Proponents of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/critical-race-theory" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Critical Race Theory</a> need not apply at one Christian college.
Bill Barker, the president of Southern Wesleyan University in South Carolina, said in an interview this week that he will not hire teachers or administrators who support CRT. Barker, who is entering his eighth year as head of the private four-year college, said that he wants to teach against CRT, and is intent on hiring faculty and staff who share that mission.
“I made it very clear where SWU stands on critical race theory, and we made it very clear in our hiring processes,” Barker told <a href="https://www.thecollegefix.com/southern-wesleyan-university-president-were-not-hiring-people-who-endorse-critical-race-theory/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The College Fix</a> in an interview. “Personnel is policy.”
“We’re not hiring people — and I’ve been clear since I came here and the Board of Trustees has supported this — who endorse critical race theory. We will have the courage to let faculty or staff go if they are teaching critical race theory.”
Barker, who was hired as president of the college in July, said that his education policy takes a critical approach to teaching CRT. He will not support a policy which uncritically promotes the core tenets of CRT — that racism is embedded into every structure and institution of American society in order to discriminate against people of color.
Instead, the college will educate against CRT, allowing students to think critically and for themselves. “We want to teach what it is, we want to teach how it’s being used in society, why it’s being used in society, but we also want to teach a biblical and philosophical response and critique of it,” said Barker. “We will hear from speakers who have different ideas and welcome students to engage in that discourse. But we will also guide students through that from a biblical and intellectually rigorous fashion.”
As with all other areas of study at the Christian college, teaching around CRT will be rooted in the teachings of Scripture. “The Bible speaks to us being reconciled with one another across races, across languages, across experiences through Jesus,” Barker told the outlet. “When we come together without reconciliation through Christ, we may be at odds.”
Barker concluded that Southern Weselyan University could become a model for other schools to follow. “What we need to do is hunker down against critical race theory and live by example,” he said. But when people cannot be reasoned with, Barker said he resorts to the power of prayer and human charity. “That’s when we pray for them, when we treat them kindly,” he said. “But we live by example rather than by evangelism.”
The policy of challenging CRT at a Christian college comes as Florida Governor Ron DeSantis launched an anti-woke offensive at a public university in his state.
In <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/desantis-mounts-anti-woke-offensive-at-public-florida-college">January</a>, DeSantis nominated six new members to the Board of Trustees at the New College of Florida, including anti-CRT journalist Christopher Rufo; Claremont Institute senior fellow and Claremont McKenna College professor Charles Kesler; Hillsdale College professor Matthew Spalding; Emory University professor Mark Bauerlein; attorney Debra Jenks; and Inspiration Academy chairman Jason “Eddie” Speir. DeSantis also ordered state colleges to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/desantis-puts-woke-colleges-on-notice-tells-them-to-hand-over-diversity-receipts" target="_blank" rel="noopener">turn over financial records</a> showing expenditures of state resources on programs and initiatives related to diversity, equity and inclusion, and CRT. The move prompted Florida’s public colleges and universities to issue a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/florida-colleges-vow-to-ban-critical-race-theory-after-overhaul-from-desantis" target="_blank" rel="noopener">statement</a> promising to back off of DEI and CRT policies.

Symbol image Critical Race Theory

Proponents Of Critical Race Theory Need Not Apply At This Christian College

Proponents Of Critical Race Theory Need Not Apply At This Christian College, President Says

Christianity

Critical Race Theory

Education

U.S.

Universities

Stanford University&#8217;s move to put Associate Dean for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Tirien Steinbach <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/stanford-law-school-dean-doubles-down-on-free-speech-diversity-dean-placed-on-leave" target="_blank" rel="noopener">on leave</a> was a step in the right direction after she brazenly attacked U.S. Court of Appeals Judge for the Fifth Circuit Kyle Duncan for nearly eight minutes. Dean Steinbach had a fundamental responsibility as an administrator to uphold the university&#8217;s ideals, including its unwavering commitment to free speech and independent thought.
Although the university&#8217;s response sends a clear message that such behavior from an administrator will not be tolerated, it falls short of addressing the larger issue plaguing college campuses across the nation. By allowing students to evade accountability for their own misconduct, Stanford condones the self-righteous student mobs asserting that only their viewpoints are valid.
For nearly 15 years, Campus Reform has been relentlessly exposing the disturbing trend on college campuses that aims to suppress free speech and critical thinking, despite the fact that these institutions were once revered as the foremost champions of these values.
In the late 80s, colleges began to push speech codes, but these restrictions were widely expanded in the 2000s and continue to <a href="https://campusreform.org/article?id=21038" target="_blank" rel="noopener">rise</a> each year. In addition to these codes, students, faculty, and administrators organized and collaborated to <a href="https://www.campusreform.org/article?id=11835" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ban</a> influential figures from campuses whose messages deviated from the mob — particularly conservative speakers. Because of the minimal resistance from most colleges, the students discovered that the louder and more aggressive they become, the more likely administrators would <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/biggest-scandal-higher-education-lowering-bar" target="_blank" rel="noopener">surrender</a> to their demands.
As these totalitarian efforts increased, so has anti-American sentiment on college campuses and reasonable positions are demonized. The effort to rewrite our history is fueling this anti-Americanism causing many students to have little regard for the concepts of liberty, including the First Amendment. Consider these numbers:
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"><a href="https://freebeacon.com/issues/poll-majority-of-americans-want-first-amendment-rewritten/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Polls</a> show more than 60% of Americans approve of restricting speech and 51% want to change the First Amendment</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Almost 60% of individuals between the ages of 21 and 38 say that the Constitution, “goes too far in allowing hate speech in modern America,” and 54% said violators of “hate speech” should face jail time</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/majority-of-students-favor-college-bans-of-hurtful-or-offensive-speech" target="_blank" rel="noopener">found</a> that more than 50% of students want to see educational institutions restrict “intolerant opinions”</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">A recent Gallup poll <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/394202/record-low-extremely-proud-american.aspx" target="_blank" rel="noopener">shows</a> only 38% of people are extremely proud to be Americans</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Axios <a href="https://www.axios.com/2019/01/27/socialism-capitalism-poll-generation-z-preference" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> 61% of those between the ages of 18 to 24 have a positive view of socialism, and 55% of women would rather live in a socialist country</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">A Washington Post/University of Maryland <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2017/national/democracy-poll/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">study</a> found that 36% of Americans are not proud of how democracy works in the United States</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">70% of millennials <a href="https://victimsofcommunism.org/annual-poll/2019-annual-poll/">say</a> they are likely to vote socialist</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Only 57% of millennials believe that the Declaration of Independence provides more freedom and equality than the Communist Manifesto</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">1 in 3 millennials has a favorable view of communism</li>
</ul>
To address these pressing issues, colleges must adopt a zero-tolerance policy towards those who undermine free speech and critical thinking. It is imperative that these institutions take a proactive and comprehensive approach to confront this problem directly.
I am proud to say my students have never stooped to such disgraceful behavior. In my 17 years of teaching, my students have been exemplary in their graciousness and attentiveness towards speakers. When Economist Paul Krugman gave a lecture at the college, I encouraged my students to attend despite my fundamental disagreement with his views. Many did and they showed him the utmost respect. I wouldn’t have tolerated anything else and that’s the standard educators like me and Dean Steinbach must set for students.
Although protests can be a powerful means of expressing dissent, any student who is unable to maintain civility and self-control, particularly towards visiting speakers, does not possess the maturity required for a college education. Moreover, if faculty members and administrators endorse or participate in such behavior, they are unfit to continue serving on college campuses. To restore colleges to their former status as hubs of free speech and critical thinking, it is essential to establish accountability and take decisive action to address this issue.
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<a href="https://www.campusreform.org/profile?pid=5457422" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Nicholas Giordano</a> is a political science professor at Suffolk Community College and a Leadership Institute’s Campus Reform Higher Education Fellow.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Stanford Main Quad

Stanford’s Handling Of DEI Dean Is A Microcosm Of A Much Larger Problem In Higher Education

Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI)

Protests

Readers Pass

Social Issues

Stanford University

A public university president canceled a student <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/search/news?refinementList%5Btaxonomies.post_tag%5D%5B0%5D=Drag%20Queens&amp;page=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">drag show</a> on campus Tuesday, and gave a fierce rebuke of drag.
Walter Wendler, the president of West Texas A&amp;M <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/search/news?refinementList%5Btaxonomies.post_tag%5D%5B0%5D=Universities&amp;page=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">University</a>, canceled the drag show on Tuesday. He also sent an email to students explaining the reasoning behind his decision, which he also shared as a post on his blog. In the message, Wendler blasted drag shows, saying that they are degrading and misogynistic by their very nature.
<div class="entry-content">
<div class="entry-content">
&#8220;West Texas A&amp;M University will not host a drag show on campus,&#8221; Wendler stated in the post, entitled, &#8220;<a href="https://walterwendler.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A Harmless Drag Show? No Such Thing</a>.&#8221; The event was scheduled for March 31 and intended to raise money for The Trevor Project, and LGBTQ advocacy group which claims to work to prevent suicide among LGBTQ youth. Wendler said the cause was noble, and that it is a tragedy for any person to consider self-harm.
Wendler went on, saying that each and every person has human dignity, and that idea is foundational to American Life; and that drag shows violate that dignity. &#8220;Does a drag show preserve a single thread of human dignity? I think not,&#8221; he wrote. &#8220;As a performance exaggerating aspects of womanhood (sexuality, femininity, gender), drag shows stereotype women in cartoon-like extremes for the amusement of others and discriminate against womanhood. Any event which diminishes an individual or group through such representation is wrong.&#8221;
&#8220;WT endeavors to treat all people equally,&#8221; the university president continued. &#8220;Drag shows are derisive, divisive and demoralizing misogyny, no matter the stated intent. Such conduct runs counter to the purpose of WT. A person or group should not attempt to elevate itself or a cause by mocking another person or group. As a university president, I would not support ‘blackface’ performances on our campus, even if told the performance is a form of free speech or intended as humor. It is wrong. I do not support any show, performance or artistic expression which denigrates others—in this case, women—for any reason.&#8221;
Wendler commented that the West Texas A&amp;M community should live by the Golden Rule, which he also called the law of reciprocity; he quoted examples of this rule from the Gospel of Matthew, a Buddhist text, and the Book of Tobit in the Hebrew Bible. He also compared it to Newton&#8217;s Third Law of Motion, &#8220;each action has an equal and opposite reaction.&#8221;
&#8220;Mocking or objectifying in any way members of any group based on appearance, bias or predisposition is unacceptable,&#8221; Wendler continued, noting that equality between the sexes took centuries of work. He also pointed out that the stated purpose of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and common sense reject acts of prejudice. &#8220;No amount of fancy rhetorical footwork or legal wordsmithing eludes the fact that drag shows denigrate and demean women—noble goals notwithstanding.&#8221;
&#8220;A harmless drag show? Not possible,&#8221; he concluded. &#8220;I will not appear to condone the diminishment of any group at the expense of impertinent gestures toward another group for any reason, even when the law of the land appears to require it.&#8221; Wendler again said that supporting The Trevor Project was a good idea; instead of attending the drag show, Wendler suggested that students donate to the organization instead.
</div>
</div>

Drag queen with hand on hip, close-up

‘Derisive, Divisive And Demoralizing Misogyny’: Public University President Cancels Student Drag Show, Issues Fiery Rebuke Of Drag

'Derisive, Divisive And Demoralizing Misogyny': Public University President Cancels Student Drag Show, Issues Fiery Rebuke Of Drag

Drag Queens

LGBTQ

Texas

Read many of America’s greatest writers about race and legal equality, and you’ll find a similar theme: policies that divide Americans by race, or increase their perception of racial differences, spawn tribalism, separation, and hatred.
<a href="https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/1867-frederick-douglass-describes-composite-nation/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Frederick Douglass</a> warned that policies fostering racial identity, rather than shared American values, sow “dangerous seeds of discontent and hatred.” <a href="https://repository.law.umich.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?filename=33&amp;article=1105&amp;context=books&amp;type=additional" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Justice Thomas Cooley</a> wrote that distinctions based on race would “assail the very foundations of [our] government.” <a href="https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/163/537/#tab-opinion-1917400" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Justice John Marshall Harlan</a> said that nothing could “more certainly arouse race hate” and “a feeling of distrust between these races” than segregationist polices. And <a href="https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/488/469/#tab-opinion-1957711" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Justice Antonin Scalia</a>, quoting <a href="https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300021196/the-morality-of-consent/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Professor Alexander Bickel</a>, called racially discriminatory policies “destructive of a democratic society.”
Scores of others, like Thomas Sowell, Justice Clarence Thomas, and Shelby Steele, have said the same.
The University of Michigan did not listen to them, and it is learning its lesson the hard way.
As reported in The Michigan Review, one of the university’s student-run publications, the school launched a major Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) <a href="http://www.michiganreview.com/the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly-of-dei-1-0/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">initiative</a> in 2016 that made racial identity a key focus for <a href="https://diversity.umich.edu/strategic-plan/dei-1-0-unit-strategic-plan-summaries/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">all of the school’s programs</a> and vastly increased the size of its <a href="https://www.heritage.org/education/report/diversity-university-dei-bloat-the-academy" target="_blank" rel="noopener">DEI bureaucracy</a>. At the same time, the school conducted <a href="https://diversity.umich.edu/data-reports/climate-survey/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Campus Climate Surveys</a> of its students. Comparing those surveys to ones conducted in 2021 reveals some of the harmful effects of that initiative.
Students are increasingly self-segregating. Although black and Hispanic enrollment rose slightly, students are increasingly avoiding students of other races, ethnicities, and political views. The Michigan Review reports:
<blockquote>The number of students who interacted with people of different political persuasions decreased by more than 11 percent, of different religious beliefs by over 9 percent, of a different national origin by 5 percent, and of different races by more than 3 percent.</blockquote>
Students are also increasingly unhappy.
<blockquote>By nearly every metric in the survey, students have become less happy since the beginning of DEI 1.0. They are less likely to believe that U-M has an institutional commitment to DEI and less likely to feel valued or that they belong on campus. The number of students who felt that they were treated fairly and equitably at Michigan fell by over 3 percent. Finally, the number of students satisfied with the campus climate overall fell by almost 11 percent.</blockquote>
The only thing that hasn’t changed, likely to the chagrin of the University’s DEI administrators, is students’ feelings about the racial climate on campus.
The school is about to launch a new DEI initiative, and this time it ought to pay some attention to the great minds quoted above.
Frederick Douglass offered advice in a 1867 speech called “<a href="https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/1867-frederick-douglass-describes-composite-nation/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Composite Nation</a>.” Much of his wisdom is directly applicable to modern universities. Let’s hope they take it.
Americans in 1867, Douglass said, “def[ied] all the ethnological and logical classifications. In races we range all the way from black to white, with intermediate shades which, as in the apocalyptic vision, no man can remember.” Then, as now, the country was “of all extremes, ends and opposites.”
What policy, he asked, should the nation adopt towards its many ethnic groups, which were only increasing?
The answer, he said, could not be racial separation: “Those races of men which have maintained the most separate and distinct existence … are a standing confirmation of the folly of isolation.” Besides, America had tried that already. It had previously chosen to be governed “by race pride, rather than by wisdom.” And that policy “filled the country with agitation and ill-feeling and brought the nation to the verge of ruin.”
This was entirely predictable. After all, prejudice “is an ancient feeling among men … peculiar to no particular race or nation.” But that is no reason to accept it, Douglass argued.
Instead, he urged Americans to embrace America’s founding principle, “that is the principle of absolute equality.” That principle transcends base and arbitrary classifications like skin color: “Man is man, the world over,” and we have much more in common than not.
Rather than adopt policies that separate us along racial lines, we ought to receive all others “as friends and give them a reason for loving our country and our institutions.” In fact, Douglass argued that we must adopt such a policy.
A nation like ours, unique in the world for its diversity of color and creed, has only two paths before it. On the one hand, it can tolerate tribalism and, in that case, allow “the very soil of the national mind [to become] barren,” or, on the other, it can set aside tribes and unite a disparate people under a greater principle.
It is worth remembering that these were the words of a former slave who had every reason to be resentful and to think that America’s founding principle was false. But he did not. Instead, he believed that root of the evil he suffered “was never our system or form of Government, or the principles underlying it; but the peculiar composition of our people, the relations existing between them and the compromising spirit which controlled the ruling power of the country.”
The principles were noble, the people were not. But if the people actually lived up to their principles, they could be.
Our nation, he said, “will be great, or it will be small, according to its own essential qualities.” So, we ought to adopt essential qualities greater than our small, divisive tribal loyalties.
The DEI administrators at the University of Michigan have chosen small tribes over greater uniting principles. No wonder its students are unhappy and self-segregating. Nothing at the University of Michigan inspires them to something greater than human nature’s petty tribal instinct.
The solution is not a new DEI plan, or more anti-racism initiatives, or segregated dormitories and graduation ceremonies. The solution is “the principle of absolute equality,” which is the only path away from human nature’s tendency toward petty prejudice.
GianCarlo Canaparo is a Senior Legal Fellow at the Heritage Foundation’s Edwin Meese III Center for Legal and Judicial Studies.
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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Law Quadrangle university of Michigan Ann Arbor Aerial view

The University Of Michigan Is In A DEI Mess. Frederick Douglass Could Help Them Out Of It.

University of Michigan

Woke Culture

Former Congresswoman <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/liz-cheney" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Liz Cheney</a> has landed on her feet with a new job as a professor of politics at the University of Virginia.
The UVA Center for Politics announced the hire Wednesday. Cheney will become a professor of practice at the school and participate in both seminars and research. Cheney was one of the ten Republicans who voted to impeach former President Donald Trump in 2021. She was primaried out of her seat in the 2022 midterms.
“Preserving our constitutional republic is the most important work of our time, and our nation’s young people will play a crucial role in this effort,” Cheney said in the university&#8217;s <a href="https://news.virginia.edu/content/liz-cheney-serve-professor-practice-uva-center-politics" target="_blank" rel="noopener">news release</a>. “I look forward to working with students and colleagues at the center to advance the important work they and others at the University of Virginia are doing to improve the health of democracy here and around the world. I hope my work with the Center for Politics and the broader community at the University of Virginia will contribute to finding lasting solutions that not only preserve, but strengthen our democracy.&#8221;
As a professor, Cheney will give University-wide lectures, and serve as a guest lecturer in seminars with Center for Politics director Larry J. Sabato and other faculty. She will also contribute to the center&#8217;s research, and participate in university and community events. She will retain her position through the end of the fall 2023 semester, with an option to renew.
“With democracy under fire in this country and elsewhere around the world, Liz Cheney serves as a model of political courage and leadership,” Sabato added in the news release. “Liz will send a compelling message to students about integrity. She’s a true profile in courage, and she was willing to pay the price for her principles and democracy itself.”
“Our students will have an incredible opportunity to learn from Liz Cheney, who has fiercely defended democracy as part of a distinguished career,&#8221; University of Virginia President Jim Ryan added. &#8220;I’m delighted that she has chosen the University of Virginia and the Center for Politics as a next step, and I very much look forward to working with her.&#8221;
Cheney was one of the ten Republicans who voted to impeach former President Trump. That vote, along with repeated criticisms of her own party, cost Cheney her position as the House Republican Conference Chair. After that, she was nominated to the January 6th Committee. Cheney lost her seat in the 2022 Republican primary to a Trump-backed challenger, natural resources lawyer <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/breaking-liz-cheney-destroyed-in-wyoming-gop-primary-trump-responds" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Harriet Hageman</a>, in a 66%-29% blowout. Hageman went on to win the general election.
Cheney has already had some experience as a lecturer. In October, she gave a series of lectures at <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWZ8PI7eEYg" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Syracuse University</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-Cs82o9WOk" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Harvard University</a>, and the <a href="https://constudies.nd.edu/events-news/events/2022/10/14/congresswoman-liz-cheney-saving-democracy-by-revering-the-constitution/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">University of Notre Dame</a>.
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Last year, former New York Mayor <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/de-blasios-new-gig-former-nyc-mayor-to-teach-public-health-course-at-harvard-this-fall" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bill de Blasio</a> had a similar stroke of luck after he was term-limited as mayor. The former Big Apple mayor joined the faculty of Harvard in August as a visiting fellow at both the Institute of Politics at the Kennedy School, as well as a Senior Leadership Fellow at the T.H. Chan School of Public Health, teaching courses in public health leadership.

GOP Congressional Candidate Liz Cheney Holds Election Night Event

Liz Cheney Lands On Her Feet With Gig At University Of Virginia

Former Rep. Liz Cheney Lands Gig At University Of Virginia's Center For Politics

Congress

Liz Cheney

Professors

University of Virginia

A university professor is warning his administration, and universities across the country, that <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/artificial-intelligence" target="_blank" rel="noopener">AI chatbots</a> are the future of plagiarism.
In a <a href="https://www.facebook.com/title17/posts/pfbid0DSWaYQVwJxcgSGosS88h7kZn6dA7bmw5ziuRQ5br2JMJcAHCi5Up7EJbJKdgwEZwl" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Facebook post</a> earlier this month, Furman University philosophy professor <a href="https://www.furman.edu/people/darren-hick/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Darren Hick</a> recounted his first experience with a student who attempted to use an artificial intelligence chat software to cheat on an assignment. Hick caught the student because the AI&#8217;s work was shoddy and lacked any substance of the course material. However, he said that would not always be the case, and Hick said that <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/universities" target="_blank" rel="noopener">universities</a> need to develop ways to stop the use of software to complete assignments.
&#8220;Today, I turned in the first plagiarist I’ve caught using A.I. software to write her work, and I thought some people might be curious about the details,&#8221; Hick wrote on Facebook. The student used an AI chat website called ChatGPT, where users generate prompts and scripts and an AI software generates human-like responses. The prompt the student was given, and that she gave to the software, was to write 500 words about the English philosopher David Hume&#8217;s paradox of horror.
&#8220;ChatGPT responds in seconds with a response that looks like it was written by a human—moreover, a human with a good sense of grammar and an understanding of how essays should be structured,&#8221; Hick wrote. &#8220;In my case, the first indicator that I was dealing with A.I. is that, despite the syntactic coherence of the essay, it made no sense. The essay confidently and thoroughly described Hume’s views on the paradox of horror in a way that was thoroughly wrong. It did say some true things about Hume, and it knew what the paradox of horror was, but it was just bulls***ing after that. To someone who didn’t know what Hume would say about the paradox, it was perfectly readable — even compelling. To someone familiar with the material, it raised any number of flags.&#8221;
The professor concluded that such plagiarism would be easy to spot in high-level philosophy courses where the material is obscure. But for lower-level classes or other disciplines like literature or political science, the software is a &#8220;game-changer.&#8221;
Fortunately, Hick knew about software that could detect the chatbot software, and ran a check of the student&#8217;s essay; the software found a near-certainty that the essay was fake. In experimenting with ChatGPT himself, Hick noticed some of the AI&#8217;s tendencies in composition that could help point out future chatbot-produced essays, but he noted that because the software is based on a neural network that is always learning, it will get better and harder to detect.
&#8220;Administrations are going to have to develop standards for dealing with these kinds of cases, and they’re going to have to do it FAST,&#8221; Hick concluded. &#8220;In my case, the student admitted to using ChatGPT, but if she hadn’t, I can’t say whether all of this would have been enough evidence. This is too new. But it’s going to catch on. It would have taken my student about 5 minutes to write this essay using ChatGPT. Expect a flood, people, not a trickle.&#8221;
Hick added that until his university develops a protocol to stop AI plagiarism, he will attempt to counter it in his own way by giving an impromptu oral exam to a student suspected of using similar software.

Artificial intelligence brain network

Artificial Intelligence Is The Future Of Plagiarism, University Professor Warns

University Professor Warns Artificial Intelligence Is The Future Of Plagiarism

Artificial Intelligence

cheating

Technology

When it comes to America’s national security, we think of energy grids, water supply systems, and espionage by foreign governments. Our university system, however, receives very little attention — and it should. The fact is America’s universities are wittingly and unwittingly putting U.S. national security at risk as they have been infiltrated by foreign countries.
China has built the most sophisticated espionage operations in the world and its government, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has identified U.S. universities as fertile ground for extracting valuable research and knowledge. There’s no shortage of examples of <a href="https://www.gao.gov/assets/gao-23-106114.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">technology transfers</a> from our top university campuses to foreign entities.
<a href="https://campusreform.org/article?id=18664" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Dr. Charles Lieber</a>, Chair of the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Harvard University, was convicted on charges of fraud and conspiracy for failing to disclose connections to the Wuhan University of Technology, which paid him $1.5 million to establish a research lab there, as well as a monthly salary of up to $50,000. 
Another concerning case involved <a href="https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndil/pr/chinese-national-convicted-acting-within-united-states-unregistered-agent-people-s" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Ji Chaoqun</a> — an engineering “graduate student” at the Illinois Institute of Technology. He was a member of the U.S. Army Reserves who enrolled as a graduate student and worked on behalf of what the FBI deems a high-level Chinese intelligence officer.
Ji would identify individuals for potential enlistment into China’s espionage operations. The individuals targeted were Chinese nationals working as engineers and scientists, including those that worked for American defense contractors. As someone who has conducted risk and threat assessments, I can say that examples like these reveal how deeply college campuses have been penetrated by foreign intelligence.
The United States leads the world in technological progress and innovation, much of which comes from our world-renowned research universities. It&#8217;s smart for the CCP to target these rich resources, but we need to be smarter, recognize what’s happening, and take action to stop it. Unfortunately, following the money reveals why universities are turning a blind eye: they’re addicted to the cash flow.
The reality is, foreign entities are using college campuses throughout the United States as vehicles to buy influence on and, ultimately, off campuses. According to the <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/top-schools-failed-to-report-billions-in-foreign-funds-u-s-finds-11603391416" target="_blank" rel="noopener">U.S. Department of Education</a>, U.S. universities, including Harvard, failed to disclose at least $6.5 billion in foreign contributions, including from China, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar. Money talks and it nearly always comes with strings attached.
Countries operate on their self-interests, and they do not contribute large sums of money without receiving anything in return. They are well aware that money buys <a href="https://www.cfr.org/event/foreign-money-us-universities-implications-academic-freedom-and-national-security" target="_blank" rel="noopener">silence and influence</a>. Silence where administrators and faculty censor themselves out of fear of losing revenue. These countries also look to propagate their views on college campuses so they can influence U.S. policy among the next generation of decision makers.
Another area of concern lies within our graduate degree programs, particularly the STEM fields as these areas are critical components to a nation&#8217;s growth and development. We are educating our enemies and equipping them with the knowledge and tools to harm us. International students <a href="http://nfap.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/The-Importance-of-International-Students.NFAP-Policy-Brief.October-20171.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">far outnumber</a> their American peers in critical graduate degree programs — electrical and petroleum engineering 81%, computer science 79%, industrial engineering 75%, statistics 69%, and more. 
According to the <a href="https://ncses.nsf.gov/pubs/nsb20221/u-s-and-global-stem-education-and-labor-force" target="_blank" rel="noopener">National Science Foundation</a>, temporary visa holders earned more than half of U.S. doctoral degrees in economics, computer sciences, engineering, mathematics, and statistics — and the numbers continue to grow. At <a href="http://bulletin.engineering.nyu.edu/content.php?catoid=17&amp;navoid=1367" target="_blank" rel="noopener">New York University’s Tandon School of Engineering</a> alone, international students comprise 73% of the total enrollment in the engineering graduate program.
Between foreign contributions and foreign students, colleges generate <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/foreign-students-pay-up-to-three-times-as-much-for-tuition-at-us-public-colleges-2016-9" target="_blank" rel="noopener">billions</a> of dollars in revenue, with total revenues <a href="https://edworkingpapers.com/sites/default/files/Chen_EdExports_EdWorkingPaper%20v3.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">exceeding 30%</a> for some institutions.  
Now is the time to take action on foreign influence in American higher education. The risks are too important to ignore, and as universities grow more reliant on foreign monies, the threat to our national security will become greater.
Our intelligence community needs to do a better job working with universities to educate them about potential threats of foreign influence on campuses and in labs. At the same time, we need to strengthen the student visa vetting process to reduce the foreign intelligence risks. Congress should also play a role and must develop legislation barring foreign contributions from nefarious countries flowing into our university campuses.
Exceptional institutions of higher education are one of our national treasures — we must treat them as that with care and protection. 
Nicholas Giordano is a professor of Political Science at Suffolk Community College in New York and a Campus Reform Higher Education Fellow.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Boston

Follow The Money: Why Foreign Influence On University Campuses Is A Threat To National Security

Communist China

Harvard

A <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/canada" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Canadian</a> university is embarking on a project to fundamentally alter <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/physics" target="_blank" rel="noopener">physics</a> as a science by &#8220;decolonizing light.&#8221;
A group of researchers across disciplines from Concordia University in Montreal, Quebec, is working on the project, which seeks to change the way the science of physics is perceived as an academic discipline, according to a report from <a href="https://www.thecollegefix.com/scholars-work-at-decolonizing-light-to-combat-colonialism-in-contemporary-physics/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The College Fix</a>. The project took aim at light specifically because it is ubiquitous across cultures and used in a number of scientific fields.
&#8220;The Decolonizing Light project explores ways and approaches to decolonize science, such as revitalizing and restoring Indigenous knowledges, and capacity building,&#8221; the <a href="https://decolonizinglight.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">website</a> for the project states. &#8220;The project aims to developing a culture of critical reflection and investigation of the relation of science and colonialism.&#8221;
Established in 2021, the project is led by <a href="https://www.concordia.ca/faculty/tanja-tajmel.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Tanja Tajmel</a>, a special equity, diversity, and inclusion advisor to the dean of Concordia University and an Associate Professor at the university&#8217;s Centre for Engineering in Society. Also leading the project are Associate Professor of &#8220;First Peoples Studies,&#8221; <a href="https://www.concordia.ca/faculty/louellyn-white.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Louellyn White</a>, and Associate Professor of Physics and Chemistry and Biochemistry, <a href="https://www.concordia.ca/artsci/physics/faculty.html?fpid=ingo-salzmann" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Ingo Salzmann</a>.
The project boasts a roster of 15 collaborators, including: Concordia &#8220;Indigenous pedagogy adviser&#8221; <a href="https://explore.concordia.ca/index.php/donna-kaherakwas-goodleaf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Donna Kahérakwas Goodleaf</a>; environmental researcher and chemistry researcher Gregor Kos; three representatives from the Kahnawà:ke Environment Protection Office (KEPO), an indigenous environmental advocacy group; University of Toronto astronomer and indigenous activist Hilding Neilson; and 9 graduate and undergraduate workers. The project also features collaboration from five researchers at major universities around the world.
The project also has the financial backing of the <a href="https://www.sshrc-crsh.gc.ca/funding-financement/nfrf-fnfr/about-au_sujet-eng.aspx" target="_blank" rel="noopener">New Frontiers in Research Fund</a>. The NFRE is a research fund established by the Canadian government in 2018 to support &#8220;interdisciplinary, high-risk/high-reward, transformative research led by Canadian researchers working with Canadian and international partners.&#8221;
&#8220;This fund seeks to inspire innovative research projects that push boundaries into exciting new areas and that have the potential to deliver game-changing impacts,&#8221; the NFRE website states.
In a <a href="https://pic-pac.cap.ca/index.php/Issues/showpdf/article/v77n1.0-a4130.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">2021 paper</a> outlining the project, Salzmann, White, Goodleaf, and Tajmel said that the &#8220;unique scientific authority&#8221; of physics was the reason they targeted it. &#8220;Physics is commonly regarded as the &#8216;most objective&#8217; and the &#8216;hardest’ science, it fundamentally defines scientific key concepts such as energy, matter, force, light, space and time, for all the other sciences,&#8221; the professors wrote. &#8220;For our purpose, it is important to understand physics as a social field rather than as &#8216;pure knowledge&#8217; independent from social values and decisions.&#8221;
The professors chose light specifically &#8220;because light is ubiquitous in every society, language and culture. In everyday life, light is a key element that defines familiar aspects like color and warmth. In physics, light is exploited as the primary carrier of information about nature (e.g., in astronomy), used as the primary probe for the fundamental properties of matter (e.g., in spectroscopy),&#8221; and researched at major facilities like the Canadian Light Source in Saskatchewan, the professors added.
&#8220;The purpose of our project is not to find new or better explanations of light; we are not seeking to improve scientific 
‘truth,’” they continued. &#8220;Rather, our project initiatives are motivated by the marginalization of women, Black people, and Indigenous peoples, particularly in physics. We regard marginalization as a key problem for social equity as well as for scientific quality. Furthermore, we regard scientific knowledge that reproduces bias and colonial power relations as non-acceptable.&#8221;
The project is still active. According to their website, the last event was &#8220;An Evening of Indigenous Star Stories with Cree Astronomer Wilfred Buck,&#8221; on October 26.

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‘Decolonizing Light’: Canadian University Project Aims To Redefine ‘Physics As A Social Field’

'Decolonizing Light': Canadian University Project Aims To Redefine 'Physics As A Social Field'

Canada

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Physics

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World

What does the phrase &#8216;actions speak louder than words&#8217; mean?
For one thing, it means that even the strongest words are meaningless when not backed by action.
Nowhere is that truer than in the American university. As a First Amendment attorney who litigates campus free speech cases across the country, I’ve seen this time and again. Most universities say they support free speech, but very few have the courage to back that up. 
This lack of courage is illustrated by a former client’s recent experiences at two major universities.
During the 2019-2020 school year, Jack Denton, the Student Senate president at Florida State University, was bullied, harassed, and <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/florida-state-case-demonstrates-cowardice-is-the-demise-of-higher-education" target="_blank" rel="noopener">eventually removed from his position</a> for privately sharing his religious beliefs.
If that summary sounds outrageous, the details are even worse.
In a private group chat made up of fellow Catholic students, Jack expressed his beliefs about abortion and human sexuality — beliefs consistent with his Catholic faith. Someone in the group shared screenshots of his messages with members of the Student Senate, and in a matter of days, the senate had scheduled a special public meeting to consider whether to remove Jack as president.
Jack sat in that meeting for five hours while his character was defamed, and he was called all kinds of false, derogatory names by dozens of students, most of whom didn’t even know him. Afterward, the senate voted 38-3 to remove him as president.
The behavior of these students was bad enough, but worse still was the behavior of school administrators. Jack had been ousted from his student government position — a campus job at a public university — for sharing his religious beliefs. Student senators admitted to this. It was a blatant violation of university policy prohibiting religious discrimination, not to mention the First Amendment. Yet administrators did nothing to defend Jack. One university official even sat in during his interrogation, saying nothing while student after student berated Jack for expressing his Catholic beliefs.
Thankfully, Jack’s story didn’t end there. With the help of my team at Alliance Defending Freedom, Jack <a href="https://adflegal.org/article/why-student-was-canceled-catholic-message?utm_source=dailywire&amp;utm_medium=oped">filed suit</a> against the school for violating his rights of free speech and religious freedom. After a federal court ruled that FSU had likely violated his rights, the FSU Student Supreme Court reinstated him as president, and the university agreed to settle the lawsuit.
That closed the book on the legal question for Jack, but a bigger question remained open: How could all this have happened in the first place? How could a public university fail so spectacularly to protect the rights of a student?
The failure wasn’t due to school policy — it was due to school officials.
Which brings me to the University of North Carolina School of Law, where Jack is currently enrolled as a first-year law student. A few weeks ago, the campus chapter of the Federalist Society, of which Jack is a member, invited my ADF colleague <a href="https://adflegal.org/biography/jeffery-j-ventrella?utm_source=dailywire&amp;utm_medium=oped" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Dr. Jeffery Ventrella</a> to give a talk about legal education.
Like clockwork, Dr. Ventrella’s lecture was interrupted by around 30 noisy protesters chanting and holding signs. While Dr. Ventrella was eventually able to complete the lecture, it took far longer than it should have and was substantially disrupted.
The behavior of the protesting students was infantile, but once again, it was the behavior of school administrators that was truly shameful. 
Like at FSU, the school’s written speech policies were commendable. And on the morning of the event, administrators even sent an email to students reiterating those policies.
Students were told that the university “respects the rights of speakers invited to campus to be heard and to complete their presentations, regardless of the content of their speech.” They were assured that “if an attendee behaves disruptively or interferes with an invited speaker’s ability to be heard or be viewed by other members of the audience, the attendee causing the disruption will receive a warning.” And they were told that if an attendee continued to disrupt an event, the heckler could be removed or even arrested depending on the circumstances.
That’s not what happened at the Federalist Society event. Far from enforcing the policy, administrators actively facilitated the disruption and heckling.
One dean who was sitting in the room refused to let in security personnel who were waiting in the hallway — even after Dr. Ventrella had been shouted down multiple times. And when a Federalist Society member walked outside to bring in security herself, the dean prevented them from coming in.
Like the administrator at Florida State who looked on as a student was ridiculed for sharing his Catholic faith, this administrator acted as if she were powerless, as if she hadn’t — just hours before — articulated the policy that she was now unwilling to enforce.
Simply put, neither administrator did their job. Their actions spoke loud and clear.
Nevertheless, free speech on college campuses is winning in the courtroom — Jack’s case is just one of <a href="https://adflegal.org/article/court-rules-professor-cant-be-forced-endorse-ideology-against-his-beliefs?utm_source=dailywire&amp;utm_medium=oped" target="_blank" rel="noopener">many examples</a>. But constitutional free speech policies mean nothing when school officials refuse to abide by them.
It’s good that administrators say they value free speech. Now it’s time for them to show us they actually do.
Their words are empty when they’re not backed by action.
Tyson Langhofer serves as senior counsel and director of the Center for Academic Freedom at <a href="http://www.adflegal.org/?utm_source=dailywire&amp;utm_medium=oped">Alliance Defending Freedom</a> (<a href="https://twitter.com/ADFLegal">@ADFLegal</a>).
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Aerial over North Carolina Central University in the Spring

University Officials Bow To Protesters, Prove Actions Are Louder Than Words

Free Speech

President Johnson’s Executive Order 11246 in 1965 required federal contractors, for the first time, to take affirmative action to ensure equal opportunity based on race, color, religion, and national origin. 
The Supreme Court has since weighed in on several affirmative action cases, with two more at <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/scotus-hinting-it-might-throw-out-affirmative-action-used-in-college-admissions" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Harvard and UNC </a> forthcoming, but thus far, have found that schools may consider race as part of the admissions process. 
Meanwhile, with increasing frequency, our government, private corporations, academic institutions, and other organizations are doling out significant rewards and preferences to individuals and groups of individuals based on color, race, gender, and other select characteristics. 
Consider the following:
<ul>
<li>Recent distribution of the COVID vaccine in many areas was prioritized not for the patients who were most vulnerable and in need of the vaccine, but on the basis of race. Further, pharmaceutical giant Pfizer recently announced a prestigious fellowship that will specifically exclude whites and Asians.</li>
<li>Our president recently announced that he would not consider any candidates for the open job of Supreme Court Justice who were male, white, Asian, or any race other than black. He subsequently announced that billions of dollars of the American Rescue Plan would go specifically to black farmers perceived to have been disadvantaged by racism. And just this weekend he announced a new multimillion-dollar “Climate Gender Equity Fund” to address purported inequalities women face in climate finance.</li>
<li>Our vice president recently <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/elon-musk-slams-kamala-harris-for-racial-remarks-about-distributing-disaster-assistance" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced that neighborhoods of color</a> would receive top priority for federal aid in the wake of Hurricane Ian.</li>
<li>The Minnesota Teachers Union recently finalized a contract that requires the school district to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/teachers-union-requires-white-teachers-be-fired-before-educators-of-color-to-remedy-past-discrimination" target="_blank" rel="noopener">fire non-minority teachers first</a> if layoffs become necessary, regardless of their seniority in teaching or in the district. </li>
<li>Similarly, Twilio announced it will follow its “anti-racist” credo as it cuts its workforce by 11%.</li>
</ul>
Many of our universities now openly give heavy preference to some races for admission and other areas. A comparison of equivalent MCAT and GPA scores among races of medical school applicants shows that Hispanics/Latinos and Blacks for example now have a dramatically higher chance of being accepted to medical school than Caucasians, and an even greater advantage over Asians. 
Further, many of our universities now arrange for segregated dormitory occupancy, commencement ceremonies, and other campus events. An increasing amount of state funding for public universities is determined by their performance in “first generation” enrollment. Accordingly, increasing amounts of scholarship money are available to these students. 
This is but a sampling of the rapidly expanding benefits being awarded.
<h3>Who Is &#8216;Blue&#8217;?</h3>
A sort of short-hand may prove efficient for further discussion here, giving the generic term of &#8216;Blue&#8217; to any of the variety of attributes that produce the types of special consideration and rewards referenced above. 
A &#8216;Blue&#8217; person is a preferred candidate, depending on the given rubric — possibly female, transgender, Hispanic/Latino, Black, Native American, or any race other than Caucasian or Asian, or one with the requisite attributes of the constructed category. 
As both the  number of these decisions and their consequences have grown, so has the debate regarding the legality, fairness, and usefulness involved. But an equally pressing, perhaps more seminal question pertains to the simple definition of the categories involved. 
Put bluntly, “Who is &#8216;Blue&#8217;?” — not conceptually, but in actual practice. 
One might assume that the answer to this question would be straight forward, that the favored attributes of &#8216;Blue&#8217; are discreet, justly and easily assessed, uniformly applied across all organizations, and well understood by both applicants and the public. That is far from true.
Many people are surprised to learn that currently, determination of both gender and specific race for students and employees is legally the individual himself. It is determined by whatever boxes are checked by the applicant on the official application — for admission, employment, or a loan for example. 
A person who might appear to be Asian to many observers might in fact contend (check the box) that he is Native American or black, or any other race with which he self-identifies. Any employer, committee member, or interviewer who would counter the applicant’s declaration would be doing so illegally.
Determining who is &#8216;Blue&#8217; raises all sorts of uncomfortable and ugly questions — harkening back to the controversial One-Drop-Rule of the slavery era.
Nevertheless, avoiding the questions doesn’t mean they won’t get answered. In fact, they are being answered now – albeit often behind closed doors. If we intend to continue expanding &#8216;Blue&#8217; as a license to rewards and opportunity, here are some of the types of questions that are pressing:
<ul>
<li>Am I &#8216;Blue&#8217; if, as with the U.S. Census Bureau, I simply identify as such – regardless of my appearance, genetics, or ethnicity? If the answer to this remains “yes,” are we prepared for what will undoubtedly be a massive increase in &#8216;Blue&#8217; candidates – perhaps more &#8216;Blue&#8217; than Non-Blue?</li>
<li>Is there a minimum percentage of a given race that I must genetically possess to be considered &#8216;Blue&#8217;? Is that percentage the same for all races?</li>
<li>What role does “color” or skin pigmentation play in the decision? Am I &#8216;Blue&#8217; if I am genetically Asian but with darker skin pigmentation than many black  Americans? Or 100% Hispanic or Latino genetically, but my skin pigmentation is lighter than many if not most Caucasians?</li>
<li>What role do environmental factors play in determining who is &#8216;Blue&#8217;? What if I am genetically Caucasian but adopted and raised by Black parents, or the reverse?</li>
<li>Are there gradations of &#8216;Blue&#8217; – combinations or degrees of attributes that make someone a deeper &#8216;Blue&#8217; than others; and accordingly, more deserving of preference/benefit? If so, who is more &#8216;Blue&#8217; – a person who is 80% Mexican genetically, born in Mexico and lived there for 10 years, is bilingual, and immigrates to the U.S., or a Mexican-American who is born and raised in New York, is 100% Mexican/Latino genetically, raised by Caucasian parents, and speaks English only – perhaps with a Brooklyn accent?</li>
<li>Am I &#8216;Blue&#8217; if one of my parents attended college, but not the other? Or neither of my parents attended, but all of my siblings did? Or if all of my family attended, but none graduated?</li>
<li>Are &#8216;Blue&#8217; policies exempted from Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act?</li>
</ul>
An almost infinite number of additional questions of this type can be constructed with variations of race, ethnicity, skin tone, gender, percentages, and scenarios.
Who is &#8216;Blue&#8217;? And then, there is an equally difficult second question: Who gets to answer the first question? Will these be decisions for the courts, or the candidates, or will they be left up to the individual institutions offering the given benefits?
With the tangible stakes alone determined by the answers to these questions now climbing into the hundreds of billions — likely trillions of dollars — it would seem urgent that they be addressed.
Dr. Greg Salsbury was president of Western Colorado University from 2014 to 2020. He is the author of the 2006 award winning book But What If I Live? the follow up book Retirementology – Rethinking the American Dream in a New Economy, which topped Amazon’s “personal finance” category. He earned his doctorate from the University of Southern California and received Master’s degrees from both the University of Illinois and USC’s Annenberg School for Communications.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Affirmative action in college admissions Supreme Court

As Supreme Court Mulls Affirmative Action On Campus, The Left Pushes For More Privileges Based On Race And Gender

Affirmative Action

Anti-Racism

Gender

The Supreme Court is in the midst of hearing two cases which could enable them to roll back affirmative action colleges and universities use for admissions.
Students for Fair Admissions Inc. v. President &amp; Fellows of Harvard College and Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. University of North Carolina both ask the Supreme Court to overrule Grutter v. Bollinger, in which a divided Supreme Court ruled that the University of Michigan Law School could consider race in its admissions process.
But at the time of the Grutter decision in 2003, Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, who held with the majority opinion, stated, “We expect that 25 years from now, the use of racial preferences will no longer be necessary.”
Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA) argues that Harvard has violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act by discriminating based on race while still obtaining federal funding. SFFA challenges the University of North Carolina by accusing it of violating the 14th Amendment’s equal protection clause by using race in its admissions policy when the university already has a diverse student body.
Patrick Strawbridge, representing SSFA, cited Brown v. Board of Education, which struck down racial segregation in public schools in 1954, contending “racial classifications are wrong.” He asked the Court to not only overrule Grutter, but also Regents of the University of California v. Bakke, which upheld using race as a yardstick in 1978.
The conservative justices on the Court made some pointed remarks this week hinting they might lean toward ending affirmative action policies used in college admissions.
Justice Samuel Alito asked bluntly when a court was supposed to determine the benefits of diversity have been achieved; Justice Amy Coney Barrett echoed, “When does it end? When is your sunset? When will you know?”
Barrett also pointed out that decades have passed since Bakke, continuing of reaching diversity “What if it continues to be difficult in another 25 years?”
Even Chief Justice John Roberts, who often votes with the Court’s leftist justices, reacted when U.S. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar argued that “there is an endpoint in sight,” telling her that her contention “was very different from what Justice O’Connor said” in Grutter, adding, “She said race-conscious admissions programs must be limited in time. That was a requirement,” as Amy Howe of <a href="https://www.scotusblog.com/2022/10/affirmative-action-appears-in-jeopardy-after-marathon-arguments/">ScotusBlog</a> noted.
Justice Brett Kavanaugh chimed in by noting that since Grutter, nine states have barred public universities from using race in the admissions process.  “Those examples now show with greater confidence that universities can use race-neutral programs that “produce significant numbers of minority students on campus,” he declared.

Collage Maker-02-Nov-2022-12.28-PM

SCOTUS Hinting It Might Throw Out Affirmative Action Used In College Admissions

Courts

Supreme Court

Historically low ACT scores are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to bad news in American education. Dig deeper and the picture is even more distressing and urgent — here’s why.
I really like it when my predictions are right on target — especially when they are expressed to a national audience with strong opinions of their own. But in this instance, and on this particular topic, I really (really, really) hope I am dead wrong. But here it is: the 30-year low in ACT scores revealed last week is just the tip of the iceberg of bad education news. Expect much more of it in the coming months and years.
I am not being a cynical Nostradamus or a pessimistic soothsayer. Look below the headlines about historically low scores, disaggregate the data, and the bad news is more than troubling, it’s terrifying. Brace yourselves: <a href="https://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/act-test-scores-in-us-fall-to-lowest-in-30-years/6788531.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a walloping 42% of class of 2022 graduates</a> who took the ACT didn’t satisfy a single benchmark in the subject areas of English, reading, science, and math. In other words, almost half of all test-takers went zero for four. And if that weren’t bad enough, consider that the types of students generally taking the ACT are students who are heading in the direction of college, who we can assume are at least marginally motivated.
How bad would it be if all American high school graduates had taken the test?
But don’t start blaming COVID lockdowns and a year of distance learning. Yes, COVID made matters worse, but the decline has been in the works for some time. In 2009, the nation-wide average score <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=897" target="_blank" rel="noopener">was 21.1</a>. This year it dipped below 20 for the first time in three decades, averaging 19.8.
Here is why we can expect more bad news. 
Ask young Americans how they spend their time — both in and out of classroom — and they will reveal a modern lifestyle that is not synonymous with the cultivation of habits, capacities, or values leading to educational excellence. Activities that imbue gale-force cerebral benefits such as recreational reading, casual conversation, quality sleep, and healthy diets are sorely absent. Processed foods, sugary treats, and energy drinks figure prominently in the dietary landscape. Phone screens have displaced everything — other faces, other screens like movie screens, other forms of entertainment, and other relationships.
The gender divide on this score is large and getting larger. This gap is revealing and goes a long way in explaining why male students are increasingly falling behind their female counterparts at school. What do boys spend more time doing? <a href="https://www.mekkographics.com/how-do-teenagers-spend-their-time/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Screens, leisure, and sleep</a>. What do the girls spend more time doing? Volunteering, housework, socializing, and yes you guessed it, homework. The Brookings Institute recently revealed that girls outperform boys by more than 40% of a grade level <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/blog/up-front/2022/10/12/boys-left-behind-education-gender-gaps-across-the-us/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">in every state</a>. Read that statistic a few times and let it sink in.
Here is another reason why there is certain to be more damning education news on the horizon. Because, as Johann Hari has explained, “Your attention didn’t collapse. It was stolen.” Learning requires sustained focus, and yet a small study of college students discovered that their ability to focus on one task <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2022/jan/02/attention-span-focus-screens-apps-smartphones-social-media" target="_blank" rel="noopener">lasted a mere sixty-five seconds</a>. Other studies have shown office workers can only sustain mental focus for about three minutes. 
Tech titans famously shield their own offspring from the attention-destroying devices hatched from the workshops of Silicon Valley tech wunderkinds. Tim Cook didn’t let his nephew join social networks and Bill and Melinda Gates banned cell phones for their children until they were older. 
As Chris Anderson, ex-editor of Wired <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/26/style/phones-children-silicon-valley.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">fully admitted</a>, “We thought we could control it. And this is beyond our power to control. This is going straight to the pleasure centers of the developing brain. This is beyond our capacity as regular parents to understand.”
And yet, the American classroom is endlessly accessorized with gizmos galore, providing an educational experience about as satisfying and substantive as a post-marathon soufflé. The arguments against excessive reliance on Chrome books and i-pads in the classroom come from a variety of different and insightful directions—some argue that technology <a href="https://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2022/09/84803/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">cannot teach moral virtue</a>, others fret about the correlation between <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2211335518301827" target="_blank" rel="noopener">device time and poor mental health</a>. 
My primary worry is that it is simply lazy teaching, asking little of our students. Too often students know the routine: come into class, grab a computer, log on, and get to work. The vanishing sheen of human contact or the lost vitality of eye contact is a real problem for the emotional and intellectual development of our children, and yet we have convinced ourselves classroom technology is an unalloyed good.
I’m not so sure.      
In the meantime, students are simply vanishing from American classrooms. In a headline that is part sensationalism, part unsettling and spooky, the gold standard of California journalism, Cal Matters, featured a headline last spring which read, <a href="https://calmatters.org/newsletters/whatmatters/2022/04/california-kids-school-enrollment/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">“The Curious Case of California’s Missing Kids,”</a> which begins with a quote for the ages: “We just aren’t sure where they’ve gone.” But the problem <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/thousands-students-reported-missing-school-systems-nationwide-amid/story?id=76063922" target="_blank" rel="noopener">isn’t just a California problem</a>, it is occurring nationwide. And even when students are enrolled, absenteeism, sometimes called “<a href="https://www2.ed.gov/datastory/chronicabsenteeism.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a hidden educational crisis</a>,” is a constant juggernaut that schools were encountering before COVID normalized absenteeism.
Lost attention spans, titanic device addiction, copious absenteeism, an over-reliance on technology — sadly, the list could go on and on. Don’t expect a lot of positive education news in the coming years. The ship of education has a small rudder with a lot of baggage and it will take a while to turn this ship around.
Jeremy S. Adams is the author of Hollowed Out: A Warning About America&#8217;s Next Generation, recently released in paperback. He has taught American civics for 24 years in Bakersfield, California and was the 2014 California Teacher of the Year (DAR). You can follow him on Twitter @JeremyAdams6.
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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