The Insanity of Higher Education – Social Justice Report Card Edition

In Academia, Philosophy, Politics by J Michel Metz9 Comments

[Last updated: 2017.12.19] In the past few years we have seen incredible, asinine, insane, and – frankly – dangerous movements in higher education. I’ve had my own run-in with Snopes, who has continued to double-down on the notion that there’s absolutely nothing wrong or strange going on in Higher Education. But this is no hoax – it is getting to be impossible to find schools that actually take their academic charter seriously any longer. Instead, we are now looking at Kindergartens for Young Adults, with all the corresponding warm fuzzies, nap times, and hand-holding related to it.

The inclusion of “Diversity” doesn’t really sound so bad, though, does it? After all, in academia you want differing viewpoints. You want to have a marketplace of ideas, and you can only have that if there is the opportunity for a diverse set of views that can emerge to fight for their merit.

However, that’s not what “Diversity” means. In fact, the only thing “diversity” does not mean in these situations is the diversity of ideas.

No, this is what is meant by “Diversity:”

Diversity in the curriculum refers to the study of one or more groups that have been historically marginalized on the basis of culture, race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, class, disability, religion, age, immigration, or geopolitical power. Diversity-designated courses facilitate academic inquiry, analysis and understanding of past and current differences, conflicts and relations of power, thereby moving the discourse of diversity beyond mere tolerance, celebration, or appreciation.

It is this definition upon which the foundation of the Victim Olympics is established. This is the codifcation of the upside-down world of academia – those who have no value actually have the most value. Dissent isn’t just allowed, it’s persecuted.

Welcome to the Re-education Centers.

Here is a list of schools you may want your college-age children to avoid. I’m including only those schools that have created institutional policies of blatant favoritism, sexism, and racism in the name of Social Justice, not individuals or groups that have behaved atrociously (the list would be too long). So, for example, students who refuse to be housed with white students at Claremont College will not be part of this list (but the school shows up anyway for different reasons).

To that end, I will not be talking about the absolutely insane “peer-reviewed” studies that are passing for science nowadays. That list would be way, way too long. I highly recommend following @RealPeerReview on Twitter. They have that stuff nailed.

I intend to update this page periodically with new information over time, too.

[Update: The Heterodox Academy has identified a list of the worst schools for viewpoint diversity. It’s a great summary.]

Links were valid at the time of their inclusion.

United States

Alaska

University of Alaska: Fairbanks
  • University conducts year-long sexual harassment investigation over an April Fool’s article. No wrongdoing was found. [link] However, they’ve appealed to make sure they find something. [link]

California

California State University: Chico
  • Students are required to complete a minimum of two courses that focus primarily on cultural diversity. List of the courses available are here.
California State University: Fresno
  • 2016.09.21 University held segregated back-to-school events. It was promoted as, and I’m not making this up, a way to “promote a sense of belonging on campus.” [link]
California State University: Northridge
  • 2017.03.20. University issues guidelines for professors to use “Gender inclusive language,” including policing others on how to use gender nouns/prounouns. [link]
California State University: Los Angeles
  • University has established “African-American-priority housing in response to demands from black students seeking refuge from what they consider insensitive remarks and “microaggressions” from their white classmates.” [link]

Chapman University

  • Like nearly all programs, the University promotes its own version of Newspeak, where the “participants will be introduced to the concepts of people-first and coded language, and will develop an awareness of non-inclusive language that negatively affects members of the Chapman community.” The stated end-goal consists of a not-so-veiled threat of punitive action: “individuals will have the knowledge to speak inclusively and to actively advocate for communities or identities often targeted by non-inclusive language.” You’ve been taught, so expect consequences if you use non-inclusive language! [link]

Claremont McKenna College

  • 2017.01.26. In an effort to continue to infantilize minority students, the College funds racially segregated program to fight racism. [link]
  • College has established safe spaces, but are highly exclusive and authorized by the Colleges “Diversity” Department. [link]

La Sierra University

  • 2017.06.19. University is ordered to reverse all findings and sanctions, including expulsion, of a foreign student who was accused of sexual assault for not following its own policies of due process. University did not notify the accused of many of the charges until after he was notified he was expelled. [link]

Pitzer College

  • pitzergunmural 2016.04.16 Student Senator sent out campus-wide email protesting a picture of a gun with flowers coming out of the barrel. “It’s truly in bad taste to have a large depiction of a gun in a dorm space—especially when students of color also reside there.” [link]

Pomona College

  • College sponsors “Safe Space” events – but promotes the exclusion of students based upon race and gender. [link]
San Diego State University
  • 2016.09.18 University creates “Safe Space” in order to harass Jewish students. [link]
San Francisco State University
  • 2016.09.16. University segregates black students – which make up 6% of the student population – into its own “safe” dorm floors. [link] Why? Because this bully who attacked a white student over his dreadlocks needs to feel safe (no, I’m not making it up – they actually want to protect this black woman because of how she is “victimized” in this video):
[youtube=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDlQ4H0Kdg8″]
  • 2016.09.16. University Black Student Union released a statement that “the Black Student Union do not support the mass publication of videos, articles and any other statements that misrepresent this incident.” [link]
  • 2016.09.22. University has doubled-down on segregated dorms, saying “the school’s goal in segregating black students was to be “inclusive” [link]
University of California – Board of Regents
  • University of California system pledges $25 million for illegal immigrant scholarships. [link]
University of California: Berkeley
  • 2016.02 University sets up safe space in order to torment Jewish students [link]
  • The Berkeley Student Cooperative (BSC) “established guidelines in order to create a “Safe Space” to protect “Person of Color” and “Gender Queer” student residents from potential discrimination” by establishing language guidelines to protect against privilege and other “unsafe activities.” [link]
University of California: Davis
  • 2017.03.18. University publishes a “glossary” of LGBQTIA-approved terms. Oh, and explicitly calls out white people as racist. Sweet. [link]
  • 2016.09.08. University establishes black-only university housing. [link] [University Policy]
University of California: Irvine
  • University administration suspended the College Republicans student group under punitive, capricious and arbitrary charges after hosting Milo Yiannopoulos, where no rioting or confrontations took place. [link]
University of California: Los Angeles (UCLA)
  • 2017.03.02. University blocks students from taking a course on Freedom of Speech. [link]
  • 2016.09.27. University holds mandatory orientation sessions for freshmen, where they are told that black students are targeted by police brutality, and to use “inclusive language.” [link]
  • 2015.04.13. Students will be required to earn at least a C in a course that “substantially addresses racial, ethnic, gender, socioeconomic, sexual orientation, religious or other types of diversity.” [link]
University of California – Merced
  • 2016.10.05. University issues speech codes to fraternities and sororities: They have been instructed not to use the terms “Greek,” “rush” or “pledge” because they are “appropriating Greek culture” and are “non-inclusive.” [link]
University of Southern California (USC)
  • “The diversity requirement must be met by all students who began college at USC or elsewhere in fall 1993 or later. It can be met by passing any one course carrying the designation “m” for multiculturalism. You may view current diversity course offerings in the Schedule of Classes” [link]
University of Calfiornia: San Diego
  • Requires diversity courses for graduation. [link] List of courses to choose from here.
  • Cut off all funding to a satirical student newspaper after it published an article mocking the concept of “safe spaces” on campus. [link] Administration’s statement: [link]
  • University created a “Safe Space Allies” program complete with Participation Ribbon. Evidently allies can show this sign to people, because students “need” the support in order to “succeed at the University of San Diego.” [link]
University of the Pacific
  • Students are required to take at least one officially designated diversity course. This requirement is retroactive to all students who have enrolled since 2010. [link]

Colorado

Colorado College
  • 2015.12.14. Suspended a student over a joke about Black Lives Matter. For 21 months. [link] The College also falsified investigation records. [Link]

Colorado Mesa University

  • Has created an official Safe Place/Zone program. [link]
Regis University
  • 2017.06.05. University has placed a student under investigation for “sexual and racial harassment” for holding a “Social Justice Bake Sale.” The university told FIRE that it “gets to decide what freedom of expression its students enjoy because Regis “is not subject the [sic] first amendment [sic] protections you cite in [FIRE’s] letter.” [link]
  • 2017.03.29. University prevents conservative group from holding an informational table, reversing earlier decision. Reason: Having a table with dissenting views is a “demonstration.” [link]
University of Colorado: Boulder
  • 2015.12.20. Must complete 3 semester hours (one course) that fulfill the graduation requirement for the College of Arts & Sciences. “Courses in this area are designed to expand the range of each student’s understanding of the experience of individuals and groups who, because of such fundamental components of identity as race, ethnicity, gender, or other characteristics, have been historically marginalized by society and placed outside the mainstream.” [link]

University of Denver

  • 2016.10.28. University has placed restrictions on what can be written on the “Free Speech” wall. Aside from the jokes writing themselves, the student government actually insist that, “these guidelines are not intended to restrict free expression; rather they are a means through which we can continue to thrive as an inclusive community with a shared value system and many varied viewpoints.” [link]

Connecticut

University of Connecticut
  • 2016.02.02. Has created black-only housing. [link]
Wesleyan University
  • University “rated one of the worst in the nation for free speech” decides to open a $200+k social justice center. This is in addition to a “center in social change, office for diversity and inclusion, a queer resource center, and multiple support groups.” [link]
  • The student newspaper wrote a column critical of the Black Lives Matter movement, resulting in student activists circulating a petition for the student government to defund the paper unless specific demands were met. [link] Needless to say, the student government caved and voted to defund the newspaper. [link]
Yale
  • 2017.04.06. Student writes a Philosophy essay on the moral reprehensibility of rape, evoking Plato’s cave. He’s accused of actual rape by the university and expelled. [link]
  • 2017.03.17. University to get rid of the term “freshman” because it does not ‘reflect the values of the institution.” [link]
  • 2016.11.16. Yale University opened more than 300 gender-neutral bathrooms just days ahead of its annual commencement ceremony as part of a radical new “all-gender bathroom project.” [link]
  • Faculty voted to prohibit “offensive” costumes. Another professor wrote that it was dangerous to be “too sensitive.” A riot occurred, and Yale permitted this to happen with no consequences:
[youtube=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IEFD_JVYd0″]
  • As a result, the school attempted to fire the professors. After ongoing harassment, the professors resigned from the college to pursue academic work full time. [link]

Delaware

Wesley College

  • 2016.10.12. College has reached an agreement with the Department of Education for violating students’ rights. 3 Students accused of sexual misconduct were given deliberately misleading information before being summarily expelled. Some students were expelled the same day they were accused and never interviewed. Worse, they were deliberately misinformed about the policies and procedures and deprived of any information pertaining to the accusation. Conveniently, Wesley College didn’t keep accurate records of the “investigations,” either. [link]

Georgia

Armstrong State University
  • University established a two-hour “workshop meant to raise awareness and knowledge of LGBTQ issues, as well as suggest ways to better serve as an ally of the LGBT community. After completing this workshop, participants receive a Safe Space decal to display at their workplace, letting students, faculty and staff know that they are supportive allies. One of the several things this program covers is the recognition of appropriate and inclusive language regarding sex, gender and sexual orientation” [link] Oh goodie. Another Participation Ribbon.

Illinois

DePaul University
  • Required students to pay for a speech event (unconstitutional), and encouraged SJW protesters to intimidate, threaten, and harass an invited speaker. [link] Milo wants his money back as the administration forced him to pay for added security guards and then pointedly prevented the guards from providing security. [link]
  • University Administrators bans speakers with whom it disagrees – often. [link]
Loyola University
  • 2017.03.29. University sponsors whites-only group to explore issues of Whiteness. If you’re not sure if you’re white, don’t worry. They have counselors to help. [link]
  • The University sponsors “Safe Space Workshops” for LGBTQIA (“the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer/Questioning, Intersex, and Asexual”) community, in order to provide – among other things – “Skills to interrupt heterosexist and cissexist behaviors and attitudes.” They also help LGBTQIA identity development, which isn’t surprising since they’ll have to re-learn how to have an identity every time they add a letter to the acronym. [link]
Moraine Valley Community College
  • College added several black student-only courses that were designed to help students learn to study and plot career goals. [link] They later decided to table that decision… for now.
Northwestern University
  • 2014.10.14. Due to the fact that, by the University’s own report – black students don’t actually feel safe in the existing “Safe Space,” the University wants to quadruple the number of Safe Spaces on campus for black students. [link] Given that black students make up less than 10% of the student population, the university has effectively returned to segregation.
  • When feminist professor Laura Kipnis wrote an essay cautioning on the overuse of Title IX investigations for chilling of free speech, Northwestern launched a Title IX violation against her. [link]
  • 2016.09.22. “President of Northwestern University promised to provide “safe spaces” in speech to incoming Freshmen.  “The people who decry safe spaces do it from their segregated housing places, from their jobs without diversity — they do it from their country clubs. It just drives me nuts,” said the man in the Ivory tower in a President’s mansion he doesn’t have to pay for. [link]
Southern Illinois University
  • 2017.03.13. Public university hosts library ‘nap-ins’ to help students dream about diversity. [link] “And of course, all the dreams written on the scroll will be psychoanalyzed at a “women’s panel” discussion hosted by the women, gender and sexuality studies and art departments.” [link]
University of Chicago
  • Department of Social Service Administration has posted a list of their courses. The first one, of many, on the list is “Intersectional Approaches to Social Work with LGBTQIA Individuals and Communities.” [link]

Indiana

Purdue University

2017.01.26. University expels student after his girlfriend accused him of “snuggling without consent…” 3 months after they broke up. He was never charged with a crime. [link]

Iowa

Drake University
  • 2017.03.01. Lawsuit against the University alleges that female rapist gets man expelled, and then the university fired his father for attempting to get due process. [link]
Grinnell College
  • 2016.10.26. The College has a guide to help students avoid “cultural appropriation” this Halloween, warning that some costumes could be considered “deplorable and problematic.” [link]
Iowa State University
  • 2016.10.16. According to a lawsuit against the University, the school engages in draconian censorship practices, punishing speech it acknowledges falls well within the protection of the First Amendment.  “ISU’s iharassment’ policies prohibit students from even saying words that ‘annoy’ one another, and admit they ‘may cover those activities which . . . [do not] meet the legal definition of harassment.'” Failure to comply results in a hold on graduation. [link]
  • List of U.S. Diversity Courses that qualify for the degree requirement. No really, you might want to read this list. [link]
University of Iowa
  • The Board of Regents voted to approve the social justice degree program. [link]

Kansas

University of Kansas

  • 2-16.09.26. University prevents Resident Assistant from ‘incorporating an image of a gorilla into a jungle-themed floor decoration because the animal apparently represents “a very masculine image.”’ Also, ‘Assistant Complex Director Dale Morrow also noted that there are “stereotypes that surround this animal,” and therefore its inclusion in the display would not be “inclusive.”‘ [link]

Wichita State University

  • 2017.04.17. Student government recognizes a Libertarian student organization, begrudgingly, despite the club’s “dangerous” free-speech agenda and “hateful behavior” practiced by the national Libertarian organization. [link]

Louisiana

 Louisiana State University

Maine

Bates College

  • 2017.03.15. College instructs faculty not to use the words “husband” and/or “wife” because the terms are not inclusive enough. [link]

Maryland

Mount St. Mary’s University
  • University President wishes to  survey the freshmen class and dismiss 20-25% of the lowest performing students. Tenured faculty member and faculty advisor for student newspaper for publishing and dissenting from this policy. [link]

University of Maryland

  • 2014.10. The University’s Title IX Director,  Catherine A. Carroll, J.D., [link] changed the rules for prosecuting sexual-assault cases outside the criminal justice system – according to her own rules. These rules include: redefining “intimate touching” as “sexual assault,” elimination of accused due process and challenging the accuser, and isolating the investigative process by establishing an “Office of Sexual Misconduct and Relationship Violence,” which does its own investigations and make recommendations for possible punishment outside of the standard student conduct procedures. [link]

Massachusetts

Amerherst
  • 2017.01.31. Amherst Student Expelled for Sexual Misconduct Can’t Defend Himself—It Would ‘Impose Psychological Trauma’ on Accuser. This is the case where the woman raped her roommate’s boyfriend after he had passed out, and then subsequently accused him of rape. [link]
Brandeis University
  • 2015.07.03. Brandeis university expels gay student after his ex-boyfriend of 2-year relationship accused him of kissing him in the morning and looking at him naked. “Brandeis says it can discriminate against accused rapists all it wants.” [link]
Clark University
  • University instructs students that they are not allowed to sing in their car to music if they are the wrong race. [link]
Emerson College
  • 2017.03.15. College now instructs students that using the word “homosexual” is offensive because it is not inclusive enough. Bonus: The guide also asks students not to use terms like “accused, claimed, or alleged” in regard to sexual assault allegations, saying they “convey bias and disbelief.” [link]
  • 2016.11.03. College that renamed communication school after Ron Burgundy now forbids saying ‘anchorman’. [link] I was shortlisted to go teach there, ages ago. I’m so glad I wasn’t hired now.
Harvard University
  • 2017.03.29. University introduces mandatory class on authors who have been “marginalized for historical reasons.” [link] Decisions must entirely be made due to race.
  • The Harvard Law school decided to break from the University’s oversight and begin to investigate its own student sexual harassment cases. [link] Apparently, the Law School thought it could adjudicate its own legal problems better than the University despite being foundin Violation of Title IX after a years-long probe. [link]
Suffolk University
  • 2016.11.02. University requires campus wide (students and faculty) “Microaggression Training” because professor accuses minority student of plagiarism. [link]
  • Don’t quite have a grip on your “privilege?” Want to learn about all the new and glorious ways to hate yourself? Fear not! Suffolk University offers training courses on how to “critically examine your identity,” as well as not one, not two, but three courses on Safe Zone trainings. Not only that, but Suffolk invites faculty, staff, and students to join in the “Yes Means Yes” training, where you can “explore how dynamics of power and privilege impact interpersonal relationships. [link] Don’t know what that actually means? Here’s an actual (not satire) video that can help you understand. I dare you to try to make it to the end without cringing. Hell, I dare you to make it to the end!
[youtube=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVHYvUpeqKI”]
Tufts University
  • 2016.10.25. University has warned students that they will be arrested for wearing “offensive and inappropriate costumes.” While the university does not have a “costume policy,” the Dean of Student Affairs, warns of “serious disciplinary sanctions through Judicial Affairs” if “students whose actions make others in our community feel threatened or unsafe, or who direct conduct towards others that is offensive or discriminatory, includes [Office of Equal Opportunity] and/or [Tufts University Police Department] investigation and then disciplinary sanctions from our office that could run a wide gamut depending on what is brought to our attention and the impact of these actions on others.” [link]
University of Massachusetts: Amherst
  • 2016.10.16. The University has created a “threat meter” for the offensiveness of Halloween costumes: “what it calls the “Simple Costume Racism Evaluation and Assessment Meter” (S.C.R.E.A.M.) which poses several costume-related questions, the answers to which take one to various points on a “threat meter” that ranges from green (low) to red (severe).” [link]
  • 2016.04.25. Students rae required to take at least two diversity courses: “one dealing with diversity in the United States and the other with diversity globally.” Students are compelled “to engage with others to create change toward social justice.” [link]

Wellesley College

  • 2017.04.18. College’s Commission on Ethnicity, Race, and Equity issued a statement in which all speakers with non-liberal, non-progressive views would be subject to a vetting by the committee before risking “distress” to the students. [link] This, by the way, was a reaction to a liberal feminist discussion on campus that was seemed too “conservative.” [link] [link]

Michigan

University of Michigan
  • 2017.12.19. University teaches white employees how to overcome the ‘discomfort’ of being white. [link]
  • 2016.10.28. University has earmarked $85 Million for Diversity initiatives, including a #385,000/year new “Chief Diversity Officer.” Oh, that’s in addition to the $45 million they already spend on Diversity issues. [link]
  • Having solved all budgeting and educational crises, UofM establishes a year-long study by a “Pronoun Committee” to determine that “any student can select whichever pronouns they wish, such as “he, she, him, his, ze, etc.,” or else default to no pronouns at all.” [link]
Wayne State University
  • 2016.06.14. Deletes requirement that students must complete at least one math course, to be replaced with diversity class. The school says that math isn’t needed. [link]

Minnesota

Concordia College
  • University has set up a “Safe Space Initiative” “for all members of our community regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity”, as long as they are “LGBT+.” They “believe that social justice can be done through terminating hostile discrimination and creating a nonjudgmental environment. From a psychological perspective, this allows every individual to cultivate a healthy self-identity and to nurture genuine relationships.” [link] No word on how fabricating a contrived environment nurtures “genuine relationships,” but sure, let’s go with that.
Saint Mary’s University
  • Fired a professor after he translated Seneca’s Medea and then worked with the drama department to put on an authentic production of the play. [link] The official explanation is that he was terminated for sexual harassment, but never explained to him the details of his supposed misconduct. [link]
University of Minnesota
  • 2017.12.15. How to be more inclusive. Don’t include Santa, Christmas Trees, wrapped gifts, or the colors red, green, white or blue. It’s the best way to ensure that everyone is included. [link]
  • University is now requiring and instructing school librarians on stopping “microaggressions.” [link].  This includes, but is not limited to, preventing people from saying cruel things like, ““Men and women have equal opportunities for achievement.” [link]
University of St. Thomas
  • Required graduation courses “fulfilling the human diversity requirement consider ways in which preconceptions, stereotypes, and assumptions held by a particular individual, as well as that individual’s position within structures of privilege, affect understanding of issues related to diversity. In addition, the course addresses ways in which power and privilege operate at the institutional/systemic level. These courses address at least two of the following areas of inquiry: race and ethnicity, gender, religion, class, sexual orientation, disability status, or geopolitical status.” [link]

Missouri

University of Missouri
  • 2016.09.30. University reacts swiftly to threats made by Black Student Union to burn down fraternity. They suspend the fraternity… for comments that women made, who ran to the fraternity for protection from being chased by BSU. [link]
  • 2016.09.23. University Race Relations Committee find that white people are racist by not wanting to be called racists, and therefore avoiding conversations about race. [link] Correct spelling is evidently racist as well.
  • 2016.03.24. After showing that they may have a clue by firing Melissa Click, Mizzou doubles down on moving away from academics by requiring “diversity intensive” courses for graduation. [link]

Nebraska

University of Nebraska-Omaha

  • 2017.03.15. University creates a “gender unicorn worksheet” to help students identify what sex they are. [link]

Nevada

University of Nevada: Reno
  • List of courses available to complete the diversity course graduation requirement [link] These include, but are not limited to, “Civil Engineering for a Sustainable Society” and “Struggle for Justice.”

New Jersey

Princeton
  • University HR department bans use of the word “man.” [link]

New York

Barnard College
  • 2017.03.08. College votes to divest from companies that “deny climate change,” because, and I quote, ‘“Climate change is a problem that is intersectional in nature” because “poor, minority, and black communities are affected the hardest” by global warming.’ [link]
City University of New York
  • 2016.10.13. University Administration accuses professor of sexual harassment for – no, I’m not making this up – the grading portion of the syllabus states the effort is 10% of the students’ grade. Not surprisingly, the demand came from the Director of Diversity Investigations and Title IX Enforcement, which had apparently launched its own witch hu- er, “investigation.” [link]
Columbia University
  • Yoga! Racist!

    Yoga! Racist!

    2016.10.17. University hosts workshops “aimed to create a space in which students can address issues of power, privilege, and oppression.” This includes, but is not limited to, sessions on “Health at the Cost of Cultural Appropriation: Yoga and Zumba” [link] As the link will likely change, I took a screenshot of their page for posterity. You’re welcome.

  • All in all, Barnard College (of Columbia University) sounds like a horrible place to go. The student life reads like a laundry list of “Come get your self-flagellation instructions here.” [link]
  • 2016.10.04. Columbia hosts “Leadership Retreats,” but only if you’re not a white person. [link]
Cornell University
  • 2017.03.06. University requires conservative groups to pay significantly more in fees than liberal groups, often exceeding the entire annual budget for single events. [link]
  • 2016.09.22. More that 2000 Cornell students have petitioned to have tampons available in men’s bathrooms. [link] [2016.09.29 Update: Students voted overwhelmingly to approve.]
Hamilton College
  • 2016.07.26. College has adopted a new curriculum requirement that all concentrations, or majors, feature relevant, mandatory, course work on diversity.  [link]
Hofstra University
  • 2016.07.27. University posts a Trigger Warning for the Presidential Debates. “Trigger Warning: The event conducted just beyond this sign may contain triggering and/or sensitive material. Sexual violence, sexual assault, and abuse are some topics mentioned within this event. If you feel triggered, please know there are resources to support you.” [link]
New York University
  • 2016.10.30. University fires untenured professor for tweeting (anonymously) about the foibles of “safe spaces,” “trigger warnings,” etc. University called him into the Dean’s office and indicated that expressing these views was indicative of issues with his mental health. [link]
Sarah Lawrence College
  • 2017.03.22. College mandates gender-neutral guidelines. “In an effort to avoid gendered language in this document, Sarah Lawrence College has chosen to make exception to select grammatical rules (i.e. pronoun agreement).”  [link] As if their English degree wasn’t low-value enough.
Syracuse University
  • Expelled a student for a Facebook comment. [link]
  • Threatened students with disciplinary action if they wore “offensive” Halloween costumes. [link]
  • Investigated a law student for a satirical blog about the law school. [link]
  • A culture of fear exists (as it often does) in the faculty, where faculty sponsors were intimidated into disinviting an Israeli filmmaker out of fear that activists may be upset that the film involved Israel. [link]

Bonus: New York Board of Regents

2017.03.13. Board of Regents is likely to eliminate the “Literacy exam,” because, it weeded out minority teaching candidates. Yeah, apparently it’s better to have teachers who can’t read teaching in schools than look un-diverse. “Having a white workforce really doesn’t match our student body anymore.” [link]. The literacy test is “a 12th grade-level assessment” – something a high school senior should be able to pass.

North Carolina

Appalachian State University

  • 2017.03.14. University wants students to include disclaimers on papers that they are using gender-neutral pronouns in an effort to be gender-inclusive. [link]

Davidson College

  • The College has created The Spencer Weinstein Center for Community and Justice, which contains Safe Spaces for Black Students and LGBTQ students. [link] as well as special tenure and promotion programs for “Faculty of Color.” [link]
  • The College has a Diversity requirement, where – I’m not making this up – students are instructed to search for qualifying courses using the codeword “CULT.” [link] Courses that qualify include “Millenial East Asia,” and “Syrian Television Drama.”

Duke University

  • 2017.05.09. Duke Divinity School begins disciplinary action to bring up a professor on charges of “Racism, Sexism, and Harassment” because he responded to an email challenging mandatory diversity training. [link] A chronological display of the exchanges and events: [link]
  • 2016.11.01. University starts a “You Don’t Say” campaign to stifle Free Speech, including “Coward.” Why? Because the last thing they want is to be called what they are. [link]
  • DU’s Sanford School of Public Policy created a room called the “Sanford Safe Space,” in order to – you can only shake your head at this – offer an alternative to “effective debate.” [link] No, really: the co-chair of the Sanford Committee on Diversity and Inclusion said that people need to “heal” for characteristics “like their skin color or their religion, their immigration status or whether they’re from another country.”
  • Administration officials disinvited an Islamic feminist to speak after the Muslim Student Association complained she was an Islamophobic sympathizer. [link] In the author’s own words here.
  • University administrators raise student fees in order to pay for sex reassignment surgery. [link]

North Carolina State

  • 2016.10.29. Wearing blackface for Halloween? You’re racist. Not wearing blackface for Halloween? You’re Hitler. This helpful flow chart courtesy of the University. [link]

University of North Carolina – Greensboro

  • 2017.03.09. University encourages students to boycott “local misogynists,” business and companies that could be perceived to be sexist or “anti-woman.” [link]

Ohio

Case Western Reserve University
  • 2016.07.16. University a “safe space” for the campus community in response to the Republican National Convention and national political and racial unrest.” Also, because of the convention, couselors were brought in and campus activities were reduced. [link]
Cleveland State University
  • University has established a “Safe Space” program… but only for “lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered and questioning (LGBTQ) students. [link] “Questioning?
Kent State University
  • University has established a “Safe Space/Zone” for LGBTQ students, complete with an approved lexicon for “LGBTQ Vocabulary 101,” where “participants will have the opportunity to confront the idea of privilege.” [link] This comes complete with a participation ribbon (no, I’m not kidding) and web page of people who have completed the training and want to be listed on the site as an “ally.”
Oberlin College
  • After faculty protests, Oberlin temporarily backed off its draconian “Trigger Warning” policy, which would in turn trigger (pun intended, but can you think of a better word?) a sexual harrassment lawsuit. [link]
Ohio University
  • University builds a “free speech wall,” but the University President wants to force students to go to cultural sensitivity training because someone wrote pro-Trump statements. [link]
University of Cincinnati
  • 2016.10.14. According to a lawsuit, the University has started to expel students for sexual harassment, even though no charges are filed by accusers. [link]
  • 2016.07.11. University now requires applicants pledge commitment to ‘diversity and inclusion.’ [link] [UoC’s Statement]

Oklahoma

University of Oklahoma
  • University President unilaterally expelled two members of a fraternity for their “leadership role in leading a racist and exclusionary chant.” [link]

University of Tulsa

  • This is a good one. University suspends a student over a Facebook comment that his fiancé wrote. [link] They found him guilty of harassment and retaliation for telling his fiancé about it. [link] The university then targeted the student newspaper and its editors for covering the suspension. [link]

Oregon

Portland State University

2016.10.26. Student Government approved a boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) resolution that says Israel’s very founding was an act of “occupation.” The resolution calls for the University divestment of companies that do business in Israel. [link]

Pennsylvania

Carnegie Mellon University
  • 2017.03.20. University publishes a guide to avoid “microinequities” in class, using a journal article from 1982 to describe how “women feel” in 2017. [link]
Gettysburg College
  • 2017.0.07. College requires students to attend an anti-Trump ‘solidarity rally.’ Just what a College Administration should be doing with its students time, I suppose. [link]
  • University forces freshmen to sit through propaganda that “Being a Man” is toxic, inherently violent, and evil. The lesson is required, and a critical part of “important aspects of becoming a successful member of the Gettysburg College community.” [link]
Millersville University
  • 2016.10.28. College sends out an email to all students indicating that cultural appropriation for Halloween costumes reflects “poor decisions.” But, you know, the school “values both free expression and inclusivity” – as long as you “avoid circumstances that threaten our sense of community.” [link] Remember, children, you are all individuals as long as you don’t deviate from the group.
Penn State University
  • 2016.07.27. Announces a Masters Degree in Social Justice. [link]

Rhode Island

Brown University
  • 2015.03.21 University set up safe space, “intended to give people who might find comments “troubling” or “triggering,” a place to recuperate. The room was equipped with cookies, coloring books, bubbles, Play-Doh, calming music, pillows, blankets and a video of frolicking puppies, as well as students and staff members trained to deal with trauma.” [link]
  • Supported initiative to install Tampons in non-residential bathrooms on campus, because “not all people who menstruate are women.” [link]

South Carolina

Clemson University

  • 2017.04.10. University requires faculty and staff to take a required “inclusivity’ course that prohibits punctuality (culturally insensitive) and mandates white people to reflect upon their racism whenever they’re accused. Because, of cousre, accusation = conviction. [link]
  • 2016.09.26. Administrators have banned images, posters, or any other references relating to Harambe (a gorilla who was shot and killed when a 3-year old boy got into the zoo enclosure), claiming “Harambe’s death has been used to “add to rape culture” and can be “form of racism.”” Failure to do so will result in a Title IX investigation. [link] [Update 2016.09.29 The University has backed off the policy. (link)]

University of South Carolina

  • The University offers a “Safe Zone Program” along with – you guessed it – a Participation Ribbon for those “who have completed the training and wish to be listed as an ally.” Unfortunately, though, the Participation Ribbon is only valid for three years. [link]

York University

  • 2016.11.02. University prohibits showing the Confederate Flag at a Confederate History event. [link]

Tennessee

University of Tennessee

  • 2017.12.18. University: “We support free speech, uh, unless you don’t want us to. Then we won’t say that.” [link]

Texas

University of Texas – Austin

  • 2016.10.28. UT Austin publishes a checklist of acceptable and unacceptable Halloween costumes. Make sure you “consult with experts” and make those costumes “educational.” Not only are costumes such as “cowboys and indians,” “Hawaiian,” “Tinting your skin,” inappropriate, but anything “Around the world.” So, yeah, that basically covers it. [link]

Utah

University of Utah
  • List of Diversity Courses that meet the obligatory diversity requirement for graduation. It includes, among others, a course called ‘Finding out” {huh?) and “Feminist Economics.”  [link]

Vermont

University of Vermont

  • 2015.11.18. University holds a 3-day retreat for white people to “confront their white privilege.” [link] I’m not sure what it was whites-only. Surely there are a lot of other students who would love to tell them where they’ve gone wrong. [link]

Virginia

George Mason University
  • 2016.09.21. University held a black-only back-to-school orientation. [link]
James Madison University
  • University requires orientation leaders to hand out speech guides of “35 dumb things well-intended people say” such as, “love the sinner, hate the sin,” “we’re all part of the human race,” “I treat all people the same,” “it was only a joke.” What every you do, don’t be sympathetic: “Statements of empathy supposedly “shuts the other person down.” [link]
Virginia Tech
  • 2015.07.10. To get tenure at VA Tech you must show proof of ‘diversity’ and ‘inclusion.’ In a bizarre contradictory statement, the university justified this because “We feel that it is important to begin cultivating community and building traditions early in the school year so that the foundation can be built upon as the year progresses.” [link]

Washington

Evergreen State College
Gonzaga University
  • 2016.09.06. Melissa Click is hired, ostensibly after a “extensive national search process that revealed her to be the most qualified and experienced candidate for the position.”  To be fair, job requirement included assault threats on undergrads as among “other duties required. [link] It does not appear that everyone at Gonzaga is happy about this, either. [link]
Green River College
  • “Diversity in the curriculum refers to the study of one or more groups that have been historically marginalized on the basis of culture, race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, class, disability, religion, age, immigration, or geopolitical power. Diversity-designated courses facilitate academic inquiry, analysis and understanding of past and current differences, conflicts and relations of power, thereby moving the discourse of diversity beyond mere tolerance, celebration, or appreciation. Green River students entering in Fall 2011 and after (under the 2011-13 catalog) must take at least one diversity-designated course in order to receive an AA degree. See Courses for a list of approved courses.” [link] Sounds like these courses leave lots of room for more than one view on the matter, doesn’t it?
University of Washington – Seattle
  • Requires students to take a minimum of 3 credits “that focus on the sociocultural political, and/or economic diversity of the human experience at local, regional, or global levels.” [UoW’s Statement]

University of Washington – Tacoma

  • 2017.04.12. University has established a “report your neighbor” program. Students can now anonymously report people who express a bias against others based upon 15 criteria. [link] The College Fix had some interaction with the instructor that’s quite interesting.

Western Washington University

  • 2017.05.18. University hosts a workshop that aims to “reduce the impact of white privilege on social and academic relations.” Can’t wait to hear what the “interactive exercises” entail. [link]

Washington, D.C

American University

  • 2017.05.15 University bans white people from café, which is now designated a “sanctuary” for nonwhites. “This is just the minimum,” said the Provost. “These are reasonable demands. We are interested in building the kind of community which will [sic] we are all proud of.” [link]
  • 2016.10.05. The president of American University’s Student Government is leading a campaign demanding the inclusion of mandatory trigger warnings on all class syllabi. [link]
  • 2016.10.04. University is taking steps to improve “inclusion” on campus by holding mandatory “implicit bias” trainings and evaluating job applicants on their level of “multicultural competence.” [link]
  • American University’s “Safe Space Workshop” “seeks to create a safer and more inclusive environment on campus through reducing heterosexism, homophobia and transphobia.” “This toolkit is filled with resources related to understanding LGBTQA identities, heterosexism, and homophobia. These resources also provide information on how to be an ally and some reflection on privilege and oppression.” It focuses on “educational programming” that covers “Trans*101, Unmasking Your Privilege, and Creating Inclusive Communities” – as long as you are LGBTQA. Apparently, unlike the Loyola University of Chicago, Intersexed students need not apply.  [link]

Howard University

  • 2017.07.06 Law professor has a question on an exam regarding a case that involved a waxing salon and the question of liability. Two students felt that asking a question about a legal case that inferred sexual misconduct was, in itself, sexual harassment. University opens Title IX investigation against the law professor for teaching sexual harassment law cases. [link]

West Virginia

West Virginia University

  • University has created a “Safe Zone” for LGBTQ issues, because “while other members of minority groups can often identify mentors and role models, the invisibility of sexual orientation makes it difficult for WVU students, faculty, and staff who are LGBTQ to identify those to whom they can safely turn for support, advocacy, and information.” [link]
  • University has created a “Safe Zone” for Secular Students, designed to help allies understand and assist secular students on their way to establishing confident secular identities, who will in turn help build a more accepting and just society [link]

Wisconsin

Marquette University
  • Despite not actually accusing him of any actual crime, the University moved to fire a tenured professor, claiming that he committed “serious instances of … dishonorable, irresponsible, or incompetent conduct.” [link] Worse, the university began a concerted smear campaign against McAdams, offering no actual evidence to support its claims. [link] Indeed, the university suggested that McAdams’ presence was a threat to “the safety of our students and campus community” and that they need to prevent him from “subjecting students to any form of abuse, putting them in harm’s way.” [link] This was all over a discussion of gay marriage in someone else’s class. [link]
University of Wisconsin: LaCrosse
  • 2016.09.29. University will review students’ Halloween costumes to ensure they do not come across as racist. [link]
  • University offers “Diversity” courses, such as “Exploring White Privilege” “Food and Race in the United States.” The other courses offer counseling, which one supposes anyone who takes them will desperately need. [link]
  • 2016.04.19. University “Hate Response Team” springs into action when someone writes (in chalk, natch) the name “Trump.” [link] Students are encouraged to fill out the “Hate/Bias Incident Report Form” if they see further vile chalkings.
  • 2015.12.21. University official calls in police report for trucker with Confederate flag on its grille. [link]
University of Wisconsin: Madison
  • 2017.04.17. University channels its inner Nicholas Matte by offering free tampons in the men’s bathrooms. [link]
  • 2016.12.19. University permits a class in 2017 called “The Problem with Whiteness.” [link]
  • 2016.09.21. University held a back-to-school orientation BBQ that was “intended for self-identified people of color.” [link] I suppose that means Rachel Dolezal was explicitly invited.
  • 2014.04.17. University establishes a post-doctoral fellowship in “Feminist Biology.” Why? Because there is a dire need “to uncover and reverse gender bias in biology.” [link]
University of Wisconsin: River Falls
  • Two diversity courses must be completed for graduation. Course topics include:  “The politics of equality and inequality in the United States,” “Diversity in Early Childhood,” and, um, “World Puppetry.” [link] Actually, I’d like to take that World Puppetry course, but I have a feeling it’s going to have some sort of Marxist twist…

University of Wisconsin: Stevens Point

  • University has issued a list of racial microaggressions to avoid. Saying things like “America is a melting pot,” “Where are you from” and “I believe the most qualified person should get the job” mean you are a racist bigot and should be tarred and feathered and left out in the Wisconsin winter in only your racist jammies. [link]

Wyoming

University of Wyoming
  • “The goal of the U.S. cultural diversity requirement is to prepare students to recognize the continuing importance of categories of identity while at the same time understanding how historically contingent and unstable these categories are. In these courses students explore the complexity of cultural identities in the U.S. and interdependence of these cultures. Students will gain an understanding of the influences of categories such as race, class, ethnicity, gender, disability, sexual orientation, religion, and age on American behaviors, institutions, values, and beliefs.” [link]

United Kingdom

Cambridge University

  • 2016.09.20 University students create a virulent anti-white, anti-Semetic Facebook page [link] Student exposes this group, only to be threatened by the university administration. [link]

Edinburgh University

  • 2016.04.03 Student government files Safe Space complaint against member who raised her hand. No, really. “For Inappropriate Hand Gesture.” [link]

Canada

Mount Royal University

  • University is aware that SJW assaults man wearing a Trump “Make America Great Again” hat, but refuses to comment. “Mount Royal University respects individuals who exercise their constitutionally-protected right to freedom of expression, as long as it is peaceful and respectful,” the spokeswoman said, redefining “peaceful and respectful” for the entire student body: “Security responded to the confrontation, but no sanctions are being contemplated.” [link]

Ryerson University

  • University created a safe space, but only for those who are not white and male. [link]

University of Manitoba

  • University and student each have their own safe space program. Confusion arises as to how to promote each. Triggering occurs. [link]

Wilfrid Laurier University

Yup. This space is definitely unsafe.

  • 2017.04.20. University takes down Pro-Life display because it ‘created an unsafe environment.’ Must have been really graphic, completely terrifying, and horrific images of aborted fetuses, right? Nope. Pink and blue flags. [link]

Bonus Round

  • 2017.03.01. University presidents nationwide refuse to sign ‘Intellectual Freedom Commitment’ [link].
  • 2016.09.21 Several universities around the United States have been handing out coloring books to students to help them “de-stress and cope” with the harsh realities of life. [link]

 

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