Weekly Roundup
Reading List
Equity, Equitist, Equitism
For FAIR’s Substack, Robert F. Graboyes writes about how we can't debate a movement with no name and why accurately naming new philosophies is so important.
Sun Tzu said, “He who occupies the high ground will fight to advantage.” The absence of an umbrella term for these highly interrelated philosophies hands equitists the rhetorical high ground. The key to cleaning this Augean Stable of lexicon is recognizing that the revisionist definition of “equity” is the one common thread running through every one of these movements or concepts. This simple trio of terms—equity, equitist, equitism—can level that battlefield of ideas.
Rediscovering the Meaning of Diversity: Lessons from Generation X
For Quillette, FAIR’s executive director Monica Harris writes about Generation X’s perspective on the meaning of diversity and reflects on her experience at Princeton and Harvard Law School.
Most Americans—and especially members of Generation X, by my observation—wholeheartedly believe that schools and workplaces should reflect our increasingly heterogeneous society. But they view diversity holistically, not through a rigid intersectional prism that assigns someone oppressor or oppressed status on the basis of skin color, sex, or pronouns. Ironically, in fact, the same university administrators who obsess over these categories make little effort to promote authentic diversity of the type that includes a wide range of backgrounds, political perspectives, and worldviews.
If Berkeley Wants to Protect Free Speech It Will Expel Its Rioters
For The Free Press, FAIR’s chairman of the board Angel Eduardo and President of FIRE Greg Lukianoff write about why violent rioters have no place at any institution devoted to the pursuit of truth.
The distinction between speech and violence is one of the greatest intellectual developments in the history of civil society, stretching all the way back to fifth-century Athens. It enables us to make room for the widest possible array of ideas and arguments, while keeping at bay bad actors who lack respect for that pluralism.
It should not come as a great surprise that many in the “words are violence” set resort to actual violence when it comes to speech that upsets them—they lack respect for the liberal clash of ideas that the ancient Greek philosophers popularized and that has characterized Western society for centuries, if not longer.
Not Cutting It
For City Journal, FAIR in Medicine Fellow Dr. Richard T. Bosshardt writes about how bad policies are leaving the next generation of surgeons unprepared.
The American College of Surgeons is aware of the failure of surgical education and has even put in place programs to address the problem. But those efforts have hardly improved the situation, based on my discussions with colleagues and residents. While the ACS’s mission is “To Serve All With Skill and Fidelity,” the organization’s leadership is busy pushing the radical and unsubstantiated notion that the College is structurally racist, that its surgeons are racists, and that surgery as a discipline discriminates against minorities. ACS leadership has embraced anti-racism and diversity, equity, and inclusion, even publishing an expansive DEI toolkit for surgeons to implement in both residency programs and their own practices.
DEI initiatives 'not supported by the empirical evidence,' Canadian researcher says
For the National Post, Ari Blaff writes about a study of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) research that found that such instruction leads 'to greater prejudice and even harm'.
Despite claims from DEI proponents that such instruction leads to better outcomes and greater understanding, the Laurier academic’s literature review found evidence suggesting otherwise. One study Haskell highlighted, conducted by University of Toronto researchers, found campaigns designed to “exert strong pressure on people to be non-prejudiced backfired, yielding heightened levels of bigotry.”
Pro Gamer From New York Banned From ‘Super Smash Bros’ Tournaments Over Zionist Identity
CAM News covers the story of Felix Hasson, who was banned from online tournaments over his Zionist identity.
Hasson told CAM, “Everyone in the Smash community knows I’m Jewish, I don’t keep it a secret. I’m very proud about my identity, and very open about it. I’m also very open about my support for Israel. I lived there, I support its right to exist and everything it stands for as a landmark of democracy in the Middle East. And being called out for what I would say were pretty innocuous tweets, and being slandered online as a ‘racist Zionist weasel’ and ‘genocide enthusiast,’ it doesn’t feel so good, to say the least.”
“Anyone who has ever met me at a tournament or even just talked with me a little bit online knows I would never do harm to anyone,” he added. “And it just really hurts to see people jump to all these conclusions and immediately ban me.”
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Monica Harris's essay was inspiring. I was enlightened by her experience with affirmative action as a good thing, something which really worked to bring opportunities to qualified but disenfranchised people of color. The concept itself is not flawed, but in today's political climate its application had become corrupted. Eliminating merit as a metric for admission to colleges...removing the SATs and grade point averages as standards...ensures that people who never learned to swim will be thrown into the deep end of the pool and drown...while good swimmers are denied access to the pool. Cruel and counterproductive all the way around.
Given the recent Supreme Court ruling, which was correct in my view, the challenge will be how to level the playing field starting in kindergarten, so the doors to success are open to everyone.