Free Republic

Those on the left who label Robert E. Lee a traitor and call for statues of him to be torn down have no interest in the historical facts or good faith debate.On Tuesday, the Commonwealth of Virginia installed a new statue to represent the state in the U.S. Capitol. Virginia is one of the most storied states in the union. Some of the most prominent Founding Fathers were Virginians, and four of the first five presidents hailed from the Old Dominion. Out of countless worthy figures, Virginia chose … Barbara Rose Johns. Never heard of her? Well, don’t feel bad....

In Minnesota, home to the largest population of Somali immigrants in the U.S. and the site of numerous fraud investigations, fraudsters received $12.5 million in student loan and education grant money, according to a letter Education Secretary Linda McMahon sent to Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz. The letter calls on Walz to resign, and states that a new fraud prevention system at the department has found over $1 billion in “attempted financial aid theft,” including by international fraud rings and artificial intelligence (AI) bots. “[Y]our careless lack of oversight and abuse of the welfare system has attracted fraudsters from around the...

Is there an active cover-up in the Brown University shooting? Does it involve Brown University and/or the FBI? Many are saying yes. Many are also saying it appears quite clear who the shooter is. NOTE: I am not saying this is the shooter. We don’t know. Also everyone is presumed innocent until being found guilty. But there’s a lot of smoke blowing around here and I want to show you everything we have so far…. People online believe the Brown Shooter is student Mustapha Kharbouch: 🚨: #BREAKING: Brown University Shooter IDENTIFIED? Brown University MYSTERIOUSLY REMOVES Mustapha Kharbouch from their website.Could...

Ella Cook vigil Vigil held for students killed at Brown University. (AP Photo/Steven Senne) Ella Cook, of Mountain Brook, identified as a victim. ************************************************************************** The Mountain Brook woman who was killed in the Brown University shooting was the vice president of the school's Republican club and was likely targeted, according to multiple sources. Ella Cook was one of two shot and killed on Saturday while studying with a group of students. "We are devastated to learn of the loss of our Brown College Republicans Vice President, Ella Cook," the club's president, Martin Bertao, stated. "Ella was known for her bold,...

The young woman identified as the first victim killed in Saturday’s deadly shooting at Brown University was Ella Cook, a 19-year-old sophomore and outspoken conservative activist whose death has sent shockwaves through both the campus community and conservative circles nationwide. Cook, a native of Birmingham, Alabama, was serving as vice president of Brown University’s College Republicans and was widely known for standing firm in her beliefs on one of the most ideologically hostile campuses in the country. Friends say she was thoughtful, kind, and unafraid to express her convictions, even when doing so made her a target for hostility or...

Texas A&M University generates nearly $1 billion in tuition and fee revenue each year while educating thousands of international students, including those from adversarial or strategically competitive nations such as China, Iran, Russia, and India. This information comes from an analysis of the university’s FY 2025 Executive Budget Summary and newly obtained public records from a Texas Public Information Act request filed by The Dallas Express. A&M’s FY 2025 budget shows the university collects $981,724,000 in tuition and fee revenue, and its public records response confirms that foreign students constitute a significant revenue stream. In 2024–2025 alone, international students generated...

Higher-education reform has a new hero, and he hails not from the self-styled patrician environs of the Ivy League but from Texas. We all know how tough it is to reform higher education given the ideological capture that permeates many universities. But the chancellor of the Texas Tech University System has exerted himself in a way that should establish him in the official pantheon of friends of higher education. If such a pantheon does not exist, well, let Chancellor Brandon Creighton be the first illustrious inductee. What did the good chancellor do to merit this honor? In one fell swoop,...

Conservatives interested in higher-education reform often ask themselves where things went wrong. Answers usually range from the radicalism of the 1960s to the rise of social media or the triumph of critical theories in various departments and then the university as a whole. True, but the problem lies deeper, as well. Few are willing to trace today’s ills to the rise of the Progressive University or, what is the same thing, the making of higher education in the image of the modern research university. The modern research university is a source of pride among modern peoples. Commercials for universities during...

India’s Sarwagya Singh Kushwaha has become the youngest player in chess history to earn an official Fide rating at the age of three years, seven months and 20 days. The chess prodigy edged out the previous record of compatriot Anish Sarkar, who was three years, eight months and 19 days when he reached the milestone in November last year. Kushwaha, who is enrolled in nursery school in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, holds a rapid rating of 1,572. To achieve a rating from Fide, the International Chess Federation, a player needs to beat at least one Fide-rated player. A...

Complaints about the Commission for Public Higher Education’s (CPHE) proposed solutions to accreditation problems are unwarranted. This October, the Chronicle of Higher Education ran an article titled “Will the Commission for Public Higher Education Be a ‘Serious’ Accreditor?,” voicing concerns about higher education’s most recent innovation. Touted most famously by Ron DeSantis, the CPHE, a brainchild of six Southern university systems (including the UNC System), aims to “advance the quality and improvement of higher education by accrediting … state public universities that are incorporated, chartered, licensed, or authorized in the United States.” The first cohort of CPHE applicants was announced...

Earlier this week, in ‘Easy A’s for Ivy League Idiots’ I wrote about the massive level of grade inflation in the Ivy League. In 2005, a quarter of Harvard students received A’s. In 2025, it’s over 60%. At Yale, A’s went from 67% of grades in 2010 to 78% of grades in 2023. The prestigious university has had awkward moments like before, such as when 91% of students graduated with honors in 2001, and these days it tries to keep the number of honors graduates in the 50s. But much like shopping in a supermarket, it’s hard to avoid the...

The U.S. Marshals Service has now issued a $5,000 reward for information leading to the capture of Virginia high school football coach Travis Turner, who is facing child pornography charges in Big Stone Gap, Virginia. The Marshals Service is urging members of the public to report any information they might have to 911, the Virginia State Police, or the USMS tips line (1-877-WANTED2), according to the New York Post. Late last month, police went looking for Turner, who is the head coach at Union High School, to interview him in an investigation that was not initially advertised. But just as...

Higher education is suffering from many woes, and the federal government (and sometimes Donald Trump in particular) often gets much of the blame for them. But one factor that, in my judgment, is ultimately responsible for much contemporary collegiate angst probably cannot be primarily blamed on the feds: the effects of grade inflation. I would submit that this affliction is the predominant single factor in the precipitous decline in student learning in American colleges and universities. Combined with long-term rising fees for college attendance, grade inflation has made universities an increasingly dubious value proposition: Attendees, their parents, and the public...

Since its founding in 1923, Hillel has become the most important Jewish campus organization in America and abroad, with a presence on more than 800 campuses across the world. Its programs and leadership are central to campus Jewish life and, looked at a certain way, reflect the broader failure of colleges to educate students these days. Hillel was established on the premise that Jews themselves need to take responsibility for Jewish prospering by participating in cultural events and social programs and by being intellectually challenged in in-depth classes and seminars. The organization also sought to respond to campus antisemitism and...

In Cypress, Texas, a Houston-area suburb that lures families with its high-quality education, Republicans used their two years of control on the school board to ban textbook chapters on climate change, diversity and vaccines. This month, Democrats took over the majority, picking up three seats on the school board and ending the conservative reign. From Texas to Pennsylvania to Ohio, Democrat-backed candidates ran successful campaigns in some of the nation’s largest school systems and in political battlegrounds. They emphasized test scores and bus safety over debates about which bathrooms transgender students use and banning books from school libraries. The result...

The Battalion student newspaper at Texas A&M university does not seem to be a fan of conservative student thought. An analysis of the 60 opinion pieces focused on politics published since November 2024 found that nearly all of them — 50 — leaned liberal (35), left-leaning (5), far-left (5), and liberal satire (5). Only 7 of the opinion political pieces were moderate or neutral, and a total of three were conservative, or a ratio of almost 17 to 1 liberal to conservative. The research was conducted by student Justino Russell, who was inspired to dig into the analysis after the...

This is absolutely wild, y'all. 🚨#BREAKING: A white, liberal, Charlotte NC teacher with a nose ring says the hallways of her school are now a "ghost town" after Border Patrol's immigration enforcement.She also begins crying about how the school has only sent out videos, "in English..." pic.twitter.com/NTfziEN84T— Matt Van Swol (@mattvanswol) November 20, 2025Yes, she's literally crying about THIS message from Charlotte-Mecklenburg schools 👇 Over 30,000 students were absent in the Charlotte area while ICE was in town. School officials say illegal aliens have "constitutional right" to "free" education. The feds show up in a few North Carolina cities and...

The University of California system went “test-free” five years ago. SAT and ACT scores aren’t considered in admissions. The percentage of new students who can’t meet high school — or middle school — standards soared. At UC San Diego, where remedial math enrollment went from 30 in 2020 to 900 this year, a tutor said students can’t think their way through a word problem. “We call it quantitative literacy, just knowing which fraction is larger or smaller, that the slope is positive when it is going up,” Janine Wilson, the chair of the undergraduate economics program at UC Davis, told...

At many of the country’s most prestigious universities, an “A” has become a default instead of a distinction. It used to be a mark that indicated academic excellence and proficiency, yet lately it seems like almost everyone is “exceptional.” Now, Harvard’s much-remarked-upon grade-inflation report, released late last month, confirms what many have suspected for years: Grades at elite colleges have lost their meaning. According to the report, in 2005 “A’s” accounted for 24 percent of all grades given at Harvard College. In 2025, that number jumped to over 60 percent. Even the cutoff mark for summa cum laude status has...

Suppose you’re a controversial left-wing speaker. Who do you think would be more likely to let you voice your opinions on campus: a slightly conservative man or a democratic socialist woman? Now suppose you’re a controversial right-wing speaker. Who do you think would be more likely to let you voice your opinions on campus: a slightly liberal man or a somewhat conservative woman? It may seem obvious that, regardless of gender, someone with a similar ideology would be more tolerant of your views. But recent data gathered by FIRE suggests that’s not always the case. Amazingly, it turns out that...