One of the astonishing things about the news industry is that many stories with an outsized national impact turn out to have been completely falsified upon further review. One of its incentive structures is often “firstist with the mostist”; in other words, get to the story fast and report it incredibly quickly. But then, the reporting ends up being false. In retrospect, this does significant damage. This is true in regard to reporting about COVID or Black Lives Matter.
One of the signal examples of this is now being exposed for all the world to see.
18 years ago, in 2006, the Duke lacrosse rape case incited a wide variety of movements that would come into full flower over the course of the subsequent 10 years, particularly during the Obama era. The Duke lacrosse case was an inciting incident for Black Lives Matter and for the #MeToo movement.
In this case, a stripper accused a series of rich white lacrosse players at Duke University of having sexually assaulted her. It became one of the biggest cases in American criminal justice history, specifically because of its ripple effects.
Crystal Mangum, the stripper at the center of that case, has admitted she lied back in 2006. Until now, she has never publicly admitted she fabricated the rape allegation.
Three men, David Evans, Collin Finnerty, and Reade Seligmann, were arrested and put on trial before the case was dismissed. Mangum’s original allegation was that she had been performing at a team party off campus in March of 2006, had been sexually assaulted, and raped by a series of white Duke lacrosse players.
She was, indeed, at this party, but, apparently, she engaged in none of her &#8220;career activity,&#8221; shall we say, because she was high on drugs or intoxicated with alcohol. She ended up leaving early, and then these accusations were filed.
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There were many holes in her story. First, there is no DNA on her. Second, she could not identify any of the Duke lacrosse players, except for one, who ended up not having even been there.
Yet, the problems with her allegations did not stop everyone — including the elite media and those on university campuses — from jumping to conclusions.
Durham County District Attorney Mike Nifong <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqt9OX-oAtU" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> in 2006, “I am not going to allow Durham’s view in the mind of the world to be a bunch of lacrosse players from Duke raping a black girl in Durham.”
Nifong obviously had other political motivations, possibly to run for a higher office at some point. In a March 2006 interview with CBS News, he <a href="https://www.ncbar.gov/orders/06dhc35.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">stated</a>, “The circumstances of the rape indicated a deep racial motivation for some of the things that were done. It makes a crime that is by its nature one of the most offensive and invasive even more so.” According to Nifong, this wasn&#8217;t just a rape. It was, in fact, a racist rape.
The former Duke University president, Richard Brodhead, took immediate action against the team following only the allegations. He accepted the resignation of the men&#8217;s lacrosse coach, canceled the remainder of their season, and suspended the accused three players from school after they were indicted for rape, according to <a href="https://nypost.com/2024/12/12/us-news/former-stripper-murder-convict-crystal-mangum-confesses-to-lying-about-being-raped-by-duke-lacrosse-players-in-2006/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The New York Post</a>. This was “despite having asked the public not to prejudge the criminal case.”
David Evans, one of the players, stridently <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=niLROfcOfBc" target="_blank" rel="noopener">denied the allegations</a>, saying, “I am absolutely innocent of all the charges that have been brought against me today, that Reade Seligmann and Collin Finnerty are innocent of all the charges that were brought against them. These allegations are lies.” Eventually, the case was dismissed.
<div id="attachment_844111" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-844111" class="wp-image-844111 size-full" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/12/GettyImages-57618732.jpg" alt="DURHAM, NC - MAY 15: Duke lacrosse player David Evans (C), 23-years-old, proclaims his innocence as he addresses the media outside the Durham County Detention Center after being indicted on sexual assault charges on May 15, 2006 in Durham, North Carolina. Evans is the third player to be indicted for sexual assault of a woman hired as a private dancer to a party attended by lacrosse team members March 13. (Photo by Sara D. Davis/Getty Images)" width="1024" height="557" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/12/GettyImages-57618732.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/12/GettyImages-57618732-300x163.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/12/GettyImages-57618732-768x418.jpg 768w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />DURHAM, NC &#8211; MAY 15, 2006: Duke lacrosse player David Evans (C), 23-years-old, proclaims his innocence. (Photo by Sara D. Davis/Getty Images)</div>
Yet that did not stop The New York Times from running around 100 pieces about the Duke lacrosse allegations. A tremendous number of Duke faculty actually paid for an ad that was put in the Duke Chronicle devoted to this particular case. Numerous departments and professors at the university signed onto this paid advertisement. What did <a href="https://today.duke.edu/showcase/mmedia/pdf/socialdisasterad.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the statement</a> say?
<blockquote>We are listening to our students. We’re also listening to the Durham community, to Duke staff, and to each other. Regardless of the results of the police investigation, what is apparent everyday now is the anger and fear of many students who know themselves to be objects of racism and sexism; who see illuminated in this moment’s extraordinary spotlight what they live with everyday. They know that it isn’t just Duke, it isn’t everybody, and it isn’t just individuals making this disaster. But it is a disaster nonetheless. These students are shouting and whispering about what happened to this young woman and to themselves.</blockquote>
The ad then provided anonymous student statements about the issue. The seedbed for the Black Lives Matter movement here is obvious. And it turns out all of this was based on lies. It was all lies — beginning to end.
Eventually, the North Carolina attorney general, Roy Cooper, announced that the charges had, in fact, been dropped. (Cooper would go on to become the governor of North Carolina.) He <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHtDbZ5i-w8" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced</a>:
<blockquote>Our attorneys and SBI agents have interviewed numerous people who were at the party, DNA and other experts, the Durham County district attorney, Durham police officers, defense attorneys, and the accusing witness on several occasions. We have reviewed statements given over the year, photographs, records, and other evidence. The result of our review and investigation shows clearly that there is insufficient evidence to proceed on any of the charges. Today, we are filing notices of dismissal for all charges against Reade Seligmann, Collin Finnerty, and David Evans. The result is that these cases are over, and no more criminal proceedings will occur.</blockquote>
Nifong ended up being disbarred for making false statements and hiding evidence from the defense. The president of Duke University later came out and offered <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NkgddRymFA" target="_blank" rel="noopener">an apology</a>.
But here&#8217;s the issue: What was the fallout from this case? Was the fallout a lesson learned about people making false allegations? Of course not. Was the fallout about the rush to judgment by the media deeply desperate for a race case that they could magnify? Of course not; there have been dozens since.
The actual fallout in terms of policy was that in 2011, the Obama administration changed Title IX regulations so that you basically could not defend yourself against sexual harassment or sexual assault allegation on campus.
CNN <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2017/09/07/politics/betsy-devos-education-department-title-ix/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reports</a> that the administration,
<blockquote>&#8230;outlined guidelines for schools on how to handle sexual assault allegations in a memo referred to as a ‘dear colleague’ letter. The letter reminded schools of their legal obligation to address sexual violence amid concerns that schools were not taking the issue seriously enough, and called on schools to step up investigations of reports. It also provided guidelines for investigations and hearings.</blockquote>
And it gave the accused no due process. It made it so that a person did not actually have a right to face down someone who was accusing them. That was the actual legal implication drawn from the false allegations of the Duke lacrosse case.
This repeated itself later with similar allegations that were made about the University of Virginia frat members in 2014 accused by Rolling Stone of engaging in a gang rape, which turned out to be completely false as well. But that didn&#8217;t stop the momentum of the #MeToo movement.
False allegations are, unfortunately, the lifeblood of movements that require gas when there is no gas in the tank.
Yesterday, Mangum, the accuser in the Duke lacrosse case — who is serving time for murder right now — finally admitted (nearly 20 years later) that her accusations were all made up. She said in <a href="https://www.letstalkwithkat.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">an interview</a>: 
<blockquote>I testified falsely against them by saying that they raped me when they didn&#8217;t. And that was wrong. And I betrayed the trust of a lot of other people who believed in me and made up a story that wasn&#8217;t true because I wanted validation from people and not from God. And that was wrong. And I hope that they can forgive me.</blockquote>
It was false, and everyone knew it was false at the time. Yet it led to another string of these sorts of cases ranging from: the University of Virginia false rape allegations; the false allegations regarding Michael Brown&#8217;s death in Ferguson, Missouri, which led to riots in 2014; the case of George Floyd, which is in fact a false case; and the Daniel Penny case.
It stretches forward because the media need these opportunities. They spin up these opportunities. They rely on these opportunities in order to “have the discussion.” They&#8217;re constantly looking for a news hook to have discussions on the issues that they find most interesting regardless of whether the underlying data is there or not.
The media are perfectly willing to jump into certain conversations. However, there are other conversations that the media are absolutely not willing to broach.
Was there a widespread investigation into false rape allegations, which was the actual story with regard to the Duke lacrosse case? Absolutely not. Was there a full-scale media blitz on the question of rape hoaxes, which is what happened in Duke lacrosse? Absolutely not. The way the mainstream media work, their way of deciding whether something is a national story or not, is not based on the truth or falsity of the statements or the good or bad action of the people in question.
They have a preset narrative, and then they look for a hook for that narrative. That is how spinning up a movement out of nothing becomes possible. And it is how polarizing the American body politic occurs.
For four decades, the national media have pursued a preset narrative agenda. Then, they look for a news hook for that agenda that allows them to spin it up into a national story.
That is why Americans are sick and tired of the national legacy media.
* * *
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The Race Rape Hoax That Started It All Collapses

Ben Shapiro

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UCLA has made headlines in the past few months for all the wrong reasons: from the school’s <a href="https://www.becketlaw.org/media/jewish-students-take-ucla-to-court-over-antisemitic-encampment/#:~:text=UCLA%20allowed%20activists%20to%20set,disavow%20Israel%27s%20right%20to%20exist." target="_blank" rel="noopener">failure</a> to protect Jewish students from a pro-Hamas mob, a university-funded <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/furries-bdsm-and-void-punk-official-queer-magazine-of-ucla-embraces-the-fringe" target="_blank" rel="noopener">magazine endorsing</a> furries as a sexual kink, and a student government leader imploring students to <a href="https://x.com/camhigby/status/1805271596673945706" target="_blank" rel="noopener">take up arms</a> against the LAPD when law enforcement arrested those who led an assault on a synagogue.
These instances are not isolated flukes, or simply the misconduct of a few bad apples ignored by the university. Rather, this behavior, and the totalizing mindset that encourages violent, unthinking action, is learned and abetted by UCLA’s academy. Instead of empowering students to critically engage with ideas, learn from great texts, or become citizens invested in the public good, my university now serves as a finishing school for unreflective activism. This fervor isn’t unique to UCLA, but is a reflection of larger trends of <a href="https://thehill.com/opinion/education/4279381-activism-over-academics-the-decline-of-us-higher-education/#:~:text=Advocacy%20has%20increasingly%20displaced%20academics,the%20concentration%20of%20many%20students." target="_blank" rel="noopener">activism replacing rigor</a> within American higher education.
In my 3-year tenure at UCLA, less than a fourth of my classes have assigned complete books. Instead, professors tend to focus on assigning op-eds, TED talks, and essays that are meant to squeeze conversations into a particular moral framework. Professors routinely assign essays on <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt9qfkrm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">decolonization</a> that call for the destruction of the United States, TED Talks that promote the intersection of historically disadvantaged identities as the lens through which to analyze all social conflicts, and <a href="https://inthesetimes.com/article/fascism-debate-trump-democrats-gaza-campus-protest#:~:text=There%20is%20a%20bitter%20irony,definitions%20of%20fascism%20far%20more" target="_blank" rel="noopener">op-eds</a> claiming that anti-Semitism is not a threat facing Jewish people, but rather a weaponized accusation meant to protect Israeli interests. The professors who uncritically structure their classes do a disservice not only to their disciplines and students, but to their own viewpoints that they fail to put to the test of rigorous inquiry.
Instead of learning from the texts that have shaped our civilization, we are assigned short pieces interacting with the ideas of thinkers like Hobbes and Locke, that detest the idea of a straight, white author. Students are graded based on their ability to unquestioningly endorse their professors’ agenda as a reflection of their understanding of class material, instead of being encouraged to develop and articulate their own ideas.
Within this framework, the struggles of all oppressed groups—racism, sexism, ableism, and homophobia — are portrayed as interconnected, attributed to a boogeyman of the &#8216;elite&#8217;: those who embrace traditional values or have historically wielded power. This framework justifies violence and malice, if it is done on behalf of those deemed as the “oppressed.” Terrorist groups like Hamas are positioned as heroes, while America is positioned as the purveyor of an insidious status quo.
For example, in one class, I was taught to <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6420721/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">applaud people</a> with mental illness as heroic, such as schizophrenics who refused to take their medicine. In the same class, the professor lauded their own conditions as self-diagnosed and that formal medical diagnoses were inherently racist, ableist, and classist. Writing as an individual with diagnosed autoimmune disorders, I lost points on an assignment for using “gendered language” in “academic writing,” when referring to an author who was born and identifies as a male.
This totalizing mindset is the culprit for the pro-Hamas encampments within universities, where students <a href="https://nypost.com/2024/04/18/us-news/columbia-student-kicked-and-told-to-kill-himself-for-carrying-us-flag/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">burn American flags</a> and <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/video/6352037685112" target="_blank" rel="noopener">prevent Jewish students </a>from accessing campus. One experience, characteristic of this, occurred when a student used <a href="https://mosaicmagazine.com/observation/israel-zionism/2016/03/whore-you-calling-a-zio/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">an anti-Jewish slur</a> — &#8220;Zio&#8221; — in class. When I pointed out that this word was indeed a slur popularized by David Duke, the student retorted that she was not interested in “playing respectability politics with these people.” Instead of telling the student that slurs were not acceptable, the professor responded by asking me to expand on who David Duke was.
Although this student and professor would cite the righting of historical wrongs as their goal, their reductionism actually hurts disadvantaged groups. In their struggle to address every problem through one lens, these professors run roughshod over the particular causes that they intend to promote. In 2023, one professor announced that it was the worst year in American history to be black. Surely, even the most pessimistic academic would agree that slavery and Jim Crow presented more problems for African Americans.
This indictment does not apply to every professor at UCLA. Many sincerely care about their students, the integrity of their work, and the future of their discipline. I have been extremely lucky to have been shaped, challenged, and inspired by such professors. However, as an institution, UCLA rewards those who cater to intersectionality ideology over academic rigor.
The struggle for women&#8217;s suffrage in America, for example, was not tantamount to South Africa’s liberation from apartheid. 2023 was not the worst year in American history for African Americans. To demand every situation be analyzed through the same binary of oppressed versus oppressor is downright dangerous and serves to justify hatred and violence against anyone with whom one ideologically disagrees. Maximalist rhetoric dilutes the real struggles that minorities face, and allows students to see the world as a black-and-white struggle between absolute good and pure evil.
George Orwell <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/39403-the-word-fascism-has-now-no-meaning-except-in-so">wrote</a>: “The word Fascism has now no meaning except in so far as it signifies &#8216;something not desirable&#8217;&#8230;” Characteristically, his wisdom is ever-relevant in our modern moment. In a class, a professor painted the advocacy of any restrictions on abortion or membership in the Republican Party as fascistic. As lectures, seminars, and syllabi deem American values as evil, students are compelled to proudly associate with some of the world’s most backward groups in the name of justice. It is no surprise that <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/al-qaeda-ayatollah-ali-khamenei-student-protesters-iran-israel-hamas-c7be2e07" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Al-Qaeda</a>, <a href="https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/antisemitism/article-806611" target="_blank" rel="noopener">David Duke</a>, and <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/hamas-slams-us-crackdown-pro-palestinian-college-protests-1893962" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Hamas</a> have found “useful idiots” among the likes of the student activists at UCLA.
Most egregious is how students assert that world conflicts must be understood through their personal experience of either privilege or oppression. As students try to understand situations like the present Israel-Hamas war in the framework of American race relations or gender politics, they project their narrow subjectivity onto a complex reality. Though my peers decry colonialism in their activism, the <a href="https://nommomagazine.com/?p=7748" target="_blank" rel="noopener">hubris</a> of demanding that every struggle must be understood through your own experience is a crude colonialism of the classroom.
If a student disagrees with one part of this radical agenda by supporting a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict or by questioning whether children should undergo medical gender transition at the age of 12, they face academic and social repercussions. This zero-sum mentality asphyxiates the exchange of ideas traditionally associated with the liberal arts and liberalism, and demonizes all who dare to even question its fervor.
With the substitution of cheap slogans for real scholarship, my peers have traded nuance for self-righteousness — an abdication of our responsibility as students.
While the violent incidents at UCLA are eye-catching, they are not anomalies; they reflect a deep-seated ideological shift that prioritizes radical activism over genuine academic inquiry. Until UCLA prioritizes the hiring of faculty who will guide students towards constructive conversations, empty statements or performative commissions will only distract from the symptoms of the crisis UCLA has created.
* * *
Bella Brannon is a student at UCLA studying Public Affairs and Digital Humanities. She is the Editor-In-Chief of Ha’Am, researched bias in artificial intelligence with the School of Technology Law and Policy, and spent the summer interning with the Jewish Coalition for Religious Liberty.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Pro-Palestinian Protesters Re-Establish Encampment At UCLA

Campus In Crisis: Activism Is Replacing Rigor At UCLA

American Universities

Anti-Semitism

California

Pro-Hamas

Protests

Students

UCLA

Brown_Hall_Princeton_NJ1

The Evidence Contradicted Their Claims, But Princeton Still Found Him Responsible. Now He’s Suing.

Princeton University

Readers Pass

Universities

About two-thirds of students attending top-ranked universities say that anti-Semitism is a problem on campus, according to a new poll.
The data comes after pro-Palestinian and pro-Hamas protests have roiled university campuses in recent weeks. Administrators have shut down campuses and canceled events over the demonstrations, some of which have taken over campus buildings and resulted in hundreds of arrests.
Amid the chaos, 67% of students at the <a href="https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-universities" target="_blank" rel="noopener">top 25 universities</a> ranked by U.S. News &amp; World Report said anti-Semitism is a problem on campus. Fourteen percent of students identified anti-Semitism as a “huge problem,” and 53% called it a “small problem,” according to a <a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/national-news/articles/2024-05-13/poll-students-at-top-universities-call-antisemitism-a-problem" target="_blank" rel="noopener">U.S. News &amp; World Report</a> survey.
When asked if students feel more or less safe because of the campus demonstrations, more than a third of students, 38%, reported feeling less safe. Twenty-eight percent said they felt “a little less safe,” and 10% reported feeling “much less safe.”
“The campus has never been immune from anti-Semitism,” Pamela Nadell, director of Jewish studies at American University, told U.S. News &amp; World Report. “The outbursts that we’ve had since Oct. 7 have a long, long history.”
“Every time events erupt in Israel, they trickle out into the U.S.,” Nadell continued. “We’ll see a slow build and then have an explosion. The difference in this moment is the breadth of the explosion.”
“In this case, the explosion is ostensibly against the war, but it so often morphs into tropes that are deeply anti-Semitic. And I think what is not surprising but what is so deeply disturbing is that opposition to the war has morphed into repetition of classic anti-Semitic tropes, and it targets not Israel and not Israeli policies, but it targets Jewish students,” she said.
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Polls suggest that the campus demonstrators’ antics and behavior are sparking a backlash and hurting support for their cause.
Results of a Generation Lab survey <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/poll-finds-most-college-students-against-anti-israel-protest-tactics" target="_blank" rel="noopener">released</a> earlier this month found that roughly two-thirds of students believed demonstrators should not occupy campus buildings to protest. Nine out of ten students surveyed said that protesters should not block pro-Israel students from parts of campus. Eighty-one percent of students said that protesters should be held accountable for destroying, vandalizing, or illegally occupying buildings.

Pro-Palestinian protest

Majority Of Students At Top-Ranking Universities Say Anti-Semitism A Problem On Campus

Education

Hamas

Israel

Politics

Poll

Protest

A male student at The College of New Jersey (TCNJ) engaged in sexual activity with a female student. Three years later, she asked the school to investigate him for sexual assault, and the school suspended him even though he had already graduated.
The male student, whom The Daily Wire will call &#8216;John Doe,&#8217; was a freshman at TCNJ in the fall of 2017. Throughout the school year, a female student, referred to in court documents as &#8216;Jane Roe,&#8217; regularly came over to John’s dorm to spend time with his roommate, her ex-boyfriend with whom she was still friends. According to <a href="https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.njd.496453/gov.uscourts.njd.496453.25.0.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the lawsuit</a> John filed after TCNJ punished him, he didn’t interact with Jane outside of her visits to his dorm room.
On September 30, 2017, not long into his freshman year, John, Jane, and John’s roommate were all hanging out together in John’s dorm room. At some point, John’s roommate left for the night, and John and Jane remained alone together. The two continued talking into the night, which John says turned into “consensual kissing that lasted for a few minutes.” John asked Jane for oral sex and she agreed. After Jane “voluntarily and willingly” engaged in oral sex with John, the two fell asleep in John’s bed, according to John’s lawsuit.
The next morning, John asked Jane if she wanted to have sex. Colleges teach students that they must ask to engage in any kind of sexual activity. Jane agreed and the two engaged in what John described as “consensual sexual intercourse.” Afterward, Jane left John’s dorm room.
John says in his lawsuit that his subsequent interactions with Jane were “friendly,” and that the two spoke to each other whenever they saw each other on campus, even working on calculus assignments together. John says that at no point did Jane seem “uncomfortable” around him or suggest he had ever done anything wrong.
About a month after John and Jane had sex, Jane began dating another man. John suspects that Jane started regretting their encounter and didn’t want her new boyfriend to find out about it, so at some point after they started dating, Jane told her new boyfriend and a friend that John had sexually assaulted her.
Nearly an entire year after her encounter with John, Jane reported the incident to TCNJ’s Title IX department, which handles claims of sexual assault. John was never notified about the complaint, and just a few weeks after reporting the incident, Jane told the Title IX office that she wanted to close the case.
But three years later – now almost four years since the encounter – Jane asked the Title IX office to reopen her case. On May 4, 2021, Jane filed a formal complaint against John, which required the school to notify him of the allegations. The complaint alleged that John sexually assaulted Jane and “made sexually harassing comments” to her during their calculus class in the second semester of their freshman year. John was informed that an Alternative Resolution Agreement (ARA) was being sought without telling him the implications of such an agreement.
John obtained legal counsel and was sent the ARA, which required him to perform 90 hours of community service and take online classes. John declined to accept the ARA, saying that he felt it was an “unreasonable punishment for something that he did not do,” according to his lawsuit.
Since John didn’t accept the ARA, Jane told the Title IX office that she wanted to pursue the formal resolution process, which required a hearing. At this point, however, John had already graduated from TCNJ and left campus. Yet the school pursued the process anyway.
John’s legal counsel at the time advised him not to speak during the grievance process, because anything he said could be used against him if Jane decided to file criminal charges. Even though TCNJ’s policies say the burden of proof is on the school and not the accused, the school reportedly only pursued evidence that pointed to John’s guilt. The school spoke to Jane’s boyfriend and her friend, who gave inconsistent statements. The school also allowed what John describes as “prejudicial hearsay statements” to be presented to the administrator overseeing the hearing. And while the school allowed Jane to submit hearsay statements regarding her mental state, John was not allowed to rebut her statements or present evidence of his own mental state.
John’s counsel at the time also advised him not to attend the hearing On November 5, 2021, he was informed that he had been found responsible and would be suspended for two years, a note which would appear on his school transcript.
John obtained new legal representation and requested a new hearing with an opportunity to actually be heard, which TCNJ denied. Before the hearing had even taken place, John filed a lawsuit, which TCNJ tried to get dismissed.
U.S. District Judge Michael Shipp, who was appointed by former President Barack Obama, last week denied TCNJ’s motion to dismiss, which is a win for John. In general, lawsuits like John’s that survive a motion to dismiss result in some kind of a settlement between the two parties, according to data compiled by Brooklyn College professor K.C. Johnson.

Red brick walkway in front of university educational building

She Accused Him Of Sexual Assault Three Years After Their Encounter. The School Suspended Him Even Though He Had Graduated.

New Jersey

Title IX

Daily Wire host Michael Knowles has been banned from speaking at an event at Minnesota&#8217;s University of Saint Thomas, according to an email from the college.
The university&#8217;s chapter of the College Republicans submitted a proposal to host the speaking event that was denied approval for views that allegedly violate the university&#8217;s core convictions.
&#8220;After reviewing the online content available for Mr. Knowles, I concluded that the event does not meet the criteria for an approved club event. Statements he has made do not align with our St. Thomas Conviction Statements on dignity and diversity,&#8221; the university <a href="https://www.yaf.org/news/catholic-university-in-mn-bans-michael-knowles-from-speaking/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">email</a> stated.
&#8220;Specifically, Mr. Knowles has made statements that are derogatory to the transgender and autistic community,&#8221; the email added.
Knowles took to Twitter on Wednesday to question the ban.
&#8220;If my views on transgenderism are Catholic, and those views &#8216;violate the University&#8217;s Core Convictions,&#8217; then what does that say about the core convictions of the allegedly Catholic @UofStThomasMN?&#8221; he asked.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
If my views on transgenderism are Catholic, and those views &quot;violate the University&#39;s Core Convictions,&quot; then what does that say about the core convictions of the allegedly Catholic <a href="https://twitter.com/UofStThomasMN?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@UofStThomasMN</a>?
cc: <a href="https://twitter.com/USCCB?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@USCCB</a> <a href="https://t.co/fLN89GLRt3">https://t.co/fLN89GLRt3</a>
&mdash; Michael Knowles (@michaeljknowles) <a href="https://twitter.com/michaeljknowles/status/1521912390383804420?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 4, 2022</a></blockquote>
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The school&#8217;s College Republicans have announced a petition regarding the decision, calling on all students, faculty, staff, and alumni to join them &#8220;in standing for free speech on campus.&#8221;
“In the University’s view, it is not simply a concern about what Mr. Knowles would say, rather, it is a concern that he holds Conservative-Catholic views in the first place. These restrictions on what speakers we can bring to campus represent not just a threat to free speech but freedom of thought,” the College Republicans said in its statement.
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We have launched a petition requesting the University to appeal this decision and are calling on all current &amp; former students, UST Parents, faculty and staff to join us in standing for free speech on campus. 
Click the link attached to sign! <a href="https://t.co/lmPrsAEDVy">https://t.co/lmPrsAEDVy</a>
&mdash; St. Thomas College Republicans (@TommieCRs) <a href="https://twitter.com/TommieCRs/status/1521890663868076032?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 4, 2022</a></blockquote>
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In referencing Young America&#8217;s Foundation&#8217;s <a href="https://www.yaf.org/news/catholic-university-in-mn-bans-michael-knowles-from-speaking/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">coverage</a> of the report, Knowles also pointed out that the university&#8217;s email did not cite a single statement from him in support of their decision.
&#8220;One can&#8217;t help but notice that @UofStThomasMN wasn&#8217;t able to cite any of those allegedly problematic statements. Wonder why&#8230;&#8221; he tweeted.
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One can&#39;t help but notice that <a href="https://twitter.com/UofStThomasMN?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@UofStThomasMN</a> wasn&#39;t able to cite any of those allegedly problematic statements. Wonder why&#8230; <a href="https://t.co/UvytMmP6UE">https://t.co/UvytMmP6UE</a>
&mdash; Michael Knowles (@michaeljknowles) <a href="https://twitter.com/michaeljknowles/status/1521911203202805760?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 4, 2022</a></blockquote>
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The censorship of conservative speakers on American college campuses continues to be a disturbing trend.
On Tuesday, Saint Louis University campus police officers <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/conservative-speaker-ousted-from-saint-louis-university-by-campus-police" target="_blank" rel="noopener">escorted</a> a conservative speaker off campus on Tuesday while allowing leftist protesters to remain. Saint Louis University is also a Catholic college.
Young America’s Foundation (YAF) speaker Elisha Krauss was forced off of campus property but remained on a public sidewalk just outside of the Catholic university where she continued her speaking event with fellow free speech activists.
“Proud to take a stand against the intolerant left who for two hours called me an old a**, a b****, and a fascist,” Krauss told The Daily Wire’s Ian Haworth.
“I defend their rights to free speech the same as anyone else,” Krauss added. “Too bad they wouldn’t engage in a discussion or debate about political beliefs.”
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BREAKING: Police at St. Louis University escorted YAF’s <a href="https://twitter.com/ElishaKrauss?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ElishaKrauss</a> free speech rally off of campus—but allowed leftist protestors to stay. <a href="https://t.co/eu2z9jQPsr">pic.twitter.com/eu2z9jQPsr</a>
&mdash; YAF (@yaf) <a href="https://twitter.com/yaf/status/1521583448137289728?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 3, 2022</a></blockquote>
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In December, Daily Wire host Matt Walsh <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/watch-matt-walsh-greets-scores-of-protesters-outside-his-st-louis-event-poses-one-simple-question" target="_blank" rel="noopener">confronted</a> scores of demonstrators protesting his lecture at Saint Louis University.
A crowd of anti-Walsh protesters demanded that The Daily Wire host and bestselling children’s book author cancel the event, a speech for students of St. Louis University. The protesters blocked a street immediately outside the venue and chanted slogans such as “Hey-hey, ho-ho, Matt Walsh has got to go!” and “black lives matter!”
At one point during the protest, Walsh walked out of the venue accompanied by law enforcement to speak with the protesters. The Daily Wire host was met with boos, chants, and one man screaming, “Do not come over here!” The crowd took several steps back as Walsh approached.
“I went out to say hi to my protesters and give them a chance to answer my ‘what is a woman’ question. They declined, it seems,” Walsh posted on Twitter with a video of the confrontation.
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I went out to say hi to my protesters and give them a chance to answer my “what is a woman” question. They declined, it seems. <a href="https://t.co/1qRzOPgod9">pic.twitter.com/1qRzOPgod9</a>
&mdash; Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) <a href="https://twitter.com/MattWalshBlog/status/1466206978036928516?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 2, 2021</a></blockquote>
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Michael Knowles

Michael Knowles Banned From Speaking On Minnesota Catholic College Campus, Group Says

Michael Knowles Banned From Speaking On Minnesota Catholic College Campus

Free Speech

Police officers had to escort conservative Lt. Col. Allen West out of a building on the University of Buffalo campus Thursday night as leftist students swarmed the guest speaker, <a href="https://www.yaf.org/news/breaking-allen-west-escorted-from-yaf-event-by-police-irate-mob-chases-and-assaults-conservative-student/">reportedly</a> chased a conservative student, all after attempting to disrupt the Q&amp;A session and reception following West&#8217;s lecture. 
According to footage and <a href="https://www.yaf.org/news/breaking-allen-west-escorted-from-yaf-event-by-police-irate-mob-chases-and-assaults-conservative-student/">reporting</a> from Young America&#8217;s Foundation (YAF), the group sponsoring West&#8217;s speech, some 200 protesters were gathered outside the venue where West was speaking. As the speaker made his way out of the campus facility through screaming protesters, police officers escorted him to a squad car and took him to his hotel. 
West, who is black, gave a speech titled &#8220;America is Not Racist.&#8221; Footage from the night shows angry protesters screaming racial chants, like &#8220;Black Lives Matter&#8221; and &#8220;No Justice, No Peace.&#8221; They also later screamed &#8220;Say it loud, I&#8217;m black and I&#8217;m proud&#8221; at West as he was escorted out of the building.
After the conservative&#8217;s speech, one female student, who is black, made reference to West&#8217;s black skin and scolded him for &#8220;ignoring the struggle of your own people&#8221; and validating the conservative views of other students, whom she referred to as &#8220;oppressors.&#8221;
The female continued to berate West, repeatedly calling him an &#8220;embarrassment&#8221; and saying she does not want to hear his responses to her numerous grievances, which mostly stemmed from West being black and conservative and highlighting the problem of fatherlessness in black homes.
According to YAF, some of the students also &#8220;attempted to break down the doors to the reception following the event.&#8221; 
&#8220;The speech went on peacefully, but leftists attempted to take charge of the Q&amp;A session––which is when the situation devolved. It became a tug-of-war with the microphone, as vitriolic leftists attempted to hijack the conversation and flung insults at West,&#8221; the YAF report said. 
Moreover, one student claimed they were chased by &#8220;the mob&#8221; of leftist protesters on campus.
“I am unbelievably disturbed that I was chased by a leftist mob and scared for my life on my college campus all for hosting Lt. Col. Allen West, a conservative speaker,&#8221; Therese Purcell told YAF. &#8220;I was aggressively chased by about 200 angry protesters and had to hide in a men&#8217;s bathroom from screaming leftists who were searching for me. The assault on free speech at University at Buffalo by an angry mob is incredibly unacceptable. ”
YAF Program Officer for Campus Advancement Gianna Milaro said what unfolded was “pandemonium,&#8221; adding that she feared for the safety of West and other students.
“At many times throughout the night, I was legitimately worried about West’s and the students’ physical safety due to the angry mob berating and banging on the doors,” she said, according to YAF.
&#8220;It’s not immediately clear why UB did not have more officers stationed at the event to ensure student safety,&#8221; the report added. &#8220;This despicable attack on conservative students prove exactly why YAF’s campus lectures are needed––to pop the liberal bubble and expose the hideous reality of the intolerant Left.&#8221; 
The Daily Wire podcast host and author <a href="https://www.yaf.org/events/michael-knowles-at-the-the-university-of-buffalo/">Michael Knowles</a> is set to give a YAF-sponsored speech of his own at the University of Buffalo on April 26 at 7 p.m.
WATCH:
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Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/allen-west-on-living-as-victors-not-victims">Allen West On Living As ‘Victors Not Victims’</a>
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/texas-dem-party-leader-calls-tim-scott-racial-slur-then-resigns-texas-dems-wont-accept-his-resignation">Texas Dem Party Leader Calls Tim Scott Racial Slur, Then Resigns. Texas Dems Won’t Accept His Resignation.</a>
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/the-gop-needs-to-be-burned-down-to-the-ground-according-to-msnbcs-republican-commentator">The GOP ‘Needs To Be Burned Down To The Ground’ According To MSNBC’s ‘Republican’ Commentator</a>

Allen West

VIDEO: Leftists Scream ‘Black Lives Matter,’ Swarm Allen West At Campus Event; Police Escort Him Out

Young America's Foundation

On Monday, hundreds of educators and students nationwide participated in a “day of refusal” wherein they refused to go to work or class to protest the presence of police on college campuses. 
According to <a href="https://www.campusreform.org/article?id=17416">Campus Reform</a>, Stanford University Professor David Palumbo-Liu went so far as to cancel his class. Palumbo-Liu also co-founded the Campus Antifascist (Antifa) network.  
The “day of refusal” was organized by the “Cops Off Campus Coalition,” a national network of students with the stated <a href="https://copsoffcampuscoalition.com/">goal</a> “to get cops off campus and cops off the planet.” Participants were asked to sign a petition, which included a list of demands. 
Demands included eliminating all police off of all campuses nationwide, demanding “the land back,” and demanding that money be reallocated from policing to “community safety and education.”
The <a href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSflSmZF120ACrgByFQ1cVfhLGc-9wZHgTc31VZFlx9EGZp8zA/viewform">petition</a> reads: 
<blockquote>I pledge to absent myself from work, class, teaching, and more on Monday, May 3, 2021, as part of the national Day of Refusal to demand cops off campus. As a member of a campus community, I am horrified that — amidst  global pandemic, relentless state and vigilante violence against Black, Brown, and Indigenous people, and national calls for abolition — schools across North America have committed to increasing police budgets. College police forces are increasingly militarized, and I support the nationwide call to demand cops off our campus to make our university truly safe and free for all, and I will not cross the picket line. </blockquote>
The coalition argues that colleges are funding police forces at the expense of educating students properly, especially amidst the coronavirus pandemic. 
“Colleges and universities spend millions — often hundreds of millions — of dollars on these police forces,” the petition reads. “This spending occurs while states cut appropriations for higher education and schools impose layoffs, furlough workers, slashing wages, and more in the midst of the pandemic.” 
The petition received <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1MrDcNLQcSi9dusS5n-GSuMwe-u5JbP6hH4d3__EUayM/edit">45-pages</a> worth of signatories from individuals and university departments across the country. A slew of University of California-Los Angeles clubs and departments were among the signatories, such as the UCLA Black Feminism Initiative, the Center for the Study of Racism, Social Justice &amp; Health, the Department of Art,  the Department of Gender Studies, and the Department of Social Welfare. 
The coalition designated May as “Abolitionist May” and created a <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1kTSf56cPi53Zd4GiFbgAjsPvslNPVwGv/view">handout</a> with a number of activist activities to participate in. Examples included “march[ing] to your chancellor’s house and let[ing] them know how you feel,” hosting a “teach-in with abolitionist speakers,” “redecorat[ing] your campus police stations,” and hosting “street puppet theater.”
Campuses across the nation have been riddled with anti-police sentiment following the resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement. Students have organized to create independent anti-police chapters, such as Northwestern University’s “NU Community Not Cops.” 
In October, “NU Community Not Cops” <a href="https://freebeacon.com/campus/northwestern-students-burn-and-vandalize-school-property-at-anti-police-protests/">vandalized and burned</a> school property and placed the charred remains at the feet of police officers guarding the home of Northwestern president Morton Schapiro. The group also vandalized the school’s iconic Weber Arch during a protest aimed at abolishing the campus police department. 
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/watch-professor-berates-student-for-calling-police-heroes">Watch: Professor Berates Student For Calling Police ‘Heroes’ </a>

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Educators, Students Take Day Off To Protest The Existence Of College Police Departments

Police

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