Higher education is still a hotbed of discussion, according to reports from The College Fix over the past year.
In addition to covering examples of prevalent hatred on colleges and universities, a series of school hate-crime hoaxes, and a never-ending record of cancel culture examples, we also reported on issues of spare, fraud and abuse, operational fat, election integrity issues, different culture wars and DEI and anti-racism controversies.
The College Fix always has a boring moment. A regular look at some of the most well-known reports from 2024 is available here:
January
UMich now has more than 500 jobs dedicated to DEI, payroll costs exceed$ 30 million
The University of Michigan, which employs at least 241 paid workers focused on DEI and pay fees exceeding$ 30 million annually, has a significant amount of money spent by institutions on diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts each month, but a big The College Fix research into the subject that looked at administrative fat across the country was able to put something of a price tag on it.
Remember the UCLA professor who was fired in the wake of George Floyd for refusing to give a grade to black students leniently? His lawsuit was ultimately set to go to trial, and he demanded damages of$ 9 million or more, alleging that UCLA had violated the law’s highest expert witness standard ( refusing to discriminate on the grounds of race ). The Gibson Bakery verdict might outweigh this. Due to the busy court schedule in Los Angeles, the trial has been postponed until 2025. We will keep closely following the unfolding story.
March
Marriage promotes ‘ white supremacy’: George Mason professor
” I theorize that marriage fundamentalism, like structural racism, is a key structuring element of White heteropatriarchal supremacy”. That is, according to Bethany Letiecq, a professor at George Mason University, in the Journal of Marriage and Family. The scholar claimed that the government has” coerced its citizens to enter a system built on White heteropatriarchal supremacy” and that marriage as a system has given white heterosexual couples “access to benefits, rights, and protections.”
The majority of people find it interesting to hear tales that show the courage of academicians who refuse to bow before the rulers. One such example is Dr. Michael Joyner’s, who brought legal action against the Mayo Clinic for violating his right to free speech and academic freedom. After sharing contrarian views on contentious topics like COVID-19 treatments and testosterone’s effects on athletic performance, his administrators had suspended him and instructed him to stop speaking to the press. Unfortunately, in July, a judge sided with the clinic.
May
Truman Scholarships are overwhelmingly awarded to progressive students for the tenth year in a row.
In 2015, The College Fix began an ambitious annual project to determine the political and ideological bent of the winners of prestigious,$ 30, 000 federal grants using a combination of the winners ‘ official biographies, self-reported work histories on Linked In, and social media profiles and posts. Nearly a decade of monitoring the political makeup of recipients of the Truman Scholarships produces comparable outcomes year after year: liberal activism is promoted while conservatives are blackballed. This year’s results continued to validate those findings. The issue is so severe that a congressional investigation was launched into it.
June
Gen Z says,” You can make really good money. You can make really good money.”
One trend in 2024 was higher education alternatives, which is why this article from June was so popular among the masses. It focused on how Iowan youths chose to forego college after better opportunities came up in manufacturing. More recent graduates and twenty-somethings are embracing the idea of learning a skill while avoiding a mountain of debt.
July
MIT grew staff size by 1, 200 while enrollment barely budged
Despite the looming higher education bubble, colleges and universities continue to employ administrators and staff, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology is no exception. As part of its investigation into administrative bloat, The College Fix determined that over the last decade MIT grew its staff size by 1, 200 — including six “diversity, equity, and inclusion” assistant deans — while enrollment barely budged.
August
TRENDING: Evolutionary biologists reject ‘ white, male’ framework, embrace’ queer’ DEI research
In most fields, STEM scientists are actively embracing DEI. One such growing trend in evolutionary biology was highlighted by The College Fix, in which many scholars now contend that more work must be done to introduce” justice” and “belonging” into the field and conduct research to achieve this. Some professors are calling for the prioritization of DEI events at conferences, “mandatory LGBTQIA + DEI education trainings”, and dismantling “heteronormative evolutionary concepts in research/teaching”, such as the conflation of sex and gender and material that invalidates queer identities.
September
Yale divinity students forced to read from witch’s ‘ spell’ at orientation
The training program at Yale, which was established in 1701, was geared toward the Christian ministry. Times have changed. As The College Fix exclusively reported, this year Yale’s Divinity School coerced students to read from a” spell” written by a “witch” as part of its Before the Fall Orientation. Students were led to read aloud, line by line and one by one, from a” Radical Gratitude Spell”.
October
Teacher fired for refusing to use student’s preferred pronouns gets$ 575K settlement
A Virginia educator who was fired six years ago for calling a biologically female student “he/him” received an almost$ 600,000 settlement. In addition, the school board changed its policies to “respect fundamental free speech and parental rights.”
November
‘ Devastated’: Classes at Harvard, Penn, Columbia, Swarthmore and others canceled over Trump win
Donald Trump won the presidency of this year with an undeniable victory, galvanizing voters across a wide range of demographics, including black and Latino voters, with his overwhelmingly decisive victory. No one was more appalled than the liberal elites who were huddled away in their ivory towers, many of whom reacted by canceling classes to grieve.
December
Cornell pole dancing club hosts trainings for’ trans’ and ‘ plus-size’ students
Ah, the Ivy League. What will they develop next? Here’s one for you. By holding training workshops for overweight students and men who identify as women, a pole dancing club at Cornell University, which is partially funded by student fees, is attempting to break barriers and correct what its leaders claim are false and inaccurate about the activity.
MORE: 103 things higher ed declared racist in 2024
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