Militants to Ryan Administration: “Bullshit”

Posted on May 4, 2024 by | 9 comments

Source: UVA Encampment for Gaza Instagram post

by James A. Bacon

Pro-Palestinian militants erected tents last night at their “liberation zone for Gaza” near the University of Virginia chapel in defiance of orders to take them down. The administration’s immediate response: engage in dialogue.

“We are writing to acknowledge the document you shared with us early this morning outlining the interests of your group,” wrote Kenyon Bonner, vice president and chief student affairs officer, and Brie Gertler, vice provost for academic affairs, to the Gaza zone participants.

“We thought it would be most productive to respond in writing, with the hope of scheduling a time to discuss your goals in greater detail with the appropriate representatives from your group,” they said.

The protesters posted their response, written in bold letters over a copy of the letter, on Instagram: “Bullshit.” Continue reading →

9 Comments

Posted in Freedom of speech and expression

Tagged , ,

Pro-Palestinian Protests Are Petering Out

Posted on May 3, 2024 by | 2 comments

Image credit: The Daily Progress

by James A. Bacon

Pro-Palestinian demonstrators on the Grounds of the University of Virginia showed signs of losing enthusiasm Thursday, even as organizers demanded that the University administration divest investments from Israel and cut off all ties with Israeli universities.

As students entered exam week, the number of protesters gathering at the UVA Encampment for Gaza protest diminished to roughly 50 Thursday, about half the level the of previous day. The ad hoc group with about 1,600 social media followers includes some students but also many left-wing activists from the Charlottesville community.

While many pro-Palestinian demonstrations have turned disruptive and violent nationally, the protests at UVA have remained orderly. UVA officials have also enforced rules designed to prevent protesters from disrupting the right of others to go about their business. A separate demonstration, organized by Dissenters and UVA Apartheid Divest, broke up Wednesday as scheduled. Pointedly, neither those groups nor their ally Students for Justice in Palestine, have endorsed the Encampment for Gaza. Continue reading →

2 Comments

At UVA, One Pro-Palestinian Protest Disperses, a Second Persists

Posted on May 2, 2024 by | 1 comment

by James A. Bacon

One of two pro-Palestinian demonstrations at the University of Virginia wound down around 5 p.m. yesterday without incident. Although the rally was marked by all-too-familiar anti-Israel chants and sloganeering, protesters dispersed at the scheduled time. A parallel demonstration, a tent-free “encampment,” continues this morning.

University officials set clear expectations from the beginning that university rules would be enforced. When a pro-Palestinian group erected tents Tuesday near the University Chapel in imitation of encampments at other campuses, university authorities quickly told them to take down the structures, for which they had not obtained permits. In other interactions, Police Chief Tim Longo personally engaged with protesters to inform them about university policy regarding trespassing and amplified sound.

“The protest activity near the University Chapel has continued peacefully and in compliance with University policy since it began Tuesday afternoon,” said University spokesperson Brian Coy. “Organizers have complied with requests to remove tents and other prohibited materials.” Continue reading →

1 Comment

Posted in Freedom of speech and expression

Tagged , ,

Amid Arrests on Other Campuses, Tensions Mount at UVA

Posted on May 1, 2024 by | 3 comments

by James A. Bacon

As a wave of pro-Palestinian demonstrations and encampments rolled across Virginia college campuses yesterday, university presidents held firm in enforcing rules governing the orderly conduct of protests. The day after Virginia Tech shut down an unpermitted “liberation zone” Sunday, arresting 82, Virginia Commonwealth University closed an encampment last night, arresting 13. At the University of Virginia, pro-Palestinian groups were ordered to take down their tents, erected before the main event today called for by protest organizers, but were allowed to continue their vigil.

Media reports indicated, however, that protests spread yesterday to Mary Washington University, where they had died down from a previous eruption, and to Christopher Newport University.

The Virginia protests were overshadowed in national media Tuesday night by resolution of the standoff at Columbia University, where New York police broke up a liberation zone and evicted students who had barricaded themselves inside a building.

If university presidents in the Old Dominion needed any stiffening of resolve, they got it from Governor Glenn Youngkin who, appearing on CNN Sunday, said, “We’re not going to have encampments and tents put up and yes, we will protect the ability to peacefully express yourself, but we’re not going to have the kind of hate speech and intimidation we’re seeing across the country in Virginia.”

After the knock-down of the encampment at VCU Tuesday, the main action in Virginia shifted to UVA. Continue reading →

3 Comments

Posted in Freedom of speech and expression

Tagged , ,

Not the UVA I Remember

Posted on April 30, 2024 by | 15 comments

We are reposting this letter from a UVA alumnus describing a “Dean’s Welcome and Tour” his family took part in this spring at the University of Virginia. We took administrators at their word that the Admissions Office was revising tours to give prospective students a more enticing sales pitch than the UVA-history-of-oppression narrative coughed up by the Student Guides. If this experience was typical, we made a huge mistake. — JAB

Thank you for your websites and articles highlighting the challenges UVa and other universities are facing in the age of wokeness and relativism. It is only recently that I came to realize how much UVa has changed, and how grave the challenges it faces are.

After graduating from Darden, my wife and I moved outside of VA to build our career. For 20+ years, we nostalgically enjoyed our fond memories of the Grounds and the UVa experience. My wife and I raised our three kids under clear and overt UVa indoctrination, hoping to extend our fondness and great memories to the next generation. We visited Charlottesville multiple times with our 3 kids. We took them to football games. They grew up learning The Good Old Song and have proudly worn orange and blue since infants. We were raising Cavaliers. Continue reading →

15 Comments

Tagged ,

A Creative New Way to Use Children as Human Shields

Posted on April 29, 2024 by | 4 comments

Stu Smith, producer of StuStuStudios, captured this video yesterday from the Virginia Tech encampment. University police were threatening to shut down the event for violating various university rules and protocols, and the pro-Palestinian demonstrators trotted out this precocious young militant to lead the mindless chanting.

“I’m not leaving,” sing-sang the tyke into a loudspeaker.

“We’re not leaving!” responded the crowd.

Undeterred by the pint-sized protester, Virginia Tech police shut down the event anyway, arresting 82 in the process, according to numbers released by the university. Fifty-three were students, according to the statement. It’s not clear if any were faculty. But it is a reasonable supposition that the vast majority of the 29 others were outside agitators. Continue reading →

4 Comments

Tagged , ,

Virginia Tech Cleans up Encampment. UVA Faces Similar Test.

Posted on April 29, 2024 by | 9 comments

by James A. Bacon

Virginia Tech arrested two dozen or more students Sunday night while dispersing an “encampment” similar to other anti-Israeli protests spreading around the country, according to media reports.

The gathering of several hundred people on the lawn of the Graduate Life Center was “not a registered event consistent with university policy,” Tech officials stated in explaining its actions.

“Given these actions by protesters, the university recognized that the situation had the increasing potential to become unsafe,” the university statement said. First, protesters were asked to disperse voluntarily. Then university police approached those who did not comply, warned them that they would be charged with trespassing, and asked them again to leave. At 10:15 p.m., police gave protesters five minutes to disperse. Those who remained were subject to arrest.

Tech President Timothy Sands deserves kudos for handling a difficult situation in a firm but restrained manner.

University of Virginia President Jim Ryan likely will face a similar test. Left-wing groups at UVA have announced a May Day event Wednesday on the Lawn to show commitment to “Palestinian Liberation.” Continue reading →

9 Comments

Posted in Freedom of speech and expression

Tagged , ,

What Would TJ Say… About Disruptions on the Grounds?

Posted on April 26, 2024 by | 8 comments

UVA student, circa 1853

by James A. Bacon

Pro-Palestinian demonstrations have morphed from rallies and teach-ins into a new form of protest — tent-city encampments. These disruptive gatherings are spreading to college campuses around the country; some have turned violent and resulted in widespread arrests.

In an interview with The Cavalier Daily after a peaceful “die in” protest a week ago, Josh Rosenberg, president of the UVA chapter of the Students for Justice in Palestine, said the group might amp up its tactics. Stated the CD: “Rosenberg said he hopes to engage in more visible forms of protest, including sitting in on administrative processes or even occupying space on Grounds for longer periods of time.”

We don’t know what Rosenberg means by sit-ins and occupations, but such tactics sound potentially disruptive, and they might well call for a firm response from the administration. President Jim Ryan could find himself forced to choose between appeasing vocal pro-Palestinian militants or alienating University alumni appalled by spreading antisemitism.

Perhaps Ryan could draw spine-stiffening inspiration from the University’s founder Thomas Jefferson, who dealt with student riots in 1825. Continue reading →

8 Comments

Tagged , ,

Anatomy of an Intellectual Monoculture

Posted on April 25, 2024 by | 14 comments

by James A. Bacon

University of Virginia employees who donated to Democratic Party candidates between 2017 and 2022 outnumbered Republican donors by an 18-to-one ratio, reports a National Association of Scholars case study.

Professors favor Dem candidates over GOP by a 24-to-one ratio, and staff by a 16-to-one ratio. The only sub-categories that came close to parity were “blue-collar staff (1.4-to-one) and sports team coaches (7-to-4). Twenty-one of 39 academic disciplines included not a single Republican donor.

Compared to other elite higher-ed institutions, the ideological imbalance at UVA is “moderate,” writes author Mitchell Langbert, an associate professor at Brooklyn College. At some institutions, it’s almost impossible to find any Republicans. However, the imbalance is getting worse, not better.

“In the past decade, diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) politics, including expensive DEI officers, DEI compliance requirements, and litmus tests for professors have further skewed university cultures,” Langbert writes. “Identity studies departments, such as gender studies, have also influenced universities’ organizational cultures and personnel policies.” Continue reading →

14 Comments

Posted in Intellectual diversity, Leftist orthodoxy

Share Your DEI Data, UVA!

Posted on April 24, 2024 by | 4 comments

by James A. Bacon

We’re making progress of a sort… The University of Virginia is dribbling out details that clarify the University’s spending on Diversity, Equity & Inclusion. Thanks to an article in UVA Today, the University’s house news organ, we have learned a bit more about how UVA classifies its employees as “DEI,” allowing us to move a baby step closer to a solid number.

But the analysis is far from complete, and the debate continues unabated. We urge UVA to make public the data it uses. We extend an offer to collaborate in getting beyond what is at present a debate over semantics — whether a particular employee should be tagged as “DEI” or not.

The size and scope of UVA’s DEI bureaucracy has long been a matter of conjecture. The Heritage Foundation has taken a swipe at divining a number, as has the Virginia Association of Scholars. At one point UVA told The New York Times that it had 40 DEI employees, and not long thereafter the administration told the Board of Visitors that it had 55 — a number it has stuck with. The question became one of national interest when Open The Books, in collaboration with the Jefferson Council, published an estimate of 235 employees including student interns.

“Strictly as a factual matter, if you hear UVA spends $20 million yearly on DEI programs, including 235 employees, that’s simply false,” Kevin McDonald, UVA’s vice president for diversity, equity, inclusion and community partnerships, told UVA Today.

Sure, given whom UVA includes as a DEI employee, that’s likely true. But who counts as a DEI employee? Who is UVA including and excluding? Continue reading →

4 Comments