Author: James A. Bacon
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Covid vs. Religious Freedom at UVA
by James A. Bacon The University of Virginia has paid more than $1.8 million in legal fees fighting a lawsuit filed by UVA Health employees who were fired, despite religious objections, for refusing to take the Covid vaccine. And that’s just through November. Given the continuing litigation, billing has likely passed the $2 million mark.…
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Morals, Coddling, Mental Illness, and Wokeness
*** sponsored content *** by James A. Bacon Jonathan Haidt is one of the most important public intellectuals in America today. If you’re not familiar with his work, you need to be. You’ll get a chance to hear him when he comes to the University of Virginia February 8 as a guest of The Jefferson…
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Birth Dearth Portends Continued Public School Enrollment Losses
The Demographics Research Group at the University of Virginia Projects significant erosion in public school enrollment in Virginia through 2030 — the effect of a seemingly permanent Covid-prompted loss of some 40,000 students to private schools and home schooling, combined with a shrinking birthrate that was evident before the Covid epidemic. Hamilton Lombard has the…
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The War Over Robert E. Lee Never Ends
by James A. Bacon First they came for the equestrian statues of Robert E. Lee. Then they removed his name from Lee Chapel at Washington & Lee University, where he is buried. Then they came for the memorial to his horse Traveller. Now they want to remove him from Virginia license plates. A bill introduced…
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Congratulations, Virginia, You’re Now a High Tax State.
As the debate plays out over Governor Glenn Youngkin’s tax restructuring plan, which includes $1 billion in tax relief over the next budget biennium, rest assured that the opposition party will attack it as a heartless attack on poor and marginalized Virginians with their illimitable unmet needs. In that context, it is worth remembering Virginia’s…
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Pleasure Activism at JMU’s Queer Teach-In
by Stu Smith On October 4th 2023, Adrienne Maree Brown presented her work on Pleasure Activism at JMU as part of a Queer Teach-in. This Teach-in was hosted by JMU’s Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Department. As you will soon hear from JMU’s Coordinator for Cultural and Affinity Spaces, Kwyn Riley, “This conversation serves as…
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Look What UVA Is Hiding
by James A. Bacon Acting on behalf of The Jefferson Council, Walter Smith has filed a complaint in Henrico County against the University of Virginia, seeking a remedy for its refusal to supply documents under the Freedom of Information Act. Smith serves in a volunteer capacity as chair of the Council’s research committee. The suit…
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What Does UVA Need in a University President?
by James A. Bacon For anyone following governance issues at the University of Virginia, Bill Ackman’s Twitter broadside against Harvard’s now- dethroned president Claudine Gay and its governing board is must reading. Ackman, the hedge-fund manager-turned-activist who spearheaded Gay’s overthrow, identifies serious systemic problems at Harvard, from its ponderous DEI bureaucracy to a tuition policy…
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Nooses, Masks and Double Standards
by James A. Bacon In the fall of 2022 a furtive figure was caught on videotape draping a noose around the Homer statue on the Grounds of the University of Virginia. The university administration immediately declared the act a hate crime. University police launched an investigation, enlisting the FBI to help in the search for…
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A Hostile Environment for Jews
by James A. Bacon Matan Goldstein is a rarity at the University of Virginia — a Jewish student unafraid to openly defend Israel in its war with Hamas and oppose Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), a pro-Palestinian group that praised Hamas’ October 7 terror attacks on Israeli citizens. The Israeli student has appeared on…