Columbia University Hosts 6 Different Commencements Segregated By Race, Sexuality, Income Level

Columbia University Hosts 6 Different Commencements Segregated By Race, Sexuality, Income Level


Columbia University will offer six different graduation ceremonies segregated by race, sexuality and income level.

The University is describing them as “Multicultural Graduation Ceremonies.” In the last week of April, graduating students will be offered virtual ceremonies in six categories – Native American, “LGBTQIA+,” Asian, “Latinx,” black, and “First-generation and/or low income.”

The College Fix reports:

They cover graduates of Columbia College, Columbia Engineering, General Studies and Barnard College, its sibling women’s college. Students must register by March 21 to get their “multicultural graduation gift,” such as stoles, tassels and pins, and by March 31 to be listed as participants.

The virtual segregated ceremonies do not replace ceremonies for the whole Ivy League university and its individual schools, but rather provide “a more intimate setting for students and guests to gather, incorporate meaningful cultural traditions and celebrate the specific contributions and achievements of their communities,” the page says.

It’s not clear when Columbia first disclosed the segregated ceremonies. The earliest cached version of the page is from Friday night.

It was flagged the next day by Mercy Muroki, senior researcher at The Centre for Social Justice and graduate student in social policy at the University of Oxford.

Muroki who was clearly disappointed tweeted “Racially and sexually segregated graduation ceremonies. One of the ‘best’ universities in the world. If you want to know what going backwards looks like, this is it.”

 

 

A Bill Pushing Left Leaning Politics Into the Classroom in Illinois Has Officially Passed


In an article we previously wrote concerning the Illinois State Board of Education passing a bill called “Culturally Responsive Teaching and Leading Standards  has officially been upheld by the Illinois Joint Committee on Administrative Rules (JCAR).

Some of the new standards include teachers assessing “how their biases affect how they access tools to mitigate their own behavior (racism, sexism, homophobia, unearned privilege, Eurocentrism, etc.)”

Bettina L. Love is a prominent advocate of Critical Race Theory in education and she believes “White Teachers Need Anti-Racist Therapy.”

If teachers do not do so voluntarily the new standards would allow schools to force teachers into therapy for their whiteness , along with punishing them with a loss of license and certification if complaints are made about them not adopting “progressive” ideologies. Teaching about “systemic racism” will be required as well.

Fox Illinois reports:

Some Republican lawmakers voiced their opposition to the standards earlier this month, saying they add unnecessary politics to the classroom.

Sen. Sue Rezin, R-Morris, said she asked ISBE to include more diverse perspectives on their task forces to avoid standards like this from being so controversial in the future, and said the board made some of the changes Republicans asked for.

Rezin said her office got an unusually high number of calls and emails about these standards.

These new teaching standards will take effect in October 2025.

Some lawmakers were not happy with the decision including Republican Candidate for Governor and Former Senator Paul Schimpf:

“I am extremely disappointed that JCAR approved the State Board of Education’s Culturally Responsive Teacher Standards. These standards politicize the teacher certification process and undermine the authority of local school boards, superintendents, and parents to control their children’s’ education. This is yet another example of top-down, administrative overreach by the Pritzker Administration and illustrates a clear example of why Illinois needs a new governor.”

 

 

‘Oh, the Places You Won’t Go.’ Six Dr. Seuss Books Canceled for Racist Imagery


Six books from the iconic Dr. Seuss series of children’s books will “stop being published because of racist and insensitive imagery, the business that preserves and protects the author’s legacy said Tuesday,” reported by the Associated Press. Dr. Seuss Enterprises told the AP in a statement, “these books portray people in ways that are hurtful and wrong.”

“Ceasing sales of these books is only part of our commitment and our broader plan to ensure Dr. Seuss enterprises’ catalog represents and supports all communities and families,” said the statement. Books on the chopping block are “And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street,” “If I Ran the Zoo,” “McElligot’s Pool,” “On Beyond Zebra!,” “Scrambled Eggs Super!,” and “The Cat’s Quizzer.”

Dr. Seuss Enterprises said the company’s decision was made last year after they “listened and took feedback from our audiences including teachers, academic and specialists in the field as part of our review process. We then worked with a panel of experts, including educators, to review our catalog of titles.”

In 2017  after first lady Melania Trump donated Dr. Seuss books to a school library in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the school’s librarian criticized the gift saying many of his works were “steeped in racist propaganda caricatures, and harmful stereotypes.”

Arguably one of the most famously well-known and loved Dr. Seuss books is “The Cat in the Hat” which has also come under criticism but the Enterprise says it “will continue to be published for now.” The AP reports how popular Dr. Seuss remains, “earning an estimated $33 million before taxes in 2020, up from just $9.5 million five years ago, the company said.” In 2020 Forbes listed him as the second-highest-paid dead celebrities behind pop star Michael Jackson.


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