Tag: universities

University of Michigan to Bury Grades for First Year Students Starting in 2027 to ‘Curb the Mental Health Crisis’

Starting in 2027, the University of Michigan is changing from letter grades to system of pass or incomplete for first year students, claiming that they are doing it to ‘curb’ the mental health crisis.

If you can’t handle getting a letter grade that you don’t like, maybe you are the problem. Maybe you’re just not ready for college.

This is just more coddling, safe space nonsense that higher education has become known for in recent years.

Campus Reform reported on this:

UMich to bury first-semester grades in bid to ‘curb the mental health crisis’

The University of Michigan’s College of Literature, Science, and the Arts (LSA) will stop reporting traditional letter grades on first-semester transcripts for incoming freshmen beginning in Fall 2027, replacing them with “pass” or “no credit” designations as part of a pilot program aimed at reducing student stress and curbing a “mental health crisis”.

Students will still earn letter grades and receive instructor feedback in every course. However, those grades will remain internal, will not appear on official transcripts, and will not affect first-semester GPAs.

University officials say the policy is intended to help freshmen transition to college, support student well-being, and encourage students to take academically challenging courses without worrying that one difficult semester could permanently affect their records.

”We believe that covering grades will help students start strong and curb the mental health crisis unfolding among college-aged individuals,” the policy page states.

The school argues the program will shift students’ focus from grades to learning by promoting collaboration over competition and allowing freshmen to explore unfamiliar subjects without fear of damaging their GPAs.

America desperately needs more young people to go to trade schools and learn to fix things. Mike Rowe has been sounding the alarm about that for years.

If college students want less stress, they should consider learning to weld or becoming a plumber. The income will be better and there will be less student loan debt involved.

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DOJ Sues Colorado For Offering In-State Tuition Aid To Illegal Immigrants

The Department of Justice (DOJ) sued Colorado on Thursday over state regulations that provide in-state tuition and financial aid to illegal immigrants.

The July 23 lawsuit, filed with the District Court for the District of Colorado, accused Colorado of ignoring Title 8 of the U.S. Code Section 1623, which bans illegal immigrants from being eligible for post-secondary education benefits in a state unless the same benefits are provided to all U.S. citizens, irrespective of their state of residence.

Colorado’s Advancing Students for a Stronger Tomorrow Act, initially passed in 2013 and amended in 2019 and 2022, allows illegal immigrant students living in the state to access in-state tuition and financial aid.

In-state tuition benefits are granted to eligible students when applying to Colorado public universities or community colleges, whereas out-of-state U.S. citizens are required to pay higher tuition rates at these institutions.

“These statutes constitute blatant unequal treatment favoring illegal aliens over U.S. citizens. Worse, such preferential treatment is squarely prohibited and preempted by Congress,” the lawsuit said.

According to a fact sheet from the Colorado Department of Higher Education, the Act removed several barriers that had prevented thousands of illegal immigrant high school students from qualifying for in-state tuition and financial benefits.

The 2022 revision of the Act reduced the time an illegal immigrant student needed to attend high school to obtain these benefits from at least three years to just one year.

Under the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution, extending eligibility for post-secondary education benefits to illegal immigrants is “unconstitutional,” the lawsuit said. Several courts have struck down similar in-state tuition laws as unconstitutional.

For instance, earlier this month, the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in a case filed by the Trump administration that Texas cannot offer in-state college tuition to illegal immigrants under its Dream Act, ruling that federal law overrides state policy.

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University of Maryland “Greatly Troubled” After Professor Arrested by ICE at Dallas Airport for Overstaying Visa – DHS Says He’s an “Illegal Alien from Ethiopia”

A University of Maryland (UMD) professor was arrested by ICE last month at the Dallas-Fort Worth airport two weeks ago, sparking more outrage from the left-wing media. 

Despite being here illegally, he’s received the title of the “teacher of the year” who was detained by ICE.

Berhanu Kibret, an Ethiopian professor at the UMD School of Pharmacy, was in the US illegally on an overstayed visa, which expired in May 2024, according to the Department of Homeland Security.

According to the University, he was “returning from a meeting of the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy, where he received a Teacher of the Year award” at the time of his arrest.

The university said they were “greatly troubled” and that “Kibret has a valid Work Authorization, so it is our hope that any issues surrounding his status will be quickly resolved,” according to CBS.

However, the Department of Homeland Security described Kibret as an “illegal alien from Ethiopia” in a statement.

“Geresu Kibret entered the country on June 21, 2021, on a visa set to expire on May 31, 2024. Against our nation’s laws, he overstayed his visa and failed to depart. He will remain in ICE custody pending his immigration proceedings,” DHS said, noting that “being in detention is a choice.”

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Students Seek To AI-Proof Their Careers With Trades Over College

For years, students were told the future belonged to college graduates with a four-year degree. Now, some of the fastest-growing opportunities are in skilled trades, where there is an escalating demand for labor and a higher level of job security amid the rise of artificial intelligence.

Vocational schools and specialized training programs are seeing a surge of interest among Gen Z students and younger workers who are considering options beyond traditional higher education.

And the timing couldn’t be better. Major infrastructure projects and the rapid buildout of AI-related facilities are fueling demand for workers with hands-on technical skills. Workforce experts say the convergence of these trends could reshape how Americans think about education and career pathways going forward.

“The past couple of years, people have been flocking to things that are considered safe from AI, but then this tailwind came in where there’s also a lot of need for these roles to support the labor movement,” said Brady Colby, head of market research at Validated Insights, which analyzes trends in higher education and trade school.

He told The Epoch Times that while interest in vocational studies had seen slow, steady growth in recent years, it “really took off” in the past six months.

“It’s harder to recruit for some of these skilled trades than it is for computer programmers now,” he said.

Validated Insights noted in its June report that trade school revenue surpassed all expected growth in 2025, expanding 11.4 percent and surpassing $19 billion. That’s nearly double the original growth forecast.

The Philadelphia Technician Training Institute states on its website that many Gen Z members are choosing vocational colleges “because these institutions provide quick applied education that leads directly to rewarding professions with reliable salaries.”

Mike Nager, author of The Smart Student’s Guide to Smart Manufacturing and Industry 4.0, told The Epoch Times: “For decades, four-year degrees were seen as the only path for a safe future. Trades were seen as a fallback for those who couldn’t or wouldn’t go to college and get a degree.”

But now when it comes to choosing a four-year degree path as the default, “the payback just isn’t there anymore in many cases,” he said.

He also believes an interest in education alone won’t be enough to replenish the widening gap in America’s skilled talent pool.

“Kids have to be shown what the trades are, get some firsthand experience. This is where the industry needs to step up, create outreach programs to address the ‘awareness gap’ for trades,” he said.

The “awareness gap” is the disconnect between rising demand for skilled professionals and the public’s perception of these careers. For years, some say it fostered the societal stigma that vocational career paths led to either overly physical or just low-paying work. On the flip side, this perception created a favorable atmosphere for standard university education.

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REPORT: Harvard Tops List of American Universities Taking Money From Foreign Countries – Including China

When it comes to accepting cash from foreign countries, including China, Harvard tops the list of American universities.

This is a major concern. Some might even call it a national security issue. China steals millions in intellectual property from the United States every year and higher education gives them direct access.

At the end of Trump’s first term, Senate Republicans began to focus heavily on this issue. Now they are looking at it again and Senator Tom Cotton is leading the charge.

FOX News reports:

Harvard tops nation in foreign cash haul as Cotton demands probe into China funding

One Ivy League institution has taken in more money from foreign countries, including China, than any other university in the country.

The U.S. Department of Education has, for years, compiled a list of federally funded universities that have taken in funding from abroad. The Trump administration sought to revamp the agency’s online reporting portal, and, in doing so, it has shown that one institution, Harvard University, has scored more foreign funding than any other college in the country.

Harvard is in the crosshairs of Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., for its ties to China and other foreign nations because of the reams of outside cash the university has taken in. And the Senate Republican, who chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee, wants Education Secretary Linda McMahon to open an investigation into China’s cash flow into higher education.

“I remain concerned that millions in additional transactions with sanctioned Chinese entities may not have been reported,” Cotton wrote. “Therefore, I encourage additional scrutiny of financial ties between American universities and Communist China.”…

Cotton noted that since the portal was relaunched in January, reporting data has shown that federally funded universities accepted more than $6.8 billion from “Communist China — including more than $300 million from sanctioned entities.”

Cotton is right to go after them for this.

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DEI Fraud and Cover-Up at Cambridge

“Wouldn’t it be the most ridiculous story ever told, if the boy who couldn’t read and write at 18 gets a PhD before he’s 30?”

Those are the words of Jason Arday—the 2002 Professorial Chair in the Sociology of Education at Cambridge University. Indeed, the story of his metamorphosis from arguably the most disadvantaged person in the UK to elite scholar-athlete-philanthropist would make even Walt Disney raise an eyebrow.

Born to Ghanaian parents, Arday grew up on a council estate (the British equivalent of Section 8 housing) in south London. At age three he was diagnosed with global development delay and autism. Therapists said he would be confined to an assisted living facility. Miraculously, at 11 years old, he spoke his first word (“hello”). When he was 18, he learned to read and write.

Under the influence of a white high school teacher who “gave [him] agency,” Arday pursued higher education. After receiving a PhD from Liverpool John Moores University, he rocketed up the academic ladder as a scholar of racism, education, and inequality. In three years he went from senior lecturer at Roehampton (2018) to associate professor at Durham (2019) to professor at Glasgow (2021). Ivy League universities (plural) tried to recruit him, but he had his heart set on Oxford or Cambridge. In 2023, at age 37, he became the youngest black full professor in the history of Cambridge. He is one of the youngest people of any race to ever hold a chair professorship at Oxbridge.

In his spare time, Arday ran 30 marathons in 35 days and 300 miles in three days.

As of 2023, he had worked with “more than 70” charities and raised more than £5 million.

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University of Alabama NIL Executive Arrested in Human Trafficking Ring

A name, image, and likeness (NIL) executive at the University of Alabama has been arrested as part of a human trafficking operation.

Robert Aaron Suttles, who serves as the content director for ‘Yea Alabama,’ the SEC powerhouse’s official NIL entity, was arrested along with 14 others in Shelby County, Alabama, on Thursday.

Before working as an NIL content director, Suttles worked as a sportswriter for The Tuscaloosa News and The Athletic.

Suttles has been charged with soliciting prostitution after he allegedly paid $100 to engage in sexual activity, WRBC News reports.

The University of Alabama told WRBC that Suttles is not an employee of the school. ‘Yea Alabama’ also issued a statement clarifying their relationship with the embattled NIL executive.

“The individual is suspended and is not performing any work for us,” Yea Alabama said in a statement to AOL.com. “The matter involves personal conduct unconnected to any Yea Alabama business. A legal proceeding is pending, and our internal review is ongoing, so we have no further comment.”

The Shelby County Drug Enforcement Task Force carried out the arrests. Two of the other 15 men who were apprehended also face drug charges.

“We will not tolerate the victimization of vulnerable women here in Shelby County,” said Lt. Clayton Smith, commander of the Shelby County Drug Task Force.

“I believe that no woman wakes up each morning and chooses to sell their bodies because they just want to. There is always an underlying reason that they feel they have to do this to live and have no other option. We have a duty to protect them just like any other citizen. I want to thank the investigators for their passion and work in this operation.”

The attention drawn to Suttles due to his arrest caused social media users to focus on the pinned post on his X page. One that contains a well-known picture of then-Alabama coach Nick Saban along with a caption from Suttles that seems disturbing in retrospect.

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Unacceptable! Auburn students circulate list of racial slurs toward White people

In the latest instance of unacceptable anti-white bias, Campus Reform is reporting “Auburn University students recently circulated a seven-page document that compiled a list of over 250 racial slurs toward White people.”

“The document was sent in a GroupMe chat called “AU Student Connect” used by students at Auburn University.”

To be clear, this is wrong, and it should not be viewed as acceptable to be hateful towards White students just as it wouldn’t be towards Black or any other students. 

We all know this would have been all over the major networks had this been done to any other group. This double standard is unacceptable.

“Among those insults were “failed abortions,” “deformed dna,” “mockery of humanity,” “bleach demons,” “albino pigs,” “not meant to exist,” and “white ‘people’ was just god experimenting.”

These disgusting epithets reveal a deeps seated Anti White hate among some of these students.

“Screenshots of the group chat obtained by Campus Reform showed students using the document, titled “Creaker Names,” to ridicule and mock White people by highlighting insults from the list. ”

This is clearly an outrage and begs the question of whether this anti-white hate is being taught or fostered by these students’ professors.

This chat crossed the line to threatening language as well, with one comment threatening to “body check” a White person if they don’t move out of the way. 

This hateful, threatening rhetoric should be disciplined at school.

We are constantly lectured by the Left about “hate speech” and racism in America, yet here’s an example of just that, yet because it’s hate directed at White people, the level of outrage seems to be lower.

All students involved should be disciplined just as if the races were reversed.

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HUGE WIN FOR AMERICANS: Federal Judge Strikes Down Illinois Laws Giving Illegal Aliens In-State Tuition, Financial Aid, and Scholarships — Deals Major Blow to Pritzker’s Sanctuary-State Agenda

A federal judge just delivered a crushing blow to Illinois Governor JB Pritzker and the state’s radical open-borders agenda.

U.S. District Judge David W. Dugan ruled Friday that multiple Illinois laws granting illegal aliens preferential access to in-state tuition, financial aid, and scholarship programs violate federal law and the Supremacy Clause of the United States Constitution.

The ruling marks a major victory for President Trump’s Justice Department, Illinois taxpayers, and American students forced to compete for limited educational resources while Springfield Democrats rolled out the red carpet for people living in the country illegally.

In his 27-page memorandum and order, Judge Dugan denied Illinois’ motion to dismiss the case and granted the federal government’s cross-motion for summary judgment in part.

The court declared the following provisions unconstitutional and invalid as applied to aliens who are not lawfully present in the United States:

  • Current in-state tuition provisions covering Illinois public universities
  • The Acevedo Act provision governing public community colleges
  • The Retention of Illinois Students and Equity Act, or RISE Act, including its 2025 amendments
  • The Illinois DREAM Act and its scholarship program

The judge permanently barred Illinois, Pritzker, Attorney General Kwame Raoul, state education agencies, and the named university and community-college boards from enforcing the challenged provisions for illegal aliens.

“Put simply, U.S. citizens or nationals must be treated no worse than illegal aliens,” Judge Dugan wrote.

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Outrageous: George Washington University Summer Program Primes Middle School Students For Leftist Activism

In what appears to be another case of left-wing indoctrination at a young age, Campus Reform is reporting, “George Washington University is offering a free summer program that grooms local middle school students for progressive activism…”

“The Civic Changemakers program, operated by the university’s Honey W. Nashman Center for Civic Engagement and Public Service, pairs middle school children with adult college students, includes field trips and workshops, and culminates in an activism project.”

It’s bad enough that college students are being indoctrinated in Woke ideology across the country, but this reveals the left is targeting students as young as middle school for leftist brainwashing.

Rather than teaching basic academics, this program focuses on left-wing activism and controversial issues.

This is hardly the first time this has been tried either.

“A 2020 university report described students participating in lessons centered on the Black Lives Matter movement and helping “children learn social justice.”

This is precisely what students don’t need: BLM indoctrination, more math, less BLM.

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