On the other hand, Trump supports making universities criticism-free zones where pampered Jewish students will never hear a discouraging word about Israel/U.S. genocide of Palestinians.
Good because the "discouraging word" aka protesting and rioting, re: Israel/HAMAS currently allowed in universities is causing harmful physical violence to Jewish students. THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE.
Race kept people out of higher education for decades. Why shouldn't it now be used to help people of color obtain a college degree and beyond. It's a form of sorely needed reparations.
I agree with RFK Jr's work to revamp our health care system which has clearly been co-opted by Big Pharma and Industrialized Medicine. With that task he has his hands full.
Why bring DEI issues here. in this column? It just muddies the water.
We need DEI programs just to remind us that racism is still very much alive in America. It's part of America's past and present, and have to be continually acknowledged rather than denied.
Now before I get a huge barrage of labels for this response, or have it taken down, think instead of all the ways that Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion just might be radical Christian values. And any time we exclude another, we are laying the groundwork for our own exclusion along some other line. It's all of the same level of consciousness.
DEI is racist. Yes racism is indeed very much alive in America and all one needs to do is look at the recent racist shit show on full display in the cold blooded murder of Austin Metcalf to see who the true race baiting scoundrels that perpetrate it are and exactly who is excluding who. Exclusion of individuals truly qualified for any position is pure ignorance which can be seen ubiquitously throughout the marketplace leading to collapsing infrastructure. Go sell your poison elsewhere.
My thought would be that once the DEI programs have been ended, that will indeed be the end of them. Besides, who would manage the scholarship programs? The idea is to erase any history of genocide and racism. As in, if we don't talk about it, it doesn't exist.
What do you think of shifting focus to poverty and disadvantage? Do you think it accomplishes the same aims as DEI? Or do you think admissions offices are so racist now that minority students would be discriminated against, as they were in the last millennium?
My thought is that if the government shifted its focus to addressing the true causes of poverty and disadvantage, that in itself would be a huge step forward. At least DEI programs keep the focus on why people are now and have been disadvantaged by the system. And issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion are very much Gospel concerns. We are all in this together. At least if we started from that premise, we might be able to find solutions to the ongoing problems of racial inequity. Right now it seems that we operate from a zero sum mentality: what benefits one group must somehow be subtracted from another group to pay for it.
In reality, what benefits those most in need benefits us all. Why can't there be both: a system that bends over backward to help those who need a chance to catch up to actually catch up, AND a system that rewards those based on merit?
Another issue: speaking of merit, how much do entitlement and privilege override merit if nothing is in place to address such an issue.?
I disagree that DEI programs “keep the focus on why people are … disadvantaged.” DEI programs only look at race, gender and orientation. There are much bigger, non-DEI issues keeping people disadvantaged: poverty-level wages, domestic and neighborhood violence, addiction, violence-riddled schools, single-parent homes, etc. None of those overwhelming issues are addressed by DEI programs or policies.
I appreciate your thoughtful comments. It just goes to show that there are many sides to these very difficult issues.
I was focusing on the broadly spiritual dimensions of the words: diversity, equity, and inclusion. These imply a lack of judgment, which is always a separating gesture. Letting go of judging would go a long way in solving our problems.
Time to get the hard work done now we have the smartest man leading head of HHS Lots of trash to take out and dump No recycling from one Big GOV job to another Make the world a healthy place No more Woldwide Depopulation Planned Agendas Crimes Against Humanity for big profit$ We Stand with RFK Jr Intelligence is here
Another appalling diatribe by Paul Bond. It doesn’t belong in this Substack. Several of the comments read like auto-generated responses; the cheerleading is suspicious. What’s happening to KB?
To anyone familiar with the capture of universities in this country by government and corporate funding, corruption in academia - especially in science and public health - has been exposed long ago. At the same time, to use the Kennedy banner to join in the racist Trump administration’s mob-attacks on one of the few types of initiatives that this society has undertaken to mitigate the historic and ongoing deprivation of educational opportunities for black and brown people is repulsive — but not entirely surprising given that RFKjr is an avowed supporter of racist ethnic cleansing, apartheid and genocide in Palestine.
I think you’re confused. This is a crackdown against Universities putting anyone above the other for any reason other than merit. It has nothing to do with the race. You are making it about race. This is about common sense in being fair to everyone no matter what.
Yes, Mimi, clearly that is the leftist modus operandi. When they can't face the facts, when truth eludes all logic dredge up the race card. Well, we're not having it any longer. Not all people are college material. When test scores have to be skewed to accommodate the lower IQs then we as a society fail. Bring back trade schools and apprenticeship programs, put people to work and take them off lifetime welfare. It's a win/win for all sides.
No private university should get tax dollars. They also shouldn't be tax exempt. They are charging outrageous fees for students. They should pay their taxes and not get our dollars, then they'll actually be private institutions.
The sooner DEI is removed from every walk of life, the better. That universities are fighting against removing it shows us how far academia has fallen. Universities are supposed to be about higher learning not bastions of wokeness. They had better wake up!
I thought this column, or substack, whatever it's called, was about the doings of Secretary Kennedy at HHS. Why is this being reported on?
Claiming that people ought to be judged on their merits, rather than the color of their skin is NOT an argument against DEI. The premise of affirmative action is, e.g. that a black person with the same test scores as a white person IS more qualified, as they overcame racial disparities to get there. Argue against that if you will, but the former, simpler version won't cut it. I have no problem with DEI.
Still, the funding loss doesn't bother me (despite one of the schools being my alma mater) because of how wrong they all were about covid matters. It is a colossal embarrassment that universities are mere arms of the medical industry rather than bastions of good science. The whole system needs to be torn down and rebuilt on more solid ground.
Have we reached a point where affirmative action no longer serves its intended purpose? Elite colleges are enrolling elite students of color, who definitely would have been excluded in decades past. But now? Isn’t it possible that even without DEI, they will still be enrolled? And who are those elite students of color — do they come from privilege, from private schools, from stable families? Some say the answer is yes, and so DEI isn’t doing anything for those students who truly need our help — the poor and disadvantaged of every color. Perhaps it would be better to spend the money currently going to DEI programs on scholarships for disadvantaged students, and to spend federal money on a federal, guaranteed -tuition scholarship program for high achieving students from disadvantaged communities.
DEI should be cut OUT of everything!¡!
On the other hand, Trump supports making universities criticism-free zones where pampered Jewish students will never hear a discouraging word about Israel/U.S. genocide of Palestinians.
Good because the "discouraging word" aka protesting and rioting, re: Israel/HAMAS currently allowed in universities is causing harmful physical violence to Jewish students. THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE.
What word has caused harmful physical violence to Jewish students?
You're batting100! I have no replies against the misguided (an understatement I know) to post because you're replies speak for me.
Race kept people out of higher education for decades. Why shouldn't it now be used to help people of color obtain a college degree and beyond. It's a form of sorely needed reparations.
I agree with RFK Jr's work to revamp our health care system which has clearly been co-opted by Big Pharma and Industrialized Medicine. With that task he has his hands full.
Why bring DEI issues here. in this column? It just muddies the water.
We need DEI programs just to remind us that racism is still very much alive in America. It's part of America's past and present, and have to be continually acknowledged rather than denied.
Now before I get a huge barrage of labels for this response, or have it taken down, think instead of all the ways that Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion just might be radical Christian values. And any time we exclude another, we are laying the groundwork for our own exclusion along some other line. It's all of the same level of consciousness.
DEI is racist. Yes racism is indeed very much alive in America and all one needs to do is look at the recent racist shit show on full display in the cold blooded murder of Austin Metcalf to see who the true race baiting scoundrels that perpetrate it are and exactly who is excluding who. Exclusion of individuals truly qualified for any position is pure ignorance which can be seen ubiquitously throughout the marketplace leading to collapsing infrastructure. Go sell your poison elsewhere.
KUDOS! Great reply, Letsrock!
Are you sure a DEI program helps those students? There’s a lot of money going to salaries that could go to scholarships.
My thought would be that once the DEI programs have been ended, that will indeed be the end of them. Besides, who would manage the scholarship programs? The idea is to erase any history of genocide and racism. As in, if we don't talk about it, it doesn't exist.
What do you think of shifting focus to poverty and disadvantage? Do you think it accomplishes the same aims as DEI? Or do you think admissions offices are so racist now that minority students would be discriminated against, as they were in the last millennium?
My thought is that if the government shifted its focus to addressing the true causes of poverty and disadvantage, that in itself would be a huge step forward. At least DEI programs keep the focus on why people are now and have been disadvantaged by the system. And issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion are very much Gospel concerns. We are all in this together. At least if we started from that premise, we might be able to find solutions to the ongoing problems of racial inequity. Right now it seems that we operate from a zero sum mentality: what benefits one group must somehow be subtracted from another group to pay for it.
In reality, what benefits those most in need benefits us all. Why can't there be both: a system that bends over backward to help those who need a chance to catch up to actually catch up, AND a system that rewards those based on merit?
Another issue: speaking of merit, how much do entitlement and privilege override merit if nothing is in place to address such an issue.?
I disagree that DEI programs “keep the focus on why people are … disadvantaged.” DEI programs only look at race, gender and orientation. There are much bigger, non-DEI issues keeping people disadvantaged: poverty-level wages, domestic and neighborhood violence, addiction, violence-riddled schools, single-parent homes, etc. None of those overwhelming issues are addressed by DEI programs or policies.
Thank you.
I appreciate your thoughtful comments. It just goes to show that there are many sides to these very difficult issues.
I was focusing on the broadly spiritual dimensions of the words: diversity, equity, and inclusion. These imply a lack of judgment, which is always a separating gesture. Letting go of judging would go a long way in solving our problems.
DEI is a scourge brought on to us by the Davos WEF. We must defeat both if we aim to be free.
Time to get the hard work done now we have the smartest man leading head of HHS Lots of trash to take out and dump No recycling from one Big GOV job to another Make the world a healthy place No more Woldwide Depopulation Planned Agendas Crimes Against Humanity for big profit$ We Stand with RFK Jr Intelligence is here
Another appalling diatribe by Paul Bond. It doesn’t belong in this Substack. Several of the comments read like auto-generated responses; the cheerleading is suspicious. What’s happening to KB?
I am cancelling my subscription. You have unexpectedly crossed an important line which was fought for by Secretary Kennedy, his father and two uncles.
Welcome Paul, looking forward to more of your work
To anyone familiar with the capture of universities in this country by government and corporate funding, corruption in academia - especially in science and public health - has been exposed long ago. At the same time, to use the Kennedy banner to join in the racist Trump administration’s mob-attacks on one of the few types of initiatives that this society has undertaken to mitigate the historic and ongoing deprivation of educational opportunities for black and brown people is repulsive — but not entirely surprising given that RFKjr is an avowed supporter of racist ethnic cleansing, apartheid and genocide in Palestine.
I think you’re confused. This is a crackdown against Universities putting anyone above the other for any reason other than merit. It has nothing to do with the race. You are making it about race. This is about common sense in being fair to everyone no matter what.
Real liberals and confused liberals still want their cake and eat it too. Glad you responded - with a good one!
Yes, Mimi, clearly that is the leftist modus operandi. When they can't face the facts, when truth eludes all logic dredge up the race card. Well, we're not having it any longer. Not all people are college material. When test scores have to be skewed to accommodate the lower IQs then we as a society fail. Bring back trade schools and apprenticeship programs, put people to work and take them off lifetime welfare. It's a win/win for all sides.
No private university should get tax dollars. They also shouldn't be tax exempt. They are charging outrageous fees for students. They should pay their taxes and not get our dollars, then they'll actually be private institutions.
The sooner DEI is removed from every walk of life, the better. That universities are fighting against removing it shows us how far academia has fallen. Universities are supposed to be about higher learning not bastions of wokeness. They had better wake up!
DEI must DIE! Everywhere, if we want our country back from those who stole it in order to sell it!
I thought this column, or substack, whatever it's called, was about the doings of Secretary Kennedy at HHS. Why is this being reported on?
Claiming that people ought to be judged on their merits, rather than the color of their skin is NOT an argument against DEI. The premise of affirmative action is, e.g. that a black person with the same test scores as a white person IS more qualified, as they overcame racial disparities to get there. Argue against that if you will, but the former, simpler version won't cut it. I have no problem with DEI.
Still, the funding loss doesn't bother me (despite one of the schools being my alma mater) because of how wrong they all were about covid matters. It is a colossal embarrassment that universities are mere arms of the medical industry rather than bastions of good science. The whole system needs to be torn down and rebuilt on more solid ground.
Why isn't this a classic case of the Hegelian Dialectic?
Problem: Insane DEI and Woke Lunacy injustice
Reaction: Destroy DEI and Woke Lunacy, sorry about the collateral damage.
Solution: Surveillance and patrolling for thought crime.(Palantir et al)
Have we reached a point where affirmative action no longer serves its intended purpose? Elite colleges are enrolling elite students of color, who definitely would have been excluded in decades past. But now? Isn’t it possible that even without DEI, they will still be enrolled? And who are those elite students of color — do they come from privilege, from private schools, from stable families? Some say the answer is yes, and so DEI isn’t doing anything for those students who truly need our help — the poor and disadvantaged of every color. Perhaps it would be better to spend the money currently going to DEI programs on scholarships for disadvantaged students, and to spend federal money on a federal, guaranteed -tuition scholarship program for high achieving students from disadvantaged communities.
So where is the push against anti-Palestinianism?