RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://www.city-journal.org/article/favoring-diverse-faculty

The Supreme Court in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard (SFFA) banned the use of race in admissions in higher education. In the State University of New York system, however, race-conscious methods are alive and well in another domain: faculty hiring.

After the ruling, Chancellor John B. King, Jr. and the SUNY Board of Trustees declared that the Court had “attempted to pull our nation backwards in the journey toward equity and civil rights.” Blacks and Latinos “are still underrepresented across institutions of higher education as students, faculty members, and administrators,” they said, so “better paths and bridges” would be needed to dismantle “roadblocks and barriers.”

In the SUNY system, these “paths and bridges” take the form of three diversity awards and scholarships: Promoting Recruitment, Opportunity, Diversity, Inclusion and Growth (PRODiG+); the Empire State Diversity Honors Scholarship; and the Graduate Diversity Fellowship. The first is a recruiting program designed to induce “over 400 postdoctoral fellows to enter tenure-track faculty positions at State-operated campuses”; the latter two are DEI-focused scholarships for undergraduate and graduate students, respectively.

SUNY’s PRODiG+ program is explicitly designed to “increas[e] the number and share of excellent diverse faculty committed to advancing the ideals of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI).” In practice, “diverse faculty” apparently refers to racial minorities and women. SUNY Cortland’s PRODiG proposal, for example, stated clearly that it intends to “hir[e] a percentage of URM [underrepresented] faculty that equals or surpasses the diversity of our student population.” Cortland’s 2022 program overview clarified further that “underrepresented” groups included “women in STEM disciplines [WSTEM], Hispanic/Latinx, African Americans, Native Americans, and Pacific Islanders.”

https://www.frontpagemag.com/unlike-its-membership-teacher-union-leaders-are-far-left/

The teacher union leadership is in a collective snit after it became clear that Donald Trump would be reelected as U.S. president. American Federation of Teachers boss Randi Weingarten stated in a press release on Nov. 9, “At this moment, the country is more divided than ever, and our democracy is in jeopardy. Last night, we saw fear and anger win.”

National Education Association boss Becky Pringle was somber, posting on Facebook, “We woke up today to a world that feels darker than it did yesterday. I hear the fear about the safety of our families and communities. I feel the profound anxiety for the future of our country. I see the worry, anger, and heartbreak. But despair is not the answer.”

Pringle’s post was widely contested in the comments section, however. Typifying the pushback, educator Laurie Speed posted, “I wish that you would not assume that all of your members are liberals. Many voted for Trump, and they are feeling optimistic. I wish NEA were bipartisan. The education of our children is important to both parties. As educators, we can set the example for our students to follow regarding how to collaborate with others whose opinions differ from ours.”

Speed nails it! Ignoring its rank and file, teacher union leadership is far left, and has been for years. When NEA president Reg Weaver spoke at the Democratic Convention in 2008, his opening words were, “I am here today on behalf of 3.2 million NEA members to tell you why we support Barack Obama for president of the United States.”

It sounded as if every member of the NEA was backing Obama. Then, in his last sentence, he left no doubt. “That, my friends, is why the 3.2 million members of the National Education Association are organized, energized, and mobilized to help elect Barack Obama as the next president of the United States of America.”

Yet, the same Reg Weaver stated a few years before that one-third of NEA membership is Republican, one-third Democrat, and one-third “other.”

https://amgreatness.com/2024/11/16/saving-the-country-from-the-university/

The Federal Aviation Administration and the Transportation Security Administration are supposed to regulate aviation not only to keep planes safe but also to keep those of us currently grounded safe from planes. When we think about higher education regulation, we usually think about quality regulation of educational credentials. Accreditation is used to make sure that institutions actually teach something and aren’t diploma mill scams.

Regulation through accreditation is supposed to protect the public and protect students. Accreditation is a quality stamp that is supposed to protect students by ensuring they are offered genuine learning and skills in return for their time and tuition money. Accreditation is also supposed to make sure that the would-be teachers, engineers, physicians, oral hygienists, and lawyers that our institutions turn out actually know what they are doing. Since the 1970s there has also sprung up a whole sphere of civil rights and student rights regulations on how institutions must treat students respectfully and equally and ensure their safety.

The FAA regulates the airplanes produced by Boeing, but a whole slew of other agencies regulate Boeing’s production of what we political economists call “potentially harmful externalities”: effects of Boeing’s production and sale of airplanes that go beyond the company and its direct customers. The EPA makes sure that Boeing doesn’t damage the environment, and OSHA that it doesn’t cripple its workers.

Universities also produce externalities, and these go beyond the possibility of poorly prepared students who will botch our defibrillator implantation or our defense to the federal charge of selling raisins without a license.

https://quadrant.org.au/magazine/education/the-lost-art-of-school-debates/

The post-pandemic socio-political context in which Australia finds itself should stimulate constructive national debate. Key (and often controversial) issues include Indigenous representation in Parliament, national security and defence, immigration, cost of living, energy, health, housing, and workforce planning and productivity.

Debating is part of an intellectual tradition that encourages both linguistic dexterity and thoughtful participation in the democratic process. This approach to teaching and learning – as last-century or last-millennium as it may seem – remains essential to the formation of citizens who can contribute confidently and articulately to a free and civil society.

Galloping along new technological paths in education, including the high-profile tracks of artificial intelligence, extended reality, robotics and online learning, allows little time to consider what to keep and what to let go.

This dilemma is juxtaposed with evidence of generational decline in Australian students’ competence in the English language. There has been a loss of emphasis on the association between the development of sophisticated English language skills, including the capacity and willingness to read regularly and widely, and the requirement for students to produce reasoned arguments (either oral or written) on the basis of thorough research. Such a loss has catastrophic implications for a free and civil society.

https://www.frontpagemag.com/universities-give-students-milk-and-cookies-cancel-classes-over-trump-victory/

Leftists the world over are in tears and hysterics over Donald Trump’s historic victory on Tuesday, but nowhere are they more desolate and depressed these days than on America’s college and university campuses. Students are at an age when passions run high, and as our institutions of higher learning are now little more than indoctrination centers for Antifa, it’s understandable that the mood on campus these days is more than a little dark.

College and university administrators and professors, however, are only making matters worse by pandering to the students’ ridiculous grief, and even encouraging it, rather than reminding them that life is tough and they just have to get on with it. This is largely, of course, because those far-left administrators and professors are just as immature as their students.

The Washington Free Beacon reported Friday that “after Donald Trump’s historic reelection sent despair rippling across college campuses, grieving professors at America’s top universities canceled classes, rescheduled exams, and promised to forgive poor grades. Schools offered students milk, cookies, puzzles, Legos, and ‘destress sessions.’”

Milk and cookies? Puzzles? Legos? Are we talking about universities here, or about kindergarten? Given the academic level of these woke institutions today, it’s essentially the same thing, and even the most elite universities are engaging in this silly grandstanding.

One Columbia University professor wrote to her students: “I hope you are hanging in there. I have been think [sic] of you over the last few days. [If] you don’t feel up for class, absences today will be excused.” A Barnard prof wrote in a similar vein: “In recognition of the increased stressed [sic] some of you might be feeling because of the election results, I will offer to replace your midterm Exam 2 grade with your Final Exam grade if better.”

https://www.nationalreview.com/news/harvard-and-princeton-professors-cancel-classes-to-let-students-recover-from-election/

Professors at Harvard and Princeton have canceled classes following Trump’s victory, and other units within the universities are offering “spaces” to process the election results.

At Harvard University, the courses “Sociology 1156: Statistics for Social Sciences,” “Applied Math 22a: Solving and Optimizing,” and the general education courses “The Ancient Greek Hero” and “Popular Culture and Modern China” canceled Wednesday class sessions, made attendance optional, or extended assignment deadlines, according to the student-run paper the Crimson.

An undergraduate student at Harvard told National Review that the first 30 minutes of a section meeting for the class “Gov 1790: American Foreign Policy” were dedicated to origami folding.

Harvard economics lecturer Maxim Boycko said in an email that the in-class quiz for “Economics 1010a: Intermediate Microeconomics” would be optional this week and further permitted students to “take time off,” per the Crimson.

“As we recover from the eventful election night and process the implications of Trump’s victory, please know that class will proceed as usual today, except that classroom quizzes will not be for credit,” Boycko wrote. “Feel free to take time off if needed.”

According to the Crimson, Physics professor Jennifer E. Hoffman said in an email to physics students and faculty that her office would be “a space to process the election.”

“Many in our community are sleep-deprived, again grieving for glass ceilings that weren’t shattered, fearful for the future, or embarrassed to face our international colleagues,” she wrote. “I stress-baked several pans of lemon bars to share.

The Harvard College Democrats released a statement on Thursday expressing support for Kamala Harris and concerns about a second Trump presidency.

“The Harvard College Democrats are incredibly grateful for the leadership of Vice President Kamala Harris and the vision she presented for the future of the country in her campaign for President of the United States,” reads the statement. “We are proud to endorse a campaign that centered joy, community, and a belief in the immense potential of this great nation.”

https://www.frontpagemag.com/ohio-u-professor-cancels-classes-due-to-trauma-from-a-trump-victory/

Meet Amy Chadwick, a professor at @ohiou. She canceled classes today because students are traumatized, angry, scared, sad, hurting, and devastated after Trump’s win. Some students are also “unsure how to go on.”

https://amgreatness.com/2024/11/08/indoctri-nation/

An essential mission for many educators throughout the country is the indoctrination of their students. The newest arrival on the propaganda front is Israel. In August, one of the topics of a United Teachers of Los Angeles meeting was “How to be a teacher & an organizer. . . and NOT get fired.”

History teacher Ron Gochez elaborated on stealth methods for indoctrinating his students. He talked about transporting busloads of kids to an anti-Israel rally—during the school day—without arousing suspicion.

“A lot of us that have been to those [protest] actions have brought our students. Now, I don’t take the students in my personal car,” Gochez told the crowd. Then, referring to the Los Angeles Unified School District, he explained: “I have members of our organization who are not LAUSD employees. They take those students and I just happen to be at the same place and the same time with them.”

Gochez further explained, “It’s like tomorrow I go to church, and some of my students are at the church. ‘Oh, wow! Hey, how you doing?’ We just happen to be at the same place at the same time, and look! We just happen to be at a pro-Palestine action, same place, same time.”

The unionistas then burst into approving laughter.

John Adams Middle School teacher and UTLA panelist William Shattuc agreed. Wearing a keffiyeh around his neck, he said, “We know that good history education is political education. And when we are coming up against political movements, like the movement for Zionism, that we disagree with, that we’re in conflict with—they [Zionists] have their own form of political education and they employ their own tools of censorship.”

Guadalupe Carrasco Cardona, ethnic studies teacher at Edward R. Roybal Learning Center in Los Angeles, who received a National Education Association Foundation Award for excellence in teaching, insists that the course she teaches, and whose curriculum she helped develop—ethnic studies—is fundamentally incompatible with supporting Israel. “Are you pro-Israel—are you for genocide?”