Free Republic

So strong is the gravitational pull of “wokeness” that it has caused many college and university leaders to approve of appalling treatment of faculty members who dared to question the prevailing leftist orthodoxies. Fortunately, our legal system still protects the rights of professors against such mistreatment, and three high-profile cases recently ended in victory for the plaintiffs. Let’s start with the case brought by Professor Bruce Gilley of Portland State University. In June 2022, the (since-retired) communication manager of the University of Oregon’s Division of Equity and Inclusion, who goes by the name tova stabin—no capital letters—posted a tweet reading,...

The email dropped into my university account with a quiet ding, an inauspicious start to what would become an unwanted foray into the messy world of AI “false positives.” With the arrival of the short missive from my professor informing me that my essay had been flagged for AI use, I was caught up in what would became a weeks-long process to appeal and clear my name of alleged AI use on an assignment in my counseling graduate course. The ordeal thrust me into the university’s AI-detection administrative machine, where I joined the many others across higher education experiencing a...

A lawsuit filed this summer in the state of Washington paints a devastating picture of one Jewish teenager’s unfolding nightmare of anti-Semitic torment and abuse at the hands of her classmates. The girl—a freshman during the 2023-2024 school year at Nathan Hale High School, a public school in the Seattle area—was ostracized, spat upon, targeted with anti-Semitic slurs and swastikas and beset by threats of physical violence. Instead of protecting her—and discipling the Jew haters who had her in their sights—school administrators stood by and let it happen. “The Nathan Hale High School curriculum offers students a balanced educational experience...

For years, the left has repeated the mantra that the “root causes” of crime are poverty, inequality, or lack of housing. But history tells a different story. America a century ago was far poorer, yet far safer. What did we have then that we’ve lost today? Stable families 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦, functioning schools 📚, and enforcement you didn’t dare test 👮‍♂️. Family Breakdown 💔 The single biggest driver of crime is the collapse of the family. In the 1950s, most children—black or white—were raised by two parents. Today, single-parent households dominate in many communities. Children raised without fathers are exponentially more likely...

This bizarre resident of the deep sea is certainly one of the most unique creatures we've ever seen. Imagine traveling through the darkest depths of the ocean around 2,000ft down where everything around you is pitch black. You shine your torch into the gloom and something catches your eye. As it gets closer, you realize that this is no ordinary fish - you can see straight through its head! Meet the barreleye fish (Macropinna microstoma) - a creature so bizarre that if there weren't pictures and videos of it you could almost believe that it was something completely made up....

While in college back in the mid-1970s, I wrote a short story on AI. I give a little background on the early mini-computers I operated with a photo of the Honeywell H200 I took. I don't have the original short story anymore but I wrote a pretty good summary highligting the major theme. Essentially, a computer operator was given the opportunity to train a computer as it discovers the world and asks questions.

Virtually every observer of American higher education agrees that it is in trouble, and most think the short to midterm future for universities is pretty bleak. Most emphasize growing disenchantment with the academy on the part of governmental funders, most conspicuously the Trump-era federal government. Still others point to both the enrollment decline of the past 15 years along with the shrinking supply of college-age Americans in coming years because of declining fertility rates. Another factor arising that could be both a threat and an opportunity for colleges is artificial intelligence (AI). Will it magnify higher education’s troubles or help...

The student debt crisis isn’t a natural market phenomenon; it’s the predictable result of decades of government interference. Since 1980, average tuition and fees have increased by 1,200 percent, while consumer price inflation has risen only 236 percent over the same period. This massive increase has left students and families struggling to keep up, often forcing them to take on substantial debt just to attend college. Today, over 42.7 million Americans owe a combined $1.69 trillion in federal student loan debt. A combination of federal policies, including subsidized loans, government grants, bloated university budgets, and a complete lack of accountability,...

A Chinese national claiming to conduct research as a “visiting scholar” at a prestigious Michigan university now finds herself facing a long prison term after pleading no contest this week to three smuggling charges and making false statements to federal officers. Chengxuan Han, also a Ph.D. candidate at Huazhong University of Science and Technology in Wuhan, China, pleaded no contest this week in a Detroit federal court to sending four packages from China containing concealed biological materials to colleagues working in a University of Michigan laboratory. The incident is the most recent criminal case involving Chinese students possessing potential hazardous...

Long Form Interview

A high school senior who claims she was banned from painting biblical messages on her student parking spot is fighting back. Sabrina Steffens, a senior at Grand Island High School near Buffalo, New York, told CBN News that seniors at her school are allowed to personalize their paid parking spots. But when she attempted to have verses and Christian art painted on hers, the school reportedly refused.

Position overview Salary range: The current salary range for the Assistant-level position is $80,800 - $128,700 (9-month academic year salary). However, off-scale salary and other components of pay, which would yield compensation that is higher than this range, are offered to meet competitive conditions. Anticipated start: July 1, 2026 Application Window Open date: August 15, 2025 Next review date: Monday, Sep 15, 2025 at 11:59pm (Pacific Time) Apply by this date to ensure full consideration by the committee. Final date: Monday, Sep 15, 2025 at 11:59pm (Pacific Time) Applications will continue to be accepted until this date. Position description The...

Most Americans firmly believe that educational institutions should be places where all ideas can be discussed and no one need fear reprisal for saying the wrong thing or pursuing the wrong research topic. That ideal, however, is not embraced by all people. There are powerful forces, here and abroad, that want to dominate education in order to advance their goals. They have no qualms about telling students what they must believe or telling faculty members not to research certain topics. Of course, the leaders of our colleges and universities would never cooperate with those authoritarian forces—or would they? In her...

Imagine, for a moment, the year is 2500. Human civilization is gone, lost to disaster, time, or neglect. One day, an alien research team lands in what was once North Carolina and begins to study the ruins of a place once known as Duke University. Buried beneath centuries of sediment, they find a course directory from the Department of History, dated 2025. What would these visitors conclude about American history? Would they know about the Revolutionary War and its heroes, Washington crossing the Delaware, the debates at Valley Forge, the intellectual courage of the Founding Fathers? Would they learn about...

The Department of Education (ED) announced on Tuesday that it is ending the taxpayer funding of political activism jobs on college campuses. The department is rescinding the Biden-era guidance that allowed the Federal Work Study (FWS) program, which provides college students with part-time jobs to help fund their education, to be used for jobs at political rallies, voter hotlines, poll workers and other political activism jobs. Institutions should instead “focus FWS funds on jobs that provide real-world work experience instead of political activities.” “Federal Work Study is meant to provide students opportunities to gain real-world experience that prepares them to...

Kentucky’s recent passage of House Bill 4, which eliminates “diversity, equity, and inclusion” programs at public universities and colleges, represents a crucial step toward restoring meritocracy, academic freedom, and intellectual diversity to higher education in the Bluegrass State. The bill was passed in the 2025 legislative session over the veto of Democratic governor Andy Beshear, who predictably claimed that its supporters were motivated by “hate.” In fact, HB 4 provides a necessary corrective to years of institutional overreach that has discriminated against students, stifled open inquiry, and punished dissenting voices on campus. The case of Dr. Allan Josephson exemplifies this...

Catturd ™ @catturd2 What’s really in your sushi? Parasites. They're common in fish, pork, produce, pets, and soil. Exposure is inevitable

Harvard University students can learn about the “political mastermind” of Stacey Abrams this semester in a class that explicitly says it is taught through a critical race theory lens. “From First Lady Michelle Obama to political mastermind Stacy Abrams to Vice President Kamala Harris, Black women have left their stamp on 21st-century politics and grassroots organizing,” the course description for “Race, Gender, and Law through the Archive” says. Abrams is a former Democratic state representative who lost the 2018 and 2022 gubernatorial elections in Georgia. As noted by the Washington Free Beacon, she claims the 2018 election was “rigged” and...

Last month, a Republican Congress and President Trump achieved, if that is the word, a massive budget-reconciliation bill. As is more and more common, a Congress averse to accountability for particular votes crammed the measure full of many agenda items that the majority and the president wanted but chose to vote up or down on them as a package. Several provisions are relevant to American higher education. They involve the student-loan program, in which the federal government provides both subsidized and unsubsidized loans to both graduate and undergraduate students. Federal grants to needy students, e.g. Pell grants, are only modestly...

Randi Weingarten just promoted her new book calling those on the side of parents "Fascists." She's wearing a shirt that says "Protect Our Kids." She thinks she owns your kids. Wake up, parents. Dismantle the teachers unions.