Tag: Equity

Famous College Ranker Overhauls System After Law Schools Pull Out Due to Equity Concerns

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U.S. News & World Report is modifying its law school ranking system after several top schools pulled out of the rankings altogether, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The ranker will give dean, faculty, lawyer and judge “reputational surveys” less weight and will no longer consider per-student expenditures which critics have said favor the wealthiest schools during the ranking process, according to the WSJ. The announcement comes after top law schools Yale, Harvard, Georgetown, Columbia, the University of California, Berkeley and Stanford pulled out of the rankings, saying the report hurts schools that admit students with lower test scores because they could not afford tutoring and academic services.

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Virginia High School Withheld Academic Awards for Equity Reasons, Parents Claim

Just the News

Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Fairfax County, Virginia, reportedly delayed notifying its students of their receipt of certain academic achievement awards until after the deadlines for early selection at some colleges and universities, which many parents have alleged was done as part of the school district’s alleged efforts to create “equal outcomes for every student, without exception.”

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‘Drag Queen Story Hour’ Public Libraries Agree to Allow Actor Kirk Cameron to Hold Children’s Faith-Based Story Hour Only After He Threatens Lawsuit

Susan Berry, PhD

Actor and author Kirk Cameron announced he scored two victories recently when two public libraries that had hosted a “drag queen story hour” for children finally agreed to allow him to hold a children’s faith-based story hour.

The libraries denied him their facilities at first, but then reconsidered once he threatened court action.

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Chattanooga Chamber of Commerce Hires Consulting Firm to Find Replacement for ‘Woke’ Outgoing CEO

Peter D'Abrosca

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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Yale Law School Withdraws from School Rankings List in the Name of ‘Equity’

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Yale Law School has pulled out of a national school ranking, calling the program “flawed” because it hurts schools that admit students with lower test scores, according to a press release.

Yale Law School is removing itself from the U.S. News & World Report after consistently ranking first because it fails to reward schools which help students who come from “low-income backgrounds,” according to a press release. Yale Law School Dean Heather Gerken said the rankings discriminate against schools that accept students with lower grades because they could not afford tutoring and academic services.

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Kamala Harris Says Disaster Relief Should Be ‘Based on Equity’

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Vice President Kamala Harris said Friday that aid distributed in the wake of natural disasters like Hurricane Ian should be “based on equity.”

“It is our lowest-income communities and communities of color that are most impacted by these extreme conditions and impacted by issues not of their own making—” Harris said before being interrupted by Priyanka Chopra Jonas at a Democratic National Committee Women’s Leadership Forum.

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New Department of Defense Equity Chief Has History of Anti-White Statements

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A new diversity hire at the Biden Administration’s Department of Defense (DOD) has a long and documented history of racist statements against White people on her social media.

As reported by the New York Post, Kelisa Wing is an Army veteran and the new chief of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) at the DOD’s Education Activity. Her Twitter account in particular contains numerous anti-White statements, including her declaration in June of 2020 that she was “exhausted with these white folx in these [professional development] sessions.”

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University of Minnesota Professors Call Abortion Restrictions an ‘Assault on Racial Equity’

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Two professors and one graduate researcher at the University of Minnesota have called the Supreme Court’s ruling on Dobbs v. Jackson — which overturned the constitutional right to an abortion — a “direct assault on efforts to improve racial equity in health care.”

Published in the New England Journal of Medicine on Wednesday, the article, titled “Abortion Access as a Racial Justice Issue,” argues that lawmakers and health care workers ought to treat restrictions on legal abortion as “fundamentally a racial justice issue,” the Star Tribune first reported.

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White House Equity Initiative Celebrates ‘B.L.A.C.K. to School’ Event to Recruit and Retain Black K-12 Teachers

Susan Berry, PhD

The White House Initiative on Advancing Educational Equity, Excellence, and Economic Opportunity for Black Americans is featuring a “roundtable” event that seeks to promote K-12 public school systems that recruit and retain black teachers.

The invitation for the event, scheduled for Tuesday, August 23, says “B.L.A.C.K. to School” seeks to support “Black school, district, and state educational leaders and creating K12 systems that effectively recruit and retain Black teachers.”

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Maine Democrat Governor’s ‘Climate Council’ Recommends Paying ‘Disadvantaged’ People to Attend Its Meetings

Susan Berry, PhD

The Equity Subcommittee of Maine Governor Janet Mills’ (D) Climate Council is recommending a plan to pay “disadvantaged” and “overburdened” state residents to attend its meetings because, according to its ideology, victims of systemic discrimination suffer greater impact from climate change than average Maine residents.

The Equity Subcommittee’s report, released in February, claims that some individuals in Maine, particularly those who are victims of “historical and systemic discrimination, underrepresentation, and isolation” are “more vulnerable to the effects of climate change than others.”

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Commentary: The Rainbow Fish Generation

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Perhaps the most risible, widely acclaimed children’s book in the history of children’s books is The Rainbow Fish. This book, featuring a beautiful fish with shiny scales on the cover, made it into home libraries of children everywhere. It tells the story of a fish who is special because his scales are shiny and brightly colored. Every other boring, no-talent, plainly scaled fish envies the lovely and gifted Rainbow Fish and harasses him. The solution? The Rainbow Fish gives away all that made him special in order to earn their friendship and now these little commie crappies each have one scale but remain ugly, envious redistributionists.

The result? Equity. Everyone felt better because no one was great. A bunch of mediocre fishes swim around with pink hair or a nose ring and a big chip on their no-talent shoulders.

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Youngkin and Virginia Department of Education Release Report on Virginia’s Achievement Gaps

Eric Burk

RICHMOND, Virginia – Governor Glenn Youngkin’s education administration released a report on the heading of Virginia’s education. The release of the report is a major moment for Youngkin, who came to power riding a wave of parental frustration with education.

“Today is a moment in time for all of us to recognize we must change direction,” Youngkin said in the press conference. “We are not serving all of Virginia’s children and we must. We want to be the best in education. We should be the best in education. And the data that was compiled ans shared with you today suggests that we have a lot of work to do to be the best.”

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‘Gopher Equity Project’ Targets First-Year Students with Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Discussions, Books, Podcasts

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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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Viewpoint Diversity ‘Strangled’ as Tennessee Colleges Promote ‘Leftist’ Ideologies, Report Says

Peter D'Abrosca
Girl student standing and holding books in hand in a classroom

A group dedicated to studying what it calls “viewpoint diversity” in public universities issued a Monday press release and report saying that while conservative views are smothered on Tennessee’s college campuses, far-left ideologies are thriving. 

“Academics and administrators are no longer merely pushing progressive politics but transforming universities into institutions dedicated to political activism and indoctrinating students into a hateful ideology. We call this ideological bent, Critical Social Justice [CSJ],” according to a report published by Velocity Convergence. 

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School District in Washington State Holding Racially Segregated Superintendent Search Meetings for Parents

Susan Berry, PhD

A Washington school district plans to hold racially segregated meetings for parents and guardians who wish to participate in the search for a new superintendent.

As afternoon radio host Jason Rantz reported at MYNorthwest Wednesday, the Issaquah School District’s (ISD) weekly bulletin for February 7 listed its “upcoming events,” including separate meetings for “Parents/Guardians of Color.”

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Politically Incorrect Professor Faces Firing After Lawmakers Show Up on Law School’s Doorstep

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University of Pennsylvania professor Amy Wax

University of Toronto psychologist Jordan Peterson, who famously opposed Canadian gender pronoun mandates, disclosed Wednesday that he had resigned as a tenured professor years earlier than planned.

In a lengthy and impassioned account of his decision for the National Post, the bestselling author argued that the “radical leftist Trinity” of diversity, inclusion and equity (DIE) is reducing his students to their race and ignoring their merit. He faulted colleagues for “going along with the DIE activists.”

Meanwhile, an Ivy League law professor who is even more politically incorrect than Peterson may not have a choice in whether she keeps her job of two decades.

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Commentary: The Only Culture War That Truly Matters

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The term “culture war” has been a staple of American politics and public debates for decades, the latest iterations framed by the likes of abortion, marriage equality, and climate change. However, such issues don’t motivate voters as much as people on the extremes tend to believe.

You saw it in Virginia’s recent election, with exit polls showing that 34% of voters say the economy/jobs is the most important issue facing the state. Education is the second-most important issue, and with it the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic that closed schools — contrary to the wishes of many parents. Critical race theory was important insofar as it related to education and the say that parents should have regarding what’s taught in local schools.

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In Wisconsin, Questions About ‘Equity,’ and Race Eligibility for New Coronavirus Pills Remain Unanswered

The Center Square

There are no real explanations as to how race and “equity” will come into play in deciding who gets the new coronavirus antiviral pills.

Wisconsin’s Department of Health Services earlier this month said “equity” would be at the heart of the state’s strategy to distribute the new pills from Pfizer and Merck.

“We are committed to distributing these pills equitably across the state, and access will increase as Wisconsin receives more allocations from the federal government,” DHS said in a statement.

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$75 Million Equity Strategy Includes 40 New Faculty Hires to ‘Diversify’ Campus

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Purdue University

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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Ohio State University Dodges Questions on Multi-Million Dollar Diversity Bureaucracy

Peter D'Abrosca
Ben Johnson

Ohio State University (OSU) was not very forthcoming Tuesday after the American Enterprise Institute’s (AEI) Mark J. Perry posted a report detailing the school’s spending on diversity, equity, and inclusion bureaucrats. 

According to the report, Perry claims that OSU has 132 staffers in administration roles focused on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), costing the Ohio taxpayer more than $13 million per year. 

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Consultants Are Raking in Millions Promoting Critical Race Theory in Schools, According to Conservative Advocacy Group

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Diversity, equity and inclusion consultants are getting paid millions of dollars by public schools “to push divisive ideologies” to transform American schools “from institutions of education to places of woke indoctrination,” according to a conservative education advocacy group. 

Parents Defending Education (PDE) spent four months compiling data for its “Consultant Report Card” released Thursday, which investigates 543 public school districts and agencies across all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

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Goldwater Institute Issues Report Showing Arizona School Boards Are Being Forced to Fund Critical Race Theory at Taxpayer Expense

Rachel Alexander

The watchdog Goldwater Institute has discovered that the Arizona School Boards Association is controlling much of the teaching within Arizona’s K-12 public schools, which includes Critical Race Theory. Schools are locked into the agenda, because if they try to opt out, the ASBA will accuse them of copyright infringement for using their own previously adopted policies or replicating those of other public bodies.

According to a new report the Goldwater Institute put out about the problem, the ASBA uses the messaging of “equity,” asserting that it is not CRT. But “retreating to the less revolutionary sounding term ‘equity’ reflects a distinction without a difference.” The purpose is still the same, “replacing the principle of legal equality with practices and government mandates forcing people to treat their fellow Americans differently based on race — inflicting racist policies on people today in order to balance out the racism of centuries past.”

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Department of Labor to Award $10 Million to Advance ‘Gender Proportionality’ in Mexico

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This week’s Golden Horseshoe is awarded to the Department of Labor for a $10 million grant to promote “gender equity” in the workplace in Mexico.

In its grant notice, the DOL’s Bureau of International Labor Affairs (ILAB) announces that the goal of the project is to “improve gender equity in the Mexican workplace by supporting actions to increase the number of women in union leadership, strengthen protections, address harassment at work and augment wages for women.”

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New Michigan State University Diversity Plan Would Require Two Equity and Inclusion Courses to Graduate

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Michigan State University recently published a 77-page diversity, equity and inclusion framework that lists dozens of goals to infuse the progressive ideology into every aspect of campus life, from curriculum to hiring practices to funding priorities.

Among the recommendations is to implement “a minimum of two DEI-related requirements in the formal curriculum for undergraduate students,” the document states.

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Oregon Progressives Lower Academic Expectations for Minority Students in Name of ‘Equity’

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Oregon’s high school graduation rate is on the rise. But maybe not for the right reasons.

The onset of the coronavirus pandemic prompted state guidelines that essentially mandated a no-fail policy for high school seniors whose course work became remote during the latter half of the 2020 school year. Now, state graduation rates will likely remain artificially inflated, thanks to a new law that will allow Oregon students to get their diplomas without proving proficiency in core academic skills.

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Knoxville City Council to Appoint Members to African American Equity Restoration Task Force

Corinne Murdock

Knoxville City Council will appoint its first members to the African American Equity Restoration Task Force during its meeting next Tuesday. The task force will consist of the following members: George Underwood, Enkeshi El-Amin, Brandon Hardin, Regina Olum, Anderson Olds, Dave Miller, Deborah Porter, Matthew Best, Tanisha Fitzgerald Baker, Bill Lyons, Stanley Taylor, and Gwen McKenzie. 

These members were selected from applicants that qualified as business, community, financial, educational, faith, health care, youth, and city leaders. According to the council documents, the task force will determine its organizational and leadership structure during its first meeting. 

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Parents, Educators Dispute over Critical Race Theory, Wit and Wisdom Curriculum at Metro Nashville Public Schools Board Meeting

Corinne Murdock

Parents and educators debated over the Wit and Wisdom curriculum and critical race theory during the Metro Nashville Public Schools’ (MNPS) board meeting on Tuesday.

The room was filled with individuals, 60 of which had signed up to speak. Not all of the public commentary concerned the Wit and Wisdom curriculum or critical race theory – but the dialogue that did focus on those two topics was equally, deeply divided. A total of 10 individuals spoke in favor of critical race theory and the Wit and Wisdom curriculum; 3 spoke against it.

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Commentary: Research Used to Justify California’s ‘Equity’ Math Doesn’t Add Up

RealClearWire
Black Pen on Equations

The push to create “equity” and more “social justice” in public schools in America’s largest state rests on this basic premise: “We reject ideas of natural gifts and talents,” declares the current draft of the California Math Framework, which also states that it rejects “the cult of genius.”

Informed by that fundamental idea, the 800-page Framework calls for the elimination of accelerated classes and gifted programs for high-achieving students until at least the 11th grade.

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Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg to Visit Arizona on Thursday

Corinne Murdock
Pete Buttigieg

U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) Secretary Pete Buttigieg will visit Phoenix on Thursday to discuss the Biden Administration’s $1.2 trillion infrastructure plan. The Arizona Sun Times inquired with the DOT for further details of Buttigieg’s visit. They didn’t respond by press time.

Buttigieg is scheduled to host a press conference at 10 am MST. During the press conference, Buttigieg is expected to address the infrastructure plan’s impact on tribal communities. In April, Buttigieg promised that tribal communities would benefit from the infrastructure plan’s investments into roads, broadband, water, higher education, and transportation.

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Metro Nashville Public School Leaders Hosted Panel on ‘Antiracist Teaching, Learning, and Leading in Classroom’

Corinne Murdock
Screencap from the school board panel

On Saturday, several Metro Nashville Public School (MNPS) leaders were featured in a panel discussing anti-racist teaching, learning, and leading in the classroom. The Educators Cooperative (EDCO) hosted leaders Christiane Buggs, MNPS Board Chair, and Ashford Hughes, MNPS Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Executive Officer as two of their four keynote panelists.

Buggs and Hughes were part of a larger EDCO conference, titled “Keeping What Works After Trying It All: A Celebration of Educator Brilliance.” Their panel specifically focused on a follow-up to the EDCO series, “Antiracist Teaching, Learning, and Leading from the Classroom.” The goal of their keynote panel on Saturday was to review educator progress on assumptions and practices that either build up or detract from culturally responsive classrooms. EDCO identified Buggs and Hughes as leaders in equitable education.

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Vanderbilt University Joined Consortium to Study Legacy of Slavery, Racial Injustice

Corinne Murdock

Vanderbilt University announced last month that it joined the Universities Studying Slavery (USS) consortium to further fight racial injustice and foster inclusivity on campus. According to the USS website, consortium membership means Vanderbilt University will probe its history for slavery or racism.

Chancellor Daniel Diermeier praised Vanderbilt University’s decision to further engage in introspection on its systemic inequity and racism.

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Chandler Offering $10,000 in Grants for Diversity Education

Corinne Murdock

The city of Chandler, Arizona is offering grants of up to $1,000 each for anyone that can offer diversity education in its K-12 schools. A total of $10,000 may be disbursed for this initiative. Eligible applicants for this annual grant range from individual teachers to schools, nonprofit organizations, and community groups. 

According to the city guidelines, proposals from diversity education projects or programs in K-12 schools will receive first priority. The proposals must include one or more elements of diversity the city listed: age, socio-economic status, culture, disability, ethnicity, gender, national origin, race, religion, or sexual orientation. 

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University of Memphis Lectures on Importance of Critical Race Theory

Corinne Murdock
Dr. Walls speaking on a panel of the importance of CRT

The University of Memphis (UofM) Benjamin L. Hooks Institute recently hosted a lecture on the importance of critical race theory. The speakers maintained that critical race theory was a vital, necessary part of all levels of education because it offers the true history and understanding of this country.

The virtual discussion streamed June 22 with panelists Dr. Kami Anderson, a communications professor; Dr. Wallis Baxter III, a pastor and professor of African American literature at Gettysburg College; Dr. Le’Trice Donaldson, University of Wisconsin-Stout assistant history professor in applied social sciences; and Daniel Kiel, a constitutional, education, and civil rights and property law professor at Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law.

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Arizona State University Debuts New Degree in Social Justice Activism

Corinne Murdock

Arizona State University (ASU) debuted a new undergraduate degree geared toward social justice activism, called community development. The course description describes education on the basics of activism, citing concepts like diversity, inclusivity, sustainability, equity, and social and environmental justice. If students enjoy studying community development, they may also earn a graduate degree in it.

“The BA program in community development equips students with tools to collaborate with, empower and educate diverse community constituents by drawing on grassroots and inclusive frameworks such as sustainable development, social and environmental justice, participatory democracy, social and economic equity and social accounting,” reads the course description.

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Tennessee Attorney Sues School District for Targeting, Segregating White Teachers in ‘Antiracist Training’ and Calling Them ‘Racist’ If They Don’t Comply

Corinne Murdock
Braden Boucek

Tennessee attorney Braden Boucek is representing a teacher in a newly-announced lawsuit against a school district for alleged egregious civil rights violations. Boucek is the director of litigation at the Southeastern Legal Foundation (SLF), who filed on behalf of the teacher on Tuesday.

The school district, Evanston-Skokie School District 65 (District 65) in Illinois, reportedly requires teachers to undergo “antiracist training” within 2 years. As evidenced by the lawsuit, the training instructs teachers to accept that white individuals are “loud, authoritative, and controlling;” understand that being “less white” is “less racially oppressive;” acknowledge that “white identity is inherently racist;” denounce “white privilege;” and participate in “privilege walks” where they must stand in line and separate themselves according to statements relating to their race or color. After training, the district mandates teachers to relay this information to students. If teachers show any semblance of disagreement with these teachings or directives, then the district labels them as racist.

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Mesa Public Schools Considering a ‘More Equitable’ Dress Code Policy Without ‘Hate Speech,’ Board Hasn’t Shared Details of Regulations

Corinne Murdock
Mesa High School AZ entrance

Mesa Public Schools (MPS) is looking to adopt more equitable changes to their dress code policy – details of which the governing board hasn’t shared. The MPS Governing Board didn’t respond to request for comment from The Arizona Sun Times by press time – their communications staff told The Sun Times that district offices closed on Friday.

This week, MPS introduced a revamped policy that specifies certain, explicit restrictions, such as an outright ban on clothing that depicts “hate speech,” and limits any enforcement that might “reinforce or increase marginalization or repression of any group,” such as gender identity or expression and body type or size.

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Critical Race Theory Presented Before Board of America’s Oldest Military Academy

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In a recent livestream, a Virginia state official gave a presentation on why the far-left and anti-White teachings of Critical Race Theory should be encouraged at the oldest military academy in the United States, the Daily Caller reports.

Janice Underwood, who holds the title of Virginia’s “Chief Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Officer,” spoke before a virtual gathering of the Board of Visitors at the Virginia Military Institute (VMI). In the lecture, Underwood promoted the racist writings of Robin DiAngelo, the author of the book “White Fragility.” She explicitly called for such “uncomfortable” ideas to be promoted at VMI, and said that such race-based thinking should be incorporated into “every single course” at the academy.

“Discomfort is to be expected,” Underwood continued, but encouraged the faculty to “lean into that discomfort. Walk towards the discomfort, not away.” She added that students at the academy must “engage in self-reflection and engage their own racial engagement and biases.”

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Metro Nashville Public Schools’ Diversity, Equity, Inclusion Head Promotes Critical Race Theory Openly

Corinne Murdock
Ashford Hughes Sr.

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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