Free Republic

When not amassing tens of thousands of twitter followers with anti-Trump memes that stop short of conspiracies (because he uses the word "may"), Seth Abrahamson teaches at the University of New Hampshire. "Back in the classroom, the three students in Abramson's upper-level course, 'Digital Age Culture & Theory,' stare at the 10-foot-long whiteboard, which the professor has filled end-to-end with a dizzying tide of words and arrows," Steve Kolowich reports in The Chronicle of Higher Education. "Lines bloom out from 'modernism' ('enthusiasm,' 'wealthy white male self-realization,' 'belief in the transformative power of technology') and eventually reconverge on 'postmodernism' ('deconstruction,' 'dialectics,'...

Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, who is an assistant professor in African American studies at Princeton, delivered a roughly 20 minute speech to the graduating class of 300 students at the private liberal arts college on May 20. 'The president of the United States, the most powerful politician in the world, is a racist, sexist megalomaniac,' Taylor said roughly two minutes into her speech. Taylor, who is the author of 'From #BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation', suggested that political activism is the reason why the federal court has struck down Trump's executive orders that restrict immigration from several Muslim-majority countries.

A spirited poem decrying racial injustice and conservative politics read before hundreds at Sonoma State University’s weekend graduation ceremony drew sharp criticism from some parents over its tone and coarse language while prompting an email apology from President Judy Sakaki. Graduating senior Dee Dee Simpson recited her poem from memory Saturday night on stage at Weill Hall in the Green Music Center, where a record-setting 2,651 students received diplomas during the two-day commencement. In the poem, Simpson, who is African-American, railed against police violence that has claimed black lives and made disparaging references to President Donald Trump and Fox News....

Academics are always mystified that the American public perceives reality differently than they do. It never occurs to the former that the latter may be closer to it. The American Council on Education (ACE) polled its members at the ACE annual convention on a quartet of questions. "Not surprisingly, most of those at the meeting who took the poll answered, correctly, that the economic value of college is increasing; that half of borrowers indeed owe less than $13,000; that most institutions do try hard to manage costs and limit tuition increases; and that traditional colleges and universities are nonprofit institutions,"...

Editor's Note: This blog originally appeared at Academe Blog, the blog of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP). A decade or more ago, at a faculty party in New York City, I listened in as a diverse group of faculty spoke casually and disparagingly of "hillbillies," "rednecks" and "white trash." I reminded them that they were speaking of my own people (my ancestry is completely Appalachian), though they shouldn't really be demeaning any group, no matter who might be around. I was met by fish-eyed responses, including the comment, "Well, you left there." My experience is not unusual. Author...

A Duke University theology professor resigned this week following disciplinary action taken against him by the school. This, after the professor had excoriated diversity training sessions suggested by the university as “intellectually flaccid.”

Columbus-based Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center CEO Sheldon Retchin, MD, has resigned, following complaints about his leadership from the faculty. He is also stepping down from his position as executive vice president of health sciences at the medical center. Twenty-five Columbus-based Ohio State University College of Medicine physicians and professors signed a letter of "no confidence" in Dr. Retchin and his executive team at the beginning of May. The letter notes that 100 faculty members from the college of medicine express the same sentiments as the letter; however, not all signed it due to fear of retaliation. Soon after,...

Once again, the left has attempted to show outrage over the rights of the American people being used to have credible debate. Our political class, along with the violent protest groups that they support have attempted to serve notice that those of us who believe in the American way must be silenced, and must be forced to keep our opinions and beliefs to ourselves. Between the progressives/ socialists dinosaurs called the Democrats, the socialists throughout our academia and the media, and the basement dwellers creating chaos in the country, it is going to get worse before it gets better. Berkeley...

Conservatives need to use the political power already in their hands to begin a grassroots transformation of academia. The totalitarian exclusion of Ann Coulter from a state university in California is one reminder of the need for reform. The grotesque of politically correct "science" recently paraded around Earth Day is another. In fact, the Orwellian control of academia by the left virtually guarantees that tens of millions of young Americans will not only lack knowledge – that can be remedied by study and reflection – but have instead noxious stews of pseudo-knowledge percolating out of their ears and guiding (or...

The Left's long march through the academy may be nearing its penultimate battlesite—mathematics. Up until now, it has remained so neutral in the Culture Wars that a smattering of conservatives could even be found teaching it. "On a chilly evening in March, students in Cecilia Arias's mathematics course here at Rutgers University were learning about a concept called fair division," Shannon Najmabadi wrote in an article which appeared in The Chronicle of Higher Education on April 21, 2017. "More specifically, they were considering the case of Jason, Kelly, and Lauren, three business owners who share a location in the mall."...

On the day after Earth Day's "March for Science," it seems appropriate to point to a column by University of Michigan History Professor Juan Cole in The Nation, a far-far-left publication considered a credible and authoritative go-to-source by the liberal intelligentsia. On April 18, Cole, echoing statements made during their final years by Barack Obama and his administration's officials with establishment press acquiescence, nonsensically claimed that Syria's biggest problem during the past decade has been ... carbon dioxide. Hardly. According to Cole, CO2 is "a far more deadly gas" than what was used in "the gas attack in Syria on...

Diablo Valley College * Eric Clanton * Faculty - Philosophy, Pleasant Hill Campus *NOT CURRENTLY TEACHING* [emphasis mine] --[SNIP]-- Last Updated: 4/21/17

Patricia Brennan, a visiting lecturer at Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts, who spent nearly $400,000 of taxpayer dollars studying duck penises has become a spokesperson in opposition to Trump’s proposed cuts to funding studies like hers. One of the research topics likely to be cut off from tax-funding is her current project to study whale penises. She is eager to examine a recently acquired an orca penis. “It’s enormous!” she exclaimed. “It takes up an entire lab sink. The very idea that Congress might not fund a thorough investigation of this extraordinary specimen is criminal. In order for us to...

A Harvard University office devoted to LGBT issues reportedly has issued a flier telling students that gender identity can change as frequently as “day to day.” The flier from the Ivy League schools BGLTQ Student Life office, headlined “Get the facts about gender diversity,” informs readers that “Sex assigned at birth and gender identity are not necessarily the same,” Campus Reform reported Thursday. The flyer adds that “gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, hormonal makeup, physical anatomy, and/or how one is perceived in daily life.” The document also seems to categorize speech that challenges or disagrees with transgenderism as “violence.”...

The office of BGLTQ Student Life at Harvard University has released a new school-sponsored guide telling students to “fight transphobia” and “get the facts about gender diversity.” The guide, which was distributed to students on campus, declares that “there are more than two sexes” and that “gender is fluid and changing,” adding that someone’s gender identity “can be affirmed and/or expressed in many ways,” and can even “change from day to day.”

Fresno State University in California says an American history professor who tweeted that President Donald Trump "must hang" will be on paid leave for the rest of the semester. The university says in a statement Tuesday that professor Lars Maischak has taken a voluntary leave of absence for the remainder of the spring semester. Maischak could not immediately be reached for comment. Last week, Maischak apologized for tweeting: "To save American democracy, Trump must hang. The sooner and the higher, the better." Far-right websites such as Breitbart News highlighted the tweet, sparking angry calls on social media for the professor...

The professor who tweeted “Trump must hang” and that two Republicans should be executed for each immigrant deported is taking a paid leave of absence for the rest of the spring semester. Professor Lars Maischak of California State University, Fresno agreed upon the leave of absence with the university

"Diversity statements" are used by universities in Oregon to weed out conservative and other right-leaning scholars at universities, a new report issued by the Oregon Association of Scholars (OAS) alleges. Per the report, the universities in Oregon (University of Oregon, Oregon State University, Portland State University, and Oregon Health and Science University) use a new kind of litmus test to single out conservative scholars: diversity statements. The report’s executive summary reads, as follows: Oregon colleges and universities have begun to impose requirements for prospective and current faculty to show their commitment to the partisan ideology of "diversity, equity, and inclusion."...

The history professor at California State University, Fresno who appeared to advocate for the death of President Donald Trump on Twitter has apologized profusely and taken a temporary leave of absence in an undisclosed location because he now fears for his personal safety. The professor, Lars Maischak, composed the tweets around the end of February. The tweets called for Trump to “hang” in order to “save American democracy.” “The sooner and the higher, the better.” The only “cure” for racist people is a bullet to their head, the tweets also said. Maischak used hashtags including “#TheResistance” and “#DeathToFascism.” Maischak says...

If Animal House were to be rebooted today, Bluto – who would probably be updated into a differently–abled trans being of heft – might ask, “See if you can guess what am I now?” before expelling a whole mass of pus-like root vegetable on the WASPrivileged villains and announcing, “I’m a university – get it?”At least popping a zit gets rid of the infection and promotes healing. But today, the higher education racket festers on the rear end of our culture, a painful, useless carbuncle of intellectual fraud, moral bankruptcy, and pernicious liberal fascism that impoverishes the young while it...