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.
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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>
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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.
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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>
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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>
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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>
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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

American Universities

California

College

Education

Gender

higher education

LGBT

LGBTQ

Transgender

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.

Affirmative Action

High School

Opinion

Sacramento

Slavery

President Donald Trump said on Friday that a deal with Harvard University could be announced &#8220;over the next week or so&#8221; as the Trump administration and Ivy League school have been engaged in a months-long fight over diversity programs and antisemitism on Harvard&#8217;s campus.
The president praised Harvard for coming to the negotiating table to seek a solution for &#8220;their largescale improprieties.&#8221; Trump&#8217;s fight with Harvard started after he began stripping federal funding for the university over their diversity, equity, and inclusion programs and their failure to crack down on antisemitism. The battle between Trump and Harvard intensified earlier this month when the president moved to <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">stop</a> foreign students from enrolling at the university.
&#8220;Many people have been asking what is going on with Harvard University and their largescale improprieties that we have been addressing, looking for a solution,&#8221; Trump <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/114717387393069944">wrote</a> on Truth Social. &#8220;We have been working closely with Harvard, and it is very possible that a Deal will be announced over the next week or so. They have acted extremely appropriately during these negotiations, and appear to be committed to doing what is right.&#8221;
&#8220;If a Settlement is made on the basis that is currently being discussed, it will be &#8216;mindbogglingly&#8217; HISTORIC, and very good for our Country. Thank you for your attention to this matter!&#8221; he added.
Harvard <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/harvard-sues-to-restore-taxpayer-funding-frozen-by-trump-admin">sued</a> the Trump administration for stripping over $2 billion in federal funding, and then <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/harvard-sues-after-trump-admin-blocks-university-from-admitting-foreign-students">sued again</a> over the administration&#8217;s attempt to bar foreign students from attending. Shortly before Trump&#8217;s comments on Friday, a Boston-based federal judge blocked Trump from revoking Harvard&#8217;s ability to enroll foreign students, CBS News <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-administration-harvard-foreign-students-judge-ruling/#">reported</a>.
Last month, Trump suggested that Harvard cap its foreign student enrollment at 15% of the student body, which would be a drop from the nearly 30% of the student body represented by international students. He added that he wants Harvard to &#8220;show us their lists,&#8221; so that the Trump administration can &#8220;make sure that the foreign students are people that can love our country.&#8221;
&#8220;We don&#8217;t want to see shopping centers exploding. We don&#8217;t want to see the kind of riots that you had,&#8221; Trump said.
The Daily Wire previously <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/new-state-dept-measures-unveiled-how-foreign-students-will-be-screened-for-u-s-entry">reported</a> that the State Department unveiled new measures for screening foreign students on Wednesday, including searching the social media accounts of students for “any indications of hostility towards the citizens, culture, government, institutions or founding principles of the United States,” “advocacy for, aid or support for foreign terrorists and other threats to U.S. national security,” and “support for unlawful antisemitic harassment or violence.”
“Every visa adjudication is a national security decision,” the State Department said. “The United States must be vigilant during the visa issuance process to ensure that those applying for admission into the United States do not intend to harm Americans and our national interests, and that all applicants credibly establish their eligibility for the visa sought, including that they intend to engage in activities consistent with the terms for their admission.”

Donald Trump

Trump Teases ‘Mindbogglingly Historic’ Deal With Harvard: ‘They Have Acted Extremely Appropriately’

antisemitism

Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI)

foreign students

Harvard

Politics

State Department

Trump Administration

Daily Wire host Michael Knowles exposed a Catholic college for teaching psychiatric nurse practitioner students &#8220;how to greenlight the castration, sterilization, and mutilation of gender-confused kids and adults&#8221; in an exclusive thread on X.
Steph Williams, a lecturer who uses he/him and she/her pronouns, taught students at Mount Saint Mary College in New York how to halt puberty in children as young as nine, even if they did not experience gender dysphoria, Knowles revealed, based on a tip from advocacy group Do No Harm.
&#8220;Per Williams: If a 12-year-old girl menstruates and feels ‘stress,’ she might grow up to be a depressed alcoholic—unless we drug her,&#8221; Knowles said. &#8220;That’s the rationale for chemically halting puberty in gender-confused kids.&#8221;
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2/ Psychiatric nurse practitioner students at Mount Saint Mary’s College in New York were taught how to greenlight the castration, sterilization, and mutilation of gender-confused kids and adults. 
Their lecturer? A he/him/she/her with no medical degree named “Steph” Williams. <a href="https://t.co/lVBAYENTk5">pic.twitter.com/lVBAYENTk5</a>
&mdash; Michael Knowles (@michaeljknowles) <a href="https://twitter.com/michaeljknowles/status/1932846868880576880?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 11, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Mount Saint Mary College was <a href="https://www.msmc.edu/about/">founded</a> by the Sisters of St. Dominic in 1959, according to its about page, and says its &#8220;roots in education&#8221; go back to Saint Dominic in the 13th century. The school&#8217;s website <a href="https://www.msmc.edu/life-at-the-mount/faith-service/">says</a> it is &#8220;a college in the Catholic and Dominican tradition.&#8221;
Williams is &#8220;a Director of LGBTQIA+ Relations and AmeriCorps Programming at Sun River Health&#8221; and &#8220;a certified organizational culture facilitator,&#8221; according to LinkedIn — but is not a licensed doctor, Knowles pointed out.
Using puberty blockers &#8220;buys the adolescent some time … to ensure that the person is indeed trans,&#8221; Williams said in a video obtained by The Daily Wire. If the child is not &#8220;trans&#8221; — which Williams said is very rare — she can discontinue puberty blockers and resume puberty as normal.
&#8220;Williams leaves out the significant potential harm of puberty blockers on bone density, fertility, and overall health,&#8221; Knowles said.
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4/ And if they’re not “trans”? Don’t worry: “You just take yourself off the puberty blockers, and you start with your native puberty right off right where you left it.” 
Williams leaves out the potential harm of puberty blockers on bone density, fertility, and overall health. <a href="https://t.co/GuClqPyEoX">pic.twitter.com/GuClqPyEoX</a>
&mdash; Michael Knowles (@michaeljknowles) <a href="https://twitter.com/michaeljknowles/status/1932846959007551950?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 11, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Williams claimed adolescents under 18 did not take hormones, saying, &#8220;&#8216;The only adolescents who take hormone[s]&#8230; are folks who have other conditions.'&#8221; Those “other conditions” include precocious puberty and “really high hormones,” but “trans people do not take — unless there is something else going on — hormones before 18.”
Except, Williams said almost immediately, &#8220;It does happen, but it’s extremely, extremely rare.”
How rare? Between 2019 and 2023, “8,579 minors received hormones and puberty blockers,” according to <a href="https://stoptheharmdatabase.com/about/">Stop the Harm Database</a>. Stop the Harm also found that “62,682 sex change prescriptions were written for minors.”
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6/ According to Williams, children as young as nine can begin pubertal suppression without even experiencing &quot;dysphoria.&quot; 
“And just like in adults, they don’t necessarily have to experience dysphoria.” 
They just need a history of gender confusion. <a href="https://t.co/vIZtnCgWVK">pic.twitter.com/vIZtnCgWVK</a>
&mdash; Michael Knowles (@michaeljknowles) <a href="https://twitter.com/michaeljknowles/status/1932847158685753750?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 11, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Williams also told students they did not need to understand all the material covered in class because the patient &#8220;is the expert&#8221; and &#8220;knows more&#8221; than the nurse practitioner.
Trans-identifying patients are defined by &#8220;self-declaration,&#8221; according to Williams&#8217; slideshow obtained by The Daily Wire.
&#8220;This is &#8216;gender-affirming care&#8217;: Children diagnosed by ideology. Puberty treated like a disease,&#8221; Knowles said. &#8220;And future nurse practitioners taught that their ignorance is a beneficial feature rather than a bug.&#8221;
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8/ This is “gender-affirming care”: 
Children diagnosed by ideology, puberty treated like a disease.
And future nurse practitioners taught that their ignorance is a beneficial feature rather than a bug.
&mdash; Michael Knowles (@michaeljknowles) <a href="https://twitter.com/michaeljknowles/status/1932847285265707181?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 11, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Knowles slammed the medical standards of the trans agenda as &#8220;incoherent&#8221; and &#8220;rubber-stamping child abuse.&#8221;
&#8220;With &#8216;Catholic&#8217; institutions like Mount Saint Mary’s College, who needs paganism?&#8221; Knowles said.
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10/ With “Catholic” institutions like Mount Saint Mary’s College, who needs paganism?
&mdash; Michael Knowles (@michaeljknowles) <a href="https://twitter.com/michaeljknowles/status/1932847289766228287?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 11, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Transgender hormone therapy

Michael Knowles Slams Catholic College For Teaching Students ‘How To Greenlight’ Child ‘Mutilation’

Catholic

catholic university

Children

Michael Knowles

Nursing

Truly wise people have known for a long time that college doesn’t make you smarter – in fact, it usually has the opposite effect. But despite this reality, it’s always a little jarring when an institution of higher learning makes a mistake that any 3-year-old child could identify as wrong.
In today’s episode of You Can’t Make This Up, Smith College, an all-women’s school founded in 1871, just handed an honorary degree to Rachel Levine, a four-star admiral and former Assistant Secretary for Health who also happens to be a man formerly named Richard.
It&#8217;s a big slap in the face to feminists who have been fighting for “women’s rights” since the school’s founding. It’s also an affront to all the normies out there who can plainly view the difference between girls and boys. In the case of Smith College, the school’s entire existence hinges on celebrating women. So, you know, maybe they should be able to identify one. 
But these activists running our elite institutions have long since traded common sense for total fealty to radical Left-wing gender theory proponents. No wonder people have a negative view of college these days.
Women’s rights advocate Riley Gaines, who gained notoriety after speaking out against a male competing as a woman in college swimming, <a href="https://x.com/Riley_Gaines_/status/1924202136625172482" target="_blank" rel="noopener">posted</a> about the controversy on X.
“Smith college, a private *women’s* college in Massachusetts, awarded Rachel (Richard) Levine an honorary degree today,” she said. “He then delivered the commencement address. Ladies, congratulations — your graduation was led by the very thing feminism was allegedly fighting.”
Smith College was actually one of the universities to roll out and develop a formal program for Gender studies! While Smith graduates are drowning in student debt and gender studies degrees, the administration is busy handing out honorary degrees to someone who declares himself to be a woman, regardless of biological reality. 
Jeremy’s Razors believes the truth still matters, and we know exactly what a woman is. We make razors for men who accept their manhood as the solemn duty that it is, and for women who are actually women. 
And while Smith College is handing out honorary degrees like a participation trophy to a man in a dress, <a href="https://www.jeremysrazors.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Jeremy’s Razors</a> is handing women the one thing the Left refuses to: reality. Our <a href="https://www.jeremysrazors.com/collections/womens/products/womens-2nd-gen-1-1-starter-set?selling_plan=4057563349" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Women&#8217;s Razor</a> doesn’t care about “preferred” pronouns — it cares about giving you the closest, smoothest shave this side of sanity. Five blades. Aloe and Argan oil. A curvaceous handle that grips like truth in a world that keeps slipping into delusion. No lectures. No rainbow-washed pandering. Just the unapologetic femininity of a woman who knows who she is — and isn’t asking permission to be her. <a href="https://www.jeremysrazors.com/collections/womens/products/womens-2nd-gen-1-1-starter-set?selling_plan=4057563349" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Get the razor that still knows what a woman is.</a> Because biology isn’t bigotry, and we’re not playing pretend.
There’s no virtue signaling, no rainbow razors during pride month, and precisely zero charades involving gender swapping based on feelings. We don’t give out fake awards based on gender identity. Here you’ll find sharp blades, bold values, and the kind of sanity you won’t find on most college campuses.
Smith College is confused. The media, as always, is complicit. But <a href="https://www.jeremysrazors.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Jeremy’s Razors</a>? We’re standing on principle and declaring the truth. 
Stop giving your money to woke companies. <a href="https://www.jeremysrazors.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Shave with Jeremy’s Razors instead</a>.
Jeremy&#8217;s Razors shares common ownership with The Daily Wire.

Rachel Levine

An All-Women’s School Doesn’t Know What A Woman Is

Jeremy's Razors

Women

The Trump administration’s decision to pull federal funding from Harvard and other top-tier schools sparked outrage in the elite corridors of the American academy.
But this move has a clear silver lining: it could benefit less prestigious, significantly smaller, but certainly deserving schools across America.
From the end of World War II through the Cold War, brand-name institutions lobbied for, and were awarded, a<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/18/us/trump-universities.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> disproportionate share</a> of federal research dollars. That left capable regional universities vying for the leftovers.
It’s about time that this inequitable dynamic changed. Federal research money needs to go where it can yield the most significant and widespread benefits, and doesn’t always mean <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/04/30/us/university-funding-research.html?unlocked_article_code=1.FU8.Ck9n.8e6TwmBDHKOH&amp;smid=url-share" target="_blank" rel="noopener">schools in large cities along the coasts</a>.
According to federal data, over a third of <a href="https://usafacts.org/articles/what-do-universities-do-with-the-billions-they-receive-from-the-government/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">federal R&amp;D funding</a> was spent by just 20 colleges. That means most of America’s smaller schools have been ignored or overlooked, many of which enroll first-generation college students and are located in rural or underserved locales.
When the same recipients are trusted with the bulk of federal dollars year after year, we lose out on the fresh perspectives, crucial specialized research, and real-world problem-solving that a more even-handed distribution of funds would make possible.
Are there instances where a tiny institution like the College of St. Benedict in Minnesota (enrollment: 1,400) receives federal research money?  Yes, it happens: the school was awarded $<a href="https://static.csbsju.edu/documents/CSB%20Business%20Office/CSB%202023%20Audited%20Financial%20Statements.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">1.8m in 2023</a>. But that’s the exception, not the rule.
An upgraded distribution policy of federal research funding could unleash a torrent of invention by regularly redirecting dollars to less prominent schools nationwide, including historically black colleges and universities, Historically Hispanic Institutions, and technical colleges.
When a school in Wyoming or Mississippi wins a grant that would ordinarily go to one of the dominant and expected recipients, it’s not only that school’s students who benefit. It means constructing new labs, hiring new faculty, creating possible societal benefits for Americans’ health, and potentially stimulating economic benefits for American industries.
Supporters of funding reallocation, of which I am one, argue that it creates a fairer research landscape in America where the upsides aren’t locked in with the same annual recipients.
Every university in America should have a shot at discovery, not just those on the short list.   Reconsidering where federal research dollars are spent could inspire an exciting realignment that allows more American institutions to contribute to science, technology, and innovation advances.
Dr. David Lenihan is the CEO of <a href="https://phsu.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Ponce Health Sciences University</a>, a fully-accredited medical school with campuses in St. Louis and Puerto Rico. 
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Supreme Court Rules Affirmative Action Is Unconstitutional In Landmark Case With Harvard And UNC

Coastal Elite Schools Aren’t The Only Ones Who Deserve Federal Funding

Federal Funds Freeze

Ivy League

medical school

research

Arkansas Governor Sarah Sanders took a big step toward protecting her state from the Chinese Communist Party and other nefarious foreign agents.
She signed a bill demanding representatives acting on behalf of hostile foreign adversaries such as the People&#8217;s Republic of China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea register publicly, disclose who bankrolls them, and spell out exactly what they are doing in Arkansas politics.
Although this foreign-agent registration is the first statute of its kind in the country, other legislatures should explore similar laws as a defense against hostile foreign actors and their agents covertly swaying policy or political activities at the state level.
Our country is facing a new kind of warfare waged through manipulation, money, and misinformation. Our adversaries are well-funded and coordinated, working relentlessly to sow division and destabilize our society. They’re attacking at the state and local level more and more, hiding behind layers of nonprofits and advocacy groups.
Take Students for Justice in Palestine, for example – a shadowy group that played a prominent role in riling up violent mobs on college campuses last year. This group and others like it (Within Our Lifetime, Jewish Voice for Peace, Palestinian Youth Movement, etc.) routinely accept secret money, raising concerns about potential support from hostile foreign actors.
Some of these organizations are not even registered as nonprofits, and alarmingly, many pro-Hamas groups have established local chapters on college campuses and receive funding from student activity fees.
The CCP perfected this playbook long ago. There are Confucius Institutes embedded on college campuses masquerading as language centers while disseminating the Party’s propaganda. Other groups such as Code Pink echo CCP talking points, attacking American energy policy and championing topics that align with China’s geopolitical objectives.
Research has shown that the CCP’s influence stretches far beyond college campuses. It targets state pension funds, critical infrastructure, farmland near military bases, and even municipal procurement of drones and surveillance tech. Every contract, endowment, or protest it bankrolls is another opportunity to steal American intellectual property, map supply chains, and erode public trust.
It’s no surprise the Federal Bureau of Investigation has labeled the Chinese Communist government a “grave threat to the economic well-being and democratic values of the United States,” and national security agencies from some of our top allies have warned the CCP is engaging in the most “sophisticated theft of intellectual property and expertise in human history.&#8221;
Arkansas has taken the first step in combating this foreign interference. The law will shine a spotlight on every foreign‑funded front group operating in the state. Agents who fail to register face stiff penalties; those tied to hostile nations risk even higher fines.
<div id="attachment_916433" style="width: 875px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-916433" class="size-large wp-image-916433" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/05/GettyImages-468385788-865x576.jpg" alt="DustyPixel. Getty Images." width="865" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/05/GettyImages-468385788-865x576.jpg 865w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/05/GettyImages-468385788-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/05/GettyImages-468385788-768x511.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/05/GettyImages-468385788-1536x1022.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/05/GettyImages-468385788-2048x1363.jpg 2048w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/05/GettyImages-468385788-1800x1200.jpg 1800w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/05/GettyImages-468385788-1200x800.jpg 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 865px) 100vw, 865px" />DustyPixel. Getty Images.</div>
The new law also strengthens campaign finance disclosure laws, exposing individuals and organizations seeking to undermine democratic values through covert influence operations. The law is singularly focused on hostile foreign actors; international businesses and lobbyists representing allied nations are unaffected.
It is encouraging that this effort is also a part of a larger “Communist China Defense” suite of bills from Governor Sanders, with proposals to divest state resources from China and ban land purchases near critical infrastructure.
These measures are a timely reminder that safeguarding our communities begins in the statehouse, not just in Washington. Other legislatures should move quickly to adopt similar protections and fortify America’s democracy and sovereignty against those determined to erode them.
 * * *
Joe Gebbia is the CEO and Founder of State Shield, an organization dedicated to educating state leaders and uniting state and federal efforts to combat the growing threat the Chinese Communist Party poses to America’s security, supply chains, and core values.
The views in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Conservatives Gather For Annual CPAC Conference In Washington DC

Arkansas Strikes First Blow Against Foreign Influence In U.S. Politics

Arkansas

China

Foreign Funding

Iran

North Korea

Real estate

Russia

Sarah Huckabee Sanders

U.S. Military

Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy turned an ABC News interview on its head when a reporter from Philadelphia affiliate 6abc suggested that he and his company — and white men in general — were truly the ones at fault after patrons held up a sign that read &#8220;F*** the Jews&#8221; at his bar in Philadelphia.
Portnoy, who is Jewish, shared a video on X detailing the incident and saying that after the story about the sign went viral, numerous outlets had reached out to him to talk about it. He agreed, and was talking to a reporter from 6abc when the whole thing went sideways and he caught the entire exchange on video.
&#8220;So @6abc begged me to do an interview about the incident at our bar. Since it was local I agreed. Then the reporter tried to say Barstool and I and white men were responsible for the incident. Austin started recording once it got contentious,&#8221; Portnoy captioned the clip.
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
So <a href="https://twitter.com/6abc?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@6abc</a> begged me to do an interview about the incident at our bar. Since it was local I agreed. Then the reporter tried to say Barstool and I and white men were responsible for the incident. Austin started recording once it got contentious <a href="https://t.co/ug8CX83HHp">pic.twitter.com/ug8CX83HHp</a>
— Dave Portnoy (@stoolpresidente) <a href="https://twitter.com/stoolpresidente/status/1919400773269508487?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 5, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Portnoy explained that he&#8217;d been happy to do the interview initially, but that the outlet had pulled a &#8220;bait and switch&#8221; by pitching one reporter and then having a different reporter do the interview. The new reporter had then blindsided him with a quote claiming that Barstool Sports had created a &#8220;culture of harassment&#8221; and was therefore responsible for the hateful sign displayed by patrons — and things only went downhill from there.
&#8220;Then she shifts. Then she does what a media scumbag does,&#8221; Portnoy said. &#8220;She&#8217;s like, well, she pulls a quote out of her a** from like, I don&#8217;t even know, a made up journal?&#8221;
Portnoy cut to video from the actual interview then.
&#8220;Here&#8217;s who I would say is causing that type of environment: all these colleges who let Jewish kids get harassed on campus 24-7. I&#8217;ve been speaking out about this since it started. So these professors, I&#8217;d love to know — first of all, that sounds like a made up — I don&#8217;t know what that quote is,&#8221; Portnoy said to the reporter, asking where the professors were from.
The reporter pushed back, suggesting Portnoy was wasting time by asking for background information, but eventually revealed that the quoted professor was at the University of Virginia.
Portnoy then challenged the reporter directly, asking, &#8220;Who&#8217;s creating more hate right now in the world, would you say Barstool Sports and white men or college campuses?&#8221;
After a long pause, Portnoy clarified, &#8220;That was a question to you.&#8221;
&#8220;I&#8217;m a journalist, I&#8217;m asking the questions,&#8221; the reporter protested.
&#8220;I don&#8217;t play by those rules. What does that mean, you&#8217;re a journalist?&#8221; Portnoy shot back. &#8220;I&#8217;m a journalist. I run a big media organization. I just asked you a question &#8230; I asked you a question, you answer the question. You answer the question.&#8221;
The reporter continued to object: &#8220;You&#8217;re not running this interview.&#8221;
&#8220;All right, then, the interview is over,&#8221; Portnoy said, closing his laptop.
Cutting back to his direct video format, he added, &#8220;This piece of s***. ABC, the person who set it up, gave me one reporter, bait and switch to the other. F*** ABC! F*** ABC! … I forgot how much I hate f***ing journalists. This f***ing piece of s***!&#8221;

New England Patriots v Buffalo Bills

Dave Portnoy Flips Script On Reporter Who Suggests He’s To Blame For ‘F*** The Jews’ Sign At His Bar

Anti-Semitism

Barstool

Barstool Sports

Dave Portnoy

Jewish

Media

Philadelphia

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You will not find a legal theory that&#8217;s done more damage to this country in the last half century than the idea of &#8220;disparate impact.&#8221; Whether you realize it or not, this is a legal concept that has almost certainly impacted your life at some point, along with the lives of millions of other people. In short, disparate impact allows people to sue whenever a policy — whether it&#8217;s a government policy, or the policy of a private business — has a disproportionate effect on certain demographics. It doesn&#8217;t matter if the policy is intended to be discriminatory. It doesn&#8217;t matter if the policy is completely neutral, on its face. All that matters is whether the policy affects some demographics more than others.
To give just one example: If a written test for a police academy contains basic math questions — questions which are not racist in any way — the test is still considered to be illegal under the disparate impact theory if, say, 80% of black applicants fail it. The only way to survive a lawsuit under this theory is to prove that, in reality, the disparate impact is strictly necessary for some important purpose of the business or organization. 
In practice, especially in places like New York and California, this is extremely difficult to prove. After all, we&#8217;ve been told meritocracy is now a racist concept. Why do police officers need to understand that two plus two equals four, anyway? A lot of jurors actually think like this, especially the ones who won&#8217;t venture outside unless they&#8217;re wearing two masks and a portable ventilator. Therefore, most companies and government agencies, in the end, have decided to simply water down their standards, in order to avoid the possibility of litigation. Disparate impact was the precursor for affirmative action and &#8220;equity&#8221;, as it&#8217;s called today. Mediocrity has become the norm because it&#8217;s enforced by law.
We&#8217;ve all been conditioned to accept this status quo since the 1960s, even though it&#8217;s obviously contrary to basic principles of fairness and morality. Several administrations have come and gone, both Democrat and Republican, and disparate impact has remained untouched. But very abruptly, that changed yesterday, when the Trump administration issued an executive order formally <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/04/restoring-equality-of-opportunity-and-meritocracy/">ending</a> disparate impact in this country, in all contexts.
The order is called &#8220;RESTORING EQUALITY OF OPPORTUNITY AND MERITOCRACY&#8221; and, among other things, states: &#8220;disparate-impact liability has hindered businesses from making hiring and other employment decisions based on merit and skill.&#8221;
Therefore, according to the order signed by the president:
<blockquote>It is the policy of the United States to eliminate the use of disparate-impact liability in all contexts to the maximum degree possible to avoid violating the Constitution, Federal civil rights laws, and basic American ideals.</blockquote>
Yes, there will be inevitable legal challenges to this executive order. Yes, Congress should immediately pass this executive order into law in order to insulate it, as much as possible, from Obama-appointed judges in Washington. But even as it stands, already, this executive order is a major step towards reforming America&#8217;s failing institutions. It&#8217;s part of a broader effort by this administration to end the era of racial grievance, which has made a husk out of everything it touched. In particular, it&#8217;s helped destroy the educational system in this country, which is now fixated on spreading propaganda instead of teaching students the skills they need to survive and function in society. Universities currently spend most of their time administering affirmative action programs, and teaching students about the evils of white supremacy and colonialism. It&#8217;s a complete waste of time — actually, it&#8217;s even worse than a waste of time — and everyone knows it.
<h3><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/mws-ep-1582-member-exclusive?elementPosition=0&amp;row=2&amp;rowHeadline=Latest+Episodes&amp;rowType=Horizontal+Show+Episodes+Carousel" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WATCH: The Matt Walsh Show</a></h3>
Now the Trump administration, with this executive order on disparate impact, is doing something about it. And it&#8217;s clear that the administration had the education system in mind yesterday when they issued this executive order, because on Wednesday, the administration also took several other actions aimed at reforming America&#8217;s colleges. One of those executive <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/04/reforming-accreditation-to-strengthen-higher-education/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">orders</a>, for example, is called &#8220;REFORMING ACCREDITATION TO STRENGTHEN HIGHER EDUCATION.&#8221; 
The text of this order points out that the national six-year undergraduate graduation rate in this country currently stands at just 64%. Yes, just 64% of undergraduates currently finish college on time.
Additionally, roughly 25% of undergraduate programs and 40% of graduate programs ultimately yield a negative return on investment for students. The Trump administration is therefore requiring an overhaul of the process through which schools are accredited. If schools can&#8217;t demonstrate a commitment to merit, instead of racial discrimination, then they won&#8217;t be accredited anymore. And for many universities, that would be a death knell. They&#8217;d immediately lose access to billions of dollars in federal funding for Pell Grants and student loans.
This is why, during the campaign, Donald Trump <a href="https://www.wsj.com/us-news/education/trump-accreditors-executive-order-universities-4e4366cc?mod=hp_lead_pos1">referred</a> to the accreditation process as his &#8220;secret weapon.&#8221; It&#8217;s a way to use the established powers of the federal government to compel schools to start upholding basic educational principles. For generations, the government hasn&#8217;t used these powers. We&#8217;ve allowed pretty much every school — from community colleges to Harvard — to get away with scamming their students, discriminating along racial lines, and teaching useless classes about &#8220;decolonizing Shakespeare&#8221; or whatever. At the same time, tuition has increased exponentially because the federal money has kept flowing, in the form of easy student loans. Then, to make matters worse, college students — many of them Left-leaning — have taken this loan money and refused to repay it. In other words, people who didn&#8217;t go to college are directly subsidizing people who spent four years earning useless degrees, and then became deadbeats who are unable (or unwilling) to pay their debts.
This fraud was enabled by the Biden administration, as you probably remember. In fact, even when the Supreme Court ruled that the Biden administration was breaking the law, they still refused to compel college graduates to pay off their loans.
Yesterday, however, the Trump administration ended this state-sanctioned fraud. They&#8217;re now beginning the collections process on these deadbeats — including federal employees who are about to have their pensions frozen. Watch:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
White House press sec. Karoline Leavitt on defaulted student loan payments being sent to collections on May 5: “The government can and will collect defaulted federal student loan debt by withholding tax refunds, federal pensions and even their wages.” <a href="https://t.co/40ymqY435M">https://t.co/40ymqY435M</a> <a href="https://t.co/NbEgvs9o2h">pic.twitter.com/NbEgvs9o2h</a>
&mdash; ABC News (@ABC) <a href="https://twitter.com/ABC/status/1914736600547746069?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 22, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&nbsp;
It&#8217;s a simple principle that everyone understands: If you borrow money, you should repay it. But Democrats attempted to suspend this principle during the last election campaign because they thought it would resonate with voters. And in some areas of the country, it did resonate. There&#8217;s a reason Joe Biden won the state of Virginia, where all of the so-called &#8220;public servants&#8221; live. But as it happens, the rest of the country wasn&#8217;t happy about assuming the debts of these alleged &#8220;public servants.&#8221; So they won&#8217;t have to assume those debts anymore.
There were other executive orders and actions that the Trump administration took yesterday concerning universities. For example, one order <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/04/transparency-regarding-foreign-influence-at-american-universities/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">requires</a> that universities disclose any foreign funding they might be receiving. The attorney general is tasked with overseeing compliance with this requirement as a matter of &#8220;national security.&#8221; This is a measure that&#8217;s obviously long overdue, especially after we learned that Joe Biden was stashing classified documents in his office space at the University of Pennsylvania&#8217;s &#8220;Penn-Biden Center,&#8221; which was funded extensively by the Chinese. Everyone knows that, for a long time, major universities in this country have been openly operating like de facto embassies for various countries that hate us. And now they could face criminal prosecution for doing so.
Another order that the president signed yesterday implements new procedures to <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/04/white-house-initiative-to-promote-excellence-and-innovation-at-historically-black-colleges-and-universities/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">improve</a> the quality of education at so-called &#8220;historically black colleges and universities,&#8221; which have struggled significantly in comparison to most other schools in the country. For many years, the federal government has simply flooded these schools with money, without any concern for how they&#8217;ve been wasting it. Now, pursuant to this executive order, the Trump administration will seek to &#8220;increase the private-sector role, including the role of private foundations&#8221; in funding these schools. In other words, the taxpayers won&#8217;t have as big a role.
All of these changes are necessary because, under the current arrangement, the university system in this country is failing. As a result, a lot of people — myself included — have made the rational decision to forgo college altogether. Bloomberg just published a lengthy report on this trend. Their report focuses on an 18-year-old student who just graduated from high school in Madison, Ohio, which is 45 minutes east of Cleveland. According to this student, neither he nor any of his male classmates will attend a four-year-university. They&#8217;re <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2025-04-21/why-american-men-think-it-s-not-worth-going-to-college-anymore?embedded-checkout=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener">opting out</a> of going to college, for one reason or another.
<blockquote>In this corner of the Midwest—where the median household income is $78,000 and the largest city is 47,000-strong Mentor—the share of men age 18-24 enrolled in college dropped by more than 15 percentage points in the decade through 2023, the biggest decline in any large county in the US. The average slide, by comparison, was about 3 percentage points. In 2013 half of the young men in Lake County were enrolled in college; 10 years later, that number was only 1 in 3, according to a Bloomberg Businessweek analysis of US Census Bureau data. Men opting out of college isn’t a new phenomenon: Women have outnumbered men in undergraduate enrollment for about 40 years, and the gap continues to widen. Almost half of women age 25-34 have earned a bachelor’s degree, according to Pew Research Center data; for men the rate is 37%. Between 2011 and 2022, the number of Americans attending college dropped by 1.2 million, with men accounting for almost the entirety of that drop. &#8230;. When Jennifer Schuller became president in 2023 of Lake Erie College, the only four-year college in Lake County, the drop in enrollment was palpable: She inherited a $5.6 million deficit. In the previous decade, the student body—which is majority men—had decreased by almost 20%.</blockquote>
As much as I may criticize the university system and as much as I encourage young people to not see college as the necessary default option right out of high school, I still maintain that this is not a decline worth celebrating. It&#8217;s a completely understandable decline, of course. Universities and colleges have done this to themselves. They&#8217;ve wasted hundreds of billions of dollars of taxpayer money, and all they&#8217;ve done is churn out a useless product that more and more people are foregoing because it&#8217;s too expensive and pointless. It&#8217;s completely rational for millions of students to stop attending these schools. That&#8217;s true. But ultimately, that&#8217;s not the outcome we should want. A functioning country should be able to offer 18-year-olds a variety of good schools to attend, if they want to master some highly specialized skill — whether it&#8217;s engineering or programming or medicine or whatever. That should always be an option for certain students. But we don&#8217;t have that anymore.
We have a system where, even if you&#8217;re a very smart individual who could theoretically become a doctor, you stand a very real chance of being denied admission to a medical school simply because you&#8217;re white, or because you have the wrong political beliefs. And if you&#8217;re confronted with that possibility, and you&#8217;re 18 years old, why would you bother with the whole process? Why not take a guaranteed job where your skills will pay you, right away? Why subject yourself to hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt and years of indoctrination, especially if it may not pay off — for reasons that are both completely unfair and completely outside your control?
Young people are asking these questions. And the only correct answer is to tell them that this insanity is coming to an end. Otherwise, the education system will continue to fail.
The good news is that finally — for the first time in a very long time — some action is being taken on this front. The other day we <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/the-lawyers-promoting-child-indoctrination-to-scotus-were-absolutely-humiliated" target="_blank" rel="noopener">talked</a> about efforts by elementary schools to indoctrinate children into the gender cult, and how it looks like the Supreme Court is about to put an end to those policies. Now we&#8217;re talking about how the Trump administration just issued an all-out blitz of executive orders that are designed to restore merit and competence to all of America&#8217;s institutions, including its universities. This is progress. It&#8217;s not a guarantee that these institutions will be saved — Harvard in particular is fighting back, as you&#8217;d expect — but it&#8217;s a start.
The truth is that the education system can either teach students, or it can attempt to brainwash them into the religion of leftism. Those are the options. There is no middle ground. And if there&#8217;s one thing this week has made clear, it&#8217;s that the current administration — unlike every other administration in recent history — understands that choice very well.

Trump To Sign Executive Order To Bolster AI Education, Workforce

The Education System Is Failing, But Change Is Coming

Matt Walsh

President Trump

Student Loan Cancellation

Student Loans

When I enrolled at Indiana University I never thought I would see my peers graffiti “DIVEST NOW” across campus buildings and sidewalks. Now, to make matters worse, those same activists are threatening the university itself with ultimatums and <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/DCffDcmxmyn/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&amp;igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==" target="_blank" rel="noopener">demands</a>.
“IU has until January 13 to respond, or we escalate.”
As a Jewish student at IU, I’ve witnessed firsthand how their actions have disrupted our campus. Their constant protests, graffiti, and inflammatory rhetoric haven’t just created tension, they’ve made Jewish students feel unsafe and unwelcome. Let’s be clear: the demands they’re making aren’t just unrealistic — they’re reckless. Their tantrums have hijacked campus discourse, turning what should be a place for learning into a battleground of intimidation.
So, what exactly are their demands? It’s complicated.
For starters, they’ve called for the resignation of our administrative leaders, including IU President Pam Whitten, Provost Rahul Shrivastav, and Vice Provost for Faculty and Academic Affairs Carrie Docherty. Why? Because, according to IU Divest, these administrators failed to properly respond to the group’s accusations—accusations grounded in rhetoric that many students, including myself, see as <a href="https://www.jpost.com/israel-hamas-war/article-801408" target="_blank" rel="noopener">antisemitic</a>.
The coalition’s second demand, and the basis for their name, is that IU <a href="https://iuidivest.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">immediately divest</a> from any Israeli-affiliated organization. They specifically target IU’s <a href="https://www.idsnews.com/article/2025/01/iudc-protest-bloomington-faculty-council" target="_blank" rel="noopener">partnership</a> with the Naval Surface Warfare Center Crane Division, an institution involved in research collaborations.
But here’s the reality: In 2016, the state of Indiana passed a <a href="https://iga.in.gov/legislative/2016/bills/house/1378/details" target="_blank" rel="noopener">law</a> prohibiting public funds from supporting institutions that discriminate against Israeli entities. If IU were to adopt the BDS movement’s goals, the university could lose over <a href="https://www.idsnews.com/article/2025/01/iudc-protest-bloomington-faculty-council" target="_blank" rel="noopener">$250 million</a> in state funding. That includes money for faculty salaries, scholarships, research, and major campus projects.
Beyond the financial catastrophe, such a move would isolate IU from world-class Israeli institutions in medicine, technology, and academia. It would destroy opportunities for collaboration and innovation. Instead of fostering global dialogue, it would send a clear message that certain students and scholars aren’t welcome. IU would become less attractive to anyone who values academic freedom and global engagement.
And for what? Just to placate the tantrums of homegrown <a href="https://www.heraldtimesonline.com/story/opinion/columns/2024/12/08/column-indiana-university-antisemitic-pro-hamas-graffiti-must-stop/76771278007/">terror</a> <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/C6Tj4RwOpFg/?hl=en&amp;img_index=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">supporters</a> who seem more interested in performative outrage than constructive dialogue?
Then there’s IU Divest’s version of “activism.”
Since Hamas’s murder of 1,200 people on October 7, 2023, and the continued torture of Israeli hostages deep in the dungeons of Gaza, IU Divest continues to threaten the entire Indiana University and Bloomington community with their incessant calls for “resistance” and flagrant intimidation of Jewish students.
For example, two days after their “deadline,” the word &#8216;DIVEST&#8217;, accompanied by Palestinian flags, was <a href="https://x.com/StopAntisemites/status/1879526605481033832">spray-painted</a> in the snow in Dunn Meadow — facing Chabad, a place for Jewish students to gather, a cornerstone of IU’s Jewish student life. 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Jewish students at Indiana University were shocked to find &#39;DIVEST&#39; and Palestinian flags painted in the snow outside the campus Chabad—a disturbing act of targeted harassment. 
We urge <a href="https://twitter.com/IndianaUniv?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@IndianaUniv</a> to take this incident seriously and conduct a thorough investigation… <a href="https://t.co/NTCOCgSNa2">pic.twitter.com/NTCOCgSNa2</a>
&mdash; StopAntisemitism (@StopAntisemites) <a href="https://twitter.com/StopAntisemites/status/1879526605481033832?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 15, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Months earlier, the statue of <a href="https://www.idsnews.com/article/2024/10/iu-statue-vandalism-herman-b-wells-iupd-search-warrants" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Herman B Wells</a>, a beloved IU figure, was defaced with red paint and a Palestinian flag. Around the same time, a fake bomb was left outside the Luddy School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering causing panic and fear across the campus community.
Right now, Israel is being pressured to release hundreds of Palestinian prisoners — many convicted of violent crimes — in exchange for just a few hostages. The irony of IU Divest’s self-righteous language is hard to ignore.
So, if it’s public knowledge that IU can’t legally adopt BDS without devastating consequences, why is the coalition still pushing this?
With all of this in mind, it seems reasonable to wonder if these student activists are merely ignorant ideologues or if this is all just political theater disguising a bigger urge to take out their personal inadequacies on IU’s proud, local Jewish minority.
The group is either ignorant or deliberately trying to intimidate Jewish students at IU. Hopefully, it’s now clear what “divest now” really means for IU and why supporting such a misguided movement is harmful.
This is exactly why Indiana’s state law includes the IHRA definition of antisemitism—because it recognizes the link between movements like BDS and real-world harassment. It’s comforting to see IU’s administration standing firm, but as students, we also have a responsibility to call this out. No student should be silenced. No university should be threatened into breaking the law. And no campaign should be allowed to hide its hostility behind slogans and spray paint.
* * *
Rachel Applefield is a senior at Indiana University studying Law and Public Policy with a minor in Social Welfare Advocacy and a 2024-2025 CAMERA on Campus Fellow.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Campus scene University of Indiana Bloomington

Antisemitic ‘Activists’ Have Turned My Campus Into A Battleground Of Intimidation

Indiana University

Israel

Pro-Hamas

Protests

Students

As the Department of Education yanks $175 million of federal funding from the University of Pennsylvania for violating Title IX by allowing males into women’s sports, Secretary Linda McMahon should also consider cracking down on other, more common procedural violations of Title IX that have been routinely committed by colleges for over a decade: that is, violations against due process for students and faculty accused of sexual misconduct.
This status quo was created by the Obama Department of Education’s 2011 “Dear Colleague” letter, which gutted protections for the accused in the name of “victims’ rights,” under penalty of losing federal funding. The letter mandated that colleges use the “preponderance of evidence” standard — which only demands that the guilty be deemed over 50% likely to have committed misconduct — as opposed to the stronger “guilt beyond a reasonable doubt” standard employed in criminal trials in actual courts. It also allowed alleged victims to appeal the result of a disciplinary hearing — a form of double jeopardy otherwise barred by the legal system. Moreover, it discouraged cross-examination of victims, claiming this would “retraumatize” them, and enabled a single-investigator model, in which the person investigating the sexual misconduct claim would also adjudicate the sexual misconduct claim and decide as to whether or not the accused was guilty — giving the investigator the near absolute power to be “prosecutor, judge, and jury” at once, as the Foundation for Individual Rights and Education <a href="https://www.thefire.org/news/breaking-new-title-ix-regulations-undermine-campus-free-speech-and-due-process-rights" target="_blank" rel="noopener">called</a> it.
Having received Obama’s memo, colleges went above and beyond — the Constitution, that is: even after President Trump took office for the first time and then-Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos rescinded the Obama-era “Dear Colleague” letter in 2017, colleges kept their kangaroo courts — and began to be taken to court themselves. In two notable cases, federal courts determined that accused students at the <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2017/09/26/us-appeals-court-finds-student-accused-sexual-assault-was-denied-due-process" target="_blank" rel="noopener">University of Cincinnati</a> and the <a href="https://www.thefire.org/news/court-holds-university-michigan-administrators-personally-liable-violating-students-due" target="_blank" rel="noopener">University of Michigan</a> had their constitutional rights to due process violated. Per a 2019 <a href="https://nyujlpp.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Harris-Johnson-Campus-Courts-in-Court-22-nyujlpp-49.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">study</a> by Samantha Harris and K.C. Johnson, over 500 lawsuits were filed by accused students in the post-2011 period; 340 lawsuits went to federal court; colleges lost over 90 federal decisions; and colleges chose to settle over 70 lawsuits out of court before a decision could be made. This was around the peak of #MeToo and #BelieveAllWomen: in that cultural moment, anyone accused of sexual misconduct was essentially presumed guilty until proven innocent, a horrible inversion of the American rule of law.
Eventually, in 2020, DeVos established a rule ensuring Title IX proceedings would respect due process and treat both accuser and accused fairly. Because DeVos used the rulemaking process, rather than ruling by “Dear Colleague” fiat as her predecessor did, her decision was harder to reverse by the Biden administration. As a result, the Biden rule came toward the end of his administration in 2024, and, thanks to the administration’s overreaching attempt to rewrite Title IX to include “gender identity,” was immediately caught up in federal injunctions and barely implemented by the time Trump took office a second time and officially brought back the DeVos rule. That means that despite the change in administrations and attempted changes to Title IX by Biden, most colleges have been subject to the DeVos rule for most of the past five years.
Nevertheless, <a href="https://x.com/kcjohnson9/status/1893051067799060764" target="_blank" rel="noopener">lawsuits</a> over the past several years have continued to be filed by accused students and faculty alleging that their colleges treated them unfairly in Title IX proceedings. Just this month, the Fourth Circuit <a href="https://www.carolinajournal.com/expelled-unc-student-can-pursue-reinstatement-not-money-in-federal-suit/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ruled</a> in favor of an accused student at the University of North Carolina, noting that due process, live hearings, and cross-examination are crucial in Title IX proceedings. The persistence of lawsuits from the accused suggests that colleges are still not treating the accused fairly, and, as a result, are not only potentially disciplining, expelling, and firing perfectly innocent people — mostly men — they are also undermining the validity of all allegations, which makes it more difficult for real victims — mostly women — to be taken seriously.
College bureaucrats act this way in part because they are concerned with their own interests first: the #MeToo zeitgeist of yesterday still has them convinced that the fallout from blatantly unconstitutional proceedings will be less damaging to them than the possibility of activists calling them “rape apologists” for treating accused students and faculty with fairness. The Department of Education can change this calculus by stripping federal funds from every institution violating the rights of the accused. Only harsh federal action and the potential for penalties where it hurts will show colleges that they will suffer more for presuming guilt and holding unfair proceedings than they will for presuming innocence and treating both parties fairly, as the American rule of law demands.
On a more human note, colleges are often the places where young men and young women form their opinions of the world and of each other. Especially at a time when relations between the sexes are <a href="https://www.economist.com/international/2024/03/13/why-the-growing-gulf-between-young-men-and-women" target="_blank" rel="noopener">souring</a>, it is crucial that colleges be expected to follow the law if they are to continue to be entrusted with taxpayer dollars.
* * *
Neeraja Deshpande is a policy analyst and engagement coordinator at Independent Women.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Views Of Yale University As Ivy League Pay Soars

‘Prosecutor, Judge, And Jury’: Why Campus Kangaroo Courts Should Lose Federal Funding

'Prosecutor, Judge, And Jury': Why Campus Kangaroo Courts Should Lose Federal Funding

Betsy DeVos

Department of Education

Due Process

Obama Administration

Title IX

University of Michigan

University of Pennsylvania

Minnesota Democratic Governor Tim Walz’s daughter, Hope Walz, took to TikTok to claim she had been accepted to an unidentified institution for graduate school but turned down the opportunity. 
She outlined her reasons, which included how the unnamed institution purportedly dealt with student protests.
&#8220;I got into grad school. I will not be attending,” she <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@hopewalz/video/7487343154367155498">began</a>. “I applied for one school. I kind of had my heart set on it. I am not going to name the institution, but given recent events, I am not going to give my money, go into debt for, or support institutions that do not support students and the right to protest and speak out for their communities,&#8221; Hope said in the TikTok clip.
&#8220;Students deserve to be protected. I am not worried about if I were to be protected or not at said institution. I am, you know, [a] privileged white woman. But I am not going to put myself in the position where I am giving money or supporting institutions that don&#8217;t support their students,&#8221; she continued.
Hope, 24, said she plans to “do a little bit more research” to make sure she’s applying to schools that “align with my values.” 
Many viewers reacted to her announcement and reasoning on social media. 
“One less unhinged white liberal woman on campus supporting Hamas terrorists and threatening innocent students who disagree with her insanity. Another win!” one reaction on X <a href="https://x.com/BasedSavannah/status/1906440853188735316">said</a>. 
“The poster child for an insufferable liberal,” another <a href="https://x.com/tcb_yup/status/1906343547571245082">agreed</a>. 
Her declaration coincides with many universities making headlines for their response to student-led protests for various issues, including anti-Israel demonstrations, which sometimes become violent. 
President Donald Trump&#8217;s administration revoked more than $400 million in federal funding from Columbia University due to its failure to protect students from anti-Semitism. This prompted the university to change its policies on discrimination and unauthorized protests, as The Daily Wire previously <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-draws-a-red-line-on-anti-semitism-will-universities-listen">reported</a>.

Tim Walz Hope Walz

Tim Walz’s Daughter Claims She Won’t Attend Grad School Because Students Have No ‘Right To Protest’

Protest

Tim Walz

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