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Political Correctness Tag

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 <[email protected]> Date: Thu, Nov 19, 2015 at 1:33 PM Subject: Fwd: URGENT: Demands from Concerned Students 2015 To: [email protected] 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.

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on November 07, 2015 34 Comments
Just when you thought the "safe spaces" PC-plagued college campuses couldn't get more ridiculous, Yale students step up to prove you wrong. Yale's Intercultural Affairs Council (yes, they have such a thing) sent out an email prior to Halloween asking that students be thoughtful in their costume selection so as not to offend others.  They listed specific examples of costumes deemed offensive,  "such as feathered headdresses, turbans, 'war paint,' and blackface as examples of inappropriate 'cultural appropriation and/or misrepresentation'.”

Erika Christakis, Associate Master of Silliman College, responded to the email and defended students' right to wear Halloween costumes of their choosing, even if said costumes might be considered outrageous, inappropriate, provocative, or even offensive.

Christakis further urged students "not to take offense at insensitive Halloween costumes," and she told students, "'If you don't like a costume someone is wearing, look away, or tell them you are offended.  'Talk to each other. Free speech and the ability to tolerate offence are the hallmarks of a free and open society'."

Posted by William A. Jacobson on November 03, 2015 72 Comments
This is the next battlefield, which already has arrived. As far as the feds are concerned, it is unlawful discrimination if a school provides anything less than full, unrestricted access for male transgender students to areas previously deemed private girls-only areas, such as showers and locker rooms. The NY Times reports, Illinois District Violated Transgender Student’s Rights, U.S. Says:
Federal education authorities, staking out their firmest position yet on an increasingly contentious issue, found Monday that an Illinois school district violated anti-discrimination laws when it did not allow a transgender student who identifies as a girl and participates on a girls’ sports team to change and shower in the girls’ locker room without restrictions.
These threats are being made by the same Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Education whose threats of action against universities led to the current kangaroo court situation on campuses, where accused students (almost always male) have few procedural protections. In the letter, the feds made clear that the limitation of access to the showers and locker room was the only issue. In all other respects, the feds acknowledged, the District "has honored" the student's "request to be treated as female," including access to girls' restrooms. The school even allowed the student -- who has not undergone a sex change operation -- to change in the girls locker room, but behind a curtain, the Times reported:

Posted by Mike LaChance on October 31, 2015 32 Comments
As a member of Generation X, I was lucky enough to enjoy Halloween as a child in the 1970's before progressives began trying to ruin it with politics. What used to be a fun night of costumes and "trick or treat" with your friends has become the latest casualty of political correctness. In case you haven't heard, many costumes are no longer acceptable. There is some good news though, kids. You can dress up as a solar panel. The Daily Caller reports:
DOE Wants Kids To Dress Up As Solar Panels and Windmills For Halloween The Department of Energy (DOE) is celebrating Halloween by carving DOE themed Jack-O-Lanterns and instructing kids to dress up in “energy themed” costumes. The DOE official website includes instructions on how kids can dress up as a solar panel, a wind turbine, an “energy vampire,” a particle accelerator, or Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on October 15, 2015 42 Comments
How politically diverse is the Cornell University faculty? Not very, according to a study done by The Cornell Daily Sun, the student newspaper. By dollar volume, 96.62% of political donations during 2011-2014 went to Democratic candidates or related PACs, and just 2.76% to Republicans or related PACs. By number of donors, rather than dollar amount, the contrast is equally stark. There were only 15 faculty members who donated to Republicans, out of a total of 323 faculty donors, or 5 percent. There were a total of 1628 faculty at the university as of 2013, but there is not reason to suspect that the 323 donors are not representative of the total. I was one of the 15, which might make me part of the smallest minority on campus. The Daily Sun reports, Cornell Faculty Donations Flood Left, Filings Show:
Of the nearly $600,000 Cornell’s faculty donated to political candidates or parties in the past four years, over 96 percent has gone to fund Democratic campaigns, while only 15 of the 323 donors gave to conservative causes.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on October 14, 2015 31 Comments
Ithaca College is pretty sensitive to "microaggressions." What is a microaggression? Where have you been, under a rock? (I hope that didn't offend you.) One of the inventors of the terminology and theory describes it this way:
Microaggressions are the everyday verbal, nonverbal, and environmental slights, snubs, or insults, whether intentional or unintentional, which communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative messages to target persons based solely upon their marginalized group membership. In many cases, these hidden messages may invalidate the group identity or experiential reality of target persons, demean them on a personal or group level, communicate they are lesser human beings, suggest they do not belong with the majority group, threaten and intimidate, or relegate them to inferior status and treatment.
For some background, see our prior posts: At Ithaca College, in what may have been a first, last spring the student government voted to set up a microaggression reporting system. (I don't know if they actually ended up setting it up.) This semester started at Ithaca College with accusations of campus security insensitivity:

Posted by William A. Jacobson on October 09, 2015 52 Comments
Via KOIN 6 News (h/t American Power):
A local principal sent an 8th grade student home this week for wearing a shirt supporting U.S. troops. The problem, according to Gresham-Barlow School District [Oregon] officials, was that it had a gun on it. Now, many are speaking out against the principal’s decision to reprimand the student for something they consider a display of patriotism. “It means a lot to me because our family, we have a lot of people who were in the military,” middle schooler Alan Holmes said. “I didn’t see anything wrong with that shirt… It’s sad to see because it’s a fallen soldiers’ memorial.” But administrators at Dexter McCarthy Middle School didn’t see it that way.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on September 26, 2015 53 Comments
I'm glad that I'm late to the story of Ahmed Mohamed, because others have done the work to debunk much of the media narrative of a young tinkerer and inventor wrongly singled out because he is Muslim and abused by police and the school for the crime of "being brown." The story has unfolded much like prior racial media and activist narratives. Trayvon Martin was not shot because he was a black teenager wearing a hoodie by someone who "shot first and asked questions later." That media narrative was demonstrably proven false through a lengthy public trial at which the evidence showed that Trayvon Martin was shot as he beat the crap out of George Zimmerman, Mixed Martial Arts style, as Trayvon had Zimmerman pinned to the ground, after smashing Zimmeran's head into the concrete repeatedly. The eyewitness and forensic evidence (including ballistic analysis) fully supported that Zimmerman used legally justifiable deadly force. So too, the death of Michael Brown in Ferguson was not as the media initially portrayed. An exhaustive investigation and analysis by Eric Holder's Justice Department proved that Brown was shot while grabbing Officer Darren Wilson's gun, after having assaulted Wilson as Wilson sat in his police vehicle. The Justice Department also concluded that Brown did now have his hands raised at the time of the shooting. The "Hands Up, Don't Shoot" narrative was pure mythology, yet it persists as a slogan of the Black Lives Matter movement. So getting back to Ahmed, the original racial and religious narrative played out immediately, and is believed as the gospel truth by liberals.

Posted by Mike LaChance on September 23, 2015 17 Comments
A Wesleyan University student named Bryan Stascavage who writes for the student paper, the Wesleyan Argus, recently penned an op-ed which was critical of the #BlackLivesMatter movement. Since then, all hell has broken loose. Here's a sample of Stascavage's column:
Why Black Lives Matter Isn’t What You Think A 20-year-old man walks into a church and massacres nine people, claiming that he was afraid that America was being taken over by Black Americans, citing American race relations as evidence. About a month later, a man wears a GoPro, tapes himself walking up to a local reporter and a cameraman, and shoots them both on camera, proclaiming racial injustice in this country as his motive. Police officers are looking over their shoulders as several cops have been targeted and gunned down. The week before classes started, seven officers were killed in the line of duty; a few were execution-style targeted killings. An officer I talked to put it succinctly: “If they want to come after me, fine. Just come at me head on. Don’t shoot me in the back of my head. I’d rather go down with a fighting chance.” Is this an atmosphere created by the police officers and racist elements in society itself? Many, including individuals in the Black Lives Matter movement, believe so.

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on September 20, 2015 26 Comments
Last weekend, I wrote about Secretary of the Navy Mabus rejecting the Marine Corps study that showed that units with women underperform when compared to all-male units. This week, the Marine Corps is pushing back and opening up a debate about whether or not Mabus can veto Marine Corps decisions.  The Marine Times reports:
The Marine Corps is expected to ask that women not be allowed to compete for several front-line combat jobs, inflaming tensions between Navy and Marine leaders, U.S. officials say. The tentative decision has ignited a debate over whether Navy Secretary Ray Mabus can veto any Marine Corps proposal to prohibit women from serving in certain infantry and reconnaissance positions. And it puts Gen. Joseph Dunford, the Marine Corps commandant who takes over soon as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, at odds with the other three military services, who are expected to open all of their combat jobs to women.
This is of particular interest because while Mabus is a politician, General Dunford is career military and about to become chairman of the Joint Chiefs . . . . with the power, presumably, to approve the waiver that he's just submitted as Marine Corps commandant.  The Marine Times continues:

Posted by Mike LaChance on September 17, 2015 70 Comments
Yesterday a Texas teenager, who happens to be a Muslim, brought a homemade clock to school and was arrested because the clock was mistaken for a bomb. Some people are blaming racism but zero tolerance policies are the real problem. NBC News reports that he won't be charged:
No Charges For Ahmed Mohamed, Teen Arrested After Bringing Homemade Clock to School Police in Texas said Wednesday that charges will not be filed against a 14-year-old Muslim high school student who was arrested after he brought in a homemade clock that a teacher said looked like a bomb. The arrest drew an outcry on social media. Hundreds of thousands of people used the hashtag #IStandWithAhmed — and President Barack Obama invited the teen to the White House. Ahmed Mohamed, who is Sudanese-American, was arrested on Monday in the Dallas suburb of Irving after he took the clock to his high school. He told The Dallas Morning News that he had been in robotics club in middle school, and he wanted to show his new teacher what he could do.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on September 13, 2015 45 Comments
When the world was in an uproar over the killing of Cecil the Lion, we noted that responsible trophy hunting was important to many African economies and could be a responsible conservation tool because it created incentives for local communities not to kill endangered wildlife. But in the disgust with the killing of Cecil the Lion by luring him off a nature preserve, calls to ban all trophy hunting disregarded all facts. So this report from The NY Times is hardly surprising. While it's not about Cecil and his aftermath, it is about bans on trophy hunting, A Hunting Ban Saps a Village’s Livelihood
Lions have been coming out of the surrounding bush, prowling around homes and a small health clinic, to snatch goats and donkeys from the heart of this village on the edge of one of Africa’s great inland deltas. Elephants, too, are becoming frequent, unwelcome visitors, gobbling up the beans, maize and watermelons that took farmers months to grow. Since Botswana banned trophy hunting two years ago, remote communities like Sankuyo have been at the mercy of growing numbers of wild animals that are hurting livelihoods and driving terrified villagers into their homes at dusk.
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