Tag: political correctness

U. Arizona professor alleges retaliation for opposing DEI hiring practices

A tenured University of Arizona professor recently filed a lawsuit against the school, alleging retaliation for opposing what he believed were race-based hiring practices tied to “diversity, equity, and inclusion” initiatives.

Professor Matthew Abraham claims the university sanctioned and excluded him from key faculty committees after he raised concerns about DEI hiring policies and sought more information through public records requests.

“This case is not about opposing diversity,” the professor’s attorney with the Liberty Justice Center told The College Fix in a recent email.

“It’s about ensuring that diversity initiatives comply with federal law and that faculty members are not punished for asking hard questions about whether race is being used unlawfully,” attorney Ángel Valencia said. 

Abraham argues in the lawsuit that he made “good-faith complaints” to university officials between 2017 and 2022 about hiring and selection practices that unlawfully favored candidates based on race and other protected characteristics.

As a result, Abraham was removed from the university’s Committee on Academic Freedom and Tenure and the English Department Academic Program Review Committee, according to the lawsuit. He had previously chaired the academic freedom committee.

Abraham told The Fix in a phone interview that through a public records request, he uncovered staff communications that labeled him and two other professors as “problematic” and having “difficult personalities” in discussions about the academic freedom committee.

“We were trouble for the administration, and we were kind of red lined from being on probably the most important committee in the University, because it deals with tenure denials and dismissals like the one I’m dealing with right now,” Abraham said.

He said that since filing the lawsuit, the university has tried to argue that he misused computer networks, had an affair with a student, and sent harassing emails. 

“It’s my sense that they’re just throwing various things at me to see what might stick,” Abraham told The Fix. “None of this is born out of actual facts.”

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Brown University Replaces DEI Campus Security Chief with Former Providence Police Chief

The Gateway Pundit reported that Brown University placed their DEI campus security chief Rodney Chatman on leave following the deadly shooting on campus that killed two people and wounded nine others.

Brown President Christina Paxson announced on Monday that Hugh Clements, a former Providence police chief, will serve as the interim head of Public Safety at Brown.

WPRI reports:

Clements retired from Providence police in January 2023 after serving nearly 40 years in uniform. He was colonel of the department for 12 years.

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After leaving Providence, Clements was named director of the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) for the U.S. Department of Justice. He stepped down earlier this year and has been working as a security consultant.

Clements is a widely respected law enforcement leader and was contacted by the university days after the shooting, Target 12 has learned.

Paxon noted that Clements would report directly to her.

Under Chatman’s leadership, there are many unanswered questions about how the shooter so easily gained access to the building where the shootings occurred.

A janitor at the school has come forward saying he warned school authorities about a strange figure who turned out to be the shooter, days before the incident.

The New York Post notes that Chatman has been the subject of two no-confidence votes since arriving at Brown in 2021, “with the measures expressing ‘deep concern’ about Chatman’s ability to lead the Brown Police Department.”

The Brown Daily Herald reported that in January 2025, he faced allegations from one departing officer who claimed the workplace was a “toxic,” “vindictive” “s—tshow.”

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Victoria Moves to Force Online Platforms to ID Users and Expand State Powers to Curb “Hate Speech”

Victoria is preparing to introduce some of the most far-reaching online censorship and surveillance powers ever proposed in an Australian state, following the Bondi Beach terror attack.

Premier Jacinta Allan’s new five-point plan, presented as a response to antisemitism, includes measures that would compel social media platforms to identify users accused of “hate speech” and make companies legally liable if they cannot.

Presented as a defense against hate, the plan’s mechanisms cut directly into long-standing principles of privacy and freedom of expression. It positions anonymity online as a form of protection for “cowards,” creating a precedent for government-mandated identity disclosure that could chill lawful speech and dissent.

During her announcement, Premier Allan said:

“That’s why Victoria will spearhead new laws to hold social media companies and their anonymous users to account – and we’ll commission a respected jurist to unlock the legislative path forward.”

Under the proposal, if a user accused of “vilification” cannot be identified, the platform itself could be held responsible for damages. This effectively converts private platforms into instruments of state enforcement, obligating them to expose user data or face financial risk.

The Premier also announced plans to accelerate the introduction of the Justice Legislation Amendment (Anti-vilification and Social Cohesion) Act 2024, which had been due to take effect in mid-2026. It will now be brought forward to April 2026.

The law allows individuals to sue others for public conduct, including online speech, that a “reasonable person” might find “hateful, contemptuous, reviling or severely ridiculing” toward someone with a protected attribute. These protected categories include religion, race, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, and disability, among others.

This framework gives the state and private citizens broad interpretive power to determine what speech is “hateful.” As many civil liberties experts note, such wording opens the door to legal action based on subjective offense rather than clear, objective harm.

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Leaked Powerpoint from University of Illinois Course Reveals Far-Left Indoctrination in the Classroom

College campuses across the country are one part education and two parts far-left indoctrination factories.

The latest example comes from the University of Illinois, located in Urbana-Champaign.

Fox News Digital obtained slides from a student whistleblower from an education course for first-semester students, EDUC 201, titled “Identity and Difference in Education.”

The course, which is required to graduate, forces 1st year education majors to prioritize equity, LGBTQ+ issues, privileged identities, and preferred pronouns.

The student whistleblower accused the professor of turning the class into an indoctrination seminar.

The 25 slides originated from the lesson “Living in Uncertainty: Understanding Immigrant, Migrant, & Refugee Student Populations” in week 15, taught by Professor Gabriel Rodriguez in the school’s College of Education, which focused on immigration.

Fox News Reports:

The first slide features a photo of a person holding a sign at a demonstration that reads, “No human being is illegal.”

The fifth slide is called “Language Matters,” and polices students’ language about immigration and immigrants.

“Using terms like ‘illegal immigrants,’ ‘illegal aliens,’ or ‘illegals’” is harmful, the slide says, explaining that using those terms is “dehumanizing and degrading,” that they reinforce existing negative stereotypes about immigrant communities and connect immigration with criminality, that they fuel perspectives that immigrants have no rights and that they facilitate “scapegoating communities for larger systemic issues.”

Explaining the difference between immigrants and refugees, the presentation insists, without making the distinction between illegal and legal immigrants, that, “Immigrants migrate to pursue better opportunities (e.g., work, education).” Refugees flee other countries to avoid “persecution, conflict, or violence.”

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Democratic Despotism: The American Left Moves From Censored To Compelled Speech

More than five years ago, I wrote in these pages of a growing trend on the left toward compelled speech – the forcing of citizens to repeat approved views and values. It is an all-too-familiar pattern. Once a faction assumes power, it will often first seek to censor opposing views and then compel the endorsement of approved views.

This week, some of those efforts faced setbacks and challenges in blue states like Washington and Illinois.

In Washington state, many have developed what seems a certain appetite for compelled speech. 

For example, Democrats recently pushed through legislation that would have compelled priests and other clerics to rat out congregants who confessed to certain criminal acts.

Despite objections from many of us that the law was flagrantly unconstitutional, the Democratic-controlled legislature and Democratic governor pushed it through.

The Catholic Church responded to the enactment by telling priests that any compliance would lead to their excommunication.

U.S. District Court Judge Iain D. Johnston enjoined the law, and the Trump Administration sued the state over its effort to turn priests into sacramental snitches. Only after losing in court did the state drop its efforts.

In the meantime, the University of Washington has been fighting to punish professors who refuse to conform to its own orthodox values. In 2022, Professor Stuart Reges triggered a firestorm when he refused to attach a prewritten “Indigenous land acknowledgement” statement to his course syllabi. Such statements are often accompanied by inclusive and tolerant language of fostering different viewpoints in an academic community. However, when Reges decided to write his own land acknowledgment, university administrators dropped any pretense of tolerance.

Reges was not willing to copy and paste onto his syllabus a statement in favor of the indigenous land claim of “the Coast Salish peoples of this land, the land which touches the shared waters of all tribes and bands within the Suquamish, Tulalip, and Muckleshoot nations.” Instead, he wrote, “I acknowledge that by 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.”

His reference to the labor theory is a nod to John Locke, who believed in natural rights, including the right to property created through one’s labor.

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Canada’s Security Chief Met with Muslim Leader to Fight ‘Islamophobia.’ Then This Happened.

Dan Rogers, the head of Canada’s Center for Strategic and International Studies, had a friendly meeting recently with the CEO of the National Council of Canadian Muslims, Stephen Brown. They got together to discuss ways that the Canadian government could combat “Islamophobia,” but for Rogers, the timing of this meeting was not just bad; it was catastrophic.

Three days after the meeting, a father-and-son team of Muslims in Australia provided an unforgettable demonstration of why so many people fear and dislike Islam when they murdered fifteen Jews and injured forty others on Sydney’s Bondi Beach. But that was in Australia. Surely that sort of thing would never happen in Canada, would it? After all, in lovely Canuckistan, the government has an “Islamophobia czar,” and clamps down hard on anyone who doesn’t think that Islam is the warmest and cuddliest of the world’s religions.

And yet as unbelievable as it was, Canada’s National Post reported Friday that “a 26-year-old Toronto man has been arrested and charged with ISIS-linked terrorism offences and two other men are charged for alleged hate-motivated extremism targeting women and members of the Jewish community.” But, but, Canada has an “Islamophobia czar”!

It all started when police started to investigate “violent incidents of armed men trying to abduct women from the street” back in May and June. It ended up with a Toronto resident named Waleed Khan getting slapped with “various terrorism charges including participating in the activities of a terrorist group, facilitating terrorist activity, terrorist financing and conspiracy to commit murder in association with a terrorist group.” That terrorist group was the Islamic State, or ISIS. 

Khan, along with two accomplices, Osman Azizov and Fahad Sadaat, both of whom are teenagers, also got charged with “kidnapping, attempted kidnapping with firearms, conspiracy to commit sexual assault and hostage taking classed as hate-motivated extremism.” It seems that this armed trio was “hunting women for capture and abuse, or worse.” Toronto Police Chief Myron Demkiw said: “We have arrested three individuals for offences targeting women and members of the Jewish community.” 

Peel Regional Police Chief Nishan Duraiappah added: “What began as armed, coordinated attempts to kidnap women led to significant arrests and charges, stopping a dangerous escalation of hate-motivated crimes and terrorism across the Greater Toronto Area and beyond.”

Let’s see. Targeting women and Jews. Where did they get the idea to do that? Back in 2011, an Egyptian sheikh, Abu-Ishaq al-Huwayni, offered an Islamic justification for the sexual enslavement of infidel women. He said that when Muslims are waging jihad against non-Muslims (as the Islamic State believes itself to be doing today), it could seize infidel women as the spoils of war (cf. Qur’an 33:50). He explained that they would then be sold as slaves:

When a slave market is erected, which is a market in which are sold slaves and sex-slaves, which are called in the Qur’an by the name milk al-yamin, “that which your right hands possess” [Qur’an 4:24]. This is a verse from the Qur’an which is still in force, and has not been abrogated. The milk al-yamin are the sex-slaves. You go to the market, look at the sex-slave, and buy her. She becomes like your wife, (but) she doesn’t need a (marriage) contract or a divorce like a free woman, nor does she need a wali [guardian or protector]. All scholars agree on this point — there is no disagreement from any of them.

 Al-Huwayni continued: “When I want a sex slave, I just go to the market and choose the woman I like and purchase her.”

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COURTROOM CHAOS: Purple-haired Seattle female attorney DEMANDS judge sanction opposing male counsel for ‘gender misconduct’ during CHOP trial

Chaos erupted in a King County courtroom on Thursday during the high-profile Mays v. City of Seattle wrongful death trial, as city attorney Alexandra Nica launched into a furious tirade, accusing opposing counsel Evan Oshan of “gender discrimination and harassment.” The outburst came on the heels of devastating expert testimony that painted Seattle’s handling of the infamous 2020 CHAZ/CHOP zone as liable for the June 2020 “agonizing” death of Antonio Mays Jr., a black teenager from California shot several times in the protest zone.

As the testimony piled up against Seattle, Nica appeared increasingly unhinged. In an emotional rant without jurors present, she complained that Oshan refuses to speak to her, turns his chair away, and ignores her questions—insisting this “only happens to me” because she’s a woman. She demanded that Judge Sean O’Donnell enforce prior sanctions against Oshan for alleged “gender conduct.” But Oshan wasn’t having it and flipped the script. He shot back, exposing Nica’s own hypocritical attacks: “Throughout this litigation, Ms. Nica has attacked me on the basis of my gender. She has called me a ‘mansplainer’ multiple times in court documents…She called me a ‘boar.'”

Oshan, a father and husband, took personal offense, accusing Nica of “weaponizing” gender against him in “textbook harassment.” In return, he requested Judge O’Donnell impose new sanctions against the visibly irate Nica. The judge, clearly annoyed, deferred rulings to written briefs, prioritizing the jury and witnesses over the attorneys’ personal drama.

Nica, dressed in red, displayed an intense demeanor while Oshan stood firm. The exchange devolved into interruptions and accusations, with Nica at one point snapping about Oshan describing her as having a “temper tantrum.” One observer wrote on social media: “This is the most Seattle thing ever.”

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Boys aged just 11 to be sent on ‘anti-misogyny training courses’

Schoolboys aged just 11 will be sent on “anti-misogyny training courses” as part of a new Labour scheme to “protect women and girls”.

Secondary school pupils in England displaying “worrying behaviour” could be enrolled in the programmes in a pilot scheme which may even be expanded to include primary schools down the line.

The courses would be led by teachers or external contractors alongside normal lessons.

Girls would also be eligible if they display “harmful” behaviour – but Labour’s focus is on boys.

Ministers are to unveil the initiative on Thursday as part of a broader strategy aimed at cutting violence against women and girls by half within ten years.

All secondary schools will be required to deliver lessons on healthy relationships.

Teachers will receive specialist training to discuss topics including consent with their students.

A new helpline will offer support to teenagers worried about their own behaviour in relationships.

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How fears of being labeled ‘racist’ helped ‘provide cover’ for the exploding Minnesota fraud scandal

In the aftermath of the massive Feeding Our Future scandal and broader allegations of systemic fraud in Minnesota’s social programs, a troubling theme has emerged: accusations of racism repeatedly used to deflect scrutiny, intimidate investigators and stall accountability. 

Rumors and reports of fraud in Minneapolis, primarily within the city’s exploding Somali community, have been circulating for at least a decade, but criticism of the fraud has been largely dismissed by elected Democrats as “racist” or being underpinned by animosity toward foreigners. News stories focused on Somali fraudsters in recent years were shot down as “racist.”

“The whole story kind of died under these accusations that people were being racist,” Bill Glahn, policy fellow with Center of the American Experiment, told Fox News Digital. “Oh, maybe somebody stole a little bit here, a little bit there, but there’s nothing systemic going on.”

Former assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Teirab, who helped take on federal prosecutions in the Feeding Our Future case, described to Fox News Digital how individuals implicated in fraud leaned on racial accusations as a shield. According to Teirab, suspects explicitly invoked race during a secretly recorded meeting with Attorney General Keith Ellison, asserting that investigators were targeting them “only because of race.”

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Providence Police Chief Evades Questions, Refuses to Say What Brown Shooter Shouted Before Opening Fire as Reports Indicate He Yelled “Allahu Akbar”

Providence Police Chief Oscar Perez Jr., on Monday, evaded questions on the Brown University shooter and declined to say what witnesses claim the shooter yelled before opening fire at the university.

If the shooter were a White male, we would likely know everything about him.

Rhode Island Officials held a press conference on Monday to provide updates on the Saturday shooting and ongoing investigation as the manhunt for the shooter remains underway.

Witnesses say the shooter “yelled something” before killing two students and wounding nine more, and early reports suggest the shooter shouted “Allahu Akbar” before opening fire.

But Perez wouldn’t tell reporters what he said, claiming, “That’s part of the investigation.”

A reporter even pleaded with Perez to tell reporters what the shooter said to help the public identify him, reasoning that “it’s possible a friend or family member might recognize if the person said something that was significant.”

However, Perez claimed that he could not say, suggesting the case may be in jeopardy if he were to share this evidence.

Later, when another reporter pressed Perez, he gave similar answers, dodging the question again. After reporters began to shout questions about apparent cell phone videos from the scene, Providence Mayor Brett Smiley stepped in to declare a wrap on the presser.

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