Years ago, I wrote a column denouncing the decision of the University of California system to drop standardized testing in the cause of greater racial diversity. Now, hundreds of UC mathematics faculty have called for a return to such testing after reports showing a thirtyfold increase in students with math skills below high school level. Continue reading “Doing the Math: UC Faculty Call for the Return to Standardized Testing After Shocking Decline in Skills”
Category: Academia
We previously discussed the recent incident involving President Michael Kotlikoff, who was accused of hitting a protester while trying to leave a parking lot after an event on the Israeli-Palestinian issues. He was cleared by a university investigation, but the Cornell Chapter of the American Association of University Professors has condemned Kortikoff, who was merely trying to evade protesters who surrounded his car.
In the global anti-free speech movement, Maria Ressa stands apart. The 2021 Nobel Peace Prize winner and Columbia professor has used her celebrated position to call for censorship in the name of tolerance and diversity. She is showered with accolades as she calls for curtailing speech with a highly sophisticated, though at times Orwellian, pitch. In the cause of tolerance, she calls for viewpoint intolerance, particularly in the regulation of speech on the Internet.
That was evident this week as she spoke at Dartmouth’s Division of Institutional Diversity and Equity Social Justice Awards. The most insidious aspect of this campaign is how academic and other groups regularly portray Ressa as a free speech advocate.
This week, Hasan Kwame Jeffries, an Ohio State University history professor and the brother of House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, joined the mantra of many on the left for citizens to rise up and fight the system “by any means necessary.” However, Jeffries added a menacing element in calling for citizens to emulate John Brown, who murdered white farmers who supported slavery. He is not the first academic to use Brown as a model for political action today. Continue reading ““He was right then. He is right now”: Hakeem Jeffries’ Brother Calls on Citizens to Emulate John Brown”
Cultural appropriation and microaggressions are common complaints on campuses across the country, including most recently an allegation of cultural appropriation raised after a drum line formed at an event at UC Davis. Now, Miami law professor J. Janewa Osei-Tutu has suggested codifying cultural appropriation claims as copyright violations. It is the type of incredible proposal that is eagerly embraced inside, and largely ignored outside, of higher education.
Penn State has been under scrutiny over its internal ‘Strategic Plan Update’ which contains sweeping anti-racism agendas, including a commitment to “recruit, retain, teach and research according to antiracist principles’ and adopt an ‘antiracist critical pedagogy.” The plan to expand employment opportunities for underrepresented candidates has prompted objections over its possible unconstitutionality in light of Supreme Court precedent. However, a tape is now circulating that raises concerns about the use of its mandatory REPL course, which stands for “Race and the Equal Protection of the Laws.” Continue reading ““Teach Through the Lens of Enslavement and Racism”: Penn State’s Anti-Racism Course Draws Criticism”
Yesterday, we discussed how UCLA medical school has been accused of racial discrimination in admissions. Now Yale School of Medicine has also been accused of “intentionally select[ing] applicants based on their race” in knowing circumvention of Supreme Court precedent. Continue reading “Yale Medical School Accused of Racial Discrimination in Admissions”
We previously discussed a disturbing account of how medical students at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) were subjected to a bizarre class where one of the university’s “activists-in-residence” showered them with anti-Semitic postings and racist rhetoric. Now, the Justice Department has found that the university engaged in systemic racial discrimination in the admission of medical students. Given the university’s history, it is hardly surprising, but it remains unclear how the university will respond to the findings.
After students and faculty at Georgetown successfully campaigned to cancel commencement speaker Morton Schapiro over his support for Israel, there is a similar movement to cancel NYU Professor and author Jonathan Haidt as the graduation speaker at New York University. Haidt is being targeted for his opposition to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) and, ironically, his opposition to cancel culture. Continue reading “NYU Students Demand Cancellation of Haidt as Commencement Speaker Over Opposition to DEI and Cancel Culture”
After the Virginia Supreme Court rejected the results of the recent Democratic effort to effectively wipe out Republican representation in the state, Democratic pundits and activists have latched onto a proposal by Michigan State Law Professor Quinn Yeargain to gut the court by forcing the retirement of the current justices, appointing liberal activists, and then reversing the opinion. It is extremely telling that some are pushing the raw muscle play to retake power in Washington, particularly in light of the calls to pack the United States Supreme Court once the party is back in control. Continue reading “Sack and Pack: Law Professor Suggests Extreme Method to Save Virginia Redistricting”
I am having a tough week. I was recently compelled to write a column expressing skepticism about the prosecution of former FBI Director James Comey for shell art posted on social media, despite being one of his longest and most vocal critics. Now, I find myself having to write a column in defense of former Northwestern University President Morton Schapiro, who was just dumped as the commencement speaker for Georgetown Law School. I have criticized Schapiro for years as a major force in destroying the intellectual diversity in higher education. Continue reading “The Mob Comes for Morton Schapiro: Georgetown Law School Replaces Pro-Israel Speaker After Protests” 
Berkeley has long been viewed as one of the most viewpoint-intolerant universities in the United States. Conservatives and those with opposing views are rarely invited and often face protests or cancellations. Some of us have long accused the Berkeley administrators and faculty of fostering this culture of intolerance. That culture was again on full display in the cancellation of an event with Jeffrey Dean, Chief Scientist at Google, in Jarvis Auditorium on Friday, May 1. The passive position taken by the campus police speaks volumes about why Berkeley is an academic echo chamber. The university reportedly maintained that it will take no action in preventing such disruptions absent violence. In adopting this position, the university effectively enables a heckler’s veto. The inexplicable position would leave the level of permitted speech to the mob at Berkeley. Continue reading “Berkeley Refuses to Act as Pro-Palestinian Protesters Disrupt Campus Event”
I recently spoke on Rage and the Republic at Cornell University and posted about the beauty of the school with the return of flowers and birds in the Spring. What I fortunately missed was the seasonal return of harassing protesters. That experience was reserved this week for Cornell President Michael Kotlikoff, who is now embroiled in controversy over a parking-lot confrontation. Continue reading “Cornell President Accused of Hitting An Anti-Israel Protester After Being Surrounded in Parking Lot”
The key to surreptitious workarounds is to keep them surreptitious.
That may be the case for Georgetown University, which just had one of its former admissions officers acknowledge efforts to circumvent the Supreme Court’s rulings against the unconstitutional use of race in college admissions. Continue reading “Former Georgetown Admissions Officer Discusses Use of Essays to Circumvent Affirmative Action Rulings”
Yesterday, my campus at George Washington University was the scene of yet another alleged anti-Israel attack. A student was reportedly injured by chemicals contained in dropped vials containing an unknown substance. The University is still looking into the incident, according to a brief statement. However, given the history of anti-Semitic protests on campus, the incident is chilling for many on our campus. Continue reading “GW Student Injured in Possible Chemical Attack During Israel Fest”