DEI Meets East Germany: U.S. Universities Urge Students to Report One Another for ‘Bias’

April 06, 2023 1 min read

DEI Meets East Germany: U.S. Universities Urge Students to Report One Another for ‘Bias’

by Iván Marinovic and John Ellis, The Wall Street Journal

Anonymous informers have always been a hallmark of totalitarian regimes. Friends, neighbors and even family members are encouraged to inform on those who speak against the regime. This is effective social control: Nowhere is safe to discuss politics, and everyday life is subdued. To this day, when Cubans want to discuss something sensitive, they go into their bathrooms, let the water flow and whisper.


Leave a comment


Also in National Free Speech News & Commentary

Commentary: Grant Terminated

April 03, 2025 1 min read

Researchers Impacted by Federal Grant Terminations
Inside Higher Ed

Excerpt: Billions of dollars in federal scientific research grants have been rescinded or suspended since the start of the Trump administration.

Below, 16 researchers across nine different research areas who have had their federal grants terminated since the start of the Trump administration share just a few of the thousands of stories behind these cuts.

Read More
Differentiating Colleges and Universities In A Tax On Endowment Income

April 02, 2025 10 min read

by Ed Yingling '70

Washington insiders believe it is very likely that a significant increase in the tax rate on university endowment income will be enacted this year. They cite the need for additional tax revenue to offset the Trump tax cut agenda and the antipathy of many Republicans to what has been happening on campuses for the last two years. They also focus on the fact that then-Senator JD Vance introduced a bill in the last Congress imposing a 35 percent tax on endowment income.

Read More
Commentary: I’m Cornell’s President. We’re Not Afraid of Debate and Dissent.

March 31, 2025 1 min read

Michael I. Kotlikoff
New York Times

Excerpt: Cornell University recently hosted an event that any reputable P.R. firm would surely have advised against. On a calm campus, in a semester unroiled by protest, we chose to risk stirring the waters by organizing a panel discussion that brought together Israeli and Palestinian voices with an in-person audience open to all.

The week before, I extended a personal invitation to our student community, explaining that open inquiry “is the antidote to corrosive narratives” and is what enables us “to see and respect other views, work together across differences and conceive of solutions to intractable problems.”

Read More