Wyoming Republicans are crying foul after a high school student said her school treats her Turning Point USA Club America chapter unfairly and blocks them from engaging in activities that similar clubs are allowed to do. 
Natrona County High School senior Kylie Wall told The Daily Wire that the Club America chapter she started has received a chilly reception from school administrators who have exercised a heavy hand over the group&#8217;s activities. This includes taking limited action after school staff ripped down posters for the club at the school, she said. 
State Senator Rachel Rodriguez Williams, the chair of the Wyoming Freedom Caucus, told The Daily Wire that school officials appeared to be chilling the free speech of conservative students. 
&#8220;At best, NCHS administrators are chilling the protected speech of students, which is unacceptable,” she told The Daily Wire. “At worst, they’re systematically silencing the speech and activities of students on and off campus, which is indefensible.”
The Wyoming Freedom Caucus filed a public records request on Sunday, demanding all communications to or from Natrona County High School Principal Aaron Wilson containing the terms “Club America” or “Turning Point USA.” Natrona County High School is located in Casper, Wyoming’s second most populous city. 
Wall told The Daily Wire on Thursday that she had serious concerns about equal treatment, free speech, and student rights under district policy and the federal Equal Access Act, which requires schools receiving federal funds to have equal opportunities. 
&#8220;As students, we simply want to be treated fairly, to have our voices respected, and to participate in the same opportunities afforded to other clubs,&#8221; she said. &#8220;We look forward to working toward a resolution that upholds district policy and students’ constitutional rights.&#8221;
Wall, who started a Club America chapter shortly after the assassination of Charlie Kirk, says that school officials have blocked them from participating in public meetings off campus and failed to take sufficient action after she saw school staff tearing down advertisements for the club. 
&#8220;Approved Club America flyers have been removed by staff, and some teachers have made disparaging remarks about our club and its members,&#8221; Wall told The Daily Wire. &#8220;Despite these reports, the administration has taken little action to address them, contributing to a hostile environment for students who hold different viewpoints.&#8221;
Natrona County School District noted that it recognized two Club America chapters, one at Natrona County High School and another at Kelly Walsh High School.
&#8220;These student-led clubs are open to high school students who are interested in learning about government, civic responsibility, and active citizenship. Like all student-led clubs, school-based meetings are student-driven and are not open to the public,&#8221; the county told The Daily Wire. &#8220;We continue to encourage students from all high schools to work together and collaborate in many different capacities.&#8221;
Rodriguez Williams said that the Wyoming Freedom Caucus “reminds all Wyoming school districts that students don’t shed their First Amendment rights at the schoolhouse doors. We are disgusted that school staff would tear down posters advertising Club America, but are filled with hope for the future at the bravery and poise of these patriotic students.&#8221;
In addition to the posters being pulled down, school officials have reportedly blocked Wall’s chapter from meeting with another local Turning Point USA club, prohibited them from attending an off-campus banquet hosted by the Wyoming Family Alliance, and told Wall that she could not do an interview on the club without the principal’s presence. 
&#8220;Our club was prohibited from attending a community event hosted by the Wyoming Family Alliance, even though other student organizations — such as athletic teams and Key Club, and others — routinely attend similar off-campus events,&#8221; Wall said. &#8220;This restriction seems inconsistent with district practice and limits our club’s opportunities to participate equally in civic activities.&#8221;
Wyoming Family Alliance Executive Director Nathan Winters confirmed that Wilson told them to &#8220;exclusively&#8221; reach out to Club America through him and declined the invitation to the banquet. He added that they never received a response when they asked if there was a district policy blocking the students from engaging in community events.
“Wyoming Family Alliance will always stand with students who want to engage in civil public discourse and experience the true meaning of American citizenship,&#8221; Winters told The Daily Wire. &#8220;We are disappointed and deeply concerned when any school or administrator restricts those first steps toward civic participation. Students should be encouraged, not silenced, when they seek to learn, lead, and contribute to their communities.”
Wall added that she &#8220;was instructed not to speak to reporters about our chapter without direct administrative supervision, or even on my own time,&#8221; while students at other high schools were not restricted in the same way. 
Following the assassination of Kirk last month in Utah, Turning Point USA has reported a massive surge in requests to form new chapters on both high school and college campuses. The organization said last week that it has launched 1,500 new high school chapters nationwide, up from roughly 1,200 total before Kirk’s death.

US-POLITICS-TURNING POINT

Wyoming High School Is ‘Chilling Speech’ Of Turning Point USA Chapter, Republicans Warn

Charlie Kirk

Education

First Amendment

Turning Point USA

Wyoming

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>
<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-980187" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/ploeger.jpg" alt="" width="1218" height="1402" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/ploeger.jpg 1218w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/ploeger-261x300.jpg 261w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/ploeger-500x576.jpg 500w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/ploeger-768x884.jpg 768w" sizes=" (max-width: 1218px) 100vw, 1218px" /></div>
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

Maryland

Plagiarism

University of Maryland

The illegal immigrant who served as the superintendent of Iowa’s largest school district has a lengthy rap sheet going back nearly two decades, the Department of Homeland Security <a href="https://www.dhs.gov/news/2025/10/03/dhs-releases-new-information-extensive-criminal-history-illegal-alien-ian-roberts" target="_blank" rel="noopener">revealed</a> Friday.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/illegal-immigrant-superintendent-wasnt-checked-through-federal-e-verify-system?author=Jennie+Taer&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=4&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Illegal+Immigrant+Superintendent+Wasn%E2%80%99t+Checked+Through+Federal+E-Verify+System">arrested</a> Des Moines Public Schools Superintendent Ian Andre Roberts of Guyana last week after he received a deportation order in May 2024, according to ICE.
Roberts was most recently hit with federal charges for allegedly being an illegal alien in possession of a firearm following his latest arrest, where he was caught with a loaded handgun, $3,000 in cash, and a fixed-blade hunting knife after he tried to flee the scene, according to DHS.
“Ian Andre Roberts, a criminal illegal alien with multiple weapons charges and a drug trafficking charge, should have never been able to work around children,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement following the latest revelation on Roberts’ criminal record.
“When ICE officers arrested this Superintendent, he was in possession of an illegal handgun, a hunting knife, and nearly $3,000 in cash. This criminal illegal alien is now in U.S. Marshals custody and facing charges for being an illegal alien in possession of a firearm. Under Secretary Noem, ICE will continue to arrest the worst of the worst and put the safety of America’s children FIRST.”
<div id="attachment_977623" style="width: 1210px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-977623" class="wp-image-977623 size-full" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/Untitled-design-13.jpg" alt="" width="1200" height="675" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/Untitled-design-13.jpg 1200w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/Untitled-design-13-300x169.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/Untitled-design-13-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/Untitled-design-13-768x432.jpg 768w" sizes=" (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px" />Credit: Immigration and Customs Enforcement</div>
Roberts first came to the United States in 1994 as a tourist, before acquiring a student visa in 1999, according to DHS.
It wasn’t long before Roberts found himself wrapped up with the law in the United States.
On July 3, 1996, Roberts was charged with criminal possession of narcotics with intent to sell, criminal possession of narcotics, criminal possession of a forgery device, and possession of a forged instrument in New York, according to DHS.
Two years later, he faced a charge for third-degree unauthorized use of a vehicle in Queens, New York, which was later dismissed.
Roberts was convicted for reckless driving, unsafe operation, and speeding in Maryland on November 1, 2012, DHS said.
He then faced charges in 2020 for second-degree criminal possession of a weapon (having a loaded firearm outside his home or business); third-degree criminal possession of a weapon (an ammunition feeding device); and fourth-degree weapon charges.
Roberts was convicted in 2022 of unlawful possession of a loaded firearm in Pennsylvania, according to DHS.
The ex-superintendent tried to apply for a green card four different times and was denied on each attempt.
His employment authorization expired on December 18, 2020, roughly three years before he was hired for his latest role in Des Moines, according to DHS.
He also failed to appear at his latest hearing, where an immigration judge ordered his removal from the United States, according to DHS.
Des Moines Public Schools hired the firm JG Consulting to recruit possible superintendent candidates in December 2022, the school district <a href="https://www.dmschools.org/2025/09/announcements-on-detention-of-dr-ian-roberts/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>. The firm used the company Baker-Eubanks to conduct a background check into Roberts, which the district said “found nothing related to citizenship or immigration matters related” to him.
However, a spokesman for Baker-Eubanks recently told The Daily Wire that “all publicly available criminal records” were shared with the school district, which “ultimately chose to proceed with the hire despite having received” the concerning history.
The school district is now <a href="https://www.dmschools.org/news_release/dmps-files-lawsuit-against-superintendent-search-firm-jg-consulting/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">suing</a> JG Consulting, saying it failed to properly vet Roberts.

RobertsICE

Illegal Immigrant Who Was Des Moines School Superintendent Had Lengthy Rap Sheet

Des Moines

illegal immigrant

Iowa

California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom has gone DEFCON-1 on President Trump’s new education agenda — <a href="https://www.kcra.com/article/gov-newsom-threatens-to-withhold-billions-from-california-colleges-that-sign-trumps-compact/68366652" target="_blank" rel="noopener">threatening</a> to yank billions in state funding from any California university that dares join Trump’s sweeping “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education.”
Trump’s 10-page declaration demands universities ditch DEI ideology, stop using race and gender-conscious admission standards, freeze tuition hikes, cap international student enrollment, and enforce free speech protections for conservative students. The compact calls for ending race-based hiring, restoring standardized tests like the SAT, and banning the use of endowment money for political causes.
The Trump administration sent the compact to nine elite universities this week — including the University of Southern California, the only school in California on the list. Those universities that agreed would get preferential access to massive federal grants, increased overhead payments, and priority in civil rights investigations.
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Newsom responded in all-caps rage, appearing to mock Trump’s social media style: “IF ANY CALIFORNIA UNIVERSITY SIGNS THIS RADICAL AGREEMENT, THEY’LL LOSE BILLIONS IN STATE FUNDING — INCLUDING CAL GRANTS — INSTANTLY. CALIFORNIA WILL NOT BANKROLL SCHOOLS THAT SELL OUT THEIR STUDENTS, PROFESSORS, RESEARCHERS, AND SURRENDER ACADEMIC FREEDOM.”
USC — a private university — received $28.4 million in Cal Grants last year alone. Statewide, private institutions hauled in $227.6 million. Public colleges, such as the University of California and California State University systems, raked in a whopping $2.2 billion from Cal Grants in the most recent budget year. Newsom is threatening to axe it all.
The legacy media is clutching pearls over the compact, warning that Trump is “politicizing” higher ed. But White House adviser May Mailman <a href="https://www.wsj.com/us-news/education/trump-universities-compact-federal-funds-agreement-df158493?gaa_at=eafs&amp;gaa_n=ASWzDAjelwuXl8TA4CzirTqRK9Hyi6E682Bq3vwYUToAONl96khJkbNWTWxpdFeloT8%3D&amp;gaa_ts=68dfbc86&amp;gaa_sig=C5Sjme964PrJZ5EEW7ZEedhXq7Hn7eUUHmJEm0OHm8IDOhaliFSUR_pzVPOgoDMOVi_iuqK7Hm9UYNkpjUZ3NQ%3D%3D">stated</a>, “Our hope is that a lot of schools see that this is highly reasonable.”
Meanwhile, the usual suspects are losing their minds. Ted Mitchell of the American Council on Education <a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-political-agenda-colleges-federal-money-756407729a3b16c7bb51564d5056084c">called the proposal</a> a “Faustian bargain.” Larry Summers — Obama’s former Treasury Secretary — said it’s like “fixing a watch with a hammer.”
The compact also explicitly defends women’s sports by requiring colleges to recognize biological sex in athletics and protect fairness in competition — a direct rebuke to Newsom’s radical gender policies.
White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson fired back at Newsom’s tantrum, saying, “Gavin Newscum should worry about the disaster he’s created in his own state.” She added that opposing the compact means opposing “efforts to cap wild tuition hikes and protect free speech.”

Gavin Newsom

Newsom Goes Nuclear: Threatens Colleges That Back Trump’s Education Agenda

California

Donald Trump

Politics

University of Southern California

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>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
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

The illegal immigrant <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/illegal-immigrant-superintendent-has-six-kids-with-five-different-women-records-show?author=Jennie+Taer&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=1&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Illegal+Immigrant+School+Superintendent+Has+Six+Kids+With+Five+Different+Women%2C+Records+Show">superintendent</a> of an Iowa public school system did not undergo an immigration employment verification through the federal E-Verify system, which ensures workers are in the country legally and eligible to work, before he was hired for the role, The Daily Wire has learned.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested Des Moines Public Schools Superintendent Ian Andre Roberts of Guyana on Friday. Roberts was handed a deportation order from an immigration judge in May 2024 and had weapons charges from Feb. 5, 2020, according to ICE.
Since then, the school district has come under scrutiny for how it came to hire Roberts in the first place.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services spokesman Matthew Tragesser told The Daily Wire that the agency &#8220;did not find&#8221; any <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/red-states-consider-bills-to-push-illegals-to-self-deport">E-Verify</a> cases under Roberts&#8217; name going back more than a decade. Roberts <a href="https://www.dmschools.org/2025/09/announcements-on-detention-of-dr-ian-roberts/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">assumed</a> his latest role in July 2023.
USCIS also doesn&#8217;t have any record that Des Moines Public Schools &#8220;has ever been enrolled in the E-Verify program.&#8221;
&#8220;It&#8217;s inconceivable. Roberts deceived parents, students, and administrators. Justice will be served,&#8221; Tragesser said.
<div id="attachment_977665" style="width: 1210px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-977665" class="wp-image-977665 size-full" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/RobertsICE.png" alt="" width="1200" height="740" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/RobertsICE.png 1200w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/RobertsICE-300x185.png 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/RobertsICE-934x576.png 934w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/RobertsICE-768x474.png 768w" sizes=" (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px" />Credit: Immigration and Customs Enforcement</div>
Des Moines Public School board chair Jackie Norris <a href="https://www.dmschools.org/2025/09/announcements-on-detention-of-dr-ian-roberts/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">claimed</a> Monday that &#8220;at no point was any DMPS employee or board member notified that Dr. Roberts was not eligible to work, either by a federal agency or Dr. Roberts.&#8221; She also said that Roberts &#8220;stated he was a citizen&#8221; on his I-9 employment eligibility form and provided a driver&#8217;s license and social security card when he was hired.
During Roberts&#8217; hiring process, the Dentons Davis Brown law firm reviewed the form and accompanying documents and stated that the information provided &#8220;did not raise concerns about his eligibility to work,&#8221; Norris said.
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Des Moines Public Schools also contracted the outside firm JG Consulting to recruit possible superintendent candidates in December 2022, the school district <a href="https://www.dmschools.org/2025/09/announcements-on-detention-of-dr-ian-roberts/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>. The firm used the company Baker-Eubanks to conduct a background check into Roberts, which the district said &#8220;found nothing related to citizenship or immigration matters related to Dr. Roberts.&#8221;
A spokesman for Baker-Eubanks, however, told The Daily Wire that &#8220;all publicly available criminal records&#8221; were disclosed to the school district, which &#8220;ultimately chose to proceed with the hire despite having received&#8221; the concerning history.
Notably, Iowa doesn&#8217;t require employers in the state to use E-Verify. The state Senate voted to mandate that employers use E-Verify last year, but the fate of the bill still sits in the hands of House legislators.
Former New York Field Office Deputy Director Scott Mechkowski told The Daily Wire that the Roberts case is the perfect example of why E-Verify is needed nationwide.
&#8220;The hiring of an undocumented individual with a criminal history and deportation order into a position of educational leadership exposes a profound vulnerability in our systems, one that E-Verify could have sealed at the outset,&#8221; said Mechkowski.
&#8220;This is not merely an oversight, it is a betrayal of public trust, demanding immediate reform to safeguard our institutions and communities. How many more are out there? Pass E-Verify immediately,&#8221; he added.
A spokesman for the school district didn&#8217;t immediately respond to The Daily Wire&#8217;s request for comment.
Roberts has since been placed on unpaid leave and lost his superintendent license. His lawyers <a href="https://x.com/GrageDustin/status/1973080084157174239" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> during a press conference on Tuesday that Roberts will submit a formal resignation letter later in the day.
When he was nabbed by ICE, Roberts fled the scene and abandoned his car in the nearby woods, the agency said. ICE eventually found him and discovered he was carrying a loaded handgun, $3,000 in cash, and a fixed-blade hunting knife.
Roberts previously applied for immigration status after overstaying his student visa and stated on the application that he had six children with five different women, including two in the same year, The Daily Wire <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/illegal-immigrant-superintendent-has-six-kids-with-five-different-women-records-show?author=Jennie+Taer&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=2&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Illegal+Immigrant+School+Superintendent+Has+Six+Kids+With+Five+Different+Women%2C+Records+Show">reported</a>. The application was denied.
He first came to the United States in 1999 on a student visa.

Untitled design (13)

Illegal Immigrant Superintendent Wasn’t Checked Through Federal E-Verify System

deportation

Immigration

The DEI-obsessed medical school dean who called President Donald Trump’s efforts to define male and female an “attack on women” is stepping down from his position as his institution continues to promote radical ideologies.
Jerry Kruse, the dean of Southern Illinois University School of Medicine, recently <a href="https://www.siumed.edu/news/dr-jerry-kruse-retire-siu-dean-provost-2026" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced</a> that he would be leaving his position as head of the school in August 2026 after over four decades working at the institution. Over the last few months, Kruse has faced <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/unearthed-footage-exposes-medical-school-administrators-pledging-resist-trump-executive-orders" target="_blank" rel="noopener">scrutiny</a> over comments pledging to resist the Trump administration’s DEI crackdown and revelations that the school has <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/med-school-caught-rejecting-white-and-asian-applicants-with-better-scores-than-minorities-it-accepts" target="_blank" rel="noopener">continued to reject</a> white and Asian applicants with higher test scores in favor of minority candidates.
Kruse, who has been with the school since 1984, <a href="https://www.siumed.edu/news/dr-jerry-kruse-retire-siu-dean-provost-2026" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> that he was “deeply proud of what we have accomplished together and confident that SIU Medicine will continue to grow and innovate.&#8221;
&#8220;Our triple aim has always been to provide health care that is effective, efficient and equitable, and I am looking forward to ending with excellence,&#8221; he added.
His departure was welcomed by Ian Kingsbury, the director of research for the medical watchdog Do No Harm.
“After aggressively steering Southern Illinois University School of Medicine toward an embrace of a radical woke agenda, it is welcome news that Dean Kruse is stepping down,” Kingsbury said. “From promoting discriminatory scholarships and practicing race-based admissions to publicly flouting President Trump&#8217;s executive orders, the school has practically begged for a federal investigation.”
“Hopefully, the former dean’s successor has the courage to clean up the mess of identity politics he will inherit and restore the institution&#8217;s integrity. Do No Harm will be watching,” he added.
Back in May, Do No Harm obtained footage of Kruse giving a speech to SIU staff where he laid out the school’s opposition to Trump’s executive orders on DEI and gender. Specifically, he took aim at Trump’s <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/defending-women-from-gender-ideology-extremism-and-restoring-biological-truth-to-the-federal-government/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">executive order</a> cracking down on radical gender ideology.
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“While the order allegedly attempts to protect women and girls, what it really does is threaten any woman or girl who doesn&#8217;t conform to sex based stereotypes and opens them up to invasion of privacy. This is an attack on women, on gender identity, on sexual orientation, and on basic human rights,” Kruse <a href="https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/siy9ewmyoo7rrwnyqq3ar/SIU-News-and-Views-with-Dr.-Kruse-0325.mp4?rlkey=80pp1ok0lj1etr5g9ik42vokn&amp;e=1&amp;st=43sm5lq3&amp;dl=0" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>, according to the footage.
Kruse also promised to fight the Trump administration and wait for the directives to play out in court.
&#8220;We will resist obeying in advance. We won&#8217;t do any anticipatory obedience,&#8221; he said. &#8220;The existing laws have not changed, no court directives will require any change in compliance at this time.&#8221;
The Southern Illinois University School of Medicine has been <a href="https://taggs.hhs.gov/Detail/RecipDetail?arg_EntityId=PlNjsfJ%2FhuFyRnIQqjoNjQ%3D%3D" target="_blank" rel="noopener">issued</a> over $5 million in federal funds this year and received another $6.4 million in 2024.
Currently on its website, SIU promotes multiple <a href="https://archive.ph/9EHhD" target="_blank" rel="noopener">scholarship</a> opportunities that are only available on the basis of race or sex. For example, the “Underrepresented Students in Medicine” scholarship is only available for those who are African American, Hispanic/Latino, Native American, Pacific Islander, or from mainland Puerto Rico. There is also the “American Dissertation Scholarship,” which is only available to women.
The school’s office of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion also <a href="https://www.siumed.edu/studentaffairs/affinity-groups" target="_blank" rel="noopener">offers</a> multiple gender and racially-based affinity groups, and the school proudly <a href="https://www.siumed.edu/diversity/minority-faculty-recruitment-plan.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">advertises</a> its “minority faculty recruitment plan.”
The University of Illinois System, which oversees the school of medicine, has embedded DEI into its <a href="https://siusystem.edu/about/strategic-plan/index.shtml" target="_blank" rel="noopener">strategic plan</a>.
<div id="attachment_977103" style="width: 626px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-977103" class="size-full wp-image-977103" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/Screenshot-2025-09-25-at-2.23.55-PM.png" alt="" width="616" height="785" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/Screenshot-2025-09-25-at-2.23.55-PM.png 616w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/Screenshot-2025-09-25-at-2.23.55-PM-235x300.png 235w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/Screenshot-2025-09-25-at-2.23.55-PM-452x576.png 452w" sizes=" (max-width: 616px) 100vw, 616px" />SIU strategic plan.</div>
&#8220;We will be a national model of anti-racism and anti-oppression that promotes diversity, inclusion, and equitable access and opportunity for all individuals,” the system says.
The system was awarded the Leadership in DEI Award at the 2025 Keystone Awards by a Norwegian-based education company.
The Daily Wire previously <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/med-school-caught-rejecting-white-and-asian-applicants-with-better-scores-than-minorities-it-accepts" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> that the school admits black and Hispanic students with lower average MCAT scores and GPAs than the average scores of white and Asian students it rejects despite the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn affirmative action. That report led to a <a href="https://dehayf5mhw1h7.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/sites/1515/2025/06/05072346/jacobs-siu-school-of-medicine-admissions-policy-letter-6-2-25.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">letter</a> from local lawmakers to the school demanding transparency about its admissions processes.
The school also <a href="https://www.siumed.edu/centers-family-medicine" target="_blank" rel="noopener">owns</a> and <a href="https://www.siumed.org/treatment/gender-equity-and-transgender-clinic" target="_blank" rel="noopener">operates</a> a Gender Equity and Transgender Clinic, which offers “gender affirming hormone therapy” and provides referrals for the surgical removal of breasts and other genital surgeries. The clinic’s website inaccurately claims that puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones can be reversed.

MixCollage-25-Sep-2025-05-13-PM-4582

DEI-Obsessed Med School Dean Who Pushed Resistance To Trump Is Leaving

Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI)

Illinois

medical school

In light of the recent loss of Charlie Kirk, we have to seriously reconsider the level of radical indoctrination in our <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/public-schools">public schools</a> — and not just at the collegiate level. The hostility that fueled such an attack doesn’t appear out of thin air. It begins in classrooms where children are taught to despise their country, question their God-given identity, and see their parents as obstacles rather than protectors. By the time students reach college, the soil has already been prepared by years of quiet but intentional indoctrination. The loss of Charlie should also serve as a rallying cry — a reminder of the price conservatives are paying in this cultural battle and the urgency to confront it head-on.
This is why the fight against gender ideology in our K–12 schools cannot wait. It is not a side issue or a distraction from “real politics.” It is the heart of the cultural crisis America faces. If children are trained from kindergarten to see themselves through the lens of gender theory rather than truth, faith, and family, then we should not be surprised when that worldview matures into radicalism, activism, and, eventually, violence.
For decades, conservatives assumed the worst indoctrination happened on college campuses. That was a mistake. Elementary schools are where the work begins — through school counselors, taxpayer-funded SEL programs, and activist-approved library shelves. Children are introduced to gender confusion long before they ever take an SAT or apply to a university. By the time they arrive on campus, the indoctrination is already deeply rooted.
Florida recognized this and acted decisively. In 2022, the state passed the Parental Rights in Education Act (<a href="https://www.flhouse.gov/Sections/Documents/loaddoc.aspx?FileName=_h1557er.docx&amp;DocumentType=Bill&amp;BillNumber=1557&amp;Session=2022">HB 1557</a>), banning classroom instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity in kindergarten through third grade. In 2023, lawmakers expanded the law to apply through eighth grade and specifically addressed the use of pronouns. The Florida Board of Education later broadened protections further to cover all K–12 grades. Additional bills like <a href="https://www.flhouse.gov/Sections/Documents/loaddoc.aspx?FileName=_h1069er.docx&amp;DocumentType=Bill&amp;BillNumber=1069&amp;Session=2023">HB 1069</a> reaffirmed that sex is biologically determined at birth, while <a href="https://www.flhouse.gov/Sections/Documents/loaddoc.aspx?FileName=_s0254er.DOCX&amp;DocumentType=Bill&amp;BillNumber=254&amp;Session=2023">SB 254</a> placed restrictions on gender-related medical interventions for minors.
What made this possible was the partnership of strong leadership at the top — Gov. Ron DeSantis and a conservative state school board — combined with parents pushing relentlessly from the bottom up. Importantly, the state school board did not wait for the legislature to act again; they used their authority to pass stronger policies when they saw the need. This kind of backbone is missing in school boards across the country, but it is the critical piece in reclaiming our public school systems. That partnership is the model every red state must follow if we want to preserve the innocence of children and the authority of parents.
Florida shows that the combination of political courage and grassroots activism can shift the culture of public schools. Parents had been voicing concerns for years about radical curricula, library materials, and counselors undermining parental authority. Instead of dismissing those voices, the leadership of Florida embraced them, amplifying the parents rather than silencing them. That is the blueprint. This bottom-up and top-down unity is what makes Florida distinct — and it is why conservative parents in other states look to Florida as proof that this fight can be won.
On the other end of the spectrum is California, where the guardrails are gone. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the SAFETY Act (<a href="https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB1955">AB 1955</a>), which allows schools to conceal a child’s new gender identity or pronouns from parents. San Diego schools have run classroom programs with books like <a href="https://www.iwfeatures.com/profile/controversy-erupts-in-california-school-district-over-radical-gender-ideology-in-classrooms/">My Shadow Is Pink</a>, asking fifth graders to guide kindergartners through gender-identity exercises without parental notification. And when teachers object on religious grounds — such as the Oakland kindergarten teacher fired for refusing to use pronouns that violated her conscience — the state sides with ideology, not faith or family.
California also recently lost more than $12 million in federal funding for refusing to strip “radical gender ideology” from its sex-education curriculum. Instead of correcting course, the state doubled down. This is the America our children will inherit if red states fail to act.
The danger in California isn’t limited to its own borders. Policies that begin there often spread nationwide through activist groups, teacher unions, and national curriculum providers. A book that appears in a Los Angeles classroom one year often shows up in a red-state district the next. Without strong protections, even conservative communities will find themselves importing California’s chaos. That is why the example of California should serve as both a warning and a motivator: if red states do not proactively legislate, they will be pulled in the same direction by cultural and institutional pressures.
President Trump recently issued an <a href="https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2025/01/24/2025-01567/removing-radical-gender-ideology-from-federally-funded-education-programs">executive order</a> directing the removal of radical gender ideology from federally funded education programs. That is an important step — but executive orders are temporary. What one president does, the next can undo. And without strong state-level laws, even Trump’s order cannot stop what continues to happen in liberal states like California, where ideology is embedded in classrooms regardless of federal guidance.
That’s why red states must codify protections into permanent law. And they must add accountability measures with real teeth:
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Immediate removal from the classroom if teachers or counselors push gender ideology in violation of the law.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Revocation of teaching licenses so offenders cannot simply move districts or cross state lines to continue indoctrinating children.</li>
</ul>
Parents deserve more than symbolism — they deserve action. Conservative lawmakers must remember that parents are not asking for suggestions or guidelines — they are demanding laws that protect their rights and their children. Laws without accountability are empty. A policy without enforcement is a wish list. If red states want to be serious, they need to back up their words with actions that make the cost of violating parental rights unacceptably high.
Conservative states now have both the opportunity and the obligation to act. Parents are fleeing states like California in search of places where their children can be raised in safety, truth, and faith. Red states must be those safe havens. That means more than political slogans — it means codifying into law the protections families need to preserve faith-based values and the authority of parents.
If conservatives fail here, the exodus from blue states will only accelerate, but families will arrive to find that their “safe haven” is just another battleground. Conservative parents are looking for states where school boards act decisively, legislatures put children first, and governors refuse to bend to woke corporations or activist lobbies. They want leaders who will not only defend but advance the values of family, faith, and freedom.
Red states across the country now have the opportunity and the backing of parents — and if legislators refuse, they should be replaced with leaders who will. The loss of Charlie has only deepened conservatives’ resolve, reminding us of the urgency and the cultural impact of his fight.
The line is clear: pass laws protecting children from gender ideology with real accountability, and pass them first — or prepare to face a reckoning at the ballot box. Our children are not bargaining chips. They are the future of America, and they deserve to be defended. Until states pass binding protections, even Trump’s executive order cannot shield families from the spread of radical ideology in liberal states — making state action urgent and non-negotiable.
* * *
Emily Jones is a mother, community organizer, and candidate for the Alabama State Board of Education. Known as “The Controversial Mom,” she advocates for parental rights, faith-based values, and stronger accountability in public schools.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

MixCollage-25-Sep-2025-09-06-AM-6432

Why Red States Must Crush Gender Ideology In The Classroom

Activists

Elementary Schools

gender ideology

High School

Leftists

Parental Rights in Education

Public Schools

Students

Teachers

Transgender

During the summer months, educators across the country flock to professional development conferences, often on the taxpayers’ dime. These events are supposed to sharpen the instructional skills of teachers and equip them with new methods for helping students succeed, addressing real challenges of education, such as declining test scores, reading comprehension, and math proficiency.
But as Defending Education’s analysis of the programming shows, what actually dominates these conferences is not literacy strategies or math interventions.
Instead, the recurring themes are race, social justice, gender, activism, and equity. From English to math, and from history to science, the same ideological buzzwords surface again and again. It’s little wonder parents are concerned, or that the nation has grown more politically divided.
Take the National Education Association (NEA), the country’s largest teachers union. At its <a href="https://web.cvent.com/event/555fe259-c382-4f14-87b0-319c288f9e68/websitePage:83a0a9c7-c495-4fe0-ad95-5eb99de3dbc2">Conference on Racial and Social Justice</a> in Portland this summer, activism, not academics, took center stage.
Unions like the NEA make no effort to hide their contempt for Donald Trump and the values of his supporters. At its annual Representative Assembly, the union <a href="https://www.nea.org/sites/default/files/2025-07/20250706-ratoday-issue-5.pdf">approved business items</a> labeling Trump’s agenda as “fascist” and opposing efforts to eliminate the Department of Education, which it called racist and anti-democratic. In direct response to a Supreme Court decision (Mahmoud v. Taylor) affirming religious parents’ rights to opt their children out of LGBTQ curricula, the NEA allocated $209,000 to push back and expand LGBTQ advocacy in schools. In total, the NEA committed more than $340,000 <a href="https://defendinged.org/incidents/national-education-association-approves-business-items-accusing-president-trump-of-fascism-and-authoritarianism-opposing-supreme-court-ruling-and-not-using-adl-materials/">toward initiatives</a> designed to counter conservative policies.
This union-driven activism is not confined to Portland. Across the country, teachers are being coached to use classrooms as platforms for reshaping opinions on society’s most sensitive issues. Students are not simply taught about history or literature; they are encouraged to become activists themselves. The worldview behind this approach borrows heavily from Marxist theory, framing society as an endless struggle between oppressors and the oppressed. That lens is being embedded into lesson plans, teacher training, and classroom culture, gradually shifting education away from its original purpose — academic instruction — toward political reeducation.
The sessions at NEA’s conference illustrate this shift. One workshop, “Building Narrative Power for Education Justice,” trained teachers to use storytelling to fight “anti-truth” and anti-LGBTQ legislation. Another warned about “White Christian nationalist forces” allegedly exploiting pan-Asian communities. Additional sessions covered “racial battle fatigue,” blurred lines between racism and ableism, and framed climate change as disproportionately harming communities of color, women, and students with disabilities. One even linked the MAGA movement to Jim Crow and Native land theft. Teachers were urged to affirm transgender student identities, disrupt curriculum challenges, and fight political opponents under the banner of education justice.
The conference also promoted the <a href="https://custom.cvent.com/820B5689CD804AEAA83FC39F9FBC8CD3/files/0a702792cebf4a3ea1c9b294c6c985b5.pdf">NEA’s pronoun guide</a>, which encourages teachers to adopt nontraditional pronouns such as ze, zir, zirs, and zirself, and to display their own pronouns as a sign of being a “safe person.” Misgendering, teachers were told, is itself a form of marginalization.
While parents worry about declining math and reading scores, union-sponsored trainings are focused on dismantling ableism, confronting White Christian nationalism, and embedding queer theory into K–12 classrooms. These are not the priorities of most American families, but within the union bubble, they are treated as urgent and non-negotiable. 
And it’s not just the NEA. The National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) filled its 2024 <a href="https://s1.goeshow.com/ncte/annual/2024/conference_program_sessions.cfm">conference with sessions</a> such as “Disrupting the Canon with LGBTQIA+ Themes,” “Queer and Trans-Affirming Education,” and “Antiracist Pedagogy Workshop.”
In a perfect example encapsulating how this ideology makes its way into the classroom, one teacher at a school district in New York <a href="https://www.jecsd.org/districtpage.cfm?pageid=3211">reframed Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”</a> as a “cli-fi,” or climate fiction text, using the play as a vehicle to teach climate change.
Math education has not been spared either. <a href="https://www.nctm.org/atlanta2025/">The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics’</a> (NCTM) <a href="https://defendinged.org/incidents/the-national-council-of-teachers-of-mathematics-2025-annual-meeting-features-sessions-on-black-feminist-mathematics-pedagogy-antiracist-math-equitable-grading-social-justice-and-whiteness/">2024 conference</a> features sessions on antiracist math, whiteness, and social justice.
One session, <a href="https://www.aievolution.com/ntm2501/index.cfm?do=ev.viewEv&amp;ev=1951">Reflecting on My Whiteness</a>, describes math itself as a “white, patriarchal space” and offers strategies to “confront the oppressive forces of whiteness” and “dismantle inequitable practices” in the classroom. <a href="https://www.aievolution.com/ntm2501/index.cfm?do=ev.viewEv&amp;ev=2046">Another highlights</a> how black women in math education “disrupt systems of oppression” and center “Black Girl Joy.” A third, <a href="https://www.aievolution.com/ntm2501/index.cfm?do=ev.viewEv&amp;ev=1930">Democracy and Data</a>, claims math should be used to advance democratic participation through a social justice lens.
The American Federation of Teachers (AFT) follows the same script. At its <a href="https://web.cvent.com/event/b256b940-7874-4081-a4af-34edc50fd735/summary">July conference</a>, sessions focused on “racial harm,” “LGBTQIA+ allyship,” climate activism, and “mass mobilization training.” Teachers were also told to resist curriculum oversight as a political attack. In one session, the AFT admitted the obvious: the pandemic had a “devastating effect” on student literacy.
Yet, the same union that now bemoans literacy loss was a key player in lobbying to keep schools closed during COVID, a decision that fueled the very learning setbacks reflected in the 2024 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) scores. Despite <a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Elementary_and_Secondary_School_Emergency_Relief_%28ESSER%29_funding_by_state?utm_">$190 billion</a> in federal COVID-19 relief funds, the data indicate a failing K–12 education system.
Meanwhile, many educators are turning to <a href="https://defendinged.org/ethnicstudies/">ethnic studies</a>, often presented through a victim–oppressor lens. The radical ethnic studies group, Xicanx Institute for Teaching and Organizing (XITO), held a <a href="https://www.xicanxinstitute.org/summer-2025">2024 Summer Institute</a> that <a href="https://www.instagram.com/xitotucson/p/DKk82TWSPMe/">promoted</a> “decolonial popular education” and urged educators to view teaching as a political weapon. Its sessions featured activists tied to <a href="https://www.ethnicstudiespedagogies.org/gallery/07%20-%20TIAHUI%20-%20A%20Decolonial%20Framework.pdf">anti-Western and antisemitic rhetoric</a>, with the explicit goal of uniting street activism and classroom instruction. And yes, school districts are footing the bill with taxpayer dollars for teachers to attend.
The common thread across these trainings is the glorification of victimhood and activism, with teachers encouraged to turn students into activists for leftist causes. Rather than instilling confidence and agency, this mindset risks fostering learned helplessness, where students believe success is unattainable without intervention.
Summer training conferences are less about improving learning outcomes and more about transforming classrooms into engines of political activism — serving unions and activist groups, but leaving behind the very students schools are meant to serve.
* * *
Kendall Tietz is an investigative reporter for Defending Education.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

MixCollage-18-Sep-2025-09-53-AM-6641

The Public School Activist Pipeline: ‘A Joyous Rebellion’

Anti-Racism

Equity

LGBTQ

National Education Association

Teachers Unions

WASHINGTON—The Education Department is partnering with a coalition of private organizations to revive civics education in American public schools and on college campuses, Education Secretary Linda McMahon announced today.
The America 250 Civics Education Coalition “is dedicated to renewing patriotism, strengthening civic knowledge, and advancing a shared understanding of America’s founding principles in schools across the nation,” the coalition said in a press release.
McMahon officially launched the coalition at an event in the nation’s capital on Wednesday — Constitution Day — alongside coalition partners from the America First Policy Institute, Turning Point USA, Hillsdale College, and more.
&#8220;Civic knowledge, engagement, and constitutional literacy among our youth — I&#8217;m going to say it&#8217;s in decline, but I could almost say it is absent,&#8221; McMahon said at the event, adding that she&#8217;s been &#8220;dismayed&#8221; by &#8220;the lack of enthusiasm for our country&#8221; she&#8217;s encountered at schools across America.
&#8220;Why don&#8217;t these young people love America?&#8221; she asked. &#8220;Because they don&#8217;t know America.&#8221;
&#8220;We have to restore this love of patriotism,&#8221; she added. &#8220;We have a president who takes the flag and hugs it! Let&#8217;s see if we can&#8217;t bring back that spirit of love and devotion to our country.&#8221;
The America 250 Civics Education Coalition “will unveil a robust programming agenda” in the coming year, including a “Fundamental Liberties College Speaker Series” that will bring speakers to all 50 states and “The Trail to Independence Tour,” a K-12-focused guide to how each state joined the union.
The group also aims to foster civic engagement in schools by distributing toolkits to teachers and honoring students with “a competition recognizing student knowledge of American history.”
The coalition builds on the Trump administration’s efforts to promote traditional civics education in the United States. President Donald Trump, in his first term, launched the 1776 Commission, a response to The New York Times’ revisionist 1619 Project.
“Rather than learning to hate one’s country or the world for its inevitable wrongs, the well-educated student learns to appreciate and cherish the oases of civilization,” the 1776 Commission wrote in its <a href="https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/The-Presidents-Advisory-1776-Commission-Final-Report.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">final report</a>. “In the American context, an essential purpose of this honest approach is to encourage citizens to embrace and cultivate love of country.”
Hillsdale College President Larry Arnn, a member of the 1776 Commission, said at Wednesday&#8217;s event that America was currently engaged in its third great crisis, following the American Revolution and the Civil War.
All three crises shared the same central feature, Arnn noted: &#8220;We&#8217;re fighting about the meaning of our central idea.&#8221;
&#8220;We&#8217;re in a crisis because there&#8217;s a disagreement about the purpose of the Declaration of Independence today,&#8221; Arnn said. The Hillsdale president stressed that education, not conflict, will solve the problem.
&#8220;Charlie Kirk was murdered,&#8221; Arnn said, recalling his fellow 1776 Commission member who was assassinated one week ago. &#8220;They killed him. It didn&#8217;t settle anything.&#8221;
Kirk&#8217;s memory hung over Wednesday&#8217;s event, and the late activist was invoked by several speakers, including TPUSA&#8217;s Chief Education Officer, Hutz Hertzberg.
&#8220;We believe that though Charlie had an incredible influence,&#8221; Hertzberg said, &#8220;his influence will extend in even greater ways than it did in his life.&#8221;
&#8220;That&#8217;s why this partnership is so important. By locking arms together, we can do more to accomplish the very things that Charlie stood for.&#8221;
Erika Donalds, one of the commission&#8217;s co-chairs and wife of Florida Congressman Byron Donalds (R.), noted that the coalition aims to snuff out violent attitudes among American youth.
&#8220;If our students truly understood the Constitution of the United States, they would never think that violence is the answer,&#8221; she said.
More than 40 groups have joined the coalition, including the Heritage Foundation, the American Principles Project, PragerU, and the Claremont Institute.
In bolstering classroom efforts, the civics coalition aims to boost patriotism across the country. Just 58% of Americans say they are &#8220;extremely&#8221; or &#8220;very proud&#8221; to be an American, according to a <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/692150/american-pride-slips-new-low.aspx">recent Gallup poll</a> — a record low.
Reversing this trend has been a major focus of President Trump&#8217;s second term. In addition to reviving the 1776 Commission, which President Joe Biden shuttered shortly after taking office, the president has ordered the Smithsonian and all taxpayer-funded museums to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-vows-to-gut-wokeness-from-our-museums-we-are-not-going-to-allow-this">eliminate</a> &#8220;woke&#8221; exhibits, lamenting last month that the Smithsonian is solely focused on &#8220;how horrible our country is, how bad slavery was, and how unaccomplished the downtrodden have been,&#8221; with &#8220;nothing about success, nothing about brightness, nothing about the future.&#8221;
Greg Sindelar, Interim President and CEO of the America First Policy Institute, noted that new AFPI polling found that 73% of Americans believe their children aren&#8217;t getting a good civics education, while 93% say all Americans do not know enough about their history. That ignorance, Sindelar said, is directly responsible for the rise in anti-American sentiments among the populace.
&#8220;To know America is to love her,&#8221; he said. &#8220;This is the real purpose of what this coalition is doing.&#8221;
&#8220;Together we are making history and we are teaching history,&#8221; he added. &#8220;To remember who we are, and what America is.&#8221;
In his remarks, Arnn stressed that actually reading the Founding documents and writings of the men who built this country is &#8220;the exercise we have to go through today if we are to recover ourselves.&#8221;
&#8220;We are going to lose our nation if we lose its central idea,&#8221; Arnn said. &#8220;And therefore there is no more urgent work, no more work dispositive of the future, than to read, and celebrate, and learn about&#8221; the Declaration of Independence and the tradition of American liberty.
&#8220;Learning and freedom go together, and ignorance and slavery go together,&#8221; Arnn added. &#8220;We&#8217;re going to choose one of those pairs.&#8221;
Donalds was optimistic that the coalition would ensure America chooses the former pair, saying the group&#8217;s ultimate goal is &#8220;to ensure that our children, our grandchildren, and generations to come are able to have this same celebration of pride in America at its 500th anniversary, 250 years from now.&#8221;

First Lady Melania Trump Hosts White House Task Force On AI Education

Trump Education Department Partners With TPUSA, Hillsdale College To Revive Civics Education

Hillsdale College

Linda McMahon

Trump Administration

The State of Texas will strip more than 100 teachers of their certifications over their “reprehensible and inappropriate” social media posts about the assassination of Charlie Kirk, Gov. Greg Abbott <a href="https://x.com/GregAbbott_TX/status/1967686867689902503">said</a> on Tuesday.
The Lone Star State launched an investigation Friday, reporting educators that “have proliferated such vile content,” Texas Education Agency (TEA) Commissioner Mike Morath wrote in a <a href="https://x.com/CameronSAbrams/status/1966616519862837444">letter</a> to superintendents. The state has already received roughly 180 complaints, <a href="https://x.com/CameronSAbrams/status/1967645860336111976">according</a> to The Texan.
“While the exercise of free speech is a fundamental right we are all blessed to share, it does not give carte blanche authority to celebrate or sow violence against those that share differing beliefs and perspectives,” the letter read.
<div id="attachment_972379" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-972379" class="wp-image-972379 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/GettyImages-2234173687-1-864x576.jpg" alt="OREM, UTAH - SEPTEMBER 10: Charlie Kirk throws hats to the crowd after arriving at Utah Valley University on September 10, 2025 in Orem, Utah. Kirk, founder of Turning Point USA, was speaking at his &quot;American Comeback Tour&quot; when he was shot in the neck and killed." width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/GettyImages-2234173687-1-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/GettyImages-2234173687-1-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/GettyImages-2234173687-1-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/GettyImages-2234173687-1.jpg 1024w" sizes=" (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />Trent Nelson/The Salt Lake Tribune/Getty Images</div>
Several incidents of Texas teachers making such comments have circulated online since Kirk’s assassination.
One Pflugerville ISD employee posted that she refused “to feel bad about the death of a Nazi,” according to a post shared by Republican State Rep. Hillary Hickland.
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Klein Independent School District (ISD) <a href="https://x.com/KleinISD/status/1966534736941031785">shared</a> that a “now former employee” made “unacceptable remarks” regarding Kirk’s “tragic death.”
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Republican Texas State Sen. Mayes Middleton called for the teachers to not only be fired, but to be placed on “do-not-hire registries.”
“Educators cheering murder must not only be fired, but also placed on do-not-hire registries and stripped of their certifications. There must be zero tolerance for this,” Middleton told The Daily Wire.
“Their behavior proves they are unworthy of ever being entrusted with educating students again. No half measures and no passing the trash — our children must be protected from these vile individuals. I will fight to ensure they are held fully accountable,” he added.
<div id="attachment_850589" style="width: 843px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-850589" class="wp-image-850589 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/12/GettyImages-2190506170-833x576.jpg" alt="" width="833" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/12/GettyImages-2190506170-833x576.jpg 833w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/12/GettyImages-2190506170-300x207.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/12/GettyImages-2190506170-768x531.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/12/GettyImages-2190506170-1536x1062.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/12/GettyImages-2190506170-2048x1416.jpg 2048w" sizes=" (max-width: 833px) 100vw, 833px" />Charlie Kirk, president and founder of Turning Point USA, speaks during Turning Point’s annual AmericaFest 2024 in Phoenix, Arizona, on December 22, 2024. (Photo by JOSH EDELSON/AFP via Getty Images)</div>
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/charlie-kirk-leading-conservative-activist-and-father-dead-at-31?author=Tim+Rice&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Charlie+Kirk%2C+Leading+Conservative+Activist+And+Father%2C+Dead+At+31">The Turning Point USA founder</a> was shot dead on Wednesday while giving a speech at Utah Valley University. The alleged shooter, later identified as 22-year-old Tyler Robinson, fired a single bullet that struck Kirk, 31, in the neck from the roof of a building on campus that was adjacent to a courtyard where the event was being held, according to authorities.
The suspected assassin was captured on Thursday after his father recognized him in photographs released by authorities and told him to turn himself in. Robinson also appeared to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/suspected-charlie-kirk-assassin-to-make-first-court-appearance-placed-on-special-watch">confess</a> on Discord that he had killed Kirk, writing, “Hey guys, I have bad news for you all. It was me at UVU yesterday. im sorry for all of this.”

Greg Abbott

Over 100 Texas Teachers Suspended For ‘Reprehensible’ Social Media Posts About Charlie Kirk

Over 100 Texas Teachers Suspended For 'Reprehensible' Social Media Posts About Charlie Kirk's Assass

Texas

I started following Charlie Kirk the moment he stepped on the stage of American politics. I watched him mature in his role as founder of Turning Point USA, and I distinctly remember admiring him for shifting its mission with the realization that the battle for America was not just a political battle, but a spiritual one as well. I was so enamored that I used to imagine being on Charlie’s show — but who was I?
And then it happened. God gave me a chance to be courageous. As a teacher in Loudoun County Public Schools, Virginia, one of the most controversial school districts in the country, I realized God’s truth was more important than my job security, and I took a stand. Alliance Defending Freedom represented me in a <a href="https://adflegal.org/case/cross-v-loudoun-county-school-board/?utm_source=dailywire&amp;utm_medium=oped">lawsuit</a> against LCPS’s transgender policy. We sued to protect free speech and religious freedom, and to advocate for the truth of God’s design.
Charlie Kirk was the first major media personality to invite us to share our story.
Charlie used his platform to take someone considered a “nobody” and elevate her. That is the kind of man he was. He looked to elevate others rather than himself. I have no doubt that, though I was represented by a prestigious legal organization, it was talking with Charlie on his show that made my witness visible and opened other opportunities for me to see God’s goodness in the midst of spiritual battle.
I’m a high school government teacher. I knew, even as I cried over the loss of Charlie and grieved for his wife and children, that I had many students who loved him. I needed the courage to go into school and talk with my classes about this tragic moment for our nation.
Here is what I said to all of my classes:
<blockquote>“One of Charlie Kirk’s repeated themes was how important it is to talk to one another. He often said when people stop talking, that’s when bad things happen. In a marriage, when people stop talking, divorce follows. In society, when people stop talking, that’s when violence happens. One of Charlie’s missions was to train a generation—your generation—how to do politics the right way, how to engage in honest, respectful civil discourse, especially with those whom you disagree.
“One of the things we’ll be learning in studying the Constitution is that there are two ways to govern people: by talking or by force. Democracies govern by talking. That means engaging respectfully with each other, arguing to persuade one another, discussing, negotiating, compromising, and deciding together how to move forward knowing not everyone is going to agree on everything but figuring out how to live together well even in our differences.
“Over the last few days we’ve learned about healthy and unhealthy civil society. The assassination of Charlie Kirk is the epitome of unhealthy civil society. Charlie believed in faith, family, and freedom. Because he was so confident in what he believed and spoke boldly about it, he was silenced…. Again, there are only two ways of governing people: by talking or by force. If we stop talking, there is only one other option.”</blockquote>
In 30 years, I’ve taught four generations of youth. In many ways, the kids of each generation have been the same — trying to grow up, find their identity, and navigate teenage angst. But over the last two years, I’ve noticed a shift.
For almost a decade, when it was time to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance, almost no students recited it. Some even refused to stand. Now everyone stands and recites the pledge. I’ve noticed a hunger for truth and a desire for more than slogans.
Now, more students courageously express their faith in school. It’s not every kid, but it is enough to inspire hope, and I believe that Charlie Kirk’s mission is part of the reason for it. His movement has had a ripple effect, even on the kids who have not necessarily followed him. His footprint is that big.
Charlie Kirk was hated because he was confident in what he believed, gifted at persuading others, and a man of integrity. Proverbs 29:10 says, “The bloodthirsty hate a person of integrity and seek to kill the upright.” Jesus told his followers that “the world hates me, and they will hate you because of me.” Goodness evokes one of two reactions from people: hostility or attraction. Those who are attracted want to embrace and merge with that goodness. Those who are hostile to goodness see it as a threat. Simply living right and being a person of integrity will invite hostility.
To our youth: You have a choice. Now is the moment for courage, the time to decide to do what is right, even knowing that it may cost you greatly. My prayer is that this generation, inspired by Charlie Kirk, will stiffen their spines and stand to fight for the same virtues that he stood for so that we may win back the soul of America.
* * *
Monica Gill is a government teacher at Loudoun County High School.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

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