Category: Education (higher ed)
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Virginia Democrats in the House of Representatives Vote Against Their Own Daughters
by James C. Sherlock Every Virginia Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives voted against a bill to amend Title IX to prohibit biological boys and men from competing against biological girls and women in K-12 and college sports. Voting nay: Donald Beyer, Gerald Connolly, Jennifer McClellan, Bobby Scott, Abigail Spanberger and Jennifer Wexton.…
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VMI Disguises DEI Contract
By Jake Spivey In late fall 2021, Virginia Military Institute’s Board of Visitors and its newly installed superintendent were still reeling from the state investigator’s specious report condemning the Institute’s cultural climate. Resolving to quiet a mostly nameless and unidentifiable assortment of individuals criticizing VMI, the Board submitted through the state’s contracting website a request…
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Apologies Run One Way in Woke World
by James A. Bacon The woke witch trials of the 21st century don’t burn their victims at the stake, but they still do immense harm. We previously told the story of how Morgan Bettinger, a 4th-year student who ran afoul of the University of Virginia’s social-justice warriors, was vilified on social media, investigated by university…
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JMU Debate Team Opposes Debate
by Kerry Dougherty It’s been decades since I was in college so help me out here. Wouldn’t you expect a university debate team to support free speech and the airing of diverse ideas? Yep, that’s what I thought too. But you haven’t met the easily triggered members of James Madison University’s debate team. They’re leading…
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Snow Angel Philosophy
by Joe Fitzgerald Snow angels or philosophers? It seemed like an easy choice to me. A James Madison University admissions official read the letters from a male who wrote about how well he understood the great philosophers and a female, from Ohio if memory serves, who wanted to know if she’d be able to make…
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Tuition Showdown May Be Approaching
by Dick Hall-Sizemore Virginia colleges and universities are saying that they will have to raise tuition for the next school year unless the General Assembly gives them more money. This is going to be fascinating to watch. Governor Youngkin has been able to get appointments to the boards of visitors, but not yet enough to…
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Peace, Love and Tolerance at W&M
Although she passionately believed in the right to life when she entered the College of William & Mary, Skyler Culbertson describes herself as “borderline liberal” and politically uninvolved. The past two years, however, have radicalized her. In a Hot Air podcast she says: “I was like, oh my gosh, indoctrination is not just a right-wing talking point —…
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Herbert Marcuse, “Repressive Tolerance,” and the Suppression of Debate
by James C. Sherlock There have been countless articles here on the tyranny of the left on Virginia college campuses. And nationwide. I need not summarize them here. But I think it useful on a weekend to consider the origins of that movement to better understand it. It did not spring up randomly, and it…
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Alternative Energy Picking Up Steam
by Dick Hall-Sizemore No matter how much some on this blog protest, the move to alternative energy sources is picking up momentum across the country. I was in South Carolina last week visiting my brother. Pictured is a large array of solar panels adjacent to a huge Walmart distribution center. An electrical co-op also had…
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How Orwellian Is “Student Conduct Software”?
by James A. Bacon More than 1,300 educational institutions across the country use software developed by Charlottesville-based Maxient, which bills itself as the “industry leader” and “most trusted provider for incident reporting and behavior records management.” Clients include most of Virginia’s public institutions of higher education. The recent revelation in The CollegeFix and Wall Street…
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Free Speech and Open Inquiry Are “Non-Negotiable”
by James A. Bacon Governor Glenn Youngkin made a national name for himself by standing up for parents’ rights in public education. His administration has engaged in bruising battles over transgender policy, critical race theory, and educational standards in K-12 schools. His approach to higher-ed issues has been far less contentious. Other than fighting for…
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Alumni Rising
If you’re heartsick at how your alma mater is turning into an incubator of intolerance and hate, you are not powerless. You can organize and push back just as the alumni of The University of Virginia, Washington & Lee University, the Virginia Military Institute, and James Madison University are doing. This eight-minute video produced…
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New Rule: He (or She) Who Shouts the Loudest and Uses the Most Curse Words Wins
This exchange took place at Virginia Commonwealth University during the Students for Life at VCU event. Everyone in the VCU community should be hanging their head in shame at the how the VCU student conducts herself. VCU alumni, are you going to let this slide? Regardless of where you stand on abortion, is this how…
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Violent Transgender Activists and Antifa Agitators Shut Down Pro-Life Event at VCU
by Michael Ippolito Violent transgender activists and Antifa agitators interrupted the final Students for Life “Lies Pro-Choicers Believe” Tour at Virginia Commonwealth University on Wednesday and shut the event down. Students for Life of America President Kristan Hawkins’ and student ambassador Isabel Brown’s speaking tour concluded at the Richmond public university in violence as police…
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Free Speech Under Assault Across Virginia
Threats to freedom of speech grow by the day in the Old Dominion. Consider the latest news stories: VCU Protesters broke up a speech by pro-life activist Kristan Hawkins with chants and obscenities. Two pro-lifers suffered minor injuries in a fight that broke out. VCU police broke up the fight but canceled the event. More…