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Emma Whitford
Inside Higher Ed
Excerpt: As of last week, faculty at Ohio State University can no longer make land acknowledgments—verbal or written statements that recognize the Indigenous people who originally lived on the university’s land—unless it is directly relevant to class subject matter.
The new policy from the university’s Office of University Compliance and Integrity is one of many created in response to Ohio’s SB 1, a sweeping higher education law passed in March that seeks to eliminate DEI offices and scrub all mentions of diversity, equity and inclusion from university scholarships, job descriptions and more.
Dhruv T. Patel, Avani B. Rai, and Saketh Sundar, Crimson Staff Writers
Harvard Crimson
Excerpt: A federal judge ruled that the Trump administration violated the Constitution when it froze more than $2.6 billion in research funding to Harvard, striking down the freeze in its entirety and delivering the University a major legal victory.
The decision from United States District Judge Allison D. Burroughs hands Harvard a summary judgment win on core constitutional grounds, finding that the administration’s freeze orders were retaliation for protected speech. She also found that the government failed to comply with Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which requires agencies to give notice, investigation, and an opportunity to respond before terminating federal financial assistance over civil rights violations.
Jerry Coyne
Why Evolution is True
Excerpt: As time goes by, The Atlantic seems to be getting less and less woke and more and more sensible. Who would have guessed that it published an article not only highlighting the problems of higher education, but saying that perhaps Trump’s intervention has called these to our attention? At any rate, if you click on the title below, you’ll go to the archived version of the article written by E. Thomas Finan, author and professor of humanities at Boston University.
Laurel Lee
February 17, 2024
In the matter of rights, Civil Rights are the rights of a citizen, distinct from Human Rights that adhere to an individual at birth whether or not a government exists to be a citizen of. Civil Rights aren’t true rights. They’re protections from the absolute piwer of monarchs. The US Constitution lists civil rights cribbed from the constitution & precedents established by England’s Constitutional monarchy. The monarchy has absolute rights or powers delegated to it by an omnipitent God. Under pressure from the English aristocracy, English monarchs delegated their God-given powers to the lords in Parliament assembled, as well as by royal charters. The lords then created the House of Commons to give royally-chartered city councils a voice in discussions of taxation & other national acts. America’s allegedly democratic government officials exert God’s absolute powers despite the Revolution’s rejection of monarchy. The 1776 Declaration of Independence says God bypassed monarchs in His distribution of rights & powers. Instead, God granted human rights to all. Unfortunately, US Founders didn’t follow through by listing human rights at all, let alone describing them in unequivocal terms. All we’ve got is disputable protections from an absolute monarchy that doesn’t exist & the endless, lucrative & self-serving quibbling of lawyers.