Tuesday, December 31, 2019

Important Fundraising Appeal: Time to Remember the College Fix and Take Back Our Country


Dear Friend of The College Fix,

Many exciting things happened in 2019 thanks to the work of our fearless journalists, staff, and alumni—but only because of your generous partnership. Let me tell you about a few things in particular:

  *  Reporting polling trends: This fall, The College Fix began conducting nationwide polls of college students to capture concerning opinions among young people. We found that nearly 30 percent of Democratic college students favor banning MAGA hats on campus, only 8 percent of Democratic college students are very proud to be American, and 73 percent of Republican students have withheld political views in class for fear their grades would suffer! These startling results have been cited by major news outlets across the nation, and more crucial questions are in the making.

   *  Exposing bias response teams: College Fix investigate reporter Christian Schneider continues to file Freedom of Information Act requests at colleges nationwide to gain access to the ludicrous bias complaints students file with Orwellian campus bias response teams. In 2019, Schneider has submitted open records requests to nearly three dozen universities and uncovered a number of trends, including how these teams monitor professors’ in-class conduct and comments. His bias reporting has gained a national audience and landed an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal. 

Neither of these exciting new initiatives would be possible without your loyal partnership.


As you know, The College Fix is dedicated to promoting and defending fair and accurate media—without which a society cannot remain free. Through our flagship daily news website, we offer a much-needed counter to the leftist bias corroding our newspapers and our classrooms. 

I know you understand that we are in a pivotal time in our nation’s history—and the upcoming election year warrants our important work in exposing liberal bias!

If you have not yet made your year end tax-deductible gift to The College Fixplease click here to contribute to our year-end campaign. It’s quick, secure, and it supports young, principled journalists building their journalism careers.

Together, we can launch more young, principled journalists into major media outlets in 2020 and fill the gap in conservative journalism in order to preserve the values you and I hold dear—values such as individual rights, limited government, and free enterprise.

In this season of giving, don’t forget The College Fix and the up-and-coming journalists we are training! On behalf of all our student journalists, we appreciate your support.

For Freedom,
John

John J. Miller
Executive Director, The College Fix

P.S. Remember, when you support The College Fix today, you aren’t just helping combat ideological tyranny in 2020. Your tax-deductible gift of $25, $50, $75, or even $100 will help us train a generation of freedom-loving journalists who will safeguard freedom of speech for decades to come!

Monday, December 30, 2019

Lass Your Aff Off: Dr. Drew Performs Stand Up Comedy in Laguna Niguel, CA

As you may know, I have always been able to make people laugh. I remember that one of the nicest things I heard about my tenure at Williams College was that my sense of humor was a welcome addition to the political science department. In a demanding teaching environment, like the Williams College of 30 years ago, being able to make the students laugh out loud was a valuable skill. I'm refining that skill today. In particular, I'm focused on increasing the number of laughs per minute I can generate in front of a paying crowd. If you would like to catch my act, I will be performing on at 8:00 p.m. on Friday January 10, 2020 at Signature Sports Bar in Laguna Niguel. Give me a call if you would like to order your tickets on-line and receive a substantial discount.


Friday, December 20, 2019

The Rise of Thompson: Abigail Fights Back Against the Evil Chad Topaz of Williams College in New WSJ Article


WILLIAMSTOWN, MA - I was pleased to see this afternoon that Abigail Thompson hasn't backed down from her courageous comments condemning the new, mandatory, politically biased diversity statement screening tools used at UC Davis and elsewhere to keep the unwoke out of their first teaching jobs. She has a new article in the Wall Street Journal which lays out the basics of her case.

The University’s New Loyalty Oath: Required ‘diversity and inclusion’ statements amount to a political litmus test for hiring.

I suppose what is most surprising about her newest report is that she is surprised that so many of her colleagues are frightened of pushing back, even in the slightest, at the woke activists, including Chad Topaz, who have long been hostile to the concept of freedom of speech and more than willing to destroy the lives and careers of those they define as their enemies. As Thompson writes, she received over 150 emails, overwhelmingly supportive, from top mathematicians in the U.S. and the world. Nevertheless, she reports some horrifying news:
Many emails contained a disturbing theme, typified by this line from one of them: “Some day I, too, hope to speak out on this issue, but it is simply too dangerous at present.” This is a frightening sentiment to hear in academia. If expressing a widespread but controversial view is seen as taking a tremendous personal risk, the university system isn’t healthy. Ideas cannot thrive and mistakes cannot be corrected if people are afraid to speak out.
I cannot help but think that Abigail Thompson is a typical leftist, female professor who is surprised to find that she is now considered the enemy by those who have decided that any gap between the percentage of blacks teaching math at the university level and the percentage of blacks in the general population is evidence of a towering level of systematic injustice, an injustice which might easily be fixed by getting rid of white female professors like herself. Out of her alarm, however, Thompson does a great job of sharing some of the reasons why it is actually counter productive to judge job candidates - largely inexperienced young graduate students - according to the content of their diversity statements. Referring to the folks who sent her emails, she writes:
Some pointed out that the diversity statements tend to be formulaic, with many candidates coached on how to write them, and that the content often emphasizes ideology over accomplishments. Others noted that the statements disadvantage foreign applicants and candidates from low-income groups, who may not have opportunities to participate in voluntary activities that demonstrate a commitment to diversity.
All in all, I'm grateful to see academics like Abigail Thompson taking a brave stand to protect those of us who do not agree with either critical race theory, or identity politics. "To its credit, the UC Davis administration has supported my right to speak," she writes. "I hope that continuing discussion will confirm the vital principle that scholars discuss ideas, they don’t silence them."

John C. Drew, Ph.D. is an award-winning political scientist and a former Williams College professor. He is an occasional contributor at American Thinker, Breitbart, Front Page, PJMedia and WND.