Free Republic

A few months ago, I received the following Eblast (provided in italics) from another PAC supporting a different presidential candidate. Some of the information is misleading at best, and false to its core at worse: [snip] The argument that Scott Walker Supports Common Core is false, and in fact demonstrates the measured, reform-minded nature of the governor of Wisconsin, who does not simply take pot-shots at unpopular, liberal ventures, but provides leadership and skill in removing the obstacles to provide something better.

Former Destrehan High School teacher Shelley Dufresne pleaded guilty to obscenity Thursday (April 9), admitting in court that she had sex with a 16-year-old student. The plea lets her and the student avoid a public trial and allows her to avoid a three-year prison sentence. She must spend 90 days at an inpatient mental health facility, serve three years of active probation and pay a $1,000 fine. If she fails to enter the court-approved mental health facility by the end of August, she must report to the St. Charles Parish jail Sept. 1 for a 90-day sentence, Judge Anne Simon...

In its wisdom the University of Michigan decided it should still show a movie so it replaced "American Sniper" with Paddington. Yep, that Paddington. The one about a Bear...who talks...and wears a rubbery maize hat. One of the greatest schools in the world cancelled the showing of a movie that would spark discussion and debate in exchange for a movie about a talking caniform. If you asked someone to define higher ed in America today this was it.

The University of Michigan said late Wednesday that it will show the film "American Sniper" as originally scheduled after a protest by students and staff caused the screening to be scrapped. University Vice President for Student Life E. Royster Harper called the decision to cancel the Friday night showing a "mistake" in a statement. "The initial decision to cancel the movie was not consistent with the high value the University of Michigan places on freedom of expression and our respect for the right of students to make their own choices in such matters," Harper said. "The movie will be shown...

Students at Chapman University have vandalized several busts on campus, including those of Ronald Reagan, Milton Friedman, and Albert Schweitzer. On each, police tape was wrapped around the bust and an extra sheet of paper added each person's "charges." On President Reagan's bust, the paper reads (emphasis theirs), "RONALD REAGAN IS UNDER STUDENT REVIEW DUE TO RACISM, CLASSISM, AND HOMOPHOBIA." Here are pictures of the Reagan vandalism: A bust of Albert Schweitzer was also vandalized:

A top-ranking official at the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights has emerged as a potentially key figure in Rolling Stone’s false article, “A Rape on Campus.” Catherine Lhamon, who heads the Department’s civil rights wing, was identified in a letter sent last month by University of Virginia Dean of Students Allen Groves to Steve Coll and Sheila Coronel, the two Columbia Journalism School deans who conducted a review of the Nov. 19 article, written by disgraced reporter Sabrina Rubin Erdely. Groves’ letter was included as a footnote to the Columbia deans’ report, which was released on Sunday...

"I can’t have you participate in class anymore.” I was on my way out of class when my social welfare and policy professor casually called me over to tell me this. The friendliness of her tone did not match her words, and I attempted a shocked, confused apology. It was my first semester at the Hunter College School of Social Work, and I was as yet unfamiliar with the consistent, underlying threat that characterized much of the school’s policy and atmosphere. This professor was simply more open and direct than most. I asked if I had said or done anything...

Students at Darton State College heard Wednesday night from the former personal aide to President Obama, Reggie Love. Love signed copies of his book, "Power Forward: My Presidential Education." He also spoke to a room full of students and staff at Darton. Love is a 2004 graduate of Duke University. Love spoke about how he started in 2007 working in the mailroom of then-Senator Obama and how he was chosen to be the president's personal aide when he was elected in 2008.

From cost to employment prospects, the state of American higher education is dismal for students. Modern American universities used to assume four goals. First, their general education core taught students how to reason inductively and imparted an aesthetic sense through acquiring knowledge of Michelangelo, the Battle of Gettysburg, “Medea” and “King Lear,” Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy,” and astronomy and Euclidean geometry. Second, campuses encouraged edgy speech and raucous expression — and exposure to all sorts of weird ideas and mostly unpopular thoughts. College talk was never envisioned as boring, politically correct megaphones echoing orthodox pieties. Third, four years of college...

A top-ranking official at the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights has emerged as a potentially key figure in Rolling Stone’s false article, “A Rape on Campus.” Catherine Lhamon, who heads the Department’s civil rights wing, was identified in a letter sent last month by University of Virginia Dean of Students Allen Groves to Steve Coll and Sheila Coronel, the two Columbia Journalism School deans who conducted a review of the Nov. 19 article, written by disgraced reporter Sabrina Rubin Erdely. Groves’ letter was included as a footnote to the Columbia deans’ report, which was released on Sunday...

Two students seeking to start school pro-life clubs in Fargo, North Dakota, are claiming they are victims of unconstitutional discrimination from officials opposed to their cause.According to a complaint letter sent by the Thomas More Society (TMS), a public interest law firm assisting the students, Brigid O’Keefe of Fargo North High School and Katie McPherson of Fargo Davies High School have each spent months attempting to establish pro-life clubs at their schools, to no avail. McPherson first applied to found a club in September 2014, while O’Keefe applied last February. Both had their applications declined, with O’Keefe saying she and other potential club members were...

The University of Michigan canceled a scheduled movie screening of “American Sniper” on Tuesday after nearly 300 students and others complained the film glorifies a “mass killer” and perpetuates anti-Muslim stereotypes. An online petition, titled a “collective letter from Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) and Muslim students on campus,” accused the school of “tolerating dangerous anti-Muslim and anti-MENA propaganda” by showing the Chris Kyle biopic, The College Fix reported. “The movie American Sniper not only tolerates but promotes anti-Muslim and anti-MENA rhetoric and sympathizes with a mass killer,” the letter reads. “Chris Kyle was a racist who took a...

Sorry, but a totally “safe space” is actually impossible. A student at Harvard University published an op-ed on Wednesday complaining that her school’s “safe spaces” are just not safe enough. According to Madison E. Johnson, her time spent in the “safe space” was really great at first — there were “massage circles,” “deep conversations,” and “times explicitly delineated for processing and journaling.” But then it all changed.

LONDON, April 7, 2015 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The British government must “make it compulsory that all schools’ sex education policies include a positive portrayal of same-sex relationships," the UK's National Union of Teachers (NUT) decided at its annual conference on Sunday.Christine Blower, General Secretary of the union, said that “NUT is at the forefront in the campaign for equality of opportunity and fair treatment for all students and staff, regardless of gender identity or sexual orientation,” and that all political parties contending in the May election should adopt the union's motion."The NUT calls for all parties standing in the 2015 General...

The Center for Campus Involvement announced Tuesday afternoon they would cancel a planned showing of “American Sniper” at UMix following a student petition over the depiction of certain communities in the film. In a statement posted on by Facebook CCI, which runs UMix, the organization said the choice was made in response to concerns raised by students about the film in the petition. “Student reactions have clearly articulated that this is neither the venue nor the time to show this movie,” the statement read. “We deeply regret causing harm to members of our community, and appreciate the thoughtful feedback provided...

Salon.com has a message it wants you to hear: the conviction of 11 cheating teachers in Atlanta last week was “a travesty” because the United States is a racist body that is trying to “scapegoat Black teachers.” In an article titled, “America is criminalizing Black teachers: Atlanta’s cheating scandal and the racist underbelly of education reform,” Brittany Cooper, who also accused a white person of racism because he sat next to her on a train, explains why cheating was, in fact, someone else's fault. Cooper believes it’s “racist” people who caused the cheating scandal, not because “they” actually cheated in...

Audience members were invited to ask the panel members questions during the second half of the meeting. The questions came from teachers, NAU students and faculty, high school students, parents and other Flagstaff residents. But many of those questions were actually thinly veiled criticisms of Thorpe and Allen’s well-documented opposition to raising corporate taxes. At times, audience members shouted “raise taxes” and snickered or groaned at Thorpe and Allen’s claims that lower taxes would fix Arizona’s economic woes by attracting businesses. So when an FUSD parent walked up to the microphone, decried how college tuition rates in Arizona have increased...

“Where did Common Core come from?” is a question I often hear from parents as I travel the country speaking about the Islamic infiltration of America. ... The short answer is that resident Obama’s push for “hope and change” translates into completely transforming America — for the worse. Common Core is but one of many parts of an intricate plan to infiltrate every area of American society with Islam. Which is why, Common Core’s origin and funding came from Qatar, Libya and Saudi Arabia. Globally, Common Core originated from the “One World Education” concept, a global goal orchestrated by the...

A federal judge is questioning whether a new exam for aspiring teachers in New York is discriminatory against minorities, a case that could derail the state’s efforts to create a more rigorous set of tests for entry into the profession. Black and Hispanic applicants have been passing one of the exams, intended to measure reading and writing skills, at lower rates than white candidates, prompting concerns of decreased diversity in the teaching ranks. The judge, Kimba M. Wood of Federal District Court in Manhattan, has asked the state for extensive documentation on the development of the test, which was first...

As one who loves America -- not only because I am American, but even more so because I know (not believe, know) that the American experiment in forming a decent society has been the most successful in history -- I write the following words in sadness: With few exceptions, every aspect of American life is in decline. "Decay" is the word. The Decline of the Family: Nearly half (48 percent) of American children are born to a mother who is not married. Forty-three percent of American children live without a father in the home. About 50 percent of Americans over...