Quick Takes — Brought To You By Modern Academia: Historical Ignorance; Structurally Racist Healthcare; $330K For Violating Free Speech

     Another “quick takes” on items where there is too little to say to make a complete article, but is still important enough to comment on.

     The focus this time: Ignorance is strength and tuition for fines

     First, a little mood music:

     Carrying on…

     All that tuition money and student loans… and nothing but ignorance to show for it.

“A recent survey found that many college students graduate from their schools ‘without even a rudimentary grasp of America’s history and political system,’ reinforcing concerns that colleges have been ineffective at giving students education with real academic value.

“The survey, published on July 8, was conducted by College Pulse, an analytics company focused on college students. The survey was released by the American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA), an independent, nonprofit organization committed to academic freedom.

“‘The dismal results of our survey show that current students and recent college graduates have little idea of the American past or its core principles and values, no guide to take them through the roiling controversies facing us today or to enable them to defend and protect the free institutions that are the glory of our nation and an inspiration to the world,’ ACTA President Michael Poliakoff remarked.

“College graduates ‘cannot uphold what they do not comprehend,’ Poliakoff concluded.”

     Medical students at the University of California, Los Angeles are learning about the greatest health threat…structural racism.

“The University of California, Los Angeles Medical School hired students to write the curriculum for the school’s required Structural Racism and Health Equity (SRHE) courses.

“A June 2023 document that was obtained by Do No Harm, a medical and policy advocacy group, showed that UCLA’s medical school was seeking to recruit first and second year medical students to develop a curriculum associated with liberal ideas such as critical race theory.

“The SRHE curriculum ‘emphasizes critical race theory, queer theory’ and ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion ideology.’ The university’s SRHE course guide directly states: ‘The first section of the year will focus on … how structural determinants of health such as race shape our present healthcare framework.’

“The document outlined that in order to apply, applicants must have a letter of support from a peer outlining their commitment to anti-racist work.”

     But where is all that money going? Oh…

“A California community college will be paying out $330,000 as part of a settlement for seemingly restricting conservative students’ free speech on campus.

“In a complaint filed by the Young Americans for Freedom (YAF) chapter at Clovis Community College in Fresno, California and the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), the college was accused of violating students’ First Amendment rights.

“Specifically, the complaint lists how in November 2021, YAF members at the college gained permission to post anti-communist flyers, ‘Freedom Week Flyers,’ to bulletin boards on campus. However, Clovis Community College President Dr. Lori Bennett ‘directed other administrators to take down the Freedom Week Flyers’ and told other administrators that if they are asked for a reason for taking them down then they can ‘let [the students] know that [Vice President of Student Services] Marco [De La Garza] and I agreed they aren’t club announcements.’

“The flyers were taken down from ‘highly trafficked bulletin boards inside campus buildings,’ and students were informed they were allowed to only post flyers onto a ‘Free Speech Kiosk’ on the outskirts of the campus that students ‘never use.’

“The school also has a ‘Poster/Flyer Instructions’ policy that prohibits flyers with inappropriate language that the administrators utilized to take down the materials. The plaintiffs, however, listed four reasons for why the policy was unconstitutional, such as that it ‘fails to define or provide any objective standards as constitutes “inappropriate or offens[ive] language or themes.”’

“A federal court found that the school was in violation of free speech rights on campus, and ordered the college to pay out $330,000 in damages and legal fees to the plaintiffs, in addition to adopting new protective policies for free speech and staff training.”

     TTFN.

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