Free Republic

-snip- I’ve been privately contacted by close, like-minded colleagues warning me that my public feuds with social justice activists on social media could be occupational suicide, and that I should disengage and delete my comments immediately. My experience is anything but unique, and the problem is intensifying. Having successfully cultivated power over administrations and silenced faculty by inflicting reputational terrorism on their critics and weaponizing their own fragility and outrage, one fears whether there was no belief or claim too dubious that administrations wouldn’t cater to. Recently, this fear has been realized as social justice activists attempt to jump the...

Younger Americans are turning on the country and forgetting its ideals, with nearly half believing that it isn’t “great” and many eyeing the U.S. flag as “a sign of intolerance and hatred,” according to a new and disturbing survey. Those who came of age under former President Barack Obama also have a larger-than-life view of the 44th president and feel that he had a “bigger impact” on the United States than the father of the country and leader of the Revolutionary War, former President George Washington. Screen Shot 2018-11-27 at 4.25.17 AM.png (Screenshot/YouGov) The YouGov.com poll was the first “State...

A New Jersey college gave its students the chance to pick which new restaurant they wanted on campus -- so long as it wasn't Chick-fil-A. After students at Rider University voted for the fast casual restaurant as their top choice in the spring, the private college sent another survey this fall and excluded the fast casual restaurant "based on the company's record widely perceived to be in opposition to the LGBTQ+ community," according to the university. "Ultimately, we decided to lean in the direction of creating a welcoming environment where differences can be appreciated and where each individual can expect...

A teacher was caught on camera berating a student for wearing a Make America Great Again hat in class. The teacher lectures the classroom for several minutes. Then at the three minute mark the teacher calls the student an “asshole” for wearing the hat.

The Lord of the Rings series has been branded 'racist' by a science fiction writer who claims orcs are discriminated against and written as inferior. American author Andy Duncan said British author JRR Tolkien depicted evil creatures such as orcs as 'worse than others' and said this had 'dire consequences for society'. The criticism comes despite Tolkien being known as a fierce critic of racism, particularly the Nazi Germany regime in the 1930s and 40s.

It’s only racist when white people promote themselves and not racist when others do because “Those who defend advancing white interests point to people of colour who have organized politically to advance their identity’s interests. When people of colour have propagated their identity interests, it is always done to achieve economic and social liberation on par with white people. When Black people organized Black Lives Matter, whether in Toronto or Baltimore, it was to achieve the same treatment by the police and the state that white people receive. In response, the white identitarians proclaimed “All Lives Matter.” They rejected the...

Much of today’s incivility and contempt for personal liberty has its roots on college campuses, and most of the uncivil and contemptuous are people with college backgrounds. Let’s look at a few highly publicized recent examples of incivility and attacks on free speech. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and his wife, Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, were accosted and harassed by a deranged left-wing mob as they were leaving a dinner at Georgetown University. Sen. McConnell was harassed by protesters at Reagan National Airport, as well as at several venues in Kentucky. Sen. Ted Cruz and his wife were harassed at...

Shortly after moving back onto campus in August, Emily Scheck saw that she had several text messages from her mom. The sophomore, a cross-country runner for Canisius College in Buffalo, New York, looked down in horror. She was getting disavowed by her mother for being a lesbian. Her mother had found photos on social media of Scheck with the woman she is dating and was apoplectic. Scheck had not come out to her parents, as she feared they wouldn't accept her sexual preference, according to the Griffin, the Canisius student newspaper. As first reported by the LGBT sports website Outsports,...

**SNIP** The board voted 12-2 to keep Clinton, with board members Geraldine "Tincy" Miller and Pat Hardy dissenting and one abstention. "I just do not respect the woman," Hardy said. "As far as I'm concerned, she's done a lot of detrimental things to our country." Miller agreed, saying “The Benghazi thing did it for me.” Republican board member Marty Rowley said he disagrees with Clinton's politics but noted she was an important figure. "I have to give credit where credit is due,” he said. “She is a significant political leader."

The article also includes also a list of resources for educators and family members that help them teach Thanksgiving in a “socially responsible” way. One of the resources suggested was “Ten Ways to Make Your Thanksgiving about Social and Environmental Justice,” by Eve Bratman. . . “Many Native Americans do not celebrate the arrival of the Pilgrims and other European settlers,” the group’s website says. “Thanksgiving day is a reminder of the genocide of millions of Native people, the theft of Native lands, and the relentless assault on Native culture.”

A lecturer at the State University of New York at New Paltz was caught on video stealing Republican yard signs in New York. Laura Ebert, who is an economics lecturer, has been charged with misdemeanor larceny for stealing signs endorsing Rep. John Faso (R., N.Y.) for Congress and Marc Molinaro, the GOP gubernatorial candidate in New York. Video shows Ebert pulling up to a woman's front yard, getting out, and putting the political signs in her pickup truck.

A coalition of liberal student organizations has condemned California State-Long Beach President Jane Close Conoley and her administration for allowing an event hosted by the school’s Turning Point USA group. On October 23, TPUSA hosted conservative pundits Charlie Kirk and Candace Owens who were greeted by some 200 demonstrators protesting outside the venue. The activists chanted phrases such as “Go home, fascists” and “Say it loud, say it clear, immigrants are welcome here.”

This story came out earlier this week but it was shocking enough that it bears a look. The transgender activist community was all abuzz on Thursday over a letter that had actually been featured in the New York Times a week earlier. Buzzfeed picked it up and ran with it, adding to the celebratory mood. The document in question was an open letter published by a gaggle of 1,600 scientists who are rejecting the anticipated HHS memo defining sex and gender in traditional, scientifically accepted terms for purposes of Title IX questions. What’s truly amazing is the fact that these...

A University of Manitoba student says hateful messages posted on campus and sent to at least one fax machine add an "element of fear" to being on school grounds. "I think it's sickening," said Charlene Hallett. "But, on the other side too, I want to roll my eyes and say, "You know what? No, you don't get to try to intimidate us this way.'"  Sheets of paper with the phrase "It's okay to be white" were taped to walls around the U of M campus this week. Faxes with the same phrase were sent to offices around the campus, including the women's and gender studies program. Hallett is...

Through more than a half-century, American schools have been blamed for almost every major national problem, from the Russians’ success in beating us into space with Sputnik in 1957 to the nation’s perceived failure to match the apparent economic successes of the Germans and the Japanese in the 1980s.

What is the telos––the purpose, end, or goal––of the university? In a thought-provoking 2016 lecture, the social psychologist Jonathan Haidt argued that the answer ought to be “truth,” but that lately, more of America’s top universities are embracing social justice as a second or alternative telos. While acknowledging that those goals are not always at odds, he argued that “the conflict between truth and social justice is likely to become unmanageable,” and he urged academia to affirm the primacy of truth-seeking. A recent essay in The Chronicle of Higher Education recognizes the same conflict, but implies that it sometimes ought...

A North Carolina State University professor apologized after handing out a paper that suggested students “block Fox News” from family members. “When they’re not looking, set the parental controls on the TVs of your family members to block Fox News,” the handout said. “Fox News spreads bigotry and hatred.” . . Michaela DeSoucey, a Professor at North Carolina State University handed this paper out to her students, telling them to block Fox News and follow liberal commentators to name a few.

NYU student Senator-at-Large Rose Asaf tweeted that student senators would propose a Boycott, Divest, and Sanction resolution (BDS) against the state of Israel at the university senate meeting on Nov. 1. This proposal comes on the heels of a resolution, passed last semester, which urged the university to “review its nondiscrimination policies for Palestinian, Middle Eastern, and other affected students traveling to the State of Israel and attending NYU Tel Aviv,” according to NYU Local. The final vote on the resolution is scheduled for Dec. 6 and votes will be cast anonymously, with only NYU students permitted to attend. During...

"This explains a great deal, for it is not only true that “these gifts and contracts, in some instances, are intended to influence students’ and faculty experts’ views on the kingdom”; it is also true that these gifts and contracts are intended to influence students’ and faculty experts’ views on Islam, jihad and Sharia."

Many U.S. college professors now regularly share their own social and political beliefs in class, and their students feel increasingly afraid to disagree. That’s according to a new national survey of undergraduates due out next week. When students were asked if they’ve had “any professors or course instructors that have used class time to express their own social or political beliefs that are completely unrelated to the subject of the course,” 52% of respondents said that this occurs “often,” while 47% responded, “not often.” A majority—53%—also reported that they often “felt intimidated” in sharing their ideas, opinions or beliefs in...