Free Republic

One of my consistent themes is that in the post-Christian West, sexual pleasure and hedonism have been elevated to the highest human good. Human beings are driven to ask, "What is the meaning of life," and when God exits stage left, what usually replaces Him is "pleasure." That's natural, of course, since pleasure by its nature is self-reinforcing. "If it feels good, do it" is hardly revolutionary, despite what the hippies said. Without religion, human beings struggle to come up with reasons to deny our darkest desires without appealing to moral standards that are generally rooted in religion, or at...

The greed and naiveté of our institutions could play into the hands of the Chinese surveillance state It goes by an innocuous name – “Integrated Joint Operations Platform” (IJOP) – but it’s one of the most sinister components of China’s surveillance state, managing what has been described as a genocide against the Uighurs. The IJOP combines multiple systems of repression – location, messages, contacts, social media and other data from phones, together with information from checkpoints, cameras and biometric records. It then flags “suspicious” individuals for detention and forced labor. Now leading US universities have been accused of extensive...

Multiple people were injured in a shooting at Kentucky State University on Tuesday afternoon. A suspect has been taken into custody. “We are aware of a reported shooting at Kentucky State University in Frankfort. At this time, we are aware of some injuries. We will share more information as available. Law enforcement are on scene, and a suspect has been arrested. Let’s pray for all those affected,” Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear said on Tuesday. We are aware of a reported shooting at Kentucky State University in Frankfort. At this time, we are aware of some injuries. We will share more...

A year and a half after the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals knocked down the University of Colorado Anschutz School of Medicine's original and revised COVID-19 vaccine mandates for discriminating against students and employees seeking religious exemptions, the school has paid an "historic" settlement to the 18 plaintiffs, their lawyers said this week. The $10.3 million settlement in damages, tuition, and attorney’s fees is one of the few nationwide, in challenges to government COVID vaccine mandates, to pay money damages to plaintiffs suing for their First Amendment rights, the Thomas More Society said. The taxpayer-funded school was spooked into...

The Fighting Irish may be tearing it up on the football field (and once again toying with major dad's emotions as they head into the college playoffs), but back at the auld sod from whence the football team springs - the CATHOLIC University in South Bend, Indiana - there has been some verbal artillery flying and battles fought of their own since the 10th of November. That was the day the University announced a set of 'refreshed staff values' as part of a fall staff town hall.University leaders discussed Notre Dame’s response to the changing higher education environment, academic updates,...

OPINION/ANALYSIS 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...

“In an interview on the Shawn Ryan Show, Brian Harpole, Charlie Kirk’s head of security, publicly revealed text messages with Utah Valley University Police Chief Jeff Long in which they discussed the rooftop vulnerabilities and the chief vowed, “I got you covered.” The exchange took place in the days leading up to Kirk’s September 10 speaking event at UVU, where the Turning Point USA founder was fatally shot by a gunman who is said to have fired from a rooftop position.”

‘The employee has since apologized for the choice of words and acknowledged that the sign is not an example of hate speech,’ according to a university statement A Christian university in Texas is apologizing for a recent situation in which a pro-life student group was forced to remove its “abortion is murder” sign. Abilene Christian University’s ACU for Life group last month was tabling in the campus center with a sign that read: “Abortion is Murder. Disagree? Let’s talk.” But two administrators took issue with that verbiage and told the group the wording was inappropriate and represented hate speech, according...

Northwestern University president Michael Schill announced his resignation on Wednesday, saying in a statement that "now is the right time for new leadership to guide Northwestern into its next chapter." That is certainly true. Schill’s departure clears the way for the elevation of a leader committed to ensuring Northwestern’s Jewish students receive the safe learning environment to which they are entitled. Schill’s record speaks for itself. He was the first university president to strike a deal with student radicals who took over parts of campus after Oct. 7, rewarding them for their disruptions. As a part of that deal, Northwestern...

The largest Christian college in the United States has been cleared of federal allegations after university officials said the school was unjustly targeted by the Biden administration. Grand Canyon University announced last week that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) voted unanimously to drop its lawsuit against the school. In 2023, the FTC under the Biden administration filed suit in federal court against GCU, its marketer Grand Canyon Education, Inc., and its president and CEO, Brian Mueller, claiming the defendants used deceptive advertising and engaged in illegal telemarketing. In addition to providing marketing services, Grand Canyon Education, Inc., provides recruiting and...

The decades-long search for an alternative to iridium, one of the rarest and most expensive metals on Earth, may finally be over, with a new discovery that could accelerate the push for affordable clean hydrogen technologies. Remarkably, researchers at Northwestern University behind the discovery say they found a viable substitute in just a single afternoon. By leveraging a powerful new nanomaterial data factory that researchers call a “megalibrary,” the team was able to screen millions of nanoparticles on a single chip at record speeds. Through a collaboration with the Toyota Research Institute (TRI), the team’s powerful new tool helped them...

The Iowa Attorney General’s Office on Wednesday opened an investigation into the University of Iowa after an official there was video recorded saying she and others at the school continue to advance diversity, equity and inclusion despite policies and a state law prohibiting it. A 2024 state law prohibits public funding for DEI programs. The Iowa Board of Regents in November 2023 also directed universities to abolish all “diversity, equity, and inclusion” initiatives at public universities. But an undercover video obtained by Fox News shows Drea Tinoco, assistant director for Leadership and Student Organization Development at the University of Iowa,...

Remember the good all days when you went to college to study astronomy, literature, engineering, or American history? Now you go to learn about sexual minorities and lavender activism. And that despite crackdowns by the Trump administration. While some universities like Columbia are now trying to put up at least a pretense of reform, the reality is that the people running most of our academic institutions are almost entirely leftist ideologues. They are simply going to use tricks like renaming DEI departments and hosting events with less fanfare while engaging in the same propagandizing. Don’t let them get away without...

Therapy student Naomi Epps Best was fired from her internship after she exposed her university’s program for forcing her to share sexual information with the class and take a tour of a BDSM sex dungeon. Her courage cost her time with her children and the ability to graduate on time, but Best says the sacrifices are worth it as messages pour in from other concerned therapists who were previously too scared to speak out. “My goal to raise the standards of training in psychotherapy and also raise the standards of care for clients,” ... Best, 26, began her studies at...

Muslim Communist NYC Mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani identified as “Asian” and “Black or African American” on his college application for Columbia University. The New York Times obtained this internal data from a hack of Columbia University. Columbia University used an affirmative action admissions program, so Mamdani, an Indian born in Uganda, checked ‘Black’ and ‘Asian’ to give himself an advantage over other applicants. When confronted about his Columbia University application, Zohran Mamdani told The New York Times that he checked those boxes to ‘capture the fullness” of his background. “Most college applications don’t have a box for Indian-Ugandans, so I...

Afederal judge ordered the University of Oregon to pay $191,000 to Portland State University professor Bruce Gilley to cover his legal fees in a successful First Amendment challenge to its censorship of Gilley's comment "all men are created equal" in his retweet from UO's diversity, equity and inclusion office Twitter page, according to Gilley's lawyers. Gilley secured a preliminary injunction last summer that stops UO Equity's account on X, formerly Twitter, from blocking his interactions or "hiding, muting, or deleting" several kinds of his posts to its account. They settled in full this spring after nearly three years in court,...

A bill that would compel Illinois public universities to provide, prescribe, and even promote abortion drugs is now one signature away from becoming law. House Bill 3709 passed the state senate May 31 and is now awaiting action from Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker. If signed, the bill would require schools to refer students to abortion providers and, where pharmacies are available on campus, directly distribute abortion drugs like mifepristone, according to a May 20 press release from Illinois Right to Life. The bill would also mandate that universities include information about chemical abortion on their websites, elevating the practice to...

A Romanian national pleaded guilty on Monday to charges related to his role in a “swatting” ring that targeted dozens of public officials, including a former US president. Going by the aliases “Plank,” “Jonah” and “Cypher,” 26-year-old Thomasz Szabo took part in a years-long conspiracy to place bogus 911 calls, claiming emergencies were taking place at the homes of top government officials, and make bomb threats against government buildings and houses of worship, according to Justice Department. Szabo and a co-conspirator, 21-year-old Serbian national Nemanja Radovanovic, allegedly targeted about 100 people, including members of Congress, governors, cabinet-level executive branch officials...

Yesterday, I [Turley] was notified by the Justice Department confirming that a recent swatting indictment includes the person or persons responsible for my own swatting a year ago. One of the defendants, Thomasz Szabo, was arrested a couple weeks ago. The indictment below charges two foreign nationals: Thomasz Szabo, 26, of Romania, and Nemanja Radovanovic, 21, of Serbia. Szabo and Radovanovic are each charged with one count of conspiracy, 29 counts of threats and false information regarding explosives, and four counts of transmitting threats in interstate and foreign commerce. Their alleged conspiracy began as early as December 2020. It continued...

A renowned Harvard University professor was stripped of her tenure and fired after an investigation found she allegedly manipulated data to support multiple studies she conducted. Francesca Gino, a celebrated behavioral scientist at Harvard Business School whose work has focused on dishonesty, was let go after the school’s top governing board determined she tweaked observations in four studies so that their findings boosted her hypotheses, GHB reported. Harvard administrators notified business faculty that Gino was out of a job in a closed-door meeting this past week, the outlet reported. Harvard did not detail the professor’s firing or tenure being stripped...