Free Republic

WASHINGTON — What did the University of Pennsylvania get for the more than $900,000 it has paid Joe Biden?

There are so many ridiculous things being taught in American colleges and universities these days that a professor who defends the Taliban may seem staid and conservative compared to some of his colleagues, but that’s just a sign of how far American academia has fallen. Christopher Cook, a professor in the Department of International Politics at Pennsylvania State University – World Campus, is teaching a class called “Politics of Terrorism,” in which he has given the students an essay assignment: “Explain why the Taliban are not terrorists.” Imagine a professor in 1944 making his students write about how the Nazis...

Remember, under Title IX and Biden rules to stop someone identifying as a woman from participating as a woman is a thought crime. AngelaLMorabito "Sorry you believe women's sports are for women; maybe try being less crazy?" UPenn directed its female swimmers to mental health services when they complained that a transgender athlete is out-competing them. Replying to @AngelaLMorabito so the answer UPenn had was to tell girls to stop crying quote: The university sent a short reply to the parents, telling them that Penn Athletics “is committed to being a welcoming and inclusive environment for all our student-athletes, coaches...

Despite a federal judge declaring President Joe Biden’s vaccine mandate unconstitutional, Penn State University will keep its Jan. 4 deadline requiring employees to get vaccinated, and some employees who choose not to get vaccinated will be given education and counseling.“Many of you know (the mandate) is being challenged in the courts so we don’t know the outcome of that process yet, but we are planning around it prevailing, and so implementing that mandate,” Penn State Provost Nicholas P. Jones said Tuesday in the University Faculty Senate meeting. “We’ve got to prepare because there’s not a lot of runway between now...

A Penn State student and former high school cheerleader fell 11 stories to her death in a trash chute — after allegedly having a bad reaction to a “smoke.” The body of 19-year-old Justine Gross of Summit, NJ, was discovered last week when a trash hauler emptied its load at a Pennsylvania landfill, her mother told NJ.com on Thursday. Francoise Gross said her daughter, a communications sophomore at the school in State College, Pa., ended up plunging from the chute into a dumpster where she lived at the Beaver Terrace Apartments about a block from campus. The shattered mom said...

For most of the past decade, I have been, almost entirely on my own, deeply investigating the entire case, to the point where it is not an exaggeration to say I know more about it than anyone, including Sandusky himself. What I have found has been the most shocking, depressing, and excruciating experience of my already eventful career, because I eventually became, very much against my own self-interest, completely convinced that, believe it or not, the media got this story catastrophically wrong and that those convicted at Penn State, including Sandusky himself, should not have been. This column is not...

Pennsylvania State University is hiring a new assistant professor of architecture but is asking applicants to show their commitment to "anti-racism and anti-oppression." The description for the job states that the position is "focused on architectural materials, construction methods and processes."While the position is for applicants with a background in architecture, the posting states that the "ideal candidate" will work to "establish a culture of anti-racism and anti-oppression.""The College of Arts & Architecture is working to establish a culture of anti-racism and anti-oppression that embraces individual identities, fosters a culture of inclusion and promotes equity through curricula, values, standards, ideals,...

At Penn State University, 117 students have been placed on interim suspension for failure to comply with the university’s weekly COVID-19 testing requirement. Students at University Park who are subject to required weekly COVID-19 testing and who have missed at least three weeks of testing have been notified by Penn State that they are out of compliance with the university’s health and safety policies and have been placed on interim suspension through the Office of Student Conduct, a statement from Penn State said. Students on interim suspension may not participate in classes, in-person or remotely; are not allowed on university...

Penn State head football coach James Franklin and his team continued preparation Wednesday afternoon for their prime time match-up against Auburn Saturday night. The Nittany Lions were forced inside Holuba Hall due to rain in the State College area. PSU is coming off a 44-13 win over Ball State last week at their home opener at Beaver Stadium. The Lions take a 2-0 record into Saturday night’s Whiteout game against the SEC Tigers. Auburn is 2-0 as well after defeating Akron and Alabama State in their opening games. The game will be broadcast nationally on ABC kicking off at 7:30...

STATE COLLEGE — Penn State won’t require fans at Nittany Lions football games this fall to present proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test in order to gain entrance to Beaver Stadium, vice president of intercollegiate athletics Sandy Barbour said Saturday. “The required vaccination is not in our plan at this point,” Barbour said over Zoom. On Friday, Oregon and Oregon State became the first Power Five football programs to announce they will require proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test to attend games at Autzen Stadium and Reser Stadium, respectively, this fall. Earlier this month, Tulane became...

There may be a different regime in Cuba now, but the murderous dictatorship of Fidel Castro is still being felt, while the people there protest for their freedom from Communism. And while it will be taken down, a quote from Castro remains at Penn State. The effort to expose and remove it was thanks to Erik Suarez, a 22-year old student there who escaped Venezuela, as Luca Miraldi with Campus Reform reported. The quote attributed to the dictator appears in the Paul Robeson Cultural Center, which according to the school website describes itself in part as: The Paul Robeson Cultural...

A year after the COVID-19 pandemic derailed plans for State College’s first Pride parade, hundreds of people joined together on Saturday afternoon for a decorated car caravan and a party in Sidney Friedman Park to celebrate the LGBTQA community. Sponsored by the borough and the Centre LGBTQA Support Network, it was the first official public Pride month celebration in State College and one of the first opportunities for the local community to gather in larger numbers since the onset of the pandemic. “We started working on it mid-March, because we had no idea what we would be allowed to do,”...

Our new era just got a little newer.Do you remember the excitement of college? Do you recall the energy of your freshman year? As a sophomore, perhaps, you were hitting your stride. As a senior, per chance, you were large and in charge.Well, that was then and this is now. Perhaps you’re still large and in charge or — like a lot of us — maybe only one of those. Either way, a new generation won’t be stepping on the same ladder rungs your cool Reeboks — or Chuck Taylors or Dr. Martens — once did.At least, that is, in...

Politicians are now afraid of "We The People" and the political elites in their fear are just as drunk and crazy as the few folks who chose mayhem and violence at the US Capitol on Wednesday. I want peace and serenity, sanity and sobriety but the people have been intoxicated with rage. And who did it? A lot did... It looks like the folks on the Left in the Deep State FBI Justice Department the social media magnates are in purge attack mode no holds barred as we enter this Saturday morning... Last week I told you about the phoney...

Wearable sensors are evolving from watches and electrodes to bendable devices that provide far more precise biometric measurements and comfort for users. Now, an international team of researchers has taken the evolution one step further by printing sensors directly on human skin without the use of heat. Led by Huanyu "Larry" Cheng, Dorothy Quiggle Career Development Professor in the Penn State Department of Engineering Science and Mechanics, the team published their results in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces. Cheng and his colleagues previously developed flexible printed circuit boards for use in wearable sensors, but printing directly on skin has been...

State College police have cited 43 people with violating coronavirus safety measures since the borough approved an emergency ordinance last month. The ordinance, which went into effect Aug. 17, limits social gathering sizes and requires face masks in public, among other regulations. In a Thursday news release, State College officials said 43 citations have been issued to people who have broken the rules. Twenty-three violations reported to police between Sept. 7–13 resulted in seven citations, officials said. The consequence of disobeying the safety measures is a $300 fine and court costs. “The hope is to achieve compliance from everyone; however,...

At Penn State University, all voices are equal, but some are more equal than others. That’s the message the school sent to conservative students after it posted—and then deleted—a tweet apparently intended to express support for campus minorities, including those with conservative beliefs. “Dear conservative students: Your viewpoints are important,” the tweet stated along with affirmations for several other campus demographics. The post concluded, “Dear ALL students: We are here to support and learn from one another.”  But it appears many don’t share that sentiment. Social media exploded in anger over the statement, prompting the school to remove the egregious tweet....

Penn State University recently made a surprising statement about intellectual diversity, only to retract it after outrage from left-wing students. “Dear conservative students. Your viewpoints are important,” the announcement read, referencing the isolation and self-censorship many conservative students experience on left-wing campuses. According to the schools Director of Strategic Communications, it was part of a statement aimed at creating a supporting and inclusive environment for students. -snip The message of inclusivity was swiftly met with fire by left-wing students who, according to the school newspaper, “found the Tweet harmful towards students of color and ignorant of the systemic issues that oppress people of color...

Another U.S. professor "with strong ties to China" has been arrested and charged with allegedly lying about his ties to the communist country. Song Guo Zheng, who the Justice Department described as a "rheumatology professor and researcher," allegedly used more than $4.1 million in federal research funding to help advance China's capabilities with regard to rheumatology and immunology. The Justice Department alleges he then failed to disclose to the U.S. government that he held employment in China while conducting U.S. taxpayer-funded research as a researcher at multiple universities in the U.S., including Ohio State University. A Google Scholars profile with...

An entire academic department at Pennsylvania State University is advocating for courses on “structural racism” to be added to the required course load. The Penn State African American Studies Department published an open letter to university President Eric Barron titled, “How We Can Make Black Lives at Penn State Matter.” They alleged that Penn State is an unwelcoming environment for non-white students. . . . Coursework on the subjects of oppression and racism is supposedly necessary in order to “educate our students and community about the history of structural racism, racial violence, and the meaning of transformative justice.” The transformative...