Two students at Brigham Young University have withdrawn from the university this week after they refused to comply with guidelines adopted by the university to mitigate the spread of coronavirus. Prior to their withdrawal, the students had been disciplined by the administrators for refusing to wear masks and practice social distancing on campus.
Nearly two dozen students at Middlebury College in Vermont were removed from campus this week over violations of coronavirus mitigation policies, despite zero cases of the Chinese virus reported at the college. Students at colleges and universities around the nation have been suspended over the past several weeks violating similar policies.
The University of Utah announced this week that it will shut down its campus for two weeks to limit the spread of coronavirus and to prepare for the upcoming vice presidential debate that will take place on campus. Over the summer, health experts at the university devised a “circuit breaker” strategy for coronavirus mitigation, which mandated a two-week pause of in-person classes in the middle of the semester.
Facebook announced this week that it may restrict certain aspects of its platform following November’s general election as part of a larger effort to limit social unrest. A spokesperson for Facebook suggested that executives including Sheryl Sandberg and Mark Zuckerberg may censor specific information if they believe it is likely to heighten political tensions following the election.
A 28-year-old man who worked for Tulane University’s dining service claims that his rights were violated when he was shot by a police officer after an altercation on campus after he was allegedly found masturbating in front of a coworker. Taivon Aples was reportedly shot by an officer after he resisted arrest on the university’s campus.
First-year counselors at Yale University, older students that advise freshmen on campus, claim that the ongoing coronavirus pandemic has drastically altered their job responsibilities. Some even claim that the current situation on campus has made them feel unsafe.
The University of Chicago is defending its decision to force English Ph.D. candidates to focus exclusively on “Black Studies.” The university claims that the decision is insignificant because it will only apply to five incoming grad students that the department plans to admit for the upcoming term.
A group of students at Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, are being forced to quarantine after wastewater from their residential building tested positive for coronavirus. Franklin and Marshall is one of several colleges that is testing sewage water as part of its coronavirus mitigation protocols. None of the 92 students required to quarantine have actually tested positive for the Chinese virus.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Laurel Beeler blocked an order by the Trump administration on Sunday that would have banned Chinese-owned messaging application WeChat from the Google and Apple app stores. Judge Beeler said that the order presents First Amendment concerns for users of the platform.
Students at Gettysburg College are pushing back against a proposed plan to send some students home to mitigate the spread of coronavirus. Prior to the decision, the college had implemented some of the nation’s strictest mitigation protocols. Students were required to stay in their dorm room when they weren’t at the cafeteria or in the restroom.
Marshall University professor Jennifer Mosher was placed on leave this week after she was recorded saying that she hopes that Trump supporters die before the election of coronavirus. The university placed Mosher, a biology professor, on leave shortly after a clip of her comments circulated online.
The Department of Education announced this week that it is investigating Princeton University in response to a claim by Princeton President Christopher Eisgruber that “racism” is “embedded in the structures” of the university.
The University of Oklahoma recently removed a tribute wall that was dedicated to retired faculty in the political science department over concerns that it was not sufficiently diverse. According to an open letter, the tribute was removed because it “exclusively includes white male faces.”
A 38-year-old lecturer at Boston University died in a tragic elevator accident this week. Professor Carrie O’Connor, who had previously taught French at MIT, Tufts, and Northeastern, had just started her second year of full-time teaching at Boston University. She reportedly became trapped between the elevator car and the first-floor door of her building.
A graduate student at the University of Wisconsin recently announced that she has lied about her race. Graduate student CV Vitolo-Haddad, who is actually Sicilian, wrote in a blog post this week that she has pretended to be black for some time. At one point, Vitolo-Haddad also told her peers that she identified as Latino. She has resigned from her position as a teaching assistant
Boston College announced this week that the number of positive coronavirus tests on campus has dropped after a brief spike. 3.5 percent of students at the college tested positive at the beginning of September. This week, just 0.6 percent of students tested positive for the virus.
Virginia Commonwealth University announced this week that it may rename several buildings on campus over their ties to figures that were associated with the Confederacy. At least six buildings on campus have been targeted for renaming over concerns about their ties to the Confederacy.
A recent poll by the Pew Research Center revealed that a majority of young Americans are living with their parents for the first time since the Great Depression. As of July, approximately 52 percent of young Americans between the ages of 18 and 29 lived with their parents.
Skidmore College Professor David Peterson announced this week that he and his wife won’t be sanctioned by the college for his attendance at a “Back the Blue” rally in July. Students had called for Peterson and his wife to be terminated by the college for attending the pro-police rally.
Baylor University admitted this week that it regrets its decision to place a “sensitive content” warning sign next to a 9/11 memorial consisting of American flags that was put together by the Young Conservatives of Texas. A university spokesperson said that the sign was placed in an effort to protect students that might have a strong emotional reaction to the display.
The English doctoral program at the University of Chicago announced recently that it will only accept Ph.D. candidates that are specialized in “Black Studies” this year. According to a statement published online, the decision was motivated by the department’s commitment to the Black Lives Matter movement.
California State University has announced that it will keep all 23 campuses closed for the upcoming spring semester. According to a letter written by a university official, Cal State students will likely be asked to continue their courses online until a coronavirus vaccine is widely available.
Stanford journalism professor Ted Glasser said in a recent interview that journalists should be activists that promote “social justice” values. On Friday, 60 Minutes correspondent Wesley Lowery promoted the idea that journalists should abandon the word “objective” in regards to their reporting.
The University of Iowa announced this week that it will be forced to spend $1 million to repair the damage that occurred during a recent Black Lives Matter protest. A group called the Iowa Freedom Riders spraypainted phrases like “BLM” and “Say their names” on university buildings. Now, the university claims it has preserved some of the graffiti for “educational programming.”
The Cornell Faculty Coalition made a series of demands in a letter published last week as part of a larger campaign to promote social justice. In one part of the letter, the coalition demanded a racial breakdown of faculty spouses and that Cornell “abolish colorblind recruitment policies.”
Software company VMWare announced recently that employees that opt to work from home indefinitely will be asked to accept as much as an 18 percent reduction in pay. Now, other companies in Silicon Valley have announced similar plans to decrease salaries for those that choose to work from home.
A group of alumni sent an open letter to the USC this week criticizing its decision to suspend Professor Greg Patton. Patton was suspended at the beginning of September when he used the Chinese word that for “um,” which sounds to some like a racial slur. The alumni compared the university’s decision to the leadership of China’s Chairman Mao, who frequently accused innocent people of crimes.
Facebook announced this week that is launching a social network for college students called “Campus.” Facebook launched in 2004 as an early social network that originally only permitted college students to join.
Medical experts around the nation are pushing back against college administrators that have blamed campus spikes in the number of positive coronavirus tests on students. Experts claim that administrators need to set reasonable expectations by adopting strategies that attempt to reduce the spread rather than eliminate it entirely. For example, some experts have encouraged colleges and universities to plan outdoor activities rather than banning gatherings altogether.
The University of North Texas announced recently that it has launched an investigation into the campus chapter of the Young Conservatives of Texas. The investigation was prompted by complaints by at least one student who claimed that the conservative student organization made them feel “unsafe.”
Columbia University recently announced that its medical school will change the name of a residential building due to the namesake’s slave ownership. The building was named for Samual Bard, the founder of Columbia’s Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons who also served as George Washingon’s doctor. The move comes shortly after the school eliminated a professorship also named in Bard’s honor.
The University of Rhode Island recently announced plans to remove two murals depicting the events of World War II due to their lack of diversity. The decision was prompted after students complained that the mural was not compatible with the university’s values of inclusivity. According to the school’s Vice President of Student Affairs, “Some of our students have even shared with us they didn’t feel comfortable sitting in that space.”
Disgraced George Washington University Professor Jessica Krug, a white woman who recently revealed that she has pretended to be black for many years, described the 2018 death of 15-year-old Lesandro Guzman-Feliz as a “radical moment” because Guzman-Feliz was interested in becoming a police officer.
An ACLU official based in Kentucky criticized Transylvania University’s decision to admit Nick Sandmann, the Covington Catholic student who found himself at the center of a media frenzy in January 2019 after a viral encounter with a Native American protester in Washington, D.C.
Students at UCLA are calling for the removal of Eli Gafni, the chair of the computer science department, over his defense of a colleague’s use of the term “Wuhan virus.” Gafni told students that were upset by the term that “what is ‘sensitive’ to you might feel like PC police to others,” leading to the petition for his removal over “ethical” failures.
Students at the University of Kansas have scheduled a strike, demanding that administrators shut down the campus. The protest comes in response to a spike in positive coronavirus cases on campus. Over 500 students have tested positive for the virus since students arrived on campus a few weeks ago.
San Francisco State University is scheduled to host a lecture by terrorist Leila Khaled later this month. Khaled is most famous for her role in two plane hijackings that took place in 1969 and 1970. Khaled, a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, is considered to be the first female airplane hijacker, and will lecture SFSU students at an event hosted by the Arab and Muslim Ethnicities and Diaspora Studies Department.
The Wall Street Journal editorial board argued this week that Facebook has inappropriately censored posts defending Kyle Rittenhouse, who allegedly killed two people and wounded another in Kenosha, Wisconsin, after being chased by rioters.
Northeastern University announced this week that 11 students have been suspended for partying, and they will not receive a tuition refund. Although the students will not even be permitted to attend their classes remotely, the university has refused to offer them a refund for their tuition cost of $36,500.
Northwestern University President Morton Schapiro announced this week that freshmen and sophomore students would be asked to leave campus to mitigate the spread of coronavirus on campus. Many students affected by the decision arrived on campus just days before the announcement.