The <a href="https://www.folger.edu/critical-race-conversations">Folger Shakespeare Library</a> in Washington, D.C. hosted a forum of university professors on Thursday, during which the speakers leveled critiques of the Enlightenment and ancient philosophy for having racist foundations.&nbsp;Charles Mills, a professor at the City University of New York, blamed Emmanuel Kant &quot;in particular for modern racism.&quot; Mills also stated that &ldquo;Aristotle should be seen as sort of pioneering racist thinking of the western tradition.&rdquo;&nbsp;<a href="https://www.campusreform.org/article?id=17660">[RELATED: New York college diversity director admits to using Critical Race Theory on campus]</a>Robert Bernasconi, a Pennsylvania State University professor, stated that philosophy is &quot;among the whitest of all the disciplines of the liberal arts today.&rdquo; He also lamented about how many philosophers identify as Kantians, which he compared to saying &ldquo;my philosophy is I&rsquo;m a white guy, so I&rsquo;m going to do white guy philosophy.&rdquo;&nbsp;Bernasconi then discussed the origins of freedom which comes &ldquo;from the Greeks which was a slave society. It&#39;s not surprising that when the conception of freedom is revived, it again relies on a slave society.&quot;Discussions of these philosophers were tied to the professors&#39; comments on former President Donald Trump and his administrations policies, which Mills viewed as a return to historical forms of racism.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.campusreform.org/article?id=15775">[RELATED: OSU students furious after university reports Black-on-White &#39;hate crime&#39;]</a>Mills stated during the event that &quot;``You could say of course with the Trump years we had a sort of return to the overt racism of the past.&rdquo; Mills further commented that they need to &ldquo;explore the relation between race, and the crucial array of concepts that are in a sort of definitive political philosophy.&quot;The June 17 event was part of a series at Folger called &quot;<a href="https://www.folger.edu/critical-race-conversations">Critical Race Conversations</a>.&quot; The library states on its website that &ldquo;Racial injustice has been and continues to be systemic and damaging. Today, premodern critical race studies scholars are offering new insights into the prehistory of modern racialized thinking and racism. They are helping to create anti-racist spaces.&rdquo;&nbsp;

Shakespeare Library hosted the conversation between four professors working in the field of philosophy, which they characterized as racist.

Professors accuse Aristotle, Kant, Trump of racism in roundtable discussion on philosophy

Conservative and Liberal Student Organizations:Conservative Organizations:&nbsp;College Republicans and Young Americans for FreedomLiberal Organizations:&nbsp;College Democrats, Students Demand Action, Davidson Young Democratic Socialists of America, Planned Parenthood Generational Action, Platform Women, Queers &amp; Allies, Queer Mentorship Program, You Are Not A Stranger HereOpenSecrets Data on Davidson College Employee Political Donations:99.52% of Davidson employee donations during the 2020 election cycle have been towards Democratic campaigns, while only 0.48% of employee donations have been to Republican candidates, according to data from <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/davidson-college/recipients?id=D000069184" style=" text-align: start;">OpenSecrets</a>.Foundation for Individual Rights in Education Rating:Davidson College has a <a href="https://www.thefire.org/schools/davidson-college/">red light</a> rating. According to FIRE, &quot;A red light university has at least one policy that both clearly and substantially restricts freedom of speech.&quot;<img src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/campus.reform//17676hldpvDemocrat.jpg" class="fr-fic fr-dii">Stories by Campus Reform about Davidson College:<a href="https://www.campusreform.org/article?id=16157">Davidson College spends $1 million telling White churches how not to be racist</a>Davidson received a $1 million endowment grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. to promote racial justice in white dominated churches.Stories about professors at Davidson College:<a href="https://www.campusreform.org/article?id=11209">Davidson prof to let students pick their grades</a>A Davidson professor announced a policy that would let students pick their grade at the beginning of the semester and receive a workload based upon that selection.

CAMPUS PROFILE: Davidson College

Dr. Elliot Stern, president of Saddleback College, a public community college in California, issued an open letter <a href="https://www.saddleback.edu/Message-President-Stern-Commemorating-Juneteenth">commemorating</a> Juneteenth that also voiced support for Critical Race Theory. &nbsp;Amid thoughtful comments on the historical significance of Juneteenth and the importance of commemorating Emancipation, Stern equated the ongoing backlash against Critical Race Theory to the &quot;Red Scare&quot; of the 1950s:&nbsp;<blockquote>&quot;Politicians create bogeymen of scholars of race study and are passing laws to prevent schools from teaching widely acclaimed scholarship,&quot; he wrote. &quot;Critical Race Theory is the new Communism.&quot;</blockquote><a href="https://www.campusreform.org/article?id=17660">[RELATED: New York college diversity director admits to using Critical Race Theory on campus]</a>If Critical Race Theory is &quot;widely acclaimed scholarship,&quot; as the letter argues, it is also widely criticized scholarship. The New York Times&#39; 1619 Project, a text often used to teach Critical Race Theory, has been <a href="https://www.campusreform.org/?ID=15720">criticized</a> by academics for including apparent historical falsehoods.&nbsp;Additionally, Campus Reform&nbsp;<a href="https://www.campusreform.org/article?id=17673">reported</a> yesterday that &quot;a survivor of Mao Zedong&#39;s Communist regime told her school board that the tactics behind Critical Race Theory seem &#39;very familiar.&#39;&rdquo;&nbsp;Campus Reform&nbsp;is <a href="https://www.campusreform.org/article?id=17653">tracking&nbsp;</a>state bills and laws that block Critical Race Theory, and not a single one bans the teaching of history of race in the United States. Few bills mention Critical Race Theory by name, but instead stipulate that no student may be made to feel superior or inferior to another on the basis of race or sex.<a href="https://www.campusreform.org/article?id=17619">[RELATED: Critical Race Theory motivates summer reading list, &#39;cluster hire&#39; at ASU]</a>The reaction to President Biden proclaiming Juneteenth a national holiday has been almost exclusively positive from the American right. The Republican National Committee <a href="https://gop.com/rnc-celebrates-juneteenth-2021?">announced</a> that it &quot;enthusiastically welcome[s] its adoption as our newest national holiday after President Trump called for it last year.&quot; Out of 211 Republicans in the House, only 14 voted against making Juneteenth a holiday.&nbsp;Campus Reform&nbsp;reached out to Saddleback College for comment; this piece will be updated to reflect any response.Follow the author of this article on Twitter:&nbsp;<a href="http://twitter.com/AngelaLMorabito" style=" text-align: start;">@AngelaLMorabito</a>

Critical Race Theory has received widespread opposition while Juneteenth enjoys bipartisan support as a federal holiday. 

College President: 'Critical Race Theory is the new Communism'

SMITH: Yes, there should be a negative stigma around sex work, it's undignified and empty

As parents across the United States denounce Critical Race Theory in their school districts, Ibram X. Kendi declared that opponents of the framework are merely opposed to activists identifying their racism.This spring, Critical Race Theory has faced opposition from parents of diverse backgrounds not wanting CRT curriculum in schools.&nbsp;In one viral video, a Black mother told the Florida Board of Education that Critical Race Theory is inherently prejudiced against her children.<blockquote>Fla. mom, Keisha King, to the State Board of Education: Critical Race Theory &quot;does not teach the truth, unless you believe that whites are better than blacks ... Telling my child, or any child, that they are in a permanently oppressed status because they are black is racist&quot; <a href="https://t.co/DHJFONDXxx">pic.twitter.com/DHJFONDXxx</a>&mdash; Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) <a href="https://twitter.com/tomselliott/status/1403297459992944642?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 11, 2021</a></blockquote>&ldquo;CRT and its outworking today is a teaching that there is a hierarchy in society where white male heterosexual able-bodied people are deemed the oppressor and anyone else outside of that status is oppressed,&rdquo; she declared. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know about you, but telling my child or any child that they are in a permanent oppressed status in America because they are black is racist, and saying that white people are automatically above me, my children or any child is racist as well.&rdquo;<a href="https://www.campusreform.org/article?id=17608">[RELATED: Albion College makes Kendi&#39;s &lsquo;How to Be an Antiracist&rsquo; required reading for first-year students]</a>A White mother in Colorado <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcCPNPvsfS0&t=2s">denounced</a> her school board for failing to consult parents over the worldviews taught to their children.&ldquo;We are the ones that have the moral authority over their education,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;We will not be marginalized. The board&rsquo;s job is to represent the stakeholders&hellip; The stakeholders who were consulted before this policy was implemented does not list parents. Neither does the advisory committee. We are the stakeholders and we need to be included in this.&rdquo;&ldquo;I do think there&rsquo;s a concerted backlash from people who recognize that this time last year a growing number of Americans were either speaking out against racism or growing an awareness of the problem of racism,&rdquo; Kendi, a Boston University professor, told <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jun/12/ibram-x-kendi-antiracism-backlash-interview">The Guardian</a> via Zoom.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.campusreform.org/article?id=17613">[RELATED: Warren and Pressley make charges of &#39;policy violence,&#39; &#39;public health impact of racism&#39; at Kendi&#39;s CRT forum]</a>But critiques of Critical Race Theory tend to focus on the framework&#39;s application as curriculum and education policy, not a recognition of the existence of racism.&nbsp;For example, a survivor of Mao Zedong&#39;s Communist regime told her school board that the tactics behind Critical Race Theory seem &ldquo;very familiar.&rdquo;<blockquote>What a chilling warning for parents from someone who came to this country from China. <a href="https://t.co/GOLmvntqgn">pic.twitter.com/GOLmvntqgn</a>&mdash; fightforschools (@fightforschools) <a href="https://twitter.com/fightforschools/status/1402647901738881027?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 9, 2021</a></blockquote>&ldquo;You are now training our children to be social justice warriors and to loathe our country and our history,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;Growing up in Mao&rsquo;s China, all of this seems very familiar. The Communist regime used the same critical theory to divide people; the only difference is they used class instead of race.&rdquo;&ldquo;During the Cultural Revolution, I witnessed students and teachers turn against each other,&rdquo; she recalled. &ldquo;We changed school names to be politically correct. We were taught to denounce our heritage. The Red Guards destroyed anything that is not Communist: old statues, books, and anything else.&rdquo;Campus Reform reached out to Kendi for comment; this article will be updated accordingly.Follow the author of this article on Twitter:&nbsp;<a href="http://twitter.com/BenZeisloft">@BenZeisloft</a>

'You are now training our children to be social justice warriors and to loathe our country and our history,' one parent said of CRT, likening its effect to her experience living in Communist China. 

As Asian, Black, White parents stand up to CRT, Ibram X. Kendi dismisses opponents' arguments 

Conservative and Liberal Student Organizations:Conservative Organizations:&nbsp;Turning Point USA and University of Oregon College Republicans&nbsp;Liberal Organizations:&nbsp;Climate Justice League, Coalition Against Environmental Racism, Gun Control in the United States, LGBTQ+ Alliance, LGBTESSP, Mecha, No Lost Generation UO, Our Revolution, Out in STEM, Queer Ally Coalition, Queer Media Association, Queer, Trans &amp; Intersex Students of Color, Radical Organizing and Activism Research Center (ROAR), Student Insurgent, Students for Choice, Students United for Palestinian Equal Rights, University of Oregon College Democrats, Womxn of Color Coalition, Young Democratic SocialistsOpenSecrets Data on University of Oregon Employee Political Donations:&nbsp;In the 2020 election cycle, 98.75% of donations went to Democrats, while 1.25% went to Republicans, according to <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/university-of-oregon/recipients?id=D000030683">OpenSecrets.</a>Foundation for Individual Rights in Education Rating:The University of Oregon has a <a href="https://www.thefire.org/schools/university-of-oregon/">yellow light</a> rating. According to FIRE, &quot;Yellow light colleges and universities are those institutions with at least one ambiguous policy that too easily encourages administrative abuse and arbitrary application.&quot;<img src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/campus.reform//176750fhx4Democrat.jpg" class="fr-fic fr-dii">Stories by Campus Reform about the University of Oregon:<a href="https://campusreform.org/article?id=10361">University of Oregon symposium asks &#39;What&#39;s Up With Whiteness?&#39;</a>The University of Oregon held a symposium to discuss &ldquo;what&rsquo;s up with whiteness&rdquo;, and help participants find their place in discussions about &ldquo;race and systemic injustice&rdquo; and become better &ldquo;allies.&rdquo;&nbsp;<a href="https://campusreform.org/article?id=9942">Clueless protesters shout down University of Oregon prez</a>A group of student protestors prevented University of Oregon President Michael Schill from giving a speech regarding how the school would utilize a recent $50 million donation, forcing him to give a video address.Stories about questionable policies at the University of Oregon:<a href="https://campusreform.org/article?id=16674">University of Oregon begins disarming police</a>The University of Oregon has begun disarming twenty-six percent of University of Oregon Police Department officers and increasing the number of unarmed officers in response to &ldquo;recent incidents of police violence against people of color.&rdquo;&nbsp;<a href="https://campusreform.org/article?id=16254">University of Oregon promises to ignore Trump&#39;s critical race theory executive order</a>University of Oregon President Michael Schill announced the University&rsquo;s intention to openly defy President Trump&rsquo;s executive order prohibiting the promotion of critical race theory by federal employees and contractors.&nbsp;<a href="https://campusreform.org/article?id=16049">EXCLUSIVE: University of Oregon&rsquo;s anti-racism plan considers defunding police, endorsing BLM, using diversity as employment factor</a>Internal documents obtained by Campus Reform reveal the University of Oregon&rsquo;s consideration of endorsing the Black Lives Matter movement, defunding the school police department, and the use of diversity and identity within the process of hiring new employees&nbsp;<a href="https://campusreform.org/article?id=14719">University of Oregon takes drastic action to shore up coronavirus revenue losses</a>In response to lost revenue caused by the Coronavirus Pandemic, the University of Oregon announced plans to lay-off 282 school employees while extending their healthcare benefits, with the intention of rehiring the laid-off employees after work once again becomes available.&nbsp;

CAMPUS PROFILE: University of Oregon

A Christian university&#39;s Student Government Association is recommending students take &quot;helpful classes&quot; related to &quot;anti-racism.&quot;The Northwest Nazarene University Student Government Association sent out an email referring students to an anti-racism guide that promoted several social justice courses. This document, sent out in an October 19, 2020, email obtain by Campus Reform,&nbsp;was authored by SGA Campus Ministries.This anti-racism <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1VIs2KkfVls9B1_SN0SbThu9ckSbMXUCf7tKUnYv2cCU/edit">guide</a> contains a long list of poems, books, videos, and articles on the topic of racism. Many of these resources originate from widely-known proponents of critical race theory, such as Ibram X. Kendi and Robin Di&rsquo;Angelo.&nbsp;Among these resources is a list of anti-racist classes to take at NNU. The classes advertised by Student Ministries are Human Diversity, Social Justice and Modern Society, Social Justice and the Christian Tradition, Race, Class, and Gender, Introduction to Cultural Anthropology, and Issues of the Global Church.&nbsp;The first class on the list, Human Diversity, is a psychology course. It is <a href="https://catalog.nnu.edu/cas/course-descriptions/psyc">described</a> as follows:&ldquo;This course examines the multifaceted levels of diversity in humanity and will review ways to approach diversity in a sensitive and appropriate manner. Topics to be covered include a history of human diversity, cultural diversity, age differences, gender issues, spirituality, sexuality, religious diversity, physical impairments, and how to be sensitive to issues of diversity as they pertain to working with people. Key human rights and understandings will be explored.&rdquo;<a href="https://www.campusreform.org/article?id=17626">[RELATED: Texas A&amp;M&#39;s massive glossary of social justice terms: &lsquo;Christian Privilege,&rsquo; &lsquo;Critical Race Feminism,&rsquo; &#39;Critical Race Theory&#39;]</a>The second class listed, called Social Justice and Modern Society, is a social work class. It <a href="https://catalog.nnu.edu/cas/course-descriptions/sowk">covers</a> the following material:&ldquo;This course is an introduction to the recurrent needs of citizens and how society is organized to respond to these needs with an emphasis on small towns and rural communities. The course is organized around the major themes of poverty, socioeconomic class differences, and other major differences among people that interact with poverty and classism. The course includes a review of the history and current nature of social welfare services.&rdquo;The next class on the list, Social Justice and the Christian Tradition, is a theology class. This class is summarized in its <a href="https://catalog.nnu.edu/cas/course-descriptions/theo">course description</a>:&ldquo;The virtue of justice has deep roots in Christian Scripture, philosophy, and the Christian theological tradition as an essential feature of a society ordered toward the common good. What does justice look like in the tradition of Christian thought? What makes a just society? How might Christians actively contribute to a society that is more just? This course encourages students to explore such questions through Scripture, the church&rsquo;s theological heritage, and engagement with the work of active practitioners today.&rdquo;Race, Class, and Gender is a cultural anthropology course. It is <a href="https://catalog.nnu.edu/cas/course-descriptions/clta">outlined</a> as covering the following material:&ldquo;A study of the contemporary diversity of society with a focus on inter-group relations (e.g., assimilation, conflict, and pluralism). Emphasis is placed on gaining an understanding of the multi-cultural nature of American society in comparison with other societies and on formulating a viable response.&rdquo;<a href="https://www.campusreform.org/article?id=17584">[RELATED: Texas Christian University to nix the word &#39;freshmen&#39; in push for &#39;inclusive excellence&#39;]</a>The fifth class listed is an Introduction to Cultural Anthropology.&nbsp;According to its <a href="https://catalog.nnu.edu/cas/course-descriptions/clta">course description</a>, &ldquo;This course focuses on basic perspectives and concepts for understanding and productively relating to groups and individuals in other cultures. It includes an introduction to the discipline, history of the discipline and its development, and methods of cultural anthropology.&rdquo;Campus Reform&nbsp;reached out to the NNU SGA for comment, but has not heard back in time for publication. This article will be updated accordingly.

A Christian university's Student Government Association is recommending students take 'helpful classes' related to 'anti-racism.'

EXCLUSIVE: NNU Campus Ministry students encouraged to take anti-racist classes

Younger Americans are less inclined to support free speech when it comes from the other side of the political divide.Adults between 18-34 years old are &quot;less supportive of free speech than older generations, except when it comes to insulting the Stars and Stripes,&quot; Foreign Policy&nbsp;<a href="http://are less supportive of free speech than older generations, except when it comes to insulting the Stars and Stripes.">reported</a> last week.&nbsp;Campus Reform has reported time and time again on stories of one-sided liberal bias on the issue of free speech. Here are just a few. <a href="https://www.campusreform.org/?ID=9380"></a><a href="https://www.campusreform.org/?ID=9380">1. University of California, Berkeley</a>UC Berkeley has had a <a href="https://www.campusreform.org/?ID=9380">long</a> history of committing actions that limit freedom of speech. This includes once when the <a href="https://www.campusreform.org/?ID=11592">university</a> attempted to silence a conservative group by preventing their speaker from going on campus.&nbsp;It should be of no surprise to no one that they would host a speaker who believed that the first amendment should be further <a href="https://www.campusreform.org/?ID=13958">limited</a>. <a href="https://www.campusreform.org/?ID=10043"></a><a href="https://www.campusreform.org/?ID=10043">2. University of Oregon</a>Back in 2017, University President Schill attempted to protect freedom of speech on Campus. The students on his campus did not agree.&nbsp;The students on his campus would go on to shout him down. The students would shout &ldquo;Nothing about us without us!&rdquo; and repeatedly referring to Schill as &ldquo;CEO Schill.&rdquo; They would additionally complain about &ldquo;fascist&rdquo; propaganda.<a href="https://www.campusreform.org/?ID=9953">3. University of Michigan</a>The University of Michigan has shown a unique level of hypocrisy. Years ago students aggressively chanted against Charles Murray&rsquo;s appearance at an event. Protestors screamed &ldquo;Charles Murray go away; sexist, racist, KKK! Charles Murray go away; sexist, racist KKK!,&rdquo;&nbsp;The school however is <a href="https://www.campusreform.org/?ID=14194">home</a> to a professor who has referred to former President Donald Trump as a &ldquo;mad bomber.&rdquo; He was not met anywhere near as much backlash.<a href="https://www.campusreform.org/?ID=10826">4. Columbia University</a>When college Republicans attempted to host Anthony Scaramucci, they were met with backlash. Students would yell &ldquo;Dear students, what is anti-Black racism?&rdquo; Other students would demand that they &ldquo;Decolonize Columbia,&rdquo;Columbia University now <a href="https://www.campusreform.org/?ID=15370">hosts</a> a &#39;deconstructing whiteness&#39; workshop for &#39;white-identified students.&#39; This tells you everything about the school.<a href="https://www.campusreform.org/?ID=14407">5. Duke University</a>Duke University is home to students who in the past have attempted to shut down Campus Reform from interviewing students on campus. On student stated, &ldquo;We are not going to talk to you because you are part of Campus Reform, now leave.&rdquo;At Duke University however social justice advocates such as the singer John Legend are invited to speak at commencement ceremonies. Legend would <a href="https://campusreform.org/article?id=17644">state</a> &ldquo;America&rsquo;s story has always been marred by efforts to exclude, to dominate, to subjugate&hellip; to keep certain groups of people with no voice, no power, and no opportunity,&rdquo;&nbsp;Follow the author of this article on Twitter:&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/ajmunguia23">@ajmunguia23</a>

Trends show that tolerance of free speech diminishes when it comes from conservatives.

Free speech for all? National trends show a one-sided story

The National Institutes of Health unveiled a plan to address &ldquo;structural racism&rdquo; by increasing the diversity of grant recipients.The NIH is spending <a href="https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(21)00631-0?utm_source=EA">$60 million</a> to &ldquo;support innovative investigator-initiated projects aimed at reducing health disparities and inequalities&rdquo; &mdash; a process in which &ldquo;institutions that serve minority populations will be prioritized for select awards.&rdquo;<a href="https://www.campusreform.org/article?id=17345">[RELATED: Echoing campus leftists, CDC director says racism is a &#39;public health&#39; crisis]</a><a href="https://www.campusreform.org/article?id=17345"></a> Charlene Le Fauve &mdash; Senior Advisor to the Chief Officer for Scientific Workforce Diversity at the NIH &mdash; referred Campus Reform to a <a href="https://www.nimhd.nih.gov/about/strategic-plan/nih-strategic-plan-definitions-and-parameters.html">resource</a> clarifying that the agency defines &ldquo;minority health populations&rdquo; as &ldquo;American Indian or Alaska Native, Asian, Black or African American, and Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander,&rdquo; as well as &ldquo;Latino or Hispanic.&rdquo;The agency has also created a framework entitled &ldquo;UNITE&rdquo; &mdash; &ldquo;understanding stakeholder experiences through listening and learning,&rdquo; &ldquo;new research on health disparities, minority health, and health equity,&rdquo; &ldquo;improving the NIH culture and structure for equity, inclusion, and excellence,&rdquo; &ldquo;transparency, communication, and accountability with our internal and external stakeholders,&rdquo; and &ldquo;extramural research ecosystem: changing policy, culture, and structure to promote workforce diversity.&rdquo; Each portion of the framework is managed by a designated committee.Campus Reform has frequently reported on federal agencies adopting diversity, equity, and inclusion, as well as other left-leaning sociological tools.For instance, the Department of Health and Human Services&rsquo; Head Start program hosted a group of professors to discuss &ldquo;anti-racism&rdquo; in early childhood education.<a href="https://www.campusreform.org/article?id=17609"></a><a href="https://www.campusreform.org/article?id=17609">[RELATED: Federal government hosted professors&#39; talks on anti-racist education for young children]</a>Le Fauve pointed Campus Reform toward the agency&rsquo;s 2019 &ldquo;diversity statement,&rdquo; which asserts that &ldquo;diverse teams working together and capitalizing on innovative ideas and distinct perspectives outperform homogenous teams.&rdquo;&nbsp;Follow the author of this article on Twitter:&nbsp;<a href="http://twitter.com/BenZeisloft">@BenZeisloft</a>

The National Institutes of Health is allocating $60 million in push to fund 'institutions that serve minority populations.'

NIH releases plan to ‘prioritize’ minority grant applicants

In a video address to the class of 2021, President Biden likened the political effort to achieve woke policies to the Vietnam War.&nbsp;President Biden stated in the short, pre-recorded address that college students are graduating at an &ldquo;inflection point&rdquo; in American history defined by climate change and &quot;systemic racism.&quot;<blockquote>Congratulations to the Class of 2021. You&rsquo;re graduating at an inflection point in our nation&rsquo;s history &ndash; and you have a genuine opportunity to change the trajectory of our country. Seize this moment. I can&rsquo;t wait to see what you accomplish. <a href="https://t.co/pl3Or74lxg">pic.twitter.com/pl3Or74lxg</a>&mdash; President Biden (@POTUS) <a href="https://twitter.com/POTUS/status/1401265787776770048?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 5, 2021</a></blockquote>Biden also called the events of his adolescence &mdash; the assassination Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy, the Vietnam War, and the civil rights movement &mdash; an &ldquo;inflection point.&rdquo;&nbsp;He said the same of college students graduating in the present era: &ldquo;And now, you face another inflection point. As we put this pandemic behind us, rebuild our economy, root out systemic racism, and tackle climate change, we&rsquo;re addressing the great crises of our time with a greater sense of purpose than ever before.&rdquo;The comments represent a marked shift in rhetoric from the president.&nbsp;Seven years ago, then-Vice President Biden told a crowd of Harvard University students that there is &ldquo;nothing special about being an American.&rdquo;The full quote from the 2014 speech read &quot;there&rsquo;s nothing special about being American -- none of you can define for me what an American is.&quot;<a href="https://www.campusreform.org/article?id=16000"></a><a href="https://www.campusreform.org/article?id=16000">[RELATED: Joe Biden to Harvard in 2014: &#39;There&#39;s nothing special about being American,&#39; her &#39;strength ultimately lies in its people&#39;]</a>In contrast, the 2021 speech made reference to &quot;our nation.&quot;&nbsp;&ldquo;It&rsquo;s going to be up to you to translate that unprecedented change into a greater measure of happiness and prosperity for not only you and our nation, but for the world around you,&rdquo; concluded the President. &ldquo;And I know you will.&rdquo;Follow the author of this article on Twitter:&nbsp;<a href="http://twitter.com/BenZeisloft">@BenZeisloft</a>

In 2014, he told a crowd of Harvard students that there is 'nothing special about being an American.'

Biden tells college students the left's political agenda is comparable to Vietnam War 

Conservative and Liberal Student Organizations:Conservative Organizations:&nbsp;UA College Republicans, UA Young Americans for Freedom, Young Americans for Liberty, Today is Bama, Students for Trump, The Free-Thinker Project, Turning Point USA, Young Women for America, Bama Students for Life &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;Liberal Organizations:&nbsp;UA College Democrats, UA Young Democratic Socialists of America, Unite for Reproductive and Gender Equity, Our Time, Planned Parenthood Generation America, Students for Fair Labor, SpectrumOpenSecrets Data on University of Alabama Political Donations:&nbsp;88.41% of donations went to Democrat candidates in federal elections, while 11.59% of donations went to Republican candidates in federal elections, according to data from <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/university-of-alabama/recipients?id=D000030644">OpenSecrets.</a>Foundation for Individual Rights in Education Rating: &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;<div>The University of Alabama has been giving a <a href="https://www.thefire.org/schools/university-of-alabama/">yellow light</a> speech code rating due to at least one ambiguous policy that too easily encourages administrative abuse and arbitrary application (namely, its Harassment policy). UA has also adopted the Chicago Statement for Free Speech.&nbsp;<img src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/campus.reform//17669htiyx8Democrat.jpg" class="fr-fic fr-dii">Stories by Campus Reform about the University of Alabama&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;<a href="https://www.campusreform.org/article?id=17048">Full stadiums, full classrooms: University of Alabama plans return to pre-pandemic normalcy in fall 2021&nbsp;</a>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;The University of Alabama announced it will fully return to pre-pandemic normalcy by Fall 2021. The UA System chancellor announced plans for full capacity stadiums and a complete return to in-person learning.&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;<a href="https://www.campusreform.org/article?id=10191">University of Alabama only hosted two conservatives last year</a>&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;A Campus Reform survey of official events at the University of Alabama (UA) shows that the public institution hosted only two conservative speakers during the 2016-2017 academic year, while hosting 16 other speakers who either addressed controversial topics or were known for their political involvement.&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="https://www.campusreform.org/article?id=5434">VIDEO: University of Alabama censors pro-life students, secretly removes display&nbsp;</a></div><div>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;Administrators at the University of Alabama removed a pro-life display from the Ferguson Student Center which they said contained &ldquo;offensive&rdquo; material.&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;<a href="https://www.campusreform.org/article?id=4858">University of Alabama issued 55k parking tickets in 2012-13 school year</a>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;According to new data, the University of Alabama issued nearly 55,000 parking tickets last year. That averages out to over one ticket per student.&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;</div>

CAMPUS PROFILE: University of Alabama

Medaille College Director of Diversity &amp; Inclusion Kenya Hobbs wrote an <a href="https://www.medaille.edu/my-medaille/news/can-we-talk-about-critical-race-theory">article</a> in June challenging &ldquo;controversial laws&rdquo; that seek to ban CRT in education, defending its utility on campus.&nbsp;&ldquo;CRT sounds, to me, like the work the Medaille community has been engaged in through various avenues throughout this past academic year,&rdquo; Hobbs said in the article. His statement comes as a wave of bills banning CRT enter dozens of state legislators across the nation.<a href="https://www.campusreform.org/article?id=17318">[RELATED: Louisiana introduces bill to ban teaching of Critical Race Theory topics like &#39;institutional racism&rsquo;]</a>At Medaille, efforts have included <a href="https://www.medaille.edu/my-medaille/news/change-though-difficult-good">faculty discussions</a> of White Fragility.Back in November, Hobbs also criticized Trump&#39;s executive order on &ldquo;Combating Race and Sex Stereotyping&rdquo; for its limits on discussing topics like white privilege and white guilt.&ldquo;If we are to learn anything from this country&rsquo;s past failures and missteps, and work together to find ways to truly live out the principles upon which this country was founded, we must discuss certain matters in workshops and training,&rdquo; he wrote in a <a href="https://www.medaille.edu/my-medaille/news/our-vision-needs-correcting">November post.&nbsp;</a>In the same post, he noted that the 1619 project&mdash;which as Campus Reform reported has been consistently <a href="https://www.campusreform.org/?ID=14822">debunked</a>&mdash;can &ldquo;help correct the vision of Americans.&rdquo;<a href="https://www.campusreform.org/article?id=17456">[RELATED: New Hampshire universities defend their ability to teach Critical Race Theory]</a>Other universities have also pushed back against attempts to ban Critical Race Theory. Campus Reform recently <a href="https://www.campusreform.org/article?id=17456">reported&nbsp;</a>on a letter signed by leading New Hampshire universities warning about House Bill 544, which &ldquo;prohibits the dissemination of certain divisive concepts related to sex and race.&rdquo;<a href="https://www.campusreform.org/article?id=17653">[RELATED: Critical Race Theory 101 with Angela Morabito]</a>Currently, lawmakers in New York are not considering a similar ban. But Hobbs still wants students to avoid becoming &ldquo;misinformed&rdquo; by the controversies.&nbsp;&ldquo;To avoid making the same mistakes that led to inequities in the past, we must be able to do the work and show our work. That means talking about Critical Race Theory, continuously engaging in uncomfortable conversations, and doing the work,&rdquo; Hobbs writes.&nbsp;Campus Reform reached out to Kenya Hobbs and Medaille College for comment; this article will be updated accordingly.

The college official opposes bans on CRT and is on the record touting the '1619 Project.'

New York college diversity director admits to using Critical Race Theory on campus 

Georgia college students are organizing to make sure that Sonny Perdue, the state&#39;s former governor and U.S. Secretary of Agriculture under Donald Trump, does not get appointed to serve as the chancellor of the University System of Georgia.The Atlanta Journal Constitution <a href="https://www.ajc.com/politics/politics-blog/sonny-perdue-under-consideration-to-lead-georgias-higher-ed-system/2I6E6D4EKBGUNFA5BTBYJBBJJE/">reported</a> in March that Perdue is being considered for the high-level position, which <a href="https://www.usg.edu/chancellor/">oversees</a> the state&#39;s public universities. That decision drove liberal students to <a href="https://georgiastatesignal.com/students-and-staff-oppose-sonny-perdue-as-potential-usg-chancellor/">protest</a> against the former governor.&nbsp;The largest student group opposing Perdue&rsquo;s selection, boasting 336 Instagram followers, dubbed itself &ldquo;<a href="https://www.instagram.com/studentsagainstsonny/">Students Against Sonny</a>&rdquo; and was founded roughly a month after news of Perdue&rsquo;s possible appointment broke.Students Against Sonny <a href="https://www.change.org/p/sonny-perdue-students-against-sonny-protecting-the-future-of-georgia-higher-ed?utm_content=cl_sharecopy_28388033_en-US%3A4&recruited_by_id=e1efc330-9f0d-11eb-ac5b-45886dd8b9d1&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=copylink&utm_camp">charges&nbsp;</a>the former governor with, among other things, being unqualified for the position, threatening HBCUs and planning to abolish the HOPE scholarship, a scholarship offered to Georgia students who demonstrate financial need and meet a short list of requirements. The third claim comes despite Perdue having <a href="https://sonnyperdue.georgia.gov/00/press/detail/0%2C2668%2C78006749_92321069_92350066%2C00.html">renewed</a> the HOPE scholarship during his tenure as governor.<a href="https://www.campusreform.org/?ID=7445"></a><a href="https://www.campusreform.org/?ID=7445">[RELATED: PSU protesters shut down trustees meeting, demand members pay for tuition]</a>The group created an online <a href="https://www.change.org/p/sonny-perdue-students-against-sonny-protecting-the-future-of-georgia-higher-ed?utm_content=cl_sharecopy_28388033_en-US%3A4&recruited_by_id=e1efc330-9f0d-11eb-ac5b-45886dd8b9d1&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=copylink&utm_camp">petition</a> in opposition to Perdue&rsquo;s appointment, which has since garnered just over 1500 signatures.Two organizers of the protest movement <a href="https://open.spotify.com/episode/3UYoRBjInbsaikVwbiCtPR">appeared</a> on a 46 minute long podcast hosted by humanities lecturers at Georgia Tech. &nbsp;During the podcast interview, the student activists argued that Perdue is unfit to fill the role and implied that he is only being considered for the job due to his political connections. One of the organizers also described themselves as an &ldquo;anarchist.&rdquo;Students Against Sonny did not respond to Campus Reform&rsquo;s request for comment.The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, the accreditation agency responsible for Georgia&rsquo;s public higher education institutions, <a href="https://www.ajc.com/education/agency-warns-georgia-regents-against-politicizing-chancellor-search/NDBHGL3YGFB5FMPUVH6S5OHRSM/">warned</a> officials of the potential consequences of selecting a candidate without &ldquo;appropriate experience and qualifications&rdquo; following the reports of Perdue&rsquo;s consideration,&quot; according to the AJC.Matt Boedy, a professor at the University of North Georgia and president of Georgia&rsquo;s chapter of the American Association of University Professors, told Campus Reform that he believes &ldquo;Perdue is not remotely qualified for the job&rdquo; and &ldquo;the Regents should choose someone with higher education experience and who wants to be an advocate for the faculty, staff, and students of the USG.&rdquo;<a href="https://campusreform.org/article?id=16150"></a><a href="https://campusreform.org/article?id=16150">[RELATED: UMN students demand Dem governor &#39;drop the charges&#39; against arrested protesters]</a>Boedy also referred Campus Reform to a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/20691799-sacs">letter</a>&nbsp;composed by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.The letter, released April 26 in response to the AJC&rsquo;s reporting, asserts that the accreditation of Georgia&rsquo;s public universities could be threatened if an individual not inline with their &ldquo;Principles of Accreditation&rdquo; is appointed. USG Board of Regents Chairman Sachin Shailendra is reminded in the letter that his board must be independent of &ldquo;undue influence by external persons or bodies&rdquo; and that anyone selected for the Chancellorship must be appropriately credentialed.&nbsp;Much of the letter deals with the requirement of the board to remain politically neutral, suggesting that the SACS believes they may not have been when considering Perdue.The Board of Regents&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/news/2021/04/22/georgia-board-of-regents-search-chancellor.html">suspended</a>&nbsp;their search for a new chancellor six days after the letter was sent, though&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ajc.com/education/georgia-board-of-regents-to-restart-chancellor-search-process/U5SVGER7CJEPVD2M4G23M4WBM4/">resumed</a>&nbsp;the process on May 11 with the search firm previously heading the effort deciding not to continue.

Backlash put a temporary pause on the search new chancellor of the University of Georgia System this spring, with the ongoing search resuming last month.    

Georgia students protest Sonny Perdue's candidacy for statewide higher-ed leadership role

The Northwestern University Associated Student government is calling for one conservative Board of Trustee member to be removed from the school&#39;s presidential search committee.On June 2, student government members approved a resolution to remove J. Landis Martin, Chairman for the Northwestern University&rsquo;s Board of Trustees, from the Presidential Search Committee, which&nbsp;is <a href="https://dailynorthwestern.com/2021/04/12/campus/board-of-trustees-announces-36-member-search-committee-for-next-university-president/">reported</a> to be choosing the next Northwestern University President within the next year, according to the&nbsp;<a href="https://dailynorthwestern.com/2021/06/04/campus/asg-passes-resolution-calling-for-recusal-of-board-of-trustees-chair-from-the-presidential-search-committee-other-bills/">Daily Northwestern</a>.Outlined in the &ldquo;Resolution for the Recusal of J. Landis Martin from the Presidential Search Committee&rdquo; are the reasons the student government voted 17-1 to dismiss Martin on June 2nd.&nbsp;The resolution lists that that &ldquo;Northwestern University students are a diverse population that identify with many of the groups that Donald Trump harmed during his campaign and presidency,&rdquo; and also &ldquo;the conservative political ideology of Donald Trump, including those that support him, do not align with the views of the average Northwestern undergraduate.&rdquo;<a href="https://campusreform.org/article?id=16789">[RELATED: Baylor students want to remove statue of...Baylor?]</a>Jo Scaletty, a member of the ASG senate and a member of the Justice and Inclusion committee, told Campus Reform the reasoning behind the resolution.Once asked what was the motivation behind co-authoring the resolution, Scaletty stated, &ldquo;It&rsquo;s my hope that this encourages future consideration for how people in positions of power have affected NU students, directly or not.&rdquo;&nbsp;Scaletty continued, &ldquo;by contributing to Trump&rsquo;s campaign, Martin helped cause a lot of pain for communities at NU, as Trump went on to implement policies that were dangerous for marginalized people. I&rsquo;m hoping that this legislation pushes these issues to the front and centers marginalized voices.&rdquo;The Deep End is a left-leaning student organization dedicated to reporting issues relevant to Northwestern University&rsquo;s campus.&nbsp;While recording an episode for&nbsp;The Deep End&rsquo;s <a href="https://www.facebook.com/thedeepend.nu/posts/1399367010440253">episode&nbsp;</a>on the ASG, Deep End reporters discovered Martin&rsquo;s donations to the Trump Victory political action committee, totaling up to $30,000 in 2016. These funds are cited in ASG&rsquo;s call to remove the committee member.&ldquo;During the time that The Deep End [wrote] its most recent piece, the journalism team learned of his involvement with Haliburton and Trump, and we wanted to fight against his presence in a board of people meant to choose the next Northwestern President.&rdquo; Scaletty said.Visible on<a href="https://www.facebook.com/thedeepend.nu/">&nbsp;The Deep End&rsquo;s Facebook page</a> are pushes to raise funds for <a href="http://www.bravespacealliance.org/blog/blacktranslivesmatter?fbclid=IwAR1wv59e736_8f-wI9sgxCFwzNuCdTlW6PS05A5SbODrnPxftERxizCMp-4">The Brave Space Alliance</a>, a &ldquo;Black-led, trans-led LGBTQ+ Center&rdquo; which donates specifically to transgender peoples as well as for the Black Lives Matter organization.<a href="https://campusreform.org/article?id=17644"></a><a href="https://campusreform.org/article?id=17644">[RELATED: Climate change, trans rights, dismantling White supremacy: Leading leftists deliver graduation speeches]</a>Although resolutions passed in ASG are claimed to be representative of the student body, David Grow, Student Senator for Nortwestern&rsquo;s College Republicans told<a href="https://dailynorthwestern.com/2021/06/04/campus/asg-passes-resolution-calling-for-recusal-of-board-of-trustees-chair-from-the-presidential-search-committee-other-bills/">&nbsp;The Daily Northwestern</a> that this legislation is not indicative of Republicans on campus.&nbsp;&ldquo;A lot of people in the Northwestern administration are left-leaning,&rdquo; Grow said. &ldquo;I felt as if what it really boiled down to was they don&rsquo;t want somebody that could possibly be against what they stand for.&rdquo;Despite this resolution passing almost unanimously in ASG, it is noted by Executive Officer of Accountability Margot Bartol that this resolution going into effect and removing Martin from his position is unlikely, as stated in&nbsp;The Daily Northwestern.Campus Reform reached out to Northwestern University Media Relations, but did not receive a reply in time for publication.

A co-author of the resolution claimed this action was necessary due to Trump’s policies affecting marginalized people.

Northwestern U student government pushes university to remove conservative from presidential search committee

Critical Race Theory on college campuses has led to students and faculty members being punished for questioning segregated events and mandatory social justice trainings.

Critical Race Theory 101 with Angela Morabito 

The University of Illinois&rsquo; law school has launched a Racial Justice Practicum this summer to teach about &ldquo;racial justice as it relates to the legal profession.&rdquo;&nbsp;The <a href="https://blogs.illinois.edu/view/7000/380970510">program</a> is inspired by the death of George Floyd.Students will receive &ldquo;externship placements with legal aid agencies or non-profit organizations that represent populations affected by racism in Illinois and elsewhere.&rdquo; Among these organizations are the ACLU, the Equal Justice Initiative, and Equip for Equality.Depending on the number of credits completed, students will receive a stipend of up to $6,000.University of Illinois College of Law Assistant Dean for Administration Carolyn Turner told Campus Reform that there are seventeen students enrolled in the practicum. &ldquo;A number of Chicago&rsquo;s top law firms and some generous alumni&rdquo; <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-xmjEAc4Fc">funded</a> the program.<a href="https://www.campusreform.org/article?id=17599">[RELATED: University of Illinois Chicago law school cancels former Chief Justice John Marshall]</a>The course <a href="https://law.illinois.edu/academics/courses/racial-justice-practicum/">description</a> for the Racial Justice Practicum <a href="https://law.illinois.edu/academics/courses/course-type/upper-level/">classes</a> states that each module &ldquo;will be taught as a module by a guest lecturer who is an expert in the field.&quot; Student grades will also be weighed equally between attendance and &quot;written Racial Justice Journals.&quot;As Campus Reform recently reported, the University of Illinois&rsquo; Urbana-Champaign campus recently committed $2 million annually for research into systemic racism.<a href="https://www.campusreform.org/article?id=17439"></a><a href="https://www.campusreform.org/article?id=17439">[RELATED: EXCLUSIVE: U of Illinois commits $2 million EVERY YEAR for &#39;systemic racism&#39; research]</a>Campus Reform&nbsp;reached out to the University of Illinois for comment; this article will be updated accordingly. Follow the author of this article on Twitter:&nbsp;<a href="http://twitter.com/BenZeisloft">@BenZeisloft</a>

Students will receive a stipend of up to $6,000 for completing a course and a subsequent externship.

University of Illinois law school launches 'racial justice practicum'

The Biden administration announced Wednesday that its official stance that Title IX also applies to gender identity, signaling that keeping biological men out of women&#39;s sports could legally be considered discrimination.&nbsp;The Department of Education released an official statement, called a <a href="https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/docs/202106-titleix-noi.pdf">notice of interpretation</a>, stating its belief that ruling in Bostock v. Clayton County&nbsp;also applies to schools. Bostock&nbsp;was an employment law case in which the Supreme Court decided that employers could not discriminate based on an employee or applicant&#39;s transgender status or sexual orientation.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.campusreform.org/article?id=16919">[RELATED: Biden admin drops support of female athletes after transgender executive order]</a>According to the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/16/us/politics/title-ix-transgender-students.html">New York Times</a>,<blockquote>&quot;[Cardona] likened the announcement to setting down a marker for schools nationwide, alerting them that the Biden Education Department would not tolerate discrimination in schools receiving federal funds.&quot;&nbsp;</blockquote>Though the announcement &quot;will guide the Department in processing complaints and conducting investigations,&quot; says the notice of interpretation, &quot;it does not itself determine the outcome in any particular case or set of facts.&quot;Following President Biden&#39;s <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/01/20/executive-order-preventing-and-combating-discrimination-on-basis-of-gender-identity-or-sexual-orientation/">day-one Executive Order</a> on gender discrimination, the <a href="https://www.campusreform.org/article?id=16919">Department of Education and Department of Justice dropped their support</a> of three female athletes who were suing their school&#39;s athletic conference for allowing biological men to compete.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.campusreform.org/article?id=16701">[RELATED: EXCLUSIVE VIDEO: Students concerned about Biden&#39;s transgender athlete order]</a>Today&#39;s announcement comes during the Department of Education&#39;s review of existing policies relating to Title IX, including public hearings held last week. At those hearings, <a href="https://www.campusreform.org/article?id=17596">several female athletes told the Department</a> that they lost out on athletic and educational opportunities because they were out-competed in their own sports by biological men.&nbsp;Follow the author of this article on Twitter:&nbsp;<a href="http://twitter.com/AngelaLMorabito" style=" text-align: start;">@AngelaLMorabito</a>

Earlier this year, Biden's executive order led the Department of Education and Department of Justice to cease their support of female athletes' suit against a statewide policy permitting men on women's teams.

Allowing men in women's sports just became the Biden administration's official policy

A former Barnard College mathematics professor recently proposed that college admissions should &quot;use random selection instead&quot; of the traditional application process.&nbsp;O&rsquo;Neil believes that randomized admissions at certain colleges could test the theory that &ldquo;diversity adds value.&rdquo;&ldquo;There could be a weak notion of who is &lsquo;qualified&rsquo; &mdash; say, a high school degree and a minimum grade point average,&rdquo; wrote <a href="https://www.apam.columbia.edu/data-algorithms-consequences-society">Cathy O&rsquo;Neil</a> &mdash; who also launched the Lede Program in Data Journalism at Columbia University &mdash; in <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2021-06-03/college-admissions-shouldn-t-be-trusted-to-humans-">Bloomberg Opinion</a>. &ldquo;Beyond that, selection would be publicly and provably random. Never mind optional standardized tests. If you show interest, your name goes in a big hat.&rdquo;<a href="https://campusreform.org/article?id=17180" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">[RELATED: EXCLUSIVE VIDEO: Harvard uses &#39;arbitrary and illogical&#39; race criteria in admissions, attorney says]</a>Although &ldquo;kids who struggled to get perfect grades,&rdquo; &ldquo;who spent their high school years getting really good at obscure yet in-demand sports,&rdquo; and &ldquo;the legacies and the offspring of big donors&rdquo; would lose their advantages, O&rsquo;Neil believes that the benefits outweigh the costs.&ldquo;Colleges wouldn&rsquo;t have to worry about fighting claims of racial discrimination in the Supreme Court, because by construction the admissions process would be non-discriminatory,&rdquo; she argued. &ldquo;No more &lsquo;soft&rsquo; criteria. No more biased tests. Just blind chance.&rdquo;Campus Reform reached out to O&rsquo;Neil for comment; this article will be updated accordingly. Follow the author of this article on Twitter:&nbsp;<a href="http://twitter.com/BenZeisloft">@BenZeisloft</a>

She also created a data journalism program at Columbia University. 

Former Columbia U Prof: Make college admissions random, leave it to 'just blind chance'

The University of Oklahoma rejected an appeal from the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, a nonprofit, to revise its mandatory diversity training. Recently, the FIRE&nbsp;<a href="https://www.thefire.org/university-of-oklahoma-refuses-to-end-compelled-speech-in-diversity-training-program/">discovered</a> that the University of Oklahoma is forcing students to attend a virtual program that &ldquo;required trainees to acknowledge their agreements with the university&rsquo;s approved political viewpoints in order to complete the requirement.&rdquo;<a href="https://campusreform.org/article?id=17314"></a> <a href="https://campusreform.org/article?id=17314"></a> <a href="https://campusreform.org/article?id=17314">[RELATED: Stanford newspaper tweeted movie reference deemed racist; will now subject ENTIRE STAFF to &#39;anti-bias training&#39;]</a> According to FIRE&rsquo;s November 16 <a href="https://d28htnjz2elwuj.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/30165546/FIRE-Letter-to-University-of-Oklahoma-November-16-2020.pdf">letter</a> to administrators, the program &ldquo;begins with a set of questions titled &lsquo;Insights&rsquo; that are said to &lsquo;encourage reflection and introspection.&rsquo;&rdquo; Though the section states that there are &ldquo;no right answers to these questions and your selections will be completely anonymous,&rdquo; graduate student Elizabeth Owen &mdash; who alerted FIRE to the program &mdash; was forced to repeat questions until she selected the answer that the university deemed correct. &ldquo;One of the questions in the training asked Owen to &lsquo;try to help your frustrated coworker, Michael, realize that understanding difference is not a prerequisite for respecting it,&rsquo;&rdquo; explains FIRE&rsquo;s letter. &ldquo;It then showed a video of the coworker &mdash; Michael &mdash; saying &lsquo;I&rsquo;m so tired of all this transgender stuff.&rsquo;&rdquo; Owen was prompted to select a response. When Owen chose the response that aligned with her thoughts about the situation &mdash; that &ldquo;political correctness can be tiring&rdquo; &mdash; the module informed Owen that her opinion was not the &ldquo;best choice.&rdquo; The module then repeated itself until Owen was forced to select the university&rsquo;s preferred answer to Michael: &ldquo;You seem upset. What&rsquo;s the matter?&rdquo; FIRE&rsquo;s letter asserted that the program &ldquo;requires its participants to affirm to the university what response to questions of social and political concerns are correct according to the university&rsquo;s administration.&rdquo; <a href="https://campusreform.org/article?id=17318"></a> <a href="https://campusreform.org/article?id=17318"></a> <a href="https://campusreform.org/article?id=17318">[RELATED: Louisiana introduces bill to ban teaching of Critical Race Theory topics like &#39;institutional racism&#39;]</a> On April 26, the University of Oklahoma <a href="https://www.thefire.org/university-of-oklahoma-email-to-fire-april-26-2021/">rejected</a> FIRE&rsquo;s request to make the course optional, claiming that the training &ldquo;does not impose specific ways of thinking, but instead, presents situational examples of how to engage with the broader world in a way that is understanding of all people and perspectives.&rdquo; FIRE submitted a public records <a href="https://www.thefire.org/fire-oklahoma-open-records-act-request-to-university-of-oklahoma-may-4-2021/">request</a> on May 4 to obtain the school&rsquo;s contract with EVERFI &mdash; the software vendor that produced the program &mdash; to see whether the university followed through with its promise to discuss FIRE&rsquo;s concerns with the company. University of Oklahoma Director of Media Relations Kesha Keith told&nbsp;Campus Reform that its diversity training &ldquo;does not impose specific ways of thinking, but instead, presents situational examples of how to engage with the broader world in a way that is understanding of all people and perspectives.&rdquo; University officials &ldquo;will continue to monitor its training efforts while continuing to advance the university&rsquo;s work of engaging community members in a meaningful learning experience with the goal of fostering a more inclusive campus community.&rdquo; Follow the author of this article on Twitter:&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/ajmunguia23">@ajmunguia23</a>

The University of Oklahoma rejected FIRE's request to make its mandatory diversity training optional.

U of Oklahoma refuses to revise mandatory training that makes students agree with transgender ideology

The University of Michigan will not be removing conservative Regent Ron Weiser&rsquo;s name after backlash and condemnation over his comments directed at Democratic state leadership.Announcing on June 3 in a <a href="https://publicaffairs.vpcomm.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/19/2021/06/Response-on-Weiser-Hall.pdf">statement</a>, President Mark Schissel joined in &ldquo;condemnation of Regent Weiser&rsquo;s misogynistic and violent comments against elected state officials,&rdquo; but will not petition the Board of Regents to &ldquo;change the name of Weiser Hall.&rdquo;&nbsp;Weiser currently chairs the Michigan Republican Party, serves as a UM Regent, and is a longtime donor of the university.&nbsp;Campus Reform&nbsp;<a href="https://www.campusreform.org/article?id=17466">reported</a>&nbsp;on May 27 that Weiser called Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, and Attorney General Dana Nessel &ldquo;witches,&rdquo; and suggested that they be burned at the stake.&ldquo;I made the decision to continue to serve, to make sure we have an opportunity to take out those three witches in two years from now,&rdquo; Weiser said at a North Oakland Republican Club meeting on March 26. &ldquo;Our job now is to soften up those three witches and make sure that when we have good candidates to run against them, that they are ready for the burning at the stake.&rdquo;<a href="https://www.campusreform.org/article?id=17466">[RELATED:&nbsp;&lsquo;I will not be canceled&rsquo;: Conservative regent fights back after censure vote from UMich]</a>Wesier apologized for his comments and was <a href="https://record.umich.edu/articles/board-votes-to-censure-regent-ron-weiser/">censured</a> by the board on April 2.&nbsp;Schlissel pointed to the importance of free speech and the reality of the gift agreement made between the Weiser family and the university as an inability to rename Weiser Hall.&nbsp;&ldquo;One bedrock principle is free speech, which we must uphold even when we find&nbsp;speech offensive,&rdquo; Schlissel said. &ldquo;While Regent Weiser&rsquo;s recent comments in no way reflect our values, he has done much good upholding democratic values as our nation&rsquo;s Ambassador to Slovakia and as a philanthropist.&rdquo;Additionally, the President shared, &ldquo;were we to decide to violate the contract and remove his name from a building, we would be obligated to return the associated gift.&rdquo;&nbsp;Michigan Attorney General <a href="https://www.michigan.gov/ag">Dana Nessel</a> and UM German studies professor <a href="https://lsa.umich.edu/german/people/faculty/smwei.html">Silke-Maria Weineck</a> blasted Schissel&rsquo;s decision.&ldquo;Its ok for my alma mater to adorn the name of the man who encouraged the execution &amp; assassination of numerous elected officials of both parties on @umich buildings since being a billionaire means anything you say or do is fine,&rdquo; Nessel <a href="https://twitter.com/dananessel/status/1401094479478722560?s=20">tweeted</a> June 5.&nbsp;<blockquote>In other words, its ok for my alma mater to adorn the name of the man who encouraged the execution &amp; assassination of numerous elected officials of both parties on <a href="https://twitter.com/UMich?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@umich</a> buildings since being a billionaire means anything you say or do is fine. <a href="https://t.co/yDtSe34InW">https://t.co/yDtSe34InW</a>&mdash; Dana Nessel (@dananessel) <a href="https://twitter.com/dananessel/status/1401094479478722560?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 5, 2021</a></blockquote>&ldquo;So we could get out of the gift agreement but we won&rsquo;t because we don&rsquo;t think misogyny, political violence and voter suppression are in sufficient conflict with our mission,&rdquo; professor Weineck <a href="https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/michigan/2021/06/04/ron-weiser-university-of-michigan-weiser-hall-building-name-gift/7551701002/">told</a> The Detroit News. &ldquo;Just an old boy culture asserting its dominance in the face of any threat.&rdquo;<a href="https://www.campusreform.org/article?id=16940">[RELATED: UMich &lsquo;Liberation Front&rsquo; demands removal of Sabra hummus and end to Israel trips</a>]A <a href="https://www.change.org/p/u-m-regent-ron-weiser-resign-for-unacceptable-violent-rhetoric?fbclid=IwAR1Xohi79pwkYQ9AsjMbPETWCUKsIiXBKdi5KYm0uTUcBX2uiJcgK8CR0SY">petition</a> calling on the conservative Regent to resign over his March 26 comments has amassed over 7,000 signatures. &ldquo;We loudly reaffirm our demand that he resign, and we expect President Schlissel to condemn this threat to all students of color on campus,&rdquo; states the petition.&nbsp;The UM College Republicans shared their support of Regent Weiser to Campus Reform.&nbsp;&ldquo;He has been the victim of a long-winded, unfounded smear campaign spearheaded by partisan operatives. He&rsquo;s a great Regent and even better man, totally undeserving of such hostility.&rdquo;University policy on naming buildings after donors states: &ldquo;The university is committed to retaining the name of each facility, space, and street (collectively referred to in this paragraph as a &ldquo;facility&rdquo;) bearing a donor-designated name or honorific name. The name is intended to remain for the life of the facility.&rdquo;Follow the author of this article on Twitter:&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/SergeiKelley?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor">@SergeiKelley</a>

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel blasted the decision to preserve the name on Twitter.

U of Michigan will not rename conservative donor’s name from building, faces backlash

The first day of the Department of Education&#39;s Title IX hearings began with fireworks from both supporters and opponents of the Trump-era rule, which shored up due process protections for students as colleges investigate and adjudicate reports of sexual misconduct.Students, parents, professors, administrators, and more weighing in on potential changes to the current policy, including the Biden administration&#39;s push to redefine &quot;on the basis of sex&quot; in the law to include gender identity, thus allowing biological men to compete in women&#39;s sports.The Trump administration&#39;s legally-binding rule replaced an Obama-era letter that critics say led to &quot;kangaroo courts&quot; which ignored the due process rights of accused students. Secretary Cardona instated this week-long hearing session as a result of President Biden&#39;s <a href="https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2021-03-11/pdf/2021-05200.pdf">March 8 Executive Order</a>, which directed Cardona to conduct a full review of the Trump administration&#39;s Title IX rule.&nbsp;While several commenters, including a transgender 14 year old and several school administrators, argued to overturn the rule, others issued an impassioned defense. The main highlights from supporters of the rule are as follows:- Selina Soule, one of the three plaintiffs suing the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference, told the Department how she missed out on major opportunities as a track athlete because she was forced to compete against biological men. Soule said her &quot;chances of being first, of being the best, were shattered&quot; by a policy that forced her to compete against people who are stronger and faster because of a biological advantage, not because of talent or hard work. She called the experience &quot;frustrating, heartbreaking, and demoralizing,&quot; saying, &quot;We elite female athletes don&#39;t give up on the normal high school experience just for participation trophies. We race to win.&quot;&nbsp;- A woman identified only as Karen shared that her son was the victim of a sexual assault 7 years ago, when he was &quot;blacked out and unable to consent.&quot; She says the unnamed college mishandled the case: Despite photos and eyewitness accounts, &quot;the university never investigated the claim, and he was the student expelled.&quot; Meanwhile, she said, the female student &quot;graduated with no repercussions.&quot; Karen advised the department, &quot;We don&#39;t need more rules and regulations; just enforce the ones you have.&quot;- Lauren Adams, legal director at the Women&#39;s Liberation Front, shared her unapologetic support for the Trump Title IX rule. Describing the group as a &quot;nonpartisan radical feminist&quot; organization, she argued that separating athletes by gender identity made no more sense than separating them by sexual orientation. She said that allowing transgender athletes to compete in women&#39;s sports &quot;denies the reality of differences when they exist and are relevant between the sexes. &quot;We cannot allow the rights of women and girls to be dictated by threats,&quot; Adams said, &quot;otherwise, we will risk turning back the clock of 50 years of educational advancements for women and girls.&quot;- David Porter, a former faculty member at Berea College, called himself a &quot;professor in exile&quot; after being forced out of a tenured position on the basis of a Title IX accusation he says is unfounded.&nbsp;- Christina Mitchell, a mom of three student-athletes in Connecticut, decried the current transgender athlete policy for making sports unfair to kids who want to compete.&nbsp;- A graduate student at Georgetown University and a former collegiate runner called the trans athletes controversy &quot;a bipartisan issue that boils down to biology. She said, &quot;women deserve a fair chance...being an NCAA women&#39;s athlete is a privilege, not a right.&quot;Follow the author of this article on Twitter:&nbsp;<a href="http://twitter.com/AngelaLMorabito" style=" text-align: start;">@AngelaLMorabito</a><div> </div><div> </div>

Parents, athletes, survivors, and university administrators weighed in with diverse opinions on due process, transgender athletes, and more. 

Title IX, Day One: Americans push back on Biden admin's plan to overhaul rule

Pacific University Professor Ken Paxton is suing the school for allegedly threatening him with a Title IX investigation if he did not resign. Paxton and his attorney say the investigation is a baseless attempt to oust him from the university, and that the accusation made against him has no merit.Paxton told <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/suspended-professor-still-under-investigation-story-about-drag-bar-five-months-later-1573909" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Newsweek</a> that he believes the investigation stems from his frequent use of an anecdote to help explain how Schema Theory works. Paxton claims that a university administrator told him that telling the story was a violation of the civil rights of students, according to <a href="https://www.scribd.com/document/497193984/American-Association-of-University-Professors-letter-to-Pacific-University#from_embed" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">a letter&nbsp;</a>from the American Association of University Professors (AAUP).&nbsp;The letter explains that Paxton was approached by Associate Vice President of Human Resources Jennifer Yruegas as part of the plan to oust him from the school over a benign story. Yruegas allegedly told Paxton that &quot;if he did not resign, she would, initiate a Title IX investigation that would result in the termination of his appointment, giving him until Monday, October 12, to submit his resignation.&quot;&nbsp;Yruegas emailed Paxton a resignation form that same day, but he did not sign it.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.campusreform.org/article?id=16983" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">[RELATED: SUNY chancellor embroiled in Cuomo scandal; conservative groups call for his resignation]</a>In the offending anecdote, Paxton describes being part of a group that walks into a bar in New Orleans, noticing that attractive women are standing near the entrance. But when the group realizes that they&#39;re at a drag bar, they felt out of sorts, not knowing the proper social scripts to follow in such a situation. <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/suspended-professor-still-under-investigation-story-about-drag-bar-five-months-later-1573909" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Newsweek</a> reported that Paxton, applying Schema Theory, would feel &quot;perfectly comfortable at a drag bar,&quot; eventually.&nbsp;Attorney Robin DesCamp, Paxton&#39;s legal counsel, told legal scholar, commentator, and writer <a href="https://jonathanturley.org/2021/03/04/pacific-university-professor-suspended-after-sharing-story-about-drag-bar-in-new-orleans/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Jonathan Turley</a> that her multiple requests for Zoom recordings of Paxton&#39;s online classes have been met with silence from the University. Turley says that DesCamp believes the recordings could clear up whether or not his comments were sexist or transphobic.&nbsp;DesCamp also sees a motive for this investigation: Paxton&#39;s tenured status would make it very difficult for the school to fire him, so she supposes that this investigation may have been the administration&#39;s way of pushing him out - by intimidating him into leaving of his own volition.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.campusreform.org/article?id=16951" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">[RELATED: Here&#39;s how much American academia spent lobbying the federal government]</a>In a statement to Campus Reform DesCamp attacked the notion that Paxton could even be accused of being transphobic.&ldquo;The anecdote&rdquo; she stated in reference to Paxton&rsquo;s bar story &ldquo;pertained to female impersonators, also known as &lsquo;drag queens,&rsquo; who are by and large cis-gendered males, the majority of whom are likely to be gay. The remainder are straight males. Whereas it is not impossible to have a transgendered male (or female) be a female impersonator, it&#39;s pretty unlikely, because trans people tend to view their gender identity very seriously, while female impersonators unashamedly mock gender identity.&rdquo;&ldquo;The allegations against him are making comments in class that are anti-transgender and for somebody not to know the difference between men who dress as women and people who feel born in the wrong body shows grotesque ignorance,&rdquo; DesCamp said of the university&rsquo;s conduct.Pacific University President Lesley Hallick responded to the AAUP letter with <a href="https://www.scribd.com/document/497193983/Pacific-University-response-to-American-Association-of-University-Professors#from_embed" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">her own letter</a>, this one explaining the school&#39;s process for handling Title IX complaints. The letter did not, however, touch on Paxton&#39;s situation in any level of specificity.&nbsp;In a statement to Campus Reform the university declined to comment on &ldquo;personnel matters&rdquo; though claimed to &ldquo;follow established procedures for investigation and resolution of any allegations of misconduct, in accordance with our Faculty Governance Handbook as well as state and federal law.&rdquo;<em style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Lora; font-size: 18px; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 500; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">Follow the author of this article on Twitter:&nbsp;<a href="http://twitter.com/AngelaLMorabito" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration: none; color: var(--red); font-weight: 600; font-family: Lora; font-size: 18px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" target="_blank">@AngelaLMorabito</a>

A university administrator allegedly told Paxton that the results of a Title IX investigation would end his career at the school, though the investigation had not yet been opened.

Prof claims he was threatened with Title IX investigation, pushed out over transgender comments

Brown University and a group of female student-athletes settled a Title IX lawsuit that followed Brown&rsquo;s elimination of multiple female sports teams.&nbsp;As Campus Reform previously reported in June, Brown announced its decision to eliminate five men&rsquo;s and six women&rsquo;s varsity sports teams in light of financial pitfalls induced by COVID-19. Among other programs, the university demoted the women&rsquo;s fencing, skiing, squash, and equestrian teams to club status.<a href="https://www.campusreform.org/?ID=14991" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">[RELATED: Universities slash spending by cutting entire sports programs]</a>In response, female student-athletes filed a federal class-action lawsuit, stating that the university failed to comply with Title IX &mdash; a Department of Education policy <a href="https://sites.ed.gov/titleix/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">ensuring&nbsp;</a>that sex cannot be a basis for discrimination in any education program or activity receiving federal dollars.The <a href="http://riaclu.org/documents/Motion_to_Enforce_Judgment.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">lawsuit&nbsp;</a>cited a 1998 Joint Agreement in which Brown promised to retain a variance between female undergraduates and female undergraduate athletic opportunities lower than 3.5 percent.The lawsuit called the university&rsquo;s decision to cut five women&rsquo;s varsity teams &ldquo;a gross and willful violation of the Joint Agreement to the immediate and irreparable harm of the class.&rdquo;According to the Rhode Island ACLU, which assisted in the lawsuit, the court preliminarily <a href="https://www.publicjustice.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Brown-Title-IX-Final-Approved-Settlement-News-Release-121520-rev.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">approved&nbsp;</a>a settlement agreement in September that would reinstate women&rsquo;s equestrian and one additional team to varsity status.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.campusreform.org/article?id=16209" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">[RELATED: GWU paints BLM symbol with closed fist on basketball court]</a>The agreement stated that &ldquo;if Brown restores to varsity status a men&rsquo;s team that had been slated to transition from varsity to club status&hellip; then the total number of women&rsquo;s teams restored to varsity status must be at least two greater than the number of men&rsquo;s teams restored.&rdquo;U.S. District Court Chief Judge John McConnell concluded in December that the settlement was &ldquo;fair, adequate and reasonable.&rdquo; &nbsp;Campus Reform reached out to Brown University for comment and will update this article accordingly.Follow the author of this article on Twitter: <a href="http://twitter.com/BenZeisloft" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">@BenZeisloft</a>

Brown had previously cut 11 sports teams due to COVID-induced budgetary concerns.

Brown University settles Title IX lawsuit with female student athletes

The Department of Education&rsquo;s new <a href="https://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/us-department-education-launches-new-title-ix-resources-students-institutions-historic-new-rule-takes-effect" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration:none;" target="_blank">Title IX</a> rules officially took effect Friday, about two months after the department made its long-awaited announcement.The changes took effect nationwide just days after a federal court blocked several states&#39; attempts to block them, as Campus Reform previously <a href="https://www.campusreform.org/?ID=15024" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">reported</a>.&ldquo;Today&rsquo;s ruling on our<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TitleIX?src=hashtag_click" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration:none;" target="_blank">&nbsp;#TitleIX</a> rule out of the Southern District of New York is a true victory for students,&rdquo; Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos <a href="https://twitter.com/BetsyDeVosED/status/1292557878826536960?s=20" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">tweeted</a>. &ldquo;So pleased to see the court agrees that civil rights cannot wait.&rdquo;<a href="https://www.campusreform.org/?ID=15381" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration:none;" target="_blank">[RELATED: Georgetown students demand return to Obama-Biden era Title IX regulations]</a>The rules require schools to offer an equal right of appeal for both parties, which some <a href="https://local12.com/news/local/new-title-ix-regulations-give-more-rights-to-those-accused-of-sexual-assault-cincinnati" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration:none;" target="_blank">critics</a> say provides the accused with too many rights. They also define what constitutes &quot;sexual harassment&quot; as well as provides guidance on how schools should hold hearings related to sexual assault cases. Schools will also be held responsible for incidents that occur off-campus in houses owned by fraternities and sororities.One <a href="https://endrapeoncampus.org/faq" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration:none;" target="_blank">non-profit group</a> called &ldquo;End Rape on Campus&rdquo; criticized the move, going as far as to compare Secretary DeVos to a predator.&nbsp;The group <a href="https://twitter.com/endrapeoncampus/status/1293976294301073410?s=20" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration:none;" target="_blank">tweeting,</a> &ldquo;You sound just like the perpetrators who gloat the day after.&rdquo; <center><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">You sound just like the perpetrators who gloat the day after. <a href="https://t.co/l6GCCp7WOI">https://t.co/l6GCCp7WOI</a>&mdash; End Rape on Campus (@endrapeoncampus) <a href="https://twitter.com/endrapeoncampus/status/1293976294301073410?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 13, 2020</a></blockquote>&nbsp;</center> <a href="https://www.campusreform.org/?ID=14831" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration:none;" target="_blank">[RELATED: Trump administration &#39;restores due process&#39; with new campus sexual assault regs]</a>The group is not the first to come out against the changes.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.campusreform.org/?ID=15381" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration:none;" target="_blank">Georgetown University students&nbsp;</a>recently petitioned to return to Obama-era standards on Title IX, saying the changes will &ldquo;discourage survivors from coming forward.&rdquo;Title IX is a federal law that protects people from discrimination based on sex in education programs or activities. DeVos announced the department would review the Title IX in 2018 and announced changes to the rules earlier in 2020.Follow the author of this article on Twitter:&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/JezzamineWolk" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration:none;" target="_blank">@JezzamineWolk</a>

DeVos is facing backlash despite the new rules, which include more protections for the accused.

Trump admin. officially reverses Obama-era Title IX rules

Students at Georgetown University are demanding the school adopt Obama-era sexual assault regulations after the Department of Education recently changed Title IX rules regarding rights for accused students. According to <a href="https://georgetownvoice.com/2020/07/28/students-demand-university-response-to-new-title-ix-regulations/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Georgetown Voice</a>, the demands were listed in a <a href="https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/docs/tix_dis.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">petition</a> that was sent to Georgetown President John DeGioia. Hundreds of students and dozens of student groups and organizations have signed the petition, which claims the Department of Education&rsquo;s changes will &ldquo;discourage survivors from coming forward and utilizing the Title IX process at their schools, resulting in rampant sexual violence going unaddressed.&quot; &ldquo;Consistent with the harmful rhetoric and anti-survivor ideology [Education] Secretary [Betsy] DeVos has brought to the Department, the Rule contains dangerous provisions that go against best practices, tip the scales against survivors, and jeopardize tens of thousands of students&rsquo; civil right to an education free from discrimination,&rdquo; the petition reads.<a href="https://www.campusreform.org/?ID=15024">[RELATED: 17 states, DC sue Betsy DeVos over Trump admin&#39;s due process protections]</a> Title IX is a federal law that <a href="https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/docs/tix_dis.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">bans sex discrimination</a> in education and federally funded programs. Former Vice President Joe Biden, along with former Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, spearheaded the Obama administration&rsquo;s efforts to reform Title IX. In addition to demanding the school maintain the previous preponderance of the evidence standard, the petition calls on Georgetown to pledge it will not use its afforded religious exemption to some Title IX obligations. It also demands that the university: hire four clinicians &ldquo;with expertise in Black and Black queer identities,&rdquo; &ldquo;make a concerted effort to attract, hire, and retain&rdquo; health practitioners of &ldquo;marginalized identities, including queer, nonbinary, and trans people of color,&rdquo; and for the university to continue to provide birth control prescriptions on &ldquo;campus-run health centers.&rdquo;Under the Obama-Biden era &quot;<a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/preponderance_of_the_evidence#:~:text=Overview,that%20the%20claim%20is%20true." rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">preponderance of evidence</a>&quot; standard, a claim is determined to be true when the accused convinces a fact finder or investigator that there is a 50 percent chance or greater that an allegation is accurate. The Trump administration&#39;s revised rule raises the standard for what constitutes a valid claim, setting the bar for the burden of proof higher in an effort to better protect the falsely accused.<a href="https://www.campusreform.org/?ID=14831">[RELATED: Trump administration &#39;restores due process&#39; with new campus sexual assault regs]</a> The signatories called for an August 1 response date from the university. It is unclear whether Georgetown has responded to the petition. DeVos made changes to the Title IX rules earlier this year after initially announcing the department would review Title IX in 2018. The <a href="https://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/secretary-devos-takes-historic-action-strengthen-title-ix-protections-all-students" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">new rules</a> now specifically define sexual harassment and sexual assault as unlawful sex discrimination and notably allow schools to use the clear and convincing evidence standard in sexual assault cases. The rules also grant students additional rights such as the right to written notice of allegations, the right to an adviser, and the right to cross-examine. Campus Reform reached out to Georgetown University but received no comment in time for publication. Follow the author of this article on Facebook: <a href="https://www.facebook.com/eduneret">@eduneret</a> and Twitter:&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/eduneret?lang=en">@eduneret</a>

If implemented, the changes would remove the new protections given to accused students under the Trump administration

Georgetown students demand return to Obama-Biden era Title IX regulations

The University of Missouri assistant vice chancellor said in a recent legal deposition that the mere physical size of a man could constitute a Title IX violation.&nbsp;<a href="https://diversity.missouri.edu/team/andy-hayes/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Andy Hayes</a>, the current assistant vice chancellor of civil rights and Title IX at the University of Missouri, agreed with her predecessor&#39;s statement in a Dec. 24 <a href="https://kcjohnson.files.wordpress.com/2018/12/Mizzou-Rowles-summary-judgment-motion.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">deposition</a> involving a male student who asked a female student out on a date in 2016. The deposition comes as the Trump administration considers changes to Title IX, which it says would strengthen due process rights for students accused of sexual misconduct.&nbsp;&quot;So, let me ask you what unwanted sexual advance means. Is that - is a request for a date an unwanted sexual advance, if it&#39;s unwanted. I mean, if someone asks you out that you don&#39;t want to go out with, is that an unwanted sexual advance?&quot; Hayes&#39; predecessor Cathy Scroggs, who retired in 2017, was asked in the legal questioning.&nbsp;&quot;Probably not the first time, no,&quot; Scroggs replied. &quot;But the second time it would be?&quot; the defendant asked. &quot;If I keep turning him down and he keeps asking, I would consider that unwanted,&quot; Scroggs said. &quot;The allegations against [defendant] Jeremy Rowles, do you believe that they&#39;ve satisfied subsection 1 of sexual harassment?&quot; Scroggs was later asked. &quot;I think he was perceived as having power over her,&quot; Scroggs replied.<a href="https://www.campusreform.org/?ID=9814" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">[RELATED: Prof: Title IX harms both students and teachers]</a>&quot;And what was the nature of his power over her? Was it just his size?&quot; the questioner followed up. Scroggs responded, &quot;his physical size.&quot; The questioner then asked what exactly constitutes a &quot;person of authority.&quot;&nbsp;&quot;Okay. So, this part 1 doesn&#39;t require him to be a teacher. When it says person of authority, it doesn&#39;t mean, like, teacher or boss?&quot; the questioner asked Scroggs.&quot;Well, I suppose it could; but in this case, no, I didn&#39;t interpret it that way,&quot; Scroggs said. &nbsp;Hayes, when asked her interpretation of the Title IX section, said that she agrees with Scroggs.&nbsp;&quot;Would you agree with me that that section only applies to situations in which the accused has some position of authority over the accuser?&quot; Hayes was asked in the deposition.&quot;Or power,&quot; Hayes added. &quot;What&#39;s the difference between those things?&quot; the questioner followed up.<a href="https://www.campusreform.org/?ID=11480" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">[RELATED: College heads urge Betsy DeVos to &#39;do everything you can&#39; to halt proposed Title IX changes]</a>&quot;Well, I think in certain situations that a man could have power over a woman, even if there wasn&#39;t an authority situation. I think there could be a feeling of that just by the nature of your gender,&quot; Hayes said. &quot;So subpart one could apply to any situation with any man and any woman?&quot; the questioner asked. &quot;It could,&quot; Hayes said.The male student referenced in the deposition sued the University of Missouri in July after the college suspended him from all four of its campuses for four years. The student previously tried to appeal his suspension. The college eventually shortened the suspension from four years to two years. The suspension, however, involved more variables than simply the male student asking the female out on a date. In fact, the university has alleged it received word that the male student acted inappropriately toward three other women, none of whom filed formal complaints.&nbsp;&quot;Multiple complaints and concerns were expressed by at least four female students, and they provide important contextual information about this situation,&quot; a Mizzou spokesman <a href="https://abcstlouis.com/news/local/mizzou-official-tall-man-asking-short-woman-out-could-be-considered-sexual-misconduct" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">told KDNL-TV</a> in St. Louis.The <a href="https://kcjohnson.files.wordpress.com/2018/07/rowles-v-mizzou-order-on-mtd.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">July court filing</a> noted that the male student alleged in his appeal that he &quot;had been treated more harshly because he is an African-American male.&quot; The female student named in the most recent court filing is white.&nbsp;Editor&#39;s note: This article has been updated with more information about the case.&nbsp;Follow the author of this article on Facebook:<a href="http://facebook.com/JonStreetDC" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">@JonStreetDC</a> and Twitter:&nbsp;<a href="http://twitter.com/JonStreet" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">@JonStreet</a>

The assistant vice chancellor of civil rights and Title IX at the University of Missouri said in a recent deposition that a man's physical size could constitute a Title IX violation.

Mizzou admin: Men who ask out smaller women could violate Title IX

A New Mexico student government moved to unanimously denounce the Trump Administration&rsquo;s proposed Title IX changes but reportedly did not even have time to go over the entire list of changes before the vote.The Associated Students of the University of New Mexico unanimously passed Resolution 15F, which officially denounced a set of changes to Title IX proposed by Department of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos during a Nov. 28 meeting, <a href="http://www.dailylobo.com/article/2018/11/asunm-title-ix-response" style="text-decoration:none;">the Daily Lobo</a> student newspaper reported. The Resolution, when passed, also <a href="https://asunm.unm.edu/common/fall2018/minutes-and-notices/11-28-18fullsenateagenda.pdf" style="text-decoration:none;">urged</a> UNM President Garnett Stokes to support the decision and issue a statement announcing the university&rsquo;s opposition to the changes.DeVos&rsquo; proposed changes include urging schools to adopt a &ldquo;clear and convincing evidence&rdquo; standard for sexual assault cases and scrapping the preponderance of evidence standard. If enacted, the new rules would also impose a stricter definition of &ldquo;sexual harassment.&rdquo;&nbsp;<a href="https://www.campusreform.org/?ID=11547" style="text-decoration:none;">[RELATED: ACLU bashes Betsy DeVos&rsquo; Title IX proposal]</a>While the resolution passed, the Daily Lobo reported that most of the senators involved in the vote did not have time to read the full list of changes. Individual senators reported their familiarity with the changes using phrases ranging from &ldquo;not the full thing&rdquo; to &ldquo;know generally.&rdquo;The Daily Lobo interviewed several of the senators who voted on the measure. Of the senators interviewed by the student publication, only one of the senators and one of the three sponsors of the resolution, Rachel Montoya, said that they had read the Title IX changes in full.&ldquo;When Senators make a decision like this, they weigh the issues in many ways, including holding meetings with students, considering pertinent information as outlined in the resolution, reading contextual information from outside sources &mdash; like news outlets and relevant commentary &mdash; and, if applicable, consulting material directly.&rdquo; UNM student government spokesman Brendon Gray told Campus Reform.Senate President Becka Myers and Vice President Emily Wilks, both of whom read the proposed changes in full, stood behind the decision of the senators.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s everyone&rsquo;s own prerogative to be as involved in politics as they want to be,&rdquo; Wilks told the Daily Lobo. &ldquo;I think they understand the connotations based on the descriptions that they were given before voting.&rdquo;Gray noted to Campus Reform that during the two-and-a-half hour meeting, senators said that they had consulted with the Title IX changes and discussed relevant parts and that senators heard extensive comment from members of the University of New Mexico&rsquo;s campus who were &ldquo;well versed&rdquo; on the issue.&ldquo;Additionally, ASUNM plans to work with university units to continue the discussion about Title IX changes through presentations and workshops.&quot; Gray said.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.campusreform.org/?ID=11249" style="text-decoration:none;">[RELATED: Title IX complaint filed against &lsquo;hate men&rsquo; professor]</a>UNM has not released an official statement on its position regarding the proposed changes.Other senators, UNM&rsquo;s Office of the President, and the Board of Regents did not respond to Campus Reform inquiries in time for publication.Follow the author of this article on Facebook:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.facebook.com/jesse.stiller.5" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Jesse Stiller</a>

Twenty student senators at the University of New Mexico voted to pass a resolution condemning Education Secretary Betsy DeVos' proposed Title IX changes.

Student senators denounce Betsy DeVos' proposed Title IX changes...without reading them

The University of California system has taken a stance against the Trump administration&#39;s proposed Title IX changes, stating that it is &ldquo;troubled&rdquo; about certain portions of the change, despite those changes ensuring the cross-examination of sexual assault accusers, a right afforded by the Sixth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.&nbsp;According to the <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/sixth_amendment" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Sixth Amendment</a>, &quot;the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense.&quot;&nbsp;Education Secretary Betsy DeVos proposed widespread changes to the way in which Title IX investigations are conducted on college campuses. The changes <a href="https://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/secretary-devos-proposed-title-ix-rule-provides-clarity-schools-support-survivors-and-due-process-rights-all" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">include</a> allowing for cross-examination, as well as limiting the scope of what is considered &quot;sexual harassment.&quot; However, UC&#39;s Office of the President published a <a href="https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/press-room/university-california-troubled-proposed-changes-sexual-harassment-rules" style="text-decoration:none;">press release</a> on Nov. 16, stating that the university is &ldquo;troubled&rdquo; by the proposed changes.<a href="https://www.campusreform.org/?ID=11480" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">[RELATED: College heads urge Betsy DeVos to &#39;do everything you can&#39; to halt proposed Title IX changes]</a>&ldquo;The Department of Education&rsquo;s (ED) proposed changes will reverse decades of well-established, hard-won progress toward equity in our nation&rsquo;s schools, unravel critical protections for individuals who experience sexual harassment and undermine the very procedures designed to ensure fairness and justice,&quot; Interim Systemwide Title IX Coordinator Suzanne Taylor stated in the release. &quot;This is yet another attack on students&rsquo; right to an educational environment free of sexual harassment.&quot;Taylor stated that the proposed rules will &ldquo;significantly weaken&rdquo; the Office of Civil Rights&#39; authority to enforce Title IX rules. She claims that the current Title IX system &ldquo;already ensure[s] due process.&rdquo;<img src="//s3.amazonaws.com/campusreform/11561/Screenshot_(299)_(1).jpg" style="width: 600px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib"><img src="//s3.amazonaws.com/campusreform/11561/Screenshot_(300).jpg" style="width: 600px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib"><a href="https://www.campusreform.org/?ID=11023" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">[RELATED: UMich ignored federal guidance in dismissing Title IX complaint]</a>&ldquo;The proposed hearings would allow representatives of alleged assailants to directly cross-examine complainants, which is wholly unnecessary and inherently intimidating, especially to students making the already difficult decision to come forward,&rdquo; Taylor said.&nbsp;The Title IX coordinator said that limiting what constitutes sexual harassment allows some misconduct to slip away.&ldquo;The rights of the most vulnerable among us are under attack, and it is important that we continue to counter ill-advised attempts to erode important Title IX protections for all members of the community,&rdquo; Taylor said. &ldquo;UC remains steadfast in its commitment to combatting [sic] sexual violence through prevention, transparent and fair resolution processes, and just outcomes. The university will continue to ensure its policies and procedures protect the rights and well-being of all parties in the process.&rdquo;The Associated Students of the University of California, the student government of UC-Berkeley, said it will &ldquo;mobilize students&rdquo; to make comments on the proposed Title IX changes, according to the<a href="http://www.dailycal.org/2018/11/19/uc-office-of-the-president-responds-to-proposed-title-ix-changes/" style="text-decoration:none;">&nbsp;Daily Cal</a>.<a href="https://www.campusreform.org/?ID=11249" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">[RELATED: Title IX complaint filed against &lsquo;hate men&rsquo; professor]</a>&ldquo;We will be working &hellip; to coordinate our responses and solicit as many unique public comments from students as possible,&rdquo; ASUC External Affairs Vice President Nuha Khalfay told the student newspaper.The action by the student government comes more than a month after representatives of the organization went to Washington, D.C. to lobby members of Congress on Title IX issues.Follow the author of this article on Twitter:&nbsp;<a href="http://twitter.com/asabes10" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">@asabes10</a>

The University of California System Title IX coordinator called the Trump administration's proposed Title IX changes "troubling."

UC counters DeVos' proposed Title IX due process changes

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) denounced as &ldquo;unfair&rdquo; to survivors of sexual assault newly proposed Title IX policy changes that supporters of those changes say would advance due process for alleged perpetrators.The ACLU took issue with a Title IX sexual harassment <a href="https://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/secretary-devos-proposed-title-ix-rule-provides-clarity-schools-support-survivors-and-due-process-rights-all" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration:none;" target="_blank">policy proposal</a>, issued by Education Secretary Betsy DeVos on Nov. 16, claiming in an <a href="https://www.aclu.org/blog/womens-rights/womens-rights-education/betsy-devos-wants-roll-back-civil-rights-protections" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration:none;" target="_blank">article</a> and a series of <a href="https://twitter.com/ACLU/status/1063456583957524480" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration:none;" target="_blank">tweets</a> that the proposal would &ldquo;roll back civil rights protections for students.&rdquo;<a href="https://www.campusreform.org/?ID=9911" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration:none;" target="_blank">[RELATED: BLM protesters shut down ACLU free speech event]</a>&quot;We advocate for fair school disciplinary processes that uphold the rights of both parties in campus sexual assault and harassment cases. Today, Secretary DeVos proposed a rule that would tip the scales against those who raise their voices. We strongly oppose it,&quot; the ACLU said in a Nov. 16 tweet.&nbsp;&quot;It promotes an unfair process, inappropriately favoring the accused and letting schools ignore their responsibility under Title IX to respond promptly and fairly to complaints of sexual violence,&quot; the ACLU added.The Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution states that no one shall be &quot;deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law&quot; by the government, which promises fair procedures in the legal process.The ACLU, whose stated goal is to defend rights and liberties expressed in the Constitution, claimed in the article that this new proposal &ldquo;would not further the stated goal of fair process.&rdquo; &nbsp;However, DeVos argued that the new policy promotes due process, stating that &ldquo;every survivor of sexual violence must be taken seriously, and every student accused of sexual misconduct must know that guilt is not predetermined.&rdquo; &ldquo;We can, and must, condemn sexual violence and punish those who perpetrate it, while ensuring a fair grievance process. Those are not mutually exclusive ideas. They are the very essence of how Americans understand justice to function,&quot; she continued.<a href="https://www.campusreform.org/?ID=10289" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration:none;" target="_blank">[RELATED: New policy would make it easier for UMD to punish students]</a>The ACLU alleged that, if enacted, the policy changes would favor the accused over accusers in sexual assault cases by giving schools the choice of using the preponderance of evidence standard or the &ldquo;clear and convincing evidence&rdquo; standard.In a court using the preponderance of evidence standard, if over 50 percent of the evidence in a sexual assault case supports the account of the accuser or the accused, the court rules in favor of the accuser or the accused, respectively.&ldquo;The preponderance of the evidence standard applies in all other sexual harassment proceedings and should apply here as well,&rdquo; the ACLU said. &ldquo;Previous Department of Education guidance adopted that standard of proof. But the new regulation would allow schools to use a &lsquo;clear and convincing evidence&rsquo; standard, which favors the respondent by finding against complainants even where it is more likely than not that their account is accurate.&rdquo;The ACLU criticized the policy proposal for requiring schools to operate within a stricter definition of &ldquo;sexual harassment.&rdquo;&ldquo;Schools would need to investigate only reports of &lsquo;unwelcome conduct on the basis of sex that is so severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive that it effectively denies a person equal access&rsquo; to education,&rdquo; the ACLU said. &ldquo;Departing from earlier Department <a href="https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/docs/shguide.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration:none;" target="_blank">guidance</a>, under the proposed rule, schools would not have to investigate complaints about &#39;unwelcome conduct of a sexual nature&#39; that &#39;limit[s]&#39; but does not &#39;deny,&#39; a students&rsquo; ability to learn.&rdquo;<a href="https://www.campusreform.org/?ID=9394" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration:none;" target="_blank">[RELATED: Title IX group publishes playbook for state lawmakers]</a>Universities would also be required to act only on reports made to high-level officials at the school and not reports made to resident assistants or teaching assistants.Campus Reform reached out to the ACLU for further comment but did not receive a response in time for publication.Follow the author of this article on Twitter:&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/knelson1776" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration:none;" target="_blank">@knelson1776&nbsp;</a>

ACLU bashes Betsy DeVos’ Title IX proposal

The heads of three universities have penned a letter to the U.S. Department of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, urging her to &quot;do everything&quot; she can to stop the Trump administration&#39;s proposed changes to Title IX.Rutgers University President Robert Barchi, Princeton University President Christopher Eisgruber, and University of Wisconsin-Madison Chancellor Rebecca Blank expressed their disapproval of the proposed changes in an <a href="http://www.princeton.edu/president/eisgruber/speeches-writings/archive/?id=18573" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">open letter</a> on Thursday.<a href="https://www.campusreform.org/?ID=11473" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">[RELATED: UC Berkeley group disavows own student senator over conservative Christian views]</a>&quot;As presidents and chancellors of leading American research universities, we write to express our deep concern and dismay at reports of possible withdrawal of federal agency protections for transgender people,&quot; the letter reads. &quot;We appeal to you to do everything you can to prevent such action and to uphold the dignity of all persons.&quot;The proposed Title IX changes under the Trump administration would not include a legal definition of &quot;gender,&quot; limiting one&#39;s gender identity to that of the sex they are assigned at birth: either male or female. But, according to the three co-signers of the letter to DeVos, &quot;such a narrow and binary definition would have the effect of rolling back important protections against discrimination on the basis of gender and gender identity.&quot;&quot;These protections are important because transgender Americans in all parts of the country, including students and others on our campuses, have faced discrimination, isolation, and harassment,&quot; the letter adds. &quot;This is no time for the country to turn its back on these valued members of our communities. &nbsp;We hope you will provide needed leadership in opposing the proposed change, and that you will strongly advocate for an interpretation of Title IX (and other federal laws) that fully protects the rights of transgender people&mdash;an interpretation grounded in the law, medical judgment, compassion, and a firm commitment to respect the dignity of all Americans.&quot;<a href="https://www.campusreform.org/?ID=11023" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">[RELATED: UMich ignored federal guidance in dismissing Title IX complaint]</a>DeVos denies that these individuals would be marginalized under the proposed changes, as the letter suggests. Democratic Senators Cory Booker, Patty Murray, and Kirsten Gillibrand sent a <a href="https://www.help.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/101218%20-%20Title%20IX%20Leaked%20Reg.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">letter</a> to DeVos on Oct. 12 asking the secretary to postpone the proposed changes. &nbsp;&quot;Sec. @BetsyDeVosED&#39;s wants to weaken student protections so&mdash;an unmarried mother may be denied admission, a woman could be thrown out for using birth control &amp; an LGBTQ student could be subjected to cruel punishment at school. This is unacceptable,&quot; Murray later tweeted.&nbsp;DeVos responded to Murray on Twitter, saying, &quot;This is completely false and you know it, @PattyMurray. It&rsquo;s also unbecoming and irresponsible of a U.S. Senator to sow fear and falsehood. Our efforts will restore #DueProcess and support all students, including survivors.&quot; <center><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">This is completely false and you know it, <a href="https://twitter.com/PattyMurray?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@PattyMurray</a>. It&rsquo;s also unbecoming and irresponsible of a U.S. Senator to sow fear and falsehood. Our efforts will restore <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/DueProcess?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#DueProcess</a> and support all students, including survivors. <a href="https://t.co/bo1G98Drrn">https://t.co/bo1G98Drrn</a>&mdash; Betsy DeVos (@BetsyDeVosED) <a href="https://twitter.com/BetsyDeVosED/status/1052228458015809537?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 16, 2018</a></blockquote></center> Follow this author on Facebook: <a href="http://facebook.com/JonStreetDC" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Jon Street</a> and Twitter:&nbsp;<a href="http://twitter.com/JonStreet" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">@JonStreet</a>

The co-signers wrote that the proposed changes would lead to the country "turn[ing] its back" on transgender individuals, a claim that DeVos has denied.

College heads urge Betsy DeVos to 'do everything you can' to halt proposed Title IX changes

The nation&rsquo;s oldest men&rsquo;s nonprofit has filed a Title IX complaint against the University of Pennsylvania, alleging that 22 of the school&rsquo;s programs unlawfully exclude men, including the Women&#39;s Center.According to a complaint filed on June 22, the <a href="https://ncfm.org" style="text-decoration:none;">National Coalition for Men</a> requests that the U.S. Department of Education&rsquo;s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) launch a formal probe into certain women-only scholarships and programs at the Ivy League school.&nbsp;Programs that directly exclude men include The Penn Forum for Women Faculty, The Penn Women&rsquo;s Support Group, and the Trustees Council of Penn Women, according to the complaint.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.campusreform.org/?ID=11249" style="text-decoration:none;">[RELATED: Title IX complaint filed against &lsquo;hate men&rsquo; professor]</a>But the complaint also takes aim at programs with ambiguous membership rules, such as the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.sas.upenn.edu/gsws/" style="text-decoration:none;">Women&rsquo;s Studies Department</a>, the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.sas.upenn.edu/gsws/center" style="text-decoration:none;">Alice Paul Center for Research on Gender, Sexuality, and Women</a>, and various other initiatives to &ldquo;support women&rdquo; in STEM and academia.&nbsp;Though these programs might not bar men from joining, per se, NCFM alleges that many of these programs indirectly bar men. In many cases, the group cites the absolute lack, or near lack, of male participants to justify its claims.&nbsp;&quot;University of Pennsylvania Women&#39;s Center engages in discrimination against men because the overall effect is discriminatory,&quot; the complaint asserts. &quot;The Center describes itself as &#39;a perfect space for women, female-identified persons, and feminists of all genders&#39;&mdash;the overall effect of which is to create a hostile environment against men.&quot;Moreover, NCFM contends that while the Women&#39;s Center does have an anti-discrimination clause, it is &quot;hollow and illusory&quot; because the Center offers numerous programs that are explicitly labeled as &quot;woman-only,&quot; such as a &quot;Rape Aggression Defence&quot; program and an event series called &quot;Voices for Change.&quot;Per federal guidelines, the OCR could not confirm receipt of the complaint, but a spokesman did tell Campus Reform that the office evaluates the merits of every complaint filed and, if it decides to investigate, will notify the appropriate parties.&nbsp;The OCR will likely need a few more months to process the complaint, however.<a href="https://www.campusreform.org/?ID=10954" style="text-decoration:none;">[RELATED: Prof creates guide to challenging anti-male discrimination]</a>If the OCR agrees to investigate&mdash;and considering precedent, it&rsquo;s likely that at least a few of the 22 programs listed will fall under further scrutiny&mdash;UPenn will become the 3rd Ivy League school to fall under a federal Title IX probe for male discrimination.&nbsp;On April 26, the OCR agreed to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.campusreform.org/?ID=10899" style="text-decoration:none;">investigate seven programs at Yale University</a> for allegedly discriminating against men. That investigation, and a subsequent one looking into&nbsp;<a href="https://www.campusreform.org/?ID=11162" style="text-decoration:none;">similar programs at Princeton University</a> that was approved on July 9, are still underway, according to the OCR.&nbsp;NCFM President Harry Crouch, who filed the complaint against the University of Pennsylvania, called the lack of programs for young men &ldquo;horrible.&rdquo;&nbsp;&ldquo;If you go to see the other programs that the University of Pennsylvania offers for men, all of them are about teaching men not to attack women, whereas they have 22 programs to support and empower women,&rdquo; he told&nbsp;Campus Reform. &ldquo;So there are really no programs that have anything to do with helping men, for their own sake.&quot;&nbsp;&quot;That&#39;s horrible,&rdquo; he remarked. &ldquo;Who helps men? They&rsquo;re a minority now.&rdquo;<a href="https://www.campusreform.org/?ID=11023" style="text-decoration:none;">[RELATED: UMich ignored federal guidance in dismissing Title IX complaint]</a>In NCFM&rsquo;s complaint against the UPenn, the organization points out that the school continues to offer female-only programs even though men are now a minority of students both at UPenn (47 percent of the incoming class of 2021) and nationwide (42 percent).NCFM also worries about the potential impact of that disparity on employment prospects.&nbsp;&ldquo;Men are beginning to face significant problems in the workplace due to this disparity in terms of college degree attainment,&rdquo; NCFM writes in its complaint, noting that &ldquo;<a href="http://insight.movemeon.com/insight-analysis/gender/women-more-likely-to-get-hired-than-men" style="text-decoration:none;">a recent study</a> found out that women are 36% more likely than men to receive a job offer.&rdquo;<a href="https://ncfm.org/lead-with-us/chapters/" style="text-decoration:none;">Founded in 1977</a>, NCFM is the most prominent men&rsquo;s organization and professes to be non-political and non-religious. In addition to its main office in California, the group has 27 active chapters across the United States, including Mexico, Israel, Sweden, Australia, and Canada.&nbsp;The University of Pennsylvania did not respond to a request for comment.&nbsp;Follow the author of this article on Twitter:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.twitter.com/Toni_Airaksinen" style="text-decoration:none;">@Toni_Airaksinen</a>

UPenn Women's Center targeted in federal Title IX complaint

The nation&rsquo;s oldest men&rsquo;s group has filed a Title IX complaint against Northeastern University, prompted by a professor&rsquo;s op-ed exploring the merits of hating men.&nbsp;&ldquo;<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/why-cant-we-hate-men/2018/06/08/f1a3a8e0-6451-11e8-a69c-b944de66d9e7_story.html?utm_term=.64b6f1173c4e" style="text-decoration:none;">Why Can&rsquo;t We Hate Men?</a>&rdquo; was published June 8 by Suzanna Danuta Walters, the chair of the Women&rsquo;s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Department, who wrote that it ultimately &ldquo;seems logical&rdquo; to feel hatred towards men.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.campusreform.org/?ID=11006" style="text-decoration:none;">[RELATED: Prof says feminists have &lsquo;every right&rsquo; to &lsquo;hate men&rsquo;]</a>Walters later doubled-down on her remarks. In&nbsp;<a href="https://www.chronicle.com/article/A-Scholar-Asked-Why/243705?cid=wcontentgrid_hp_2" style="text-decoration:none;">an interview with&nbsp;The Chronicle of Higher Education</a>, she clarified that she &ldquo;doesn&rsquo;t hate men in some generic way,&rdquo; but insisted that it makes sense for women to have &ldquo;legitimate rage&rdquo; against men.&ldquo;My point here was to say that it makes sense for women to have rage, legitimate rage, against a group of people that has systematically abused them,&rdquo; Walters told the&nbsp;Chronicle&rsquo;s Alexander Kafka.&nbsp;After the controversy, some speculation was raised over whether Northeastern&rsquo;s Title IX office would investigate. Although Walters is not scheduled to teach next semester, she does hold the highest leadership position in her department, and also advises students.UM-Flint Professor Mark Perry was among those to call for a Title IX investigation. In an&nbsp;<a href="https://www.thecollegefix.com/post/46280/" style="text-decoration:none;">email sent to Northeastern</a>, he urged the school to investigate, asking, &ldquo;How could a male student ever expect fair, just, and equitable treatment from Professor Walters?&rdquo;&nbsp;&ldquo;How could a male faculty colleague applying for tenure and/or promotion...expect fair treatment from Professor Walters, after her public admission of hatred toward all men?&rdquo; Perry added.&nbsp;He did not receive a response.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.campusreform.org/?ID=11055" style="text-decoration:none;">[RELATED: Feminist prof doubles-down on call to &lsquo;hate men&rsquo;]</a>The&nbsp;<a href="https://ncfm.org/" style="text-decoration:none;">National Coalition for Men</a> (NCFM) took a different route. In an&nbsp;<a href="https://ncfm.org/2018/08/news/discrimination-news/discrimination-against-men-news/__trashed/" style="text-decoration:none;">August 15 Title IX complaint</a>, NCFM argues that the Northeastern Women&rsquo;s Studies Department is hostile towards men, citing Walter&rsquo;s op-ed as indicative of the overall tone of the department.&nbsp;&ldquo;The article offers circumstantial evidence that the current ideology/composition of the [Women&rsquo;s Studies Department] creates an overall hostile effect against male participants,&rdquo; the complaint asserts, though NCFM clarifies that &ldquo;this complaint does not request disciplinary action against the Chair.&rdquo;The group does, however, note that Walters&rsquo; op-ed is merely representative of a more deep-seated bias in the department, pointing out that all &ldquo;political links&rdquo; and &ldquo;academic and professional sources&rdquo; listed on the department&rsquo;s website mention women and LGBT groups, but not men.In addition, the complaint asserts that &ldquo;external programs endorsed by the program express an explicit preference for women, augmenting the&nbsp;overall effect of discrimination&rdquo; [emphasis in original].<a href="https://www.campusreform.org/?ID=11101" style="text-decoration:none;">[RELATED: Biased Title IX investigation costs USC $111,965]</a>NCFM President Harry Crouch told&nbsp;Campus Reform that NCFM filed the complaint after receiving feedback from its members on the East Coast. The complaint was sent to the Boston regional office of the Office for Civil Rights, which has jurisdiction over Northeastern.&nbsp;&ldquo;Suzanne Walters is the Chair of their Women Studies program, not some random schmuck,&rdquo; Crouch explained. &ldquo;Her openly hateful behavior is reprehensible, disgusting, and irresponsible. She should not be allowed to promote her misandry in an educational institution with impressionable minds.&rdquo;NCFM does not seek for Walters to be punished. Rather, it views Walter&rsquo;s comments as&nbsp;<a href="https://ncfm.org/2018/08/news/discrimination-news/discrimination-against-men-news/__trashed/" style="text-decoration:none;">symptomatic of a larger issue</a> in academia: the preponderance of programs to support female students, even though men are now a minority of college enrollees.&nbsp;In the coming months, the Boston OCR will decide whether to investigate. Per federal law, the office cannot confirm receipt of a complaint until it decides to launch an investigation, but precedent is on NCFM&rsquo;s side.&nbsp;Yale University, Princeton University, and the University of Southern California are all currently under investigation by various OCR regional offices, all due to very similar complaints.<a href="https://www.campusreform.org/?ID=10954" style="text-decoration:none;">[RELATED: Prof creates guide to challenging anti-male discrimination]</a><a href="https://ncfm.org/" style="text-decoration:none;">NCFM is the nation&rsquo;s oldest group dedicated to men&rsquo;s issues</a>. Founded in 1977, NCFM&nbsp;<a href="https://ncfm.org/2018/08/news/discrimination-news/discrimination-against-men-news/__trashed/" style="text-decoration:none;">describes</a> itself as non-political and non-partisan, and is a 501(c)(3) based in San Diego, California. The group also has active chapters across the globe, spanning Israel, Mexico, Australia, and Canada.&nbsp;Northeastern University did not respond to a request for comment. Neither did Suzanna Danuta-Walters.Follow the author of this article on Twitter:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.twitter.com/Toni_Airaksinen" style="text-decoration:none;">@Toni_Airaksinen</a>

Title IX complaint filed against ‘hate men’ professor

The U.S. Department of Education has launched a Title IX investigation into allegations that Princeton University unfairly excludes men from two of its educational programs.&nbsp;According to a July 9 letter, the department&rsquo;s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) is investigating two Princeton programs:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.smartwomansecurities.com/princeton/foundingteam.html" style="text-decoration:none;">Smart Women Securities</a>, which offers seminars to aspiring women investors, and the school&rsquo;s female-only&nbsp;<a href="https://publicsafety.princeton.edu/safety-security/rad" style="text-decoration:none;">Rape Aggression Defense</a> program.Both programs are only open to women, which&mdash;pending the results of the OCR investigation&mdash;may be a violation of Title IX, a federal civil rights law mandating that no student be excluded from an educational program due to their sex.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.campusreform.org/?ID=11151" style="text-decoration:none;">[RELATED: University hit with Title IX lawsuit for cutting sports budget]</a>Though neither program is directly funded by the U.S. government, the OCR claims jurisdiction to investigate because Princeton receives federal assistance in other forms, such as tax breaks, student loans, and Pell Grants.&nbsp;The probe was opened due to a complaint filed on March 2. To protect his career, the person who filed that complaint requested his identity be kept confidential, but he told&nbsp;Campus Reform that he&rsquo;s hopeful about the investigation.He believes that the OCR&rsquo;s willingness to investigate the anti-assault program is a sign that OCR is waking up to the idea that men can also be victims of assault, which he said isn&rsquo;t often acknowledged by academic institutions.&nbsp;&ldquo;Maybe they are trying to signal to the public that men have the same rights to report sexual assault and harassment that women have,&rdquo; he mused, noting that &ldquo;male victims find it very difficult to come forward in the current climate.&rdquo;&nbsp;<a href="https://www.campusreform.org/?ID=11139" style="text-decoration:none;">[RELATED: UT makes student reflect on &lsquo;masculinity&rsquo; as punishment]</a>The merit of the complaint hasn&rsquo;t yet been determined, the OCR stressed. A full investigation could take months, if not years.&nbsp;<a href="https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/docs/investigations/open-investigations/tix.html?page=10&offset=180" style="text-decoration:none;">According to&nbsp;The Chronicle of Higher Education</a>, the average OCR probe into a Title IX complaint takes 1,469 days, and federal investigators are&nbsp;<a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/05/06/ocr-letter-says-completed-title-ix-investigations-2014-lasted-more-4-years" style="text-decoration:none;">currently working through a</a> backlog of nearly 1,800 complaints, some of which date back to 2010.&nbsp;In a statement to&nbsp;Campus Reform, Princeton University spokesman Michael Hotchkiss said the school is &ldquo;reviewing the two programs referenced in the OCR&rsquo;s letter and appreciate the opportunity to respond in due course,&rdquo; adding that Princeton &ldquo;is committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive learning environment on campus.&rdquo;&nbsp;Princeton is the second Ivy League school to fall under OCR investigation after Yale University, which has&nbsp;<a href="https://www.campusreform.org/?ID=10899" style="text-decoration:none;">remained under investigation</a> since April 26. Similar investigations are also underway at the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.campusreform.org/?ID=10931" style="text-decoration:none;">University of Southern California</a> and the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.campusreform.org/?ID=11053" style="text-decoration:none;">University of Texas at Austin</a>.&nbsp;Follow the author of this article on Twitter:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.twitter.com/Toni_Airaksinen" style="text-decoration:none;">@Toni_Airaksinen</a>

Princeton 2nd Ivy to face Title IX probe for excluding males

Two female students have filed a Title IX lawsuit against Eastern Michigan University after the school cut their sports teams, even though the cuts disproportionately impacted male athletes.&nbsp;<a href="https://today.emich.edu/story/statement/10733">According to EMU</a>, four sports teams were axed in March 2018: men&rsquo;s wrestling, men&rsquo;s swimming, women&rsquo;s softball, and women&rsquo;s tennis. Among the students impacted, 25 were women and 58 were men.&nbsp;But while these cuts impacted a greater number of male students, <a href="https://www.courthousenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/EMU-TitleIX.pdf" style="text-decoration:none;">the lawsuit claims</a> that the cuts are in line with the school&rsquo;s history of providing &ldquo;fewer and poorer opportunities for women in sports,&rdquo; and that the cuts amount to discrimination &ldquo;on the basis of sex.&rdquo;&nbsp;<a href="https://www.campusreform.org/?ID=10469" style="text-decoration:none;">[RELATED: Title IX a &lsquo;crushing insult&rsquo; to victims, prof argues]</a>The suit, filed on behalf of Ariana Chretien, 19, and Marie Mayerova, 21, claims that the decisions to cut two of the 12 women&rsquo;s sports teams were an act of &ldquo;sex discrimination,&rdquo; and suggests EMU is discriminating against women en-masse.&nbsp;&ldquo;It is unknown how many present, prospective, or future female student athletes would enroll at Defendant EMU or would participate in athletics at the university if it stopped discriminating against women,&rdquo; the lawsuit states. &nbsp;EMU, however, disputes these claims. In a July 10 press release, EMU&nbsp;<a href="https://today.emich.edu/story/statement/10733" style="text-decoration:none;">alleged</a> that the suit downplays women&rsquo;s involvement in sports at EMU, explaining that, if anything, the decision to axe the teams hit male students the hardest.&ldquo;It is important to note that following the sports reductions, Eastern now maintains 10 female teams and 7 male teams,&rdquo; EMU noted. &ldquo;We believe our budgetary actions in this matter are wholly appropriate and justified.&rdquo; &nbsp;<a href="https://www.campusreform.org/?ID=7906" style="text-decoration:none;">[RELATED: MSU &lsquo;women&rsquo;s only&rsquo; lounge goes unisex]</a>In an interview with&nbsp;Campus Reform, attorney Lori Bullock acknowledged that the cuts impacted more male students numerically, but cited the composition of the EMU athletics department overall as evidence of discrimination.&nbsp;&ldquo;What EMU is failing to acknowledge, [is that] at EMU the student population is 60 percent female, and 40 percent male, roughly,&rdquo; Bullock said. &ldquo;However, the athletics department is almost opposite than that. They are 60 percent male, and 40 percent female.&rdquo;When Bullock was asked whether this disparity may be due to women&rsquo;s relative lack of interest in collegiate sports&mdash;as opposed to bias by EMU officials&mdash;Bullock rebuffed the suggestion.&nbsp;&ldquo;What Title IX requires is that, as so long as there&#39;s interest in the sport, the school must offer the sport to men and women in the same proportion as enrollment,&rdquo; explained Bullock, who went on to outline that there is a large gender &ldquo;participation gap&rdquo; at EMU.&nbsp;&quot;For the 2016-2017 academic year, in order to offer the same number of men&#39;s spots [and still be in compliance with Title IX], EMU would need to offer 273 additional female athlete opportunities,&rdquo; she asserted. &ldquo;That is the &#39;participation gap&#39; that currently exists.&rdquo;&nbsp;<a href="https://www.campusreform.org/?ID=10715" style="text-decoration:none;">[RELATED: Frats, athletes forced to file &lsquo;Gender Exclusivity Waiver&rsquo;]</a>Plaintiff Ariana Chretien, meanwhile, said the lawsuit is an effort to fight for women&rsquo;s rights.&ldquo;The ideal outcome would be just for our sports to get reinstated. Men&#39;s and women&#39;s would be ideal, you know, I don&#39;t want to see any athletes&rsquo; sports being cut. But Title IX has given us an opportunity to fight for women&#39;s rights,&rdquo; Chretien&nbsp;<a href="http://michiganradio.org/post/emu-facing-title-ix-federal-investigation-and-lawsuit" style="text-decoration:none;">told&nbsp;Michigan Radio</a>.&nbsp;EMU has filed a motion to stay the lawsuit, pending the outcome of a parallel OCR investigation. However, Bullock is fighting to have that overturned, arguing that by the time the OCR completes its investigation, Chretien and Mayerova will have already graduated.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/05/06/ocr-letter-says-completed-title-ix-investigations-2014-lasted-more-4-years" style="text-decoration:none;">According to&nbsp;Inside Higher Education</a>, the average OCR probe into a Title IX complaint takes&nbsp;1,469 days. Federal investigators are currently&nbsp;<a href="https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/docs/investigations/open-investigations/tix.html?page=10&offset=180" style="text-decoration:none;">working their way through a backlog</a> of 1,638 Title IX complaints, some of which date back to 2010.&nbsp;Follow the author of this article on Twitter:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.twitter.com/Toni_Airaksinen" style="text-decoration:none;">@Toni_Airaksinen</a>

University hit with Title IX lawsuit for cutting sports budget

A federal court has ruled in favor of a student accusing the school of violating his due process rights during an ongoing sexual assault investigation.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.mlive.com/news/ann-arbor/index.ssf/2018/07/university_of_michigan_must_gi.html" style="text-decoration:none;">According to MLive</a>, the decision means that the university will now have to allow the accused student, identified as &ldquo;John Doe,&rdquo; a right to undergo a live hearing.&nbsp;The lawsuit, filed in early June, alleged that the student was denied any form of hearing or cross-examination after being accused of sexual assault on March 12, arguing that the school &quot;created an environment in which decision-makers at the University are explicitly and implicitly biased against males accused of sexual assault.&quot;<a href="https://www.campusreform.org/?ID=11016" style="text-decoration:none;">[RELATED: SURVEY: &#39;Vast majority&#39; of college students demand due process]</a>According to the report, the university also placed the student&rsquo;s transcripts and degree on hold due to the sexual assault accusation&mdash;a move that the student says is impacting his ability to pursue higher education and employment. &nbsp;&quot;Defendants essentially ask the Court to sit back and wait for the investigator to issue findings against Plaintiff before intervening in this action,&quot; U.S. District Court Judge Arthur Tarnow wrote in the July 6 decision, as reported by MLive.&nbsp;&quot;But, at this very moment, the University may be denying Plaintiff due process protections to which he is entitled,&rdquo; the ruling continues. &ldquo;The Court cannot, and will not, simply stand by as the fruit continues to rot on the tree. This case is ripe for adjudication.&quot;Likewise, the court ruled that &ldquo;the risk of an erroneous deprivation of Plaintiff&#39;s interest in his reputation, education, and employment is significant&quot; without a live hearing, arguing that &quot;additional procedural safeguards would both assist the truth-seeking process and help to ensure the protection of Plaintiff&#39;s constitutional rights.&rdquo;<a href="https://www.campusreform.org/?ID=9712" style="text-decoration:none;">[RELATED: STUDY: Most top schools deny &lsquo;basic elements&rsquo; of due process]</a>The ruling does, however, impose some restrictions on the plaintiff&rsquo;s demands, only allowing the student to partake in cross-examination after questions have been submitted to a university official or student panel.&nbsp;Despite that requirement, the student&rsquo;s attorney, Deborah Gordon, told MLive&nbsp;that she and her client are satisfied with the results of the ruling.&quot;These were life-changing decisions and yet there was no openness at all and so he&#39;s very gratified that the courts [made the decision],&quot; she said. &quot;He feels that&#39;s obviously more fair, it makes sense and that he&#39;s much more likely to get a fair and sensible result then doing it the way they&#39;ve been doing it.&quot;A university spokesperson told Campus Reform&nbsp; that the school has no statement at this time on the ongoing litigation.Follow the author of this article on Facebook:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.facebook.com/cory.compton.927?ref=br_rs" style="text-decoration:none;">Cory Compton</a>

UMich must prove Title IX staff not 'biased against males'

The University of Southern California (USC) has been ordered to pay $111,965 in attorney fees to a male student who was expelled after an unfair Title IX investigation.&nbsp;According to a press release issued by the attorneys representing the anonymous plaintiff, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Elizabeth Allen White ordered USC to pay the sum on June 28 after finding that a John Doe was expelled from USC after an &ldquo;improperly biased&rdquo; Title IX investigation into disputed allegations of sexual assault.<a href="https://www.campusreform.org/?ID=10469" style="text-decoration:none;">[RELATED: Title IX &lsquo;crushing insult&rsquo; to victims, prof argues]</a>The court determined that &ldquo;not only was USC&rsquo;s Title IX Office improperly biased against [the male student],&rdquo; but also that the Title IX investigator &ldquo;held an adversarial position in relation to the petitioner,&rdquo; and struck down her claims of neutrality.&nbsp;Further, the judge determined that USC did not allow the male student to review all evidence against him, withheld contradictory information from its initial report against the male student, and failed to interview a potential first-hand witness to the alleged assault.&nbsp;Judge White also granted that bias against men likely played a role in the eventual expulsion.&nbsp;For example, the male student and his advisor were referred to as &ldquo;motherf***ers&rdquo; by USC Title IX Officers Gretchen Dahlinger Means and Patrick Noonan, according to the lawsuit, which add that they in turn referred to the female student as &ldquo;cute,&rdquo; &ldquo;intelligent,&rdquo; and &ldquo;a catch.&rdquo;&nbsp;Judge White found that such remarks &ldquo;demonstrate an unacceptable probability of actual bias&rdquo; on the part of USC&rsquo;s Title IX officers, and in USC allowing these Title IX investigators to be a &ldquo;decision maker&rdquo; in the case, that &ldquo;institutional bias&rdquo; corrupted the investigation.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.campusreform.org/?ID=11053" style="text-decoration:none;">[RELATED: Ed Dept. investigating anti-male discrimination at UT-Austin]</a>In the ruling against USC, Judge White also suggested that the male student&rsquo;s legal efforts&mdash;which led to the finding that USC was biased against male students&mdash;may offer a significant benefit to other male students accused of a Title IX violation at USC.&nbsp;The male student succeeded in showing that institutional bias &ldquo;exists, which will confer a benefit upon the class of persons at USC accused of violating USC&#39;s sexual misconduct policy where a Title IX investigation is conducted,&rdquo; according to court documents.&nbsp;The student was represented by Mark M. Hathaway and Jenna E. Eyrich, of Werksman Jackson Hathaway &amp; Quinn LLP.&nbsp;Campus Reform reached out to the University of Southern California for comment, but did not receive a response.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.campusreform.org/?ID=10954" style="text-decoration:none;">[RELATED: Prof creates guide to challenging anti-male discrimination]</a><a href="https://www.campusreform.org/?ID=10931" style="text-decoration:none;">USC is also under federal investigation</a> by the Department of Education&rsquo;s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) due to a separate complaint that some of the school&rsquo;s educational programs are biased against male students.&nbsp;That investigation was launched in January after USC professor Kursat Christoff Pekgoz alleged that certain female only programs and scholarships exclude &ldquo;male students from participation by providing opportunities for female students only.&rdquo;&nbsp;Follow the author of this article on Twitter:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.twitter.com/Toni_Airaksinen" style="text-decoration:none;">@Toni_Airaksinen</a>

Biased Title IX investigation costs USC $111,965

The University of Michigan failed to follow proper procedure when it abruptly closed a Title IX probe into allegations that 11 of its educational programs exclude men.&nbsp;School officials confirmed on May 22 that <a href="https://www.campusreform.org/?ID=10943" style="text-decoration:none;">a Title IX investigation was underway</a>, prompted by a <a href="https://www.aei.org/publication/an-update-on-my-efforts-to-advance-civil-rights-equity-and-justice-and-end-discrimination-in-higher-education/" style="text-decoration:none;">complaint</a> filed by UM-Flint Professor Mark Perry. But just three days later, on May 25&mdash;and amid much media attention&mdash;Title IX officer Pamela Heatlie closed the investigation.&nbsp;&ldquo;We have reviewed the programs you outlined and do not believe they violate Title IX or Prop 2 [of the Michigan Constitution],&rdquo; Heatlie announced by email to Perry, according to documents reviewed by Campus Reform.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.campusreform.org/?ID=10951" style="text-decoration:none;">[RELATED: UMich absolves itself of anti-male discrimination claims]</a>However, Heatlie did not follow federal guidelines outlining proper investigation procedure, as she did not inform Perry how the verdict was reached, and failed to notify him of any opportunities to appeal.&nbsp;According to <a href="https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/docs/qa-title-ix-201709.pdf" style="text-decoration:none;">guidance</a> released by the Department of Education&rsquo;s Office for Civil Rights (OCR), upon closing an investigation, the Title IX officer must notify the complainant of &ldquo;the rationale for the result&rdquo; of the verdict, as well as &ldquo;the institution&rsquo;s procedures to appeal.&rdquo;&nbsp;While the guidance is intended for Title IX officers investigating sexual misconduct, an OCR spokesman told Campus Reform that the document &ldquo;outlines the Title IX obligations generally,&rdquo; adding that the guidance is &ldquo;not limited&rdquo; to sexual misconduct cases.&nbsp;Reached by Campus Reform, a UM spokeswoman claimed that because Perry did not personally allege he was discriminated against, that the investigation was exempt from standard protocol.&nbsp;However, when Campus Reform informed the spokeswoman that federal Title IX guidance still applied, according to OCR officials, the spokeswoman did not reply. Heatlie likewise did not respond to numerous inquiries sent by Campus Reform.<a href="https://www.campusreform.org/?ID=10954" style="text-decoration:none;">[RELATED: Prof creates guide to challenging anti-male discrimination]</a>Unlike the probes underway at <a href="https://www.campusreform.org/?ID=10931" style="text-decoration:none;">the University of Southern California</a> and <a href="https://www.campusreform.org/?ID=10899" style="text-decoration:none;">Yale University</a>, the OCR is not yet involved in the matter, which Perry said is because he had initially hoped to give UM a &ldquo;chance to respond&rdquo; before filing a federal complaint.&nbsp;In a prior <a href="https://www.campusreform.org/?ID=10943" style="text-decoration:none;">interview</a> with Campus Reform, Perry pointed out that UM hosts a number of programs to bolster female student success, despite their overrepresentation in the student body.&nbsp;&ldquo;At the University of Michigan-Flint, there are often almost two women graduating at commencement for every one male student, so there is a huge gender imbalance in favor of women,&rdquo; he explained.&nbsp;As a professor at UM-Flint for more than 20 years, Perry said he&rsquo;s increasingly concerned about the growing &ldquo;gender gap&rdquo; in education, and often writes about it on his <a href="http://www.aei.org/scholar/mark-j-perry/" style="text-decoration:none;">Carpe Diem</a> blog for the American Enterprise Institute.&nbsp;&ldquo;There is a very troubling, inconsistent, and unfair double-standard and selective concern in higher education when it comes to gender issues, gender differences, and gender imbalances,&rdquo; Perry said.&nbsp;Follow the author of this article on Twitter:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.twitter.com/Toni_Airaksinen" style="text-decoration:none;">@Toni_Airaksinen</a>

UMich ignored federal guidance in dismissing Title IX complaint

A professor at the University of Utah recently argued that the Title IX investigatory system on college campuses is a &ldquo;crushing insult&rdquo; to women who have been assaulted.
Nicholas Wolfinger, who teaches family studies, <a href="http://quillette.com/2017/08/24/survived-title-ix-star-chamber/">endured</a> a Title IX investigation in 2016 after an anonymous colleague took issue with a story of how the academic proposed to his now ex-wife at a strip club, and reported him for &ldquo;gender discrimination.&rdquo;
<a href="../?ID=10404">[RELATED: Report: &lsquo;Believe the victim&rsquo; mentality undermines justice]</a>
The professor was eventually exonerated of all allegations, but the experience made Wolfinger realize that many Title IX cases have absolutely &ldquo;nothing to do with assault or sexual harassment,&rdquo; but instead deal with mildly offensive or disagreeable rhetoric.
In a recent <a href="https://www.jamesgmartin.center/2018/01/title-ix-insult-victims-sexual-assault/">article</a> for The Martin Center, Wolfinger condemns the current Title IX apparatus for investigating complaints that are only tangentially related to the perceived oppression of women with the very same framework as it would for allegations of rape and assault.
The conflation of &ldquo;frivolous or trumped up&rdquo; charges with complaints of rape and sexual assault downplays serious crimes against women and siphons university resources away from serious cases that should be investigated, Wolfinger argues.
According to Wolfinger, such allegations &ldquo;trivialize the actual victims of sexual harassment and assault, often young people who may have been subjected to gruesome assaults or stalking so invasive that it interferes with the victim&rsquo;s ability to pursue a college education.&rdquo;
&ldquo;Frivolous Title IX cases are a crushing insult to the unacceptably large number of women who have been victimized by their peers in higher education,&rdquo; he continues, while drawing a parallel with the #MeToo movement. &ldquo;No one deserves that.&rdquo;
In an interview with Campus Reform, Wolfinger argued that the Title IX system may indeed have a role on campus, especially with respect to behavior that falls short of criminal harassment.
He argues, however, that the entire system may be irreparably &ldquo;compromised&rdquo; since the 2011 Dear Colleague Letter issued by the Obama administration. Even though the Department of Education has rescinded the letter, Wolfinger says that it may not help since Title IX has &ldquo;taken on a life of its own.&rdquo;
&ldquo;Dysfunctional practices have become institutionalized,&rdquo; he told Campus Reform. &ldquo;Title IX officers are just too used to pursuing non-offenses like the Brandeis kissers. They&rsquo;re now supported in these endeavors by a cottage industry comprised of consultants, conferences, and training materials.&rdquo;
<a href="../?ID=9814">[RELATED: Prof: Title IX harms both students and teachers]</a>
&ldquo;It&rsquo;ll be hard to detach the system from all this institutional baggage,&rdquo; he said.
Additionally, Wolfinger predicts that an overhaul of the system may be beneficial.
An overhaul might &ldquo;mean that rape and potty mouth weren&rsquo;t handled under the same rubric by the same campus bureaucrats,&rdquo; he said, adding that &ldquo;this would end the constant stream of trivial complaints that I feel are such an insult to the victims of rape and harassment.&rdquo;
Follow the author of this article on Twitter: <a>@Toni_Airaksinen</a>

Title IX ‘crushing insult’ to victims, prof argues 

A group of Columbia University students barged into the classroom of a Title IX administrator Thursday to protest the school&rsquo;s alleged mishandling of sexual assault.
A <a href="https://vimeo.com/236995142">video</a> of the protest shows students storming into the classroom of <a href="https://universitylife.columbia.edu/about/staff/suzanne-goldberg">Suzanne Goldberg</a>, a <a href="http://bwog.com/2017/10/05/students-protest-professor-suzanne-goldbergs-class/">high ranking administrator</a> who has been repeatedly <a href="http://spc.columbiaspectator.com/news/2015/05/04/yir-2014-15-under-goldberg-university-reforms-sexual-assault-policies-faces-title-ix">criticized</a> by students for allegedly failing to fulfill her duties as an administrator involved with sexual assault response.
&ldquo;We are here today because despite the repeated efforts of student organizers, survivors at Columbia and Barnard are still endangered by administrators like Suzanne Goldberg,&rdquo; <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1dHebMNeNM4Xwd6y3wKwPJta5mzJyUoLnzCau8NRGmWQ/edit">announced</a> student <a href="http://www.aroskinfrazee.com/author-bio/">Amelia Roskin-Frazee</a>, who has filed a <a href="https://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20170322/upper-west-side/columbia-university-amelia-roskin-frazee-rape-title-ix-lawsuit">Title IX lawsuit</a> against Columbia, and <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/applying-to-columbia-as-a-survivor_b_7108594.html">who came to Columbia explicitly hoping to become</a> an activist.
<a href="../?ID=7939">[RELATED: Court green-lights &lsquo;anti-male bias&rsquo; lawsuit against Columbia]</a>
&ldquo;Professor Goldberg proudly refers to her experience as an LGBTQ rights lawyer while continuing to create a dangerous environment for students&mdash;including queer students&mdash;on this campus&rdquo; Roskin-Frazee claimed, flanked by five students holding protest signs.
In the <a href="https://vimeo.com/236995142">video</a>, Goldberg can be heard telling the protesters to leave as Roskin-Frazee continued her speech.
&ldquo;You&rsquo;re interrupting my class. This is a core function of the school. This is a disruption,&rdquo; Goldberg says. &ldquo;What I&rsquo;m telling you is that you can&rsquo;t [inaudible] in the middle of my class,&rdquo; she continues, adding that she&rsquo;d be &ldquo;glad to talk to you [Roskin Frazee]&rdquo; after class is over.
<iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/236995142" width="640" height="1152" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
<a href="https://vimeo.com/236995142">Group of students protesting Suzanne Goldberg&rsquo;s class today</a> from <a href="https://vimeo.com/bwog">Bwog</a> on <a href="https://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.
Immediately after Roskin-Frazee finished her speech, the students exited the classroom, and the sexual assault awareness group <a href="https://www.facebook.com/NoRedTapeCU/">No Red Tape</a> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/NoRedTapeCU/posts/1920291584901859">posted</a> a <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1dHebMNeNM4Xwd6y3wKwPJta5mzJyUoLnzCau8NRGmWQ/edit">modified version</a> of the speech on its Facebook page, calling for &ldquo;solidarity&rdquo; with the protesters.
&ldquo;We are in solidarity with the students who disrupted EVP Goldberg&rsquo;s class today,&rdquo; No Red Tape <a href="https://www.facebook.com/NoRedTapeCU/posts/1920291584901859">wrote</a>. &nbsp;&ldquo;We hope EVP Goldberg considers the importance of their message about Title IX.&rdquo; While Roskin-Frazee is a <a href="http://spc.columbiaspectator.com/news/2016/12/11/no-red-tape-protests-universitys-handling-sexual-assault-cases">known member</a> of No Red Tape, it is unclear if the group had any role in organizing the protest.
<a href="../?ID=6278">[RELATED: Columbia sexual assault activists crash prospective students&rsquo; visit]</a>
Campus Reform reached out to Columbia University on whether protesters would be punished for disrupting class, a possible violation of the <a href="https://universitylife.columbia.edu/Speech-Protest-Rules">University Conduct Policy,</a> but did not receive a response in time for publication.
This isn&rsquo;t the first time that students have targeted Goldberg, though.
Just last year, student members of <a href="https://www.facebook.com/ColumbiaDivestforClimateJustice/">Columbia Divest for Climate Justice</a> were caught on video <a href="https://www.facebook.com/ColumbiaDivestforClimateJustice/">stalking her to her taxi</a>, screaming at her that they wanted &ldquo;divestment&rdquo; as she fled.
Just a day earlier, students had <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LA-Vs7sQx0">followed</a> her to a campus administrative building to call for divestment, as well.
Follow the author of this article: <a href="http://www.twitter.com/Toni_Airaksinen">@Toni_Airaksinen</a>

Columbia students storm classroom to harass Title IX admin

Northwestern University recently filled its Title IX/Equity Outreach and Education Specialist position with a controversial blogger who frequently publishes anti-male &ldquo;art&rdquo; online.
Kate Harrington-Rosen, a blogger at &ldquo;<a href="https://www.instagram.com/thenotsorryproject/">The Not Sorry Project</a>,&rdquo; began working for the university over the summer and is responsible for training faculty and students about reporting sexual misconduct, <a href="https://dailynorthwestern.com/2017/09/20/campus/new-title-ix-outreach-education-specialist-aims-demystify-sexual-misconduct-reporting-process/">The Daily Northwestern</a> reported Wednesday.
Dwight Hamilton, the associate vice president of equity at the university, praised the new Title IX appointment, telling the newspaper that he is &ldquo;very happy that we have someone within the office who&rsquo;s dedicated to communicating on issues of sexual misconduct and sexual violence awareness.&rdquo;
<a href="../?ID=9814">[RELATED: Prof: Title IX harms both students and teachers]</a>
On her blog, however, Harrington-Rosen frequently publishes controversial rhetoric that blasts men for a wide array of transgressions, and even argues that some men are &ldquo;trash&rdquo; until proven innocent.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not sorry that cishet alpha men are trash to me until proven innocent,&rdquo; read one post published on the blog&rsquo;s Instagram page in September.
According to the blog&rsquo;s <a href="https://www.patreon.com/thenotsorryproject">Patreon page</a>, the website features &ldquo;not sorry&rdquo; quotes that are sent in by readers who want to be featured on the blog.
&ldquo;These are community submissions (text or audio) in which YOU tell us what you're not sorry for. We take your words and create an image from the submission and add it to the site,&rdquo; the bloggers explain.
While many published blog posts reflect on relationships and provide social commentary, others make negative remarks toward men and even condemn the U.S. military.
<a href="../?ID=7405">[RELATED: UND prof vows to call cops on ROTC drills]</a>
One republished post from July, for example, advocated for &ldquo;trans liberation not more U.S. invasion,&rdquo; and to &ldquo;Ban the Military!&rdquo;
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not sorry that it infuriates me that male colleagues are coddled and given extra chances to improve poor performance,&rdquo; read part of another post from June.
According to description of the project, the blog is primarily intended to &ldquo;create space for people to resist the phenomenon of the compulsory apology by choosing to consciously take up space with non-apologies.&rdquo;
Harrington-Rosen did not immediately respond to Campus Reform&rsquo;s request for comment.
Follow this author on Facebook: <a href="https://www.facebook.com/vladimirovnikitav">Nikita Vladimirov</a>