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University of Illinois lesson materials push leftist race, class struggles on future teachers: leaked lectures

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University of Illinois lesson materials push leftist race, class struggles on future teachers: leaked lectures

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EXCLUSIVE: More leaked PowerPoint lectures from a first-year University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign class show left-wing ideology woven into the fabric of the course.

Fox News Digital obtained course material from weeks six and nine of EDUC 201, “Identity and Difference in Education,” from a concerned student. The course is taken by future teachers, and is part of the university’s education department.

Week nine’s lecture is titled “Cultivating Belonging.”

“Recent data indicate that close to 40% of US high school students do not feel connected to school. This sense of alienation is particularly acute among students facing racism, LGBTQ+ students, and students with disabilities. Evidence points to curricular and school structures that fail to engage many students as a primary reason students reject schooling that devalues them, as opposed to rejecting school,” says a slide early in the presentation, quoting a paper from the Aspen Institute.

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A slide from a first semester 2025 lecture in an education course at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign teaches about “cultivating belonging.” (Obtained by Fox News Digital)

LEAKED LESSONS FROM FIRST-YEAR UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS EDUCATION COURSE SHOW EXTREME LEFT BIAS: ‘JUST SO WRONG’

The key to teaching about belonging, according to the presentation, is intersectionality.

“When talking about belonging it’s important to consider if we’re asking students to conform to norms that don’t reflect their bodies of knowledge (e.g., assimilation, erasure) or are we thinking about belonging in culturally relevant and intersectional ways?” asks a slide that is part of the lecture.

Another slide is called “Erasure of Racially Minoritized Students.” The entire slide is simply a quote from a person named Xóchitl, identified as a ninth grader at Shields High School.

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“When you’re with your Mexican friends some white people don’t acknowledge you when you’re in the hallways, and you see someone that you know and it’s like they’re with their white friends, they don’t see you, but when you’re playing sports, they know you’re there,” Xóchitl’s quote says. “They start talking to you differently than when they talk to you outside of sports.”

Fox News Digital reached out to the course’s professor, Gabriel Rodriguez, for clarification on the origin of the quote. He did not return a request for comment.

Slide 14 of the lecture features a three-minute video from Beverly Daniel Tatum, Ph.D., published by The Root, a news outlet whose tagline is “Black News and Black Views with a Whole Lotta Attitude.”

A slide from an October 2025 education course lecture at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign features a video of author Beverly Daniel Tatum. (Obtained by Fox News Digital)

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Tatum is the author of “Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?” The book is a national bestseller. Tatum’s video is titled, “Why the Black Kids Still Sit Together.”

“We’re all influenced by race and racism in our society,” said Tatum in the video. Tatum is also the president emerita of Spelman College, a historically Black college in Atlanta.

“If you’re growing up as a young person of color in the society, part of that experience is to get messages from the wider world about who you are racially, and how people are responding to that,” she said.

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Tatum later brings up segregation.

“Residential segregation and school segregation go together across,” she said. “And to the extent that the schools and the neighborhoods are segregated, it means that the social networks that help you find employment, that help you access higher education, that help you move up the economic ladder, are more limited — and that’s a problem.”

A University of Illinois entry sign in Champaign, Illinois. The University of Illinois is a state university in Urbana-Champaign, Illinois. It offers teaching and research programs at both the undergraduate and graduate levels to over 56,000 students.  (Don and Melinda Crawford/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

“We are still dealing with racial hierarchies,” Tatum continued. “We’re still dealing with white supremacy. We’re still dealing with the kind of systematic racism that impacts communities of color.”

Toward the end of the lecture, a slide instructs the future educators on how to cultivate belonging.

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“Affirming and accepting students for all their complexities – particularly for students with minoritized identities,” says one point.

“Embracing and implementing culturally relevant teaching practices that reflect students’ identities,” is another.

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Week six’s lecture is called “Understanding the role of class in educational inequality,” and begins with a list of the top high schools in Illinois. 

It then discusses stereotypes of rural, suburban and urban schools, noting that rural schools are often thought of as “poor” and white, suburban schools are often thought of as “resource rich” and white, and that urban schools are often thought of as “dysfunctional” and “composed by students of color.”

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A slide from a lecture from September 2025 at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign focuses on stereotypes about schools. (Obtained by Fox News Digital)

“Class inequality is increasing and part of everyday life in these contexts,” says the next slide, followed by another slide quoting the author of a book called “Radical Possibilities: Public policy, urban education, and a new social movement,” which says the federal government plays a “proactive” role in maintaining the poverty of families and neighborhoods where schools are “poorly funded, staffed, and resourced…”

A concept called “Opportunity Hoarding,” defined as “the process through which dominant groups who have control over some good (e.g., education) regulate its circulation, thus preventing out-groups from having full access to it,” is a major focus of the lesson.

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According to the slides, that definition is derived from a 2015 book by Amanda Lewis and John Diamond, called “Despite the best intentions: How racial inequality thrives in good schools.”

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“Opportunity hoarding, such as fundraising efforts of middle- and upper-middle class parents to support school programming exacerbate existing resource gaps between schools,” one lecture slide says.

A slide from a September 2025 lecture at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign focuses on “opportunity hoarding.”  (Obtained by Fox News Digital)

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“Opportunity hoarding, such as resistance from middle- and upper-middle class parents to de-track or to create open access to honors/AP courses lessens educational opportunities for low-income students,” says another.

The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign did not return a request for comment.

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Lectures focus on racism, white supremacy and cultivating belonging for ‘minoritized’ students

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Milwaukee, WI

Musical ‘The Wiz’ eases on down to Milwaukee’s Water Street

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Musical ‘The Wiz’ eases on down to Milwaukee’s Water Street


“The Wiz” was a good idea in 1974, and it’s still a good idea today: Retell “The Wizard of Oz” as a musical with a Black cast, singing tunes with R&B, disco, soul and gospel arrangements.

The North American tour of this brightly colored song-and-dance spectacle, directed by Schele Williams, has eased on down the road to Milwaukee’s Marcus Performing Arts Center for performances through March 29.

It’s a clever blend of human creativity and technology. The tornado winds, poppies and even the yellow brick road are represented by costumed ensemble dancers (the yellow brick road people are drum majors). But during the March 24 opening performance, the Marcus audience also saw some groovy, psychedelic projections and a futuristic Oz.

Just like in L. Frank Baum’s original novel (1900) and the famous movie adaptation (1939), a cyclone deposits young Dorothy (Phoenix Assata LaFreniere) in Oz, where she meets and befriends Scarecrow (Elijah Ahmad Lewis), Tinman (D. Jerome) and Lion (Cal Mitchell). They’re off to see The Wiz (Alan Mingo Jr.), hoping he’ll give them a brain, a heart, some courage and a way home for Dorothy. But wicked witch Evillene (Kyla Jade) has designs on that silver footwear Dorothy’s wearing (yes, silver like the novel, rather than the movie’s ruby red).

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LaFreniere is a convincing Dorothy in her yearning ballads, character moments and dance moves. Lewis’ adorable Scarecrow has some early Eddie Murphy charm. There are some big voices here, too, include Jade, who could power most of Water Street with her roar in “Don’t Nobody Bring Me No Bad News.”

Jaquel Knight choreographed the nearly nonstop flow of dance, which ranges from balletic moves to the disco party in the Emerald City.

There’s no Toto in this version, which has led to a few changes in how the story unfolds. The way this version ends is even stronger than the 1939 movie in depicting the fabulous four as coming to understand they had what they were searching for all along.

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Minneapolis, MN

Minneapolis Submits Bid to Host 2028 NFL Draft

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Minneapolis Submits Bid to Host 2028 NFL Draft


Stop me if you’ve heard this one before. . .because you have. . .but the National Football League’s biggest off-season event could be coming to the Twin Cities in the very near future.

According to the Minnesota Vikings’ official website, Minnesota Sports and Events has announced that it has officially submitted a bid to host the 2028 NFL Draft in partnership with the Vikings and U.S. Bank Stadium.

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While the Vikings’ home stadium would almost certainly serve as the anchor for the event, Matt Meunier, the Executive Vice President of Business Development and Tourism for Minnesota Sports and Events, envisions the event as having a truly regional feel.

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“In terms of the location of the draft, the red carpet and all the ancillary events that go with hosting the draft, all those things are under evaluation by the league right now, so it’s to be determined, but what we can say is TCO Performance Center is a really viable option,” Meunier said. “Flag football, youth football is going to continue to be more prominent as it relates to the NFL and leaning into 2028 and the L.A. [Olympic] Games, so there’s potential to stage some youth football and community legacy events out at TCO Performance Center, but in addition to that, every event Minnesota Sports and Events hosts, we’re really intentional about staging events throughout the region and not just downtown [Minneapolis].”

Should the Twin Cities be selected for the event, it would complete the cycle of all four NFC North cities serving as host since the Draft moved away from being held in New York City every year. Chicago hosted the Draft in both 2015 and 2016, Detroit served as host in 2024, and the Draft was held in Green Bay last year.

This year’s NFL Draft will be held next month in Pittsburgh, while Washington, D.C. will play host to the 2027 NFL Draft.

As the article from the Vikings’ website notes, the draft in Detroit brought in fans from all 50 states and 20 foreign countries, generating an economic impact of over $200 million for the greater Detroit area. Surely Minneapolis/St. Paul can do better than that, right?

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Right?

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It is unknown when the announcement of where the 2028 NFL Draft will be hosted will be made or which other cities are competing for the opportunity, but hopefully the Twin Cities will get their opportunity to serve as host.



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Indianapolis, IN

Recorder Rewind; Indy Eleven defeats Detroit FC 2-1 (Photos) – Indianapolis Recorder

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Recorder Rewind; Indy Eleven defeats Detroit FC 2-1 (Photos) – Indianapolis Recorder


Indy Eleven got the win over Detroit FC 2-1 on March 21 in Indianapolis. Check out photos froms Walt Thomas below.

(Photo/Walt Thomas)
Indy Eleven versus Detroit FC soccer match in March of 2026 in Indianapolis.
(Photo/Walt Thomas)
Indy Eleven versus Detroit FC soccer match in March of 2026 in Indianapolis.
(Photo/Walt Thomas)
Indy Eleven versus Detroit FC soccer match in March of 2026 in Indianapolis.
(Photo/Walt Thomas)
Indy Eleven versus Detroit FC soccer match in March of 2026 in Indianapolis.
(Photo/Walt Thomas)
Indy Eleven versus Detroit FC soccer match in March of 2026 in Indianapolis.
(Photo/Walt Thomas)
Indy Eleven versus Detroit FC soccer match in March of 2026 in Indianapolis.
(Photo/Walt Thomas)

For Indy Eleven tickets, visit indyeleven.com/tickets.


Multimedia Reporter Noral Parham compiled this gallery. Contact him at 317-762-7846 or email at noralp@indyrecorder.com. Follow him on X @3Noral.

For more Indy Eleven coverage, visit indianapolisrecorder.com.


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Noral Parham is the multi-media reporter for the Indianapolis Recorder, one of the oldest Black publications in the country. Prior to joining the Recorder, Parham served as the community advocate of the MLK Center in Indianapolis and senior copywriter for an e-commerce and marketing firm in Denver.



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