Higher Ed
What’s happening in higher education.
Dozens of Student Leaders Continue Push to Remove Supreme Court Justice
50 student leaders have written an an open letter asking GW Law to “rethink” its decision not to fire Supreme Court Justice Clarance Thomas from the GW Law Faculty. “The letter argues Thomas’s lecturing contributes to discrimination, which they say nullifies the University’s ‘academic freedom’ defense of Thomas.”
GW Law Alumni Call for Supreme Court Justice to be Fired
In an open letter, GW Law alumni express their disdain for Supreme Court Justice Thomas’ “acts, omissions and opinions,” including “brazen political influence at the expense of sound legal reasoning” and ask GW Law to terminate Justice Thomas’ position as a GW Law professor. Those alumni who sign commit to withholding their financial contributions to GW Law until Justice Thomas is fired.
Supreme Court Justice to remain at GW Law after Thousands Call for his Removal
Underscoring faculty members’ academic freedom and freedom of expression and inquiry, as well as the value of debate and the exchange of ideas to the University’s mission, GW Law will not fire Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas after more than 6,000 people signed a petition calling for his termination after he voted to overturn Roe v. Wade.
Expect the Title IX Inquisition
“The Biden administration’s new rules for adjudicating campus sexual misconduct allegations favor an ‘inquisitorial’ approach over procedural fairness.” The new rules “represent a further escalation in a policy and legal debate that has spanned more than a decade.”
Sex Police
A warning about new Title IX regulations “that will gut due process rights for college students accused of sexual misconduct.” The new rules recommend the model of a single investigator in which “one administrator can act as detective, prosecutor, judge, and jury on a Title IX complaint.” As for Harvard, it “boasts more than 50 Title IX coordinators… These careers depend on a steady stream of complaints.”
Academic Freedom’s Proxy Wars
“Professors with unpopular views are being punished for unrelated infractions. That’s terrifying… Proxy reprisals are familiar to those who study free speech worldwide. Authoritarians use them to imperil not just academic appointments but fundamental freedoms…reprisals for expression muzzle not only an individual speaker, but all others who might contemplate saying something unorthodox.”
How America Completes College: A Report
A recent Sallie Mae report on college retention finds that 40% of students decide to leave college because of a change in motivation, focus, or life change, 19% due to financial reasons and 14% for mental health reasons.
They discussed the Dobbs leak. Now eight law students are under investigation for harassment.
As FIRE documents, eight American University law students were accused of harassment against conservative students in a “heated back-and-forth” discussion in a GroupME chat over the impending SCOTUS decision.
FIRE Petition: Title IX Regs Put Student Rights at Risk
FIRE has started a petition calling on the Education Dept. to reaffirm due process rights after proposed new Title IX regulations “threaten students’ right to free speech and strip them of critical due process protections that ensure they are treated fairly in campus trials.” FIRE underscores that “the law has been twisted in ways that seem more designed to serve political ends than remedy campus discrimination.”
5 Ways Biden's New Title IX Rules Will Eviscerate Due Process on Campus
“The new rules would drop live hearings, bring back the single-investigator model, and limit accused students' options.” The implications include serious threats to free speech, elimination of due process (including cross-examination, access to evidence, and opportunities for self-defense), and “suspected” misconduct treated as misconduct.
New College to Launch in Wake Forest This Fall
James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal
Thales College will launch in Fall 2022 in Wake Forest, N.C. “The school emphasizes rigorous academics…mentorships with professors, daily internships…and a strong focus on character and professional development…[as] an alternative to the traditional lecture-hall, amenities-focused university experience.”
[FAIR Impact]— Brown University ‘Mindfulness’ Course Offered Only to Minority Students
After FAIR submitted a letter to Brown University, Brown will no longer be restricting admissions to its Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction teacher training programs based on skin color or immutable characteristics.
The More You Know About Your Students, the More Inclusive You Can Be in the Classroom
Two UNC Chapel Hill deans and a consultant promote the sharing of student demographic information, including race, ethnicity, gender and class, with faculty members to “make learning more inclusive” and “transform teaching.” The program is being used at UNC Chapel Hill.
Watch out Cambridge. Free thinking is Back in Vogue.
With the launch of University of Austin (UATX), “Universities should take note. Especially British universities, which have been steadily sliding into the morass of woke madness… UATX won’t be the last of its kind.”
Texas A&M’s Unreported Foreign Funding
Neetu Arnold explains how Texas A&M hasn’t reported $100 million in funding from Qatar and Russia. Why should it matter? “Qatar… is a country that supports censorship and subjects migrant laborers to poor working conditions.” In addition, “Americans should know if foreign countries—and which ones—are vying for influence at top U.S. research institutions.”
Why Fewer High-School Graduates Are Going to College
“Fewer high-school seniors are choosing to enroll in college immediately after graduation. In some states, not even half of high-school graduates are pursuing higher education…” Enrollment experts point to barriers including “cost, lack of support in high school, mental-health concerns, competing options, and a shifting perspective on the benefits of college — all of which disproportionately affect disadvantaged students.”
FAIR Sends Letter to Brown re: Segregated Training
FAIR sent a letter to the president of Brown regarding the University’s planned teacher training program "for People Who Identify as Black, Indigenous, and/or Latino/Latina/Latinx.” The classes “will be taught by people of color.” The letter underscores that a teacher training program based on skin color or ancestry violates Title VI of the Civil Rights Act.
The Kids Are Alright
A professor and a student explain how an Occidental College club “where students could discuss ideas openly and honestly, in a spirit of charity and good faith” has been a success, modeling how viewpoint diversity and respect for the free exchange of ideas can be fostered. The club has generated key learnings about how a climate of openness is vital for students, and is the responsibility of colleges and universities to cultivate.
After Confucius Institutes
National Association of Scholars
A recently released NAS report shows that after pressure to close Confucius Institutes (Chinese government-sponsored Chinese language and culture institutes), they’ve been re-branded and re-opened on university campuses nationwide. “The demise of Confucius Institutes… has not deterred the Chinese government from seeking alternative means of influencing American colleges and universities.”
The Case for White Accountability Groups
White accountability groups on college campuses are raising eyebrows at both ends of the political spectrum…[but] proponents of the groups say they serve as a first step to engage people who may be reluctant to talk about race.”