Mr. Right: Williams College Looking for an Interim Catholic Chaplin

I just noticed that Williams College is advertising an open position for an interim Catholic Chaplin. The previous Catholic Chaplin was Fr. Gary Caster who left after 12 years of devoted service. According to the school's estimate, there is a large number of Catholics at Williams College since they say that out of 2,100 students about 1,400 identify as Catholics. I would be curious to know if the loss of Fr. Gary Caster was related at all or in part to the negative reaction that occured when the official Williams College Twitter account called attention to Williams College students participating in a right to life rally.

David Vascones '18, Isabelle Ostertag '18, Zsa Zsa Morel '19, and John DiGravio '21 joined with Eph alums to participate in the 2018 March for Life in Washington, D.C. The trip was organized by the Williams Catholic student group and Catholic Chaplain, Fr. Gary Caster. pic.twitter.com/mEqfimCQUT

— Williams College (@WilliamsCollege) January 24, 2018

Fr. Caster was a great guy. The Williams Record reported on him, saying was "...a Southern California native with training in congregational ministry, Caster has spent the last 26 years working in education. In his first week as a student at the University of Southern California, he visited their Newman Catholic Center. “Nobody said hello to me, nobody reached out to me and I never went back,” he said. Here, Caster tries to do the opposite, and he has an appreciation for the small size of the College. “I like that the students let me know what they need from me and how they need me to be and who they need me to be,” he said.

According to the Record, "Caster enjoys speaking at classes and getting students involved outside of campus. Williams Catholic, the College’s Catholic student group, frequently takes trips, but Caster stressed, “All of our activities are open to everyone. You don’t have to be a Catholic to take a trip with us somewhere.” He also teaches interested students how to fly-fish, and he will pay for any student to go golfing with him.”

Fr. Caster left a final statement on Facebook which read as follows:

Dear friends,

Happy Easter! In the glorious light of this Easter Season I wanted to share with all of you an important decision I have made. For the past twelve years I have had the privilege of serving as Catholic Chaplain at Williams College. I have cherished memories of the young, impressive women and men I have met throughout my time here. I will hold them within the depths of my heart for the rest of my life.

I mention this because I have resigned my position as Catholic Chaplain. After nearly thirty years in education, it's time for me to "graduate college," "move out of the basement" of Thompson Memorial Chapel and "get a job." Therefore, I will be returning to my home Diocese of Peoria, Illinois to begin a new experience of priestly service.

My last official day as Catholic Chaplain will be May 20, but my last Sunday Mass will be May 12 at 4:30 pm, upstairs in Thompson Memorial Chapel, with a reception following. There will be no 8:30 pm Mass that evening.

I can't adequately express my gratitude for everything I have been given these past twelve years, especially for what I have learned. Thank you all so very much for your patience with me and my weaknesses and failures. Please be assured that all those you love and serve will remain in my prayers.

Please pray for me as I begin this new chapter of my life.

Sincerely in the Lord,

Father Caster

Hopefully, he wasn't pushed out by liberal, leftist opponents who disagreed with his take on abortion. As you may know, the department is led by a liberal female, Rev. Valerie Bailey Fischer, who is a member of the Episcopal church which ordains women. Clearly the school has little sensitivity to traditional Christians who would be appalled at this affront. Meanwhile, the Muslim Chaplin, Sharif Rosen, and the Jewish Chaplin, Seth Wax are still employed and fulfilling their functions.

Interestingly enough, Rabbi Wax indicates that little of his job has to actually do with religion. Nevertheless, he advertises that he bring his dog to work, a practice which must drive Imam Rosen crazy given Muslim's traditional prophet inspired disgust with man's best friend.  Arf!

The interim Catholic Chaplin's responsibilities seem broad. They will include but not be limited to:

• Coordinate regular preaching and worship leadership responsibilities in consultation with the Chaplain to the College
• Meet regularly with members of the Williams Catholic Community, especially the student leadership team
• Hold at least two Masses a week (4:30 p.m. and 8 p.m. Sunday evening)
• Officiate at weddings and funerals;
• Provide pastoral care for all students regardless of faith tradition;
• Provide sacramental ministry (including confirmation, baptism, confession, reconciliation, Eucharist, anointing of the sick).
• Work with the Chaplain to the College and the Office of Human Resources to develop goals and strategies for the interim period;
• Help student leaders carrying out their tasks;
• Continue to develop and intentionally employ interim specialist skills, including listening, conflict management, healing, reconciliation, and others as appropriate;
• Participate in Interfaith Council activities including meetings, activities, programs, and training.

With an emphasis on supporting student leaders, it looks like the college will be okay with the Catholic Chaplin organizing trips to anti-abortion rallies around the county.

Bernie Sanders: One Comment Away from a Stroke

Bernie Sanders looked so angry tonight I feared for his arteries. He really is the most divisive candidate pitting everyone against the 1% as if that were a wholesome thing to do...or something well worth the apparently unrelenting anger.

It makes me wonder if Bernie is just, temperamentally, an extremely angry person and that politics is just he way of adapting to the needs of his own, violent neural system.

He looked so angry tonight that I feared, as president, he would nuke us. Meanwhile, the other candidates played their cards the best they could. Buttigieg played up his youth. Warren wore red to stress that she is a fighter.

It was fun for me to watch John Delaney get under her skin. At one point it looked like he was making her cry. Hickenlooper, again, impressed me. He stressed his practical experience, but forgot to mention how he'd work to get us all on marijuana. I liked another governor too, Steve Bullock. Unfortunately, he had his chin up to high during his close...it sounded like he was choking or something. All three of them appeared to be gunning for Warren suggesting her ideas were silly, too expensive, impractical, or dead wrong. It was hard for me to find any fault with their critiques.

The best performance of the night, of course, came from Marianne Williamson, who was also gunning for Warren. Trish and I both contributed a dollar to her campaign in the expectation that we would do whatever we could to keep her on the debate stage. She looked great. She made the others look like they weren't really Democrats, that they were too wonky, that they were hypocrites for taking PAC donations.

As she said: "...if you think any of this wonkiness is going to deal with this dark physic force of the collectivized hatred that this president is bringing up in this country then I’m afraid the Democrats are going to see some very dark days." All in all, she struck me as emotionally authentic and definitely not as scary as Warren or Bernie.

Meanwhile, I thought Amy Klobuchar's eye make-up made her look worse and perhaps even shorter. She looks like your angry, fat boss at the school district...not like a presidential candidate.

Among the congressman, I thought Beto O'Rourke continued his slide into immature ignominy. Tim Ryan said the right things, but then harmed his own message by looking oddly frightened. He seemed as if his mom had sent him to the corner for the debate.

All in all, it looks like most of the fire was trained on damaging Warren. It seems everyone has decided that Bernie is done. For me, I'm still supporting Marianne Williamson. Who needs an angry,  wonky commander-in-chief?

Williams College Archives: Racist AMKKK KILL Graffiti Hoax of 2016

I noticed there is still substantial interest in the great AMKKK KILL racist graffiti hoax which rocked Williams College in the wake of Trump's glorious election back in November, 2016.

Williams College students who admitted they wrote KKK graffiti and dumped fake blood in a church to "bring attention to the effects of the presidential election" (lol) https://t.co/b425W8SAyM

— One Walleee (@onewalleee) July 29, 2019

This incident is a favorite among those of us who are weary of the false claims of racism which are now used to justify affirmative action, reparations, and new efforts to ban any criticism at all of POC. Unfortunately, the article in the Williams Record which the tweet attempts to link to is no longer available. I searched and could not find it myself. At any rate, here is a photo of the offending graffiti. The Berkshire Eagle did a report on the event too.

This graffiti was leveraged by the left to suggest that the forces of malevolent racism where active on campus. Alas, it later turned out that the graffiti was the work of two leftist students who thought they were making a statement intended "...to bring attention to the effects of the presidential election on many in our community."

The vandalism committed by these leftist students is evidence of the fact that at Williams College there was a time when the demand for racism exceeded its supply.

Cracks in the Ivory Tower: Perverse Incentives for Leftist Profs

The College Fix has an excellent review of a recent book by Jason Brennan and Phillip Magness titled “Cracks in the Ivory Tower: The Moral Mess of Higher Education.” The book uses an abundance of facts and research to back up the conclusion that much of what we most detest about colleges and universities is due to the perverse financial incentives which inform them.

I particularly enjoyed their succinct discussion of how a woke leftist professor seeks to profit from their contempt for their own institution. Notice how this quote seems to capture much of what is going on right now at Williams College:

Our college/university is systematically racist, heteronormative, classist and sexist. The best way to start down the long road to fixing these problems would be to increase my department’s budget, promote me, let me hire my friends, let me fire my enemies, require that students take my classes, require faculty to push my ideology, make my ideology part of first-year orientation, and give me power over other academic departments. That wouldn’t solve our problems, but it sure would help.

On top of this grab for power and money, the left also seeks to lock in their financial gains by setting up general education classes which students are forced to participate in. These classes ensure that this will always be students in even the most biased, politically correct courses.

All in all, conservative students at Williams College might be wise to study up on Brennan and Magness's book so they will have plenty of intellectual ammunition to put the left in its proper, greedy, self-serving place this fall. If you want more information, check out an interview of the authors at Inside Higher Ed.

Humor for Williams College Conservatives: Learning Your Pronouns in an ESL Class

Peggy Noonan has a new article on her website titled "What Were Robespierre’s Pronouns?" In it, she is drawing connections between the authoritarian left's identity politics and the French Revolution. Both sought to change people by changing language. She refers to the above YouTube video. It is frightening to think this is happening at places like Williams College.

Week in Pictures - Williams College Collection

Williams College - Uma Thurmon to Appear in Ibsen's "Ghosts" at Williamstown Theatre Festival

WILLIAMSTOWN, MA - Uma Thurman is hanging out around Williams College this summer. She will appear in the Williamstown Theatre Festival's version of Henrik Ibsen's "Ghosts" between July 31 and August 18. 

Uma Thurman received an Academy Award nomination for her role in "Pulp Fiction" and recently made a Broadway debut in "The Parisian Woman." From the Berkshire Eagle: 

What: "Ghosts" by Henrik Ibsen; translated by Paul Walsh; directed by Carey Perloff
Who: Williamstown Theatre Festival
When: July 31 through Aug. 18
Where: Main Stage, '62 Center for Theatre and Dance, 1000 Main St., Williamstown
Tickets: $75
Reservations/Information: 413-458-3253, wtfestival.org

Warnings for Williams College Conservatives: Prof Finds Lower GPAs Among Conservatives Compared to Liberals

WILLIAMSTOWN, MA - Ethan Cai is an intern at Campus Reform who has covered the free speech controversy at Williams College. In a new YouTube video, Ethan interviews Robert Maranto a political scientist from the University of Arkansas on his findings regarding the performance of conservatives at elite colleges and their interest in pursuing graduate degrees.

Basically, he finds that conservatives outperform liberals in high school, but under-perform them in college. 

As Maranto points out the academic world is comfortable with libertarian conservatives, but hostile to social conservatives. There is strong data, he says, of discrimination against evangelical or fundamentalist Chistians in hiring decisions. Maranto indicates he is a Christian, but not a Trump voter. Ironically, he finds that conservatives often hide their political views from their professors, but nevertheless express satisfaction with their college experience. 

Ironically, he see the biggest discrimination against conservatives is in getting their conservative articles published. At elite universities, he says prejudice is much more severe against conservative professors in hiring decisions at elite universities. He believes we have an elite academic world that is out-of-touch. 

Nevertheless, he does suggest finding center-left mentors. Prior to his appointment at UA, Maranto taught at Villanova University and served in the Clinton administration and at the Brookings Institution. The video is worth viewing for campus conservatives who want to make sense of their experience at Williams College. You can Ethan on Twitter at @ethanycai.

Extra Interviews Dylan Barbour '16 of Williams College on All the Luke P. Bachelorette Drama!

WILLIAMSTOWN, MA - I just noticed that “Extra” interviewed Dillon Barbour '16 at “The Bachelorette: Men Tell All." He provided his take on the famous Luke P. drama. Check out the video below to get his thoughts on who Hannah Brown should pick.

To our disappointment, Dillon Barbour '16 said he was not interested in being the next bachelor. He is a one-woman guy and wouldn't put up with all the stuff that goes into being the target of multiple female possibilities. 

Jerry Coyne: Williams College Indoctrinates Its Students

CHICAGO, IL - Over at Jerry Coyne's website, Why Evolution is True, we can read an erudite evaluation of the degree to which Williams College has ceased functioning as a liberal arts college and instead become something of a brainwashing facility. In this instance, Coyne tears into the school's absurdly biased insistence that students fulfill a requirement by taking at least one course concentrating on “Difference, Power, and Equity.” There is a pdf of the DPE courses here.

Coyne remarks: "Granted, this is only one requirement, and to fulfill it students need take only a single course. But those courses are almost all about oppression narratives, and all would appeal to the Authoritarian Left. To my mind, they’re intended, as is the requirement, not to convey knowledge or to get students to question things critically—I haven’t found a single course that takes a conservative point of view—but to inculcate students with an Authoritarian Leftist attitude in order to get the students to become agents of change. That means agents who will enact the social changes that their professors and administrators want. In other words, puppets of social change."

The irony is that Coyne is a liberal. He thinking that he is probably in agreement with what Williams College administrator want to see for the future. Nevertheless, he asks: "...should a college curriculum be designed to make the students behave in ways the administration wants them to behave?"

Previously, Coyne criticized efforts by the student activists in CARE Now who sought to prevent the adoption of the Chicago Principles at Williams College.

Campus Reform Media Director - Williams College Caved to Outrage Mob

WILLIAMSTOWN, MA - Yesterday, Cabot Phillips, the media director for Campus Reform, told Sinclair Broadcast Group he finds the Sawicki Report "disappointing" suggesting it is yet another example of an academic institution “capitulating to the outrage mob.”

“When you bow down to a group of people who are saying these ideas are offensive to us," said Phillips, "we don’t like them, keep them off campus, all you are doing is incentivizing more of that behavior in the future,” said Phillips. "If you teach students that they can be outraged and demand that certain ideas they don’t like be kept from them, they are going to go into the real world thinking that that applies outside of college."

"People think that free speech means 'I’m just here to say as many offensive things as possible and spew hate speech at you.' And free speech really has this negative stigma on college campuses. I think when universities adopt policies like the Chicago one, they are essentially saying ‘free speech is not a dirty word here, it’s something that we embrace',” said Phillips. “A college environment that is devoid of debate robs students of the opportunity to learn. Any university that’s taking steps to encourage discussion, to encourage dissenting opinions is essentially doing their job.”

Gag Me with Abstract Art: Thoughts on Williams College Museum of Art

WILLIAMSTOWN, MA - The Williams College Museum of Art (WCMA) spent yesterday promoting its new database for its art collection. The results seem spectacular and they are inviting others to leverage the database for their own research and examination. Personally, I don't remember even visiting the collection while I taught at Williams. I visited the Clark a lot (and eventually found it repetitive and boring) but never bothered with the on-campus museum.

Now, however, it looks like they are doing a lot more at WCMA to make the collection significant in the life of the college. According to a press release they even have a program where you can hang a work from the museum in your own dorm room. I would have loved to look through the collection and find a piece to put over my fireplace on Southworth Street. Here's an overview of some of the WCMA's outreach programs:

WCMA uses its collection in amazing ways. It’s an academic museum, and the collection is meant to be a key part of learning across disciplines. In Object Lab, faculty select works of art that become lenses for classes to explore neuroscience, or botany, or religion. Collection objects are loaned to students through WALLS, encouraging long-term personal connections. The Rose Object Classroom allows artworks to be used in a classroom space. WCMA’s Reading Room encourages timely public conversation around individual works of art.

My pro-tip for conservative students is to simply ignore abstract art and modernism. It is, in my view, silly and a waste of time. I'm a member of the California Art Club. I like to think of myself as a contemporary plein air, representational artist. I know from personal experience that it is not easy to learn the skill-based visual arts. In the famous atelier system, for example, a student may spend years working up the ladder learning to draw in charcoal, paint in black and white, and eventually use a broader pallet. The more you know about representational art, the more fascinating it becomes.

Conservatives as Comics: Learning the Craft

LAGUNA NIGUEL, CA - I have been puzzled and unhappy about the shortage of conservative comedians in the country. I've met some of the funniest and they have all expressed frustration with the discrimination they face in the job market. Leftist performers, for example, may threaten boycotts if a club books a conservative comedian.

Some of the problem may also be taste. Conservatives, as a rule, are turned off by foul language and sexual content, which seem common among leftist comedians. This makes the challenge of writing comedy to appeal to a conservative audience or a mixed audience all the more difficult.

Over the last few years, I've decided to do what I can to bring back conservative comedy by developing my skills as a stand-up comedian.

I've always been funny in class, as far back as high school. I had a lecture hall of students laughing by the time I held my first full-time political science job at the University of Oregon. I remember one of my colleagues at Williams once remarked that the best thing about me and my teaching was my humor.

The job of being a comedian, however, it is different when you focus solely on comedy. They mean it when they describe a venue as a comedy factory. This is because you have to keep people laughing for an extended time. So far, I've written enough good material to keep the crowd laughing every 20 to 30 seconds for about 10 minutes. The YouTube video above is my second try in front of an audience.

I took a class to learn the basics. I was surprised that when I brought out comedy that would appeal to conservatives - Obama's interest in being gay, or Michele's manly qualities - that my instructor would discourage me and politely move my act towards family oriented humor. I later found out he was apparently a Democrat who hates Trump even though he is active here in Orange County, CA.

I've finally been invited to do a 20 minute show at the Union Market at the Kaleidoscope in Mission Viejo, CA. The problem is I only have 15 minutes of material. If you'd like to see how my last performance at Union Market worked out, follow this Facebook link.

By the way, if you have any good jokes, please share them with me. I'm always looking for great new material. Eventually, I'd like to bring more conservative content into my act. Imagine, for example, what it would be like to open up the TV and see Kamala Harris as your president.

Caught Our Eye

Miles Klee '07 - WC's Most Famous Novelist/Bookstore Event Manager

LAGUNA NIGUEL, CA - I noticed I was under attack on Twitter this morning from Miles Klee '07. Miles leveraged his Williams College degree in English and Philosophy to obtain lucrative employment as the event manager for Vroman's Bookstore between October 2016 and March 2017.

Unfortunately, none of his Eph alumni friends have shared with him the truth that your LinkedIn profile doesn't really have to include every lousy job you held since graduation.

To his credit the 30 something Klee does have two books to his credit, Ivyland (2011) and True False: Stories (2015). I sampled some of his writing. He strikes me as a lamer, less talented version of the late David Foster Wallace. Klee's most recent pieces at MEL magazine represent the sort of dull, derivative, politically correct nonsense which has now taken the place of reporting actual facts. In his MEL bio, we learn that Klee is MEL’s "...resident tank-top dirtbag, shitposter and meme expert."

One illustration of the event manager/novelist's empirical weakness is a later Tweet which suggests 80% of his Eph peers are econ majors. Not even close. The real number, according to the college, is closer to 25%.

I get paid to help people rewrite their resumes. I've helped people who have been unemployed for years change a resume which was actually harming their careers. They typically land a great new job in days or weeks. I sometimes do resume rewriting for free for alcoholics and drug addicts in recovery. Unfortunately, Klee's six month stint at Vroman's Bookstore appears just below his current job at MEL and his previously prestigious undergraduate institution.

I'd be happy to help him out, but he probably thinks I'm a RaCiST.

Asymmetrical Multiculturalism: Welcome to the Fight

WILLIAMSTOWN, MA - I noticed an interesting tweet from political science professor Darel Paul about a concept developed by UK academic Eric Kaufmann called “asymmetrical multiculturalism.” Basically, as Paul explains, this means, "minorities must resist assimilation and represent difference. The unspoken flip side of the coin is that the majority is to dissolve itself into universality." If you want to learn more there is a cool take on Kaufman's book, Whiteshift, by Rod Dreher in The American Conservative.

Kaufmann's asymmetric multiculturalism is on full display, Paul asserts, when we see Rep Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) say “We don’t need any more brown faces that don’t want to be a brown voice. We don’t need black faces that don’t want to be a black voice. We don’t need Muslims that don’t want to be a Muslim voice. We don’t need queers that don’t want to be a queer voice” In other words, Pressley is seeking to reign in minority members and bend them to her will in a manner that would deeply offend her is a white politician tried to do this with white voters.

Personally, I've been involved in the cause of white identity politics at least since the mid-1980s when it became clear to me that young white men were subject to racial discrimination in the academic job market.

Mixed Bag: FIRE Reviews Sawicki Report

WILLIAMSTOWN, MA - Two reporters from FIRE have analyzed the Sawicki Report and found it to be a mix of helpful and doubtful elements. Generally kind to the report, FIRE staff praised its thoughtfulness and thoroughness. Like Jerry Coyne, however, they are concerned that certain aspects of the report's recommendations will be abused so that the report does little to protect freedom of speech.

...the report contains broad and vague language that could facilitate censorship in the future. At one point, the college declares that it is obligated to maintain “dignitary safety” on campus in the face of so called “hate speech,” defined as “the sense of being an equal member of the community and of being invited to contribute to a discussion as a valued participant.” This language sets up the inevitable clash between offensive – but protected – speech, and the college’s inclusion initiative.

In its recommendations, the report also suggests the college “should acknowledge harm,” an undefined, amorphous standard that could mean nearly anything in application. Such broad and vague language threatens free and open debate and could chill a wide range of expression.

Their final opinion seems to be that they are willing to wait and see how this turns out. They are looking forward to Maud Mandel's final statement on freedom of speech. The article is worth saving and reading, in part, because of its stunning review of how the school has been sacrificing freedom of speech to the on-campus mob.

John C. Drew, Ph.D., is a former Williams College professor in American politics and political economy. He contributes to American Thinker, Breitbart, Campus Reform, The College Fix, and WorldNetDaily.

Truth is a Defense: Williams College Executive Compensation

WILLIAMSTOWN, MA - I was please to find another academic following the madness taking place at Williams College. This time it is an insightful critic of the finances of the school who operates a Twitter account called, Truth is a Defense. He describes himself as a "conservative academic. One step ahead of pitchfork wielding progressive mob." The chart he recently uploaded in the following tweet says it all.

Banned in Chicago

I was a little startled to learn that DDF has been banned over at the Why Evolution is True blogsite. This is the on-line home of Jerry Coyne, one of our nation's most outspoken public intellectuals. He is a Harvard trained evolutionary biologist. Along with Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris, Coyne is one of the world's most prominent "New Atheists."

Coyne's blogsite, Why Evolution is True, reportedly has over 50,000 e-mail subscribers. Lately, Coyne has been especially supportive of Luana Maroja, a fellow biologist. He has used his highly visible site to bring the free speech standards of the Chicago Principles to Williams College.

Earlier, Coyne cited a number of my comments on the Sawacki Report and published them on his site. I was surprised when DDF subsequently went after Coyne and accused him of being a fool. What?! I later got an e-mail from Coyne indicating he was offended by DDF's words and that the intellectual skirmish had continued over at Why Evolution is True. Coyne posted the following statement on his blog:

After letting you use my site to direct traffic to yours, I will ban you for insulting the host (what a rude person you are in your post, a characteristic you must have gotten from the woke Williams students).
First, though, since you had the temerity to call me a fool, let me reply that you are an arrant jackass. The only “mistake” I made in my post was characterizing the universities who use the Chicago Principles as “adopting them” rather than, as the FIRE site says, the 65 schools “Have adopted or endorsed the Chicago Statement or a substantially similar statement.”

Yes, Real Women Vote Trump

Winning!

To Readers of Ephblog

LAGUNA NIGUEL, CA - If you would like to stay in touch, I have established a new blog called Williams Liberty.

Williams Liberty has a different mission compared to Ephblog. Williams Liberty will be focused primarily on breaking news. It will be promoted through my existing Twitter accounts, accounts that have more followers than the college's Twitter accounts. Covering breaking news at our nation's top liberal arts college is a service which cannot be provided by the Williams Record and would not be allowed on the college's websites.

It will, of course, be conservative friendly and politically incorrect.

In particular, it will provide the conservative viewpoint which has been largely absent on campus since 1989. Its contributors will be immune from ideologically motivated abuse or boycotts.

Consistent with conservative sensibilities, it will be well-written, tightly edited and moderated. Its language will be professional and PG at worst. Williams Liberty will be open to guest contributors (anonymous or not).

Guest contributors will be restricted to existing or prior William's College faculty and students. 

Comments will be welcome from all. It may reserve a few spots for student contributors who will be picked on a competitive basis at the beginning of the school year or who have done a good job as guest contributors.

If you would like to submit an article for publication at Williams Liberty, please contact me through the form available on the blogsite, or me at 949.338.5921.

By the way, you can follow Williams Liberty on Twitter at @williamslibert5.

John C. Drew, Ph.D., is a former Williams College professor in American politics and political economy. He contributes to American Thinker, Breitbart, Campus Reform, The College Fix, and WorldNetDaily.

Global Warning

https://twitter.com/CollegeFix/status/1148668894363525120

Duncan Robinson Gets Salary Guarantee from Miami Heat

WILLIAMSTOWN, MA - The Miami Heat guaranteed Duncan Robinson’s $1.4 million salary for next season. According to Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel, Robinson will almost certainly have a rotational role next season.

Robinson has taken a long and winding path from Division III Williams College, through the University of Michigan via transfer under the tutelage of coach John Beilein, to a guaranteed season with the Heat organization.

Devos Spikes the Ball on Williams College Anti-Semitism Intervention

Speaking at a Justice Department summit on anti-Semitism, Besty DeVos, Secretary of Education issued a scathing rebuke of the BDS movement, a campaign led by pro-Palestine activists calling for a boycott, divestment and sanctions of Israel over its treatment of Palestinians according to SFGate.

"These bullies claim they stand for human rights," she said. "But we all know that BDS stands for anti-Semitism."

DeVos commented that her department had recently intervened at Williams College after the student government rejected the creation of a pro-Israel group. The department negotiated an agreement that gave the pro-Israel group recognition as a student organization.

Sentence Served

WILLIAMSTOWN, MA - Students moving into the Horn Residence Hall this fall should ask themselves if they feel morally correct living in a building named for a pair of criminals, Joey Horn '87 and Ragnar Horn '85, who recently served a 75-day sentence in prison as punishment for exploiting and abusing four young Filipino au pairs. As Ephblog readers may recall, Joey resigned from her position as a Williams College Trustee, after eight years of service, as a consequence of this scandal.

Working as an au pair is supposed to be a cultural exchange program. Joey and Ragnar, however, broke the regulations by using their au pairs as low-paid housekeepers. They worked their Filipino au pairs 11 hours a day and then four hours on both Saturday and Sunday. In Norway, an au pair is supposed to work no more than five hours a day and no more than 30 hours per week.

The Horns admitted they gave false information to the immigration administration in Norway, failing to report they would have more than one au pair at a time. At the trial in 2017, two of the au pairs reported that they felt like “slaves” and “in prison” in the Horns’ home. Evidence showed Joey referred to her au pairs in derogatory terms and threatened to send one of them back to her “straw mats in Manila.”

It looks like one of the first things the Horns did after being in prison was to participate in a tour of St. Petersburg led by Williams College faculty member, Michael J. Lewis. According to a tweet containing the above picture, Lewis guided the Williams tour group through neoclassical palaces, the tombs of the Russian czars, and the summer palace of Catherine the Great.

According to Norway Today, the Horns might have missed visiting that glorious summer palace if the courts had kept in place the Horn's original punishment. Initially, Joey and Ragnar were sentenced to five months in prison. The Borgarting Court of Appeal, however, reduced that sentence to 90 days. In the end, the Norway Supreme Court mercifully reduced the Horn's sentence by another 15 days.

Perhaps the most shameful thing about naming a residence hall after the Horns is that the president, Adam Falk, knew the Horns were in trouble for their au pair abuse before accepting their gift. As Falk told the Manchester Journal,

"Ragnar and Joey Horn are loyal alumni, deeply committed to Williams," he said in a statement. "Sometimes they've provided support publicly, through their philanthropy; other times they've helped quietly, by personally mentoring students and encouraging individual faculty in their work. Every one of us has benefited from their love of the college, whether we realize it or not. Board Chairman Mike Eisenson told the Williams Record [newspaper] he saw nothing in the court's verdict that warranted a reconsideration of the decision to name Horn Hall. While the board reserves authority to decide such matters, I personally agree."

Adam Falk, of course, is long gone. Mike Eisenson '77, however, is still serving as the board chair. Ironically, the au pair investigation was launched in December 2014 which is the same year Eisenson was elected board chair. This is puzzling to me. It would seem to me that Eisenson should lose his board chair position for failing to understand the continuing public relations crisis caused by naming a building after a couple he knew lacked a moral compass.

Normally, I would think the college and its SJWs would see - perhaps correctly - that the Horn's abuse of their au pairs was an egregious example of racism, sexism, capitalist exploitation, and perhaps even unfettered colonial oppression.

At the very least, I would think campus activists would spread straw mats throughout the residence hall to remind folks that the Horn's $10 million gift to Williams came, in part, from the money they gained by financially exploiting their au pairs. For now, however, it looks like Williams College will continue to display a callous disregard for the Horn's four au pair victims.

In the meantime, we should be grateful that whoever arranged the picture above was sensitive enough to not have the Horns hold up the purple and gold banner.

John C. Drew, Ph.D., is a former Williams College professor. He contributes to American Thinker, Breitbart, Campus Reform, The College Fix, and WorldNetDaily. 

Fox News Alert

WILLIAMSTOWN, MA - Jonathan Butcher just posted a piece at the Fox News website criticizing the failure of Williams College to protect freedom of speech by adopting the Chicago principles.

Freedom of speech? Not allowed at politically correct liberal Williams College

He is alarmed about an article in The College Fix that reported one of biology professor Luana Maroja's colleagues had “threatened violence” if Williams adopted the Chicago statement. As Butcher writes:

No, Williams is not a public school. Its trustees and administrators have the right to set whatever campus policies they see fit. But considering how quickly the campus “conversation” on free speech escalated from a discussion of mutual respect to threats of violence, Williams’ students and faculty are right to ask: “Will I be threatened when I speak out on campus? And do I want to live in a place like that?”

Butcher's recommendation is the school require mandatory sessions on free speech during first year orientation – and "...explain that hiding from ideas with which you disagree is a poor strategy for life."

Jonathan Butcher is a senior policy analyst in The Heritage Foundation’s Center for Education Policy.