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Washington Post media blogger Erik Wemple reports that The New York Times is getting very serious about diversity goals in recruiting, hiring, and promoting. Chief Executive Mark Thompson raised eyebrows at a gathering of managers on the business and news sides of the newspaper. According to three Wemple sources, “Supervisors who fail to meet upper management’s requirements in recruiting and hiring minority candidates or who fail to seek out minority candidates for promotions face some stern consequences: They’ll be either encouraged to leave or be fired.” …

The National Diversity Coalition for Trump is not very large, but it is indeed diverse. The group’s Web page features a technicolor photo gallery of men and women from many backgrounds: Vietnamese, Arab, Muslim, Indian, Turkish Cuban and Mexican American — even a Sikh man wearing a turban printed with Donald Trump’s signature slogan, “Make America Great Again.” If such a group’s existence seems improbable given the ­Republican presidential front-runner’s attacks on undocumented immigrants and Muslims — and his deep unpopularity among women and minorities — Georgia businessman Bruce LeVell believes that is because people don’t really know the man....

Linky only.

The totalitarian attitude on campus hit me in a very personal way on March 30 as I was sitting on an airplane at Reagan National Airport on my way to Albany, New York. I was informed that a campus debate I was scheduled to participate in later that day had been cancelled. I was told to get off the plane and go home. I believe this is the first time on a college or university campus that a left-right debate has been cancelled because of objections to one side of the debate. It appears the totalitarian left is so determined...

You cannot walk through a tour of most colleges without getting lectured about the need for "diversity" and the prevalence of women's and even queer studies. My youngest son and I took a tour of Columbia University in New York City recently and were told that the contributions of the great Western thinkers to our civilization would be "updated" in various classes with reference to the involvement of feminists and homosexuals. There is even a "Queer House" or "Q House" on campus. A 28-page guide is available on "Resources and Programs at Columbia University related to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender,...

In the latest issue of The Chronicle Review, UCLA historian Russell Jacoby offers some insights into the campus diversity craze that are actually refreshing. Jacoby asks, "Should all quarters of society demographically reflect all other quarters?" "Why? Should there be more pacifists in the military? Fewer Indian motel owners?" As well, Jacoby notes: "Inasmuch as academic leftists champion diversity, a certain irony must be signaled. For decades they have poured scorn on 'essentialism' and posited that all identity is 'constructed.' After years of postmodern guff, the arguers reverse themselves: You are your group identity, essentialism, pure and simple." Of course,...

The NFL is pursuing plans to introduce virtual reality “diversity training” with its employees and players later this year, during which they will be required to play as a simulated black woman who gets harassed by a white male. The project is being headed by Stanford University’s Virtual Human Interaction Lab, and the NFL is just one of many organisations that the laboratory is hoping to get involved. “Feeling prejudice by walking a mile in someone else’s shoes is what VR was made for,” said lab director Jeremy Bailenson.

Not everyone is a fan of putting Merrick Garland on the Supreme Court and we’re not just talking about Senate Republicans here. Though the complaints are a bit veiled, it sounds as if Supreme Court Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor isn’t exactly leading the Garland cheering section either. In an address she delivered at the Brooklyn School of Law, Sotomayor made an oblique reference to Garland when she bemoaned the lack of “diversity” on the bench and why it would be important to judge prospective nominees, at least in part, on factors other than their judicial bona fides. (Time) U.S....

Gap actually apologized for an ad that people called racist because it features a white model leaning on a black model — and, apparently, that’s saying that all black girls “can do is bear the weight of White [sic] girls.” Here are just a few of the Tweets expressing the outrage over the ad: (Read tweeted comments at link) And here is Gap’s apology: “As a brand with a proud 46 year history of championing diversity and inclusivity, we appreciate the conversation that has taken place and are sorry to anyone we’ve offended,” Gap spokeswoman Debbie Felix said in...

A 25-year-old Louisiana woman made history this week after becoming the first female to enlist in the US Army Infantry School. Tammy Grace Barnett, a former police officer, took the oath of enlistment on Thursday at the Military Entrance Processing Station in Shreveport. Barnett initially planned to join the military police, before deciding she wanted to serve her country on the front lines.

Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor says the nation’s highest court needs more diversity in personal background and professional experience. […] The court’s first Latina justice says she feels there’s “a disadvantage” to having a court made up entirely of Ivy League graduates who are either Catholic or Jewish, several of them from New York. She notes that none specialized in criminal defense outside white-collar settings. …

Speaking at the University of Chicago Law School on Thursday, President Barack Obama was asked by an audience member how his nomination of Judge Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court would bring “diverse characteristics” to that court. In answering, Obama argued: “I have transformed the federal courts from a diversity standpoint with a record that’s been unmatched.” He also said: “But at no point did I say: ‘Oh, you know what, I need a black lesbian from Skokie in that slot. Can you find me one?’” …

(Video) Thursday at the University of Chicago Law School during a town hall meeting, President Barack Obama mocked the criticism that his Supreme Court nominee, Judge Merrick Garland, did not add diversity to the bench. Obama said, “The way I thought about diversity is not to think about any single seat as, oh, I’ve got to fill this slot with this demographic but, rather, if I’ve got a broad set of nominees to make — and this is true across the board — how do I make sure that I’m intentional throughout that process? So that the talent of every

At the school where he used to teach constitutional law, President Obama declared today that "in some ways the judicial process is a casualty of some broader trends in our democracy." Obama's discussion at the University of Chicago was intended to needle a reticent Congress on holding confirmation hearings for his Supreme Court nominee, Chicago native Merrick Garland. He was joined at the event by House Dems representing Illinois and Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.). The president said his decade teaching classes and seminars at the law school was "really fun." "It used to be that people read the Constitution and...

I feel a little guilty for not covering this event live; after all, it is my primary job – reflecting Lady M. It’s just that this is the 8th year in a row we’ve planted our Victory Garden and I think people are sick of it - the garden and the victory. The evolution of gardenwear, 2009 to 2016Lady M’s been squatting and plotting in the White House Garden of Good and Evil since April of 2009.And the planting is never as much fun as the harvest.Butt without the ritual planting you can’t have a fruitful harvest. Everybody knows that.Anyway,...

Pablo Lucio Vasquez, 38, told police he was drunk and high when voices convinced him 18 years ago to kill David Cardenas by beating the seventh-grader with a pipe and then cutting his throat. He also told detectives in a videotaped statement that he lifted the boy's body, allowing the blood to drip on his face, and drank it. Vasquez's lethal injection on Wednesday evening would be the 11th execution this year nationally and the sixth in Texas. Vasquez's lawyer, James Keegan, appealed to the Supreme Court for a reprieve so the justices can review whether several potential jurors improperly...

Hamilton, Lin-Manuel Miranda’s award-winning Broadway musical, has faced criticism for an open casting call seeking only “non-white” actors. The hip-hop musical, which has been praised by Michelle Obama and which won a Grammy, features a diverse cast that reimagines the origin story of founding father Alexander Hamilton. The majority of the cast is multiethnic as well: African Americans play Aaron Burr, George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, while a Chinese American portrays Hamilton’s wife, Eliza. Miranda, the show’s creator, is of Puerto Rican ancestry.

An activist group at Stanford University is demanding that white people — as well as men of any race who are not transgender — be forbidden from being appointed as the school’s next president or provost. “We demand that the next appointment to the position of president and provost of the University break both the legacy of white leadership and cisgender male leadership,” states a document that the group, called the “Who’s Teaching Us Coalition,” released on Tuesday. Note that the students are demanding that “both” of these leadership legacies be dismantled — which means that neither a cis, black...

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The American Council of Trustees and Alumni publishes occasional reports on what college students know. Nearly 10 percent of the college graduates surveyed thought Judith Sheindlin, TV's "Judge Judy," is a member of the U.S. Supreme Court. Less than 20 percent of the college graduates knew the effect of the Emancipation Proclamation. More than a quarter of the college graduates did not know Franklin D. Roosevelt was president during World War II; one-third did not know he was the president who spearheaded the New Deal. But it is little mystery why so many college students are illiterate, innumerate and resistant...