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☆ Harvard Says It Will No Longer Take Positions on Matters Outside of the University
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-28 | by ( Vimal Patel | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Harvard said on Tuesday that it would now avoid taking positions on matters that are not “relevant to the core function of the university,” accepting the recommendations of a faculty committee that urged the university to dramatically reduce its messages on issues of the day. If put into practice, Harvard would no longer issue official statements of empathy, which it did for Ukraine, after the Russian invasion, and for the victims of the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks in Israel, for example. “Issuing official statements of empathy, runs the risk of appearing to care more about some places and events than others,” the report said. “And because few, if any, world events can be entirely isolated from conflicting viewpoints, issuing official empathy statements runs the risk of alienating some members of the community by expressing implicit solidarity with others.”The university’s Institutional Voice Working Group, made up of eight faculty members, issued the report, with a set of principles and a recommended path forward, which the administration and governing board accepted.

Persons: Harvard Organizations: Harvard Locations: Ukraine, Israel

☆ Protesters Agreed to Leave. This Is What Some Colleges Promised in Return.
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-17 | by ( Vimal Patel | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

At the University of California, Berkeley, student activists got their president to agree to support a cease-fire in Gaza. At Rutgers University, they won a promise of scholarships for 10 Palestinian students displaced by the war. Brown University pledged that its board of trustees would vote on divesting from Israel. As protests over Israel’s military campaign in Gaza have roiled college campuses across the country, dozens of universities have moved to shut down encampments and arrest demonstrators. But more than a dozen institutions have struck agreements with protesters over the past few weeks that effectively conceded to some of their demands.

Organizations: University of California, Rutgers University, Brown University Locations: Berkeley, Gaza, Israel

☆ Dartmouth’s Leader Called in Police Quickly. The Fallout Was Just as Swift.
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-13 | by ( Vimal Patel | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

As the police arrested student protesters at Dartmouth College, a 65-year-old professor ended up on the ground. Two student journalists, reporting that night, ended up arrested themselves. And a bystander, visiting his father who lives near Dartmouth College, found himself with a fractured shoulder. That was some of the collateral damage after the president of Dartmouth College, Sian Leah Beilock, took unusually swift action and authorized the police action on May 1 to clear an encampment that students had, just two hours earlier, pitched on the college green. Dr. Beilock, a cognitive scientist who studies why people choke under pressure, has been facing a campus uproar ever since.

Persons: Sian Leah Beilock, Beilock Organizations: Dartmouth College

The new tents popped up — one, two, three — on Columbia’s campus. If university officials thought that getting rid of the encampment, or arresting more than 100 protesters, would persuade students to give up, they may have been very wrong. By Thursday night, the tents had disappeared. But scores of students took over a campus lawn. Planning to stay all night, they were in a rather upbeat mood, noshing on donated pizza and snacks.

Persons: ”, Layla Saliba Organizations: School of Social Locations: Columbia’s, Israel, Palestinian, American

☆ At Berkeley, a Protest at a Dean’s Home Tests the Limits of Free Speech
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-12 | by ( Vimal Patel | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The dean of Berkeley’s law school is known as a staunch supporter of free speech, but things became personal for him when pro-Palestinian students disrupted a celebratory dinner party for some 60 students at his home. In a viral video, Erwin Chemerinsky, a noted constitutional scholar, can be seen shouting “Please leave our house! Ms. Afaneh and her supporters, who were invited to the dinner, described Ms. Fisk’s struggle for the microphone as a disproportionate and violent response. Students, they said, had a right to speak at a university gathering. The dinner was open to all third-year law students and paid for by the university, according to Mr. Chemerinsky.

Persons: Erwin Chemerinsky, Malak, Chemerinsky’s, Catherine Fisk, Afaneh, Fisk’s, Chemerinsky Organizations: Mr Locations: Oakland, Calif, Berkeley

☆ The Man Who Helped Redefine Campus Antisemitism
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-24 | by ( Vimal Patel | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

In the early 2000s, as the uprising known as the second intifada instilled fear in Israelis through a series of suicide bombings, Kenneth Marcus, then an official in the U.S. Department of Education, watched with unease as pro-Palestinian protests shook college campuses. “We were seeing, internationally, a transformation of anti-Israel animus into something that looked like possibly a new form of antisemitism,” Mr. Marcus recalled in an interview, adding that U.S. universities were at the forefront of that resurgence. Ever since, Mr. Marcus, perhaps more than anyone, has tried to douse what he sees as a dangerous rise of campus antisemitism, often embedded in pro-Palestinian activism. He has done it as a government insider in the Bush and Trump administrations, helping to clarify protections for Jewish students under the 1964 Civil Rights Act and broadening the definition of what can be considered antisemitic.

Persons: Kenneth Marcus, ” Mr, Marcus, Trump Organizations: U.S . Department of Education, Bush

☆ Education Dept. Investigates Claims of Discrimination Against Palestinian Students at Harvard
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-07 | by ( Vimal Patel | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The U.S. Education Department said on Tuesday that it had opened an investigation into Harvard over whether it failed to protect Palestinian, Muslim and Arab students and their supporters from harassment, threats and intimidation. The Education Department has already opened a separate investigation into Harvard over complaints of antisemitism. Students were “threatened or called terrorists,” sometimes by fellow students, for wearing keffiyehs, a Palestinian scarf, said Christina A. School administrators instead met with donors and alumni who “encouraged the harassment,” said Chelsea Glover, another lawyer on the case. The complaint, which lawyers for the group did not provide, does not name any donors or alumni, Ms. Jump said.

Persons: Claudine Gay, Christina A, “, ”, Chelsea Glover, Jump Organizations: U.S . Education Department, Harvard, The Education Department, Muslim, Fund of America, School Locations: Israel, Gaza, Palestinian

☆ Utah Bans D.E.I. Programs, Joining Other States
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-01 | by ( Vimal Patel | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Eight have become law, including in North Dakota, Texas and North Carolina. A law in Texas, which went into effect in January, outlaws D.E.I. The University of Texas at Austin closed its Multicultural Engagement Center last month because of the law. The law in North Dakota, which took effect in August, prohibits mandatory diversity training at the state’s public colleges. bill represented a somewhat surprising shift, said Michael Lyons, a political science professor at Utah State University.

Persons: Spencer Cox, Governor Cox, Michael Lyons, Cox Organizations: Higher Education, University of Texas, Utah State University Locations: Utah, North Dakota , Texas, North Carolina, Texas, Austin, North Dakota, Tennessee

☆ Lawsuit Challenging University of California’s D.E.I. Statements Is Tossed
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-13 | by ( Vimal Patel | More About Vimal Patel | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

Behind the LawsuitDiversity statements — also known as diversity, equity and inclusion, or D.E.I., statements — ask candidates seeking a faculty job or promotion to describe how they would contribute to campus diversity. In his lawsuit, John Haltigan, who has a Ph.D. in developmental psychology, said he would have applied to a position at U.C. The Pacific Legal Foundation, a libertarian group that filed the lawsuit for Dr. Haltigan, did not make him available for an interview. They also say the statements are another tool that the savvy can use to hit the right buzzwords, rewarding performative dishonesty. requirements for faculty hiring — or the system’s diversity and inclusion efforts more broadly — but it defangs for now what experts say was among the first legal challenges to these university statements.

Persons: —, John Haltigan, “, ”, Haltigan, ‘, ” Erwin Chemerinsky, Wilson Freeman Organizations: Pacific Legal Foundation, University of California, Berkeley, Chronicle, Higher Education, Universities Locations: U.C, Santa Cruz, North Dakota, Florida, Texas, Arizona

☆ At University of Arkansas, a State Law Stifles Pro-Palestinian Speakers
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-20 | by ( Vimal Patel | More About Vimal Patel | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

But there was one catch: To be paid for his visit, Mr. Thrall was told that he had to pledge, according to a 2017 state law, that he would not boycott Israel. “That is unacceptable and won’t happen in Arkansas.”At college campuses around the country, students and faculty have been engulfed in vitriolic debates over students’ pro-Palestinian speech. Brandeis, Columbia and George Washington University have banned or suspended pro-Palestinian student protest groups. At a large public university in a more conservative state like Arkansas, the debate is playing out in a somewhat different way. Well before the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas, state lawmakers had tried to control the debate on the Middle East, for instance demanding in the 2017 law that anyone contracting with the state sign a pledge against boycotting Israel.

Persons: Nathan Thrall, Thrall, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, ” Ms, Sanders Organizations: University of Arkansas, Israel, ”, ’, Brandeis, George Washington University Locations: American, America, Israel, Arkansas, Columbia

The revamped Congressional District 2, which was designed to boost the voting power of Black residents, has a voting-age population that is 48.7% Black, giving the district a decidedly Democratic tilt. State Republicans, however, say they are not ceding the seat without a fight. A federal judge ordered Georgia to draw an additional Black-majority congressional district, although the state plans to appeal. The Alabama district is an open seat in the 2024 election after the current representative, Republican Rep. Barry Moore, was drawn out of the district. Moore has decided to challenge Republican Rep. Jerry Carl in Congressional District 1.

Persons: —, Zac McCrary, Viet Shelton, Shelton, John Wahl, Wahl, ” Wahl, Barry Moore, Moore, Jerry Carl, Marine James Averhart, Napoleon Bracy, Jr, Sen, Merika Coleman, Anthony Daniels, Vivian, Brian Gary, Juandalynn, Jeremy Gray, Phyllis Harvey, Willie J, Lenard, Vimal Patel, Larry Darnell Simpson, Darryl Sinkfield, Greg Albritton, Dick Brewbaker, Caroleene Dobson, Karla M, Wallace Gilberry, Hampton Harris, Stacey T, Belinda Thomas Organizations: Democratic, Republican, Representatives, Republicans, Alabama, U.S . House, Congressional, Democratic Congressional, Committee, Democrats, Associated Press, State Republicans, Alabama Republican, Democratic Party, Republican Rep, Marine, Hall, Alabama Education Association, NFL, University of Alabama, Newton City Locations: Ala, Alabama, Georgia , Louisiana, Viet, ”, Florida, Georgia, Prichard, Pleasant Grove, Huntsville, Birmingham, Opelika, Newton

☆ How a Yale Student’s Rape Accusation Exposed Her to a Defamation Lawsuit
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-17 | by ( Vimal Patel | More About Vimal Patel | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The woman said she woke in the middle of the night to find Mr. Khan on top of her. “What you did to me last night was wrong,” she told Mr. Khan, according to an affidavit. Why did she send Mr. Khan what they called flirty text messages before the alleged assault? The woman, who has been called Jane Doe in the defamation case, did not respond to a request for an interview. But to women’s rights advocates, that cross-examination proves their point: The practice is used to intimidate and retraumatize victims.

Persons: Khan, ”, “, Jane Doe

☆ A Professor’s Remarks on Sexual Consent Stir Controversy. Now He’s Banned From Campus.
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-13 | by ( Vimal Patel | More About Vimal Patel | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Stephen Kershnar, a philosophy professor, is in academic purgatory. “It’s not obvious to me that this is, in fact, wrong,” he said on the philosophy podcast, as part of a wide-ranging thought experiment about ethics and consent. His remarks went viral after a right-wing social media account, LibsofTikTok, posted about it. The president of SUNY Fredonia, Stephen H. Kolison Jr., called the professor’s comments “absolutely abhorrent” and said that Dr. Kershnar was being reassigned to duties that did not require contact with students. He announced an investigation and, Dr. Kershnar said, directed police to search his office and seize his computer.

Persons: Stephen Kershnar, “, ”, LibsofTikTok, Stephen H, Kolison Jr, Kershnar Organizations: State University of New, SUNY Locations: State University of New York, Fredonia, SUNY Fredonia

☆ Prominent Scholar Who Claimed to Be Native American Resigns
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-27 | by ( Vimal Patel | More About Vimal Patel | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

There had been accusations for at least 15 years that Andrea Smith, a prominent ethnic studies professor, had falsely claimed to be Native American. Her scholarship was partly built on what she said was her Cherokee identity, but she never publicly — and scholars and former friends say, privately — offered a detailed explanation for her Cherokee claims. Now, after a recent complaint by 13 faculty members, Professor Smith has agreed to retire from the University of California, Riverside, next year in an unusual separation agreement. Signed in January, the agreement avoids an investigation into the faculty complaint, which accused her of false claims of Native identity that violated academic integrity. Riverside will pay up to $5,000 toward her legal costs of resolving the complaint.

Persons: Andrea Smith, —, Professor Smith, Smith Organizations: American, University of California, Riverside Locations: Riverside

“If you were to throw gasoline on a fire that’s already burning, that fire would grow really rapidly, really quickly. “Being hurricane season prepared also means being compassionate and kind to yourself during times of hardship,” NOLA Ready, the city’s emergency preparedness campaign, advised in a post on Instagram. Ms. Sibley, an administrative assistant and Ms. Ozane’s sister, has tried to save money to help with riding out hurricanes only for other demands to interfere with that. “What am I going to do if a hurricane really comes?” she said. “I pray we don’t have a bad one this year,” Ms. Sibley said.

Persons: El Niño, ”, Roishetta Sibley Ozane, Phil Klotzbach, “ There’s, Hurricane Ida, Emily Kask, The New York Times El, El, Eric Blake, Andrew, Craig E, Blake, Michael, Laura, Ian, Clay Tucker, NOLA Ready, Hurricane Laura, Ozane, “ They’re, Lake Charles, Ms, Meoshia Sibley, Sibley, Ozane’s, ” Ms, “ Organizations: Biscayne, El, Colorado State University, ”, National Oceanic, Atmospheric Administration, Atlantic, The New York Times, National Hurricane Center, Experts, Louisiana State University, University of Southern, Delta, of Louisiana Locations: Biscayne Beach, Florida, Westlake, La, Hurricane, Galliano, United States, University of Southern Mississippi, New Orleans, Lake Charles, Louisiana

☆ Why Legacy Admissions Are at the Center of a Dispute in Higher Education
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-26 | by ( Vimal Patel | More About Vimal Patel | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Critics have said for years that the century-old practice perpetuates privilege, and a handful of colleges, including Amherst and Johns Hopkins, have recently stopped using the preferences. Others, including the University of California system, the University of Georgia and Texas A&M University, ended the practice after they were pressured by lawsuits and ballot initiatives to stop using affirmative action, according to a Century Foundation analysis. Why do colleges use them? Colleges say that legacy preferences help create an intergenerational community on campuses and grease the wheels for donations, which can be used for financial aid. Some college leaders have said that legacy preferences play a small role in admissions decisions and that the students who are admitted under the system are highly qualified.

Persons: Johns Hopkins, ” Jeremiah Quinlan Organizations: Amherst, University of California, University of Georgia, M University, Century, Harvard, Yale Locations: Texas

☆ Wesleyan University Ends Legacy Admissions
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-19 | by ( Vimal Patel | More About Vimal Patel | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

Why It Matters: Opposition to legacy admissions has grown. After the Supreme Court decision, legacy admissions came under heavy attack because the practice tends to favor white, wealthy applicants over Black, Hispanic, Asian American and Native American students. Polls also show that the public does not support legacy admissions. Some highly selective universities and colleges have dropped legacy admissions, including Amherst, Johns Hopkins, Carnegie Mellon and M.I.T. The future of legacy admissions on campuses is uncertain.

Persons: Joe Biden, Alexandria Ocasio, Tim Scott, Johns Hopkins, Michael S, Roth, Mr, whittle, ” Mr, ”, Biden, Iván Espinoza, Madrigal Organizations: Republican, Pew Research Center, Carnegie Mellon, Wesleyan, Harvard, Yale, Department, ”, Civil Rights Locations: Cortez, New York, South Carolina, Amherst

☆ At UChicago, a Debate Over Free Speech and Cyber Bullying
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-03 | by ( Vimal Patel | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

But such a move — which he does not recommend — would run afoul of the First Amendment if the university were public, and would bring its own complications, he said. “It’s very hard for either law or institutions to monitor those sorts of things,” he said. Watson Lubin, a senior in Dr. Journey’s class, said that he chose the university in part because of its reputation for academic freedom. But over his four years, he said, he has soured on the free-expression rhetoric. “I’m worried that Daniel Schmidt actually formed something of a precedent here,” he said, “where you can, under the auspices of free speech, more or less intimidate and harass a professor, and sic your incredible following on TikTok and Twitter on them for the purpose of chilling speech.”

Persons: “, ”, Schmidt’s, Stone, Watson Lubin, Journey’s, “ I’m, Daniel Schmidt Organizations: Twitter

☆ Bard President Received $150,000 From Foundation Created by Jeffrey Epstein
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( Vimal Patel | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

He added: “I’m not a rich person.”Dr. Botstein had previously said that besides an unsolicited $75,000 gift and 66 laptops, Mr. Epstein had not given any gifts to Bard. On Wednesday, Dr. Botstein said that he did not disclose the money from the foundation during a previous interview with The Times earlier this month because he was not aware of it. He said “the contract was signed by someone else” so Mr. Epstein’s name did not appear on his records. The payment is the latest revelation that gives a deeper look into how Mr. Epstein used his money to buy influence. Mr. Epstein gave prolifically to many charities and universities, including Harvard and M.I.T.

☆ A College President Defends Seeking Money From Jeffrey Epstein
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( Vimal Patel | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

It may seem, at first blush, an unlikely connection: Leon Botstein, the president of Bard, one of the country’s most progressive colleges, and Jeffrey Epstein, the disgraced billionaire accused of sexually abusing teenage girls. But reporting from The Wall Street Journal this week showed that Dr. Botstein did not just pursue Mr. Epstein hoping to raise money, he did so repeatedly. He made frequent visits to Mr. Epstein’s Upper East Side townhouse, and Mr. Epstein and his entourage hopped by helicopter to Bard’s lush campus in the Hudson Valley. Dr. Botstein said in interviews with The New York Times that the visits were all about funding for Bard — for the school’s commitment to social justice, its prisoner education program, its liberal arts mission. Capitalism is a rough system.”

☆ Ohio Man Who Blamed Trump for Storming of Capitol Gets 3 Years in Prison
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-18 | by ( Vimal Patel | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

An Ohio man who said that Donald J. Trump was responsible for his decision to storm the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and steal a bottle of bourbon and a coat rack was sentenced on Friday to three years in prison, the authorities said. In sentencing the man, Dustin Byron Thompson, 38, Judge Reggie Walton of U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia told Mr. Thompson, who apologized and said that he was ashamed of his actions, that he could not understand how someone with a college degree could “go down the rabbit hole” and believe so strongly in a lie, according to The Associated Press. Judge Walton had previously said that he found Mr. Thompson’s explanation that Mr. Trump was responsible for Mr. Thompson’s behavior “disingenuous.”Mr. Thompson was convicted by a jury in April of a felony charge of obstructing an official proceeding and five misdemeanors, including theft of government property. Mr. Thompson, an unemployed exterminator from Columbus, based his defense on the argument that he had been following orders from Mr. Trump last year when he broke into the building with a pro-Trump mob and stole the items after the former president’s speech at a rally that day.

☆ Cyberattack on InterContinental Hotels Disrupts Business at Franchisees
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-26 | by ( Catherine Stupp | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +4 min

A cyberattack on InterContinental Hotels Group PLC disrupted business at franchisees this month, leaving a trail of angry customers, lost income and a class-action lawsuit. Hotel owners complain they received one email from IHG executives explaining that the attack would shut down online reservation systems. We remain focused on supporting our hotels and owners and throughout this period have communicated regular updates to owners and hotel teams,” an IHG Hotels & Resorts spokesperson said. Hotel owners said they dealt with angry customers whose reservations were lost due to the cyberattack. IHG franchisees pay monthly fees to use the company’s reservation technology, the lawsuit says.

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