A new Tennessee law forbids public higher education from requiring allegiance to “divisive concepts,” including some tenets of “antiracism” and diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI.
The legislation becomes binding July 1, according to the Tennessee General Assembly. The bill passed the Tennessee House and Senate in late April, and Gov. Bill Lee signed it April 28.
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Monday morning on The Tennessee Star Report, guest host Gulbransen welcomed the original all-star panelist Crom Carmichael to the studio for another edition of Crom’s Crommentary.
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University of Wisconsin President Jay Rothman said the “war for talent” is driving his vision for the school, which he says is necessitating both a tuition increase and a request for $200 million more in the next state budget.
Rothman told WisPolitics’ Newsmakers program that Wisconsin must do both in order to compete in that war.
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The University of Wisconsin (UW) System will no longer require new employees to submit statements outlining their commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), CBS 58 Newsroom reported.
UW System President Jay Rothman announced the decision to end diversity statements to lawmakers on Thursday while delivering testimony in front of the state House of Representatives, according to CBS 58. Republican lawmakers, who have expressed interest in eliminating DEI programs, had threatened to cut campus state funding, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.
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A new study reveals that 8 of the top 11 veterinary schools in the United States have begun implementing far-left race-based concepts such as Critical Race Theory (CRT) and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI).
As Fox News reports, the website CriticalRace.org monitors the teaching of CRT in schools, and has recently expanded its criteria to include veterinary schools in addition to other forms of higher education. The survey reveals that four of the 11 schools have made it mandatory for students to undergo such training and curriculum, while eight have mandatory training for staff and faculty, and six have implemented DEI in their hiring processes. Furthermore, seven of the schools have tools in place for students to report “incidents of bias” or “violations of inclusivity” to school authorities.
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Over the last few years, the rallying cry of “woke” activists has become “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion” (often abbreviated to DEI). There is little reason to object to such principles on the surface. After all, America was founded on the principle that all people are created equal. Unfortunately, the meaning of words can change over time.
Rather than the Founders’ vision of equal opportunity for all, the use of the word “equity” today denotes equal outcomes for all. The implementation of this “equity agenda,” however well-intentioned, will lead to terrible consequences.
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A developing medical school trend to ditch the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) requirement may not bode well for the future of the profession, medical watchdog group Do No Harm told the Daily Caller News Foundation.
Approximately 40 medical schools across the country have dropped the MCAT, a multiple choice exam that determines an individual’s ability to problem solve, think critically, and understand concepts about medical study, as a requirement for some applying students, according to a list compiled by Inspira Advantage. Do No Harm alleged that dropping the requirement is another way schools aim to bolster diversity on campus but asserted that it is a “dangerous trend,” according to its analysis.
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CVS Health’s “gender transition guidelines” for employees shows the drugstore chain catering to transgender employees by allowing them to use whichever sex’s restroom they prefer, insisting all others use their preferred pronouns, and providing medical leave for their gender transition, a Fox Business report says.
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Both contenders to replace Gen. Mark Milley as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff later this year are focused on change to counter China, but one is prone to radical changes while the other affirms the administration’s ideological priorities, experts told the Daily Caller News Foundation.
With Milley, a Trump appointee, set to retire by October, President Joe Biden is expected to announce his pick to replace the outgoing Army four-star soon between top prospects Air Force chief of staff Gen. Charles Q. “C.Q.” Brown and Marine Corps commandant Gen. David Berger, according to The New York Times. Both would differ from Milley’s gregarious leadership style, but while Brown has experience in a key area of operations and satisfies the Biden administration’s focus on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) in public service, Berger has shown the grit to make radical, if difficult, changes necessary for coming great power conflict, according to defense experts and media reports.
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As Republican-led states fight for laws to cut Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives on college campuses, other state legislatures are pushing to enshrine the programs into law, the Chronicle of Higher Education reported.
At least 29 bills have been filed in 17 states to crack down on DEI programs, but states such as New York, Massachusetts and New Jersey are debating legislation that would do the opposite, the Chronicle reported. DEI has become a point of contention as state lawmakers grapple with the role the programs should have on campus, as Democrats argue that the programs help bolster diversity on campuses while Republicans challenge that they stoke division.
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Michigan State University released its 2022-2023 Diversity, Equity and Inclusion report in late March, intended, they say, to update stakeholders on the implementation of more than 200 DEI “action items” previously laid out by the university.
Among the 270 DEI items the university hopes to implement was an initiative to require all undergraduate academic programs to “report on improvements made to its curricula to infuse DEI components” into coursework. Additionally, MSU is moving to “[include] DEI in the reappointment, promotion and tenure process.”
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Leaders of the Pennsylvania State Police emphasized their recruitment efforts as they testified in front of the House Appropriations Committee on Monday.
They also supported Gov. Josh Shapiro’s call to create a dedicated fund, rather than relying on money from the Motor License Fund to support operations.
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A suburban Virginia county near Washington, D.C. is retroactively hiding diversity, equity and inclusion-related materials from the public as a Republican elected official calls attention to its activities.
Prince William County Supervisor Yesli Vega, who lost a closely watched House race in November, posted the “creepy and intrusive” DEI survey sent to county employees after the Office of Equity and Inclusion removed the link she had shared with constituents Feb. 26.
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Monday morning on The Tennessee Star Report, host Leahy welcomed the original all-star panelist Crom Carmichael to the studio for another edition of Crom’s Crommentary.
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William Block, M.D., dean of medicine at East Tennessee State University’s Quillen College of Medicine, recently sent out an email, in which he defined the words “equity” as “the quality of being fair and impartial,” and “woke” as “aware of and actively attentive to important societal facts and issues (especially issues of racial and social justice).” The email is one of several in which Dean appears to be placing the tenets of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) over those of achievement. It is a position that runs counter to recently passed Tennessee state law, raising questions and concerns with state lawmakers.
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The New College of Florida (NCF) Board of Trustees voted Tuesday to disband an office tasked with advancing Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) on campus, the Sarasota Herald-Tribune reported.
The trustees voted to abolish the Office of Outreach and Inclusive Excellence, which prioritized diversity, community outreach and inclusivity, during Tuesday’s board meeting and will offer its four employees new jobs at the college, according to the Tribune. The board also voted to eliminate the use of diversity statements in the hiring process and to ask interim President Richard Corcoran, former state education commissioner, to issue a ban on employee diversity training.
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The Virginia Military Institute continues to face intense pushback from an alumni group that opposes the military school’s ongoing diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.
The activists in recent months upped their efforts by seeking to redirect the institute’s alumni fundraising in an effort to persuade campus leaders to pull back on critical race theory policies and programs.
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Joe Biden issued an executive order Thursday that grants Domestic Policy Advisor Susan Rice power to transform all agencies of the executive branch into a radical “woke DEI cult,” warns America First Legal (AFL). With scant establishment media coverage, Biden issued his executive order that intends to completely make over all domestic federal agencies to an entirely Marxist worldview – without congressional approval.
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Thursday morning on The Tennessee Star Report, host Leahy welcomed RealClearInvestigations contributor Thomas Hackett to the newsmaker line to discuss the emergence of the diversity industrial complex and the struggle to understand the role of diversity officers.
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Pennsylvania state Representative Stephenie Scialabba (R-Cranberry Township) this week proposed legislation banning compulsory diversity courses at state-funded universities.
The Bulter County-based lawmaker mentioned in a memorandum describing her emerging bill that she was impelled to draft it after learning that undergraduates at the University of Pittsburgh are required to “complete one course that is designated as a Diversity course.”
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Little more than a decade ago, DEI was just another arcane acronym, a clustering of three ideas, each to be weighed and evaluated against other societal values. The terms diversity, equity, and inclusion weren’t yet being used in the singular, as one all-inclusive, non-negotiable moral imperative. Nor had they coalesced into a bureaucratic juggernaut running roughshod over every aspect of national life.
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A Tennessee veterinary school engaged in programs to bolster commitment to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI), according to medical watchdog group Do No Harm.
Faculty at Lincoln Memorial University- Richard A. Gillespie College of Veterinary Medicine (LMU CVM) attended a January workshop titled “Inclusivity” to learn about incorporating diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging (DEIB) in the workplace, according to a tip sent to Do No Harm. Its masters program partnered BLEND, a certification program, to train veterinarians in DEIB.
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Live from Music Row, Wednesday morning on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. – host Leahy welcomed all-star panelist Carol Swain in studio to talk about the state of police departments and comment upon the Memphis Police Department’s response to questions about officers personal relations to Tyre Nichols. Leahy: In studio, our very good friend for many years, all-star panelist Carol Swain on the phone right now is Eric, a former police officer here in Nashville who has a question for Carol. Eric, good morning. Caller Eric: Hey. Good morning! Miss Carol, I’m so thankful for you. I just wanted to tell you, I think you do need to be in politics, but you answer your own call. I could go on for hours about the police department. There are many good men and women in that department, but the problem is they’re not allowing the good ones to be in leadership. Let me give you a prime example. When they had the riots and different disturbances all over, and the people were laying in the street, well, I looked at a friend of…
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Republican Florida Governor Ron DeSantis pledged to defund all diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs at public universities during a Tuesday press conference in Bradenton, Florida.
DeSantis outlined several higher education reforms for state public universities including defunding DEI programs, which he referred to as “ideological” and “political filters,” readdressing required courses to teach western civilization and restructure tenure review. Tuesday’s announcement expanded on the administration’s recent work to prevent taxpayer dollars from funding so-called woke initiatives on college campuses.
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During the last few years, most conservatives have become at least dimly aware that leftist ideology, in the guise of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), has infected public education. It’s unlikely, however, that many Americans realize just how far the disease has advanced. It has long since spread beyond a few courses embedded into the social studies curricula of secondary schools and elite colleges. Public school students as young as 9 and 10 years of age effortlessly recite leftist shibboleths even as they descend into functional illiteracy in reading, writing, math, and science.
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Earlier this month, amid howls from the “progressive” Left, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis demanded an accounting of “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI) expenditures from the state’s public colleges and universities.
The results are exactly what you might expect. According to a recent report from Campus Reform, in 2022, Florida institutions spent $28 million on DEI initiatives, more than half of that ($15 million) funded by taxpayers.
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Former Western Kentucky University English instructor Ryan Hall said he was fired after canceling his classes in protest of his school’s political bias to embrace and enforce diversity, equity and inclusion above free speech and academic freedom and discourse.
Hall, who describes himself as a liberal who has never voted for a conservative, said he risked his two-decade career in academia to defend the principles of classical liberalism the university “abandoned” in its pursuit of a DEI dogma.
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Wednesday morning on The Tennessee Star Report, host Leahy welcomed all-star panelist Carol Swain in studio to discuss her recent op-ed which tackles the truth about teachers’ unions greed, DEI, and induced suffering of America’s students.
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Prestigious business schools across the country are adding more opportunities to study diversity equity and inclusion (DEI) and environmental, social, and governance (ESG), a trend that’s expected to continue, professors told the Daily Caller News Foundation.
ESG prompts investors to consider factors such as environmental impact and social awareness when making investments, while DEI is a push to increase diversity and inclusion initiatives in institutions such as schools and the workplace. Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn), and Bentley University all offer courses in both subjects as they grow more prominent.
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Republican House Speaker Paul Renner of Florida requested Thursday that state public colleges and universities submit documentation about the “prevalence” of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) offices and programs on campus, Florida’s Voice reported.
The requests were delivered to every president’s office in the Florida College System and the State University System, according to Florida’s Voice. The request furthers a demand from Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis on Dec. 28 which required colleges and universities to submit a report detailing the amount of state funding used on DEI and critical race theory programs.
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The University of Pennsylvania will spend $890,000 in the next six years with the goal of “increasing inclusivity in teaching and learning” in the STEM fields thanks to a $385,000 grant from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
The funding “will support a rigorous examination of STEM education at the undergraduate level,” according to a university news release.
Penn officials committed an additional $385,000 to the initiative. Penn is just one of 104 schools who received the six-year grants from HHMI under their “Inclusive Excellence 3 initiative,” according to science research foundation’s website.
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The University of Michigan (UM) spends more than $18 million annually to support its diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) staff, according to an analysis of public salary records by UM emeritus professor Mark Perry.
UM pays a total of $18,120,242 to support more than 142 staff members who work to promote DEI initiatives on campus during the 2022-2023 school year, according to data analyzed by Perry. The total equals the amount it would take to cover the cost of in-state tuition for 1,075 students, he told the Daily Caller News Foundation.
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Florida colleges and universities are required to submit information detailing how they use state resources to support diversity, equity and inclusion programming, according to a memo from the state’s Office of Budget and Policy obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation.
All colleges and universities within the Florida College System and the State University System must submit a report explaining how they use state-given resources to provide diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) and critical race theory (CRT) programs, according to the memo, which was sent by Office of Budget and Policy Director Chris Spencer to Florida Commissioner of Education Manny Diaz and State University System of Florida Chancellor Raymond Rodrigues. Florida state law requires oversight over higher education curricula, requiring officials to “identify the degree programs offered by public postsecondary educational institutions.”
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Yale University academic departments have implemented efforts in diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI).
Academic departments including anesthesiology, history, and mathematics have diversity statements or dedicated pages for diversity on their websites. The Yale Math Statement on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB) says that “the department has convened a standing Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB) committee that meets regularly.”
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The University of Iowa Office of the Provost trained its Faculty Search Committees to interview candidates through diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) lenses, documents obtained by Do No Harm through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and shared with the Daily Caller News Foundation revealed.
A training given to the Department of Pediatrics at UI’s medical school broke down different types of implicit biases and provided a list of practices committee members could follow to limit bias in hiring decisions, which included having a diverse committee that is trained and use “accountability strategies,” spending 15-20 minutes on each candidate and evaluating through standard criteria, the documents show. Committee members were also taught to “grade” prospective candidates after an interview rather than use a ranking system and to evaluate whether they made biased decisions if “women and people of color” were not advancing.
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The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center detailed in a survey how it incorporates diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) into its hiring and admissions practices, according to materials obtained in a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request by Do No Harm, an education watchdog group.
The survey, obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation, was administered by the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) and asked the school to detail how it commits itself to DEI standards in categories including leadership and mission, faculty and staff, students and communication and engagement. It shows the center has made diversity “central” to its mission as “a driver of institutional excellence.”
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Chattanooga’s Chamber of Commerce is searching for a replacement for its “woke” CEO and has hired a consulting firm to assist it.
“The executive committee of the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce board of directors has selected the consulting firm Waverly Partners to help in the search for a new chamber chief executive to succeed Christy Gillenwater, who announced last month she is leaving the Chattanooga chamber after five years to head the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce,” the Times Free Press reported.
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A Connecticut boarding school is encouraging their faculty to acknowledge their whiteness and pledge political change, according to the school website.
Taft Boarding School in Watertown, Connecticut, has a “Taft Anti-Bias, Anti-Racism Caucus” (TABARC) as a part of their commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion, for faculty to increase their “anti-bias, anti-racist literacy,” accordingto the school website. The group aims to acknowledge that they are “white,” affirm they are “anti-racist” and “pledge to caucus for personal and political change.”
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The Biden administration announced a $2.8 billion investment in U.S.-based battery manufacturing Wednesday that contributed to the administration’s commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility (DEIA) initiatives.
The administration selected 20 companies to receive awards from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, signed into law in November 2021, with projects evaluated by their ability to “contribute meaningfully” to the administration’s Justice40 initiative, which sets a target of 40% of all federal clean energy investments benefitting “disadvantaged and underrepresented communities,” the Department of Energy (DOE) announced Wednesday.
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The president and CEO of Chattanooga’s Chamber of Commerce, credited with spreading woke ideology during her time as the chamber’s leader, is leaving Chattanooga to take the same role in Oklahoma City.
Christy Gillenwater’s work “led to hiring a newly established Vice President of Diversity and Inclusive Growth as well as establishing the CEO Pledge for Racial Equity, a commitment by CEOs to intentionally enhance their efforts to achieve equity of opportunity within organizations and the broader Chattanooga community,” according to The Chattanoogan.
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Thursday morning on The Tennessee Star Report, host Leahy welcomed all-star panelist, Carol Swain in studio to discuss the mechanics of her Real Unity Training Solutions company and how they equip experienced and new school board members to understand the law and communicate with parents and teachers to perform their jobs more effectively.
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An assistant principal of Neighborhood Charter Schools in Harlem with the New York City Department of Education revealed in a Project Veritas (PV) undercover video that he asks a “very specific” question of prospective hires in the area of “Diversity-Equity-Inclusion (DEI),” and “if people don’t answer that question right, they are an automatic Not Hire.”
In this third episode of PV’s education series titled “The Secret Curriculum,” Todd Soper is heard telling the undercover journalist that his teachers are expected to be fully indoctrinated in DEI concepts which, as parents have discovered, are central to Critical Race Theory (CRT).
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As part of a statement released on Tuesday, The National Association of Scholars (NAS) released a new report examining the implementation of the Diversity Action Plans at the University of Tennessee (UT).
The Anatomy of a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Takeover: A Case Study of the University of Tennessee “finds that the University of Tennessee’s series of plans further entrench the dominance of diversity, equity, and inclusion, espousing an ideology that makes narrow identity categories a central learning objective.”
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The Gwinnett County Chamber of Commerce (GCC) will continue its flirtation with the political left by hosting a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) summit next month.
“Exposure to diversity alters the way individuals think by promoting creativity and innovation, as well as decision-making and problem-solving skills,” says an explainer for one of the panels at the session. “You will learn what these experts, educators, and executives are doing to develop a more inclusive mindset.”
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University of Minnesota, Twin Cities has sponsored a diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) project tailored to first-year students.
The Gopher Equity Project is a “campus-wide collaboration” that incorporates DEI as an “online module for all undergraduate students” with “follow-up discussions in first-year courses or campus-wide Discussion Groups, and a website with additional resources.”
All undergraduate students are offered and encouraged to take trainings that teach “concepts about equity, power, privilege, oppression, and identity.” In order to transition to UMN’s campus, “first-year students take the online training” and “will have follow-up conversations in their first-year college courses.”
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A report by an organization that tracks Critical Race Theory (CRT) in schools says that 23 of the top 25 medical schools at universities across the countries have some form of CRT program.
The University of Michigan Medical School is among them.
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Purdue University announced recently that it intends to hire 40 new faculty to “diversify the racial makeup” of its campus.
The move is part of the Indiana school’s $75 million Equity Task Force strategy, a five-year project.
Purdue’s website lists 14 open positions and explains that the first cluster hire will focus on the fields of “Public Health, Health Policy, and Health Equity.”
Andy Sayles, the vice president of Purdue University’s Turning Point USA chapter, told Campus Reform that the amount of money the school is spending on the initiative is “alarming.”
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The newest class of cadets at the United States Air Force Academy, as part of their education, are being forced to watch a video that is supportive of the far-left domestic terrorist organization Black Lives Matter, Fox News reports.
The video in question portrays a fictional situation where a mixed-race student named Jose, who has a Nigerian mother and a Mexican father, is pressured into attending a Black Lives Matter rally on his campus by two of his friends. A third friend tries to convince him to not go, instead suggesting that “all lives matter” is a better slogan, since “black lives matter” would suggest to Jose that his mother’s life matters more than his father’s.
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Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Executive Officer promoted critical race theory over Juneteenth weekend. The DEI head, Ashford Hughes, encouraged his followers to read “Critical Race Theory: the Key Writings That Formed the Movement.” Among the co-authors of the 1995 book is Kimberlé Crenshaw, a scholar that helped found and popularize critical race theory.
“This Juneteenth weekend I hope we can increase the debate around what Critical Race Theory actually IS by reading the scholarly works that have been written by leaders of the theory for over 30 plus years,” wrote Hughes. “This book should be on your shelf whether you oppose or support [it].”
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A Shelby County Schools (SCS) equity audit revealed that Black students had higher graduation rates than their White and Hispanic peers for the past three years. Even when broken down by gender, both Black males and females graduated at higher rates than their White and Hispanic counterparts, respectively. The Shelby County Board of Education reviewed this information on Tuesday. The University of Memphis’ Center for Research in Educational Policy (CREC) conducted the audit, relying on data from SCS and the Tennessee Department of Education (TNDOE).
SCS Equity Officer Michael Lowe gave a presentation on the audit during the Tuesday board meeting. He noted that SCS didn’t actually receive the white paper of the entire audit report. Instead, the presentation was based on CREC’s executive summary of the report. The Tennessee Star requested the full audit report from Shelby County Board of Education Chair Miska Clay Bibbs. She didn’t respond by press time.
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