One education watchdog calls for the head of a national scholarship program, which is supposed to be impartial but rather awards prestigious$ 30, 000 awards to liberal students over conservative ones, instead.
The executive director who oversees the Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation refuses to acknowledge the uneven effects, according to Frederick Hess, director of education policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute, a center-right consider reservoir in Washington D.C.
Hess told The College Fix in a recent phone interview that the foundation’s head Terry Babcock-Lumish’s three-page letter to the House Education and the Workforce Committee essentially dismissed politicians ‘ problems that the annual award is almost entirely given to students who engage in liberal-leaning reasons.
” This was a weak and foolish answer”, Hess said,” …that I do believe demands a departure”.
Hess claimed that the nonpartisan federal program was intended to inspire political leaders to create bridges and foster dialogue, but rather it’s being used to pay salaries to leftist activists on the taxpayer’s dime.
” Rather than simply acknowledging the problem ,]Babcock-Lumish ] is throwing every kind of defense and excuse against the wall”, Hess told The Fix about her response to Congress. It demonstrates a glaring lack of leadership for a system that ought to support a divided society.
The College Fix requested an interview, but Babcock-Lumish declined to address issues raised by Hess and the labor commission.
The monthly competition is open at a very busy time of year, and we want to let America’s most promising young leaders from all over the state and across the political spectrum learn more about the Truman Scholarship, she wrote in an email. My response to the question,” We select the best individuals who choose to apply for the award, just as the mission of the Truman Foundation has remained constant since our foundation by republican friends of President Truman in 1975, remains intact.
Rep. Virginia Foxx, a Republican from North Carolina who co-chairs the Education and the Workforce Committee, expressed disappointment in Babcock-Lumish’s response to lawmakers ‘ fears that duty money is being cheated up in an exclusive statement released to The College Fix.
” For decades, Truman Scholarships have been used as a network for the next generation of left-leaning appointed officials and it’s past time to change that, sadly, Dr. Babock-Lumish has continuously ignored legitimate concerns about political bias in the program”, Foxx said.
The Committee may continue to highlight the anti-conservative discrimination at the Truman Foundation, she said,” the first step is for those at the top to recognize the trouble.”
Truman scholars largely lean left, analysis finds
The Truman Foundation was established by Congress as a national memorial to President Harry Truman and is now an independent, executive branch company. According to federal law, students who” show excellent potential for and plan to pursue a career in public services” are eligible to receive scholarships from the foundation.
In total, more than 3,500 fellowships were awarded since the first fellowships were distributed in the 1970s. The recipients use the funds to pay for graduate school in a niche related to public company, and they are required to serve three of their first seven years in public service.
In the last four years, it has become one of America’s most dynamic scholarship applications. However, it has recently become apparent that liberal students were not chosen to receive scholarships.
In 2015, The College Fix launched an annual investigative project to determine the political and ideological bent of the winners of the$ 30, 000 grants, using a combination of recipients ‘ official biographies, self-reported work histories on Linked In, and social media profiles and posts.
Of the 380 winners with known political affiliations, 93 percent of The Fix’s nevertheless results have been lean remaining.
According to studies conducted by Hess and AEI in May, just six Trump scientists were found to possess expressed an interest in traditional causes between 2021 and 2023.
” Of the 182 Truman scholars, 74 cite involvement in at least one democratic problem, while only six word interest in a traditional issue. And the half-dozen people who have a strong conservative stance do n’t necessarily have a strong right stance, the report noted.
Hess, in the statement, called on elected authorities to ensure that selection and choice reflects” a pool of applicants real to the world’s depth of perspectives, views, and values.”
We are unable to identify applicants ‘ ideological preferences.
In May, the GOP-led House Education and the Workforce Committee sent a letter to Babcock-Lumish seeking answers.
” We are alarmed that an allegedly non-partisan award displays such a stark partisan tilt, “it stated”. We refute the notion that only liberal students exhibit “outstanding potential” in the classroom.
” …However, if the Truman Scholarship functions as a career booster solely for students of a particular political persuasion, it should no longer be worthy of Congressional support, taxpayer funding, or its exalted public image.”
In a three-page letter to lawmakers, Babcock-Lumish responded that Truman scholars are “reflectively the pool of candidates before us,” and that they are the ones who nominate candidates.
She also wrote that during” the application and interview process, we have no knowledge of applicants ‘ ideological orientations, unless they explicitly share them.”
She argued the AEI study was not reliable because it could not be” replicated, “described it as specious, and accused it of ignoring” that most applicants are neither obviously progressive nor obviously conservative.”
We do not and would not permit candidates to select a side. Rather, we are focused on candidates looking for practical solutions to improve their communities, our nation, and our world. According to Babcock-Lumish, it is a needlessly divisive interpretation of incomplete data that students should choose to be ideologically divided and then remain there forever.
She added that if” we witnessed discrimination, we would put an immediate stop to it, regardless of whether it was viewpoint based or otherwise.”
Right-leaning students “do not feel like there is a level playing field”
Hess, in his interview with The College Fix, said Babcock-Lumish’s response was disingenuous that a candidate’s ideological orientations are not known, because it’s not rocket science to determine that based on the particular causes listed on their resumes and biographies.
Even so, the AEI report was” very precise “in its language, Hess said:” We say it’s students with an interest in left-leaning or right-leaning or centrist policy issues.”
Hess claimed that some people involved in the Truman foundation on all levels, from faculty advisors to members of its advisory committees to students who were interviewed but not chosen, were upset that the majority of decision-makers are biased in favor of left-leaning students and causes.
According to Hess,” They do n’t feel like there’s a level playing field,” with some judges finding it difficult to tell whether or not there were right or wrong answers.” Some students, in particular, who have been passed over told him they could tell,” he said.
They did n’t believe that every idea would be treated fairly, he said.
MORE: Colleges, experts disagree on why taxpayer-funded Truman Scholarships skew liberal
IMAGE: Truman Scholarship Foundation
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