By zef art @Adobe Stock
Progress, Maybe
Hamas spent a year planning the 7 October massacre. As Jim Geraghty notes in NRO, the Iranians were right there alongside them, providing “military training and logistical help as well as tens of millions of dollars for weapons.”
What’s worth our anger?
Harvard seems to lack the conviction to rein in antisemitism on campus in the wake of the October 7th attacks against Israel.
Jack Kessel, also in NRO, reports on Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R., Texas). Crenshaw questioned witnesses during a House Homeland Security Committee hearing about ‘worldwide threats to the homeland’ on Capitol Hill on September 17, 2020:
On Monday Rep. Crenshaw will introduce legislation to prohibit institutions of higher education from requiring students to write or endorse diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) statements, We are also told National Review has exclusively learned of this development.
Building on a recently signed Texas law banning DEI programs in the state’s public universities, the bill would amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to prevent universities across the country from receiving any federal funding if they compel students to compose or sign the oaths.
Crenshaw told National Review that the recent explosion of campus antisemitism spearheaded the bill.
“We can see the utter moral bankruptcy in higher education with the spread of antisemitism on college campuses,” Crenshaw said. “Make no mistake: The DEI bureaucracy is directly responsible for a toxic campus culture that separates everyone into oppressor versus oppressed. That’s why I am dropping legislation to protect free thought and prevent federal funding for universities that force students to write diversity, equity, and inclusion statements.”
No Más: Mandating Students to Affirm DEI Principles in Writing
The bill includes provisions to prevent educational institutions from using such statements as conditions of employment or enrollment. Moreover, the legislation would prevent universities from forcing students to provide a statement indicating a student’s, employee’s, or contractor’s “race, color, ethnicity, or national origin, except to the minimum extent needed [to] record any necessary demographic information.”
Preempting complaints from opponents of the bill concerned about academic freedom — much like the university presidents who, in their testimonies in front of the House Education & Workforce Committee, fell back on arguments of “open discourse” — Crenshaw included a section in the bill clarifying that, if enacted, the legislation would not infringe on classroom instruction or compliance with anti-discrimination laws.
