Free Republic

Although frequently branded as far-Right, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker’s proposals, at least on the education front, are surprisingly middle-of-the-road, or at least are becoming mainstream. At least two of them are gaining acceptance in some surprising environs. The February 27, 2015 issue of the Chronicle of Higher Education carries a headline which reads, “Republican governors seek big cuts at colleges.” Nevertheless, such heretical thoughts have gone well beyond the GOP Establishment. At George Washington University, “University President Steven Knapp sent a memo to GW community members on Monday, explaining that 5 percent budget cuts across campus stem from a decrease...

His poll ratings may be in the basement and his policies might have mostly blown up in his face but there is one place where the president can still boost his self-esteem. This past Monday, Stephen Colbert, the faux television news host for Comedy Central, hosted President Barack Obama on the campus of George Washington University. As their school newsletter, GWToday, noted: “Our students started lining up for the show outside Lisner Auditorium by 9 a.m. George Washington Today was there to capture what was Trending Today – the first in an ongoing video series on current events and issues.”...

The faculty at George Washington University made substantial contributions to President Obama when he was seeking that office. They are about to contribute heavily towards their own medical care now that his Obamacare is the law of the land. gwu bust George Washington University’s student newspaper, The GW Hatchet, reports that the university has “traded in a more expensive employee health care plan to avoid paying nearly $1 million in additional taxes.” The article noted that GWU will offer “a cheaper plan to ease faculty concerns about rising costs.” The new plan offered by the university is a high-deductible plan,...

The federal government is spending $152,000 to study “voice therapy” for transgenders, saying it is incumbent to being “accepted as one's preferred gender.” “This study will illuminate the capabilities of the human larynx and inform the relationship between voice production and perception,” states a National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant, awarded to George Washington University. “The long term goal of this research is to inform and provide new directions for Transgender (TG) voice care, thereby improving the lives of TG people who feel their voice is a great obstacle to living as their preferred gender.” “Incomplete gender presentation can negatively...

In the name of tolerance, of course. At least a dozen students, including seniors Damian Legacy and Blake Bergen, say they have left the Newman Center in the last several years because Father Greg ShafferÂ’s strong anti-gay and anti-abortion views are too polarizing. Shaffer, a Roman Catholic priest, has spent five years preaching to GWU students.The former Newman Center members are creating a video with testimony from 10 other Catholic students, who cite Shaffer as the reason they left the chapel, hoping to inflame a largely liberal campus and force University administrators to act. Legacy and Bergen also plan to...

Catholic students at George Washington University are rallying to the support of their beloved priest after two gay seniors launched a campaign to kick him out of his post at the university’s Newman Center for preaching that homosexuality and abortion are sinful. The GW Hatchet, a campus newspaper, reported this week that seniors Damian Legacy and Blake Bergen are spearheading the campaign. The story has since been picked up by numerous other news outlets. Fr. Greg Shaffer The students say that they will file a formal complaint with the university, release a video featuring ten other students who share their...

Religious liberty groups are mobilizing to defend the chaplain of George Washington University’s Newman Center after gay students launched an effort to have the priest fired because he preaches against homosexuality and abortion. “It’s discrimination against Catholics,” said Patrick Reilly, president of the Cardinal Newman Society. “Secular colleges are fast becoming a very unsafe place for Catholics who hold true to their faith. This is a very, very sad situation.” Damian Legacy and Blake Bergen said they want the university’s Office for Diversity and Inclusion to investigate the priest and they are calling for the student government association to defund...

If students want to pass John Banzhaf’s law class, they’ll have to fight for increased government regulation in the food and beverages industry.Banzhaf, a law professor at George Washington University, will require his students to lobby state and local governments to ban sugary beverages, according to a press release. The release was put out by Banzhaf himself, who summarized the objective as “Undergrads Required to Lobby for Obama Policy.”“Some 200 undergrads will be asked to contact legislators in their home cities, counties, or states asking them to adopt legislation similar to that already adopted in New York City … banning...

If national elections were held exclusively on college campuses, America truly would become a one-party state. “While conservatives have always had to go up against a much smaller number of liberals, it is the influence of the progressives and their strategic location—in such power centers as the media and academia—that gives them the strategic advantage,” Accuracy in Media editor Cliff Kincaid writes. “Now, with their power in the Democratic Party more concentrated than ever, they are relishing a fight they think they can win.” In fact, “A new Young America’s Foundation [YAF] study reveals that the nation’s top ten colleges...

George Washington University is actually bringing a one-time Republican officeholder to its’ Foggy Bottom campus, of course, he is no longer a member of the GOP. “New York City Mayor and well-known philanthropist Michael Bloomberg will serve as the keynote speaker for the University-wide Commencement in May, where he will receive an honorary Doctor of Public Service, University President Steven Knapp announced Friday,” Shaeera Tariq reported in The GW Hatchet. “Knapp made the announcement on Bloomberg’s turf in Manhattan, N.Y., at the second annual GW Global Forum, which brings together global leaders and GW alumni to discuss worldwide economic issues.”...

In his recent foray to George Washington University, the president and his hosts pretty much dropped all pretexts of above-the-fray statesmanship and detached scholarship. “We’ve got a whole lot more work to do,” he told the crowd. “If you can muster and sustain that sort of energy, I’m absolutely confident we will do well, we will win all across the country.” “The 20 GW students and faculty members selected to attend the DNC event were either first-time voters from the GW Guide to Personal Success program, or professors in the political science department,” Madeiline Morgenstern reported in the GW Hatchet....

The danger of exposing academia and government to free enterprise is that the former will corrupt the latter. “Working with Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) in Atlanta, Ford is continuing to develop innovative processes that will enable the company to maintain its commitment to reducing global water usage,” PR Newswire reports. “From 2000 to 2008, Ford reduced its global water use by 56 percent – or 9.5 billion gallons – as part of its goal to minimize the environmental impact of its facilities around the world.” “Economic development experts have stressed that water scarcity is quickly becoming a high-priority...

Apparently, the president is having such a hard time of it politically that he is even losing faith in part of his base—academia. In a recent campus appearance, his handlers evidently felt the need to salt the crowd with a few ringers. The event took place just a few blocks up the street from the White House, in the heart of Obama country. “George Washington University students were dismayed Tuesday that they never got to see the man they helped elect president in 2008,” Ben Giles reported in The Washington Examiner on October 13, 2010. “President Obama, whose election was...

In an otherwise serious poll from Politico and George Washington University, the survey also asks respondents which cable-news network they access most for political news. The results aren’t terribly surprising, as they more or less mirror the ratings, but are still noteworthy for one network’s almost-total marginalization. While Fox News Channel sailed to an impressive 42% and CNN got a substantial if unimpressive 30%, MSNBC got … More people are getting their news about the upcoming election from cable television than any other source, and from Fox News more than any other cable channel, according to a POLITICO/George Washington University...

SNIPPET: "The oldest son of two Russian spies bagged in a summer sweep of undercover moles may have known his folks were working for the other side while they all lived the good life in Cambridge. “I’d say it’s logical to presume, and we suspect that he knew something, yes, toward the end,” FBI Special Agent in Charge Richard DesLauriers said yesterday. The feds believe the Cambridge couple - going by the names Donald Howard Heathfield and Tracey Foley - hid their secret life from their two boys, 16 and 20 years old. The oldest, however, may have caught on...

Ugh. What a depressing woman. Michelle Obama brought down the house literally at George Washington University’s graduation. The First Lady gave one of the most depressing speeches on record. What a downer. Good luck finding a job, kids!(Video at link)

GW Embarrassment Bethany Stotts, May 11, 2010 George Washington University (GW) Hatchet writers are “embarrassed” that their school didn’t make it into the Princeton Review’s Guide to 286 Green Colleges due to a miscommunication. “Over the last two years, the University has increasingly emphasized its desire to be a sustainable college, but because GW failed to fill out a survey provided by the Princeton Review, GW was not recognized on the list of most sustainable colleges,” states the May 10 GW Hatchet staff editorial. “This absence is an embarrassment for GW, and is also an indicator of the need for...

Hot Issue Cool Brains Malcolm A. Kline, April 14, 2010 Apparently university administrators are so busy fighting global warming that they can’t take the time to read the Climategate e-mails that show that the science behind the theory is corrupt. At George Washington University, for example, “The Office of Sustainability and Climate Action Plan implementation teams are on schedule to complete the promised road map to make GW carbon neutral by its deadline of May 15, a University administrator said this week,” Michelle Brown reported in the GW Hatchet online on April 8, 2010. “Sophie Waskow, the stakeholder engagement coordinator...

Revolving Door Support Network Malcolm A. Kline, April 6, 2010 It’s probably a natural for the two institutions in which bias is most marked and documented—the media and academia—to come together in a time of stress, namely, the loss of support engendered by exposure of the above malady. This may happen here in the Foggy Bottom neighborhood in our nation’s capital at George Washington University. “Given the 40 percent drop in prime-time viewers since 2009 for CNN, and the palpable need for programs similar to Crossfire, the School of Media and Public Affairs has an opportunity it cannot ignore,” an...

Meghan Goes to College Malcolm A. Kline, March 30, 2010 We have devoted ample space to the paucity of Republicans welcomed in academia. What is almost as instructive is a look at the representatives of the Grand Old Party who are embraced in academe. Consider Meghan McCain’s recent appearance at George Washington University. “Meghan McCain voiced her support for marriage equality in a speech at the Jack Morton Auditorium Thursday night, calling the gay rights movement ‘this generation’s civil rights movement’ and urging like-minded ‘progressive Republicans’ to start speaking out,” Madeleine Morgenstern reported in the GW Hatchet Online on March...