Tag: universities

King’s College accused of ‘dumbing down’ after overlooking poor grammar to be more ‘inclusive’

A top university wants to scale back traditional exams and overlook grammar mistakes in a bid to be more ‘inclusive’.

King’s College London, part of the elite Russell Group, is overhauling assessment to ‘validate diverse knowledge systems and lived experiences’.

In addition, it has introduced new shorter word limits on essays, to prevent students being ‘overburdened’.

Lecturers have branded the overhaul ‘dumbing down’, while students have criticised the word caps in an open letter.

In a recent presentation of the changes, staff were told to give students a ‘choice in assessment formats’, such as coursework.

The new framework discourages ‘over-reliance’ on exams, with ‘more options’ added to how students can be assessed.

One of the slides shown to staff with the heading ‘equality, diversity and inclusion’ stated they should ‘focus on ideas, not grammar’.

It also said assessment should be ‘culturally responsive’ and ‘reward the use of culture, language and identity’.

Marking should be ‘inclusive’ and ’embrace linguistic diversity’, the slide said.

In a separate announcement, students were also told some of their essays will be capped at 1,300 words – down from 2,000 currently, to reduce academic stress.

However, this backfired when students slammed it in an open letter, saying it would stop them properly exploring their subjects.

One King’s College academic, who asked to be anonymous, said: ‘This whole framework, dreamt up by middle management to justify their existence, is about sending a message about which side of the culture war the university is on.

‘They seem to be claiming students are snowflakes and can’t cope, but students have set up a petition against it.

‘These young people are looking at the tough labour market and they haven’t got time for all this.

‘This is management trying to be ‘down-with-the-kids’ and classically getting it wrong’.

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Outrage: Howard University Appoints CRT Mastermind Ibram X.Kendi To $3 Million Endowed Chair

According to a report at Campus Reform, “Howard University has appointed a leading ’antiracist’ (very racist) scholar and activist to one of the school’s most prestigious academic positions.”

“Ibram X. Kendi will serve as the inaugural holder of the Carter G. Woodson Endowed Chair in History, a position supported by $3 million in donor funding that honors its namesake historian, known as the “father of Black history,” according to a university press release.”

Ibram Kendi has a history of making racist comments and rewriting history.

Howard University is a famous historically Black college in America.

Previously, Kendi founded and led Boston University’s Center for Antiracist Research (CAR), established in the aftermath of the George Floyd riots.

This program at Boston was shuttered last June due to financial and other concerns.

Kendi responded to concerns by saying “that media coverage unfairly targeted him, claiming that journalists often repeat allegations against black leaders without sufficient evidence and suggested that such scrutiny reflects broader societal bias”, according to a previous Campus Reform report.

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Professor of Christian ‘sexual ethics’ at Midwest university and father of TEN charged with rape and child sexual abuse

A former Midwest university professor who fathered at least 10 children and wrote about Christian sexual ethics has been charged with rape and sexual battery of one or more minors.

John Kent Tarwater, 55, was indicted last Friday in Greene County, Ohio, about an hour west of Columbus, on two counts of rape, three counts of sexual battery and three counts of gross sexual imposition.

Tarwater was booked into the Greene County Jail, where he remained in custody as of Friday night.

One victim was known to Tarwater and was as young as 10 years old when the alleged years-long abuse began, per the indictment viewed by the Daily Mail.

Tarwater had worked at Cedarville University, a Baptist school with roughly 6,400 students, as a business administration faculty member and associate finance professor since 2017.

In December 2022, he penned an article titled ‘Does Sexual Self–Gratification Glorify God?’ which has since been deleted but remains archived online.

‘Perhaps the issue that causes the greatest confusion for both single and married people centers on the permissibility or impermissibility of masturbation,’ Tarwater’s article read.

He co–authored a piece the previous year titled ‘Business Ethics in the Marketplace: Exploring Transgenderism.’

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Judge Tosses DOJ Lawsuit Challenging Minnesota’s In-State Tuition for Illegal Immigrants

A district court judge tossed out the Trump administration’s lawsuit on March 27 against Minnesota laws that allow illegal immigrants to pay in-state tuition rates, or in some cases have tuition waived, for college and university classes, ruling that the state law doesn’t violate federal law.

Judge Katherine Menendez of the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota granted the state’s motion to dismiss the Department of Justice’s lawsuit, filed on June 25, 2025, finding that in-state tuition rules didn’t discriminate against citizens.

“As Defendants point out, there are multiple ways a student could qualify for Resident Tuition without residing in Minnesota, such as attending a Minnesota high school while living in a neighboring state, or by attending a Minnesota boarding school,” Menendez wrote in the decision.

The federal government sued Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and other state officials over the state’s laws that allow foreign nationals to receive lower or free college tuition.

Minnesota law states that any student, other than a non-immigrant alien, can qualify for a resident tuition rate at state universities and colleges if they attend high school in the state for at least three years and graduate from a state high school or get a high school equivalent degree.

The law also states that illegal immigrants must give the state proof that they have complied with federal selective service registration requirements and have filed to obtain lawful immigration status in order to qualify for in-state tuition.

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Iran puts US students in crosshairs with campus threat as new US missile strike on school sparks fury

Iran has threatened to target American campuses in the Middle East in retaliation for US-Israeli strikes on its schools. 

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard set a deadline for noon on Monday for the Trump administration to ‘condemn the bombing of the universities’ or else it would retaliate against US students studying abroad in the Middle East.  

Regime officials warned that employees, professors, and students affiliated with US schools in the region should stay at least one kilometer from their campuses.

Iran claims strikes hit the Tehran University of Science and Technology over the weekend, damaging nearby buildings but not resulting in any casualties.

‘If the US government wants its universities in the region to be free from retaliation… it must condemn the bombing of the universities in an official statement by 12 noon on Monday, March 30, Tehran time,’ the regime told Iranian media. 

Multiple American universities operate campuses abroad, where thousands of students often study with financial support from host governments.

New York University has a campus in Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates, while Georgetown, Carnegie Mellon, Northwestern and Texas A&M each have satellite campuses in Qatar’s Education City, a research hub based in Doha.

Texas A&M said it closed its Qatar campus, moving to remote learning and with most international staff returning home amid the war.

Around 5,000 Americans studied in the Middle East and North Africa in the last academic year, with around half in Israel and roughly 1,000 in the UAE, according to the State Department.

Since the start of the war, deadly missile strikes have hit Iranian education facilities, including an elementary school attack on February 28 in the city of Minab that killed 175 people, most of them children.

The attack sparked a US military investigation whose preliminary findings concluded that American forces were likely responsible due to outdated intelligence. The building was once part of a regime naval base.

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DOJ Opens Probes Into Possible Race Discrimination at 3 Medical Schools

The Department of Justice (DOJ) has initiated investigations into possible race discrimination in the admissions processes of three U.S. medical schools.

The DOJ sent letters to the medical schools of Stanford University, Ohio State University, and the University of California—San Diego, notifying them of the federal probes. Harmeet Dhillon, assistant attorney general for the DOJ’s civil rights division, confirmed the probes in a post on X on March 26.

In the letters, the DOJ requested documents on the schools’ admissions policies to determine how race is considered in evaluating applicants, along with applicant-level admissions data, including standardized test scores, extracurricular activities, admission outcomes, and demographics.

Stanford School of Medicine told The Epoch Times by email that it was reviewing the DOJ’s letter and “will respond appropriately.”

“Stanford School of Medicine prohibits unlawful discrimination on the basis of race, color, national or ethnic origin, or any other characteristics protected by applicable law,” the school’s spokesperson said.

A spokesperson for Ohio State University also said the school will respond appropriately to the DOJ’s letter and affirmed its compliance with state and federal regulations and legal rulings governing admissions policies.

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Loyola’s student newspaper issues apology over Sheridan Gorman story — for correctly calling alleged killer an ‘illegal immigrant’

Loyola University Chicago’s student newspaper is facing backlash for apologizing for its coverage of freshman Sheridan Gorman’s murder — because editors labeled the alleged murderer an “illegal immigrant.”

The Loyola Phoenix originally reported — accurately — on accused killer Jose Medina-Medina‘s status as an illegal alien after he was charged on Monday with the execution of 18-year-old Gorman.

“Immigrant man charged in murder of Sheridan Gorman, DHS involved,” the student paper’s headline originally read, referring to Venezuelan national Medina-Medina, 25, as an “illegal immigrant.”

But the Phoenix later edited its story to describe Medina-Medina as a “Rogers Park Resident,” in reference to the Chicago neighborhood where Loyola’s main campus is located — and where Gorman was walking with friends when she was shot dead early Thursday.

“That headline didn’t reflect the most important elements in the story, and it was taken down minutes later to prevent any further harm to affected community members,” the newspaper said in a lengthy editor’s note on the article.

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Linda McMahon Threatens to Pull San Jose State University’s Funding Over Title IX Violations

According to Campus Reform, “The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights recently threatened to rescind funding from San Jose State University after becoming locked in a stalemate with the school over its Title IX violations.”

These violations were in regard to noncompliance regarding “transgender” athletes, otherwise known as Men in Women’s sports.

According to The Office For Civil Rights, “OCR concluded that SJSU’s policies allowing males to compete in women’s sports and access female-only facilities deny women equal educational opportunities and benefits,” the letter stated.

According to this department, San Jose State University caused Female athletes “significant harm.”

In addition, the release stated  the University policies have created “unfairness in competition, compromising safety, and denying women equal opportunities in athletics, including scholarships and playing time.”

The American public is overwhelmingly against Men in Female sports, but apparently, some schools continue to defy the public will and the Executive Orders of the Trump Administration.

The official from The Office for Civil Rights also stated in the press release that “This is unacceptable. We will not relent until SJSU is held to account for these abuses and commits to upholding Title IX to protect future athletes from the same indignities.”

President Trump and his administration have been consistent in opposing the Woke agenda and opposing the efforts to put biological men in women’s sports.

Also, according to Campus Reform, the Office was nice enough to offer a resolution to settle, but San Jose rejected the terms, which included restoring female athletes’ records and offering them apology letters, but the terms seem to have been rejected.

As a result of this school’s non-compliance with federal law, Secretary of Education Linda McMahon posted to X on March 11th that the university’s response was a “proactive refusal” to negotiate the proposed resolution agreement or address the Title IX concerns, concluding that “a voluntary agreement will not be reached and we are at an impasse.”

“The notice informed SJSU that the OCR will issue a Letter of Impending Enforcement Action within 10 calendar days if the university does not reach a compromise and agree to a resolution.”

Defying federal law is no small matter, especially in a matter of public safety such as this.

Possible consequences include termination of federal funding as well as referral to the DOJ.

Linda McMahon correctly argued, “protecting women’s sports is non-negotiable.”

McMahon gave the school ten days to end these practices of Men in Women’s sports.

These are all welcome measures to make sports safe and end unfair practices.

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Expelled Oberlin Chabad rabbi says he ‘made a mistake’ with explicit social media chats

A police report obtained by the Forward sheds light on the removal of a Chabad rabbi from the campus of Oberlin College last week, after the school administration became aware of a police report that alleged he engaged in sexually explicit conversations online concerning minors.

Rabbi Scott “Shlomo” Elkan, former co-director of Oberlin Chabad, allegedly received sexually explicit texts, photos and videos through the messaging app Kik concerning three young people, ages 7, 12 and 13, according to the report.

In December 2025 messages to an adult on the platform, Elkan allegedly responded to photos of someone giving a child a bath. The person he chatted with alluded to touching the child’s genitals and said he had been aroused when the child was sitting on his lap, the report stated.

According to the Oberlin Police Department report, Elkan shared photos of girls as part of the chat. The department closed the case after a 20-day investigation, with no charges filed.

In a phone interview with the Forward, Elkan said he regretted his participation in the chat, but that his messages were not based on real events.

“To be clear, what had happened was an online chat with an anonymous adult on purely fictional, you know, fantastical things that’s not rooted in any kind of reality whatsoever,” Elkan said. “And I entered that, and I should not have, and I take responsibility for that.”

Elkan added that he has been engaged in “professional care and spiritual counseling to deal with all of the stresses and all of the factors that led me to engaging in an unhealthy behavior.”

According to the report, in an interview with police, Elkan confirmed the Kik account belonged to him and said the chats were “escapism” from the stress of his everyday life. He denied ever viewing or possessing child sexual abuse images.

Elkan told the Forward that “oftentimes people think of rabbis as godlike and infallible,” and he “made a mistake in one of the weakest few moments of my life.”

“There was no crime. Nothing illegal. Poor judgment, yes,” Elkan said. “And there’s not a victim. The victims here are the Jewish community and my family.”

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HHS Changes Voicemail to Domino’s Pizza to Mock Taxpayers Demanding End to NIH Kitten and Beagle Experiments

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is facing backlash after a “rogue employee” allegedly changed the agency’s public voicemail to a Domino’s Pizza recording, trolling taxpayers who flooded the lines demanding an end to ongoing NIH-funded cat and dog torture experiments.

White Coat Waste Project, the bipartisan watchdog group that has long exposed wasteful government animal testing, urged supporters to call HHS this week over continued funding for cruel kitten experiments at a taxpayer-supported lab at the University of Missouri, which was covered by The Gateway Pundit.

Instead of reaching agency officials, callers heard: “Thank you for calling Domino’s Pizza.”

WCW Senior Vice President Justin Goodman exposed the sick “prank” during a Senate hearing on Wednesday.

“Torturing puppies with our tax dollars isn’t funny, but people at HHS apparently think it is,” Goodman said.

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