Political Correctness | Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion - Part 11
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Posted by Anne Segal on December 19, 2015 19 Comments
Three weeks ago the Huffington Post published an article detailing the distress of transgendered parents who breastfeed, "The Troubling Erasure of Trans Parents Who Breastfeed." The article describes the way gendered pronouns and attitudes are excluding men who nurse, and the legalities associated with challenging the heretofore female-centric endeavor of breastfeeding. In particular, women who have had chest surgery and now identify as men, described how they are made to feel unwelcome in breastfeeding circles. Here is one example from Canada:

Posted by William A. Jacobson on December 17, 2015 74 Comments
Does this go too far? Of course it does. Comments by Donald Trump about a temporary ban on Muslim immigration, which almost certainly never will happen even if there were to be a President Trump, hardly compare to round-up for extermination. There is no equivalent -- fortunately -- of Kristallnacht against Muslims in the U.S. The few instances of violence are being prosecuted, and one is still far more likely to be the victim of religious hate crimes for being Jewish. The Times of San Diego reports, USD Professor Leads Silent Protest Against Anti-Muslim Rhetoric:
A religious studies professor at the University of San Diego who is concerned about growing anti-Muslim rhetoric has started a silent protest, with students and faculty wearing yellow stars marked “Muslim.” Bahar Davary, associate professor of theology and religious studies, came up with the idea during her class “Islamic Faith and Practice,” an introduction to Islam, and her students suggested several designs.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on December 16, 2015 11 Comments
William F. Buckley Jr. had a great disdain for entrenched, self-perpetuating elites epitomized by thefaculty of Harvard:
I am obliged to confess I should sooner live in a society governed by the first two thousand names in the Boston telephone directory than in a society governed by the two thousand faculty members of Harvard University.
In light of our prior reporting on the "Demands" and protests at Yale, and considering this new video, I'd like to expand on Buckley's theme:

Posted by William A. Jacobson on December 15, 2015 35 Comments
Many college campuses are seeing sets of “Demands” issued by students to administrations, often seeking to suppress speech the students deem offensive and to increase faculty and student affirmative action policies and programs. Hamilton College students using the name "The Movement" recently set what was believed to be a record 83 Demands. At least one of the Demands, for a "President of Color," was promptly ignored by the college when it named its new President recently. Oberlin College students, however, may be about to set a new record for length if not number of Demands. Oberlin, a self-proclaimed progressive institution, has seen racial strife on campus in recent years, including The Great Oberlin College Racism Hoax of 2013 perpetrated primarily by a progressive white student trying to get the campus talking about race. Even after the hoax was exposed, the resulting campus conflict was exploited to advance “even more extreme policies.” (You can listen to my explanation of the hoax and result here.) More recent strife on campus involved protests by the Black Student Union over the quality of food in the Afrikan Heritage House. Oberlin also is known for non-racial activism, such at the "trigger warning" protests against the appearance of Christina Hoff Sommers. A student tipped us off that starting last night students began circulating and signing a 14-page list of 50 separate demands, in the name of the Black Students Union (BSU).

Posted by Jonathan Levin on December 11, 2015 12 Comments
Notwithstanding a modest consensus that affirmative action is doomed after Wednesday's arguments in Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin, there are hints the Court might delay a substantive decision, dissatisfying all parties. For background on the case, see Legal Insurrection's preview, here.  The full transcript of Wednesday's oral arguments is here. There were a number of tense and emotional moments both between the Justices and the parties' attorneys and among the Justices themselves.  From the tenor of the questioning, it is likely the University of Texas's ("UT") admissions system will be struck down despite its minimal reliance on race, if the case is decided on its merits.  If so, the result may explicitly or implicitly ban affirmative action on the basis of race in public university admissions. But the Court, including presumptive deciding vote Justice Kennedy, repeatedly returned to procedural issues.

Posted by Mike Adamo on December 09, 2015 7 Comments
Last week, the group of Hamilton College activists known as “the Movement” released a lengthy list of demands to almost universal ridicule. Few Hamilton students respect the Movement’s childish and arrogant calls for public apologies, special attention, and, of course, money. Our college administrators, meanwhile, rushed to validate the protesters’ demands and feelings. “Fwd: Demands,” read the subject line of the email President Joan Hinde Stewart sent out to the campus, though she referred us benignly to the “attached message” the young scholars of the Movement had so humbly submitted for her consideration. “Certainly,” she wrote, “we always want to do better as a community and encourage discussion.” She could start by learning what a discussion is, because it sure doesn’t involve “demands.”

Posted by Mike LaChance on December 05, 2015 6 Comments
In the aftermath of the Clock Boy incident, Ahmed and many new allies on the left claimed that his arrest was proof of anti-Islam bigotry in a racist country. This year's valedictorian at Ahmed's old high school disagrees. From the FOX News Insider:
Claims of Intolerance at ‘Clock Kid’s’ School Disputed by Muslim Valedictorian Critics around the country cried Islamophobia when 14-year-old Ahmed Mohamed was arrested this year for bringing a homemade clock to school and prompting fears of a bomb. Now, the Muslim valedictorian of that school is coming to its defense, saying that her experience at MacArthur High was nothing but respectful.

Posted by Anne Segal on December 04, 2015 10 Comments
Over the past few weeks, Americans have had provided to them two new and diverse sets of emojis to reflect, more precisely, their exact physical characteristics: Latino emojis and curly-haired emojis. Zubi Advertising released the Latino-culture emoji keyboard and Unilever's Dove crafted the "curly-haired" emojis, both available to download for free. If I was feeling generous, I would say this is quite the triumph of the free market: companies, sensing a consumer need, responded to than need and, voila, a gap was filled in the emoji market. It seems that this may be less of a "demand" issue than a desire to be a "first-mover" in the race to find the next empty overture to appease the gods of condemnation and political correctness.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on December 04, 2015 12 Comments
My alma mater Hamilton College has been in turmoil for years. Over the course of two dedaces, hard-driving leftist professors effectively drove the study of Western Civilization off campus. The multi-cultural academic agenda was so strong that in in 2013 Hamilton's multi-cultural center segregated a diversity program by race, though it later cancelled that event after publicity. But not before a desegregated campus-wide forum devolved into racial recriminations:
It soon became clear that for many people the problem had became an “us against them” battle, separate groups vs. integrated, whites vs. blacks. Though ‘The Movement’, which is a student group that hung fliers and wrote in chalk on Martin’s Way, the main path through campus, in favor of minorities on campus, said that it wasn’t a black and white issue, multiple accounts during the meeting made it clear that many people had felt it was.
The recent revelation that "The Movement" issued a list of 83 Demands has caused more racial turmoil on campus. http://hamiltonunscrolled.tumblr.com/

Posted by William A. Jacobson on December 02, 2015 42 Comments
Many campuses are seeing sets of "Demands" issued by students to administrations, often seeking to suppress speech the students deem offensive and to increase faculty and student affirmative action policies and programs. It's not surprising that the Demand movement has come to my alma mater, Hamilton College, in upstate New York. Hamilton at one time focused on the study of core subjects and Western Civilization. Over the course of the 1980s and 1990s, multiculturalism took hold of the curriculum as leftist faculty from Kirkland College (which merged with Hamilton when I was a sophomore in the late 1970s) maneuvered into positions of power. The story of how Hamilton was transformed was detailed in my post in December 2012, Western Civilization driven off campus at Hamilton College:

Posted by William A. Jacobson on November 28, 2015 24 Comments
I haven't paid enough attention to the student protests and demands at various schools. Though I've paid some attention, such as the events at Yale and Brandeis and Mizzou. But I missed the Wesleyan University Is This Why? student protest website. (Note - I added the yellow highlighting to the image below. That highlighting has no hidden meaning.) http://www.isthiswhy.com/ The Demands include:

Posted by Mike LaChance on November 26, 2015 16 Comments
Illegal immigration and terrorism are hot political issues in the 2016 election, which makes things difficult for Democrats who aren't allowed to say "radical Islam" or "illegal immigrants." Hillary Clinton recently used the latter term at a campaign event in New Hampshire and has now been forced by the left to do penance. Dan Merica reported at CNN:
Clinton says her use of term 'illegal immigrant' was a 'poor choice of words' Boulder, Colorado (CNN) - Hillary Clinton said Tuesday that her use of the term "illegal immigrant" at a town hall in New Hampshire earlier this month was a "poor choice of words." "That was a poor choice of words," Clinton wrote during a Facebook chat. "As I've said throughout this campaign, the people at the heart of this issue are children, parents, families, DREAMers. They have names, and hopes and dreams that deserve to be respected."

Posted by William A. Jacobson on November 21, 2015 35 Comments
Now they've gone too far. Someone tell me this is a hoax, and we've all been had. Progressive or Parody? But, I fear this report from The Ottawa Sun is not a joke. Free Ottawa yoga class scrapped over 'cultural issues':
Student leaders have pulled the mat out from 60 University of Ottawa students, ending a free on-campus yoga class over fears the teachings could be seen as a form of "cultural appropriation." Jennifer Scharf, who has been offering free weekly yoga instruction to students since 2008, says she was shocked when told in September the program would be suspended, and saddened when she learned of the reasoning. Staff at the Centre for Students with Disabilities believe that "while yoga is a really great idea and accessible and great for students ... there are cultural issues of implication involved in the practice," according to an email from the centre....

Posted by William A. Jacobson on November 20, 2015 10 Comments
Brandeis University becomes the latest school to receive a set of demands from a student protest group... or else. The group, calling itself Concerned Students 2015, made the following demands, according to an all-campus email from Brandeis Interim President Lisa Lynch forwarding an email she had received:
---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Ford Hall <fordhall2015@gmail.com> Date: Thu, Nov 19, 2015 at 1:33 PM Subject: Fwd: URGENT: Demands from Concerned Students 2015 To: lisalynch@brandeis.edu Dear President Lynch,
“The university that carries the name of the justice who stood for the rights of individuals must be distinguished by academic excellence, by truth pursued wherever it may lead and by awareness of the power and responsibilities that come with knowledge.” - Last paragraph of Brandeis University’s Mission
We, the concerned students of Brandeis University, take pride in being Brandeis students. We care deeply about the future and progress of this university and want this university to continue to attract and produce the world’s greatest and most critical minds. This is why we are dedicated to the needs of our fellow students and believe we must hold this beloved university to its mission.

Posted by Casey Breznick on November 14, 2015 13 Comments
We've all seen the news coverage,the videos, the photos, the quotes, the hashtags. Students across the country have erupted in protest and campus takeovers in response to perceived institutional and interpersonal racism on their campuses, most notably at the University of Missouri and Yale, but also at Ithaca College, Amherst College, and Claremont McKenna College. At the same time, weak-kneed administrators have for the most part appeased the student mobs, with the president of U. Missouri and the dean of Claremont McKenna ultimately resigning. Make no mistake: the conflagration witnessed all week did not spring up out of nowhere. Just take a peak at College Insurrection to see what has been going on the past few years, but understand that the degradation of higher education in this country began decades ago. Since the 1960s, college administrators and faculty have  inculcated a culture of appeasement and entitlement among their students, and whenever that was not enough---such as when black and Hispanic students at Cornell partook in an armed takeover of a building on campus---they doubled down on their efforts to serve students whatever they wished.