RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://nationalinterest.org/feature/hamas-and-immorality-decolonial-intellectuals-206933

Left-wing intellectual fads aligned with horrific terrorism do not belong in higher education.

Intellectuals have a deep addiction to terror. From the French revolutionaries of the late 18th century who invoked Jean Jacques Rousseau to the physician ideologues of ISIS like Ayman al-Zawahiri, intellectuals have been at the forefront of justifying and instigating mass violence.

The latest iteration of this intellectual tradition of terror is “decolonization.” The invasion of Israel and the murder of over 1300 Israelis to date have illustrated this mindset at work.

In the wake of the slaughter, Walaa Alqaisiya, a research fellow at Columbia University, wrote “Academics like to decolonize through discourse and land acknowledgments. Time to understand that Decolonization is NOT a metaphor. Decolonization means resistance of the oppressed and that includes armed struggle to LITERALLY get our lands and lives back!”

Likewise, for Uahikea Maile, Assistant Professor of Indigenous Politics in the Department of Political Science at the University of Toronto, “From Hawaiʻi to Palestine—occupation is a crime. A lāhui [Nation, race, tribe, people, or nationality] that stands for decolonization and de-occupation should also stand behind freedom for Palestine.”

Leave aside the malleable notion of “settler colonialism,” which is regularly leveled at Israel as well as Western states like the U.S. and Australia but never at Muslim, Arab, or African ones. Many pro-Palestinian intellectuals have long claimed that “resistance” may include any means and may not be criticized. For academics, who dominate wide swaths of academia, the notion of “decolonization” has been cited but with little specificity regarding the term’s meaning, at least in practical terms.

https://www.city-journal.org/article/more-pro-hamas-than-hamas

To call someone “more Catholic than the Pope” is to satirize their presumptive piety. What should we call it when someone is more pro-Hamas than Hamas? That is the level to which the terrorist organization’s cheerleaders in the West, most vocal on American university campuses, have sunk.

Hamas terrorists committed the worst atrocities imaginable in Israel last weekend, on a scale difficult to fathom. Their barbarities are stomach-churning—and Hamas even admitted as much, in an official statement released on Wednesday, in which it claimed that it did “not target children,” and that those who believed it had done so were blindly siding with “the Zionist narrative, which is full of lies and slander.” In other words, it would be a slander, says Hamas, to claim that its terrorists had massacred children in their beds, beheaded them, burned them alive, or kidnapped them.

Of course, they are lying. They cannot un-publicize the horrific scenes Hamas terrorists gleefully projected across social media. But they are backtracking, because they now recognize that they overplayed their hand, overestimating the world’s tolerance for atrocities against Jews. They have lost their PR edge and now understand that murdering children is wrong, always—even for them.

This about-face catches Hamas’s Western allies in an awkward position. American members of groups like Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) now appear in a uniquely atrocious light. While Hamas has chosen to deny (falsely) its atrocities, thereby confirming them as atrocities, SJP and similar organizations have already accepted that Hamas’s inhumane actions are true—and celebrated them.

When reports of beheaded babies and kidnapped Holocaust survivors first emerged into public awareness, the National SJP organization posted on social media that Hamas’s actions were “a historic win for the Palestinian resistance,” cheering, “this is what it means to Free Palestine: not just slogans and rallies, but armed confrontation with the oppressors.” Drawing on the language of Frantz Fanon-style post-colonial academics and activists, these ostensible progressives went further even than Hamas, celebrating the slaughter of Jewish babies and the rape of Jewish women.

Somehow, campus chapters managed to outdo even the National SJP’s sorry record. At UC–Berkeley, 51 student organizations signed a Bears for Palestine statement offering “unwavering support” for Hamas’s actions. “We honor Palestinians who are working on the ground on several axes of the so-called ‘Gaza envelope’ alongside our comrades in blood and arms, and what is coming is greater,” they wrote. “Victory or martyrdom.” They concluded: “We support the resistance, we support the liberation movement, we indisputably support the Uprising.”

The University of Virginia’s SJP chapter announced that it “unequivocally” supports “Palestinian liberation . . . by whatever means they deem necessary.” Remember that the people writing such statements already had access at this point to many of the details of the pogrom. Reports had circulated widely about mobile killing squads mowing down Jews by the time the UVA chapter of SJP wrote, “by whatever means.” Dozens of SJP chapters, among other “human rights” groups and identity-based organizations, have issued similar statements. They have staked out their positions, justified them with jargon, and proudly declared, in effect: spill more Jewish blood, rape more Jewish women, kill more Jewish children.

University administrators have long tolerated SJP and downplayed anti-Jewish rhetoric couched in academic pseudo-babble coming from pro-Palestinian campus groups. But the stark contrast between Hamas’s disingenuous denial of the mass murder of children and SJP’s even more extreme stance in favor of it makes it clear that SJP as an organization should be considered beyond the pale of decent American society. Yet campus administrators, fearful of blowback from these vocal and ruthless cheerleaders of terrorism, continue to issue mealymouthed statements that try to placate, as always, “both sides.”

Campus administrators should consider making significant changes before the American people realize what they are condoning. Our universities are under no obligation to tolerate groups that have shown themselves to be adherents to a moral code more repugnant than even Hamas’s, and at least equally thirsty for Jewish blood. These organizations are no better than any hate group that our universities routinely (and rightly) condemn and exclude. Indeed, they have revealed themselves as worse.

https://www.mcall.com/2023/10/11/act-test-scores-for-us-students-drop-to-new-30-year-low/

High school students’ scores on the ACT college admissions test have dropped to their lowest in more than three decades, showing a lack of student preparedness for college-level coursework, according to the nonprofit organization that administers the test.

Scores have been falling for six consecutive years, but the trend accelerated during the COVID-19 pandemic. Students in the class of 2023 whose scores were reported Wednesday were in their first year of high school when the virus reached the U.S.

“The hard truth is that we are not doing enough to ensure that graduates are truly ready for postsecondary success in college and career,” said Janet Godwin, chief executive officer for the nonprofit ACT.

The average ACT composite score for U.S. students was 19.5 out of 36. Last year, the average score was 19.8.

The average scores in reading, science and math all were below benchmarks the ACT says students must reach to have a high probability of success in first-year college courses. The average score in English was just above the benchmark but still declined compared to last year.

Many universities have made standardized admissions tests optional amid criticism that they favor the wealthy and put low-income students at a disadvantage. Some including the University of California system do not consider ACT or SAT scores even if submitted.

Godwin said the scores are still helpful for placing students in the right college courses and preparing academic advisors to better support students.

“In terms of college readiness, even in a test-optional environment, these kinds of objective test scores about academic readiness are incredibly important,” Godwin said.

At Denise Cabrera’s high school in Hawaii, all students are required to take the ACT as juniors. She said she would have taken it anyway to improve her chances of getting into college.

“Honestly, I’m unsure why the test was ever required because colleges can look at different qualities of the students who are applying outside of just a one-time test score,” said Denise, a 17-year-old senior at Waianae High School.

She’s looking at schools including the California Institute of Technology, which implemented a five-year moratorium on the standardized test score requirements during the pandemic. Denise said she knows the school is not considering scores but she doesn’t want to limit her options elsewhere.

About 1.4 million students in the U.S. took the ACT this year, an increase from last year. However, the numbers have not returned to pre-pandemic levels. Godwin said she doesn’t believe those numbers will ever fully recover, partly because of test-optional admission policies.

https://amgreatness.com/2023/10/13/college-students-backtrack-on-hamas-rush-to-hide-connections-and-pro-hamas-statements/

Less than a week after Israel was struck by a devastating mass invasion by the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas, American college students who initially voiced support for the terrorists have now been forced to recant their statements for fear of being canceled.

As Just The News reports, perhaps the biggest example thus far is the story of Ryna Workman, the president of NYU Law’s Student Bar Association. Workman, a black woman who identifies as “non-binary,” had applied for a job with the law firm Winston and Strawn; after she had initially been accepted, the firm then sent out a public statement revoking her job offer after she stated that Israel “bears full responsibility” for the terrorist attacks, which she described as “Palestinian resistance” and “necessary.”

Elsewhere, students at Harvard are now facing backlash after over 30 student groups signed onto a public letter denouncing Israel as an “apartheid regime,” calling the Jewish state “the only one to blame” for the violence. Three days after the attacks, the list of signatories was removed, although archived versions still exist which include the full list.

After the list’s publication, Harvard alumnus and hedge fund CEO Bill Ackman said that “a number of CEOs” had approached him to ask if Harvard would reveal the identities of the student groups, “so as to insure that none of us inadvertently hire any of their members.”

Members who defend “inconceivably despicable acts” against civilians should “not be able to hide behind a corporate shield,” Ackman added.

https://amgreatness.com/2023/10/12/act-test-scores-fall-to-30-year-low/

A new report shows that the average high school student’s ACT college admissions test scores have fallen to their lowest point in 30 years, reflecting an ongoing decline in the quality of education in the United States after the Chinese Coronavirus pandemic.

As Fox News reports, the average scores for the American College Testing (ACT) exams have fallen for the last six years in a row, with the decline becoming noticeably faster in the years during and after COVID. The average score in 2023 was 19.5 out of 36, which comes out to a percentage of 54%. In 2022, the average score was 19.8.

Furthermore, the average scores for reading, math, and science all fell below benchmark levels that are necessary for students to have a chance at succeeding in their first year of college. The only score that remained above the benchmark was English, which nevertheless also saw a decline compared to last year.

“The hard truth is that we are not doing enough to ensure that graduates are truly ready for postsecondary success in college and career,” said Janet Godwin, CEO of ACT Inc., the nonprofit organization of the same name which administers the tests.

At least 1.4 million American students took the ACTs this year, which is an increase from the number of students who took them last year. But that number is still below the levels seen before the pandemic. Out of those 1.4 million, only about 21% – roughly 294,000 – reached their benchmark levels for success in college. Of those who succeeded, ACT Inc. determined that there was an approximately 75% chance of students achieving a score of C or higher in the corresponding college courses, and a 50% chance of achieving a B or higher.

Godwin also emphasized the importance of the tests despite numerous college campuses increasingly turning away from standardized test scores as a factor in the admissions process. Some universities, such as the University of California system, are outright ignoring an applicants’ ACT or SAT scores, even if the scores are submitted in the application.

“In terms of college readiness, even in a test-optional environment, these kinds of objective test scores about academic readiness are incredibly important,” said Godwin.

https://www.thefp.com/p/exodus-of-wrongthinker-university-professors

One sentence in a blog post almost ruined Thomas Smith’s career.

“If you believe that the coronavirus did not escape from the lab in Wuhan, you have to at least consider that you are an idiot who is swallowing whole a lot of Chinese cock swaddle,” commented Smith, 65, a law professor at the University of San Diego.

He wrote it back in 2021, in a piece questioning the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic on his personal legal blog, which usually received only a few hundred visitors per day. 

But the backlash was swift. Smith estimates 60 students submitted a formal complaint to the administration and accused him of being racist, using derogatory language, and promoting conspiracy theories with “detrimental consequences.” Smith later updated his post to clarify that his ire was directed at the Chinese government, not its people.

A week later, Robert Schapiro, the dean of San Diego’s law school, announced an investigation into Smith in an email to the student body, stressing that “University policies specifically prohibit harassment, including the use of epithets, derogatory comments, or slurs based on race or national origin.”

So Smith hired an attorney known for defending other “cancelled” professors across the country. The university’s in-house counsel investigated him for two months, and ultimately concluded that the blog post was protected by the school’s academic freedom policies. Smith kept his job, but the ordeal left a sour taste in his mouth. 

“I felt anxious, I felt angry, I felt hurt, and I felt done,” Smith tells me with a nervous laugh. 

He said he loved to teach, but lately he’d been struggling to get published in prominent legal journals due to his traditionally conservative ideas arguing against DEI and ESG policies in corporate America. He also found himself self-censoring in his classes so as not to inadvertently offend his students or colleagues. 

But the attempt to cancel him in 2021 was the last straw. 

To hell with this, he thought. In November 2022, he submitted his formal plans to retire. 

Smith is now one of five right-leaning professors out of the 40 faculty at the University of San Diego School of Law who will retire after the spring of 2025. The others include civil rights and labor law scholar Gail Heriot, constitutional law professors Larry Alexander and Steven Smith, and criminal law expert and former law school dean Kevin Cole.