University of North Carolina moves to ban ‘diversity, equity and inclusion’ statements in anti-woke backlash

The University of North Carolina (UNC) moved against encroaching woke culture and voted to ban diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) statements and politically preferential hiring.

UNC voted to ban DEI statements and compelled speech from admission, hiring, promotion and tenure at its Board of Governors meeting Thursday.

The board stated the university "shall neither solicit nor require an employee or applicant for academic admission or employment to affirmatively ascribe to or opine about beliefs, affiliations, ideals, or principles regarding matters of contemporary political debate or social action as a condition to admission, employment, or professional advancement," according to the resolution. An employee or applicant also can't "be solicited or required to describe his or her actions in support of, or in opposition to, such beliefs, affiliations, ideals, or principles."

"Practices prohibited here include but are not limited to solicitations or requirements for statements of commitment to particular views on matters of contemporary political debate or social action contained on applications or qualifications for admission or employment included as criteria for analysis of an employee's career progression."

Kenny Xu, President of Color Us United, which advocates for a race blind society told Fox News Digital that his organization has been leading a campaign to remove DEI from medical education practice, but he believes the move by UNC will have implications for higher education across the country.

"We believe in a race blind, meritocratic society with high standards and that's what has traditionally produced excellence in the United States," Xu told Fox News Digital. "When we saw wokeness and DEI infiltrating the medical profession, that's when we became concerned because medicine is the one place where everybody knows, liberals, conservatives, independents, that you need the most qualified doctor to get the best outcome."

"When diversity, equity and inclusion says ‘No, you need doctors of a certain race’ or ‘No, we need to be teaching things from the lens of social justice rather than the biological practice of medicine,’ that's when we got concerned," he added.

Color Us United wrote a petition to get the Dean of the UNC Medical School to denounce DEI, which required diversity statements in the hiring and promotion process.

The medical school's Guidelines for Appointment, Promotion and Tenure (APT) previously declared that "A statement for each area is required as part of the C.V." and "should outline depth and breadth of efforts in each area, including but not limited to impact of work, philosophy and style, team-based projects, and mentee interactions."

Dr. Nche Zama, a cardiovascular and thoracic surgeon at Columbia-Presbyterian Hospital who also ran for Pennsylvania governor in 2022, described the move by the UNC board as a "pivotal decision" that will be "applauded by some and rejected by others."

"In the final analysis, it is a decision that is in the best interest of all our children who will come to appreciate that EXCELLENCE (not phenotypes or ethnicity) should be the ultimate standard in their lives," he told Fox News Digital.

"The catastrophic failures in our educational system are predicated in many ways on a decades-old absence of a banner of excellence in the collective and individual learning experiences of many of our children who sadly, live in a cultural milieu that fosters a diabolically pervasive psychology, promoting self-hate, entitlement, and mediocre aspirations," he added.

He said he believes this education climate has "ushered in the recent cataclysmic push for quick-fix solutions in the guise of Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity, along with an antiquated time-tested placebo called affirmative action, instead of designing sustainable solutions that bring sustainable value."

Earlier this month, UNC announced its plan to combat woke ideology on its campus with a new School Civic Life and Leadership School that a board member described as a way to "level" the playing field for discourse on campus

Trustee Marty Kotis said that "when one side is represented and the other side is suddenly allowed to speak up, it may seem like we're taking aim - but really we're just trying to create a level playing field."

"We are working to support a culture of respect, debate, and discovery. It won’t be easy and will often feel simply uncomfortable," Chancellor Kevin M. Guskiewicz said in a message announcing the school. Yet these are the skills our students, and we as citizens, need to be stewards of our democracy."

https://www.foxnews.com/media/university-north-carolina-moves-ban-diversity-equity-inclusion-statements-anti-woke-backlash

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Florida International University adopts radical DEI program that condemns US as a system of 'white supremacy' while also separating students by race

Florida International University in Miami adopted a diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) program that teaches students that the US was built on a system of 'white supremacy' while also training them in left wing protest tactics.

The radical DEI program was revealed thanks to a Sunshine Law records request from Manhattan Institute Senior Fellow Chris Rufo.

Rufo, a conservative activist, claimed in a blog post that starting with the police murder of George Floyd in May 2020, officials at the school began issuing statements 'condemning the United States as a system of "white supremacy."'

He goes on to say that the school went on to hold discussion programs that was segregated along racial lines. The result of those discussions was to teach students that 'blackness is inherently noble, and whiteness inherently corrupt.'

The school also published materials that instructs students how to prepare for protests. 'Bring a bandana to cover nose and mouth,' one such piece of literature reads. Another section reads: 'Download a messaging app that has end to end encryption.'

In 2022, it was announced that Florida International University received a little over $77 million in public money.

The use of DEI programs in hiring has caused controversy more widely. Critics say that favoring underrepresented groups is unfairly detrimental to others, while proponents say such efforts are needed to help give traditionally marginalized groups equal footing.

At FlU, college officials justified the use of racially segregated meetings as a means to help people of color to heal and 'discuss the unique impacts of systemic racism,' Rufo alleges.

After the Black Lives Matter protests of the summer of 2020, the college went on to publish an 'Inclusive Language Guide.' Words that were considered taboo according to the guide included 'husband,' 'wife,' 'mother,' 'father,' 'she' and 'he.'

Acceptable replacements included 'spouse,' 'parent,' as well as 'they/them.'

Rufo, a graduate of Harvard Extension School, describes the content of the programs being offered by FIU as 'pure left-wing activism.' He accuses the school of promoting the Black Lives Matter movement and of describing life in the United States as a system of 'power, privilege and oppression.'

Trans and non-binary as well black people are defined as the oppressed and Christian holidays are 'cultural imperialism.'

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis would gain more influence in the state's public university system, and majors involving gender studies or critical race theory would be eliminated if a bill filed this week wins support from the Republican-controlled legislature.

The new measure, which largely reflects a legislative agenda announced by DeSantis in January, would also ban consideration of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in hiring of faculty.

It would require each institution's board of trustees to approve hires, giving DeSantis greater influence over those decisions because the governor appoints a significant number of board members.

The wide-reaching legislation represents a new front in the Republican war against the 'woke' agenda many conservatives believe liberals are trying to push on public education across the country.

DeSantis, who is expected to launch a presidential bid after Florida's legislative session ends this spring, has positioned himself as a leader in that fight.

'In Florida, we will build off of our higher education reforms by aligning core curriculum to the values of liberty and the Western tradition,' DeSantis said in January.

The legislature, which has a clear Republican majority, convenes for its regular session in March.

Asked about the bill on Friday, a spokesman for the governor, Jeremy Redfern, said DeSantis would decide whether to sign it after seeing a final version passed by lawmakers.

Academics, free speech advocates and students condemned the measure. Jeremy C. Young, senior manager of free expression and education at the writers' organization PEN America, tweeted that it would be the 'central battleground for the soul of higher education.'

'It would virtually end academic freedom, shared governance and institutional autonomy at all Florida colleges and universities,' Young said in a statement in February.

Florida's public university system includes 12 universities with an enrollment of more than 400,000 students.

Last month, Texas Republican Governor Greg Abbott told state agencies and public universities that such practices violated labor laws. The University of Texas system's board of regents on Wednesday said it had paused all new DEI policies in its hiring.

The Florida bill would also prohibit spending on programs or campus activities that promote DEI and what it calls 'Critical Race Theory rhetoric.'

Programs required for compliance with federal regulations and some other assistance programs would be exempted.

The measure states that general education core courses taught at public universities 'may not suppress or distort significant historical events or include a curriculum that teaches identity politics, such as Critical Race Theory, or defines American history as contrary to the creation of a new nation based on universal principles stated in the Declaration of Independence.'

Critical race theory is an academic concept that asserts that racism is woven into the US legal system and ingrained in its primary institutions.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11809335/Florida-university-adopts-radical-DEI-program-condemns-white-supremacy.html

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5th-Grade Student Suicidal After Teacher Allegedly Forces Her to Use Name 'Leo', Male Pronouns

Remote learning during the pandemic awakened many parents to what their children were being taught by activist teachers.

It might be time to consider forcing schools to offer parents a means to monitor what is going on inside classrooms in real time now that kids are back in class and at the mercy of the American left’s political and social agendas.

A teacher in New York is accused of encouraging a 10-year-old girl to identify as a boy throughout the 2021-2022 school year.

According to a lawsuit from the child’s parents, she was failed by the school system at every level as administrators made a concerted effort to leave them in the dark about it.

The family of the girl is suing Debra Rosenquist, a teacher at Terryville Road Elementary School in Port Jefferson Station on Long Island.

According to an attorney representing the family affected by the teacher’s alleged actions, the child had never expressed a desire to explore a different “gender identity,” but became tormented after her fifth-grade teacher began to refer to her by male pronouns and the name “Leo.”

That was part of a pattern where vulnerable children were encouraged to “try being gay,” or to identify as boys if they were girls or girls if they were boys, according to the lawsuit.

In addition to the teacher, the suit names as defendants the school itself, principal Annemarie Sciove, the Brookhaven-Comsewogue School District and Superintendent Jennifer Quinn.

The family alleges Rosenquist was so unrelenting in her quest to force gender and sexuality on children that their daughter soon began to experience “suicidal ideations.”

“As a result, [the student] became confused as to her gender,” the lawsuit says. “Despite knowing about Rosenquist’s conduct… it took the District, Quinn, and Sciove months to inform [the child’s parents] about it.”

The lawsuit is descriptive in its accusations about Rosenquist, who is not surprisingly still employed by the district.

“Rosenquist pursued her own agenda outside the curriculum, which included persuading her 5th-grade students to try ‘being gay’ or being another gender even when they were not,” the lawsuit says. “To further her agenda, Rosenquist read and provided her students graphic books about gender and sexuality which were not on the curriculum.”

Officials with the Brookhaven-Comsewogue School District met with the girl’s parents and were told the teacher was using non-approved books that covered topics such as gender transition surgery and hormone therapy, the lawsuit says.

One such book told the story of parents who had apparently failed their daughter by assigning her a female gender at birth.

Being told she was not a girl was so harmful to the student allegedly targeted by Rosenquist that she wanted to die, the lawsuit says.

In January 2022, the teacher’s alleged depravity led the student to draw a picture of a girl and to write the words, “I wanna kill myself.” She also wrote, “I feel sad like a lot.”

The family’s attorney, Debra Wabnik, told Fox News that Rosenquist “manipulated a pre-teen female into changing her gender identity when the child did not feel any inclination to do so.”

“The parents did not learn about what Rosenquist was forcing upon their daughter until it was discovered that the child had suicidal ideations,” Wabnik said.

“The psychological and social damage Rosenquist caused this child and her family was immense. Incredibly, the District still has Rosenquist in the classroom where she can similarly harm other innocent children,” she said.

The attorney said in a statement to the New York Post that the student is female and prefers being female. “At no point did she identify as male,” Wabnik said.

The district said actions were being taken against Rosenquist but did not elaborate any further.

Quinn also offered a bland and sterile statement that portrayed the Brookhaven-Comsewogue School District as one that cares deeply for children.

Yet the district was allegedly aware one of its teachers had gone rogue and was working to undermine the identities of defenseless children with confusing ideas that are built on the lie one can change their gender.

That led to an innocent child expressing a desire to die.

There is no telling how many other classrooms this is happening in, but anyone with children enrolled in government schools ought to monitor what their kids are being told by morally corrupted individuals with teaching degrees.

As a country, we must demand accountability for instructors who do this to children and swift justice for those who let them get away with it.

https://thefederalistpapers.org/us/5th-grade-student-suicidal-teacher-allegedly-forces-use-name-leo-male-pronouns-wanna-kill

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