Tag: universities

UNCC official ‘no longer employed’ after being caught on video saying she covertly pushes DEI

A University of North Carolina Charlotte administrator who was secretly recorded admitting to finding ways to advance diversity, equity and inclusion ideology despite a ban on the ideology is no longer employed.

Accuracy in Media released a video of Janique Sanders on May 28 telling undercover journalists she and other university officials have “renamed,” “reorganized” and “recalibrated” to continue pushing DEI ideology.

Her comments seemed to contrast with a one-year-old University of North Carolina Board of Governors ban on DEI offices and programs systemwide.

“If you’re looking for an outward DEI position, it’s not going to happen,” she said on the edited video. “But if you are interested in doing work that is covert, there are opportunities.”

In a statement to The College Fix on Wednesday, UNCC’s spokesperson Christy Jackson said the “employee’s statements were inaccurate and do not reflect the University’s actions.”

“…The individual featured in the video had no policymaking authority, no role in compliance matters and was not authorized to speak on these issues. Following an internal review, the individual is no longer employed by UNC Charlotte,” Jackson said via email.

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North Carolina University Dean Ousted After Admitting to Secretive DEI Push

University of North Carolina Asheville Dean of Students Megan Pugh has been removed after admitting to secretly pushing diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies.

“I mean we probably still do anyway… but you gotta keep it quiet,” Pugh told an undercover journalist in a video released by Accuracy in Media.

“I love breaking rules,” the university dean said.

Pugh’s comments follow after the North Carolina System Board of Governor voted to virtually ban controversial DEI practices and pivot to “institutional neutrality.”

The video also shows Pugh agreeing when asked if “breaking rules” is “why y’all kind of spread it out and stuff?”

“Part of it is that, part of it is just because we don’t have a dedicated office for it anymore, it’s easier to maintain,” she admitted.

“Until more or less they get mad at us, but they haven’t done it yet,” she continued.

She responded affirmatively when asked if the school administration was generally supportive of the ways that DEI is still being implemented at the university.

A UNC Asheville spokesperson said the school is “aware of a video in which an employee makes comments implying that the University does not comply with UNC System policies or legal requirements and supports employees disregarding such obligations.”

“These remarks do not represent the practices of UNC Asheville. The University remains firmly committed to upholding all UNC System policies as well as federal and state laws, both in principle and in practice,” the statement continued.

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‘Zombie DEI’: Is this med school circumventing the law?

A medical watchdog thinks the University of Kansas’ medical school is engaging in “zombie DEI” initiatives, even though diversity, equity, and inclusion projects are banned by state and federal law.

“Rebranding DEI as ‘health equity’ or other such terms is a clear effort to skirt state law in the name of woke ideology. Medical schools should drop their DEI agenda,” Do No Harm Chairman Dr. Stanley Goldfarb told The Daily Signal. “Instead, they should focus on merit as the basis for recruitment and admission decisions, and lawmakers should target schools that fail to comply with state laws.”

President Donald Trump has signed a number of executive orders banning diversity, equity, and inclusion discrimination in the federal workforce, in higher education accreditation, and in government-funded education.

A Kansas law prohibited the requirement of “pledging allegiance to, or making a statement of personal support for or opposition to, any political ideology or movement, including a pledge or statement regarding diversity, equity, or inclusion, or to request or require any such pledge or statement from an applicant or faculty member.”

But the University of Kansas Medical Center School of Medicine requires students to meet “diversity objectives and competencies” through assignments that demand a focus on “social determinants to health,” the watchdog group Do No Harm uncovered.

The School of Medicine at the University of Kansas also provides Health Equity Medical Education Consults.

“This opportunity is for the School of Medicine faculty who interface with learners at all stages (postbaccalaureate and medical students, residents, fellows and other faculty) to seek guidance in making your teaching more equitable and inclusive,” the website reads.

The accompanying PDF features “Race and Ethnicity” at the top of the list of topics that faculty members can receive guidance on.

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Star Harvard business professor stripped of tenure, fired for manipulating data in studies on dishonesty

A renowned Harvard University professor was stripped of her tenure and fired after an investigation found she fabricated data on multiple studies focused on dishonesty. 

Francesca Gino, a celebrated behavioral scientist at Harvard Business School, was let go after the school’s top governing board determined she tweaked observations in four studies so that their findings boosted her hypotheses, GHB reported.

Harvard administrators notified business faculty that Gino was out of a job in a closed-door meeting this past week, the outlet reported.

Harvard did not detail the professor’s firing or tenure being stripped — citing it as a personnel matter — but told GHB that the school had not revoked a professor’s tenure in decades.

No professors have had their tenure revoked at Harvard since the 1940s, when the American Association of University Professors formalized termination rules, according to The Harvard Crimson.

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‘60 Minutes’ anchor Scott Pelley ripped for ‘angry, unhinged’ commencement speech criticizing Trump

Outraged critics blasted longtime “60 Minutes” anchor Scott Pelley as “angry” and “unhinged” after he delivered a fear-laced tirade against President Trump during a commencement speech in North Carolina.

The CBS newscaster warned Wake Forest University’s graduating class on May 19 that “insidious fear” has infiltrated schools, businesses, and homes across the nation — leaving America in a state of “peril.”

“Your country needs you — the country that has given you so much is calling you, the class of 2025, your country needs you and it needs you today,” Pelley said during his grandiose sermon-like speech.

“This morning our sacred rule of law is under attack. Journalism is under attack, universities are under attack, freedom of speech is under attack and insidious fear is reaching throughout schools, our businesses, our homes and into our private thoughts,” he continued.

“The fear to speak in America. If our government is, in Lincoln’s phrase ‘of the people, by the people, for the people,’ then why are we afraid to speak? Ignorance works for power. Power can change the definition of the words we used to describe reality. This is an old playbook, my friends. There is nothing new in this.”

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President Trump Threatens to Take $3 Billion of Grant Money from Harvard and Give It to Trade Schools Across the US

Another brilliant idea from President Trump.

On Memorial Day morning, President Donald Trump posted a warning on TRUTH Social that he may take $3 billion in grant money from Harvard and redistribute it to trade schools across the US.

Trump’s really backing the they/them crowd into a corner!

What a great move that would be! And he wouldn’t be funding the whiny young communists at Harvard.

President Trump then let the country know that Harvard is withholding foreign student lists from the administration so that the government can figure out how many of the radicalized lunatics, troublemakers, should not be let back into the country.

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“UndocuGraduation” Ceremonies For Illegal Aliens Include Guidance On ICE Raids

This graduation season, three universities in California and a university in Washington will hold “UndocuGraduation” ceremonies to celebrate illegal immigrant students. 

Universities paired the event announcements with commitments to protect the identities of student attendees by not releasing any “data related to immigration status” unless presented with a “judicial warrant, subpoena, or court order,” according to a message on behalf of the California State University system. 

“Immigration enforcement is the responsibility of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, not the university,” a message from California State University Long Beach states. 

California State University, Longbeach (CSULB) will host a “Beyond Borders Graduation Celebration” for illegal immigrant students on May 10, according to a university webpage. 

California State University, Northridge (CSUN) will host an “UndocuGraduation” ceremony May 3, according to an Instagram post. 

“Join us at UndocuGraduation to honor your achievement as an undocumented, DACAmented, or mixed status graduating Matador,” the event page states. 

The event will be hosted by CSUN’s DREAM Center, which is part of the university’s student union and provides resources such as an “Immigration Preparedness Toolkit.”

CSUN is also instructing students to report “ICE sighting[s] on campus” and sharing guidelines explaining what to do if you are an illegal immigrant approached by immigration officers. 

The university is providing “red cards” that direct illegal immigrants on how to act if approached by law enforcement and instructing illegal immigrant students to “give the red card to the agent,” per a social media post. 

“Do not open the door…do not answer any questions…do not sign anything,” the red card reads. 

California State University, Fullerton (CSUF) will host an “Undocu Recognition Celebration” May 3.

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Tennessee university hit with civil rights complaint over 17 race-based scholarships

Middle Tennessee State University is facing a federal civil rights complaint alleging it offers 17 scholarships that “discriminate based on race, color, and/or national origin.”

One example cited in the complaint is the Whitney Stegall scholarship, which states, “Preference will be given to students who are African-American or Native- American.”

“Racial and ethnic discrimination are wrong and unlawful no matter which race or ethnicity is targeted or benefits,” William Jacobson, founder of the Equal Protection Project, told The College Fix.

“All applicants are entitled to equal treatment without regard to race, color, or national origin,” the Cornell University law professor said in a recent interview.

The Equal Protection Project, which is part of the Legal Insurrection Foundation, filed the complaint earlier this month. EPP’s mission is to pursue “fair treatment of all persons without regard to race or ethnicity.”

When contacted by The Fix about the complaint, the university media relations office declined to comment.

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A Top Antitrust Enforcer Is Open To Prosecuting People Who Disagree With Him

The Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) Mark Meador recently insinuated that his agency may investigate nonprofits and academic institutions that object to antitrust enforcement actions without disclosing their donors for deceptive practices. While Meador may think it’s OK to probe parties for disagreeing with him, the FTC’s consumer protection remit does not sanction prosecuting those who reject the commissioner’s antitrust ideology.

Meador recently reposted a video of him discussing the “academic whitewashing” of antitrust during an event hosted by American Compass and the Conservative Partnership Institute on May 1. (While no full recording of the event exists at press time, an employee of American Compass tells Reason that the clip is from the aforementioned event.)

Meador complains about academics “renting out their Ph.D. [and] their reputation to advocate for the interests of giant corporations.” He rightly acknowledged that people are free to do whatever they want but then said that the FTC brings “enforcement actions against influencers and reviewers who advocate for products without disclosing that they’re being paid for it.”

Meador wondered aloud whether nonprofit employees and academics who advocate “for the interests of certain corporations or mergers in their white papers and their op-eds without ever disclosing that they’re being paid to do so” may also be guilty of deceptive practices. He did not state that the FTC would bring enforcement actions against academics but said it’s “worth investigating.”

While Meador may think “it’s an interesting question” whether he may prosecute his ideological opponents, the Supreme Court has already provided an answer. Eugene Volokh, professor emeritus at the University of California, Los Angeles School of Law, understands the ruling in NAACP v. Alabama (1958) as holding that, “when it comes to speech that is neither commercial advertising for a product…nor specifically election-related, broader First Amendment precedents would indeed preclude such disclosure requirements.”

Nadine Strossen, former president of the American Civil Liberties Union and senior fellow at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, tells Reason that “the Supreme Court has expressly distinguished between commercial and other communications.” Citing Zauderer v. Office of Disciplinary Counsel of Supreme Court of Ohio (1985), Strossen says “compulsory disclosure regarding non-commercial expression is presumptively unconstitutional.”

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The AI Epidemic On College Campuses Exposes How Broken Our Higher Education System Is

It’s no secret that higher education has been a mess for some time now. From DEI initiatives to seemingly never-ending protests to the skyrocketing college debt crisis to the ridiculous ideological imbalance amongst professors, our once hallowed institutions of higher learning are ripe for root-and-stem reform.

But just when it seemed that the American college experience couldn’t become any worse, artificial intelligence came roaring onto the scene. Now, instead of popping Adderall and Ritalin to power through finals like the good old days, college kids are now pawning their assignments off on AI.

This all comes as college professors (many at supposedly prestigious institutions) bemoan that their students either can’t be bothered to read normal college-level assignments or simply can’t because of their limited vocabulary and critical thinking skills. Even professors at notoriously leftist schools have had enough, venting their frustration at any left-of-center outlet that will listen.

These students are supposedly going to college for a particular area of study, meaning they theoretically want to learn about it. Yet they just pass on their assignments on to ChatGPT. How are they supposed to have jobs in STEM, or even subjects like literature, if they can’t even comprehend the material without AI?

If AI is producing all their work in college, isn’t it reasonable to assume that it will continue to be a crutch for them when they become chemists, lawyers, or even teachers themselves? Then the question becomes whether or not the student, given the (non)education he’s received, is worth hiring at all. AI can do it better.

Crib sheets, CliffsNotes, and stimulants are one thing, but relying on a machine to complete even simple assignments, and therefore forgoing any attempt to engage with the material, presents a looming competency crisis. Not only does it pose an existential danger to how our society and economy functions, it poses a threat to the broken diploma pipeline model embodied by today’s higher education system.

The solution to this epidemic seems rather obvious. Students may use AI as a research assistant, no different from Google Scholar, but submission of any assignment or essay that has a single sentence crafted by anything other than the student’s own mind should receive an immediate failing grade as well as a referral for expulsion. Some smaller schools, like my alma mater Washington and Lee University, already have an honor system in place that has the same expectations and penalties.

An even stricter move would be to heavily weight course grades toward in-class tests and essays done with pencil and paper with no devices allowed (besides maybe calculators for STEM classes).

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