Tag: universities

Safe spaces for all? Only if you’re on the left

The concept of “safe spaces” in academia began to emerge in the 1970s, gaining popularity during the Obama administration. At that time, the left repurposed the idea to shield students, often with the support of far-left faculty, from viewpoints they found uncomfortable or offensive, especially conservative ones. Conservatives like Ben Shapiro were treated as existential threats, prompting safe spaces to be “activated” whenever opposing ideas dared to enter the lecture halls.

The irony is telling; many of the very students who champion safe spaces have driven conservative or even “moderate” professors out of their jobs, verbally harassed right-leaning classmates, and, more recently, escalated attacks on Jewish students at campuses across the nation, including UCLA, Harvard and Columbia.

“Columbia University cracked down on dozens of students who participated in the anti-Israel encampment and a recent takeover of a campus library, where protesters injured at least two public safety officers and vandalized the building… over 70 students of the New York City-based institution are facing consequences, with about 80% of them receiving suspensions, expulsions or degree revocations. Most of those suspended received two-year suspensions,” reported Samantha Kamman of the Christian Post.

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U. Pittsburgh teaches high school students, teachers to be ‘social justice’ activists

The University of Pittsburgh has partnered with local public high schools through the Justice Scholars Institute to “prepare young people to be advocates for change and social justice.”

The institute’s emphasis on creating “social justice” activists raises questions about whether the program is truly about education or if it’s about advancing a political agenda.

“The term ‘social justice’ is designed to make radical political views sound non-political and virtuous,” Paul Runko, director of strategic initiatives for K-12 programs for Defending Education, told The College Fix in a recent interview.

“You’re not opposed to justice, are you? Because that would make you a supporter of injustice. The phrase itself has no concrete meaning, which is part of why it is so useful,” Runko said. Defending Education is “a national grassroots organization working to restore schools at all levels from activists imposing harmful agendas.”

Through the university’s Justice Scholars Institute, high school students in Pittsburgh public schools can take college-level courses and earn credits.

The educational program is aimed at equipping students “to become change agents within their school, community, and broader world,” according to its website.

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Dept of Education Investigates 5 Universities Over Scholarships to Non-Citizens

The Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights has opened investigations into five universities to determine whether they are granting exclusionary scholarships for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) or undocumented students in violation of civil rights law.

The department announced the national origin discrimination investigations on Wednesday into the University of Louisville, the University of Nebraska Omaha, the University of Miami, the University of Michigan, and Western Michigan University.

DOE said the investigations are based on complaints submitted to OCR by the Legal Insurrection Foundation’s Equal Protection Project, and will ultimately assess whether the schools are in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964’s prohibition against national origin discrimination.

“On January 21, 2025, President Trump promised that ‘every single day of the Trump Administration, [he] will, very simply, put America first.’ Neither the Trump Administration’s America first policies nor the Civil Right Act of 1964’s prohibition on national origin discrimination permit universities to deny our fellow citizens the opportunity to compete for scholarships because they were born in the United States,” Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Craig Trainor said in a statement.

“As we mark President Trump’s historic six months back in the White House, we are expanding our enforcement efforts to protect American students and lawful residents from invidious national origin discrimination of the kind alleged here,” he added. 

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U. Kansas staff required to remove gender pronouns from emails

The University of Kansas staff is now required to remove gender pronouns from their email signatures to comply with a new Kansas Board of Regents directive, the school announced Tuesday.

All staff must remove “gender-identifying pronouns and personal pronoun series from their KU email signature blocks, webpages, Zoom/Teams screen IDs and any other form of university communications,” the announcement from KU Chancellor Douglas Girod states.

KU staff have until July 31 to comply.

Further, Girod told the university community that “KU Information Technology will remove the gender pronoun field from the ‘people’ pages on websites.”

The announcement cites the Kansas Board of Regents’ recently issued directive to state universities, which comes in the wake of a state legislative budget provision targeting “diversity, equity, and inclusion” initiatives across state agencies.

The regents mandated that state universities dismantle DEI programs, “including pronoun labels,” the University Daily Kansan reported.

Girod’s announcement also lists four other provisions that the university has already addressed in response to the new directive.

The school has eliminated all positions, “mandates, policies, programs, preferences and activities” that relate to DEI. It has also canceled related state grants or contracts and abolished DEI training requirements.

Some of these changes are already apparent.

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Columbia University says it has suspended and expelled students who participated in protests

 Columbia University announced disciplinary action Tuesday against students who participated in a pro-Palestinian demonstration inside the Ivy League school’s main library before final exams in May and an encampment during alumni weekend last year.

A student activist group said nearly 80 students were told they have been suspended for one to three years or expelled. The sanctions issued by a university judicial board also include probation and degree revocations, Columbia said in a statement.

The action comes as the Manhattan university is negotiating with President Donald Trump’s administration to restore $400 million in federal funding it has withheld from the Ivy League school over its handling of student protests against the war in Gaza. The administration pulled the funding, canceling grants and contracts, in March because of what it described as the university’s failure to squelch antisemitism on campus during the Israel-Hamas war that began in October 2023.

Columbia has since agreed to a series of demands laid out by the Republican administration, including overhauling the university’s student disciplinary process and adopting a new definition of antisemitism.

“Our institution must focus on delivering on its academic mission for our community,” the university said Tuesday. “And to create a thriving academic community, there must be respect for each other and the institution’s fundamental work, policies, and rules. Disruptions to academic activities are in violation of University policies and Rules, and such violations will necessarily generate consequences.”

It did not disclose the names of the students who were disciplined.

Columbia in May said it would lay off nearly 180 staffers and scale back research in response to the loss of funding. Those receiving nonrenewal or termination notices represent about 20% of the employees funded in some manner by the terminated federal grants, the university said.

A student activist group said the newly announced disciplinary action exceeds sentencing precedent for prior protests. Suspended students would be required to submit apologies in order to be allowed back on campus or face expulsion, the group said, something some students will refuse to do.

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Professor Claims Pro-Life Americans are a Bunch of White Racists

A professor at the University of Kentucky claims that the American pro-life movement is closely linked to white nationalism and political extremism in a book set to be published next month.

Campus Reform reported that Carol Mason’s From the Clinics to the Capitol: How Opposing Abortion Became Insurrectionary, set to be published in August by the University of California Press, argues that opposition to abortion has played a significant role in shaping what she describes as anti-democratic movements in the US and abroad.

According to the publisher’s description, the book contends that “white nationalism and authoritarian populism have taken hold in America under the guise of opposing abortion,” and that “antiabortion stories, images, and policies have primed Americans to embrace attitudes and politics once deemed extreme.”

Mason is a professor in the university’s Gender and Women’s Studies department. Her academic interests include “critical studies of whiteness,” “race and reproduction,” and “Right-Wing Movements,” Campus Reform reported.

In the book, she analyzes decades of pro-life materials, linking them to a range of ideological developments including Cold War conspiracies, religious fundamentalism, Tea Party populism, and the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

It also claims that American pro-life activism has supported the “global rise of the Right” through tactics, personnel, and funding.

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“Belmont Bombshells” – The University’s Vast Extent Of Subversive Actions

Last week, The Tennessee Conservative reported on the breaking story of a Belmont University official caught on camera admitting to harboring illegal alien students and deliberately pushing DEI policies through crafty rebranding.

Now, while calling for a federal investigation into the school, Tennessee Congressman Andy Ogles has released reports showing Belmont’s deception is deeper rooted than initially suspected.

In the undercover footage, Belmont’s Assistant Director of “Student Success and Flourishing” Jozef Lukey revealed the school knows they have “undocumented students” on campus and deliberately hides their information to better operate “in the shadows”. 

Lukey also admits that the absorption of the school’s DEI department into their Hope, Unity, and Belonging (HUB) Office in 2022 was simply a way to continue DEI practices without being “under the microscope.”

Congressman Andy Ogles was one of the first Tennessee officials to jump into action, announcing he had sent a letter to Education Secretary Linda McMahon demanding an investigation and a revocation of all federal funds if necessary. 

But the Congressman hasn’t stopped there, releasing several “Belmont Bombshells” containing leaked emails and documents showing how “aggressively Belmont University’s administration is pushing DEI indoctrination behind the scenes”.

“Belmont Bombshell” #1 features an email from April asking university faculty to vote for a nominee to serve on the “Faculty Inclusion, Diversity, and Equity Committee” for the next college academic year which will start in the fall of this year.

“Belmont claims to be a Christian university. DEI is a radically un-Christian, anti-truth ideology. This has no place in Tennessee. Stay tuned,” Ogles said.

“Belmont Bombshell #2” shows an official curriculum proposal form requiring faculty to write a “Diversity Impact Statement” to justify how any course proposals or revisions will, “include perspectives from diverse and/or historically underrepresented populations.” This means that any new or revised classes must be tailored to include DEI ideology or risk being rejected by the Belmont Provost.

While the form was dated for use in 2023, Ogles wrote that, “Belmont is allegedly still forcing professors to comply with this form,” and it is unlikely the school has greatly altered the document as more is revealed about the school’s determination to continue pressing DEI initiatives.

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Law Breakers: University of Oklahoma Boasts ‘Safe Place’ for Illegal Aliens

Despite tremendous efforts by the Trump administration, according to Campus Reform, “the University of Oklahoma (OU) continues to provide services for illegal alien students through its admissions and financial aid processes.”

On its website, Oklahoma’s “undocumented admissions is described as a “safe space” for illegals.

It also states on its website that “In the Office of Admissions and Recruitment, we do our best to find and provide the resources to better serve undocumented and DACA students as they are students who work hard to pursue their education and deserve access to higher education and become members of the OU family,” the website reads. “This is a safe place.”

Although this non-law-abiding university admits illegal aliens are not eligible for federally funded financial help, there is a loophole that they use.

According to Oklahoma House Bill 1804, students who attended high school in Oklahoma for at least two years with a parent or guardian may still qualify for in-state tuition through an Affidavit of Intent.

The Oklahoma University website also states that illegal aliens are eligible to apply for state and university scholarships.

This all comes at a time when our federal government is cracking down on illegal alien public assistance.

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Stanford professor keeps fighting to defend rigor in math curricula

A Stanford University professor is being recognized for his work advocating for rigorous math standards in high school curricula in California and other states.

“The format of education has adapted to new technologies throughout history, but understanding of ideas is not devalued in that process,“ Professor Brian Conrad told The College Fix in a recent interview.

Stanford’s director of undergraduate studies in math, Conrad rose to national attention a few years ago when the California State Board of Education proposed revisions to the California Mathematics Framework for high schoolers. The changes included, among other things, that Algebra II courses be delayed to college in favor of data science courses.

Conrad (pictured) made a series of public comments arguing that omitting higher-level algebra and the critical thinking skills it cultivates would leave students “substantially unprepared” for STEM and other quantitative college degrees.

As a result, the state changed the most problematic parts of the new curriculum, he said.

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Belmont University Rebrands DEI Program, Defies Trump Executive Orders

Belmont University is in the spotlight after videos surfaced showing top administrative officials discussing how they are defying President Trump’s Executive Orders ending official discrimination based on race and sex.

Townhall reports that it has obtained leaked video of officials at the Nashville, Tennessee-based university bragging that they’ve simply rebranded their Diversity, Equity and Inclusivity (DEI) program as the office of Hope, Unity and Belonging (HUB).

According to Jozef Lukey, Assistant Director of Student Success and Flourishing at Belmont, the secret to not getting caught skirting Trump’s executive orders is to keep everything as quiet as possible while working “to create as an inclusive space as possible.”

Lukey states in one of the videos that Belmont officials try to adapt to what’s happening around them but emphasized that this doesn’t mean that their efforts to promote DEI completely stop.

“No, we’re not going to be out in the news doing all these things, ‘this is how we stand and this is what we stand by.’ No, we’re not going to make any outward statements,” Lukey explained, tacitly admitting that Belmont is working from the shadows to violate the executive order.

However, the university’s name-changing ruse has caught the attention of Representative Andy Ogles (R-TN) represents Tennessee’s 5th Congressional district, which includes Belmont.

Ogles has penned a letter to Secretary of Education Linda McMahon, calling for a full investigation into the the school’s DEI sleight-of-hand as well as urging investigations into other schools that risk potential defunding over their defiance of the president’s orders reining in DEI.

In that letter, Ogles calls for an immediate compliance review, clarified guidance that mere name changes constitute non-compliance and could result in a loss of federal funding and asks the Department of Education to report to Congress on the prevalence of this type of rebranding.

Ogles tells McMahon that, “Belmont University, like all universities, must understand that if they persist in promoting racist DEI programs in violation of their students’ rights, they will be defunded.”

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