Free Republic

The University of Akron has put its foot down against a professor who planned to raise the grades of female students so they would stay in his field of information sciences. After The College Fix quoted an email to students from Liping Liu, an administrator told The Fix that the business and management professor’s gender-based approach was “unacceptable” and that no grades have been artificially raised.

Identity politics has engulfed the humanities and social sciences on American campuses; now it is taking over the hard sciences. The STEM fields—science, technology, engineering, and math—are under attack for being insufficiently “diverse.” The pressure to increase the representation of females, blacks, and Hispanics comes from the federal government, university administrators, and scientific societies themselves. That pressure is changing how science is taught and how scientific qualifications are evaluated. The results will be disastrous for scientific innovation and for American competitiveness. A scientist at UCLA reports: “All across the country the big question now in STEM is: how can we...

LEXINGTON — Wesley O’Dell interrupted class discussion at Washington and Lee University to share breaking news. “Mr. President, if I may, all major news networks have interrupted their regular daytime programming …” Annie Lentz interrupted him, “Fox and Friends as well?” “Fox and Friends as well, Mr. President.” Lentz, a sophomore, portrays President Donald Trump in O’Dell’s “International Crises and National Security” class, where students simulate international dilemmas and act as real members of the president’s National Security Council. The class is the first of its kind at Washington and Lee University — students are expected to not only portray...

This video will teach you why it's important to go to college and what to expect when you get there...

Students at Reed College in Portland, Oregon, are demanding the removal of white and European authors from a mandatory humanities course at the college. Reed College caved to student protesters in April after they demanded that white authors be removed from the college’s Humanities 110 course. Now, the course will focus primarily on ancient Mediterranean authors. Reed College professors have responded with confusion at the allegation that the Humanities 110 course is “too white.” “The idea that Hum 110 is a ‘white’ course is very strange to me,” Jay Dickson, a professor of English, recently said in a comment to...

A group of 19 students wants to establish the first archaeology fraternity in the nation. After registering as a student organization in November, Delta Iota Gamma recruited 12 members to its inaugural pledge class earlier this semester. The group plans to become a nationally recognized fraternity by the fall because members want to help students studying archaeology or classics build professional networks – a resource they said is needed on campus. Members said this semester they’ve worked to trademark the group’s letters and write governing documents. As they continue to gain recognition, they are also planning to host social events,...

Northeastern Illinois University philosophy professor Tyler Zimmer claims that “wealth redistribution” could boost “sexual fulfillment” in the U.S. In an op-ed published by Slate last week, Zimmer argues that “a few conservative commentators” are starting to “warm up” to the idea of making a “full-throated case for [wealth] redistribution,” claiming they are motivated by “the rise of the violent ‘incel.’”

Oxford University has launched a crackdown on alcohol-fuelled parties at a number of its colleges amid complaints about debauched behaviour. Students at Wadham College will be forced to drink watered-down cocktails while Lady Margaret Hall (LMH) has suspended its 'bops' until the end of term. Students' hi-jinks have caused controversy over the years, with university officials trying to step in to put an end to the fun.

The supposedly academic discipline of Women’s Studies is “an arm of the women’s movement,” according to philosopher Christina Hoff Sommers. And that movement is political; political activism is at least as fundamental to women’s studies as its academic components. As it says in the National Women’s Studies Association’s Constitution, the underlying goal of women’s studies departments is that of “transform[ing] the world” to one “free of oppression.” One can argue whether that goal is overly ambitious; it is hard, however, to argue that it is not political. One area where this politicized agenda reveals itself in full is the euphemistically...

Students at Cambridge University are being given guinea pigs to help ease their stress levels. Bosses at the famous university's Lucy Cavendish College say the furry pets will improve mental wellbeing. Three of the pets have been named after feminist icons. One's moniker is inspired by suffragette leader Emmeline Pankhurst and is called Emmeline Squeakhurst.

Worried that “non-Mexican individuals” might partake of Cinco de Mayo festivities, Gonzaga University is telling students, “Don’t you dare put on that ‘sombrero.’” In an email to the student body Wednesday, VP of Student Development Judi Biggs Garbuio notes that Cinco de Mayo is “a relatively minor holiday” in Mexico, but “has evolved into a commemoration of Mexican culture and heritage” in the United States.

A University of California, Berkeley Student Senator proposed that all student government funding for the Berkeley College Republicans be reallocated to the Black Student Union. According to The Daily Californian, Senator Rizza Estacio made an amendment to the proposed budget allocations to student organizations and university groups which would eliminate the $1,000 funding for the BCR and add it to the budget for the BSU. Estacio said that her reasoning for the reallocation is because the BCRs “have violated a lot of, like, lead center rules during like free speech week,” adding that because of this, the organization does not...

At the University of Southern California, a somewhat teepee-like structure that was not actually a teepee was recently declared “culturally insensitive” due to the fact that it looked like a teepee. The tent-like creation, which vaguely resembled a Native American-style dwelling unit but was not actually a Native American-style dwelling unit, drew condemnations from the Undergraduate Student Government, which called it a “culturally inappropriate symbol,” the student newspaper The Daily Trojan reported.

An art student at the University of Utah has built a “Cry Closet” designed to allow the campus community a private and safe space to blow off some steam during finals. The tall wooden box, complete with stuffed animals inside, is officially titled “Safe Place for Stressed Out Students Otherwise Known as The Cry Closet,” and it went viral on Twitter after a student there tweeted images of it out and said: “so my school installed a cry closet in the library LMFAOOOOOOOOO what is higher education.”

WASHINGTON—Some U.S. colleges and universities are inappropriately urging alumni to postpone payments on their student loans, causing their balances to rise while allowing the schools to skirt regulatory oversight, a government watchdog reported Thursday. The practice is one reason why some borrowers’ balances are rising and so few schools are sanctioned for leaving students in excessive debt, according to the Government Accountability Office report, released by Democrats on the House education committee. The report examines a decades-old law that assigns each college a “cohort default rate.” The law is designed to punish a college if a large share of its...

Embattled Fresno State Professor Randa Jarrar has a history of unusual remarks predating her recent outburst following the death of Barbara Bush. Fresno State Professor Randa Jarrar came under fire this week after she celebrated the death of former First Lady Barbara Bush on Twitter. “Barbara Bush was a generous and smart and amazing racist who, along with her husband, raised a war criminal. F**k outta here with your nice words,” Jarrar tweeted earlier this week. In a separate tweet, Jarrar said that the news made her “happy” because Barbara Bush’s death likely made George W. Bush upset. Additionally, Jarrar...

According to a video from 2016, embattled Fresno State Professor Randa Jarrar laments the fact that progressives no longer utilize terrorist acts like hijacking planes. “Barbara Bush was a generous and smart and amazing racist who, along with her husband, raised a war criminal. F**k outta here with your nice words,” Jarrar tweeted earlier this week. In a separate tweet, Jarrar said that the news made her “happy” because Barbara Bush’s death likely made George W. Bush upset. Additionally, Jarrar clogged a mental health crisis hotline when she jokingly tweeted the hotline’s number out to her critics, pretending that it...

Former Ohio State football coach Earle Bruce has died at his home in central Ohio. The College Football Hall of Fame member was 87. His four daughters released a statement Friday on the loss of ''a wonderful husband, father, grandfather and a respected coach to many.'' Bruce followed Woody Hayes as coach and compiled an 81-26-1 record. His teams won or shared in four Big Ten titles in between 1979 and 1987. He also coached at Tampa, Colorado State, Iowa State and of Northern Iowa. His career record was 154-90-2. He earlier coached high school football in Ohio.

Here we go again. Another day, another ridiculous free-speech controversy. This time it involves a far-left professor at Fresno State University, Randa Jarrar. In the hours after Barbara Bush’s death, Jarrar tweeted that Bush was a “generous and smart and amazing racist who, along with her husband, raised a war criminal,” adding “F*** outta here with your nice words.” Then, when the inevitable backlash built, she doubled down, taunting her critics with her tenured status, calling Bush a “witch,” and pranking readers by sharing Arizona State University’s crisis hotline. All-in-all, it was a reprehensible display, a grotesque example of the...

A professor of education at Stanford University argues in a recent academic journal article that the tabletop game Dungeons & Dragons perpetuates white privilege. Standford University Professor Antero Garcia argues in an academic journal article that the popular game Dungeons and Dragons perpetuates systems of privilege.