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Michelle Goldberg
New York Times
Excerpt: In 2021, JD Vance gave a speech to the National Conservatism Conference, a gathering of Trumpist thinkers and politicians, titled “The Universities Are the Enemy.” It contained the usual complaints about critical race theory and gender ideology, but it went much further, arguing for a frontal attack on the power and prestige of higher education writ large.
Put aside, for a moment, the hypocrisy of this message coming from a man catapulted into the highest strata of American society by Yale Law School. The striking thing about Vance’s speech was its deep hostility to the entire academic enterprise, not just the so-called woke parts. He wasn’t talking about making more room for right-wing ideas in universities or even dreaming of taking them over. He wanted to destroy it all.
Ellie Wolfe
Baltimore Banner
Excerpt: Faculty at the Naval Academy are no longer permitted to use materials in the classroom that teach about systemic racism and sexism, according to an internal email obtained by The Baltimore Banner.
The changes come as the Trump administration has targeted diversity programs, signing executive orders to shut down diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) offices across the federal government and halting grant funding for programs that study diversity.
National Association of Scholars Press Release
Excerpt: The National Association of Scholars (NAS) has launched a new report, Waste Land—The Education Department’s Profligacy, Mediocrity, and Radicalism. The report details the Department of Education’s (ED) long and controversial history, its weaponization by bureaucrats and policymakers over the years, and its current state of affairs. A key question explored in this report is one asked by many—what does ED actually do?
Jerry Coyne
Why Evolution is True
Excerpt: As you know the University of Chicago was the first higher-ed school in America to adopt a position of institutional neutrality. This was done in 1967, with the principle embodied in our Kalven Report. Kalven prohibits the University or its units, including departments and centers, from taking official stands on political, moral, and ideological issues—save in those cases where the issue is one that could affect the mission of our University. According to FIRE, which approves of this position of institutional neutrality, some 29 other colleges or boards of education have joined Chicago in adopting one.
Deviations from the position of neutrality are rare, but this morning we learned that our President, Paul Alivisatos, has declared official University opposition to the Trump’s administration of slashing “indirect costs” on NIH grants.
Chris West
James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal
Excerpt: In an era where intellectual discourse faces unprecedented challenges, 23 states have taken decisive action to protect free speech on college campuses. Yet their efforts raise an important question: Why have more states not followed suit?
The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) has meticulously documented the implementation of campus free-speech legislation across the nation. Among these initiatives, North Carolina’s House Bill 527 stands as a model of comprehensive protection for academic freedom by supporting free-speech for all students and faculty, regardless of their political identity.
Thomas F. Powers
Quillette
Excerpt: The Trump administration’s opening policy blitzkrieg (on day one alone: 48 “presidential actions,” a record 24 Executive Orders, and 78 past executive orders revoked) has touched many different policy areas, but none more powerfully than DEI.
How effective will Trump’s legal assault be? The dominant interpretations of DEI and radical progressive ideology set forth in books today focus on the causal role of bad ideas and other “cultural” factors. If these interpreters are correct then, regardless of how decisive they are, the actions of the Trump administration are superficial and doomed to fail unless accompanied by some broader intellectual and cultural movement to change Americans’ hearts and minds.
