Projects

In September 2020, the Trump-Pence administration implemented the “Free Inquiry Rule” for higher education. This rule, which is still in effect, is designed to “ensure that public institutions of higher education uphold fundamental rights guaranteed by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and that private institutions of higher education...Read More

As COVID-19 spread across the United States and throughout the world, federal and state governments ordered shutdowns for the stated purposes of arresting the spread of the virus and/or reducing the strain on healthcare systems. These shutdowns were extremely expansive and in some cases included forbidding religious gatherings, and restricting...Read More

“Cancel culture” is a name given to modern-day shunning. According to the online Encyclopaedia Britannica, shunning is a “social control mechanism” whereby those who violate the most serious group rules are banished or exiled. In the modern version, anyone who dares challenge the intelligentsia’s verities – especially...Read More

Background on 1619 Project: In 2019, the New York Times continued its ongoing efforts to junk objective journalism in favor of advocacy journalism by founding something called the 1619 Project. The project’s raison d’être is...Read More

Cornell, an Ivy League university with a proud history, has tragically typified the intolerant atmosphere now rampant in so many American institutions of higher education in recent years. In early June 2020, shortly after the death of George Floyd, Cornell President Martha Pollack designated Ibram X. Kendi’s book, How to Be...Read More

Following a script deployed before, and in the shadow of COVID lockdowns and a looming presidential election, activists branded the death of George Floyd as a result of racist policing, and rioted in the streets of Minneapolis and many other American cities. Politicians aided...Read More

While responding to a 9-1-1 call of domestic disturbance on August 23, 2021, police in Kenosha, Wisconsin, shot Jacob Blake. Blake had an outstanding warrant against him for domestic violence. At the time he was shot, he was defying police instructions to stop, and was apparently reaching for a knife....Read More

On January 29, 2019, Jussie Smollett claimed he was the victim of a racially-motivated assault in Chicago. Despite the subsequent media frenzy, it became clear that the supposed hate-crime assault was a sham staged by Smollett, apparently to boast his career. Chicago at first refused to charge...Read More

This event arose out of a growing grassroots movement in Rhode Island responding against the Critical Race Theory (CRT) ideology being pushed by governments and schools in a formerly conservative area. Lured by the district’s excellent schools, beautiful location, and property values that were lower than comparable areas in the...Read More

On October 25, 2022, the non-partisan Cornell Political Union (CPU) debated this issue: “Resolved: Stop discriminating on the basis of race.” The debate was entitled “A conversation on Affirmative Action” in promotional material distributed on social media. The format began with a presenter having 30 minutes to argue...Read More