What to Know About the University of Michigan’s D.E.I. Experiment: A Times investigation found that the school built one of the most ambitious diversity programs in the country — only to see increased discord and division on campus.
Original: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/16/magazine/university-of-michigan-dei.html
Archive: https://archive.ph/F7nzQ
What to Know About the University of Michigan’s D.E.I. Experiment
A Times investigation found that the school built one of the most ambitious diversity programs in the country — only to see increased discord and division on campus.
By Nicholas Confessore
October 16, 2024
A decade ago, the University of Michigan intentionally placed itself in the vanguard of a revolution then beginning to reshape American higher education. Around the country, college administrators were rapidly expanding D.E.I. programs. They believed that vigorous D.E.I. efforts would allow traditionally underrepresented students to thrive on campus — and improve learning for students from all backgrounds.
In recent years, as D.E.I. programs came under withering attack, Michigan has only doubled down on D.E.I., holding itself out as a model for other schools. By one estimate, the university has built the largest D.E.I. bureaucracy of any big public university.
But an examination by The Times found that Michigan’s expansive — and expensive — D.E.I. program has struggled to achieve its central goals even as it set off a cascade of unintended consequences.
Here are some key takeaways from the Magazine’s article on Michigan’s D.E.I. experiment.
Michigan has poured a staggering quarter of a billion dollars into D.E.I.
Striving to reach “every individual on campus,” Michigan has invested nearly 250 million dollars into D.E.I. since 2016, according to an internal presentation I obtained. Every university “unit” — from the medical school down to the archives — is required to have a D.E.I. plan.
The number of employees who work in D.E.I.-related offices or have “diversity,” “equity” or “inclusion” in their job titles reached 241 last year, according to an analysis by Mark J. Perry, an emeritus professor of finance at the university’s Flint campus.
Michigan has struggled to improve Black enrollment — and students overall feel less included, not more.
The percentage of Black students, currently around 5 percent, remained largely stagnant as Michigan’s overall enrollment rose — and in a state where 14 percent of residents are Black. In a survey released in late 2022, students and faculty members across the board reported a less positive campus climate than at the program’s start and less of a sense of belonging.
Students were less likely to interact with people of a different race or religion or with different politics — the exact kind of engagement D.E.I. programs, in theory, are meant to foster.
While its peers reconsider aspects of D.E.I., Michigan has doubled down.
This year, both the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences announced they would no longer require job candidates to submit diversity statements, or explanations of the candidate’s commitment to D.E.I. Such “compelled statements,” M.I.T.’s president said, “impinge on freedom of expression.” But at Michigan, a faculty committee this summer privately recommended that the school continue using such statements,” which are currently required by most of Michigan’s colleges and schools.
D.E.I. at Michigan has helped fuel a culture of grievance.
Instead of improving students’ ability to engage with one another across their differences, Michigan’s D.E.I. expansion has coincided with an explosion in campus conflict over race and gender. Everyday campus complaints and academic disagreements are now cast as crises of inclusion and harm.
In 2015, the university office charged with enforcing federal civil rights mandates including Title IX received about 200 complaints of sex- or gender-based misconduct on Michigan’s campus. Last year, it surpassed 500. Complaints involving race, religion or national origin increased to almost 400 from a few dozen during roughly the same period.
After Oct. 7, Michigan’s D.E.I. bureaucracy was tested like never before — and failed.
At Michigan, as at other schools, campus protests exploded after Hamas’s Oct. 7 attacks in Israel and Israel’s retaliation in Gaza. So did complaints of harassment or discrimination based on national origin or ancestry. This June, civil rights officials at the federal Department of Education found that Michigan had systematically mishandled such complaints over the 18-month period ending in February. Out of 67 complaints of harassment or discrimination based on national origin or ancestry that the officials reviewed — an overwhelming majority involving allegations of antisemitism, according to a tally I obtained — Michigan had investigated and made findings in just one.
Time and time and time again, “diversity,” “equity,” “inclusion,” and other similar words are being used as excuses to dumb down educational standards. Here are 24 examples.
By Daniel Alman (aka Dan from Squirrel Hill)
October 15, 2024
Time and time and time again, “diversity,” “equity,” “inclusion,” and other similar words are being used as excuses to dumb down educational standards.
Here are 24 examples:
1) The New York Times wrote, “The Board of Regents on Monday eliminated a requirement that aspiring teachers in New York State pass a literacy test to become certified after the test proved controversial because black and Hispanic candidates passed it at significantly lower rates than white candidates.”
Original: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/13/nyregion/ny-regents-teacher-exams-alst.html?_r=0
Archive: https://archive.ph/GzyQM
2) The New York Times wrote, “A 2009 Princeton study showed Asian-Americans had to score 140 points higher on their SATs than whites, 270 points higher than Hispanics and 450 points higher than blacks to have the same chance of admission to leading universities.”
Original: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/30/opinion/white-students-unfair-advantage-in-admissions.html
Archive: https://archive.ph/MEDXn
3) Patrick Henry High School, San Diego’s largest high school, cited “equity” as its reason for removing some of its classes in advanced English, advanced history, and advanced biology.
4) The Vancouver School Board cited “equity and inclusion” for why it got rid of its honors courses in math and science at its high schools.
Archive: https://archive.ph/MBOEo
5) In the name of equity, California will discourage students who are gifted at math
Original: https://reason.com/2021/05/04/california-math-framework-woke-equity-calculus/
Archive: https://archive.ph/N4CQC
6) PBS Boston affiliate WGBH: “Boston public schools suspends test for advanced learning classes; concerns about program’s racial inequities linger”
7) Lowell High in San Francisco, one of the country’s best public high schools, replaced its merit based admissions with a lottery based admissions, because the school had too many Asians.
Original: https://abc7news.com/sfusd-board-of-education-meeting-school-lowell-high-sf/10325219/
Archive: https://archive.ph/iGzom
8) Expecting math students to get the right answer is now considered to be a form of “white supremacy.” See page 6 at this link:
Original: https://equitablemath.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/1_STRIDE1.pdf
9) The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City canceled its honor society because whites and Asians were earning better grades than blacks and Latinos.
Archive: https://archive.ph/WNwvW
10) New Jersey stopped requiring new teachers to be proficient in reading, writing, and math, because the requirement was considered to be an “unnecessary barrier.”
Archive: https://archive.ph/vh6io
11) Washington Post: “Maryland school district worker fired after correcting student’s spelling in a tweet”
12) Oregon again says students don’t need to prove mastery of reading, writing or math to graduate, citing harm to students of color
Archive: https://archive.ph/mV38Y
13) In Mississauga, Ontario, a public high school library removed every book that had been published in 2008 or earlier, under the justification of “inclusivity,” “anti-racism,” “equity,” and “diversity”
Original: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/peel-school-board-library-book-weeding-1.6964332
Archive: https://archive.ph/ktv2R
14) The public schools in Cambridge, Massachusetts stopped offering advanced math classes to students in grades 6, 7, and 8, because students of some races had been doing better than students of other races.
15) Met applicants ‘functionally illiterate in English accepted in bid to improve diversity’
Archive: https://archive.ph/t3Pia
16) New York Times: “At N.Y.U., Students Were Failing Organic Chemistry. Who Was to Blame? Maitland Jones Jr., a respected professor, defended his standards. But students started a petition, and the university dismissed him.”
Original: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/03/us/nyu-organic-chemistry-petition.html
Archive: https://archive.ph/iDG0t
17) New York Times: “Texas Wesleyan Cancels Play After Students Say Use of Slur Is Harmful. The play’s author, who is Black, said he crafted its language to be historically accurate in representing civil rights struggles. But the theater program at the university heeded the call of students.”
Original: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/06/us/texas-wesleyan-play-racism.html
Archive: https://archive.ph/uIz1L
18) University bans sonnets as ‘products of white western culture’
Original: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/05/14/university-bans-sonnets-products-white-western-culture/
Archive: https://archive.ph/RrXCi
19) The Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center temporarily placed Professor Julie Overbaugh, an award winning HIV researcher, on administrative leave, after the school found out that she had once dressed up as Michael Jackson for Halloween.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julie_Overbaugh
Archive: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Julie_Overbaugh&oldid=1234427714
20) Canadian court declares math test for new teachers ‘unconstitutional’ because of racial disparities in passage rates
Original:
Archive:
21) The English Touring Opera fired 14 of its musicians because they were white.
Archive: https://archive.ph/Rl9Ub
22) Sunrise Park Middle School in White Bear Lake, Minnesota, cited “equitable grading” as the reason why “students no longer will be given an F grade – no matter how bad they did on an assignment or test or if it was turned in late or not at all.”
Archive: https://archive.ph/JkGij
23) The UCLA Anderson School of Management placed lecturer Gordon Klein on involuntary administrative leave because he refused to dumb down his curriculum for black students after the murder of George Floyd.
Archive: https://archive.ph/XCdng
24) Washington Post: “Students hated ‘To Kill a Mockingbird.’ Their teachers tried to dump it. Four progressive teachers in Washington’s Mukilteo School District wanted to protect students from a book they saw as outdated and harmful.”
Archive: https://archive.ph/H6Z6A
Democrats are claiming that this question from a firefighters’ exam “discriminates against Black candidates.”
https://x.com/cremieuxrecueil/status/1844058406434283824
Justice Department Secures Agreement with Durham, North Carolina, to End Discriminatory Hiring Practices in City’s Fire Department
Tuesday, October 8, 2024
The Justice Department announced today that it has secured a settlement agreement with the City of Durham (City), North Carolina, to resolve the department’s claim that the hiring process for firefighters in the Durham Fire Department (DFD) violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. Specifically, the department alleges that the City’s fire department screens applicants with a written test that discriminates against Black candidates.
Title VII is a federal statute that prohibits employment discrimination based on race, sex, color, national origin and religion. Title VII prohibits not only intentional discrimination but also employment practices that result in a disparate impact on a protected group, unless such practices are job related and consistent with business necessity.
The settlement agreement resolves a civil pattern or practice investigation the Civil Rights Division opened in February 2020. As part of the investigation, the division conducted an in-depth review of DFD’s hiring practices, applicant data and other information received from the DFD. The division concluded that the fire department was using a written test that does not meaningfully distinguish between applicants who can and cannot perform the job of a firefighter. The test also disqualified Black applicants from employment at significantly disproportionate rates. The department thus concluded that the test violates Title VII.
“Discriminatory employment tests do more than cost applicants a fair chance to compete for public service jobs like firefighting; they also prevent communities from being served in these crucial positions by the most qualified candidates for the job,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “The under-representation of Black people in the fire department workforce in Durham, and across the country, undermines public safety efforts. This settlement agreement requires the Durham Fire Department to reform its unlawful hiring process and provide monetary and other relief to those already harmed. The Justice Department will continue to work to ensure that all qualified applicants have a fair and equal opportunity to serve their communities.”
“Employers should identify and eliminate practices that have a disparate impact based on race,” said U.S. Attorney Sandra J. Hairston for the Middle District of North Carolina. “The Justice Department will continue to work to eliminate discriminatory policies that deprive qualified applicants of a fair chance to compete for employment opportunities.”
The complaint, filed yesterday in the Middle District of North Carolina, alleges that the City’s uses of the written test called the Comprehensive Examination Battery (CEB) disproportionately exclude Black candidates from employment as firefighters. The department further alleges that DFD’s uses of the CEB are not job-related and consistent with business necessity, and thus violate Title VII.
Under the terms of the consent decree also filed yesterday, DFD will:
Adopt a written test that does not discriminate in violation of Title VII and provide data to the department on the administration of the new test to ensure compliance;
Pay $980,000 in back pay to applicants who were disqualified by DFD’s uses of the challenged test; and
Hire up to 16 applicants who were unfairly disqualified by the challenged test and who successfully complete the new firefighter selection process.
The full and fair enforcement of Title VII is a top priority of the Civil Rights Division. The division has issued a fact sheet on combating hiring discrimination by police and fire departments to help applicants for public safety jobs understand their rights to be free from discriminatory hiring processes. More information about the Civil Rights Division can be found at http://www.justice.gov/crt.
I’m 100% completely and totally indifferent to the gender or the sexual orientation of a ship captain. The only thing that I care about is that they do their job properly.
https://x.com/DanielAlmanPGH/status/1844438923323506914
I support meritocracy because I want ship captains who don’t crash their ship into a reef and spill oil and other toxic chemicals into the ocean.
Supporters of DEI were so focused on giving the job to a lesbian that they neglected to care about the person’s qualifications or experience.
https://www.cnn.com/2024/10/07/world/new-zealand-navy-ship-sinks-intl-hnk/index.html
This article says that criticism of her is based on “sexism and homophobia.”
I can’t speak for other critics, but I myself am 100% completely and totally indifferent to the gender or the sexual orientation of a ship captain. The only thing that I care about is that they do their job properly.
https://gayexpress.co.nz/2024/10/sexism-and-homophobia-cant-diminish-commander-grays-heroic-actions/
Here are two quotes from the New York Times which prove that DEI = “Didn’t Earn It.”
https://twitter.com/DanielAlmanPGH/status/1772731581209190422
Here are two quotes from the New York Times which prove that DEI = “Didn’t Earn It.”
The New York Times wrote, “The Board of Regents on Monday eliminated a requirement that aspiring teachers in New York State pass a literacy test to become certified after the test proved controversial because black and Hispanic candidates passed it at significantly lower rates than white candidates.”
The New York Times wrote: “A 2009 Princeton study showed Asian-Americans had to score 140 points higher on their SATs than whites, 270 points higher than Hispanics and 450 points higher than blacks to have the same chance of admission to leading universities.”
Whoever came up with “Didn’t Earn It” as the description of DEI might have saved the world.
https://twitter.com/ScottAdamsSays/status/1770894676939153569
America’s top universities should abandon their long misadventure into politics, retrain their gaze on their core strengths and rebuild their reputations as centers of research and learning.
https://twitter.com/FareedZakaria/status/1733927077085143263
https://twitter.com/FareedZakaria/status/1733927077085143263
In Mississauga, Ontario, a public high school library removed every book that had been published in 2008 or earlier, under the justification of “inclusivity,” “anti-racism,” “equity” and “diversity”
By Daniel Alman (aka Dan from Squirrel Hill)
September 15, 2023
In Mississauga, Ontario, a public high school library removed every book that had been published in 2008 or earlier, under the justification of “inclusivity,” “anti-racism,” “equity” and “diversity.”
Gee, I always thought that the word “inclusivity” was about including things, not excluding things.
And I always thought the word “diversity” meant there should be more choices, not fewer.
And I’m not sure how getting rid of The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank contributes to the fight against racism.
You can read about it in this article:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/peel-school-board-library-book-weeding-1.6964332
‘Empty shelves with absolutely no books’: Students, parents question school board’s library weeding process
Books published in 2008 or earlier removed from school library amid confusion around new equity-based process
September 13, 2023
Harry Potter, The Hunger Games and Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry.
Those are all examples of books Reina Takata says she can no longer find in her public high school library in Mississauga, Ont., which she visits on her lunch hour most days.
In May, Takata says the shelves at Erindale Secondary School were full of books, but she noticed that they had gradually started to disappear. When she returned to school this fall, things were more stark.
“This year, I came into my school library and there are rows and rows of empty shelves with absolutely no books,” said Takata, who started Grade 10 last week.
She estimates more than 50 per cent of her school’s library books are gone.
Way to go Ana Kasparian!
Ana Kasparian of the Young Turks spends 15 minutes criticizing the people who see racism everywhere. She says she regrets that she herself used to be one of those people. She criticizes DEI training in the workplace. She says it’s better for people of different races to spend time together without some third party moderator who is getting paid huge sums of money to divide people instead of unite them. This is by no means the first time that I have seen her being highly critical of the radical left. She is basically in the same camp as other liberals like Bill Maher and Russell Brand.
‘It’s going to hit the consumer hard,’ Those with higher credit scores may pay higher mortgage fees
I think it’s absolutely horrible that they are punishing responsible behavior and rewarding irresponsible behavior. This is the exact opposite of what they should be doing.
https://www.cbsnews.com/boston/news/mortgage-fee-changes-good-high-credit-scores/
‘It’s going to hit the consumer hard,’ Those with higher credit scores may pay higher mortgage fees
By Courtney Cole
April 26, 2023
BOSTON – Changes in the mortgage industry could spell bad news even if you have good credit.
Beginning May 1, some people with higher credit scores may actually end up paying a higher fee while those with lower scores will pay less.
“It’s really a big change,” explained mortgage loan officer and credit score expert Al Bingham. “It’s going to hit the consumer hard when they go to apply for a mortgage.”
The changes are part of the federal government’s effort to provide equitable access to home ownership.
According to Bingham, it comes down to fees that lenders pay back to federal programs that back the mortgages. For some first-time homebuyers those fees are often rolled into a higher interest rate paid by the consumer.
Here is what it will mean for first-time homebuyers who fit certain income guidelines.
For a homeowner with a $500,000 purchase price who puts down the minimum down payment, a person with a 660 credit score will get a rate of about 6.25% while a buyer with a 740 score will pay 6.5%.
The changes will also make it more expensive for borrowers to refinance and to pull equity out of their homes to pay off consumer debt.
According to the Federal Housing Finance Agency, while some fees are being eliminated for lower-income buyers, and fees are being increased for for some buyers with higher credit scores, the two are not cause-and effect. “Higher-credit-score borrowers are not being charged more so that lower-credit-score borrowers can pay less,” they said in a statement. “Some updated fees are higher and some are lower, in differing amounts. They do not represent pure decreases for high-risk borrowers or pure increases for low-risk borrowers.” You can read their full explanation of the fee changes on their website.
SF parents sue local school district to put Algebra I back in middle school
https://www.yahoo.com/news/sf-parents-sue-local-school-202200892.html
SF parents sue local school district to put Algebra I back in middle school
By Ryan General
March 22, 2023
San Francisco parents are suing the city’s public school district for not offering Algebra I to middle school students and for requiring students to retake the course in ninth grade even if they have already passed it elsewhere.
The lawsuit, filed on March 22, calls for the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) to offer Algebra I in middle school, arguing that current policies and practices hinder students’ academic growth in mathematics and creates barriers to excelling in the subject.
According to the suit, advanced students have become bored with what their parents have referred to as dumbed-down math. The parents have also expressed concerns that their children are falling behind those enrolled in private schools and in other districts that offer a middle school option.
In an interview with the San Francisco Examiner, SFUSD alumnus and parent Maya Keshavan accused the district of misleading the public about key metrics of its math program.
[District officials] claimed to dramatically reduce algebra 1 failure after it was delayed to ninth grade but have offered no evidence to back this claim. In fact, the rate fell only because the district eliminated an exit exam students were required to pass. Public data requests revealed the purported success could not be replicated, and the district refused to explain.
The suit also alleges that students who took Algebra I outside the district were forced to retake it, violating California’s education code, which prescribes that students who complete the course prior to high school already satisfy the Algebra I graduation requirement in the state.
Currently, only those who took Algebra I before high school and demonstrated proficiency by passing a “math validation test” will not be required to retake it.
SFUSD’s math policy, implemented in 2014, keeps all students together in math until junior year, when advanced students can then surge ahead by taking a combined Algebra II and precalculus course, followed by calculus during their senior year.
However, the policy has been criticized for not offering equitable access to advanced math and for resulting racial gaps in enrollment in higher-level math courses. According to the concerned parents, the current system makes it almost impossible for students to access calculus in high school.
Parents are pushing for those consolidated courses to be offered in middle school instead as completing these courses would give their children an advantage when applying to colleges.
In 2016, the parents petitioned the district to restore Algebra I to the middle school curriculum, submitting over 1,000 signatures.
The study noted that figures from before and after the reform was implemented were the same: “White and Asian students in SFUSD enroll in Precalculus at rates roughly two to four times higher than their Black and Hispanic peers.”
According to Stanford researcher Thomas Dee, he is hoping the study will inspire a “rethink about what is going on here to prevent equitable access to advanced math.”
I support meritocracy because I want banks that don’t fail
Woke head of ‘risk assessment’ at Silicon Valley Bank ‘prioritized’ LGBT initiatives – including organizing a month-long Pride campaign – before bank lost BILLIONS and collapsed
Jay Ersapah was head of risk assessment for Silicon Valley Bank’s EMEA region
She launched a host of woke initiatives including ‘safe space catch-ups’ for staff
In one video she said she ‘could not be prouder’ to work for the bank which collapsed spectacularly on Friday
11 March 2023
A head of risk assessment at the beleaguered Silicon Valley Bank has been accused of prioritizing pro-diversity initiatives over her actual role after the firm imploded on Friday.
Jay Ersapah – who describes herself as a ‘queer person of color from a working-class background’ – organized a host of LGBTQ initiatives including a month-long Pride campaign and implemented ‘safe space’ catch-ups for staff.
In a corporate video published just nine months ago, she said she ‘could not be prouder’ to work for SVB serving ‘underrepresented entrepreneurs.’
Last year professional network Outstanding listed Ersapah as a top 100 LGTBQ Future Leader.
‘Jay is a leading figure for the bank’s awareness activities including being a panelist at the SVB’s Global Pride townhall to share her experiences as a lesbian of color, moderating SVB’s EMEA Pride townhall and was instrumental in initiating the organization’s first ever global “safe space catch-up”, supporting employees in sharing their experiences of coming out,’ her bio on the Outstanding website states.
It adds that she is ‘allies’ with gay rights charity Stonewall and had authored numerous articles to promote LGBTQ awareness.
These included ‘Lesbian Visibility Day and Trans Awareness week.’
Separately she was also praised in a Facebook post by the group ‘Diversity Role Models,’ a charity which campaigns against homophobic, biphobic and transphobic bullying in UK schools.
In a corporate document for the bank she said: ‘”You can’t be what you can’t see” has always been a quote that stuck with me.
‘As a queer person of color and a first generation immigrant from a working class background, there were not many role models for me to ‘see’ growing up.
‘I feel privileged to help spread awareness of lived queer experiences, partner with charitable organizations, and above all create a sense of community for our LGBTQ+ employees and allies.’
To Increase Equity, School Districts Eliminate Honors Classes
https://www.wsj.com/articles/to-increase-equity-school-districts-eliminate-honors-classes-d5985dee
To Increase Equity, School Districts Eliminate Honors Classes
Supporters say uniform classes create rigor for all students but critics say cuts hurt faster learners
By Sara Randazzo
February 17, 2023
CULVER CITY, Calif.—A group of parents stepped to the lectern Tuesday night at a school board meeting in this middle-class, Los Angeles-area city to push back against a racial-equity initiative. The high school, they argued, should reinstate honors English classes that were eliminated because they didn’t enroll enough Black and Latino students.
The district earlier this school year replaced the honors classes at Culver City High School with uniform courses that officials say will ensure students of all races receive an equal, rigorous education.
These parents disagreed.
“We really feel equity means offering opportunities to students of diverse backgrounds, not taking away opportunities for advanced education and study,” Joanna Schaenman, a Culver City parent who helped spearhead the effort, said in the run-up to the meeting.
The parental pushback in Culver City mirrors resistance that has taken place in Wisconsin, Rhode Island and elsewhere in California over the last year in response to schools stripping away the honors designation on some high school classes.
School districts doing away with honors classes argue students who don’t take those classes from a young age start to see themselves in a different tier, and come to think they aren’t capable of enrolling in Advanced Placement classes that help with college admissions. Black and Latino students are underrepresented in AP enrollment in the majority of states, according to the Education Trust, a nonprofit that studies equity in education.
Since the start of this school year, freshmen and sophomores in Culver City have only been able to select one level of English class, known as College Prep, rather than the previous system in which anyone could opt into the honors class. School officials say the goal is to teach everyone with an equal level of rigor, one that encourages them to enroll in advanced classes in their final years of high school.
“Parents say academic excellence should not be experimented with for the sake of social justice,” said Quoc Tran, the superintendent of 6,900-student Culver City Unified School District. But, he said, “it was very jarring when teachers looked at their AP enrollment and realized Black and brown kids were not there. They felt obligated to do something.”
Culver City English teachers presented data at a board meeting last year showing Latino students made up 13% of those in 12th-grade Advanced Placement English, compared with 37% of the student body. Asian students were 34% of the advanced class, compared with 10% of students. Black students represented 14% of AP English, versus 15% of the student body.
The board saw anonymous quotes from students not enrolled in honors classes saying they felt less motivated or successful. One described students feeling “unable to break out of the molds that they established when they were 11.”
Tuesday marked Ms. Schaenman’s first time attending a school board meeting in person in years. She wandered the hallways of City Hall with fellow parent Pedro Frigola looking for the right room, clutching a stack of copies laying out the two-page resolution they and a few dozen other parents are asking the board to adopt.
Mr. Frigola said he disagrees with the district’s view of equity. “I was born in Cuba, and it doesn’t sound good when people are trying to achieve equal outcomes for everyone,” he said.
His ninth-grade daughter, Emma Frigola, said she was surprised and a little confused by the decision to remove honors, which she had wanted to take. She said her English teacher, who used to teach the honors class, is trying to maintain a higher standard, but that it doesn’t always seem to be working.
“There are some people who slow down the pace because they don’t really do anything and aren’t looking to try harder,” Emma said. “I don’t think you can force that into people.”
For a unit on research, Emma said her teacher gathered all the reference sources they needed to write a paper on whether graffiti is art or vandalism and had students review them together in class. Her sister, Elena Frigola, now in 11th grade, said prior honors English students chose their own topics and did research independently.
In Santa Monica, Calif., high school English teachers said last year they had “a moral imperative” to eliminate honors English classes that they viewed as perpetuating inequality. The teachers studied the issue for a year and a half, a district representative said.
“This is not a social experiment,” board member Jon Kean said at a meeting last spring. “This is a sound pedagogical approach to education.”
Gail Pinsker, a Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District spokeswoman, said the shift this school year “has increased access and provided excellent educational experiences for all of our students.”
Several school districts have scaled back plans to eliminate honors classes after community opposition. San Diego’s Patrick Henry High School planned to eliminate 11th-grade honors American literature and U.S. history last year, but reinstated both after listening to students and families, a district spokeswoman said.
The school district in Madison, Wis., pulled back on plans last year to remove stand-alone honors classes and now lets students earn an honors label within general classes. A Rhode Island district made a similar move.
Those who support cutting honors classes point out that the curriculum of honors courses often doesn’t differ substantially from regular classes. Honors classes often move at a faster pace and the students complete more assignments. Some can boost grade-point averages or give students an advantage when applying for college.
Critics say attempting to teach everyone at an elevated level isn’t realistic and that teachers, even with the best intentions, may end up simplifying instruction. Instead, some educators and parents argue schools should find more ways to diversify honors courses and encourage students to enroll who aren’t self-selecting, including proactively reaching out to students, using an opt-out system, or looking to teacher recommendations.
“I just don’t see how removing something from some kids all of a sudden helps other kids learn faster,” said Scott Peters, a senior research scientist at education research nonprofit NWEA who has studied equity in gifted and talented programs.
In Culver City, Mr. Tran said he isn’t going to mandate that other departments move away from honors but that he would listen to any teacher-driven suggestions. As for English, he said he is throwing his support behind the high school’s teachers to try to elevate education for all students.
“We will keep moving forward,” he said.
In the name of diversity, equity, and inclusion, a Connecticut bill would require fire departments to hire female firefighters who aren’t strong enough to do their job
By Daniel Alman (aka Dan from Squirrel Hill)
January 23, 2023
In the name of diversity, equity, and inclusion, a Connecticut bill would require fire departments to hire female firefighters who aren’t strong enough to do their job.
I’m against this proposal.
As always, I support 100% meritocracy.
For the record, I am male, and I am too weak to pass their strength test. Weaklings like me should not be firefighters. Any woman who is strong enough to pass the test deserves to be hired.
I support meritocracy because I want airplanes that don’t crash, bridges that don’t fall down, doctors who don’t kill their patients, and firefighters who fight fires and save lives.
https://www.nbcconnecticut.com/news/local/proposed-bill-could-alter-female-firefighter-test/2958127/
Proposed Bill Could Alter Female Firefighter Test
A proposed bill is stirring up debate on whether the physical test for female firefighters should be changed.
By Briceyda Landaverde
January 19, 2023
“In the fire service, everybody pulls their own weight,” firefighter Kori Kelly said.
Kori Kelly is a 13-year veteran career firefighter.
“I know I’m held to a standard and on top of that, I hold myself to a higher standard to make sure that I don’t slip,” Kelly said.
Kelly is concerned over newly proposed legislation that would lower the physical test requirements for women to become firefighters.
“It’s a huge safety liability, the whole point of having the national standard is having a bar that everyone has to reach,” Kelly said.
Currently, all candidates regardless of gender are required to wear a 50-pound vest during the test. It is supposed to mirror the experience of wearing heavy gear and an air tank while performing firefighter duties.
The risk, Kelly said, if someone does not have to meet these capabilities, will they still be able to save lives?
“I can’t change any of the weights of the civilians I have to rescue,” Kelly said.
Five democrats introduced the bill earlier this month. According to the language, the purpose is to allow for a more diverse class of candidates by offering an alternative to the 50-pound vest component.
“We know there are not enough women involved in the fire service and really the big barrier to get into the fire academy is the candidate physical ability test,” Hamden Mayor Lauren Garrett said.
Garrett is pushing for the bill to pass. In town, the fire department has been forced to turn women away because they didn’t pass the required test by a small margin.
“I’m looking at just taking a few pounds of the backpacks, the weighted vest so that we can get more women to pass the CPAT test and then not at all changing the standard with the Connecticut Fire Academy,” Garrett said.
The language did not address exactly what the alternative would be. The bill has been referred to the Committee on Public Safety and Security.
Instead of building enough desalination plants, California is trying to solve its water shortage by removing the racism from water
By Daniel Alman (aka Dan from Squirrel Hill)
January 16, 2023
While the brilliant people of Israel have built enough desalination plants to end their water shortages, and the country pays only 40 cents per cubic meter for as much water as people want, all in a densely populated country which is a desert with perpetual drought, the idiotic people of California have chosen to reject desalination in favor of continued water shortages.
But that doesn’t mean that California doesn’t have a plan for its water.
California is planning to remove all of the racism from its water. This is the text of their plan:
https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/board_info/agendas/2023/jan/011823_4
STATE WATER RESOURCES CONTROL BOARD
BOARD MEETING SESSION – EXECUTIVE OFFICE
JANUARY 18, 2023
ITEM 4
SUBJECT
RACIAL EQUITY ACTION PLAN.
DISCUSSION
The Racial Equity Action Plan is a compilation of goals, actions, and metrics intended to advance the State Water Board’s efforts to create a future where we equitably preserve, enhance, and restore California’s water resources and drinking water for all Californians, regardless of race, and where race is not a predictor of professional outcomes for Water Boards employees.
On August 18, 2020, State Water Board staff presented an informational item to the State Water Board on a framework for addressing racial equity. The State Water Board acknowledged the historic effects of institutional racism that must be confronted throughout government and directed staff to develop a priority plan of action.
In fall 2020, State Water Board’s Executive Director, Eileen Sobeck, convened a Water Boards Racial Equity Team with the purpose of advancing racial equity both for the communities that the Water Boards serve, and internally within the organization. The Water Boards Racial Equity Team is comprised of Water Boards staff representing all levels of the organization and includes support staff, engineers, scientists, technologists, and executives. The Racial Equity Team has been tasked with three major priorities: 1) establish a foundation of internal and external engagement that values listening and collaboration to drive action; 2) draft a resolution on racial equity to be considered for adoption by the State Water Board and leveraged by the nine Regional Water Boards to adopt their own resolutions; and 3) develop racial equity strategies and action plans to drive efforts for the coming years.
The Water Boards reached a major milestone on November 16, 2021, when the State Water Board adopted the Racial Equity Resolution, “Condemning Racism, Xenophobia, Bigotry, and Racial Injustice and Strengthening Commitment to Racial Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, Access, and Anti-Racism” (Resolution No. 2021-0050). The Resolution directs staff to develop a plan of action to advance racial equity within the Water Boards.
In March 2022, the Water Boards Racial Equity Team began working with a diversity, equity, and inclusion consultant to articulate a vision and strategic directions that serve as the framework for our action planning.
Throughout spring 2022, Water Boards staff, community partners, tribes, and communities impacted by racial inequities began to identify draft actions to incorporate into a Racial Equity Action Plan. In April 2022, the Water Boards began soliciting requests for government-to-government tribal consultations. And in May 2022, community partners and State Water Board management and staff came together for visioning and strategizing sessions, as well as a series of action planning workshops.
The Water Boards Racial Equity Team compiled draft actions through feedback from members of the public, tribes, and Water Boards staff and leadership and partnered with community organizations to host four public workshops in July 2022 to present the draft action ideas. The Racial Equity Team incorporated feedback received during the July 2022 workshops and Water Boards staff and released the draft for public comment on September 23, 2022.
On October 19, 2022, the Racial Equity Team presented the draft Racial Equity Action Plan at a State Water Board workshop. That version of the draft action plan was posted online for public review and comment on September 23, 2022, and comments were accepted through October 24, 2022. The Water Boards Racial Equity Team incorporated resulting feedback and worked with leadership from State Water Board Divisions and Offices to finalize the draft.
The State Water Board will not take action to approve or deny the Racial Equity Action Plan, which was designed to be a living document that is updated periodically through Board and community engagement. California Native American tribes can continue to request government-to-government consultations to provide feedback and guidance on this work on an ongoing basis. Other interested parties may still provide general comments about the Water Boards’ racial equity work by emailing
racialequity@waterboards.ca.gov. Although this is an action plan for the State Water Board, the Regional Water Boards have strongly supported the State Water Board’s racial equity efforts and may leverage this plan to inform their own racial equity work, as they have the State Water Board’s Racial Equity Resolution.
POLICY ISSUE
This is an informational item to present the 2023-2025 Racial Equity Action Plan. The State Water Board will not approve or deny the Racial Equity Action Plan. However, staff will update the Board on its implementation at least annually.
FISCAL IMPACT
No additional fiscal impact to currently budgeted program resources.
REGIONAL BOARD IMPACT
The State Water Board will not take action at this public meeting; there is no Regional
Water Board impact at this time.
STAFF RECOMMENDATION
The State Water Board will not take action at this public meeting; there is no staff recommendation at this time.
At Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Fairfax County, Virginia, Principal Ann Bonitatibus and Director of Student Services Brandon Kosatka deliberately avoided telling high achieving students about their possible eligibility for academic awards and scholarships because too many of them were Asian-American
At Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Fairfax County, Virginia, Principal Ann Bonitatibus and Director of Student Services Brandon Kosatka deliberately avoided telling high achieving students about their possible eligibility for academic awards and scholarships because too many of them were Asian-American.
I am in favor of high academic standards for all people of all races. I am against what this school did. I hope that the school officials who did this will be fired. I also hope that all of the students will be given, retroactively, as many awards, college admissions, and scholarships as they actually earned, to the degree that this is practical and possible. For students who ended up attending a lesser college instead of a better one many years ago because of this, it may be impossible to properly reimburse them for what they had earned through their hard work. Lives may have been ruined because of what these evil people did.
Here’s the complete article:
https://www.yahoo.com/news/us-top-high-school-hid-213034509.html
US’ top high school hid over 1,200 students’ academic achievement in the name of ‘equity’
By Carl Samson
December 28, 2022
For years, administrators at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (TJHSST) concealed students’ National Merit certifications in the name of “equity,” according to a new report.
The damning discovery was published by author and journalist Asra Q. Nomani, whose own son had not been notified of being recognized as a National Merit “Commended Student” in 2020. The National Merit Scholarship Corporation, an Illinois-based nonprofit, awards some 7,500 juniors the $2,500 National Merit Scholarship every March.
While a “Commended Student” distinction does not advance a student into becoming a National Merit “Commended Scholar,” the recognition is deemed helpful for college applications and other scholarship programs. Regardless of the degree of achievement, the TJHSST officials in question — Principal Ann Bonitatibus and Director of Student Services Brandon Kosatka — allegedly withheld informing recognized students and their families.
“I learned — two years after the fact — that National Merit had recognized my son, a graduate of TJHSST’s Class of 2021, as a Commended Student in a September 10, 2020, letter that National Merit sent to Bonitatibus. But the principal, who lobbied that fall to nix the school’s merit-based admission test to increase ‘diversity,’ never told us about it,” Nomani wrote in her City Journal piece, adding that parents from previous years reported similar situations.
On Sept. 16, National Merit sent the principal the names of 240 “Commended Students,” but it was not until mid-November when homeroom teachers distributed the accolades — after early-application deadlines had already passed.
“Keeping these certificates from students is theft by the state,” said lawyer Shawna Yashar, whose son also learned that he was a “Commended Student” too late. In a call with Kosatka, she learned that the decision to withhold the news from parents and notify students in a “low-key way” was intentional.
“We want to recognize students for who they are as individuals, not focus on their achievements,” Kosatka reportedly told Yashar. The student services director then claimed that he and the principal did not want to “hurt” the feelings of students who were not recognized, Nomani noted.
In an email to parents of “Commended Students” on Dec. 12, Kosatka reportedly informed them of their children’s “important recognition” and apologized for not sharing the news earlier, saying, “We are deeply sorry.”
He also said the school would contact college admissions officials to correct the students’ records, according to Nomani.
TJHSST, which is recognized as the nation’s top high school, has faced accusations of anti-Asian discrimination after eliminating standardized testing in favor of “experience factors” since 2020. In April, the Supreme Court blocked a petition to drop the new admissions system.
Nomani’s op-ed, which was republished by the New York Post, has triggered criticism and outrage in the Asian American community.
“They decided to screw over all of the kids (most of them Asian) who had worked so hard to earn this recognition and were unable to use it in their college application. Equity at the expense of Asians isn’t equity at all,” Hyphen Capital founder Dave Lu tweeted. “These two need to be fired for their deception and hurting the lives of so many kids because they chose to take matters into their own hands.”
“In the name of equity, aka equal outcomes, TJ principal refused to commend merit that cost students valuable scholarships. Accountability started with exposing the ugly premeditated actions of @TJAnnB by @AsraNomani,” tweeted Asian Wave Alliance President Yiatin Chu, who just recently was on the receiving end of anti-Asian comments at a New York City Council hearing.
“Next, TJ officials will ask the National Merit Scholarship Corporation to distribute the PSAT scores for equity reasons. Take from those that score high on the PSAT and give it to those that cannot or have not scored as high,” educator and entrepreneur Krishnan Chittur tweeted. “Need to serve the DIE Gods.”
I wish that Democrats would answer my question: Why are Democrats funding student debt forgiveness with money from innocent taxpayers, instead of with money from the fraudulent colleges that sold worthless degrees?
By Daniel Alman (aka Dan from Squirrel Hill)
September 5, 2022
I’m against student debt forgiveness.
But since it is happening, I have one question:
Why are Democrats funding student debt forgiveness with money from innocent taxpayers, instead of with money from the fraudulent colleges that sold worthless degrees?
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, between 1980 and 2020, regular inflation has caused average prices to increase by 228%.
However, during that same time period, college tuition has increased by 1,184%.
The student debt bailout is paying for hot tubs, spas, rock climbing walls, steaks, and movie theaters.
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/caranewlon/2014/07/31/the-college-amenities-arms-race/
Another area where colleges waste money is in the worthless policy known as “diversity, equity, and inclusion.”
The Federalist wrote:
“Some universities had strikingly large numbers of people with DEI responsibilities in their job titles. At the University of Michigan, for example, 163 people have formal responsibility for providing DEI programming and services. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has more than 13 times as many people devoted to promoting DEI as providing services to people with disabilities. Georgia Tech has 3.2 times as many DEI staff as it does history professors. The University of Virginia boasts 6.5 DEI staff for every 100 professors.”
The Center Square wrote:
“UC Berkeley employs 150 professionals and 250 additional students dedicated to addressing “systemic inequities,” according to a document obtained this week by The College Fix. The public research institution’s Division of Equity and Inclusion spends $25 million annually to support the 400 full and part-time staff to run diversity and inclusion-related programs, according to the document, an eight-page job description for a new Vice Chancellor for Equity and Inclusion.”
So the real problem isn’t a lack of bailout money.
The real problem is that colleges are spending money on frivolous luxuries that have nothing to do with education, such as hot tubs, spas, rock climbing walls, steaks, and movie theaters, as well as on left wing brainwashing known as “diversity, equity, and inclusion,” with its overbloated budgets to pay huge numbers of employees who job duties have nothing to do with education.
Bailing out student loans doesn’t address these huge wastes of money.
On the contrary.
The bailout only gives colleges an incentive to raise their tuition even more.
I wish that Democrats would answer my question: Why are Democrats funding student debt forgiveness with money from innocent taxpayers, instead of with money from the fraudulent colleges that sold worthless degrees?
San Diego’s largest high school eliminates advanced English, advanced history, and advanced biology, and says it’s because of “equity”
San Diego’s largest high school quietly eliminated several honors courses.
Parents are outraged.
Principal wanted to eliminate stigma of non-honors courses, but parents say their kids need the courses for a competitive edge.
By Kristen Taketa
April 10, 2022
SAN DIEGO — Pamela Broudy was set on enrolling her eighth-grade daughter at Patrick Henry High School this fall. Her older son, a junior, is already enrolled there, and the school has done well for him — he’s enrolled in five AP classes and he has been in the school’s gifted program.
Then Broudy learned last month that the high school’s principal had quietly eliminated several advanced courses from the school’s catalog, including advanced English, advanced history and advanced biology, according to the school’s course listings.
If the principal doesn’t bring them back, Broudy said, she will enroll her daughter at a private school instead.
“My daughter’s coming from a private school who didn’t have learning loss (during the pandemic), and now she’s going to be bored to tears,” she said.
Broudy is one of many parents who are up in arms after they found out Patrick Henry High School’s principal, Michelle Irwin, has been cutting several honors, advanced and gifted education courses without their knowledge or input.
Irwin cut the courses for equity reasons, according to an email she wrote to parents. She told parents she wanted to move away from “stratifying” classes and remove the stigma from non-honors courses. She has also cited racial disparities in honors course enrollment — a problem that is mirrored nationwide.
But parents question whether cutting honors courses is the right solution.
The controversy has rattled Patrick Henry, a racially diverse school in the middle-class neighborhood of San Carlos that is also San Diego’s largest high school, with more than 2,500 students.
Parents emailed complaints to the principal, San Diego Unified School District leaders, journalists and school board members. They created a Facebook group that now has 300 members to exchange information. Some parents, like Broudy, said they are planning to leave Patrick Henry for a charter or private school, which parents say may cause a “brain drain” of high-achieving students from the campus.
“Parents who have the means to send their kids to another school are going to do so … because they’re losing faith that their kids will be prepared to be successful,” said Happy Feliz Aston, a parent of a fourth- and sixth-grader in the Patrick Henry High School cluster.
Parents are concerned that the course cuts will hurt their children‘s chances of getting into their preferred colleges. Honors courses boost grade point averages with a weighted credit, and college admissions officers consider how many advanced courses a student has taken.
“Unilateral decisions to eliminate these classes unfairly disadvantage the students at Patrick Henry because their competition around the nation, not just in California, is having these classes,” said Lauren Hotz, a parent of two Patrick Henry sophomores.
Irwin and district officials argued that the advanced and regular classes share a curriculum and are essentially the same, so district officials said it was disingenuous to have one class labeled “advanced” and another labeled “regular.”
While advanced classes may cover the same material as regular classes, advanced courses typically go at a faster pace and often cover more material or go more in-depth into the content.
Irwin didn’t ax all of Patrick Henry’s advanced courses. There are still honors and advanced math and science classes, according to the school’s course catalog. The high school also offers more than 20 Advanced Placement classes, plus several dual-enrollment community college classes, all of which offer weighted GPA credit.
But parents argue it’s still important for the school to offer a range of honors courses because they provide a less-overwhelming alternative to AP classes and still give students weighted GPA credit. They say honors courses are also a stepping stone that can prepare ninth and 10th graders for the rigors of AP and college classes.
And some of the advanced courses that were eliminated are prerequisites for AP classes, parents noted.
Some parents argue that it’s not equitable to cut the courses when students at other San Diego high schools, like La Jolla and Crawford, still have access to them.
“If this is about equity, then it seems to fly the face of that argument because your zip code shouldn’t determine your access to classes, and in this case it appears to do so,” Aston said.
San Diego Unified School Board Trustee Richard Barrera said that in the district’s efforts to address inequities, the district is not taking anything away from students — it’s not watering down curriculum, it’s not lowering standards and it’s not taking away chances for students to earn weighted GPA credit, he said.
“We believe in expanding access to opportunities for all of our students, and when we expand access … that doesn’t mean that we’re taking anything away from students who have already had access to those opportunities,” Barrera said.
“I understand parents are worried about that, and when they hear we’re making a change from … decades of existing stratification, and if your students are part of the higher stratification … of course you’re gonna be concerned about that. But that’s not what we’re doing.”
A problem of representation
Experts have long known that honors, gifted, Advanced Placement and other selective academic programs enroll disproportionately lower numbers of students of color.
Latino students made up 54 percent of California’s public school students in 2017 but they represented only 43 percent of students who were enrolled in at least one AP course, according to the U.S. Civil Rights Data Collection. Black students made up 6 percent of the state’s enrollment but just 4 percent of students who were enrolled in at least one AP course.
A similar trend is happening at Patrick Henry, according to limited data presented by Irwin at a school council meeting earlier this year. White and Vietnamese students made up a disproportionately higher percentage of enrollment in Honors American Literature and Honors U.S. History, while Latino students were disproportionately lower, according to Irwin’s data.
The underrepresentation is a problem because enrollment in advanced courses is associated with a host of academic benefits, such as better attendance, fewer suspensions and higher graduation rates. Participation and success in honors and AP courses are also key factors considered in college admissions.
Experts say the disparity in enrollment is not because Black and Latino students are less capable, but because educators often enforce prerequisites, such as a teacher’s recommendation, for honors courses that end up shutting out students of color due to bias.
“A lot of times it happens … because of the implicit or explicit biases of the adults who are making decisions about either who to enroll in these courses or who to encourage to enroll in these courses,” said Allison Socol, assistant director of P-12 policy at Education Trust, a nonprofit that focuses on education equity.
San Diego Unified leaders have not recently announced any system-wide policy changes on honors and advanced classes. But in recent years they have taken other steps that move away from the classification of students.
For example, the district has cut classes specifically for gifted students, and enrollment in the district’s gifted programs has shrunk over time. And the district rolled out a new math initiative called “enhanced math,” which is meant to make general math instruction more rigorous for all students without using an “honors” or “accelerated” label.
District officials said they are wary of labels such as “honors” and “advanced” that could be excluding students of color.
“Now whether … it’s labeled in a certain way, that’s a question of, is that label getting in the way of expanding opportunities of access to more students?” Barrera said.
But some parents said it seems like the district is cutting programs that cater to students’ different needs, and is instead trying to put all students of different learning styles in the same classroom.
San Diego Unified officials said the district expects all of its educators to differentiate their teaching to cater to all students’ needs within the same class. But some parents said it’s unrealistic for all teachers to do that.
“If you put everybody in the same class, your distribution of needs of the students is going to be wider and one teacher is going to have to address those needs — which they can’t,” Hotz said.
Expanding access
Patrick Henry parents suggested other ways to address inequities in course enrollment besides cutting classes.
Hotz said she wants to see the school invest more in counseling and tutoring, while Aston suggested that Patrick Henry enroll more students in AVID, a program that helps underrepresented students hone study skills and prepare for college.
“How about we up the actual representation in those classes, and give students options?” Hotz said. “Killing the classes … it’s actually a disadvantage to the entire population.”
Education Trust recommends expanding eligibility to advanced courses, adding advanced courses to schools that serve the most Latino and Black students, and providing more support to prepare students for advanced courses.
“In general, what we want to see is more access to rigorous, engaging, culturally relevant courses that prepare students for college and meaningful careers,” Socol said.
Top female scientist canceled over 13-year-old ‘Michael Jackson’ Halloween costume
Top female scientist canceled over 13-year-old ‘Michael Jackson’ Halloween costume
By Jennifer Kabbany
March 7, 2022
‘UW Medicine is helping to ruin a woman who devoted her career to finding a cure for HIV’
Highly decorated virologist Julie Overbaugh has been forced out of a position of leadership at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and resigned her faculty affiliate position at the University of Washington School of Medicine due to accusations of racism and investigations involving her decision to wear a Michael Jackson costume to a Halloween party in 2009.
A picture of the 13-year-old incident, in which she is accused of wearing “blackface,” has prompted peers to accuse her of racism despite the fact that her research has focused on aiding Africans for the last three decades.
“Overbaugh has devoted her professional career to studying viral pathogens that cause HIV. But amid publishing papers, running her own research lab, and flying back and forth from Kenya, she has also pursued another professional passion: mentoring. Overbaugh is one of two recipients of this year’s Nature Award for Mentoring in Science, which is awarded to select scientists in one country or region each year,” a 2016 report in GeekWire reports.
Last year, Overbaugh was elected to National Academy of Sciences.
“I am really happy to see gender balance in this year’s elected members and hope this signals a future trend,” Overbaugh said at the time. “In my field, HIV, which is a very large field, there have only been a couple of women elected — hopefully, there will be more in the future.”
But Overbaugh’s accomplishments during an age in which female STEM recruitment and retainment is a social justice priority apparently could not outweigh the 2009 incident of emulating the King of Pop at a party that was reportedly themed after Jackson’s famous “Thriller” album.
Members of the Overbaugh lab apparently enjoy celebrating Halloween and have posted pictures of its themed parties every year. In past years they have dressed as emojis, bumble bees, fish — and even as “Binders of Babes” — a riff on Republican Mitt Romney’s gaffe while running for president.
The picture from the year 2009 is conspicuously missing from the webpage.
“The act depicted in the photo is racist, offensive and hurtful, and we offer our sincere apologies to anyone who has experienced pain or upset because of the act or this photo,” the cancer center announced in mid-February, adding Overbaugh was put on administrative leave and placed under investigation.
“Dr. Overbaugh has stepped down from her senior vice president role at Fred Hutch. She will continue working in her lab and will take a hiatus from her leadership duties in the Office of Education & Training. During this time, she will engage in an intensive education and reflection process.”
The Federalist reports:
Though the incident didn’t occur at UW Medicine, its CEO and equity officer also waded into the faux controversy. UW Medicine CEO Dr. Paul Ramsey and Chief Equity Officer Paula Houston notified UW Medicine staff in an email that Overbaugh was punished for engaging in the “racist, dehumanizing, and abhorrent act” of “blackface.” During a separate formal review process for UW faculty, the email confirmed, Overbaugh resigned from her UW affiliate faculty member appointment.
Overbaugh released a short statement to me. “I did not know the association of this with blackface at the time, in 2009, but understand the offense that is associated with this now,” she said. “I have apologized for this both publicly and privately and beyond that have no other comments.”
Ramsey and Houston claim that the UW Medicine community was “harmed” by the 13-year-old photo that most staff didn’t know existed until reading about it in the Feb. 25 email. “We acknowledge that our community has been harmed by this incident and the fact that 13 years elapsed before action was taken,” they wrote. “We are convening a series of affinity group meetings in the next few weeks to provide spaces for mutual support, reflection, and response.”
Neither Ramsey nor Houston explained how the photo “harmed” anyone. Indeed, beyond one confirmed complaint, it’s unclear if anyone even cared about the old photo.
The full memo from UW Medicine was republished by journalist Jesse Singal on his Twitter page. The memo notes that Overbaugh resigned her post at the university once administrators began their own probe into the incident.
Her faculty bio is no longer on the UW School of Medicine website, although its Department of Global Health has, as of Monday afternoon, yet to strip her from its webpage.
“A U. Washington doctor who has dedicated her career to fighting HIV in Africa, including research w/sex workers, is having her reputation and career incinerated because she dressed up as Michael Jackson, in blackface, once in 2009,” Singal noted.
https://twitter.com/jessesingal/status/1497289911996760064
“Just to situate everyone, the event in question happened several years before the most recent instance of 30 Rock airing blackface-oriented comedy to tens of millions of people. What she did was a bad idea but at the time was obviously not seen as too risque even for network TV,” he added.
Writing for The Federalist, Jason Rantz points out that “UW Medicine is lashing out against Overbaugh to show its wokeness and earn social currency.”
“That UW Medicine is helping to ruin a woman who devoted her career to finding a cure for HIV is immaterial to its leaders. To progressive activists, highlighting one’s virtues is more important than curing a deadly disease.”
Instead of banning the teaching of critical race theory in schools, we should give equal time to the opposing point of view from black conservatives
By Daniel Alman (aka Dan from Squirrel Hill)
February 7, 2022
Many people on the left want to teach critical race theory in schools.
Many people on the right want to ban the teaching of the subject in schools.
I propose that we teach critical race theory in schools, with the three following guidelines:
First, it should be age appropriate. High school, yes. Kindergarten, no.
Second, it should be taught under the proper context. Social studies class, yes. Math class, no.
And third, we should give equal time to teach the opposing point of view from black conservatives such as Winsome Sears, Candace Owens, Thomas Sowell, Brandom Tatum, Star Parker, Walter E. Williams, Mia Love, Larry Elder, Josephine Mathias, Deroy Murdock, Herman Cain, and Ben Carson.
In California, the leftists who see “racism” everywhere are now claiming that their own rooftop solar program creates “racist” “inequities.” Their contradictory “solution” is to create a new tax on the very same solar power that they are subsidizing.
By Daniel Alman (aka Dan from Squirrel Hill)
January 30, 2022
For more than 20 years, California has been giving homeowners financial incentives to install rooftop solar panels on their homes. The goal here is to encourage the use of solar power.
Because whatever you subsidize you get more of, the program has more than achieved its goal of one million solar rooftop installations.
That should be a cause for celebration.
Except that we’re talking about leftists here. And leftists always find something to complain about.
In this particular case, they are claiming that their own very successful program, which they have been supporting for more than two decades, has created “racism” and “inequities.”
And their proposed “solution” to this “racism” and “inequity” is to create a new tax on the very rooftop solar installations that they have been subsidizing for more than two decades.
Just as subsidies lead to an increase in whatever is being subsidized, taxes lead to a reduction in whatever is being taxed.
So instead of celebrating the success of their own solar rooftop program, the left is now trying to discourage the very same thing that it had been encouraging for more than 20 years.
Dan from Squirrel Hill's Blog 