What Students Really Learn at University
Perhaps no one has written more about the plague of identity politics on America’s college campuses than MTC's contributor, Philip Carl Salzman. Salzman, Emeritus Professor of Anthropology at McGill 
University, and a contributor to many public policy organizations, has now published some of his most powerful essays in an e-Book collection called Universities Today. Salzman writes, "Since the 1980s, universities have increasingly turned away from producing and disseminating knowledge and taken up as their objective neo-Marxist radical social reform, often labeled ‘social justice.’ Today, universities focus on political propaganda and activism and are increasingly like closed religious cults."
Attention Middle Easterners! You Don’t Have to Be White Anymore
So says Harvard University in a convoluted explanation of race, identity, culture and white privilege. According to Harvard, “Since 1944, Middle Eastern- and North African-Americans have been legally “white,” having to check the “white” box on demographic surveys like the U.S. census.” OMG—what a burden! Well, fear no more my Lebanese and Syrian friends, my pals from Iraq and Iran—you no longer have the burden of being white—you can be a MENA! A middle-eastern north African. What a joy to shed the mantle of white privilege once and for all. How wonderful to have such a joyous moniker of peace, achievement, cultural contribution, and tolerance to wrap around oneself.
If You're On Time, You're a White Supremacist
The National Conference on Race and Ethnicity in American Higher Education, or NCORE, will feature a “pre-conference” session led by an educational consultant who believes being on time is a form of “white supremacy.” The story appears in The College Fix. NCORE is a function of the University of Oklahoma’s Southwest Center for Human Relations Studies. This year, Heather Hackman of the Hackman Consulting Group will speak about “…Racism and Whiteness and Achieving Racial Justice.” Hackman is a former professor of multicultural education at St. Cloud University who, at 2016’s “White Privilege Conference,” informed attendees that “the racial narrative of White” includes “making sure you’re not tardy.” Individualism, honesty, discipline, and rigor were other factors.
Peggy Noonan on the Coming Fall of ‘Woke’ Progressives
"The past decade saw the rise of the woke progressives who dictate what words can be said and ideas held, thus poisoning and paralyzing American humor, drama, entertainment, culture and journalism. In the coming 10 years someone will effectively stand up to them. They are the most hated people in America, and their entire program is accusation: you are racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic; you are a bigot, a villain, a white male, a patriarchal misogynist, your day is over. They never have a second move. Bow to them, as most do, and they’ll accuse you even more of newly imagined sins. They claim to be vulnerable victims, and moral. Actually, they’re not." -- The Wall Street Journal, January 4 -5
Let's Ban the SAT and ACT!
That's what a coalition of civil rights lawyers wants to do in California in order to end discrimination based on merit for Latinos and African Americans. According to a report in The New Yorker, the only tests the lawyers would allow are Advanced Placement exams. The shell game of accepting test results, then distorting them to achieve a "racially balanced outcome," has been known for years at some of the most prestigious schools in the country. But two events have prompted this action in California: One is the ongoing challenge by Students for Fair Admissions vs. Harvard to level the playing field for Asian students, who score high on grades and tests. The other is the changing makeup of the Supreme Court, which has become more conservative in the last few years. Does anyone care that American students continue to decline in global matchups against other developed countries?
If You're White, You're Wrong
Following a growing trend in higher education, a Dartmouth professor called for mandatory white privilege courses. Dr. Emily Walton wrote an op-ed in USA Today calling for all students to take courses in white privilege and black history. She accuses white people of being afflicted with "white blindness" or a state in which racial privilege is invisible. She also claims the K-12 public schools perpetuate "white blindness" (read discrimination) by not mandating ethnic studies classes. To top it off, she equates the meritocratic system of hard work with white discrimination against minorities.
Just to clarify: Claremont McKenna College (CMC) is a separate institution. The President of Pomona College would have no say in the hiring of the CMC dean.
My alma mater. Ranked #1 US college/university by Forbes this year. Under no circumstances should Oxtoby accede to the mob. Pomona has the 5th largest endowment per student. Ill-advised actions could jeopardize alumni support.
Compared to what some student groups are demanding, this doesn’t really seem all that bad. A few rainbow unicorns, and, of course, lost of things that will cost some money, but much of what they want is provided by other expensive schools of Pamona’s caliber.
Diversity and inclusion officer-it’s getting pretty standard
Increased funding for mental health-I am personally quite ambivalent about campus mental health, especially now that so many insurance plans cover private mental health. Campus mental health center staff are university employees. Ask the University of Oregon how that one is working out. Still, beefing up mental health services on campus is pretty routine.
Counselors trained in gay and trans issues-setting aside my personal grievance that this fails to acknowledge that bisexuals are a distinct category (tee hee!!), I think it would be very easy to find gay/trans-issue trained counselors who would be happy to work at a university
Half of all tenure-track faculty positions going to underrepresented groups: Not. Going. To. Happen. And it it is not a realistic demand. The only caveat is that there are so few tenure track job offers these days that it might be easier than I think. But in any case, hiring should not be constrained by demands that are so divorced from reality.
Native American Studies department-Personally, not a big fan of “studies” departments, but this is pretty par for the course at expensive liberal arts colleges
Student representation at Dean of Students hiring-when appropriately managed (representatives are vetted, not so much for opinions as for professionalism and leadership potential, student voice is not over-represented), this is just good practice, and an educational opportunity for students
President meeting with people-again, just good practice, and an educational opportunity for students
So this is it, then? The domino effect, one university after another falling as it capitulates to the demands of a bunch of spoiled, narcissistic “victims”?
Pathetic.