A college president and former chair of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities plagiarized extensively in her doctoral dissertation, a Daily Wire review found.
Heidi M. Anderson is president of the University of Maryland Eastern Shore. For nearly four decades, she has climbed the academic ladder while producing an unremarkable amount of low-quality research.
Now, a lawsuit from a former Eastern Shore professor threatens to cast Anderson&#8217;s career in a startling new light. Donna Satterlee alleges that, under Anderson, low-skilled black faculty were hired based on their race and paid more than white faculty. The suit said whites were forced to do the work that black officials took credit for.
A Daily Wire review suggested that it could be a pattern that began with her 1986 doctoral dissertation for Purdue University, which kicked off her academic career.
Portions of the dissertation, which deal with the use of computers in pharmaceutical education, appear to be a repurposed and uncredited copy of a 1984 paper by Donna E. Larson, a professor of nursing, about the use of computers in nursing education, with simply the name of the field changed. The photos below show just the beginning of a lengthy section where Anderson appears to crib Larson&#8217;s eight points.
<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-980103 size-full" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/advantages.jpg" alt="" width="1812" height="1410" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/advantages.jpg 1812w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/advantages-300x233.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/advantages-740x576.jpg 740w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/advantages-768x598.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/advantages-1536x1195.jpg 1536w" sizes=" (max-width: 1812px) 100vw, 1812px" /></div>
Note at the bottom that Larson cited a number of papers, including her own prior work. Anderson appeared to lift those citations, in order, but remove Larson&#8217;s citation to herself–perhaps to avoid leaving a clue that could unravel an academic crime. Larson&#8217;s name is not mentioned anywhere in Anderson&#8217;s dissertation.
Larson&#8217;s list had eight items on it, but Anderson had 12. The 10th item on the list also copied someone else&#8217;s words verbatim and without quotation marks to make a simple point.
When Anderson summarizes a book by Christopher Evans, she is actually copying someone else&#8217;s summary of Evans&#8217;s work, even though there is no parenthetical attribution in that section of the text indicating it. The summary on the right, by Richard E. Pogue, was from the introduction to the same journal issue where Larson&#8217;s paper appeared.
<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-full wp-image-980105" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/evans.jpg" alt="" width="1812" height="1510" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/evans.jpg 1812w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/evans-300x250.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/evans-691x576.jpg 691w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/evans-768x640.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/evans-1536x1280.jpg 1536w" sizes=" (max-width: 1812px) 100vw, 1812px" /></div>
Likewise, Anderson appears to have simply taken the language of University of Texas medical professor Robert M. Caldwell, writing about computers in medical schools, and changed the name of the field. Caldwell does not appear in the references section of that chapter.
<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-980107" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/caldwell.jpg" alt="" width="1218" height="542" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/caldwell.jpg 1218w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/caldwell-300x133.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/caldwell-1024x456.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/caldwell-768x342.jpg 768w" sizes=" (max-width: 1218px) 100vw, 1218px" /></div>
A significant stretch of Anderson&#8217;s paper is identical to<a href="https://ia601401.us.archive.org/18/items/lb-1043-j-6601978/LB1043J6601978.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> &#8220;Introduction to Instructional Media&#8221;</a> (1978) by David H. Jonassen, even though Jonassen&#8217;s name never appears in her paper. That includes mirroring Jonassen&#8217;s language that something was &#8220;recent&#8221; in the world of computers, without the reader knowing that it was actually new almost a decade prior.
<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-980109" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/jonassen-scaled.jpg" alt="" width="1130" height="2560" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/jonassen-scaled.jpg 1130w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/jonassen-132x300.jpg 132w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/jonassen-254x576.jpg 254w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/jonassen-768x1740.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/jonassen-678x1536.jpg 678w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/jonassen-904x2048.jpg 904w" sizes=" (max-width: 1130px) 100vw, 1130px" /></div>
Anderson&#8217;s personal touches consisted of adding woke language and grammatical errors. For example, a 1,000-word stretch appears copied directly from a paper by Robert M. Caldwell (1984) and an introduction to another paper by Christopher R. Brigham and Martin Kamp in 1973. The primary difference is that Anderson changed &#8220;his&#8221; to &#8220;his/her,&#8221; and the correctly-spelled &#8220;judgment&#8221; to the incorrect &#8220;judgement.&#8221;
<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-980111" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/caldwell-kamp-scaled.jpg" alt="" width="638" height="2560" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/caldwell-kamp-scaled.jpg 638w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/caldwell-kamp-75x300.jpg 75w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/caldwell-kamp-768x3083.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/caldwell-kamp-383x1536.jpg 383w" sizes=" (max-width: 638px) 100vw, 638px" /></div>
Anderson&#8217;s paper proposed using computers to administer quizzes to pharmacy students, but she cribbed information about computers from papers that were woefully out of date even in 1986. One sentence said &#8220;Review of the literature demonstrates that there are relatively few methodologically sound evaluations of the effectiveness of computer assisted instruction (Atkinson, 1968).&#8221;
By the time of her writing, Apple II computers were widely available, and the sort of interactive tests her paper focused on were technically trivial. Yet with her experience with computers seemingly consisting only of reading old papers about them, her paper went on at length about topics like the comparative advantages of mainframes versus terminals. She copied older scholars&#8217; exact language even when explaining such obvious concepts as why it&#8217;s better for a computer to be small than big (&#8220;microcomputer units may be transported into the environment of the subject&#8221;).
The portion of Anderson&#8217;s dissertation designed to drive the field forward consisted of showing a computer program to students and then asking them questions about their opinions about computers. But the interactive activity was programmed by someone else, and the questions were also written by another researcher.
Startlingly, the conclusion of her original research also appeared to be copied from someone else. &#8220;These findings suggest that CAI can be as effective and efficient as a more traditional instructional modality in teaching both factual content and application of learned material when both methods use the same instructional content,&#8221; she wrote. That was virtually identical to a sentence that Elaine G. Boettcher wrote five years prior.
<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-980113" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/findings.jpg" alt="" width="1096" height="298" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/findings.jpg 1096w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/findings-300x82.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/findings-1024x278.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/findings-768x209.jpg 768w" sizes=" (max-width: 1096px) 100vw, 1096px" /></div>
Anderson&#8217;s dissertation says that &#8220;financial assistance was provided to the author by the Purdue University Black Doctoral Fellowship.&#8221;
<h4>&#8216;Posture towards non-Black faculty and staff was barely concealed hostility.&#8217;</h4>
In July, Satterlee sued the University of Maryland Eastern Shore and Anderson, saying, &#8220;Black faculty and administrators are paid vastly higher than others of similar or better qualifications. Heidi Anderson has instituted a two-tier system of racial preferences discriminating against White and Asian faculty who are given more and less-desirable work but significantly lower pay.&#8221;
&#8220;The Heidi Anderson Administration’s posture towards non-Black faculty and staff was barely concealed hostility. It was an established practice to pay non-Blacks less than Blacks, not include them in valuable opportunities, and only exploit their work for personal gain of the select few who were close to the university administration,&#8221;<a href="https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.mdd.586969/gov.uscourts.mdd.586969.1.0.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> the federal lawsuit said</a>.
&#8220;Moses Kairo, a former Kenyan national, became the dean of the School of Agricultural and Natural Sciences at UMES in 2012. He exhibited a distinct preference for African nationals in hiring for positions within the school,&#8221; the lawsuit said. Another Kenyan and apparent former schoolmate of Kairo&#8217;s, Grace Namwamba, was hired as department chair and Satterlee&#8217;s boss, even though &#8220;Namwamba had extremely poor work competencies and skills and appeared incapable of writing in English at the level required of a university professor,&#8221; it said.
Satterlee, the lowest-paid faculty member in her department, &#8220;was assigned double the work of African or African-American faculty. In one instance, Dr. Satterlee was instructed by Dr. Namwamba to create a master’s degree program in two days&#8230; after Dr. Satterlee worked without rest to complete the assignment, Dr. Namwamba took her work product and stole the credit,&#8221; the suit said.
Satterlee said she earned the ire of Anderson and Namwamba after she called for a salary study that would publish faculty pay broken down by race, and by correcting sloppy work by Namwamba in an attempt to save the department from embarrassment. She was the only faculty member to be denied a request for a promotion that year, she said — with the denial letter misspelling her name as &#8220;Dr. Scatterlee.&#8221;
She said she was disciplined by the school&#8217;s DEI office, called the Office of Institutional Equity. The office is led by Jason Casares, who was hired after resigning from his job at a different university amid allegations that he <a href="https://www.wthr.com/article/news/local/update-iu-administrator-casares-resigns-amid-sexual-assault-claim/531-610f5e2c-e658-4b3b-a008-e7d1df4b7e4c" target="_blank" rel="noopener">sexually assaulted a college administrator</a>. Casares&#8217; claim was that Satterlee had &#8220;bullied&#8221; her boss.
He also accused her of insubordination, to which Satterlee replied: “If a written communication from a department chair is &#8216;riddled with grammatical errors and misspellings&#8217;, I have an obligation to call that to her attention and may do so without fear of reprisal, because, ultimately, we seek to teach students how to communicate.&#8221;
She was placed on &#8220;Transitional Terminal Leave.&#8221; The lawsuit said the Office of Institutional Equity has no authority to terminate the employment of a tenured professor, and that &#8220;insubordination&#8221; is not grounds for any university office to terminate a tenured professor.
The lawsuit also said that the University of Maryland Eastern Shore has declined sharply under Anderson&#8217;s leadership,<a href="https://carnegieclassifications.acenet.edu/institution/university-of-maryland-eastern-shore/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> losing the prized R2 research designation</a>.
The university is required to submit a response to the lawsuit by October 10.
Anderson declined to comment for this story. After publication, she put out a public statement saying “Recent allegations of plagiarism have been raised regarding my 1986 doctoral dissertation. Integrity, accountability, and trust are the foundations of my leadership and I take these concerns with the utmost seriousness. Consistent with University System of Maryland policy, there will be an assessment of these allegations… I am deeply grateful for the support of the UMES family during this period.”
Anderson&#8217;s published research in the decades since defending her dissertation has been short and of low quality, often published in obscure journals. For one paper, she had students ask 89 people who was their &#8220;primary source of prescription medicine information.&#8221; Most said their doctors, so she concluded that &#8220;pharmacists should consider providing more information.&#8221;
In another, she claimed that an unnamed minority faculty member had students repeatedly subject her to racial slurs in class and over the phone, and that this research discovered that colleges should create a &#8220;grievance process&#8221; for &#8220;student-faculty conflicts.&#8221;
Anderson repeatedly attained high academic positions. &#8220;I was the first African American to serve as President  [of] the Accreditation Council on Pharmaceutical Education, the national accrediting body,&#8221; she<a href="https://agriculture.house.gov/uploadedfiles/anderson_testimony_package.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> testified to Congress</a> in 2021, and &#8220;The Chronicle of Higher Education also recognized UMES as having the second most diverse faculty.&#8221;
&#8220;Allow me to say, that because we launched this program during the COVID pandemic, our efforts were not as robust or as smooth as it [sic] otherwise might have been,&#8221; she acknowledged to lawmakers in written remarks about her school&#8217;s use of federal funds. &#8220;One of the important issues we face as a nation and world are [sic] the challenges brought about by climate change.&#8221;
She told Congress that the university, which is both a historically black college and an agricultural college, would focus on &#8220;creating safe spaces where farmers can meet monthly.&#8221;
In 2023, Anderson served as president of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities, making her the face of public universities.
Satterlee, the professor who was forced out, said that Anderson&#8217;s alleged pattern of forcing white professors to do the work, while black faculty take credit, mirrors the apparent deception that began her academic career.
&#8220;Heidi&#8217;s PhD has been obtained by fraud and by her passing off the work of other scholars as her own work. How can a university tell its students to be honest if its president is herself dishonest?&#8221; she told The Daily Wire. She called on Jay Perman, chancellor of the University System of Maryland, to fire Anderson.
Michael Sandler, a spokesman for the University System of Maryland, told The Daily Wire: &#8220;We are aware of the allegations raised against President Anderson and are reviewing them with our policies. We will determine the next steps once that process is complete.&#8221;
In September 2024, The Daily Wire revealed that a 5,000-word paper on rocket science by Darryll Pines, the president of the Maryland&#8217;s flagship campus at College Park,<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/university-of-maryland-president-copied-rocket-science-paper-from-aussie-student" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> copied a 1,500 word stretch from a tutorial website</a> by an Australian student. The paper, by Pines and a co-author, did not mention or cite the student anywhere, and attempted to change his British spellings to American ones–potentially a telltale sign that Pines knew he had not written the material, and was attempting to deceive readers.
In response, Pines wrote that &#8220;I<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/university-of-maryland-president-acknowledges-recurrent-language-submits-to-plagiarism-review" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> acknowledge recurrent language</a>,&#8221; and said an investigation would begin. Perman&#8217;s office said the review would be conducted jointly by the College Park campus and the statewide system, and &#8220;the two parties will use an expert consultant at an external law firm to lead the review&#8230; the consultant will determine who will serve on the review panel.&#8221;
A month later, the Australian student, who said it was &#8220;clearly plagiarism&#8230;not worthy of an academic,&#8221; said the panel<a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/governance/executive-leadership/2024/10/24/author-argues-maryland-president-clearly" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> hadn&#8217;t contacted him</a>. More than a year later, that panel has said nothing publicly, and Perman&#8217;s office has declined to share updates.
&#8220;It just feels like something weird is going on,&#8221; Professor Nick Seybert told the<a href="https://www.thebanner.com/education/higher-education/university-of-maryland-darryll-pines-plagiarism-AHZESFHKN5HA5DLTEF32CER46E/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> Baltimore Banner</a> in July. &#8220;It doesn&#8217;t feel like they&#8217;re taking it very seriously.&#8221;
<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-980185" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/boettcher.jpg" alt="" width="1218" height="720" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/boettcher.jpg 1218w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/boettcher-300x177.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/boettcher-974x576.jpg 974w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/boettcher-768x454.jpg 768w" sizes=" (max-width: 1218px) 100vw, 1218px" /></div>
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This story has been updated with a statement from Anderson.

Heidi Anderson / University of Maryland Eastern Shore

Another College President Plagiarized Her Dissertation. That’s Just The Tip Of The Iceberg.

Civil Rights

College

Education

Maryland

Plagiarism

University of Maryland

Harvard University is set to host a drag performer who calls himself “LaWhore Vagistan” as a visiting professor at the Ivy League institution.
Kareem Khubchandani will teach in the Studies of Gender and Sexuality program, per <a href="https://nypost.com/2025/10/01/us-news/harvard-hires-drag-queen-named-lawhore-vagistan-as-visiting-professor/">The New York Post</a>. The classes offered will be “Queer Ethnography” in the fall and “RuPaulitics: Drag, Race, and Desire” in the spring semester, according to Harvard’s announcement.
Khubchandani did an “<a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/595546">interview</a>” with his own drag persona for Johns Hopkins University Press in 2015, during which he discussed his provocative stage name.
“My name is LaWhore Vagistan, my preferred pronouns are ‘she’ or ‘aunty.’ I chose ‘LaWhore’ because my family traces its origins to Pakistan: Lahore is an important city in Pakistan, and well, I’m a bit of a whore,” he said at the time. “And Vagistan because I see the subcontinent as one, big, beautiful Vag … istan.”
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Harvard isn’t the only place LaWhore worked as a professor. The drag performer has a bachelor’s degree in sociology and anthropology, as well as a Master’s degree and a PhD in performance studies from Northwestern University. His work has been published in several academic journals.
&nbsp;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Harvard hires drag queen named ‘LaWhore Vagistan’ as visiting professor <a href="https://t.co/2vL0LziK6T">https://t.co/2vL0LziK6T</a> <a href="https://t.co/YkNA4cA11f">pic.twitter.com/YkNA4cA11f</a>
— New York Post (@nypost) <a href="https://twitter.com/nypost/status/1973569177194492290?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 2, 2025</a></blockquote>
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He is listed as an Associate Professor for Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies and an Associate Professor in Race, Colonialism, and Diaspora at Tufts University.
Khubchandani is the author of “Ishtyle: Accenting Gay Indian Nightlife” (2020). 
The appointment of drag performer “LaWhore Vagistan” as a visiting professor at one of America’s most prestigious colleges comes as Harvard has become a central target of the Trump administration’s push to use federal funding to force change at U.S. universities, which Trump says are overrun with antisemitism.
Trump’s administration cracked down on Harvard for anti-Israel protests that followed Hamas’s October 7, 2023, terror attack.

Harvard University

Ivy League Insanity: Harvard Taps Drag Queen ‘LaWhore Vagistan’ As Visiting Gender Studies Professor

Drag Queens

Gender

Harvard

Politics

Daily Wire host Michael Knowles has joined the lineup as Turning Point USA announced plans to forge ahead with the campus tour begun by founder Charlie Kirk before his assassination at Utah Valley University on September 10.
The amended schedule was released on Monday, just hours before the first event was to kick off at Minnesota State University with Knowles stepping into the debate tent in Kirk&#8217;s place.
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<a href="https://t.co/zY8m5pkx9v">https://t.co/zY8m5pkx9v</a> <a href="https://t.co/BFpqmZsVVl">pic.twitter.com/BFpqmZsVVl</a>
— Turning Point USA (@TPUSA) <a href="https://twitter.com/TPUSA/status/1970187456185278978?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 22, 2025</a></blockquote>
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The next event, scheduled for Wednesday, will feature Sirius XM podcast host Megyn Kelly and Governor Glenn Youngkin (R-VA). TPUSA will return to Utah with a September 30 visit to Utah State University, and speakers there will include TPUSA&#8217;s Alex Clark alongside Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT), Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ), and former Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT).
More events are scheduled to follow, with speakers including entrepreneur and former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, Governor Greg Gianforte (R-MT), radio host Glenn Beck, former Fox News personality Tucker Carlson, Allie Beth Stuckey, Governor Jeff Landry (R-LA), actor Rob Schneider, and Frank Turek.
Knowles spoke about his imminent appearance at University of Minnesota during an appearance on &#8220;Fox &amp; Friends First&#8221; on Monday.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
THAT WILL CONTINUE: Over 90,000 Mourners Gathered In Arizona To Remember The Life Of Charlie Kirk As A New Chapter of TPUSA Has Just Begun. 
Host Of ‘The Michael Knowles Show’ And Host Of Today&#8217;s University Of Minnesota TPUSA Event <a href="https://twitter.com/michaeljknowles?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@michaeljknowles</a> Joined F&amp;F First This Morning. <a href="https://t.co/YtjLYQ0lGE">pic.twitter.com/YtjLYQ0lGE</a>
— Fox &amp; Friends First (@FoxFriendsFirst) <a href="https://twitter.com/FoxFriendsFirst/status/1970082346973180144?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 22, 2025</a></blockquote>
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“I will appear tonight. There will be an empty chair on stage. I will give a tribute to Charlie and then we will open up the floor to an open conversation,” Knowles said of his plans for the event.
“Charlie’s enemies will not have stopped that. People who disagree can, like at all of his events, cut to the front of the line and we will continue to have a healthy debate,” he added. “I think that Charlie’s enemies thought that they could not only silence him, but, in fact, silence his whole movement. That will not happen. In fact, they will not even silence his speaking tour.”

Michael Knowles

‘Carrying Charlie’s Torch’: Michael Knowles Joins TPUSA Campus Tour

Charlie Kirk

Media

Erika Kirk was elected by unanimous vote on Thursday to take over her late husband’s role as CEO and Board Chair of the college campus organization he founded, Turning Point USA.
The organization announced the vote in a post shared on X, along with a statement declaring that the move was the fulfillment of wishes previously expressed by Kirk.
“The Turning Point Board has unanimously elected Erika Kirk as the new CEO and Chair of the Board. In prior discussions, Charlie expressed to multiple executives that this is what he wanted in the event of his death,” the post read, and included a photo of the letter announcing the change in leadership.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
The Turning Point Board has unanimously elected Erika Kirk as the new CEO and Chair of the Board.
In prior discussions, Charlie expressed to multiple executives that this is what he wanted in the event of his death. <a href="https://t.co/PazORgiHWP">pic.twitter.com/PazORgiHWP</a>
— Turning Point USA (@TPUSA) <a href="https://twitter.com/TPUSA/status/1968709126202016062?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 18, 2025</a></blockquote>
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“In Ecclesiastes, King Solomon wrote that mankind is to be tested by God. Today we are facing such a test, yet we also know that God has prepared us with everything we need to overcome this ordeal,” TPUSA Board members Doug DeGroote, Mike Miller, Tom Sodeika, and Dave Engelhardt wrote.
“It was the honor of our lives to serve as board members at Charlie’s side,” they continued. “Charlie prepared all of us for a moment like this one. He worked tirelessly to ensure Turning Point USA was built to survive even the greatest tests. And now, it is our great pride to announce Erika Kirk as the new CEO and Chair of the Board for Turning Point USA.”
The letter concluded with the same resolve Erika Kirk showed in her speech shortly after her husband was assassinated at an event at Utah Valley University, promising that TPUSA would continue Charlie Kirk’s mission, no matter the opposition or the challenges.
“All of us at Turning Point USA have a special role in carrying Charlie Kirk’s mantle and completing his vision of bringing us all closer to our Lord and fostering a prosperous country for generations to come. As Charlie always said, ‘We have a country to save,’” they wrote. “We will not surrender or kneel before evil. We will carry on. The attempt to destroy Charlie’s work will become our chance to make it more powerful and enduring than ever before.”

Turning Point Inaugural-Eve Ball Held In Washington, D.C.

Erika Kirk Elected To Lead Turning Point USA As CEO And Board Chair

TPUSA

Turning Point USA

Editor’s note: The following commentary is an excerpt from remarks presented before the Presidential Religious Liberty Commission on Sept. 8, 2025, with minor edits made for readability.
* * *
I never expected that pursuing my dream to help hurting children would lead to a legal battle for our most basic freedoms.
I graduated from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville with a master’s degree in Art Therapy and Counseling in May 2022. I chose this path because God gave me a passion to fight for and preserve the innocence of children, especially those who’ve experienced deep complex trauma. Through art therapy, I’ve witnessed how expressive means can calm both body and mind and provide a mode of communication when words feel painful and impossible.
But while I was studying how to help others heal, I found myself betrayed by the very institution that was supposed to equip me for that mission.
My program was small — just 10 students—and we became very close. We would talk about being in each other’s weddings and supported each other like family.
But about a year in, something shifted. I came to Southern Illinois University thinking I was there to become a counselor. But I soon realized the university expected me to adopt and promote a specific ideology — one rooted in Marxism and critical race theory, even when it conflicted with my religious and professional beliefs.
When called on in class, I shared my perspective respectfully, asking whether these ideas served the best interests of our future clients.
Instead of respectful dialogue, my Christian and conservative beliefs were met with hostility — not only from classmates but even professors.
But I didn’t expect what came next.
The university issued three no-contact orders against me. You might wonder what a no-contact order is. I did, too. It’s essentially a restraining order, and it applied on and off campus. It meant I couldn’t talk to, sit near, or even be in the same coffee shop with the three classmates who had filed the complaints.
I was shocked. I asked what I’d done. The university said I hadn’t violated any policy. But without any communication or investigation, I received a threat of “disciplinary consequences” if I violated the no-contact orders. And they even copied a university police officer on each order to drive this threat home.
After this, I stopped speaking in class. I was isolated and scared — like I was in a relationship with abusers — trapped in a system that punished me for having different beliefs.
I thought back through every conversation I’d had with my classmates. I couldn’t think of anything I’d done that could be taken as offensive, let alone aggressive. I became afraid.
And with fear came a sense of powerlessness. I started having trouble sleeping. I lost my appetite. And I began to worry what might happen if my professors — who clearly disapproved of my views — decided to block me from graduating or finding a job.
I reached out to Alliance Defending Freedom, and they sent a demand letter to the university. Five days later, the university rescinded the no-contact orders. Two weeks later, it finally told me what the accusations were.
Three classmates had complained about some social media posts where I’d expressed my Christian and conservative views on current events. They claimed the mere expression of my views were “microaggression[s].”
One student said I was “threatening” because I couldn’t embrace critical race theory, which I had said failed to treat people with dignity regardless of race. She told the school I was threatening even though in the same conversation I had praised her for having a “beautiful heart” with a deep “compassion for children.”
Sadly, even after the no-contact orders were lifted, the attacks continued.
University officials refused to tell students that I hadn’t broken any policies. Instead, they e-mailed faculty, students, and alumni, implying that I had engaged in “oppressive acts” and “misconduct.”
The university held a “community meeting” where students publicly attacked my faith and accused me of being racist, oppressive, and creating a toxic learning environment.
Fellow students maligned my name in a school newspaper.
But one of the most painful moments came when a classmate and former friend created an art display titled The Crushing Weight of Microaggressions. It featured a personal text I’d sent her where I shared that, even if we might disagree on some things, I cared about her and that “[M]y personal beliefs are grounded in objective truth by the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”
I was heartbroken to see my words so misunderstood. I loved my classmates, including this girl. To this day, I wish we could have shared our diverse beliefs with mutual respect and kindness. But that was sadly not my experience.
I wasn’t punished for harming anyone; I was punished for having a different perspective, being a Christian, and asking honest questions. At a public university, which is supposed to be a marketplace of ideas, I was silenced for sharing mine.
I knew I couldn’t just walk away. I live by Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s quote: “Silence in the face of evil is evil. God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak, and not to act is to act.”
I could not be silent knowing that what happened to me could happen to future students. Our freedoms are too precious not to defend.
So I filed a <a href="https://adflegal.org/case/dejong-v-pembrook/?utm_source=dailywire&amp;utm_medium=oped">lawsuit</a>.
After the university tried — and failed — to dismiss my case, it agreed to settle. It changed its policies to ensure all students, regardless of political or religious beliefs, are welcome. And it revised how no-contact orders are used so that they can’t be weaponized to punish simple differences of opinion.
But what weighs on my heart to this day: I should never have had to sue. Public universities have a duty to protect open dialogue, not punish it. They should welcome differences, not erase them. And no student should be shamed or silenced for their faith.
Looking back, I can see how what was meant to break me — God used to shape me.
Through the fear and betrayal, He gave me the courage to speak, even when my voice shook. He taught me to love even those who misunderstood or maligned me.
I’m so grateful to President Donald Trump and the Religious Liberty Commission for their bold work to protect our First Amendment freedoms — freedoms that belong to all of us regardless of faith, race, or creed.
The truth is: Freedom is fragile. Silence is costly. But courage is contagious.
* * *
Maggie DeJong obtained her master’s degree in Art Therapy and Counseling from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Students Collaborating and Studying in a Cozy Cafe Setting

Taking A Stand Against My University Took Courage — But Courage Is Contagious

Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF)

American Universities

Christians

Students

Woke Culture

A Texas A&amp;M student was told to leave a lecture after pushing back on a professor promoting leftist gender ideas during a children’s literature course. 
Videos shared by Texas Republican State Rep. Brian Harrison on Monday show a student confronting Dr. Melissa McCoul during a children’s literature class, during which McCoul pushed leftist views on sex, gender, and race.
The class, which was aimed at getting students to “think critically about what [children’s literature] can tell us about how we (and others) understand childhood,” devoted considerable attention to sex, gender, and “queerness,” according to slides reviewed by The Daily Wire. One slide titled “Why talk about queerness at all?” denied that the sexual topic was inappropriate for young children. 
The student, who wishes to remain anonymous, told McCoul during one class that the course material went against President Donald Trump’s orders on gender and diversity, equity, and inclusion.
“Thinking that homosexuality or queer people are always ‘x-rated’ is an effect of heteronormativity, the idea that heterosexual or straight is normal as well as normative,” the slide reads. 
“This also goes against, not only myself, but a lot of people’s religious beliefs,” the student added. “And so I am not going to participate in this because it’s not legal.” 
McCoul then asked the student if she was “suggesting” that the teaching on gender and sex was “false.” 
“Yes,” the student said.
“You are under a misconception that what I’m saying is illegal,” the professor replied.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
🚨CAUGHT ON TAPE: TEXAS A&amp;M STUDENT KICKED OUT OF CLASS AFTER OBJECTING TO TRANSGENDER INDOCTRINATION&#8230; and A&amp;M President defends &#8220;LGBTQ Studies.&#8221;
I&#8217;m referring <a href="https://twitter.com/TAMU?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@TAMU</a> to the Trump Administration for investigation&#8230; and asking Gov <a href="https://twitter.com/GregAbbott_TX?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@GregAbbott_TX</a> to fire the A&amp;M officials… <a href="https://t.co/J6IWsfw62I">pic.twitter.com/J6IWsfw62I</a>
— Brian Harrison (@brianeharrison) <a href="https://twitter.com/brianeharrison/status/1965093848520294565?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 8, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
McCoul then said that her teachings on gender identity and gender expression are “biologically true,” adding that she did not believe that the student would be able to stop her from teaching those ideas.
“Because I do have the legal and ethical authority [and] professional expertise in this classroom,” McCoul told the student. “It’s time for you to leave.” 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Video: Texas A&amp;M Professor to student who objected to transgender indoctrination: &#8220;YOU&#8217;RE FREE TO LEAVE!&#8221; <a href="https://t.co/c9eabNdo9X">pic.twitter.com/c9eabNdo9X</a>
— Brian Harrison (@brianeharrison) <a href="https://twitter.com/brianeharrison/status/1965093857466744970?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 8, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Harrison, who served as the chief of staff at the Department of Health and Human Services during Trump’s first term, told The Daily Wire that the videos show the Texas A&amp;M professor is “absolutely engaged in transgender indoctrination.” He argued that McCoul and other A&amp;M officials be fired.
“This is one of the clearest and most disgusting examples of taxpayer abuse and the weaponization of Texans’ tax money against them, against their values, against their children,” Harrison said. 
Trump <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/defending-women-from-gender-ideology-extremism-and-restoring-biological-truth-to-the-federal-government/">signed</a> an executive order on January 20 declaring, “It is the policy of the United States to recognize two sexes, male and female.” In another executive order, Trump called DEI policies “illegal,” and the Trump administration has opened <a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-dei-universities-investigated-f89dc9ec2a98897577ed0a6c446fae7b">investigations</a> into universities that push DEI programs on their students and faculty. Texas A&amp;M has been <a href="https://www.kbtx.com/2024/09/14/texas-am-awarded-16-million-federal-grants-continue-research-forever-chemicals/">awarded</a> federal <a href="https://houston.innovationmap.com/texas-am-university-tech-waste-2670730689.html">grants</a>, including for its research on “forever chemicals” and its efforts to develop clean energy. 
A Texas A&amp;M official told The Daily Wire, “We are aware of an isolated incident in which a summer course’s content was misaligned with the course curriculum. The college took steps in collaboration with faculty to ensure all course content aligns with the course curriculum moving forward.”
While the federal government has pushed back on DEI and radical leftist gender ideology, Republican-led Texas has fallen behind in putting a stop to radical ideas being promoted at universities, Harrison says.
“I have filed legislation for a long time now to stop taxpayer funding of DEI and transgender indoctrination, and every attempt legislatively to end this is killed by nominal Republicans in the Texas government,” the lawmaker added. 
In another clip, the A&amp;M student tells McCoul, “I held my mouth closed this whole semester about my personal beliefs, but part of my rights is [that] this goes against my religion.” 
“So you are very free to leave, and now is the time to do that,” the professor said. After the confrontation, McCoul asked the class, “Are there other questions I can answer about the sex gender system or non-binary identities?” 
One book required in McCoul’s class was “Princess Princess Ever After,” a comic book story about a princess who is rescued from her tower prison by another princess. The two female characters fall in love, and the book ends with a gay wedding. “Princess Princess Ever After” is <a href="https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Princess-Princess-Ever-After/K-ONeill/9781620107140">written</a> for kids between the ages of 9 and 12, according to a review from lesbian culture website AfterEllen. 
Another slide showed a “Gender Unicorn” graph put together by Trans Student Educational Resources. Yet another slide was titled “Let’s talk gender in children’s lit!” and argued that “Childhood is the time for figuring out how to be a boy, girl, man, woman, or another gender.”  
The student who confronted McCoul about the leftist curriculum raised her concerns with the department head and eventually with Texas A&amp;M President Mark Welsh. Texas A&amp;M administrators then met with McCoul to discuss the class and decided to move McCoul to teach young adult literature instead of children’s literature. 
In a recorded phone call between the student and Welsh, the Texas A&amp;M president stated that the university would review the children’s literature course and discuss providing more detailed descriptions of any classes that teach radical gender theory. Welsh told the student that “there’s not a problem” teaching LGBT literature as long as the university makes it clear it will be part of a class. 
When the student asked President Welsh if any more changes would be made, such as firing McCoul, Welsh accused the student of attempting to “pick a fight,” adding that the university would not punish the professor. 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
Audio of student asking Texas A&amp;M President to fire the professor who kicked her out and who was blatantly indoctrinating students in transgender ideology.
A&amp;M President snaps back at student: &#8220;THAT&#8217;S NOT HAPPENING!&#8221;
Listen: <a href="https://t.co/xK8QTrjzEi">pic.twitter.com/xK8QTrjzEi</a>
— Brian Harrison (@brianeharrison) <a href="https://twitter.com/brianeharrison/status/1965093859488399406?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 8, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Harrison sent a letter to Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, along with a separate letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Education Secretary Linda McMahon on Monday, calling on the state and federal government to take action against Texas A&amp;M. 
“I have previously referred Texas A&amp;M to the Trump Administration for investigation into discriminatory DEI practices, and I am now expanding that request,” Harrison wrote. “Since the Texas government has not ended this taxpayer-funded liberal indoctrination, I am writing to respectfully request that you or other relevant divisions or agencies take any appropriate action(s) to ensure that Texas universities receiving federal funds are complying with President Trump’s Executive Orders.”
The Daily Wire has also reached out to the Department of Education, requesting comment.

Texas A&M

WATCH: Texas A&M Student Booted From Lecture After Objecting To Professor Pushing Radical Gender Theory

LGBT

Texas

Texas A&amp;M

Transgender

Trump Administration

The following excerpt is taken from the new book &#8220;<a href="https://www.amazon.com/War-Science-Thirty-Nine-Scientists-Scientific/dp/B0DWLP2VTZ/ref=sr_1_1?crid=22E4UEYSZLK9L&amp;dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.7OpVlvjzAMkKLRoafpVC5BbfjWiiv_d1HNPN1kmFXABtw90xnU8oHEEAF-C1mFSw.m6gzq7MX5HeMeyZUsEzNWkKLTJiFGUtfa6NHjZv0eDw&amp;dib_tag=se&amp;keywords=the+war+on+science+lawrence+krauss&amp;qid=1754574679&amp;sprefix=the+war+on+sc%2Caps%2C111&amp;sr=8-1">The War On Science</a>,&#8221; edited by Lawrence M. Krauss (Post Hill Press, 2025), with contributions from Jordan B. Peterson, Niall Ferguson, Richard Dawkins, Gad Saad, and many more. 
* * *
<h3>The Archetypal Fate Of The Universities</h3>
The institutions of higher education in the West are administratively top-heavy, in precisely the manner allowing that very administration to prey upon the future earnings of the students they hypothetically serve. Furthermore, the faculty itself leans very heavily in the radical direction despite being the dubious beneficiaries of administrative expansion. Student-to-faculty ratios have increased dramatically. The status and autonomy of the faculty have been very badly compromised. None of this seems to have made the professors and researchers any more forthcoming in their resistance or any more skeptical about the self-righteous “progressive” ideals they advocate. Finally, the students themselves have been infantilized, as well as taught outright that progressive radicalism is identical to virtue. It is, therefore, very difficult to imagine anything approximating an across-the-board improvement in behavior at the universities, in consequence. There are no imaginable circumstances under which the extant Ivy League institutions, for example, would be likely to dispense with the 80 percent of administrative staff and a somewhat lesser but still high proportion of the faculty that would have to disappear for any real change in orientation to occur. 
There have been recent initiatives, most famously in the states of Texas and Florida, to push back against the diversity, inclusivity, and equity bureaucracy-mob, but a simple name change is no trouble for the serpentine Machiavellians of the radical fringe to manage. This means that the same old corrupt players can just change their ideational camouflage, and at the surface level, just as they did when the revelations of Communist excess became too self-evident to deny in the 1970s, and Marxism metastasized into the intersectional oppression idiocy of today. It is, therefore, highly possible that the academy in the West is rotting because it is, in fact, dead and cannot be revived in anything resembling its current form. In that case, the flame will have to be kept burning at new institutions, whether in the classic bricks-and-mortar and in-person guise, if that proves possible (and I doubt it), or electronically, if the major changes in the conceptualization of education and the technology necessary to offer mass higher learning prove capable of delivering on their obvious but by no means certain promise.
<div id="attachment_958091" style="width: 394px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/War-Science-Thirty-Nine-Scientists-Scientific/dp/B0DWLP2VTZ/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&amp;dib_tag=se&amp;dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.uHHyjHn4r9-5D55ze0R9Gk-xy5AIFtAEK7qQ4oR-WpQLi51rBu79jgtR88ZY5U4VgKNq4guJpjpfz4JBsu0CN4ZKfzsmHlY2xOTX5ypfus0dPolpFU3YLRuD1JycE93FkmrEi8sJQT_-K9sN8c2aXpVu9KANTbLiCQ7kDTygeqz7Oh8iBp7BWNSPZkoE6i9QqlYnHbmAMe8OQScq8S7oi0FoZ5cX6CV4hwRSurj_rO8.zNhWL4XZiBpgI8rDMadnYyGjqoUHGwS4_vcJYlypv18&amp;qid=1754575409&amp;sr=1-1"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-958091" class="wp-image-958091 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MixCollage-07-Aug-2025-09-35-AM-9729-384x576.jpg" alt="Credit: Post Hill Press" width="384" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MixCollage-07-Aug-2025-09-35-AM-9729-384x576.jpg 384w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MixCollage-07-Aug-2025-09-35-AM-9729-200x300.jpg 200w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MixCollage-07-Aug-2025-09-35-AM-9729-768x1152.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MixCollage-07-Aug-2025-09-35-AM-9729-1024x1536.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MixCollage-07-Aug-2025-09-35-AM-9729-1365x2048.jpg 1365w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MixCollage-07-Aug-2025-09-35-AM-9729-1360x2040.jpg 1360w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MixCollage-07-Aug-2025-09-35-AM-9729-scaled.jpg 1707w" sizes=" (max-width: 384px) 100vw, 384px" /></a>Credit: Post Hill Press</div>
Is there a way out personally, psychologically, or conceptually? Or, more specifically, what is presently incumbent upon those who are currently or will in the future be engaged in the university teaching or research enterprise? We can turn, once again, to the Enuma Elish account to elucidate the archetypal pattern. It is always in the very darkest hour that the redeeming hero emerges. Deliverance comes to the faithless murderer-children of chaos and order in the story in question in the hero-form of Marduk, the Mesopotamian savior-son-of-God. After Cain and Abel, we are presented with the cataclysm of the flood, as well as the erection of the Tower of Babel, the totalitarian edifice which is a structure of value with the wrong value at its pinnacle. Those are the twin fates of the descendants of Cain, the parasites who will not sacrifice properly and who undermine what even they themselves most truly value and depend upon. What are these fates? The descent of the world into the primordial waters of chaos that reigned before the beginning; alternatively, the worship of the false idols of the Luciferian intellect that likewise produce disunity and confusion — in the latter case, the eventual inability of those who aim wrong to even understand or utter the same words. “What is a woman?” — indeed. What is the way forward in the biblical narrative — perhaps running parallel to the Mesopotamian story? 
Careless pride eternally comes before a fall, but the humility that is its medicament is the attention that leaves nothing out of its purview and can, therefore, perceive the proper course forward. We could consider the account of Jonah, the everyman alerted by his conscience to speak the words of truth that set society straight. He flees, initially, from the requirement — who wants to risk standing against the mob? — but upon encountering the abysmal consequences of maintaining silence when there is something that demands to be said, he reconsiders his cowardice, turns his voice over to the control of the divine, and redeems the corrupt city of his enemies. What is the moral of such stories for the timorous, ideology-addled professors of today — or for those who enable them through their silence or even “allyship”? What might be done by forthright and faithful believers in the redeeming quality of truth and sacrifice when the walls we relied on to protect us have been breached and the barbarians have entered the gates? And have they? Here’s a telling data point: it is none other than the despicable Michel Foucault, darling of the Luciferian radicals, who is by some accounts the most cited “scholar” in the world.
What might be done, indeed? We professors, scholars, and researchers could open the eyes and the mouths God has given us instead of continuing to take each of the thousands of small steps backward that have enabled the devouring ideologues at our institutions. We could forthrightly note the chaos that looms and identify and hold to account its purveyors and acolytes. We could do the duty required of us by the people who have charged the inhabitants of the academy with the responsibility of preserving and seeking the truth, and we could call out the frauds, hucksters, Machiavellians, and outright charlatan-psychopaths of the faux disciplines and idiot theories of oppressor and victim. We could, by so doing, speak the words of truthful magic that redeem the fragmented world and position the foundation back in its place. Alternatively, we could remain frozen in the corner like the petrified rabbits we have far too often revealed ourselves to be and let the parasitical rabble attain their temporary and inevitably self and society-destroying “victory.” What did the great Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn say so effectively in his all-out and eventually successful assault on the predatory tyrants and parasites of the envious and ideology-possessed radical world? ONE WORD OF TRUTH SHALL OUTWEIGH THE WHOLE WORLD. The protected professoriate pays for the opportunity and protection historically granted by the community to the academic endeavor with the vow to protect what is true, beautiful, and good. If we once again found the courage to be the standard-bearers of such value, the mad and ideological mob would be rapidly defeated. 
Will we do what needs to be done? We have failed so far, and it would take a mad bit of optimism to suggest that the course could be reversed. Nonetheless, the situation is far from hopeless. Here is another bit of traditional mythology to consider with regard to such a situation. When Abraham is informed by God of the latter’s decision to destroy the sinful cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, the great prophet objects, making the case that wholesale destruction is no temperate and proper response to the sins even of the many (Genesis 18: 22–33). God agrees to spare the threatened cities if even fifty righteous people might still be found dwelling within their walls. Abraham persists in his objections, even after receiving such consideration from God, bargaining the divine down to forty-five, then forty, then thirty, then twenty — then ten. What does this strange story indicate? Nothing less than this: an entire polity, and all of its denizens, can be saved even from an impending, dire, and deserved fate if even a tiny number of its inhabitants remain willing to risk the great adventure of the truth.
The moral of the story for the current denizens of the academies of higher education? It would not take a great number of professors, researchers, and students even now to speak and turn the tide. The moral, even more specifically, even more personally? It is incumbent on each and every one of us engaged in such enterprise to risk being one of the redeeming ten. We should remember, too, when considering such things: it is indeed a risk to see what is in front of our eyes and to say what needs to be said. It is also true, however, that willful blindness and failure to speak when there is something to say are ventures with perils of their own. The ten in question may find themselves in trouble when they speak, but they are simultaneously saving themselves and all those around them from the invisible hand of doom, threatening the future. This is an existential fact, alluded to in the great story of Jonah. It is not by mere chance that the fleeing prophet finds himself drowning when he holds his tongue after being commanded to speak — and then, worse, devoured by the beast of the abyss. There is indeed a descent into hell that threatens, both psychologically and socially, when conscience is ignored. It is the wisdom of the ages that the risk of seeing and speaking, all things considered, is much less than the risk of hiding and silence. There may be a price that is to be paid for the former — but the price of the latter is both soul and society. The true spirit of the academy is the prophetic voice that redeems. We abandon that at our great peril and to the detriment of all that depends on education itself. 
See, therefore, and speak — or pay the inevitable price.
* * *
This excerpt is published by permission of Post Hill Press. “<a href="https://www.amazon.com/War-Science-Thirty-Nine-Scientists-Scientific/dp/B0DWLP2VTZ/ref=sr_1_1?crid=22E4UEYSZLK9L&amp;dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.7OpVlvjzAMkKLRoafpVC5BbfjWiiv_d1HNPN1kmFXABtw90xnU8oHEEAF-C1mFSw.m6gzq7MX5HeMeyZUsEzNWkKLTJiFGUtfa6NHjZv0eDw&amp;dib_tag=se&amp;keywords=the+war+on+science+lawrence+krauss&amp;qid=1754574679&amp;sprefix=the+war+on+sc%2Caps%2C111&amp;sr=8-1">The War on Science: Thirty-Nine Renowned Scientists and Scholars Speak Out About Current Threats to Free Speech, Open Inquiry, and the Scientific Process</a>,” edited by Lawrence M. Krauss. (Post Hill Press, July 2025).
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/the-role-of-the-holy-spirit-distinguishing-between-your-will-and-gods-will" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Dr. Jordan B. Peterson</a> is a clinical psychologist and professor emeritus at the University of Toronto. From 1993 to 1998 he served as assistant and then associate professor of psychology at Harvard. He is the international bestselling author of “Maps of Meaning,” “12 Rules For Life,” “Beyond Order.” Be sure to order his newest book, “We Who Wrestle with God” (Portfolio/Penguin).
Lawrence M. Krauss is an internationally renowned theoretical physicist, bestselling author, and acclaimed lecturer. A passionate advocate for science and reason, and the public understanding of science, he is the author of twelve popular books, including the international bestsellers &#8220;The Physics of Star Trek, A Universe from Nothing,&#8221; and his most recent book, &#8220;The Edge of Knowledge.&#8221; He received his PhD from MIT and then moved to the Harvard Society of Fellows. He is currently President of The Origins Project Foundation, Chair of the Board of the Free Speech Union, Canada, and host of The Origins Podcast.

Jordan Peterson

The Academy In The West Is Dead. Speak Anyway.

Bible

Books

Communism

Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI)

Leftists

Marxism

It’s back-to-school season once again. And thanks to President Donald Trump, universities are back on the right track and ditching leftist dogma. 
Under the Trump administration, woke indoctrination doesn’t fly. <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/columbia-university-agrees-to-trumps-demands-to-ban-masks-empower-campus-police">Columbia</a> and <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/harvard-open-to-paying-500m-settlement-amid-trump-crackdown-on-campus-antisemitism">Harvard</a> — those ivory towers of elitism — got pummeled by Trump for the antisemitic and anti-American nonsense that flourished on their campuses last year. 
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/columbia-university-retreats-as-trump-scores-historic-220m-settlement">Columbia</a> and <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/harvard-open-to-paying-500m-settlement-amid-trump-crackdown-on-campus-antisemitism">Harvard</a> both recently gave up their fights against Trump and agreed to pay hundreds of millions of dollars to settle allegations of antisemitism and discrimination. And just this week, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/ucla-will-pay-6-million-to-settle-antisemitic-discrimination-complaints">UCLA</a> also agreed to settle a $6 million lawsuit brought by Jewish students, alleging that the university allowed antisemitism on its campus.
Campus antisemitism and university <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/ending-illegal-discrimination-and-restoring-merit-based-opportunity/">DEI programs</a> took a gut punch from our president, and the transgender nonsense is in retreat. Along with targeting woke Ivy League schools for their alleged discriminatory practices, Trump is also pursuing states that allow men to compete against women in high school and college sports. 
That’s right, Trump isn’t going to look the other way while male athletes like Lia Thomas jump in a pool and beat talented women. The Trump administration has already pressured <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/department-of-education-says-california-violated-title-ix-threatens-legal-action">California</a>, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-admin-freezes-maines-federal-funds-over-men-in-womens-sports">Maine</a>, and <a href="https://subscriber.politicopro.com/article/2025/06/trump-administration-escalate-probe-into-minnesota-transgender-athletes-00403144">Minnesota</a> to put an end to the transgender sports insanity.
Conservatives are winning numerous battles right now, but the war over our education isn’t over. 
Even under Trump in 2025, schools and universities across the country could still try to push ideas like diversity, equity, and inclusion; white privilege; and LGBT craziness — and they’re being more sneaky about it. 
Think your school or your kid’s school is immune to leftist influence? We hope so, but don’t let your guard down. Even administrators at universities in heavily Republican states have recently bragged about how they still pursue DEI. 
Take <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/exclusive-video-vanderbilt-administrator-caught-saying-dei-remains-part-of-what-we-do?author=Zach+Jewell&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=EXCLUSIVE+VIDEO%3A+Vanderbilt+Administrator+Caught+Saying+DEI+Remains+%E2%80%98Part+Of+What+We+Do%E2%80%99">Vanderbilt University</a> and the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/university-of-tennessee-department-head-boasts-of-dei-flying-under-the-radar-in-red-state?topStoryPosition=undefined&amp;author=Zach+Jewell&amp;category=Exclusive&amp;elementPosition=0&amp;row=1&amp;rowHeadline=Top+Stories&amp;rowType=Top+Stories&amp;title=University+Of+Tennessee+Department+Head+Boasts+Of+DEI+Flying+Under+The+Radar+In+Red+State">University of Tennessee</a>, for example: two colleges in a red state, where employees were exposed earlier this month for admitting that DEI hasn’t really gone away — it’s just gotten a new name. 
If that’s happening in Tennessee, who knows what teachers, professors, and administrators will try to get away with in places like New York and California once the school year starts. 
Teachers, professors, and administrators are doubling down, weaving their ideologies into lesson plans and campus policies with surgical precision. But here’s the good news: parents, students, and everyday Americans are waking up. The battle lines are drawn, and we must continue the fight with vigilance and resolve. 
Speaking of standing tall against the woke onslaught, do you know any students about to head back to school? Arm them with gear that fights back against campus insanity. <a href="https://www.jeremysrazors.com/products/gen2-p5-1year-kit-1?selling_plan=3795681493?utm_campaign=back-to-school&amp;utm_content=20250730&amp;utm_source=editorial">Jeremy’s Razors Precision 5 1-Year Supply</a> delivers barber-grade blades that&#8217;ll keep them sharp for the entire academic year. The <a href="https://www.jeremysrazors.com/collections/hair-body/products/all-day-set?selling_plan=3028484309?utm_campaign=back-to-school&amp;utm_content=20250730&amp;utm_source=editorial">Hair &amp; Body Bundle</a> ensures they can wash the liberal indoctrination right off after those mandatory &#8220;diversity&#8221; seminars. For the ultimate rebellion against campus conformity, grab <a href="https://www.jeremysrazors.com/products/legendary-razor-bundle?utm_campaign=back-to-school&amp;utm_content=20250730&amp;utm_source=editorial">The Legendary Bundle</a> — because legends don&#8217;t bow to woke professors and administrators. And yes, we&#8217;ve got the <a href="https://www.jeremysrazors.com/products/womens-2gen-upgrade-1yr?selling_plan=4060971221?utm_campaign=back-to-school&amp;utm_content=20250730&amp;utm_source=editorial">Women&#8217;s Razor 1-Year Bundle</a> for the fierce ladies who refuse to let biological males steal their scholarships and championships. These aren&#8217;t just personal care products — they&#8217;re weapons in the war against collegiate cowardice.
This school year, don’t just send your kids to class — send them prepared to stand tall against the woke onslaught. The future depends on it.
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Jeremy&#8217;s Razors shares common ownership with The Daily Wire.

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Trump Crushes Woke Colleges, Ignites Meritocracy’s Epic Comeback

antisemitism

Donald Trump

Jeremy's Razors

Universities

Wokeness

A Clemson University student who was awarded $5.3 million after being falsely accused of sexual assault must continue to fight for his award money.
Andrew Pampu was awarded the money in April 2022 after he sued his accuser, Erin Wingo, her father, David, and her ex-boyfriend, Colin Gahagan, for defamation. But last month, South Carolina’s Court of Appeals <a href="https://law.justia.com/cases/south-carolina/court-of-appeals/2025/6112.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">overturned</a> the ruling and set a dangerous precedent —that quasi-judicial campus tribunals carry the same weight as jury trials.
A jury unanimously agreed that Pampu had been defamed and ordered Erin to pay $700,000 in actual damages and $450,000 in punitive damages, her father to pay $230,000 in damages, and Gahagan to pay $700,000 in actual damages and $220,000 in punitive damages for defamation. Erin and Gahagan were also ordered to pay damages for civil conspiracy, with Erin ordered to pay $2 million in actual damages and Gahagan ordered to pay $1 million, Greenville News <a href="https://www.greenvilleonline.com/story/news/local/2022/04/12/former-clemson-student-awarded-millions-defamation-lawsuit-appeal-filed-defendants/7225351001/">reported</a> in 2022.
The three appealed the ruling, even though the lawsuit kicked off after Gahagan admitted to Pampu that he had helped Wingo falsely accuse him.
“You’re innocent,” Gahagan wrote in a January 2017 text message, months after Pampu had been suspended from Clemson based on Wingo’s claims. “I lied in that hearing. Erin wanted to have sex that night. Get your brothers away from me and never touch your [sic] life again and I’ll come through with the truth that she lied. I deleted the texts from that night prove [sic] she was f****** crazy. You’re innocent. Just pull your f****** boys off me and never touch me again. It’s sad that you were like a brother to me and this happened[.] You’re innocent. Send this to your lawyer. Just don’t call me into the hearing and leave me alone. You’re welcome. That’s all I ask. You’re innocent bud.”
But the Court of Appeals overturned the unanimous jury ruling, in part by claiming the trial that led to the ruling was unnecessary because the case had already been litigated by Clemson University administrators.
This, despite the fact that campus tribunals provide little to no due process for accused students, including discovery or even the right to properly question their accuser and call witnesses. The Court claimed that “fundamental fairness requires the court to give preclusive effect to the administrative hearing board’s February 29, 2016, findings.”
One of Pampu’s attorneys, Kimberly Lau, blasted the court for its ruling.
“This ruling dangerously distorts the law and undermines the role of juries,” said Lau, who has been representing falsely accused students for more than a decade. “Andrew Pampu was defamed, denied due process, and suspended from Clemson based on false testimony. A jury heard all the facts and unanimously ruled in his favor. That justice has now been upended by a misapplied legal doctrine that values a flawed university proceeding over a full and fair trial.”
Pampu and his attorneys say they will continue to fight for justice following the disappointing ruling.
“After ten exhausting years, including seven spent defending myself and three more in the appellate process, I remain committed to standing up for the truth,” Pampu said. “When I received the favorable unanimous jury verdict in March 2022, I was overwhelmed with relief.”
“Since then, the case has continued through the courts, and while the recent appellate ruling is discouraging, I believe it raises serious questions about access to justice and the weight given to jury findings,” he added. “I will continue to stand up for what is right, not only for myself, but for anyone who finds themselves fighting to clear their name and move forward with their life.”
Pampu’s struggles began nearly a decade ago, in early September 2015, when Wingo pursued him for sexual activity leading up to a fraternity party where Gahagan, her on-again, off-again boyfriend, was ignoring her, as The Daily Wire previously <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/he-was-accused-of-sexual-assault-by-a-woman-whose-boyfriend-later-admitted-lying-he-just-won-a-5-3m-settlement" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>. Wingo propositioned Pampu and the two ended up having sex outside near a shed. Following the encounter, Wingo complained about Gahagan and ended up crying over him for the rest of the night, sending him numerous text messages.
The next morning, she texted Pampu to ask him not to tell Gahagan about their night together. When she admitted to Gahagan what she had done, she claimed not to remember most of the night, so Gahagan told her that if she couldn’t remember, it was rape. Even though Wingo clearly remembered the night in text messages to multiple people, she told investigators she didn’t, even deleting her text to Pampu. When Pampu showed the text to campus investigators, they ignored it.
Wingo didn’t report the alleged sexual assault to Clemson until two weeks after she and Pampu had engaged in sexual activity. Even though all sides were precluded from retaliation, Clemson allowed Gahagan to call Pampu a “rapist” around campus. Pampu also reported other incidents of harassment and retaliation by Gahagan and Wingo, all of which were ignored.
Given Clemson’s apparent bias even before the hearing, it was no surprise that Pampu was suspended. Months later, Gahagan admitted that it was all a lie. Gahagan also shared text messages between himself and a woman who knew Wingo’s father. Gahagan told the woman that Wingo had lied about being raped.
In addition to suing his accusers, Pampu also sued Clemson University, with whom he reached an undisclosed settlement in 2019.

Clemson University Operates In Limited Capacity Amid Coronavirus Pandemic

‘Dangerous Precedent’: Court Sides With University Over Jury in False Rape Defamation Case

Clemson University

false accusations

Sexual Harassment

The Department of Homeland Security <a href="https://www.dhs.gov/news/2025/07/09/dhs-sends-administrative-subpoenas-harvard-university">announced</a> on Wednesday that it is sending administrative subpoenas to Harvard University, forcing the Ivy League school to share &#8220;relevant information&#8221; on foreign students.
The DHS accused Harvard of &#8220;repeatedly&#8221; refusing to cooperate with the Trump administration&#8217;s &#8220;non-coercive requests to hand over the required information for its Student Visitor and Exchange Program certification.&#8221; The administration wants Harvard to hand over documents and communications related to the enforcement of immigration laws on campus, dating back to January 1, 2020, citing &#8220;allegations of disciplinary disparity involving nonimmigrant students.&#8221;
“We tried to do things the easy way with Harvard. Now, through their refusal to cooperate, we have to do things the hard way,” said DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin. “Harvard, like other universities, has allowed foreign students to abuse their visa privileges and advocate for violence and terrorism on campus. If Harvard won’t defend the interests of its students, then we will.”
The Trump administration has been engaged in a months-long dispute with Harvard over international students on its campus, with President Donald Trump <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/an-unacceptable-risk-trump-signs-proclamation-to-stop-foreign-students-from-enrolling-at-harvard?author=Zach+Jewell&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=%E2%80%98An+Unacceptable+Risk%E2%80%99%3A+Trump+Signs+Proclamation+To+Stop+Foreign+Students+From+Enrolling+At+Harvard" target="_blank" rel="noopener">moving</a> to halt the Ivy League school&#8217;s enrollment of students from foreign countries last month. During the 2024-2025 academic year, foreign students made up 27% of Harvard&#8217;s student body.
In May, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem ordered the department to terminate Harvard&#8217;s Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) certification. Noem <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/06/23/kristi-noem-harvard-foreign-students-dhs-restriction/">accused</a> Harvard of &#8220;shirking&#8221; its requirements to comply with federal oversight in order to maintain certification.
&#8220;Other universities and academic institutions that are asked to submit similar information should take note of Harvard’s actions, and the repercussions, when considering whether or not to comply with similar requests,&#8221; the DHS added in a press release issued on Wednesday.
The Trump administration also claims that Harvard allowed antisemitism and &#8220;hostile foreign influence to fester on campus.&#8221; Last month, the president <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/an-unacceptable-risk-trump-signs-proclamation-to-stop-foreign-students-from-enrolling-at-harvard?author=Zach+Jewell&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=%E2%80%98An+Unacceptable+Risk%E2%80%99%3A+Trump+Signs+Proclamation+To+Stop+Foreign+Students+From+Enrolling+At+Harvard">said</a> that Harvard was refusing to comply with the federal government&#8217;s request to hand over data on “instances of misconduct and criminality committed by its foreign students,” calling Harvard’s refusal “an unacceptable risk.”
Along with the administration going after Harvard over its enrollment of foreign students, Trump has also stripped more than $2 billion in federal funding for the university over its diversity, equity, and inclusion programs and alleged failure to confront antisemitism on campus.
Hostility between the Trump administration and Harvard appeared to cool down in recent weeks, however. In a Truth Social post on June 20, Trump <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-teases-mindbogglingly-historic-deal-with-harvard-they-have-acted-extremely-appropriately?author=Zach+Jewell&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Trump+Teases+%E2%80%98Mindbogglingly+Historic%E2%80%99+Deal+With+Harvard%3A+%E2%80%98They+Have+Acted+Extremely+Appropriately%E2%80%99">teased</a> a &#8220;&#8216;mindbogglingly’ HISTORIC&#8221; deal with Harvard that would be announced “over the next week or so.” More than two weeks later, a deal has yet to be reached, but Trump said last Friday that he still believes the administration will &#8220;settle with Harvard.&#8221;
&#8220;They want to settle very badly,” he said, adding that the deal involves &#8220;a lot of money,&#8221; the Harvard Crimson <a href="https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2025/7/5/trump-says-probably-settle-harvard/">reported</a>.

Trump Admin Subpoenas Harvard Over Foreign Student Misconduct, Campus Radicalism

Department of Homeland Security

Executive

foreign students

When Naomi Best began a counseling psychology master&#8217;s program last year at Santa Clara University, she did not expect her professor to ask her what she disliked about her genitals.
As a required part of Professor Chongzheng Wei&#8217;s &#8220;Human Sexuality&#8221; class, students were asked to submit a &#8220;sexual autobiography&#8221; that could include talking about their genitals, sharing when they first began masturbating, or discussing their &#8220;personal sexual aspirations,&#8221; Best said.
The syllabus said students need not answer questions that &#8220;make you feel extremely uncomfortable,&#8221; but that was easier said than done.
At one point, a trans-identifying male psychologist was invited to be a guest speaker for the class, she said. When Best asked him what he meant by &#8220;gender euphoria,&#8221; he allegedly told her that he &#8220;almost came&#8221; when he saw himself in the mirror as a woman for the first time, she said.
The trans-identifying psychologist also allegedly told students, “trans women have the only p***ies that can blow up the world,” Best said.
Then there was the day when Professor Wei, who goes by &#8220;he/they/ta&#8221; pronouns, allegedly shared that he had bought a device at a kink festival to elongate his foreskin, Best said. The professor also allegedly showed the class an instructional video on how to tie someone up who was wearing a slave “gimp suit” to an X-shaped cross.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
ICYMI: Therapy student <a href="https://twitter.com/naomieppsbest?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@naomieppsbest</a> blows the whistle on mandatory training in smut. <a href="https://twitter.com/maireadelordi?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@maireadelordi</a> reports. <a href="https://t.co/xf5PmTcxGo">pic.twitter.com/xf5PmTcxGo</a>
&mdash; Morning Wire (@MorningWire) <a href="https://twitter.com/MorningWire/status/1938247484267970876?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 26, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
He also allegedly had students watch a video of a BDSM dungeon tour that featured a female influencer being flogged, electroshocked, ball-gagged, put in a guillotine, subjected to knife “play,” and wrapped in plastic and made to jump up and down as a &#8220;humiliation tactic,&#8221; all with no warning, Best said.
Afterwards, Wei smiled and asked if students wanted to try it themselves. Best walked out of class that day, and ended up dropping the class altogether.
&#8220;There&#8217;s an argument to be made that therapists should be aware of the breadth of human sexual practices, including BDSM, and I am not contesting that, but the manner in which this material was presented was promotional,&#8221; Best told The Daily Wire.
&#8220;There was no clinical framing,&#8221; Best said. &#8220;I want to be able to talk with clients about sex if they want to talk about it. If a client comes to me and brings it up that they get sexual gratification from inflicting pain upon somebody, I think that therapists should be trained to have curiosity about that association &#8230; not for the reason of telling them they&#8217;re a bad person. Therapists don&#8217;t do that. But to have a conversation about it, if they bring it up.&#8221;
She had dropped the &#8220;Human Sexuality&#8221; class once before when she was asked — and declined — to discuss her &#8220;masturbation history&#8221; in a group of four students that included a man, she said.
Best, a 26-year-old married mother of a toddler, believed that revealing her personal sexual history would be a violation of her Christian beliefs. So, she requested the same accommodation she had heard female Muslim students were offered, which was to take the course remotely. Instead, Professor Wei asked to meet with her and promised there would be no personal sexual disclosure in his class, but that turned out to be wrong, she said.
&#8220;It&#8217;s just clearly a hostile learning environment, and I don&#8217;t know how to explain that to somebody who just doesn&#8217;t inherently understand it,&#8221; she said.
Best took her complaints about the course all the way up the chain at Santa Clara University, exhausting every official avenue from the Title IX office to the school&#8217;s president. She explained her issues with the class — the invasive sexual autobiography, a swath of &#8220;gratuitous&#8221; sexually titillating course material, and alleged unprofessional behavior from the professor and guest speakers.
But she said her concerns were not taken seriously. The school dismissed her Title IX claim, and when she asked for a refund for the class, a school representative called her request &#8220;astonishing,&#8221; according to emails shared with The Daily Wire.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
The time is now to take on ideological capture of therapy. I’m just getting started. <a href="https://t.co/BTm4OrHUFM">pic.twitter.com/BTm4OrHUFM</a>
— Naomi Best (@naomieppsbest) <a href="https://twitter.com/naomieppsbest/status/1935170217090629938?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 18, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Ideological capture is near complete in the field of psychology. Schools, training grounds, accreditation bodies, and professional guilds are all complicit.
&mdash; Naomi Best (@naomieppsbest) <a href="https://twitter.com/naomieppsbest/status/1935140122296725918?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 18, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Blew the whistle in <a href="https://twitter.com/WSJopinion?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@WSJopinion</a> on ideological rigidity in therapy training. A week later, I am fired from my internship with the regret of my boss. This field is in crisis. The public needs to know. <a href="https://t.co/EldOjq0hOG">pic.twitter.com/EldOjq0hOG</a>
&mdash; Naomi Best (@naomieppsbest) <a href="https://twitter.com/naomieppsbest/status/1933292756765716743?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 12, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Last week, Best received a letter from Sabrina Zirkel, dean of the School of Education and Counseling Psychology telling her that, &#8220;we do not agree with your interpretation or characterization of what the syllabus required&#8221; and &#8220;based on input from others who were present, we also do not agree with your assertions about and characterization of what occurred during the class.&#8221;
The dean argued that &#8220;the class requires internal self-reflection which is the type of work that therapists ask of their clients,&#8221; but that &#8220;under no circumstances were you required to disclose sexual memories, sexual experiences, or any other personal information that you did not wish to share.&#8221;
The school said Best still has the opportunity to &#8220;complete this content through approved continuing education classes offered by a third-party provider.&#8221;
Professor Wei and the heads of the Education and Counseling Psychology school all referred requests for comment to Santa Clara University&#8217;s media office.
In a statement to The Daily Wire, Santa Clara University said that &#8220;no student is expected to or required to reveal or disclose private sexual information they do not want to share&#8221; and &#8220;self-disclosure of an intensely personal nature is not required.&#8221;
The school said the class has been taught with a similar approach and similar assignments since the mid-1990s.
&#8220;We do not agree with many of the student’s public assertions about the class,&#8221; the university said. &#8220;People who were present dispute statements being made by the student and her characterization of classroom discussions and course content, including the readings, speakers, and assignments.&#8221;
Best says one of the books the class studied was &#8220;The Guide To Getting It On,&#8221; a book with explicit cartoons of sexual acts, whose author <a href="https://ucsdguardian.org/2004/06/01/summer-reading-heats-up-with-sex-guide/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> he wrote the book as &#8220;revenge for eight years in Catholic school.&#8221; Santa Clara University is a Catholic Jesuit school.
The school said it could not comment on the details of Best&#8217;s complaint but said the Title IX office may sometimes conclude that &#8220;course requirements or classroom content are protected by the principles of academic freedom.&#8221;
Best believes her experience points to a deeper problem in the counseling psychology world.
&#8220;What happened at Santa Clara University was unethical and will be remedied,&#8221; she said. &#8220;I want to bring awareness to the fact that psychology and counseling has been ideologically captured. That means that there is one permissible worldview for upcoming therapists to hold, and it is grounded in critical theory.&#8221;
Earlier this month, Best came out publicly with her concerns and <a href="https://www.wsj.com/opinion/santa-clara-universitys-crazy-idea-of-human-sexuality-therapy-licensing-higher-education-44e744ce?gaa_at=eafs&amp;gaa_n=ASWzDAijGcRg9HzkiSNcp-aiyabuI168QfQHcSgOG8e-CkmVRCiDtuKx8MB3kTfwXg%3D%3D&amp;gaa_ts=685389bf&amp;gaa_sig=eP2Ptw3OgBEwcKj5AHvObMjHZ8FfWvgADp2XkRUWKX2-oX7ISvVUM9iI5v2Uu5eER1jBPWtyOlwX7tbFI52J0A%3D%3D" target="_blank" rel="noopener">published</a> an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal.
After her op-ed ran, Best said she was fired from her required therapy internship — unrelated to the school — after she was called into a meeting with over a dozen colleagues where she said she was &#8220;attacked for what I wrote.&#8221;
&#8220;I think I just blew up my career,&#8221; she told The Daily Wire.
However, since going public with her allegations, Best has received an outpouring of support.
An alumnus of Santa Clara University <a href="https://www.wsj.com/opinion/santa-clara-an-alumnus-would-like-a-word-human-sexuality-course-69440035?gaa_at=eafs&amp;gaa_n=ASWzDAjukHLV0uaBwUu8n-oX1QMhkeRjH8Ez31nLAlhKctGAqw03SqRFKZCS4c-l4g%3D%3D&amp;gaa_ts=685389bf&amp;gaa_sig=o5uKqr-rOlgMrQUZTfxPe0JGPDTiE42klL79rBZwsXHDNKT43B1L3mdU0QFNkpZ7MS2E1T6JxiUunxEld0LrPg%3D%3D" target="_blank" rel="noopener">called</a> Best&#8217;s experience with her graduate class &#8220;gobsmacking, sordid and sad&#8221; in a letter to the editor The Journal published.
Her social media videos discussing the situation have been viewed millions of times, and many people have reached out in support, including lawyers and other students with similar experiences, she said.
&#8220;Two weeks ago, I was living a private life with a great career path,&#8221; Best said. &#8220;I am putting that on the line to bring this issue to the public&#8217;s attention because I think it is important and I think people will be harmed if it is not addressed.&#8221;

How A California Psychology Student Exposed The Dark Side Of Therapy Education

How A California Psychology Student Became A Whistleblower For Smut In Therapy Education

California

higher education

LGBTQ

Every year, millions of high school students across the country dream of attending America’s most selective colleges. In California, that goal may be harder to reach as pro-affirmative action lawmakers push for new ways to give certain groups a leg up in admissions.
As a high school junior in San Jose, I will be applying to college next year. Students like me are taking AP classes, building their profiles, and doing everything we’ve been told to help us get into the schools of our choice.
The system is far from perfect but the basic premise is that colleges will then, in good faith, try to weigh each applicant based on merit and context. No group receives an unearned advantage at the expense of others.
<a href="https://legiscan.com/CA/text/AB7/id/3029617">California Assembly Bill 7</a> (AB7) blows a hole in that idea.
The bill, which recently passed in the Assembly by a 54–17 vote, would allow California public universities to consider whether an applicant is “a descendant of a chattel enslaved person of American chattel slavery.” It’s part of <a href="https://blackcaucus.legislature.ca.gov/news/california-legislative-black-caucus-introduces-2024-reparations-legislative-package">a broader reparations push</a> and now headed to the state Senate.
The bill’s author, Assemblymember Isaac Bryan, says it’s not about race but historic harm. “For decades, universities gave preferential admission treatment to donors, and their family members, while others tied to legacies of harm were ignored and at times outright excluded,” Bryan <a href="https://apnews.com/article/california-universities-slavery-descendants-admissions-4b0e84c27b40725a9f7929b230a591ca">told the Associated Press</a>. 
He’s right about history. The legacy of slavery has shaped socioeconomic outcomes for Black Americans. But that doesn’t mean all descendants of slavery are disadvantaged — or that ancestry should now serve as some kind of admissions shortcut.
That distinction seems to be missing from the conversation. What we’re left with is a bill that awards preference based on ancestry.
This bill proposes an eligibility line drawn by lineage. To be clear, the text does not use the words “Black” or “African American” but rather delineates a specific historical category, “descendants of U.S. chattel slavery,” without using racial language. It’s designed to sidestep Proposition 209, which banned racial preferences in 1996, and the Supreme Court’s 2023 ruling in Students for Fair Admissions that struck down affirmative action nationwide.
Legal scholars describe such policies as “race proxies”: mechanisms that dodge explicit racial language but preserve race as the decisive factor in practice. Courts have repeatedly scrutinized such end-runs: in Parents Involved v. Seattle, <a href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/2006/05-908">the Supreme Court warned</a> against policies that look constructive but act as racial stand-ins.
The legal system has long treated ancestral classifications with the same suspicion as racial ones. In Hirabayashi v. United States, the 1943 case on Japanese-American internment, <a href="https://edge.sagepub.com/epsteinpowers11e/student-resources/chapter-5-interbranch-interactions/hirabayashi-v-united-states">the Court held</a> that “distinctions between citizens solely because of their ancestry are by their very nature odious to a free people whose institutions are founded upon the doctrine of equality.” Moreover, the express text of Proposition 209 includes “ethnicity” in its enumeration of protected categories as well as race.
The bill defines a “descendant of slavery” as someone whose ancestors were enslaved specifically in the United States, meaning it would exclude many Black students whose families came from Africa or the Caribbean after abolition. Meanwhile, someone who identifies as white but has traced a distant enslaved ancestry through DNA testing could, in theory, qualify. And we know these terms circle a ridiculously arbitrary line. African American activist Angela Davis <a href="https://www.today.com/popculture/tv/angela-davis-finding-your-roots-mayflower-ancestors-rcna71700">went on PBS’s</a> ancestry show Finding Your Roots only to find out she’s a descendent from Mayflower colonists. She was mortified.
But even if Bryan turns out to be right on the legal question, does the technical distinction between race and ancestry suddenly make it fair to those it excludes?
No. Ancestry-based preferences would still have effectively all the same downsides as other affirmative action policies: lack of individual assessment, blunt group categorization, and fairness concerns for everyone else. As Chief Justice John Roberts <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/22pdf/20-1199_hgdj.pdf">wrote in the SFFA majority opinion</a>: “College admissions are zero-sum. A benefit provided to some applicants but not to others necessarily advantages the former group at the expense of the latter.”
Even if preference is framed as reparative, someone else is paying the price.
There are better options to help marginalized students. California lawmakers could index Cal Grants to local cost of living. They could strengthen the UC/CSU admission guarantees for top students at public high schools. They could improve outreach around community college transfer guarantees or pass bills like <a href="https://www.padilla.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/BASIC-Act-One-Pager.pdf">the BASIC Act</a>, which would give colleges resources to help students cover food, housing, and health care.
This bill, by contrast, like other affirmative action-adjacent legislation before it, assumes inherited identity stands in for “lived struggle.” It doesn’t.
We don’t need another lecture on systemic inequality. We see the results of it in classmates of all backgrounds who stop aiming high because they don’t think college is for them, or can’t imagine paying for it.
The California Senate should reject this bill and pursue fairer solutions, rather than advancing a measure the Supreme Court is likely to strike down.
* * *
William Liang is a student journalist living in San Jose, California.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Stanford Graduate School of Business

I’m Preparing For College. California’s New Slavery Bill Could Change Everything.

I’m Preparing for College. California’s New Slavery Bill Could Change Everything.

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