Education
Opinion | ‘Propaganda Factories and Intellectual Wastelands’ Are Not What They Had in Mind
One exception is Robert Pondiscio, a senior fellow on the American Enterprise Institute, who addressed the complexity of the controversy in an e-mail:
Larger ed and Ok-12 are totally different. States are on a lot firmer floor in in search of to determine or constrain what will get taught in Ok-12 schooling, the place the idea of educational freedom merely doesn’t exist. Public schoolteachers aren’t unbiased free brokers or unbiased professionals who can train free speech in public colleges; they’re typically regarded by the legislation as ‘employed speech’ delivering a curriculum set by faculty boards, districts, or state authorities.
In distinction, college students in faculties and universities, Pondiscio continued,
are adults and usually enrolled by selection, not compelled or coerced by the state to attend. So even when states are inside their rights to exert their authority (and even when larger ed tends to be politicized or an mental monoculture) there’s a threat of overreaching. What is suitable and defensible for Ok-12 schooling begins to really feel much less so on the school or college stage.
DeSantis, in flip, has demonstrated the quintessential politicalization of upper schooling in his takeover of New School, a small progressive public school on Sarasota Bay that has described itself as a “neighborhood of freethinkers, threat takers and trailblazers,” whereas profitable comparatively excessive marks from rating organizations like U.S. Information&World Report, Forbes, Kiplinger’s and The Princeton Evaluate.
In January, DeSantis changed six of the 13 members on the faculty’s board of trustees with such conservative ideologues as Christopher Rufo of the Manhattan Institute; Matthew Spalding, professor in constitutional authorities at Hillsdale School; Charles R. Kesler, professor of presidency at Claremont-McKenna School and editor of the Claremont Evaluate of Books; Mark Bauerlein, senior editor at First Issues and professor of English at Emory College; and Jason “Eddie” Speir, co-founder of the Inspiration Academy, a Christian Constitution College in Bradenton, Florida, and the creator of “’Florida, The place Woke Goes to Die,’ What Does It Imply?”
On Jan. 29, Speir posted on his Substack his plan, as a member of the board of trustees, to “declare that every one hiring, and salaries modifications be frozen” to “make use of a zero-based budgeting coverage of terminating all contracts for college, employees and administration and instantly rehiring these college, employees and administration who match within the new monetary and enterprise mannequin,” to ask “for a authorized opinion concerning our potential to take away tenure from New School of Florida” and to “create a curriculum overview committee.”
Speir referred to as on the board to root out from the New School curriculum
Features of wokeness which can be dogmatic. These elements shouldn’t be integrated right into a curriculum, nor supported via faculty sponsored applications or actions. One instance of a dogmatic expression of wokeness is the assertion that America and its establishments are systemically racist and should be torn down.
He additionally referred to as for a prohibition of “elements of wokeness which can be in essence pledges of fealty,” which, he argued , “are antithetical to Floridian’s shared values. One such instance of a pledge of fealty is the demand that woke pronouns are used.”
On Feb. 28, Rufo posted his personal plans for New School on Twitter:
We shall be shutting down low-performing, ideologically captured educational departments and hiring new college. The scholar physique shall be recomposed over time: some present college students will self-select out, others will graduate; we’ll recruit new college students who’re mission-aligned.
In some respects, DeSantis has been on the right track in his critique of latest schooling each on the Ok-12 stage and in faculties and universities. Many D.E.I. initiatives have been discovered to be ineffective or counterproductive. A few of the main proponents of crucial race concept make intellectually questionable assumptions.
DeSantis guarantees to “elevate civil discourse and mental freedom in larger schooling, additional pushing again towards the ways of liberal elites who suppress free thought within the identify of id politics and indoctrination.” As he leads the cost towards what he describes as a corrupt and bankrupt left, nonetheless, DeSantis not solely requires the substitution of 1 ideology for one more, however seems to be prepared to doubtlessly harm the credentials of Florida’s extremely ranked public college and school system.
DeSantis faces a strategic drawback. As a graduate of Yale School and Harvard Legislation College — bastions of the liberal mental elite — he totally understands “educational rigor” and “requirements of excellence.” Nonetheless, he has adopted ways for his anticipated presidential bid that — within the Trump period — require the abdication of motive. He’s now feeding pink meat to an enraged, predominantly non-college Republican voters.
Education
Video: Protesters Scuffle With Police During Pomona College Commencement
new video loaded: Protesters Scuffle With Police During Pomona College Commencement
transcript
transcript
Protesters Scuffle With Police During Pomona College Commencement
Pro-Palestinian demonstrators tried to block access to Pomona College’s graduation ceremony on Sunday.
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[chanting in call and response] Not another nickel, not another dime. No more money for Israel’s crime. Resistance is justified when people are occupied.
Recent episodes in U.S.
Education
Video: Police Use Pepper Spray on Protesters on G.W.U.’s Campus
new video loaded: Police Use Pepper Spray on Protesters on G.W.U.’s Campus
transcript
transcript
Police Use Pepper Spray on Protesters on G.W.U.’s Campus
Police officers arrested 33 pro-Palestinian protesters and cleared a tent encampment on the campus of George Washingon University.
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“The Metropolitan Police Department. If you are currently on George Washington University property, you are in violation of D.C. Code 22-3302, unlawful entry on property.” “Back up, dude, back up. You’re going to get locked up tonight — back up.” “Free, free Palestine.” “What the [expletive] are you doing?” [expletives] “I can’t stop — [expletives].”
Recent episodes in Israel-Hamas War
Education
How Counterprotesters at U.C.L.A. Provoked Violence, Unchecked for Hours
A satellite image of the UCLA campus.
On Tuesday night, violence erupted at an encampment that pro-Palestinian protesters had set up on April 25.
The image is annotated to show the extent of the pro-Palestinian encampment, which takes up the width of the plaza between Powell Library and Royce Hall.
The clashes began after counterprotesters tried to dismantle the encampment’s barricade. Pro-Palestinian protesters rushed to rebuild it, and violence ensued.
Arrows denote pro-Israeli counterprotesters moving towards the barricade at the edge of the encampment. Arrows show pro-Palestinian counterprotesters moving up against the same barricade.
Police arrived hours later, but they did not intervene immediately.
An arrow denotes police arriving from the same direction as the counterprotesters and moving towards the barricade.
A New York Times examination of more than 100 videos from clashes at the University of California, Los Angeles, found that violence ebbed and flowed for nearly five hours, mostly with little or no police intervention. The violence had been instigated by dozens of people who are seen in videos counterprotesting the encampment.
The videos showed counterprotesters attacking students in the pro-Palestinian encampment for several hours, including beating them with sticks, using chemical sprays and launching fireworks as weapons. As of Friday, no arrests had been made in connection with the attack.
To build a timeline of the events that night, The Times analyzed two livestreams, along with social media videos captured by journalists and witnesses.
The melee began when a group of counterprotesters started tearing away metal barriers that had been in place to cordon off pro-Palestinian protesters. Hours earlier, U.C.L.A. officials had declared the encampment illegal.
Security personnel hired by the university are seen in yellow vests standing to the side throughout the incident. A university spokesperson declined to comment on the security staff’s response.
It is not clear how the counterprotest was organized or what allegiances people committing the violence had. The videos show many of the counterprotesters were wearing pro-Israel slogans on their clothing. Some counterprotesters blared music, including Israel’s national anthem, a Hebrew children’s song and “Harbu Darbu,” an Israeli song about the Israel Defense Forces’ campaign in Gaza.
As counterprotesters tossed away metal barricades, one of them was seen trying to strike a person near the encampment, and another threw a piece of wood into it — some of the first signs of violence.
Attacks on the encampment continued for nearly three hours before police arrived.
Counterprotesters shot fireworks toward the encampment at least six times, according to videos analyzed by The Times. One of them went off inside, causing protesters to scream. Another exploded at the edge of the encampment. One was thrown in the direction of a group of protesters who were carrying an injured person out of the encampment.
Some counterprotesters sprayed chemicals both into the encampment and directly at people’s faces.
At times, counterprotesters swarmed individuals — sometimes a group descended on a single person. They could be seen punching, kicking and attacking people with makeshift weapons, including sticks, traffic cones and wooden boards.
In one video, protesters sheltering inside the encampment can be heard yelling, “Do not engage! Hold the line!”
In some instances, protesters in the encampment are seen fighting back, using chemical spray on counterprotesters trying to tear down barricades or swiping at them with sticks.
Except for a brief attempt to capture a loudspeaker used by counterprotesters, and water bottles being tossed out of the encampment, none of the videos analyzed by The Times show any clear instance of encampment protesters initiating confrontations with counterprotesters beyond defending the barricades.
Shortly before 1 a.m. — more than two hours after the violence erupted — a spokesperson with the mayor’s office posted a statement that said U.C.L.A officials had called the Los Angeles Police Department for help and they were responding “immediately.”
Officers from a separate law enforcement agency — the California Highway Patrol — began assembling nearby, at about 1:45 a.m. Riot police with the L.A.P.D. joined them a few minutes later. Counterprotesters applauded their arrival, chanting “U.S.A., U.S.A., U.S.A.!”
Just four minutes after the officers arrived, counterprotesters attacked a man standing dozens of feet from the officers.
Twenty minutes after police arrive, a video shows a counterprotester spraying a chemical toward the encampment during a scuffle over a metal barricade. Another counterprotester can be seen punching someone in the head near the encampment after swinging a plank at barricades.
Fifteen minutes later, while those in the encampment chanted “Free, free Palestine,” counterprotesters organized a rush toward the barricades. During the rush, a counterprotester pulls away a metal barricade from a woman, yelling “You stand no chance, old lady.”
Throughout the intermittent violence, officers were captured on video standing about 300 feet away from the area for roughly an hour, without stepping in.
It was not until 2:42 a.m. that officers began to move toward the encampment, after which counterprotesters dispersed and the night’s violence between the two camps mostly subsided.
The L.A.P.D. and the California Highway Patrol did not answer questions from The Times about their responses on Tuesday night, deferring to U.C.L.A.
While declining to answer specific questions, a university spokesperson provided a statement to The Times from Mary Osako, U.C.L.A.’s vice chancellor of strategic communications: “We are carefully examining our security processes from that night and are grateful to U.C. President Michael Drake for also calling for an investigation. We are grateful that the fire department and medical personnel were on the scene that night.”
L.A.P.D. officers were seen putting on protective gear and walking toward the barricade around 2:50 a.m. They stood in between the encampment and the counterprotest group, and the counterprotesters began dispersing.
While police continued to stand outside the encampment, a video filmed at 3:32 a.m. shows a man who was walking away from the scene being attacked by a counterprotester, then dragged and pummeled by others. An editor at the U.C.L.A. student newspaper, the Daily Bruin, told The Times the man was a journalist at the paper, and that they were walking with other student journalists who had been covering the violence. The editor said she had also been punched and sprayed in the eyes with a chemical.
On Wednesday, U.C.L.A.’s chancellor, Gene Block, issued a statement calling the actions by “instigators” who attacked the encampment unacceptable. A spokesperson for California Gov. Gavin Newsom criticized campus law enforcement’s delayed response and said it demands answers.
Los Angeles Jewish and Muslim organizations also condemned the attacks. Hussam Ayloush, the director of the Greater Los Angeles Area office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, called on the California attorney general to investigate the lack of police response. The Jewish Federation Los Angeles blamed U.C.L.A. officials for creating an unsafe environment over months and said the officials had “been systemically slow to respond when law enforcement is desperately needed.”
Fifteen people were reportedly injured in the attack, according to a letter sent by the president of the University of California system to the board of regents.
The night after the attack began, law enforcement warned pro-Palestinian demonstrators to leave the encampment or be arrested. By early Thursday morning, police had dismantled the encampment and arrested more than 200 people from the encampment.
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