Free Republic

Californians were right to decline to give affirmative action a second life. People are much better off without it. Saying 2020 is full of surprises is a gross understatement. One of the good surprises — in contrast to, say, the coronavirus reaction — in this election cycle is that voters in California, the bluest of the blue states, rejected Proposition 16, a measure that sought to restore affirmative action in the state, meaning “universities and government offices could factor in someone’s race, gender or ethnicity in making hiring, spending and admissions decisions.” Prop 16 was the left’s latest attempt to...

A jury in North Carolina on Thursday found that the University of North Carolina-Wilmington retaliated against criminology professor Dr. Mike Adams for his political and social views. Adams, a Townhall columnist, explained last year that despite his track record of success at the university in terms of teaching, research and service, he was denied a promotion to full professor because of the views he advanced in his opinion columns. He described the promotion process as being “replete with procedural irregularities and with direct criticism of [his] columns and [his] beliefs.” The ACLJ, who represented Adams along with Alliance Defending Freedom...

Alliance Defending Freedom recently settled a lawsuit brought on behalf of Julea Ward, a former graduate student at Eastern Michigan University who was expelled from her counseling program after refusing to violate her religious beliefs. Media reports have unfortunately suggested that Julea’s lawsuit involved her refusal to counsel a client because he identified as gay: this is untrue. Instead, her case involved her religious objection to being forced to provide counseling about sexual relationships outside of marriage, an objection which applies equally to homosexual and heterosexual clients. Her objection is to providing counseling on certain topics, not to counseling any...

... Mr. Macias is just one of more than 26,000 students at San Francisco State, and now educational opportunities cost more and are harder to grasp and even harder to hold onto than ever before. Mr. Macias’s experience of truncated offerings, furloughed professors and crowded classrooms is typical. ... Terry Hartle, the senior vice president of the American Council on Education, a [higher education] trade association, confirmed that higher education in California has become akin to navigating an obstacle course. ... In 1960, he added, the state created “the gold standard in high-quality, low-cost public higher education. This year, the...

It’s known as “cruising” – looking for anonymous sex in public restrooms – and police say it’s increasing on the University of Minnesota campus. Last week, a 28-year-old U of M student was arrested for having public sex in a bathroom at Willey Hall. "Last week during the day, we had a call come into our dispatch complaining of sexual activity in public in the men’s room on the West Bank," said U of M police officer Steve Johnson. Police say it happened in a bathroom at Willey hall. When they arrived, the alleged suspects were gone. "A short time...

Criticism of Perkins at Wis. campus included spending on his house As turmoil gripped Towson University yesterday over its president's sudden resignation, faculty and staff at a campus halfway across the nation expressed little surprise. Mark L. Perkins resigned Monday under pressure from the state university system's Board of Regents over Towson's spending on its new presidential mansion, which totaled nearly $2 million. Yesterday, regents were still searching for an interim president, as Towson faculty, alumni and students assailed the handling of Perkins' exit. Meanwhile, faculty and staff at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay said the troubles that forced Perkins'...