All posts by Andy Thomason

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Evergreen State Will Pay $500,000 to Settle With Professor Who Criticized Handling of Protests

Evergreen State College will pay $500,000 to settle a legal claim by Bret Weinstein, the professor who criticized the Washington college’s handling of protests last spring, and his wife, Heather Heying. Mr. Weinstein and Ms. Heying, both professors at the college, resigned on Friday, and Evergreen State admitted no liability as part of an agreement, reported The Olympian.

In the spring, as students protested what they saw as racism on the campus, Mr. Weinstein appeared on Tucker Carlson Tonight,…

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Berkeley Casts Doubt on Motives of ‘Free Speech Week’ Organizers, Citing Missed Deadlines

In a lengthy statement on Saturday the University of California at Berkeley said the student organization behind the hotly anticipated “Free Speech Week” had missed key deadlines in arranging its plans with the university. Those failures by the Berkeley Patriot, the university said, had led it to question whether the group “actually intends to, and/or is able to, carry out the proposed events.”

The rollout of the speaking events, which will supposedly feature several prominent far-right figures,…

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White Nationalists’ March at UVa Ends in Violence at Statue of Thomas Jefferson

A rally of white nationalists at the University of Virginia ended in violence on Friday night, with several attendees striking others with their lit torches and the police using pepper spray after declaring an unlawful assembly, The Daily Progress reports. At least one person was arrested.

The rally was part of a weekend of marches organized by Unite the Right, a group composed of white nationalists and other far-right activists. Thousands are expected to descend on Charlottesville, Va., on Satu…

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Trump Administration Will Investigate Affirmative Action in College Admissions, Report Says

The U.S. Department of Justice is preparing to investigate race-based admissions practices at colleges and universities, according to an internal document obtained by The New York Times.

Little is known beyond the document, first reported on by the Times. According to the newspaper, the document, sent to the department’s civil-rights division, seeks lawyers who want to participate in “investigations and possible litigation related to intentional race-based discrimination in college and unive…

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NFL Player, an MIT Grad Student, Will Leave Football After Widely Reported Brain-Trauma Study

Updated (7/27/2017, 10:04 p.m.) with additional information about the study.

John Urschel, an offensive lineman for the Baltimore Ravens who is pursuing a doctorate in mathematics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, will leave the National Football League, his team announced on Thursday.

ESPN reported the decision stemmed from a recent high-profile study that found a high percentage of more than 100 brains of deceased football players showed signs of chronic traumatic encephalopathy, …

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U. of Colorado Chancellor Is Suspended After Domestic-Violence Probe of Assistant Coach

The chancellor of the University of Colorado at Boulder, Philip P. DiStefano, was handed a 10-day suspension without pay on Monday as part of an investigation into allegations of domestic violence against a former assistant football coach, Joe Tumpkin. The Daily Camera reports that the university system’s Board of Regents also announced that the athletics director, Rick George, and the head football coach, Mike MacIntyre, would each make a $100,000 donation to an organization that combats domest…

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Journal’s Board of Directors Disavows Editors’ Apology for Article on ‘Transracialism’

The Board of Directors of Hypatia, the feminist philosophy journal that sparked controversy with the article “In Defense of Transracialism,” has released a statement disavowing a widely circulated apology that was written by a group of editors at the journal. “The board finds that the associate editors’ statement undermining the editorial decision was disseminated without adequate consultation with the editor,” the new statement says, in part.

The new statement represents the latest development …

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Students Boo, Turn Their Backs on DeVos at Bethune-Cookman Speech

Betsy DeVos, the U.S. education secretary, drew loud boos on Wednesday from attendees at Bethune-Cookman University’s commencement ceremony, where she delivered the keynote address. Many graduating students in the audience also turned their backs on her as she spoke.

At one point, the president of the university, Edison O. Jackson, interrupted Ms. DeVos to warn protesting students that if they continued to boo, “your degrees will be mailed to you.”

Ms. DeVos did not directly acknowledge the prot…

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Administrator Who Accidentally Told Students College May Close No Longer Works There

The Holy Cross College vice president who mistakenly sent an email to students in which he said the college could close in the next year no longer works there, the South Bend Tribune reports.

“Please be advised that Dr. Kelly Jordan is no longer an employee of the college,” wrote the Rev. David Tyson, Holy Cross’s interim president, in an email to students on Monday. “He will be leaving after the final-exam period has concluded.”

Mr. Jordan, who was vice president for student affairs, wrote in s…

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College Official Unwittingly Tells Students That It May Soon Close

An administrator at Holy Cross College, in Indiana, mistakenly sent an email to the entire student body on Friday that paints a bleak picture of the small institution’s finances and mentions its possible closure. The alarming email, and failed efforts by the college to recall it, was reported by the South Bend Tribune.

“It may be that I will spend the better part of the coming school year closing down the college,” wrote the vice president for student affairs, Kelly Jordan, in the email. “All we…

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