We have long discussed how educators are instilling viewpoint intolerance in students from the earliest grades. The latest example is the cancellation of a visit to McKinley Elementary School in Fairfield, Connecticut, by Secretary of Education Linda McMahon. The students had the opportunity to speak and interact with a cabinet member, but the school cancelled the event due to political opposition from parents. Continue reading “Cancel Culture 101: Connecticut School Cancels Event With Education Secretary Over Political Pressure”
Category: Academia
Columbia PhD candidate, Anna Krauthamer, has caused a stir over her column in the far-left Nation on “Why I Didn’t Report My Rape.” The reason? Krauthamer is a prison abolitionist and wanted to protect her rapists, saying it would be “silly and strange” for her to subject these rapists to the carceral state. Instead, she allegedly allowed multiple rapists to potentially rape other women.
Some of us in the free speech community have been writing about the hypocrisy of many in the media and academia suddenly championing free speech values after years of silence (or support) over censorship of conservatives, libertarians, and contrarians. A good example can be found in the Chicago area, where a physical education teacher is on administrative leave and faces possible termination after posting two words (“Go ICE”) on Facebook in support of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Local leaders and groups are demanding that he be fired, even though a posting opposing ICE would likely have been heralded rather than condemned. Continue reading ““Go ICE”: Chicago-Area Teacher Put on Leave for Two Words Posted on Facebook”
The early reviews of Rage and the Republic are in! In a few days, books (including an audiobook) will be shipped out and on the shelves of bookstores by February 3. Simon & Schuster is releasing the book to coincide with the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.
Yale University has finally achieved the academic version of Nirvana, a state of perfect peace and enlightenment. A recent study found that the faculty had finally purged every Republican donor from its ranks. While 98 percent of the political donations went to Democrats, not a single professor could be found who gave to a single Republican candidate. The complete lock for Democrats is in a country that is split evenly between Republicans and Democrats. Continue reading “Yale Achieves Academic Nirvana: Study Cannot Find A Single Republican Donor on the Faculty”
The five Stanford students accused of vandalism in the 2024 anti-Israel protests are finally being tried for the property damage. No comment more summed up the mentality on many of our campuses than that of German Gonzalez, who declared, “It is ridiculous for me or for any of us co-defendants to be accused of property damage.” There remains a sense of license to commit crimes. Continue reading “Stanford Students Defiant As They Stand Trial for Anti-Israel Property Damage”
We have been discussing the efforts of school officials around the country to block information for parents on their children changing their gender in public schools, including a recent victory for parents in Michigan. I have long been a critic of such attacks on parental rights in our schools. Now, parents have another major victory in California from District Court Judge Roger Benitez, who offered a resounding ruling in support of the inherent rights of all parents. However, public school boards, administrators, and teachers’ unions are continuing the fight to bar parents from knowing about gender changes in their children. Nevertheless, it is a great way to end this year for everyone who values family and parental rights.
Continue reading “Parents Win Major Victory in California Public Schools in Gender Change Case”
Yale has finally achieved liberal nirvana. According to a recent report from the Buckley Institute, there is now not a single Republican found across 27 of 43 departments at Yale University. In a nation roughly evenly divided between Republicans and Democrats (with a slight advantage to the GOP), only 3 percent are Republicans across all Yale departments.
Continue reading “Study: Yale No Longer Has a Single Republican Professor Across 27 Departments”
There was an interesting complaint filed in New York yesterday in which a group of parents and educators sued New York Attorney General Letitia James over a letter viewed as threatening those who are raising transgender policies in public meetings. While the legal basis for the complaint is likely to be challenged as premature by the state, the lawsuit exposes an effort that seems clearly designed to chill such public discussions of transgender issues. Continue reading “Letitia James Moves to Chill Debate Over Transgender Policies”
In academia, one of the greatest concerns with statistical studies is the danger of “confirmation bias” or “myside bias.” A desire to prove a point can lead to a blindness to opposing data or information. This week, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D., Minn.) repeatedly demonstrated the scourge of statistical studies with spectacular and embarrassing success. Continue reading “Amy Klobuchar Holds Embarrassing Demonstration of Confirmation Bias in Attack that Goes Wildly Wrong” 
The Harvard Club of New York is being accused of censorship after abruptly cancelling a book event featuring famed Harvard professor Alan Dershowitz. In a statement, Dershowitz says that invitations were sent out and the event was approaching when he was suddenly told that the Harvard Club would have none of it. He blamed his representation of President Donald Trump for the cancellation. Continue reading ““Fight Fiercely Harvard”: Harvard Club of New York Cancels Dershowitz Book Event”
The City College of New York campus began the latest example of anti-Semitic and extremist speech this week after Abdullah Mady, a student and self-proclaimed Imam, refused to sit next to a Jewish speaker and called for the tips of the fingers of “the filthy rich” to be cut off in accordance with Sharia law. Continue reading “Imam at CUNY Reportedly Calls for the Fingertips of the “Filthy Rich” to be Cut Off Under Sharia Law”
Sen. Elizabeth Warren has called for Harvard and other institutions to sever all ties with Larry Summers, who was Treasury secretary under President Bill Clinton, after the disclosure of his private communications with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. As in the past, however, Warren seems strikingly selective in her outrage with those “cozying up” to Epstein, given the communications revealed with other Democrats, including Del. Stacey Plaskett, Virgin Islands’ congressional representative.
Continue reading “Warren Calls for Larry Summers to be Fired at Harvard”
Last night, my torts class was briefly interrupted by the sounds of protests on campus over the appearance of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the health secretary, on campus. The large protest itself was not a problem. As the vice president of the Disabled Students Collective (DSC) stated publicly, the students were “using our own free speech to protest Kennedy’s presence on campus.” The problem was the petition circulated by the DSC, signed by hundreds at GWU, calling for Kennedy to be prevented from exercising his own free speech. Indeed, it calls for Kennedy to be barred from campus for spreading “misinformation.” It seems that, once again, the tolerance for free speech only goes so far. Continue reading “GW Students Call for RFK, Jr. to be Barred from Campus”
Below is my column in The Hill on universities reporting soaring grade inflation and failing academic standards. Some of us have been writing about this trend for years, but there is little sign of commitment from departments that they are willing to take action to restore academic standards. Any solution will require a national compact of willing schools, a critical mass of institutions willing to adopt a standard curve and basic admission reforms.
Here is the column: Continue reading “How to Reverse the Dumbing Down of American Higher Education”