A recent report from the Harvard student newspaper claimed that 90 percent of the freshman class preferred Joe Biden to Donald Trump in November’s presidential election. As one conservative student explains, “I was well aware that I was going to be in the extreme minority, and that I just have to learn to live with that.”
During a recent guest lecture at Washington State University, Portland State University Professor Cornel Pewewardy told students that Thanksgiving should be replaced with a “National Day of Mourning.” Pewewardy told students that Thanksgiving is based on offensive stereotypes of “indigenous people.”
Apple executive Thomas Moyer was indicted in California this week over his alleged bribery of government officials with hundreds of iPads in exchange for concealed weapon permits. Moyer allegedly offered a local sheriff’s office 200 iPads worth $70,000 in exchange for four concealed carry licenses.
Students at George Mason University argued this week that families should discuss politics over the Thanksgiving holiday. Responses from the students bucked the old adage that “politics and religion” should not be discussed at the dinner table. One student claimed, “White supremacy, things like that, should definitely be talked about.”
140,000 students in the State University of New York (SUNY) system will be required to test negative for coronavirus before they leave campus for Thanksgiving break. Students will self-administer a saliva swab diagnostic test as part of the university’s efforts to mitigate the spread of the virus.
An opinion column published in the University of Virginia student newspaper calls on fellow students to “stand up” to their “racist” family members at Thanksgiving dinner this year. One undergraduate student at the university argued that the column’s author has a “white savior complex.”
The University of Miami College Republicans group is praising the university this week over its commitment to free speech on campus. In October, university president Julio Fenk argued that the vandalism of a pro-Trump campus display was an “unacceptable act of disrespect” that ran against the university’s emphasis on the free and open exchange of ideas.
Southwest Airlines CEO Gary Kelly argued this week that software bugs in Boeing’s 737 Max fleet were “easily” fixed by engineers. The software problems led to two fatal crashes in 2018 and 2019, each of which claimed the lives of all passengers and crew on board.
A chemistry teacher in the Arlington Public School district was suspended after she referenced George Floyd in a question on a chemistry test. A screenshot of the test question circulated amongst the community last week, sparking anger from students and parents.
Sean Joyce, the former chief trust officer at Airbnb, resigned from his post last year over concerns about the company’s data-sharing policy. Joyce claims that the company inappropriately shares data with the Chinese government without the consent of its users. The company’s co-founder allegedly told him: “We’re not here to promote American values.”
A recent analysis of campus protests revealed that there have been more than 40 protests against police on campuses around the nation since June. Many of the student protesters have called on administrators to disarm, defund, and even abolish campus police departments.
Virginia Wesleyan University expelled a member of the women’s basketball team after she hosted a Thanksgiving gathering for her friends. 13 team members that attended the gathering were suspended from on-campus housing by the university this week.
The music department at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, has announced plans to fight racism by starting a blog. According to the school, the blog “alternates between featuring individual BIPOC artists and anti-racism resources, such as a catalog of music by BIPOC artists and a series of blog posts confronting racism and sexism in American music theory.”
Airlines will reportedly allow their passengers scheduled to fly on a Boeing 737 Max aircraft to reschedule their flight at no cost. The FAA announced this week that the 737 Max fleet is permitted to return to the airways after a 20-month hiatus that was prompted by two fatal crashes due to multiple safety deficiencies.
Professor Daniel Ravicher of the University of Miami Law School says that he may be fired over pro-Trump social media posts that he published in the days following the presidential election. The dean of the law school reportedly told Ravicher that he must apologize and retract his comments if he wants to return to teach in the spring.
Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) is offering a course this semester that will discuss recent police reform efforts including the controversial “Defund the Police” movement. Students will learn about the various ways in which the United States can “reduce the size” of its criminal justice system.
A petition created by students at Harvard University demands that administrators ban Trump administration officials from attending, speaking, or teaching at the university. On Wednesday, White House Press Secretary and Harvard Law alumnus Kayleigh McEnany called on university leaders to reject the petition.
The University of Michigan announced this week that it has named a scholarship after George Floyd, who died in police custody in May. The scholarship, which will formally be called the “George Floyd Memorial Scholarship Fund,” was established after a contribution from an alumnus.
Florida A&M University announced this week that it is putting a curfew in place for students living on campus to mitigate the spread of coronavirus. Under the new curfew, students must return to their residential halls before 10:00 p.m. The curfew was implemented to deter students from attending large social gatherings on campus.
A dean at Virginia Wesleyan University in Norfolk, Virginia, resigned this week over a Facebook post in which he condemned Joe Biden supporters. Dean Paul Ewell argued that Biden supporters are “ignorant, anti-American and anti-Christian” in a Facebook post published last week that was highlighted on Twitter by President Donald Trump.
An event organized by professors at New York University was shut down by Zoom recently. Zoom refused to participate in the event due to its inclusion of Leila Khaled, a terrorist that participated in two plane hijackings in the 1960s and 1970s. Zoom pulled out of another Khaled event in September that was organized by professors at San Francisco State University.
A professor at Portland State University reportedly removed autistic student Lindy Treece from the classroom over her use of the word “snowflake.” After the student’s attorney pressed the university for an explanation, Portland State quickly reversed course and allowed Treece to return to her classes.
The Ivy League has canceled its winter sports season over a recent spike in positive coronavirus tests in Massachusetts. The athletic conference of elite east coast schools previously announced in July that fall sports would be canceled as part of an effort to comply with state and university restrictions on gatherings.
The Burbank Unified School District in California has banned several classic literary works that contain racial slurs. To Kill A Mockingbird and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn are two of the classics on the district’s new list of banned books.
Students at the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts, will be required to participate in a diversity training seminar this winter. The university told students recently that they will not be permitted to register for their spring courses until they complete the diversity training program.
Suzanne Rivera, the president of Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota, offered to pay fines for students that are arrested at local protest events. After facing criticism over her support of student protesters, Rivera argued that “civil disobedience” is a “time-honored” tradition in the United States.
The University of Akron will shift to remote learning next week due to a small spike in the number of positive coronavirus tests on campus. The University of Akron is one of several schools that will shut down in-person courses this month.
The Palm Beach County School Board fired high school Principal William Latson for a second time this week over his refusal to acknowledge that the Holocaust is a historical event in 2018. Latson was fired in 2019 over the remarks before being reinstated this fall.
An Appeals Court panel upheld Harvard University’s controversial affirmative action policy this week. The policy had previously been challenged by a group called Students for Fair Admissions, which alleged that Harvard discriminates against Asian-American applicants during its admissions process. Some analysts believe that the case will be appealed all the way to the Supreme Court.
The state of Texas may force students to return to school if they receive poor grades in their online classes. According to new guidelines published by the state’s education department, students can be required to physically return to school if they are close to failing three or more classes. One school district in the state reports that 25 percent of students are failing two or more online classes.
Students at Brown University have started a campaign that calls for the removal of campus statues of Roman emperors Caesar Augustus and Marcus Aurelius over concerns that they represent “white supremacy.”
The University of Wisconsin, Madison, is requiring students residing in two campus residential buildings to undergo coronavirus testing. The mandate follows a spike in positive test results at the university, which places the university’s total positivity rate at 2.7 percent.
Disruptive parties at Northwestern University may lead to a ban on drinking games in the town of Evanston, Illinois. A city committee met last week to draft an ordinance that could effectively make drinking games like “beer pong” illegal.
Boeing received zero orders for aircraft in the month of October. Despite the setbacks caused by the coronavirus pandemic, European competitor Airbus received 11 new orders in the month of October.
A display constructed by members of a pro-life group at the College of William & Mary was vandalized recently. A chalk art display designed by the group and placed on a reserved area of campus was destroyed by vandals shortly after its creation. Now, leaders from the group are speaking out about political intolerance on campus.
As students have shifted to remote learning this year in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, educators have adopted tools that have made the transition possible. Exam monitoring software, a new tool that allows students to take exams remotely, has been criticized by students and educators over alleged privacy violations and reliability issues.
The FAA may soon be issuing its stamp of approval on the Boeing 737 Max fleet, which has undergone intensive safety overhauls after it was involved in two crashes that claimed the lives of 346 people. The fleet was grounded by aviation authorities in countries around the globe shortly thereafter.
Senators Tom Cotton (R-AR) and Kelly Loeffler (R-GA) asked the Department of Justice this week to investigate university programs that discriminate based on race. Cotton and Loeffler urged Attorney General William Barr to swiftly address potential violations of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Liquor sales at stores surrounding Cornell University are skyrocketing in the aftermath of the presidential election. One wine shop near campus reported that sales increased 96 percent during election week.
Cornell University announced this week that its faculty has voted to change the name of the English department as part of a broader campaign to eradicate “structural forms” of racism at the university. The department will now be referred to as the “department of literatures in English.”
