Tag: universities

Threat to ‘Kill All Charlie Kirks’ Spray-Painted on Seattle College Campus

A threat to “KILL ALL CHARLIE KIRKS” has been spray-painted on the sign of a Seattle, Washington college within a day of the Turning Point USA founder’s public assassination on a Utah college campus.

Seattle-based reporter Jonathan Choe shared a photo on social media showing the alarming message scrawled across the bricks in front of Seattle Central College.

“This is obviously a threat,” Choe wrote. “But what the far-left doesn’t realize is that this madness is actually catalyzing reasonable Americans to now say, ‘WE ARE ALL CHARLIE KIRK.’”

“Courage is contagious and the movement will continue,” he added.

Another disgusting message was spotted on a sign carried by a radical in downtown Seattle, reading “Charlie Kirk shot hell yes!!”

Keep reading

Cornell excluded white evolutionary biologist in ‘diversity hire’ search, complaint alleges 

Cornell University is facing an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission investigation after allegations lodged against the Ivy League institution that faculty search committees deliberately excluded highly qualified white applicants.

America First Policy Institute first lodged the complaint in June, citing internal emails that spelled out how candidates were passed over as part of Cornell’s “diversity hire” process. In mid-July, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission launched an inquiry into the matter.

In late July, evolutionary biologist Colin Wright joined the battle against Cornell, stating he applied there in 2020 but now understands, thanks to those whistleblower emails, he never stood a chance because he is white. 

Wright’s complaint is just the latest headache for Cornell, which saw more than $1 billion in federal funding frozen by the Trump Administration in April in part due to allegations of civil rights violations. 

The administration is currently in negotiations with Cornell to resolve the allegations. Cornell has publicly denied the allegations.

“The EEOC has been extraordinarily vigilant and dedicated to addressing discrimination, and we are grateful for their seriousness in this matter,” said Leigh Ann O’Neill, chief of staff at AFPI’s Center for Litigation.

“Cornell, by contrast, has been stonewalling,” she told The College Fix on Tuesday. “We submitted our client’s demand on August 1, and here we are on September 9 with no accountability whatsoever from the university.” 

Wright’s administrative EEOC complaint is the first step before he can file a lawsuit.

 ‘I was denied the chance to compete’

“America First Policy Institute released internal Cornell emails showing the university conducted an effort to recruit what the search committee referred to as a ‘diversity hire.’ One committee member described the process bluntly: ‘What we should be doing is inviting one person whom we have identified as being somebody that we would like to join our department and not have that person in competition with others,’” Wright wrote in a July 30 Wall Street Journal op-ed.

“That ‘somebody,’ who is black, was selected not because of research excellence, but because of race. I was denied the chance to compete—so were other academics who might have been qualified,” Wright wrote.

He argued the search committee violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, which “prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex and national origin,” as per the EEOC’s website.

Wright, a fellow at the Manhattan Institute, did not respond to multiple requests from The College Fix seeking comment.

Keep reading

Third of US students say violence is acceptable response to speech

Over a third of US students believe it is acceptable to use violence to stop a speech on campus, according to a new survey.

The Foundation of Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) has published its 2026 College Free Speech Rankings, an annual review of American universities’ speech protections and climate of open inquiry. When asked whether using violence to stop a public speaker on campus is acceptable, only 66% of students responded that the tactic is “never acceptable”. Meanwhile, 15% responded that violence is always or sometimes acceptable, with a further 19% saying that it was “rarely acceptable”. The combined 34% is a record figure.

FIRE’s rankings have been running since 2020, and this year’s instalment arrives off the back of continued protests on national campuses over the war in Gaza, as well as the Trump administration’s attempts to withhold funding from institutions whose speech policies are perceived as illiberal. Earlier this month, a federal court ruled that funding cuts imposed by the administration on Harvard violated the university’s rights. In July, Columbia University paid the White House a $200 million settlement having been accused of failing to prevent antisemitism on campus.

The 34% of students who at least occasionally defend the use of violence to interrupt a speech is an increase from the 32% who said the same last year. In 2022, that figure was 20%. There are also record numbers of students who think it is acceptable to shout down speakers (71%) and to block other students from attending a speech (54%).

Keep reading

California Professor Indicted for Assaulting Federal Agents During Marijuana Farm Raid

A federal grand jury indicted a professor at California State University Channel Islands who is charged with throwing a tear gas canister at federal agents executing a search warrant at a marijuana farm in Camarillo this summer. The grand jury returned the indictment on Wednesday.

Jonathan Caravello, 37, of Ventura, California, is charged with one count of assault on a federal officer using a deadly or dangerous weapon. Caravello, who is free on $15,000 bond, is expected to be arraigned in the coming weeks in the United States District Court in Los Angeles.

According to the indictment and court documents previously filed in this case, on July 10, federal agents with Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and United States Border Patrol executed a high-risk search warrant at a marijuana farm sitting on a 160-acre property in Camarillo. A group of protesters gathered near law enforcement personnel around the farm’s entrance and used their bodies and their vehicles to impede law enforcement from exiting the location.

According to the United States Attorney’s Office for the Central District of Los Angeles, protesters became violent, throwing rocks at the government vehicles attempting to depart the location because of the danger posed by the protesters. The thrown rocks broke windows and side-view mirrors, among other damage to the government vehicles driven by authorities participating in the immigration enforcement action.

The indictment indicated law enforcement agents on the scene in Camarillo deployed tear gas to assist with crowd control and ensure officer safety. The measure also allowed law enforcement to depart the location. Border Patrol agents rolled tear gas canisters by protesters’ feet at which time the indictment alleged Caravello ran up to one of the canisters and attempted to kick it. After the canister rolled past him, Caravello turned around, ran towards the canister, picked it up, and threw it overhand back at Border Patrol agents.

Border Patrol agents eventually arrested Caravello, who continuously kicked his legs and refused to give agents his arms during the arrest.

Breitbart Texas reported in July that federal officials were offering a reward of up to $50,000 for information leading to the arrest of another suspect in the assaults on agents during this operation.

Keep reading

Fake Students Plague California Community Colleges, Displacing Real Enrollees

California’s community colleges are grappling with a surge in fraudulent enrollments, with 1.2 million fake applicants last year accounting for nearly 30 percent of new students, blocking real students from classes and costing millions in stolen financial aid, according to college officials.

The problem, exacerbated by the shift to online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic, affects at least 90 of the state’s 116 campuses, said Marvin Martinez, chancellor of the Rancho Santiago Community College District, and Jeannie Kim, president of Santiago Canyon College.

Before the pandemic, most classes were in-person, making fraud more difficult, Martinez said. But with 80 percent of courses moving online, bots and fake students can enroll from anywhere, including other states or countries.

“It’s happened on a massive scale,” Martinez told Epoch TV’s California Insider host Siyamak Khorrami.

“What’s made this situation of fraudulent enrollment so different than anything that I’ve seen before in my 36 years in higher ed is that it’s happened in almost 80 percent now of the campuses.”

At Santiago Canyon College, fall 2024 enrollment initially spiked 10 percent to 13 percent, Kim said, but faculty discovered many registrants were fraudulent. In one anthropology course, administrators raised the enrollment cap by 30 daily, only for bots to fill slots instantly, leaving just 12 to 15 genuine students. 

Faculty identified fakes through non-engagement, identical assignments, or invalid contact details, like phone numbers tied to businesses or defunct entities. Removing fraudulent enrollments cut the college’s headcount by 10,000 to 12,000 spots, with some bad actors enrolled in up to five classes each.

The fallout is severe. Real students are denied access to required courses, delaying graduations, certificates, and transfers to four-year universities.

Keep reading

Wisconsin Democrats Fight to End Campus Carry for Self-Defense

Wisconsin Democrats, led by state Sen. Kelda Roys (D), are pushing a ban that would end licensed concealed carriers’ ability to be armed for self-defense on college campuses.

On September 4, 2025, the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Daily Cardinal reported on Roys’ proposed ban, noting that it would “make it illegal for anyone — including those who have concealed carry licenses — to possess a firearm anywhere on university or college property.”

Roys commented on the ban, saying, “When people have unfettered access to firearms, we can’t live free from the fear of gun violence.”

She did not point to any gun crime committed on campus by a licensed concealed carrier.

It is worth noting that the ban would exempt police officers, although police have historically been convicted of gun crimes at a higher rate than concealed carry permit holders.

On May 27, 2017, Breitbart News pointed to data John Lott drew from concealed carry permit revocations and quoted him: “Permits have been revoked for firearms-related violations at rates of thousandths of one percentage point. Civilian permit holders are less likely than police officers to be convicted of a firearms violation.”

Keep reading

Homeland Security corrects data error — international student enrollment rose, not declined

International student enrollment increased last year, according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security — contrary to data the agency previously posted, which showed a decline.

A new analysis by Chris Glass, a professor at Boston College, found that student and exchange visitor information system data issued by DHS underreported the number of international students by more than 200,000 — an error that the agency corrected this month. Glass flagged the change on July 7.

The numbers from SEVIS, a division of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, show overseas enrollments totaled 1,294,231 in September, compared to the earlier-reported, erroneous figure of 1,091,182. SEVIS data tracks college students as well students in public and private high schools, language training, flight schools and vocational schools, among other programs.

The corrected data shows year-over-year growth of 6.5%, according to Glass. This is largely in line with Open Doors data, released by the U.S. Department of State and the Institute of International Education, which also found that the U.S. hosted a record number of students from abroad in the 2023-24 academic year. 

The revised numbers show “robust growth,” Glass told CNBC. “It’s critical data at a moment when people are paying close attention to the number of international students in the U.S.”

SEVIS did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Keep reading

College Students Can Take a Class to Learn How to Steal – Yes, Really

New York City college students at a four-year university in Manhattan can now take a course titled “How to Steal,” which promises to look at “radical ethics” around theft. Yes, you read that correctly.

Students at Eugene Lang College of Liberal Arts can take the four-credit class that will cost students upwards of $10,040 to look at things like the “aesthetics of theft in a world where accumulation is sacred,” the New York Post reported.

The report noted the insanity of the course description.

It read:

This field-based seminar explores the politics, ethics, and aesthetics of theft in a world where accumulation is sacred, dispossession is routine, and the line between private property and public good is drawn in blood. 

Students will critically examine what it means to steal-from whom, for whom, and why— through site visits and fieldwork in places where capital is hoarded and value is contested: corporate storefronts, grocery chains, museums, libraries, banks, and cultural institutions.

The one part that really stood out was the part about how the course will ask the question, “Is it possible to steal back what was already stolen?”

It went on:

What does theft look like under capitalism, colonialism, and in everyday life? When is theft survival, protest, or care-and when is it violence, appropriation, or harm?

The course catalog concluded by pointing out that the class is “not a course in petty crime—it is a study in moral ambiguity, radical ethics, and imaginative justice.”

The irony of teaching this class in a blue state like New York, where criminals can shoplift less than a $1,000 worth of goods and face nothing more than a misdemeanor, is not lost. California was also a place where this craziness ruled the day, allowing people to just steal and face little consequences, before residents said enough was enough, passing Proposition 36, as RedState reported.

Keep reading

Indiana U. professor supports transparency unless it applies to people like him

A new Indiana law requiring public university professors to post their syllabi online “threatens academic freedom,” according to an Indiana University Bloomington professor who is involved in government transparency efforts.

The law, included in a budget passed in May, “almost certainly will have a chilling effect on professors,” according to Professor Gerry Lanosga.

Beginning this school year, professors must post their syllabi online for not just students to see, but the entire public, which includes the taxpayers who actually fund the operations of the university. 

Yet for Professor Lanosga (pictured), this amounts to “surveillance,” according to comments he gave the student newspaper. He also joked “Maybe the impact on posting them to the public is that students may read it more.”

The media studies professor said he has nothing to hide, even though he opposes the law.

“It isn’t inherently bad — faculty don’t have anything to hide in their syllabi and people will comply with the law,” Lanosga said. “But what is the rationale? What are the motives? It hasn’t been made clear,” he told the Indiana Daily Student.

The rationale is that public university professors are supposed to serve, well, the public. They are paid by taxpayers to teach classes and conduct research. The secondary principle is that the work of public employees should be generally available to the public. 

Lanosga should know this since he specifically lists “freedom of information” as an interest on his faculty bio, he won the “Investigative Reporters and Editors’ Freedom of Information Medal,” and serves on the board of the Indiana Coalition for Open Government. 

Instructors have some flexibility to reveal certain information just to enrolled students, according to the student newspaper. A good law leaves some room for exceptions.

But in general, the work of public professors should be free and open to the taxpayers. There are other benefits as well – perhaps prospective high school students want to know what they will learn in a political science, chemistry, or economics class if they attend IU.

Keep reading

University of Melbourne Broke Victoria’s Privacy Law by Using Wi-Fi to Monitor Protesters on Campus

The University of Melbourne’s covert surveillance tactics during a campus protest have been declared unlawful, following a ruling by Victoria’s deputy information commissioner that the institution broke the state’s privacy laws.

The decision condemns the university’s quiet use of digital tracking tools against students and staff involved in a pro-Palestine demonstration, raising serious concerns about the growing use of surveillance technologies in academic settings.

We obtained a copy of the decision for you here.

Prompted by media attention earlier this year, the investigation focused on how the university responded to a May protest held inside the Arts West building.

Rather than relying on open dialogue or standard disciplinary processes, university officials resorted to monitoring individuals through the campus Wi-Fi network, matching connection data with student ID photos and security camera recordings.

A total of 22 students were identified through this process, all without prior warning or a clear legal basis. Staff were surveilled as well, with the contents of ten employees’ email accounts examined to uncover involvement in the demonstration. Three of them later received formal warnings.

Although the commissioner’s office accepted that CCTV footage was used within legal boundaries, it found the use of Wi-Fi tracking in disciplinary investigations to be unjustified.

The monitoring of staff emails was also flagged for breaching expected privacy norms.

Keep reading