Category: Culture wars
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Turning Point?
Federal overreach, state silence, and the resignation of Jim Ryan by David J. Toscano “…Or we will bleed you white.” It sounds like a mob threat from a B-movie. But it captures the essence of what Trump’s Department of Justice told University of Virginia officials: remove President Jim Ryan — or face financial ruin. Jim…
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Trapped in an Ideological Bubble
by James A. Bacon Michael Paul Williams, the Richmond Times-Dispatch columnist who won a Pulitzer Prize for his post-George Floyd commentary, is trapped in an ideological bubble and can’t break out. When opining on the departure of Jim Ryan from the University of Virginia presidency in his most recent column, he displays a bare-bones familiarity…
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And in Other Higher-Ed News….
The Richmond Times-Dispatch contrasts how Virginia Commonwealth University dismantled Diversity, Equity & Inclusion with relatively modest controversy — and provides a sharp contrast with the University of Virginia. Here’s how Eric Kolenich summarizes VCU’s response: When state and federal officials told Virginia Commonwealth University to scrub DEI from every corner of campus, the university’s administrators went…
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Celebrate the 4th!
While we’re celebrating the 4th of July, acknowledging the signing of the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia, Pa., let us not forget Virginia’s role in the war for independence. Self-loathing Americans — and there are plenty of them; the percentage of Americans who are “proud” to be American” has hit a new low — criticize…
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Virginia Senate Dems Have Lost It Over the Ryan Resignation
by James A. Bacon Leaders of the state Senate Democratic Caucus held an online press conference Saturday to express their dismay to the resignation of President Jim Ryan as president of the University of Virginia and outline their legislative priorities in the next General Assembly session. It was frightening. There are two main takeaways: First,…
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Where’s Jason?
by Dick Hall-Sizemore The U.S. Supreme Court, in its eagerness to enhance the power of the presidency, has potentially created a real mess over the question of birthright citizenship. Instead of ruling on the constitutionality of the President’s Executive Order ending birthright citizenship, the Court limited its ruling to the issuance of nationwide injunctions by…
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Dhillon Defends DOJ Pressure on UVA
by James A. Bacon The Department of Justice (DOJ) tried for three months to get answers to questions about the University of Virginia’s Diversity, Equity & Inclusion program but never received a substantive answer, Harmeet Dhillon, assistant attorney general for the Civil Rights division told CNN news anchor Jake Tapper. “They didn’t respond at all?”…
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And Then They Came for the Intellectuals II
Conservatives will rue the day when they permit the federal government to coerce the resignation of any university president, especially one at a state university that answers to its legislature, governor, and citizens. by David Toscano Observers of higher education had been predicting that University of Virginia President Jim Ryan might be ousted by U.Va.’s…
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Binnie Peay, Then Jim Ryan
by Gordon C. Morse Jim Ryan resigned as president of the University of Virginia today and there goes a man of integrity who followed his own lights and acted upon his own beliefs. But then the political winds shifted, outside forces cranked up the pressure and it finally got to be too much. Wait, this…
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Sabato for UVA President. The Board Should Resign.
by Paul Goldman When I served on the State Council of Higher Education, academic freedom was a core educational value. Apparently no longer. We learned today the University of Virginia Board of Visitors caved in into President Trump. They him force out UVA President Ryan because the federal government bureaucrats didn’t like what UVA was…
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Ryan Resigns
by James A. Bacon Under pressure from the Department of Justice, University of Virginia President Jim Ryan has submitted his resignation to resolve a DOJ investigation into the University’s Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, reports the New York Times. The Board has accepted Ryan’s resignation. In a letter to Rector Robert Hardie, Ryan said that he…
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Gerber Vindicated
Scott Douglas Gerber, a current Virginia resident and occasional contributor to Bacon’s Rebellion, reached a settlement with Ohio Northern University that includes reinstatement to his job and complete vindication to his reputation. ONU terminated his employment as a tenured law school professor after he objected to the University’s race-based hiring practices. ONU sent campus security…
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Do Conservatives Really Want This Precedent?
by Dick Hall-Sizemore The New York Times is reporting that the Trump administration has demanded that the University of Virginia fire President Jim Ryan as the condition for “resolving” the federal government’s investigation into the school’s DEI efforts. President Trump has declared DEI illegal. No courts have done so. As much as they dislike Ryan,…
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Dedicating a Statue to George Washington — in London
When Governor Glenn Youngkin visited France and the UK last week on an economic development trip, he rededicated the London statue of George Washington at Trafalgar Square gifted by the United States. Imagine that: the Brits honoring a statue of a traitor to the crown! One wonders what the reaction would have been if Youngkin…
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Kings, Colonialists and Naked Bike Riders
by James A. Bacon I’ve just come back from vacation in England and found it to be a nation of vivid contradictions offering parallels to what we’re experiencing in Virginia. The United Kingdom is torn by the same battle between wokery and tradition as the Old Dominion. Statues have fallen — most notably of Cecil…