We recently discussed how Yale faculty reached academic nirvana after years of purging departments of conservatives and Republicans. The university finally showed zero political donations to Republicans. Now Princeton can claim that it has succeeded in a similar cleansing, according to a new study by Princetonians for Free Speech (PFS). The study shows that 98% of political donations went to Democrats or Democrat-affiliated groups and 0% went to Republicans or affiliated groups. Continue reading “The Purge: Princeton Faculty Reach Perfect Zero in Support for Republicans”
Category: Academia
The prison abolitionist movement has been gaining steam across the country with the rise of radical left candidates such as New York’s Darializa Avila Chevalier, who will soon be a member of Congress. Many have asked what will replace prisons in the post-carceral society. Seattle University law professor Dean Spade has the answer: care and accountability circles. If you are having that My Cousin Vinny moment of “you were serious about Dat?,” the answer is, yes, they are indeed very serious about that. Continue reading “The Abolitionist Movement: Professor Argues for “Care and Accountability Circles” as an Alternative to Prisons”
Will Rogers once observed that “Everything is funny, as long as it’s happening to somebody else.” No one ever personified Rogers’ rule as much as University of California, Irvine instructor Matt Goldman, who cracked everyone up this week by joking about celebrating the anniversary of the assassination of Charlie Kirk by alluding to the possible assassination of independent journalist Nick Shirley. Continue reading ““The Funniest Thing”: Academic Jokes About Celebrating the “Kirkiversary” by Assassinating Nick Shirley”
“You better get ready for … war.” Across the country, radicals are openly planning for the next stage of their movement, and notably, the Democratic establishment is not part of their plans. Despite the talk of a “Big Tent Party,” socialists are riding high on a surge of support and talking purges and revolution. Continue reading ““You Better Get Ready for … War”: Socialists Call for “War in the Streets” and the End of Capitalism”
Land acknowledgments have become standard at academic and political events, including the opening of the Obama Presidential Library and a recent Michigan Democratic event. While supporters insist it merely shows respect for original inhabitants, critics argue it is the ultimate virtue signaling and is increasingly being forced on both speakers and audiences. One critic is Professor Stuart Reges, who teaches at the computer science and engineering school of the University of Washington. He has now received a settlement from the University of Washington, which spent a significant amount of time and resources in response to his mocking of the school’s land acknowledgment. Continue reading “University of Washington Settles Case Against Professor Disciplined for Mocking Land Acknowledgment”
University of Pennsylvania Professor Michael Mann is the Vice Provost for Climate Science, Policy, and Action and has pushed candidates to commit to major environmental reforms. Notably, he seemed to pivot in an interview with Peter Dominick on a podcast last week, calling for all Democratic candidates to face a litmus test on committing to pack the Supreme Court: promise to pack or get the sack. It is only the latest example of how the hostile takeover of the Court is now the priority for many Democrats in removing a barrier to a radical agenda.
Pennsylvania state representative and Democratic Socialist Chris Rabb is the latest Democrat to reaffirm his alliance with virulent antisemite Hasan Piker. What is most notable, however, is his attack on establishment Democrats as “institutionalists,” a new label reflecting the radical agenda for changing our constitutional system. It is a term that is now in vogue on the far left by those who want to tear down our institutions and scrap our Constitution.
As many criticize higher education for pursuing indoctrination over education, Oregon State University (OSU) appears to be doubling down on a mandatory woke curriculum. The university is under fire for its mandatory undergraduate courses on “Difference, Power & Oppression” (DPO). Much of the rhetoric on the university’s website reads more like the platform of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) than an institution of higher education. Continue reading ““Difference, Power & Oppression”: OSU Requires Students to Take Courses on How to “Disrupt” the “Systems of Oppression” in the United States””
We have previously discussed how many professors seem to compete in finding new forms of racism in every facet of society and education. Astrophysics, math, runoffs, science, statistics, and meritocracy have all been denounced as racist. In this academic cottage industry, professors secure publications and speaking opportunities by identifying racism in expressions, images, or entire fields. Even time itself has been declared racist. Now, however, academics have found another undiscovered continent of white privilege: niceness. Continue reading ““Niceness as Whiteness”: Professors Denounce Niceness as White Privilege”
Former Biden White House COVID-19 Response Coordinator Dr. Ashish Jha this weekend became the latest denier of the lab theory to do a 180-degree turn. During the interview with CNN’s Dana Bash, Jha admitted that he now believes that the most likely explanation is a lab leak at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. As pundits and politicians quietly admit that the natural mutation theory is not as credible, the courageous scientists who were blacklisted for years remain persona non grata in higher education. Continue reading ““This is Going to Surprise Some People”: Leading Biden COVID-19 Figure Embraces the Lab Leak Theory”
According to a new survey, roughly 40 percent of college faculty would “oppose hiring a Trump supporter.” The results of the study are not surprising to many in the field of teaching. Indeed, it may be low given faculty reluctance to admit political bias or the delusion of others that they are without it. Yet, the virtual purging of Republicans from most departments reveals a long-standing ideological exclusion in higher education. While far-left hires are common, even a moderate Republican is a rarity on faculties in a country with a majority of conservative and libertarian voters. Continue reading “The New McCarthyism: Forty Percent of Professors Would Vote Against Hiring a Trump Voter”
Recently, I wrote about the bizarre investigation of Hofstra University Professor Richard Himelfarb, who had referred to a colleague’s comments in a faculty meeting as “word salad.” The investigation was launched after a formal complaint from his colleague, Professor Santiago Slabodsky, chair of the Jewish studies program. While some of us called for the “word salad” complaint to be tossed, Slabodsky has now filed another complaint stemming from Himelfarb’s public campaign to clear his name, according to a letter from the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE). Continue reading “Hofstra Professor Files Complaint Against Colleague for Calling His Comments “Word Salad” . . . Then Files Second Complaint When That Colleague Defends Himself”
There is an important lawsuit being litigated in the Southern District of New York over the limits of free speech and academic freedom for faculty at the United States Military Academy at West Point. Professor Tim Bakken, West Point’s longest-serving civilian law professor, is challenging new Trump Administration regulations that allegedly constitute unconstitutional prior restraints on academic publications and limit academic freedom and free speech. Continue reading “West Point Professor Challenges Ban on “Un-American, Divisive…Radical, Extremist, and Irrational Theories.””
As I wrote yesterday, Dr. Anthony Fauci was not the only one taking the Fifth yesterday on his record during the pandemic. The media effectively invoked the same privilege to avoid self-incrimination for their years of deifying the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Across the cable networks, hosts and guests were going into vapors as Republican senators pummelled Fauci over his COVID policies and the glaring contradictions found in his diary entries. Some, like Dr. Scott Ratzan, echoed Fauci’s own prior claim that any questioning of his judgment was an attack on science. Continue reading “The Media Takes the Fifth and Denounces Those Questioning Fauci as an “Assault on Science””
I recently debated Todd Wolfson, President of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP), over the loss of institutional neutrality in higher education. In the debate, I raised AAUP’s own abandonment of neutrality principles, which Wolfson acknowledged. While the viewers overwhelmingly supported a return to neutrality principles, Wolfson was undeterred. Indeed, this week Inside Higher Ed reported that the AAUP had moved forward with its first political endorsement in its history and would make more endorsements going forward. The first endorsement captured the radical agenda of the AAUP: Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed.