive, and equitable learning and work environment.” Judge Johnson found that the claim of the college that these are merely “aspirational goals” is “disingenuous.”
This is not the first such free speech controversy for Bakersfield College. Another Bakersfield College history professor, Matthew Garrett, was previously fired for speaking out against social justice programs. He and other professors are now suing.
After that controversy, John Corkins, vice president of the Board of Trustees of the Kern Community College District Board (which oversees the college), declared, “We have to continue to cull” problem faculty. He added: “Got them in my livestock operation and that’s why we put a rope on some of them and take them to the slaughterhouse. That’s a fact of life with human nature and so forth, I don’t know how to say it any clearer.” He later apologized.
Law schools are also facing controversial mandates. In 2022, the American Bar Association required law schools to “provide education to law students on bias, cross-cultural competency, and racism: (1) at the start of the program of legal education, and (2) at least once again before graduation.” Many schools are now requiring faculty to annually confirm DEI or diversity components in teaching.
I have long incorporated race issues in my classes. I also teach critical race theory, alongside other (including opposing) legal theories to my first-year torts students. I do so because I want them to be familiar with these issues and theories in forming their own views and values. However, the increasing mandates raise serious questions about the free speech and academic freedom of faculty who do not share those views.
Often, schools will find alternative grounds for harassing or firing dissenting faculty. Those efforts received a boost recently from the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, which rejected the free speech claims of North Carolina State University Professor Stephen Porter. The statistics professor had objected to what he considered the lower standards used by his school to hire minority faculty. When he sued over retaliation for his views expressed both publicly and to the faculty, the Fourth Circuit ruled that the school could discipline him for a lack of “collegiality.”
“Collegiality” was long used as an excuse to block promotion or hiring of women, minority and leftist faculty. The decision in Porter v. Board of Trustees of North Carolina State University is pending before the Supreme Court for possible review. If allowed to stand, it would offer universities a ready-made excuse for cracking down on the dwindling number of dissenters.
For faculty, what are presented as suggestions are often treated as mandatory. Take the “indigenous land acknowledgment” created for faculty at the University of Washington. The school told professors that they could add such a statement to their course material to honor “all tribes and bands within the Suquamish, Tulalip and Muckleshoot nations.” Computer science Professor Stuart Reges disagreed with the factual and philosophical basis of the statement, so he posted a land acknowledgment stating that under “the labor theory of property the Coast Salish people can claim historical ownership of almost none of the land currently occupied by the University of Washington.”
He was told to remove his optional statement. The request was no longer optional. Dean Magdalena Balazinska explained that “[t]he statement Stuart Reges included in his syllabus was inappropriate, offensive and not relevant to the content of the course he teaches.”
However, the university’s land acknowledgment was somehow deemed entirely relevant and appropriate.
Bakersfield College continues to distinguish itself in these anti-free speech efforts. The school may call itself “The Renegades,” but it has shown a lack of tolerance for any rebellious or dissenting faculty. We may value renegades as mascots, but we increasingly abhor them as colleagues.
Jonathan Turley is the J.B. and Maurice C. Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law at the George Washington University Law School.
Dear Prof Turley,
Are you a history teacher? History is replete with DEI. Refer to it. .. history, I mean.
What’s that got to do with the dictator’s price of beans in China and the unhinged psychopaths running the U.S. government? VP Kamala Harris is Joe Biden’s DEI .. . and you don’t see her complaining.
It is ‘sad when governments are cheaped by the Devil tongue’.
*in other news, a biological female won the Miss Universe prize over two biological males .. . but they were all winners.
The antonym of Diversity is University.
Let’s get down to it…, what generates curriculum in Amercan education is textbook market share. While DEI has become a talking point hobby horse for the right, and it’s spurred much magat knashing of teeth, what is really shown is that there is pressure to go beyond the mentality determining curriculum that is locked down by whether or not a text book can sell in Texas and California. The right has engaged in what will prove to be a futile effort at censorship with its book banning efforts.
The only way to end the tyranny of DEI and other such woke nonsense is to push back aggressively and allow the SCOTUS to eventually rule of these and other constitutional infringements such as all hate-speech legislation. The right has allowed this to slide far too long and now it will be an uphill slog to remove all this pernicious infringement on the free people of this nation. Time to clean house and rid ourselves of these various cultural diseases.
There is no hate speech legislation in this country. There’s no doubt that the Democrat Party would like to enact some, but thankfully the courts are vigilant and they know it will be struck down so they don’t even try.
Bear in mind that Kern is likely the most conservative county in California, and it really is, they refer to it as ‘the Texas of California’. Pervasive is an understatement, and this all happened without any of our consent or an invitation to participate. By the same token, people were so asleep at the wheel they failed to see the initial stirrings, or if they did, they couldn’t be bothered to care.
People in the likes of actual Texas that think some invisible shield will protect them need to think again. Pass all the laws you like, the Marxists will find ways around them and they will never relent; eventually the generational indoctrination will be pretty near irreversible, as in China. We may be 50/50 politically, but regarding real education, the ultimate solution to it all, we are near 100% in deficiency. Defund, and stop sending your kids.
And you never thought that DEI would be used as a tool by incompetents to promote incompetents and attack opponents? Silly you.
Diversity [dogma] is color judgment or class bigotry, including: racism, sexism, ageism, etc. practiced under the Pro-Choice ethical religion and DIE (Diversity, Indoctrination. Exclusion).
That said, diversity of individuals, minority of one. #HateLovesAbortion
Professor Turley teachers CRT. Let that sink in. Professor Turley teaches CRT.
“ I have long incorporated race issues in my classes. I also teach critical race theory, alongside other legal theories to my first-year torts students. I do so because I want them to be familiar with these issues and theories in forming their own views and values.”
Yet he still ignores state governments like Florida to ban the teaching or discussion of CRT in schools. Because it’s uncomfortable or makes students “believe” they are oppressors. Obviously, if the professor teaches it in his class he would be well aware that it does not teach what most conservatives and republicans claim it does. So he remains silent while they censor the viewpoint of CRT because it’s an uncomfortable subject for some folks. He’s all for free speech, but he is silent on the problem of state governors and legislatures censoring a point of view that he teaches in his class. He can’t criticize it because it would involve criticizing republicans and conservatives.
I imagine Turley teaches it to law students as one contested perspective on the law among others. That is a lot different from primary and middle school teachers presenting simplified versions of it to their young students as the truth, which teachers are now trained to do. That is what DeSantis opposed.
There’s no difference in whether it’s taught in high school or college. These are college freshmen. Literally seniors from high school. Teaching or exposing students to the concepts in CRT in high school makes no difference than teaching them in high school. The irony is that by teaching these ‘diverse’ views and including them in his curriculum IS what DEI promotes. Turley is using the concept of DEI in his classes. He just won’t call it that.
Teaching simplified versions of it shouldn’t be an issue in hight school. High school students can handle complicated issues if they are allowed to discuss them and debate them in class. It’s the whole point of learning. Teachers are trained on new concepts all the time. What makes you think they can’t be trained or seek to learn about the concept on their own? You think high school teachers are too stupid to figure it out on their own? They can be the ones explaining the differences between what is being said in the public square and the ones who actually study it. Desantis opposes it because he doesn’t like the idea that our history is not as peachy clean as he wants it to be for high school students. He wants to avoid the uncomfortable reality that our history is not a rosy feel good narrative. Our history has a LOT of bad things to say about our country that are still relevant today and that is offensive to those who want to pretend that it’s not and prefer to remain in ignorance. The truth about our history is harsh and it’s sanitized of all the uncomfortable bits and pieces because it’s shameful, embarrassing, and exposes a lot of hypocrisy.
As an aside – why in the world would you teach someone FALSELY that they are an oppressor ?
Are you incapable of grasping the stupidity of that ?
Frankly why would you be teaching anything related to that at all in elementary school ?
If a student is ACTUALLY engaged in the oppression of another student – then punish them for what they are ACTUALLY doing.
Actual Oppression is conduct – it is not a state of mind.
If K-12 students or teachers are actually opressing others – thy should be punished for doing so.
If not than CRT is lying to students.
Many things make students unconmfortable. Sometimes the truth is uncomfortable.
But lies are often uncomfortable too.
“ As an aside – why in the world would you teach someone FALSELY that they are an oppressor ?”
They are NOT teaching that. That’s not the concept that is taught. As it is in any discussion on a theory there are going to be a few who argue an extreme view of it. But the general idea behind CRT is not what you or most of those who haven’t gone to the trouble of researching the subject at length think it is.
My curiosity got me into researching all about the issue and it’s NOT what you think it is. Those who try to argue against CRT from ignorance and a lack of curiosity, real curiosity, about the subject are the biggest problem. Those pushing narrative that this is about teaching kids that they are oppressors or, should be feeling guilty because they are white is pure BS, BS, BS. Groups like the proud boys, and “scholars” who seek to weaponize the theory into something to scare parents into thinking it’s about what you’re saying is the goal among those who are essentially bigots and racist provocateurs.
“ Frankly why would you be teaching anything related to that at all in elementary school ?”
I didn’t say elementary school and no they are not teaching that in elementary school contrary to the BS being peddled by the right in their attempt to scare parents, ignorant parents too busy to research the issue for themselves and take for granted what they are being told by BS right wing talking heads who have no idea what CRT is. It’s a sad state of affairs when parents who are already too busy with keeping their heads above water and other scare mongering from the culture war issues the right loves do not have time or energy to research the issue for themselves. CRT is NOT being taught in elementary schools.
Nobody is engaging in any oppression, period. It’s all part of the paranoia induced by those who are demonizing a theory because it makes them feel uncomfortable or fearful that they are being blamed for the wrongs of the past. That’s not what CRT is about. They are not being blamed, but the racists and bigots are playing victims and claiming all white people are being blamed for the atrocities and wrongs of the past. They are using that as a wedge to divide and de-legitimize a point of view because it’s uncomfortable and it’s something they do not want to acknowledge. Why? Because it undermines their views and beliefs as it should.
“ If not than CRT is lying to students.”
CRT is not lying to students. It presents them with a different perspective of history that has merit. It doesn’t mean they are required to accept it or see themselves as oppressors or feel guilty because they are white. It’s total BS.
“ Many things make students unconmfortable. Sometimes the truth is uncomfortable.
But lies are often uncomfortable too.”
Completely true. That doesn’t mean we should be coddling and sheltering students because it’s uncomfortable. Or that we should prohibit discussion and learning about the point of view. It’s only uncomfortable to those who don’t like the idea that this country is not the great country we are being told it is. We have our ugly history and it is still relevant to today’s social and economic issues. It’s also a free speech issue. It shouldn’t be barred from discussion because it’s uncomfortable. It becomes LESS uncomfortable and controversial when it’s discussed AND understood. It’s the lack of understanding that is being taken advantage of by bigots and racists.
Svelaz doesn’t know the difference between teaching CRT as well as arguments against it TO LAW STUDENTS with teaching CRT as dogma to middle school and high school KIDS.
I take it back, Svelaz does know the difference he just doesn’t want to acknowledge it because it makes a mockery of his pathetic argument.
Svelaz is one of our in-house contrarians that has a psychotic need to argue against every single thing that the host of the site states. It is a weird mental illness.
I keep waiting for you to outline what CRT is, but you never do.
I was waiting to get my lesson from you the big expert but you never say what the heck it is, just scream and cry what it isn’t.
I bet I will read though every one of your numerous comments and never get an outline of what you say CRT is.
This makes me not believe anything you say about it.
DEI needs not be simplified. It is very simple. In the past we called it racism.
With respect to what teachers are taught and their skills – the quality of education has been declining for a long time.
It is self evident that either the quality of teachrs is declining or the quality of their training is declining – or both.
“ DEI needs not be simplified. It is very simple. In the past we called it racism.”
It’s NOT racism. That’s simply not true. Diversity is not racism, Equality is not racism, Inclusion is not racism. It’s the antithesis of racism. It’s no different than racists calling it racism because they are being called out for their racism.
“ It is self evident that either the quality of teachrs is declining or the quality of their training is declining – or both.”
The declining quality is largely due to the denigration of the profession by those who are constantly attacking public education. Parent’s who expect teachers to be babysitting their kids and doing teaching them the most basic things like respect or responsibility, for their actions. Things parent’s are supposed to teach their children. Instead teachers are expected to fill the gap AND teach them the basics under bureaucratic red tape and non essential administrative tasks. They are expected to work outside work hours to finish grading and create lesson plans, etc.
The quality of education is not just about the teachers. It’s also about the parents. Parent’s aren’t working with the teachers in bettering their children’s education. They are working against them and demagoguing their positions because of the false narratives pushed by those on the right with the culture war idiocy. You have paranoid and overzealous parents accusing teachers of “indoctrinating” their children or “grooming”, and “sexualizing” children. They are constantly accused by the right of all sorts of things. Because their goal is to undermine public education and promote school choice. Rather than work with the teachers the right chooses to demonize and undermine them in the name of “parental rights”.
There is not a single nation on earth that does not have positive and negative elements to its history.
There is not sufficient time to cover everything in any subject area. Teachers are expected to cover what is critical.
Regardless, the purpose of education is not to teach students to hate themselves or their country.
While it is not possible to do better if you do not know what you did wrong., it is also not possible to do better if you do not know what you did right.
We are no longer cave men with a life expectance of 25 years.
We are no longer the egyptians the greeks, the romans with life expectances into the 30’s.
We are no longer the peasants and serfs of the middle ages with life expectances into the 40’s.
It took almost 300,000 years of human existance to almost double life expectance the first time.
It has taken about 200 to double it again.
In the past 500 years the rate at which humans have improved their standard of living – first in the west and then globally has been increasing exponentially. It took 300,000 years for standards of living to increase by a few percent.
Today they are doubling every few decades.
Whether you like it or not it is self evident that we have been doing far more good than harm in the past few hundred years.
Whether you like it or not, it is self evident that rapid improvement in the human condition started in the west
that it has progressed faster in the anglo-sphere, and that the US has in the past 200 years been the leading edge of the improvement in the human condition.
You want to teach people about the failures of their country – go for it. But if you fail to teach the successes – and more importantly the ideas that lead to those successes you condemn the students you are teaching to lives worse than their parents.
Those of you on the left live under the delusion that the impressive standard of living of humans today is automatic.
It is not.
You claim to want to teach DEI/CRT to improve our society. But you are not prepared to accept that DEI must be judged on its ability to do exactly that.
“ Teachers are expected to cover what is critical.”
That’s not exactly true. They teach the basics. And oftentimes the basics are sanitized summaries of more complex historical fact. It’s largely taught on a positive note which is in itself disingenuous.
“ Regardless, the purpose of education is not to teach students to hate themselves or their country.”
And they are not being taught to hate themselves or their country. They are being taught that our history is not as rosy or positive as it’s commonly known. That should be the subject. To teach them that acknowledging the ugly truth of the past is not about blaming them for it or accusing them of being oppressors. It’s the BS that the right peddles to claim some sort of victimhood mentality that they are being singled out for accusation. It’s patently not true.
“ You want to teach people about the failures of their country – go for it. But if you fail to teach the successes – and more importantly the ideas that lead to those successes you condemn the students you are teaching to lives worse than their parents.”
We should be teaching people about the failures of the country and how they are still affecting society today. That is not saying we shouldn’t ignore the successes or that they are being condemned because there are successes. You’re expressing a fear of acknowledgment that those failures are significantly relevant to today’s issues in society. It’s not about laying blame or accusing others of being responsible. It’s about recognizing that it IS an issue that is relevant and it IS rooted in our history. That’s it. Too many are quick to tie offense because they believe they are being held responsible for something they are not and use that as an excuse to deny certain truths that can shed light to new perspectives about issues in the present.
The Germans did this by acknowledging the truth about their role in WWII. It’s a shameful and uncomfortable reality for them and it’s required to be taught in every school so they don’t forget how wrong it was. We don’t do that with our own history. We either bury our heads in the sand, turn a blind eye, or just force ignorance on everyone about it. There’s serious value in facing the reality of how the continuing attitudes and views of our past affect the present.
“ Those of you on the left live under the delusion that the impressive standard of living of humans today is automatic.”
BS. Nobody on the left says that. None. Zero. You make a LOT of assumptions from ignorance due to your clear bias and animosity towards anything from the left. That is to be expected from libertarians who live in literal terms absolute terms. Unfortunately that’s not reality.
“ You claim to want to teach DEI/CRT to improve our society. But you are not prepared to accept that DEI must be judged on its ability to do exactly that.”
I claim that we should teach it because it’s perspective that CAN improve our society. YOU are not prepared to accept that DEI is not what you think it is. I already know how it’s being judged. From ignorance. That is the problem.
@Svelaz
Wake up. EVERYONE’s history “has a LOT of bad things to say”. Who has been denying that?
The problem is what YOU want to push is NOT history as generally accepted. It is an agenda (‘school children need to be taught they are oppressors?). And typical of anyone with an agenda and little substance, you attack opponents. And because your agenda has little substance, is intolerant of opposing views and resorts public shaming as a tool to convince others to accept it…… to has to be fought tooth and nail. Russia did not, look what they got. China did not, look what they got. Cuba did not, look what they got.
“ The problem is what YOU want to push is NOT history as generally accepted.”
No. What I believe should be included are the more uncomfortable aspects of our history. What is generally accepted is generally accepted because it has never been questioned or faced with the realities of our history’s ugliness as well. It’s simply been taken at face value that what you have been told as a kid because an adult is supposed to know “what really happened.” I get that this is not going to be something that can be grasped by those in K-8 grades. They are NOT teaching that in those grade despite what is said by the right. Because that’s what they want everyone else to believe. Kids are NOT being taught that they are oppressors. You have no idea what the substance of the subject is and that is the problem. The accusations leveled at those arguing that CRT is not being taught in school lack substance. It’s pure allegation and innuendo. The majority of people have no idea what CRT is or that it’s not just ONE theory, but multiple theories and yes some are extreme, but also most have merit and are worthy of discussion in high school. NOT elementary school. We require students in high school to learn and understand why Shakespeare’s writing is so important and complicated. We expect students to be able to understand complex narratives like those in Shakespeare’s stories, but not CRT? Please. Besides, kids are not gonna care whether Shakespeare or CRT teaches. Them. The majority see these courses as hurdles to get to the end. That’s not the teacher’s fault, that’s the students and their parents.
“ And because your agenda has little substance, is intolerant of opposing views and resorts public shaming as a tool to convince others to accept it…… ”
That’s not my agenda. It’s the agenda of the right. CRT is an opposing view. It’s a different perspective and the right is opposed to it because it’s uncomfortable and claims it shames kids into believing they are somehow responsible for the atrocities committed in the past. The right is public shaming teachers and those who merely are expressing a different point of view. You’re projecting exactly what the right is doing, not the left.
blah blah blah…howard zinn…blah blah blah
Leave the kids alone, lefty…can you do that? Sicko.
“No. What I believe should be included are the more uncomfortable aspects of our history. “
Take slavery. There, Svelaz is correct but lacks comprehension of the most important things for today. He gets his facts and opinions mixed up, ending with a mishmash representing a poor education and a silly person.
Slavery was terrible, but what we fail to teach the young is that historically, slavery existed all over the world. There is also a failure to teach that it was the British “white man” who started passing laws to end slavery. It existed in the American colonies and later under the Constitution, which was the failure of America. America paid big time. Over one-half of a million people died from the Civil War, while the Southern half ended up destroyed. But, slavery and the slave trade continued in Africa under the “black man.”
Slavery was insufficient to a minority of Americans from the South who decided to enslave the black person once again under Jim Crow laws. Most people fail to realize that that set of laws passed because people naturally refused to follow the racist path of the Democrat Party. It was their refusal to be so heinous that those laws were a necessary force. Most people are decent, but the Democrats wanted power and took it by legally enslaving the “black man.”
Democrats are not Stupid. They recognize that enslaving people has to change with the times, so Democrats changed. Instead of enslaving blacks politically and legally, they changed tactics and created the Democrat Welfare Plantation. In the Democrat “white man” way of looking at things, blacks were inferior. They believe a black person cannot compete with a Democrat white one without the black artificially propped up by his white owner. That policy is a failure as well, which is one reason why Democrats hate Thomas Sowell, Clarence Thomas, Herman Cain, Ben Carson, and many others who disprove the Democrat theory and contempt for the black population.
Those great men demonstrate that the “black man” does not need the “white man” leading him by his nose. The black man can compete and do well without such nonsense. The proof is out there, but we fail to teach it, which is wrong. We can teach statistics and math while showing how the Great Society inflicted permanent damage on the black population, whether it be the marriage rate, education, advanced degrees, financial success, etc.
When I was young, one could walk unafraid in Harlem, where the black inhabitants were not unaccustomed to wearing hats, jackets, and ties while their streets were empty of juvenile delinquents.
Yes, Svelaz, we need to teach more about this subject and the cultural genocide Democrats practiced on black people. It is the type of person you are that Hitler looked toward to find out how to kill Jews. You are not black, but you are a failure, and you need a black man aware of history to teach you how to arise from your intellectual slum and bring you back to reality.
The left does not allow debate.
YOU are not interested in debate.
I have tried to have an actual debate with you many times over a variety of issues.
Your idea of debate, is to lie, to evade correcting lies, to duck reality.
You want to advocate for your prefered values, but you do not want to take responsibility for the consequences.
You want to attack the west, this country for its past failings – but you are unwilling to face up to your own failings, and the failings of your ideology.
You want to teach the evils of slavery in the west. Slavery has been the universal reality of 300,000 years of human history.
The concept that Slavery is wrong, originates with the rise in the importance of the value of free will that took hold and grew in the west.
The west was the first to reject slavery, and ultimately responsible for the reduction and near elimination of slavery in the modern world.
All the things you think are bad, that CRT teaches are bad are values that the WEST gave to the world.
Your fixation on opressed/oppressor uber alles ignores the FACT that the philosophy, culture, ideology that YOU denigrate is responsible for the entire improvement of humanity.
While at the same time you ignore that ALL grievance based philosophies have lead to violence, murder and totalitarianism or chaos or both.
Yes, CRT should be taught – As one of many failed greviance based ideologies that lead to rather than away from human suffering.
“ The left does not allow debate.
YOU are not interested in debate.”
False.
John, I have ‘debated’ many times with you. But you resort to name calling and deflection whenever you end up with in impasse. It’s you who gives up. Not I. Then you falsely accuse me for the failures of the left as if I did them all which is disingenuous.
“ Your idea of debate, is to lie, to evade correcting lies, to duck reality.”
No, I haven’t. You have on many occasions done the same including lying and ducking reality. You’re no innocent.
“ You want to advocate for your prefered values, but you do not want to take responsibility for the consequences.”
BS. That’s not true. Your animosity toward anything left of your values corrupts your objectivity and reason. I make my points and stick to them when I believe them to be correct. That’s not avoiding responsibility.
“ You want to attack the west, this country for its past failings – but you are unwilling to face up to your own failings, and the failings of your ideology.”
No, I’m not attacking the west and this country for its past failings. Don’t conflate criticism with attack, a common tactic of those on the right. Acknowledging the wrongs of the past and learning from them is not an attack on the west or this county. You and others who oppose those points of view or perspectives about our history are the ones unwilling to face up to the truth of how the wrongs of the past still affect the present. That is not an accusation that people today are responsible for it.
“ Your fixation on opressed/oppressor uber alles ignores the FACT that the philosophy, culture, ideology that YOU denigrate is responsible for the entire improvement of humanity.”
My fixation? John, there you go again. I’m not the left. I’m not doing what you accuse the left of doing. You have no clue nor idea what how I apply my philosophy. You’re accusing me of something you do on a daily basis. That’s a serious case of projection on your part.
It’s clearly apparent that you have a very skewed view of things based on your animosity towards anything “left” of your views.
“ While at the same time you ignore that ALL grievance based philosophies have lead to violence, murder and totalitarianism or chaos or both.”
I don’t ignore them. I understand that they are not all what you claim them to be. The right depends on grievance philosophies and have led to violence. Voter fraud leading to rioting on the capitol, Trump rallies leading to assault on protesters, and right wing white supremacists inciting violence over perceived grievances. CRT should be taught AND understood, by delving into the substance of the subject and not just the allegations against it.
There’s no difference in whether it’s taught in high school or college. These are college freshmen. Literally seniors from high school.
Daniel, Svelaz has no intention of losing his path to grooming elementary aged schoolchildren.
In this instance he uses the term “Literally”, as if no one will notice that a college freshman is not literally a high school senior. Left unchallenged, he will go on to claim: a high school senior is “literally” a junior, a junior a sophomore and a sophomore a freshman. And before you know it, he will have greased the skids from college to entry into the 6th grade and below.
Svelaz’s burning desire for elementary-aged schoolchildren to have every imaginable pornographic book in school libraries is the fever dream of groomers. And there should be no doubt that Svelaz is “literally” a groomer.
OLLY,
“And there should be no doubt that Svelaz is “literally” a groomer.”
Well said.
He and other woke leftists who want pornography in elementary schools need to be called out for what they are: Evil.
Upstatefarmer, those who make false accusations because they don’t have substance in their arguments demonstrates how deep they wallow in their ignorance.
Nobody is putting pornography in elementary schools. You’re being taken advantage of by those on the far right because you’re gullible enough to buy into what they are telling you. They WANT you to buy into their narrative because you won’t question their credibility. They depend on that.
So spewing the “groomer” epithet only serves to avoid the substance of an argument you are ignorant of. It’s truly sad to watch.
Nobody is putting pornography in elementary schools?! Then what are these books that are being “banned” from them? The ones whose content cannot be shown on TV or reproduced in newspapers, but you insist elementary school libraries must carry?
Obviously, the difference is that JT is teaching to graduate students and not high school students or the geniuses at Bakersfield. There is a reason that the left must get their propaganda into the minds of the young and impressionable, because no one else would give it a second thought.
Why can’t the left leave the kids alone??? Because the left is a bunch of sick abusers.
Don’t kid yourself. DEI may have ‘officially’ come on the scene in the last few years but it has been practiced for decades in higher level education. The products of those institutions so engaged have been teaching the “young and impressionable” for some time. Those “graduate students” are ripe fodder for additional organic fertilization.
You are correct. That conditioning in college is the reason there is a push to get everyone to college – it offsets the communities that care about their HS/ES kids that do not allow the garbage the left pushes into their schools
Neil,
“Why can’t the left leave the kids alone??? Because the left is a bunch of sick abusers.”
Well said.
That is why we need to call them out for what they are and fight against them at every turn.
There is a difference between Professor Turley teaching law students CRT as one theory among many on how to approach issues, and a third grade teacher lining up her class by the shade of their skin tone and teaching them as a purported fact that the lighter skinned students have privilege over the darker students and that they all have to atone for that oppression.
Those state laws prohibit the teaching of CRT (in this context CRT is just used as a euphemism for race essentialism) to younger students as a fact, when it is just one of many differing schools of thought.
They are not teaching CRT in that context. None are. The only people claiming that are the ones who are offended and opposed to the idea and are demonizing it for and badmouthing it for the benefit of the gullible and ignorant.
CRT is not a euphemism for anything. It’s being used to smear a legitimate issue that makes those who don’t want to face uncomfortable truths about our own history and force others into the same silo of denial. Bigots and white supremacists don’t like the idea of being part of that ugly history.
Svelaz, the failure of teachers today, is self evident. The ability of graduates to perform the core tasks necescary for adults has declined dramatically over the past 4 decades.
Whatever teachers have been doing over that Time – it has been failure.
Whatever teachers were doing before it is better.
DEI and CRT and gender nonsense are clearly atleast part of that failure.
No CRT is not a euphamism. It is self evidently a failure. It is racism pure and simple.
It is a lunatic stupid proposition.
If we accept CRT at face value. If we accept that the world divides into the oppressed and oppressors,
That the success of the west and ultimately the entire world rests on the subjugation and oppression by one group of others.
Then ultimately we must conclude that oppression has been successful.
It has not merely succeeded in elevating the oppressors more than we have ever seen in history – but also the oppressed.
There are only two choices regarding CRT.
The first is that the “evils” it exposes are dwarfed by the good that it hides from.
The alternative is that the “evils” that CRT exposes are fundimental truths that have lead to the greatest improvement in the human condition ever.
“ Svelaz, the failure of teachers today, is self evident.”
It’s not the failure of teachers. Teachers are required to teach according to an approved curriculum and teach to the test. It’s not their fault. If teachers were left to teach in how they know best and what works for them then there would be improvement. But the reality is they are relegated to teaching to the test and standardized testing. Because making sure students can pass the test is more important than making sure they are really learning their subject matter. Before, teachers were not required to teach to the test or ensure kids just passed a standardized test. It’s not the teacher’s fault. The right is constantly attacking teachers and demonizing them for perceived evils, such as grooming and indoctrination. They are blaming the teachers and wonder why teachers not teaching.
“ No CRT is not a euphamism. It is self evidently a failure. It is racism pure and simple.
It is a lunatic stupid proposition.”
No John, it’s not racism full stop. It’s not a failure either. How can it be? It’s a series of theories that do indeed have relevance to our history. That’s not in dispute. It’s a debate that should be had in high school class rooms and college. It’s no more complex than having students read and understand Shakespeare.
“ If we accept CRT at face value. If we accept that the world divides into the oppressed and oppressors,”
Nobody is required to accept it at face value John. The far right is making that claim. CRT is not one monolithic theory. It’s a series of theories. Some discuss a role between oppressors and the oppressed. Which is true about the nature of slavery. It’s not an accusation against those living in the present. The far right wants others to believe it is because it is part of their victimhood narrative.
You’re free to believe it’s stupid and wrong. That doesn’t mean it’s true. There are many valid issues brought up by CRT that are worthy of discussion and debate and many are perfectly fine subjects to discuss at the high school level. It’s the demagoguing of the whole concept as a means to silence an opposing view that is the real issue by the right.
“ There are only two choices regarding CRT.
The first is that the “evils” it exposes are dwarfed by the good that it hides from.
The alternative is that the “evils” that CRT exposes are fundimental truths that have lead to the greatest improvement in the human condition ever.”
No, there are more choices than the arbitrary number you put forth. The evil it exposes about our past put greater context and substance to the issues we experience today on social issues. Of course some good comes from it, but that’s not the end to it. There’s still more that can be gleaned from it and that’s the offense to those who don’t want to face the fact that the issues experienced back then are still relevant today.
It also the choice that CRT exposes the fundamental truths that they are still the causes of current issues in our society. Because the majority have never been fully resolved and dealt with. They have been kicked down the road almost indefinitely for fear of acknowledging it. Because many fear they will be held responsible for the actions of those from the past. In order to ally those fears discussion of CRT MUST be had so that it is more clearly understood. But it seems those on the right prefer the comfort of ignorance and denial.
@Svelaz
You are correct! The Democratic Party “Bigots and white supremacists” have buried their ugly history for way too long! And the burial activity is ongoing and extensive:
-The Democratic Party was the party of slavery.
-The Democratic Party fought abolition tooth and nail.
-The Democratic Party instigated a civil war in the United States.
-The Klu Klux Klan was founded by members of the Democratic Party.
-The Klu Klux Klan for over a century was the paramilitary wing of the Democratic Party.
-The Klu Klux Klan found a revival under President Woodrow Wilson.
-Re-segregation of the federal government was prominent feature of Woodrow Wilson/the Democratic Party.
-Woodrow Wilson, a Democratic POTUS, bragged about how he kept minorities out of the Ivy League university he led before becoming POTUS.
-FDR fostered antisemitic policies that resulted in the deaths of thousands of European Jews.
-FDR rounded up Japanese American citizens and placed them in concentration camps for no other reason than their surnames.
-FDR and his sycophants initiated the practice of red-lining that hurt blacks for generations.
-FDR, JFK, LBJ, Obama and now Biden have all used government agencies to target their opponents. For example, look up the activities directed at Martin Luther King, Jr.
-Most of those monuments that were torn down by BLM and their sycophants a few years ago, were representations of Democratic Party members fighting for their racist and “Bigots and white supremacists” policies.
-Biden has historically promoted racist activities as in opposing busing. Just ask Kamala Harris.
-Biden, as senator, promoted legislation that ended up seeing a disproportionate number of blacks being jailed for drug related crimes.
Bring the “uncomfortable truths” on! One assumed that those “uncomfortable truths” were being taught in all levels of schooling. Apparently not, based on your naive assessment. Instead, our teachers appear to be focused on ‘gender issues’ and the associated grooming. Give me a break! My guess is what you label as a “silo of denial” is really nothing more than the laziness and ignorance of teachers in general and thus their predisposition to being used by hate mongers with agendas.
Yet he still ignores state governments like Florida to ban the teaching or discussion of CRT in schools.
HIGH SCHOOLS. If you have just good points, you would not be forced to deceive on every time post.
You act like CRT just materialized this morning. But is goes back some years. Coming to the for front during covid. Parents discovered watching Zoom classes, that public school kids were in fact being taught CRT. Parents brought it to administrators. Administrators lied and said CRT was not happening in schools. Leftist blog tolls constantly lied and said CRT was not even being taught at the High school level.
Now you have your little girl panties all in twist because The Legislative and Executive Branch in the State of Florida set the curricula of Flordia public schools, to eliminate something the Schools say they never taught anyway. EXACTLY the way a representative Republic is supposed to work. If you dont like that, leave Florida, or do the work to write different laws. Playing keyboard warrior (poorly, I might add) accomplishes nothing.
CRT is a largely discredited THEORY.
College Profs teach all sorts of things.Or use to. They used to teach about the Holocaust. But those 6 million Jews gassed in Germany, by the NAZIS? Nope pushed aside to make room for Pro-noun instruction. Hence college kids today believe flying Jets into skyscrapers, is justified behavior….AND YOU support and join in on the idiocy.
“ CRT is a largely discredited THEORY.”
No, it’s not. CRT is largely demonized by those who don’t understand it or know what it is. Then you have the bigots and white supremacists telling YOU what it means which most gullibly take for granted rather than figure it out for yourself.
“ College Profs teach all sorts of things.Or use to. They used to teach about the Holocaust. But those 6 million Jews gassed in Germany, by the NAZIS? Nope pushed aside to make room for Pro-noun instruction. Hence college kids today believe flying Jets into skyscrapers, is justified behavior….AND YOU support and join in on the idiocy.‘
Again, NO. This is the kind of BS that gets to be “learned” thru pure ignorance. CRT was NOT happening in schools. The claim was pushed by entities such as the proud boys and other white supermarkets groups to scare parents into demonizing the theory because it does have merit. High school students are smart enough to understand the differences and nuances, especially when a teacher is aware of the complexity and controversial nature of the subject. Teachers are being smeared and targeted for the mere attempt to explain it to their curious students. But state legislatures are creating laws that threaten teachers if they even attempt to explain it much less discuss it. All because it presents an uncomfortable view of our history and exposes students to the realities of how this nation came to be. Rather than let teachers explain it, legislators and governors prefer to threaten them with termination. We all want students to be able to think critically and learn to distinguish act from opinion, but don’t like the idea that students are taught that concept using controversial subjects because they are uncomfortable.
Conservatives and many republicans complain that the new generation is too woke and ignorant. They aren’t. They are finding out that they have been lied to or felt deceived when what they learned in high school is mostly whitewashed BS. It’s better if they learn the uncomfortable truths and ugliness of our history early than be shocked and appalled later during college. If parents want to shelter their children from such views they can always tell them it’s BS and ignore what the teacher is telling them or home school them. Don’t force everyone into their silo of ignorance through legislation and threats to teachers jobs.
. All because it presents an uncomfortable view of our history and exposes students to the realities of how this nation came to be. Rather than let teachers explain it, legislators and governors prefer to threaten them with termination.
In a representative republic, the people, through their elected representatives determine what is taught in Public School.
Get out of your moms basement and do the work of changing the law. You getting everything wrong on the internet is not convincing a single person. It serves only to expose your ignorance.
Your teachers cannot teach urban blacks to read (let alone to do math) and you’re debating crt. Look, your BS is completely transparent. crt is a sideshow to divert everyone from the DoEd’s failings since its inception, from teachers’ unions failings at anything other than graft, and at families’ failings at protecting their kids against both the teachers;’ unions and their idiot neighbors’ kids.
You can rant about the right of teachers to teach crt or the need for it or the benevolence of it, but you are full of shit, you waste everyone’s time with your twittwer-speak nonsense, and you and your ilk have wasted entire communities because of your cavalier attitudes towards how to actually raise and educate kids.
The left has had 60+ years ruling over education in this country and it has done EXACTLY THE SAME THING it does every single time it gets power – ruined what it was supposed to shepherd. You shameless, self-righteous, dunning-kruger afflicted aholes need to stop pretending you are anything except agents for failure, corruption, and decay.
CRT isn’t going to make this nation more competitive, crt isn’t going to get more than 5% proficiency in baltimore city, crt isn’t going to prove obamma isn’t the racist POS he is…it is simply another diversion from democrat failure.
PS: It’s also a great way for “ngos” to continue to siphon funds from lgbt (who generally don’t send many kids to schools) now that gay marriage is largely a nothingburger anymore.
Its like every day Svelass wakes up with the goal of posting something dumber than he did the day before.
Now a first year post grad student is “literally” a high school senior.
Moron.
You do not seem to grasp what that means.
It does not mean advocate for – as the left usually means when discussing teaching.
In Physics I was taught the philgiston theory. Thomason plumb pudding theory. and a wide variety of other failed theories of physics.
While educators need to use the precious time they have teaching wisely and efficiently. And every failed theory does not merit attention.
Many do. DEI is wrong. It is litterally evil and will always lead to disaster and tyranny. Its fkaws require only the least understanding of history, logic, human nature or reality.
Most everything the left pushes suffers from magical thinking failures.
Regardless, we should absolutely be teaching DEI and Communism and socialism. All complete and total disasters.
Along side Free Will, Freedom, and free markets.
“ DEI is wrong. It is litterally evil and will always lead to disaster and tyranny. Its fkaws require only the least understanding of history, logic, human nature or reality.”
It’s certainly not evil nor will it lead to tryanny. Pure hogwash. Your melodramatic exaggerations about what DEI is are dependent on the narrative that the far right and white supremacists are pushing.
The denigration of the concept is no different than the denigration of integration in the 60’s. It’s all rooted in white supremacy and its ugly history in this country. They don’t like the idea of multiculturalism and equal rights for all.
“It’s certainly not evil nor will it lead to tryanny. “
A Jewish boy born to a poor immigrant family is labelled an oppressor. That is racist. Are you a racist?
“the concept is no different than the denigration of integration in the 60’s”
Do you mean the denigration before its enactment or after decades of seeing the results?
CRT and DEI have no place in K-12 or public schools. Just as we do not teach Cosmology in K-12.
Teachers have about 180 hours each year to advance students abilities in reading, writing, math and sceince.
Subjects we are already failing to provide the education necescary before graduation.
It is not “censorship” for government to disctate that failed government schools will focus on the basics that are necescary for adult life.
Svelaz writes: “Obviously, if the professor teaches it in his class he would be well aware that it does not teach what most conservatives and republicans claim it does.”.
As the great Justice Bork once wrote, “It is at this point the didactic marches stumbles to a conclusory stampede.” There’s distinction with a difference between merely presenting CRT as an idea and teaching what its premises and tenets are, on one hand, and peddling its ideas, premises and tenets as fact, on the other. The objection states express to the “teaching” of CRT to their public school students is, as a threshold matter, that it’s presented as the latter. Perhaps more to the point, however, is this: the Left has always and forever defended CRT by denying CRT. That is, the Left has ALWAYS claimed CRT is not taught to grades 12 and lower, that CRT is strictly a matter of law school curricula. That is, CRT, according to the Left, is only rightly taught by scholars like Jonathan in law schools like GW.
@Svelaz
You got it wrong. The very uncomfortable part about CRT advocates is that those advocates attempt to censor any opposing views via name calling and shaming. And the sad reality is that those same advocates can not successfully debate their ‘issues’ in a truly public forum so they instead target children. And you claim “free speech” to push your agenda on children? Not surprisingly, you seem to use the terms “free speech” and indoctrination interchangeably.
Name calling and public shaming… how Maoist of you, Svelaz!
I would imagine that any wise educator would teach about the evils of things such as slavery. hate-speech legislation, anti-Semitism AND – CRT as a precaution to emphasize the evil of such ideologies. Just like some wokester to turn his edification of evil into some sort of hypocritical condemnation. Nice try but you lose.
I fail to understand why people are being unnecessarily polite to Svelaz. He appears as a groomer, a danger to young children, and should be kept away from them and schools. Everyone already repeated what was said before, explaining that CRT is racist, pitting one phony group against another, oppressors and the oppressed, based on the political whims of racist despots.
Instead, I will point out a simple thing that demonstrates Svelaz cannot utilize critical thinking skills.
“Professor Turley teachers CRT. … ban the teaching or discussion of CRT in schools.”
There is a difference between a public school and a law school. Public school is mandatory for young children, while young men and women attend law school after the completion of high school and college.
Groomers do what they do. They do not permit their stupidity to interfere with their grooming.
Someday in the future these young people will wake up and realize they are working for foreigners who were not born here. These foreigners will come from a culture that has more discipline and will have gone through an education system that sticks to the subject matter and doesn’t deviate to include any of this equity or inclusivity BS. This is the most powerful country in the world. We have the most powerful military in the world. We have the world’s biggest economy. No army can attack us and occupy us. Our biggest problem is ourselves.
I see that DEI has done a great job in stopping an explosion in anti-Semitism on US campuses…NOT. Irony of irony is many of those liberals who have been advocating DEI are now the victims of the explosion of campus anti-Semitism. So sad. So frightening.
Bakersfield also requires that faculty “promote and incorporate culturally affirming DEIA and anti-racist principles to nurture and create a respectful, inclusive, and equitable learning and work environment.”
Except for the Joos. . . for them its “from the river to the sea”, treatment. (ie, extermination)
I just cant fathom how so many people with doctorates, can’t together gather enough ability to use logic the BELIEVE the lies they tell themselves, while threatening all those that expose their idiocy.
What employer would want to hire a graduate from these DEI colleges and expect excellence?
I would not!
I have no doubt that the DNC will be flying in teams of lawyers shortly to appeal Judge Christopher Baker’s decision (if they haven’t already). They can’t afford to have anyone, especially a federal judge, stray from the communist party line.
There are more and more policies being passed and implemented, the sum total of which, serve to restrict, roll back or contradict, Constitutional guaranteed rights.
Да, товарищ комиссар! (Yes, Comrade Commissar!)
Is not DEI simply rebranding of Marxism? Change a few words here and there, slap on some lipstick and presto!! You have DEI and the DEI officers now replace the Soviet Comrade Commissar. The Marxist views everything through the lens of “Oppressed” and Oppressor.” They are incapable of any original thoughts.
“Second verse, same as the first.” Those who push communism are usually living the good life. While those who mindlessly follow do their bidding. Without engaging their brains. They would be first in the Kool-Aid line.
Cults and cult leaders often use euphemisms to describe what they do. What is a community organizer? Answer, a Marxist who divides people up into simplistic categories such as oppressed and oppressors.
E.M. That was an absolutely great post.
Agree.
Not related to this specific case but to the larger issue of First Amendment Freedom of Speech: This morning the DC Court of Appeals is hearing Trump’s Appeal of the Gag Order imposed upon him by Judge Chutkan:
Order for hearing: https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/67891889/1208568105/united-states-v-donald-trump/
Trump Reply Brief (filed on Friday) summarizing the issues and arguments that the appellate court will be entertaining, scheduled to begin at 9::30am eastern time:
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/67891889/1208572136/united-states-v-donald-trump/
Thanks for posting the Reply Brief, which appears to be well done. If Trump loses he will no doubt appeal to SCOTUS.
No sweat. I think the Reply Brief is superb, although most publications — including The Messenger, where Turley is a regular contributor — don’t give the appeal much of a chance. But then, all of those jounalistic opinions were written BEFORE Trump’s final Reply Brief was submitted.
It will be an interesting test in a district that is generally hostile to Trump.
“The mind is a terrible thing to waste.” We’re so accustomed in 2023 America to censorship and wrongspeak and other totalitarian tactics to actually stop people from speaking at all that we forget that the university was always supposed to be a kind of petrie dish of thought. Academia should be the last bastion of free thought and free speech and instead it was and is the first to cave. To people who have never had a “real job” outside academia, the fear of not getting tenure is sufficient to induce them to embrace the most abject forms of intellectual self-abasement. The end result of all of this will be a renaissance in academia, as the old ridiculous systems and structures implode and stronger ones take their place. The future is bright. The present is messy, but necessary.
and that will mean NOTHING to fascist Democrats
I went to a parent’s weekend at a top small college…where the President said at the Parent weekend…given the Supreme courts ruling on race based admission they would JUST use the written portion of the application and if you mention you are black…that would GREATLY increase your chance of getting in…as BLACKS extremely rarely can attain admissions just on academics. So OPENLY going AGAINST what the Court Ruling
Time to end all Federal Aid and Loan Guarantees to colleges….let democrats fund their FAILURE!
I surely hope you re-evaluated paying for your child to be brainwashed at this school.
I surely hope you reported this to one or more of the public interest organizations that sue over such policies, so they can find an appropriate plaintiff and take legal action.
I’m not even going to touch this subject matter.
And I am sure that most other people want nothing to do with it as well.
DEI is the hypocrisy that’s d̸e̸s̸t̸r̸o̸y̸i̸n̸g̸ destroyed this Country.
By its implementation, it DIES!