Crashing Out for 13.1 Miles
Feb 1, 2021 https://www.dailycal.org/weekender/personal_essays/crashing-out-for-13-1-miles/article_2cdcb32c-e0e0-11ef-925b-53f092a49f2f.html
Within the website they have a drop down called “weekender” and in this dropdown there is an option for personal essays. The personal essay I chose to read was about running a half marathon. Before reading this I was very excited to read it because I have been aspiring to run a half marathon for a while now and I wondered about their experience. The connection with me is something that could happen to many people when writing personal essays. Adding this section adds a personal touch and draw to the chronicle. This story highlights someone who ran a half marathon because they were heartbroken. Running silences their running through about what this boy was doing when he was not answering her. The author relates this situationship to a Chargers Game. They refer to running as boring, so when they want to quit they force themselves to think about the game to make them push themselves. Halfway through the marathon they realized they had signed up for the marathon to get over the chargers game. The thing that made them work hard, push through the pain, it didn’t bring them pain anymore. They realized this 9 miles into the marathon. She wasn’t over the guy, she pushed to finish the marathon and realized even if she is not over the guy and it is okay to realize your “emotional cleanse” didn’t work.
Memorializing Mac Miller, Balloonerism https://www.dailycal.org/arts/music/album-reviews/memorializing-mac-miller-balloonerism/article_4b73936a-db67-11ef-873a-bfb067bf512c.html
Another one of Berkeley News sections that they cover is music. I feel like covering something as simple as music weekly is a very engaging topic. This piece highlights the late Mac Millers music still being released and thriving even 7 years after his passing. The album, Balloonersim, was leaked in 2014 and was officially released 5 years after Circles, which was his first posthumous album. Balloonersim acts as a prequel to Circles. They speak about how there is a questionable nature of releasing an album after an artist’s death. There are questions about where the creative direction was going before his death or where the profits of the album will go. This was something I didn’t even think of and was very eye opening for me.
Koerec’s Shutout and Leonard’s Hat Trick Lead No.1 BC to 4-0 Win Over No. 8 UMass Lowell https://www.bcheights.com/2025/02/01/boston-college-mens-hockey-defeats-umass-lowell-4-0/
Boston College’s ice hockey program has historically been recognized for its continuous winning seasons and for producing top prospects in the National Hockey League draft. This season is no different. They are currently ranked No. 1 in the league, and the Beanpot tournament has just occurred. This article closely describes the victory against Umass Lowell this past week. One of their key players, Ryan Leonard, played a major role in this victory. Leonard is currently the top prospect for the Washington Capitals and recently won his second gold medal at the World Juniors. He recorded a hat trick in this match, making nine goals in his last five games played. Another key player who was highlighted for this win was their Slovakian goaltender, Jan Korec. This was only his second start of the year. His two previous appearances came after the starting goalie, Jacob Fowler, got suspended for punching a UConn player. Korec made this opportunity worth it by recording a shut-out. This section allows those who don’t follow the team closely to have a brief overview of how the game went while keeping it engaging.
How To Make the Most of the Beanpot at BC: Game Day Tips https://www.bcheights.com/2025/01/30/how-to-make-the-most-of-beanpot-at-bc-game-day-tips/
Relating to the article above, this magazine-style post explains the must-knows for the Beanpot tournament. This covered everything you would need to know, whether you were lucky enough to score tickets or were watching from home. For the in-game experience, they touched on what to wear, when to arrive, and where to sit, and even chanted to know. Although Boston College is a much larger school, we seem to have similar game-day chants. They also explained what would make streaming the game more exciting if you were watching from home. This included a snack guide and game day setup suggestions. The Beanpot tournament is such a huge tradition in New England college hockey. Players get the opportunity to play at the TD Garden and experience what the pros feel during a game. I enjoyed reading this article because there were some similarities to how the University of New England games go. This game is on a much larger scale, but the fan atmosphere and chants seemed to align. This is also such a huge event to be a part of, so this guide could greatly help those who have never experienced it before.
LMU joins Laudato Si’ Action Platform to push for ecological sustainability | Campus News | laloyolan.com
Loyola University is working on a partnership with a program called Laudato Si’ Action Platform which helps promote environmental sustainability in university communities. The platform has seven goals that line up with, emphasizing ecological sustainability, education, economics, criticizing consumerism habits, and promoting global unity. About a year ago LMU really embraced this program and has only continued to grow. Today the working group members are expanding and have divided into four subcommittees that focuses on four parts of the plan, how environmental crisis emotionally impacts students, how integral ecology can be incorporated into the core curriculum, how to update the campus standard operations, and how campus can be relandscaped to address integral ecology. An in-action example of this program can look like advocacy for keeping invasive species off campus, such as the ice plant on The Bluff which is reportedly causing it to erode whenever it rains. This project is really being looked at as an act of citizenry and LMU trying to do its part to help the world in this current day and age.
Coachella? No, Springchella — ASLMU’s new concert | Campus News | laloyolan.com
Since the fall semester at LMU was busy will holiday events surrounding Thanksgiving and Christmas a concert called Springchella was announced as a major spring semester event to look forward to. In years past, the university has put on concerts before since Los Angeles, where the school is based, relies heavily on music and concerts as a form of community building and has now done it again. To determine who will be in the opening lineup for the concert a competition among students will be held on Feb 17 and Feb 21. The main artist is yet to be determined based on who the university is able to hire that is relevant, popular, and also within budget. Students are looking forward to what spring offers now, warm weather, community, and now the event of the season that will hopefully leave behind a legacy to be repeated again.
Two of UNC Chapel Hill’s researchers Heather Lapham and Mary Elizabeth Fitts have begun an excavation to find left over remnants of Steward’s Hall which was the University’s first dining facility dating back to the 1800s. This building was built in 1794 and served use as a common area and dining hall until 1816 and then served its purpose as a private boarding house. The structure was then dismantled in 1847, leaving remnants for archaeologists to dig up. Students are also taking part in the action and have found window glass, animal bones and pottery shards. This is not the first dig the school has conducted, as the campus archaeology program has taken part in at least 8 others. This experience allows students to develop their archaeology skills, and remnants that are found will be put on display at UNC’s Hidden Campus greater exhibit. Some remnants are on display at another location at Ancient North Carolinians, which is a virtual museum that collects artifacts from North Carolina’s history. Volunteers at the UNC Research Laboratories of Archaeology allow volunteers to connect the new world to the old world.
Laura Saavedra Forero is a UNC Chapel Hill senior majoring in neuroscience, and was part of the prestigious Morehead-Cain Scholarship. Saavedra Forero is an activist for disabilities, environmental justice, and Palestine. The Morehead-Cain is the oldest merit-based scholarship program in the nation that embodies leadership, character, scholarship, and physical vigor. Being a disabled individual herself, Saavedra Forero mobilized press and campus activists for more accessibility at her University. November 2023 is when Saavedra Forero received a text from Chris Bradford, who is the scholarship president. This text referred to her recording an event where the Foundation hosted a Republican Congress member. This is legal, as NC is a one-party consent state, but Bradford didn’t know. She also protested with Starbucks Workers United in 2023 and posted a cartoon connecting Starbucks to Violence in Gaza, which Bradford said was Blood Libel and that her scholarship was in jeopardy. Alumnus of the scholarship expressed concern for their safety and retaliation. In a march to block Provost Chris Clemens’ car from exiting a parking lot, she was charged with impeding traffic and resisting a public officer which led to her being suspended from the program and losing her scholarship.
This article was a different type of sport article, this was about the upcoming game against NC State This article discussed the past history of the Duke’s women basketball team and different aspects of their performance with the sport. Also how they change their strategy may change depending on the game. Another aspect of the article was talking about the opposing team strategy and specific players. This article is very interesting, the breakdown between the different teams and highlighting the wins, as well as their losses.
At the end of the article they size up two players (one from each team), comparing their strengths. Also highlighting some weaknesses between the two. Giving the spotlight to specific people allows the reader to be more involved with the school athletics. This interesting on the outside, this gives a snap shot of the schools intentions and pride.
This article is focusing on the Duke’s Palestinian cease fire vigil for those suffering the from the war, this was done by having a showcasing what the conditions were/are like for the Palestinians. Showing the living, food, and hygiene conditions, which are very difficult and different than what is known within the United States. This interactive showcase is very empowering and realistic, many people will fight for the peace but seeing it for those who may not understand is enlightening. Then there are comparisons of the tents, Duke students waiting for men’s basketball tickets to Palestinians. This especially interesting, this allowed students to visualize the difference between something they enjoy doing to what people are forced to do.
Then there was of course a speaking portion of the showcase, which the brought several speakers, one being a doctor who worked with Palestine. They spoke about how caring these people were even with their struggles. Making sure to give them food over themselves, the appertains was astronomical.
This article discusses NYU’s law school policing project. The school has a 2 year policing, $1 million contract with Minneapolis to offer tailored policy recommendations for community vitality and law enforcement. NYU Law’s policing project has worked with five U.S Cities to help curate community safety laws. They recommended Minneapolis to implement preventative, responsive and restorative services to hopefully stop recurring issues and improve emergency responses. In the article it says “Alexander Heaton, NYU Law’s director of reimagining public safety and an author of the report, said that Minneapolis should embrace governance structures with complementary community services, and ensure clear communication between city agencies and initiatives.” NYU giving them advice on what to do to stop recurring problems caused Minneapolis to implement the Policing Project’s recommendations to post dashboards that explain community-focused city initiatives to the public and improve the juvenile intervention process. This project will continue to receive feedback from Minneapolis City Council throughout the year to ensure residents like the new policies.
For my second article – Courant AI tool helps users digest nutrition research – it talks about a developed artificial intelligence system that answers peoples nutrition questions. The model called DietNerd, was launched in January by researchers at the Courant Institute of Mathematical Science. Its purpose is to answer users’ questions using a large language model. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign student Zubair Yacub and Courant graduate student Shela Wu led the project. They said they wanted to create something like this to combat false or misconstructed information about nutrition online. The article says “The researchers are now looking to adjust DietNerd’s framework to help people understand other complex subjects.” They are also currently developing other AI assistants like ContractNerd, InvestorNerd and WirelessNerd.
Leaders of Higher Education Raise Alarm at Penn Senate Colloquium:
The colloquium discussed a number of obstacles facing higher education and issues like DEI attacks, and putting pressure on academic freedom. The Daily Pennsylvanian article, “University Leaders Discussed Time of Peril for Higher Education at Penn Faculty Senate Colloquium,” reports on a faculty senate colloquium that was held January 30th. This was the first of a three part series focusing on the future of American universities. Some speakers included Irene Mulvey ( Former President of the American Association of University Professors), Michael Roth (President of Wesleyan University), and John Sexton (President Emeritus of New York University). These speakers highlighted several key issues. First they pointed out the lack of faith in institutions. The distrust is impacting free speech and on campus debate. They then went on to talk about the attacks on DEI (Diversity Equity and Inclusion) initiatives. The speakers emphasized the importance of defending higher education against attacks on DEI initiatives, particularly among criticism from political figures. The concept of a “gag order” was discussed, by Mulvey, in the context of limiting speech in higher education. Another issue they highlighted was academic freedom vs. donor pressure. The colloquium addressed the tension between academic freedom and pressure from trustees (often major donors to the university) who may push back on donating if the university doesn’t see eye to eye with their views. They further highlighted the danger of authoritarianism (a form of a governmental power trip, often involving suppression of dissent and individual rights). Roth described universities as being “on the front lines of a war in civil society,” warning against the dangers of institutions silencing the lack of agreement to avoid controversy. The next two colloquiums are scheduled to be on February 26 and then again on April 9.
NCAAs Affirms Ban on Transgender Athletes in Women’s Sports:
After President Donald Trump signed an order banning transgender athletes from women’s sports, the NCAA made a policy change on Thursday after their Board of Governors had voted to update the policy following the order. That decision was effective immediately, officially limiting women’s sports to strictly only biological female athletes. Student-athletes who are biologically male or student-athletes who have started hormones are now prohibited from being in competitions on an NCAA women’s team. However, the policy does allow transgender women or females who have begun hormones to practice on a women’s NCAA team. The policy also states that “regardless of sex assigned at birth of gender identity, a student-athlete may participate (practice and competition) in NCAA men’s sports, assuming they meet all other NCAA eligibility requirements.” Three Penn swimmers are suing Penn, Harvard University, the Ivy League, and the NCAA for letting Lia Thomas, a 2022 college graduate and transgender athlete, compete in the women’s swimming and diving competition at Penn. Riley Gaines, former University of Kentucky swimmer and activist who tied for 5th with Thomas in the 500-yard freestyle at the NCAA Championships in 2022, wrote on X (a social platform that used to be Twitter), “I wish I could’ve told [2022 Riley] what was to come in 2025. She felt cheated, betrayed, and violated. I’m just glad that girl trusted God and took a leap of faith by stating the obvious when it wasn’t popular. It was true then, and it’s true now. He’s a man.” Another former college graduate and Penn swimmer, Paula Scanlan, wrote on X, “The NCAA finally pulled their heads out of their asses and decided to ban men from women’s sports.”
9 thoughts on “BLOG-PROJ-WEEK 2”
Crashing Out for 13.1 Miles
Feb 1, 2021
https://www.dailycal.org/weekender/personal_essays/crashing-out-for-13-1-miles/article_2cdcb32c-e0e0-11ef-925b-53f092a49f2f.html
Within the website they have a drop down called “weekender” and in this dropdown there is an option for personal essays. The personal essay I chose to read was about running a half marathon. Before reading this I was very excited to read it because I have been aspiring to run a half marathon for a while now and I wondered about their experience. The connection with me is something that could happen to many people when writing personal essays. Adding this section adds a personal touch and draw to the chronicle. This story highlights someone who ran a half marathon because they were heartbroken. Running silences their running through about what this boy was doing when he was not answering her. The author relates this situationship to a Chargers Game. They refer to running as boring, so when they want to quit they force themselves to think about the game to make them push themselves. Halfway through the marathon they realized they had signed up for the marathon to get over the chargers game. The thing that made them work hard, push through the pain, it didn’t bring them pain anymore. They realized this 9 miles into the marathon. She wasn’t over the guy, she pushed to finish the marathon and realized even if she is not over the guy and it is okay to realize your “emotional cleanse” didn’t work.
Memorializing Mac Miller, Balloonerism
https://www.dailycal.org/arts/music/album-reviews/memorializing-mac-miller-balloonerism/article_4b73936a-db67-11ef-873a-bfb067bf512c.html
Another one of Berkeley News sections that they cover is music. I feel like covering something as simple as music weekly is a very engaging topic. This piece highlights the late Mac Millers music still being released and thriving even 7 years after his passing. The album, Balloonersim, was leaked in 2014 and was officially released 5 years after Circles, which was his first posthumous album. Balloonersim acts as a prequel to Circles. They speak about how there is a questionable nature of releasing an album after an artist’s death. There are questions about where the creative direction was going before his death or where the profits of the album will go. This was something I didn’t even think of and was very eye opening for me.
Here is the link to Blog Proj page!
https://jstevens20.uneportfolio.org/blog-proj/
Koerec’s Shutout and Leonard’s Hat Trick Lead No.1 BC to 4-0 Win Over No. 8 UMass Lowell
https://www.bcheights.com/2025/02/01/boston-college-mens-hockey-defeats-umass-lowell-4-0/
Boston College’s ice hockey program has historically been recognized for its continuous winning seasons and for producing top prospects in the National Hockey League draft. This season is no different. They are currently ranked No. 1 in the league, and the Beanpot tournament has just occurred. This article closely describes the victory against Umass Lowell this past week. One of their key players, Ryan Leonard, played a major role in this victory. Leonard is currently the top prospect for the Washington Capitals and recently won his second gold medal at the World Juniors. He recorded a hat trick in this match, making nine goals in his last five games played. Another key player who was highlighted for this win was their Slovakian goaltender, Jan Korec. This was only his second start of the year. His two previous appearances came after the starting goalie, Jacob Fowler, got suspended for punching a UConn player. Korec made this opportunity worth it by recording a shut-out. This section allows those who don’t follow the team closely to have a brief overview of how the game went while keeping it engaging.
How To Make the Most of the Beanpot at BC: Game Day Tips
https://www.bcheights.com/2025/01/30/how-to-make-the-most-of-beanpot-at-bc-game-day-tips/
Relating to the article above, this magazine-style post explains the must-knows for the Beanpot tournament. This covered everything you would need to know, whether you were lucky enough to score tickets or were watching from home. For the in-game experience, they touched on what to wear, when to arrive, and where to sit, and even chanted to know. Although Boston College is a much larger school, we seem to have similar game-day chants. They also explained what would make streaming the game more exciting if you were watching from home. This included a snack guide and game day setup suggestions. The Beanpot tournament is such a huge tradition in New England college hockey. Players get the opportunity to play at the TD Garden and experience what the pros feel during a game. I enjoyed reading this article because there were some similarities to how the University of New England games go. This game is on a much larger scale, but the fan atmosphere and chants seemed to align. This is also such a huge event to be a part of, so this guide could greatly help those who have never experienced it before.
LMU joins Laudato Si’ Action Platform to push for ecological sustainability | Campus News | laloyolan.com
Loyola University is working on a partnership with a program called Laudato Si’ Action Platform which helps promote environmental sustainability in university communities. The platform has seven goals that line up with, emphasizing ecological sustainability, education, economics, criticizing consumerism habits, and promoting global unity. About a year ago LMU really embraced this program and has only continued to grow. Today the working group members are expanding and have divided into four subcommittees that focuses on four parts of the plan, how environmental crisis emotionally impacts students, how integral ecology can be incorporated into the core curriculum, how to update the campus standard operations, and how campus can be relandscaped to address integral ecology. An in-action example of this program can look like advocacy for keeping invasive species off campus, such as the ice plant on The Bluff which is reportedly causing it to erode whenever it rains. This project is really being looked at as an act of citizenry and LMU trying to do its part to help the world in this current day and age.
Coachella? No, Springchella — ASLMU’s new concert | Campus News | laloyolan.com
Since the fall semester at LMU was busy will holiday events surrounding Thanksgiving and Christmas a concert called Springchella was announced as a major spring semester event to look forward to. In years past, the university has put on concerts before since Los Angeles, where the school is based, relies heavily on music and concerts as a form of community building and has now done it again. To determine who will be in the opening lineup for the concert a competition among students will be held on Feb 17 and Feb 21. The main artist is yet to be determined based on who the university is able to hire that is relevant, popular, and also within budget. Students are looking forward to what spring offers now, warm weather, community, and now the event of the season that will hopefully leave behind a legacy to be repeated again.
https://www.dailytarheel.com/article/2025/02/university-archaeology-on-campus
Two of UNC Chapel Hill’s researchers Heather Lapham and Mary Elizabeth Fitts have begun an excavation to find left over remnants of Steward’s Hall which was the University’s first dining facility dating back to the 1800s. This building was built in 1794 and served use as a common area and dining hall until 1816 and then served its purpose as a private boarding house. The structure was then dismantled in 1847, leaving remnants for archaeologists to dig up. Students are also taking part in the action and have found window glass, animal bones and pottery shards. This is not the first dig the school has conducted, as the campus archaeology program has taken part in at least 8 others. This experience allows students to develop their archaeology skills, and remnants that are found will be put on display at UNC’s Hidden Campus greater exhibit. Some remnants are on display at another location at Ancient North Carolinians, which is a virtual museum that collects artifacts from North Carolina’s history. Volunteers at the UNC Research Laboratories of Archaeology allow volunteers to connect the new world to the old world.
https://www.dailytarheel.com/article/2025/02/sp-morehead-cain-loses-scholarship
Laura Saavedra Forero is a UNC Chapel Hill senior majoring in neuroscience, and was part of the prestigious Morehead-Cain Scholarship. Saavedra Forero is an activist for disabilities, environmental justice, and Palestine. The Morehead-Cain is the oldest merit-based scholarship program in the nation that embodies leadership, character, scholarship, and physical vigor. Being a disabled individual herself, Saavedra Forero mobilized press and campus activists for more accessibility at her University. November 2023 is when Saavedra Forero received a text from Chris Bradford, who is the scholarship president. This text referred to her recording an event where the Foundation hosted a Republican Congress member. This is legal, as NC is a one-party consent state, but Bradford didn’t know. She also protested with Starbucks Workers United in 2023 and posted a cartoon connecting Starbucks to Violence in Gaza, which Bradford said was Blood Libel and that her scholarship was in jeopardy. Alumnus of the scholarship expressed concern for their safety and retaliation. In a march to block Provost Chris Clemens’ car from exiting a parking lot, she was charged with impeding traffic and resisting a public officer which led to her being suspended from the program and losing her scholarship.
Link to page: https://ehuggins.uneportfolio.org/blog-proj-week-2/
Week 2 – Feb 3-7
Article 1 – Duke women’s basketball opponent preview: No. 17 NC State – https://www.dukechronicle.com/article/2025/02/duke-womens-basketball-opponent-preview-nc-state-raleigh-reynolds-coliseum-kara-lawson-aziaha-james-toby-fournier
This article was a different type of sport article, this was about the upcoming game against NC State This article discussed the past history of the Duke’s women basketball team and different aspects of their performance with the sport. Also how they change their strategy may change depending on the game. Another aspect of the article was talking about the opposing team strategy and specific players. This article is very interesting, the breakdown between the different teams and highlighting the wins, as well as their losses.
At the end of the article they size up two players (one from each team), comparing their strengths. Also highlighting some weaknesses between the two. Giving the spotlight to specific people allows the reader to be more involved with the school athletics. This interesting on the outside, this gives a snap shot of the schools intentions and pride.
Article 2 – Pro-Palestinian student groups organize two-day ‘tent city’ exhibit, vigil following ceasefire deal – https://www.dukechronicle.com/article/2025/02/duke-university-students-for-justice-in-palestine-gaza-tent-exhibition-vigil-following-ceasefire-deal-honoring-dead-palestinians-israel-hamas-war-lack-of-resources-medical-care-speeches
This article is focusing on the Duke’s Palestinian cease fire vigil for those suffering the from the war, this was done by having a showcasing what the conditions were/are like for the Palestinians. Showing the living, food, and hygiene conditions, which are very difficult and different than what is known within the United States. This interactive showcase is very empowering and realistic, many people will fight for the peace but seeing it for those who may not understand is enlightening. Then there are comparisons of the tents, Duke students waiting for men’s basketball tickets to Palestinians. This especially interesting, this allowed students to visualize the difference between something they enjoy doing to what people are forced to do.
Then there was of course a speaking portion of the showcase, which the brought several speakers, one being a doctor who worked with Palestine. They spoke about how caring these people were even with their struggles. Making sure to give them food over themselves, the appertains was astronomical.
How NYU Law is shaping public safety in Minneapolis
https://nyunews.com/news/2025/02/07/nyu-law-minneapolis-research-update/
This article discusses NYU’s law school policing project. The school has a 2 year policing, $1 million contract with Minneapolis to offer tailored policy recommendations for community vitality and law enforcement. NYU Law’s policing project has worked with five U.S Cities to help curate community safety laws. They recommended Minneapolis to implement preventative, responsive and restorative services to hopefully stop recurring issues and improve emergency responses. In the article it says “Alexander Heaton, NYU Law’s director of reimagining public safety and an author of the report, said that Minneapolis should embrace governance structures with complementary community services, and ensure clear communication between city agencies and initiatives.” NYU giving them advice on what to do to stop recurring problems caused Minneapolis to implement the Policing Project’s recommendations to post dashboards that explain community-focused city initiatives to the public and improve the juvenile intervention process. This project will continue to receive feedback from Minneapolis City Council throughout the year to ensure residents like the new policies.
Courant AI tool helps users digest nutrition research
https://nyunews.com/news/2025/02/05/courantstudy/
For my second article – Courant AI tool helps users digest nutrition research – it talks about a developed artificial intelligence system that answers peoples nutrition questions. The model called DietNerd, was launched in January by researchers at the Courant Institute of Mathematical Science. Its purpose is to answer users’ questions using a large language model. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign student Zubair Yacub and Courant graduate student Shela Wu led the project. They said they wanted to create something like this to combat false or misconstructed information about nutrition online. The article says “The researchers are now looking to adjust DietNerd’s framework to help people understand other complex subjects.” They are also currently developing other AI assistants like ContractNerd, InvestorNerd and WirelessNerd.
Leaders of Higher Education Raise Alarm at Penn Senate Colloquium:
The colloquium discussed a number of obstacles facing higher education and issues like DEI attacks, and putting pressure on academic freedom. The Daily Pennsylvanian article, “University Leaders Discussed Time of Peril for Higher Education at Penn Faculty Senate Colloquium,” reports on a faculty senate colloquium that was held January 30th. This was the first of a three part series focusing on the future of American universities. Some speakers included Irene Mulvey ( Former President of the American Association of University Professors), Michael Roth (President of Wesleyan University), and John Sexton (President Emeritus of New York University). These speakers highlighted several key issues. First they pointed out the lack of faith in institutions. The distrust is impacting free speech and on campus debate. They then went on to talk about the attacks on DEI (Diversity Equity and Inclusion) initiatives. The speakers emphasized the importance of defending higher education against attacks on DEI initiatives, particularly among criticism from political figures. The concept of a “gag order” was discussed, by Mulvey, in the context of limiting speech in higher education. Another issue they highlighted was academic freedom vs. donor pressure. The colloquium addressed the tension between academic freedom and pressure from trustees (often major donors to the university) who may push back on donating if the university doesn’t see eye to eye with their views. They further highlighted the danger of authoritarianism (a form of a governmental power trip, often involving suppression of dissent and individual rights). Roth described universities as being “on the front lines of a war in civil society,” warning against the dangers of institutions silencing the lack of agreement to avoid controversy. The next two colloquiums are scheduled to be on February 26 and then again on April 9.
NCAAs Affirms Ban on Transgender Athletes in Women’s Sports:
After President Donald Trump signed an order banning transgender athletes from women’s sports, the NCAA made a policy change on Thursday after their Board of Governors had voted to update the policy following the order. That decision was effective immediately, officially limiting women’s sports to strictly only biological female athletes. Student-athletes who are biologically male or student-athletes who have started hormones are now prohibited from being in competitions on an NCAA women’s team. However, the policy does allow transgender women or females who have begun hormones to practice on a women’s NCAA team. The policy also states that “regardless of sex assigned at birth of gender identity, a student-athlete may participate (practice and competition) in NCAA men’s sports, assuming they meet all other NCAA eligibility requirements.” Three Penn swimmers are suing Penn, Harvard University, the Ivy League, and the NCAA for letting Lia Thomas, a 2022 college graduate and transgender athlete, compete in the women’s swimming and diving competition at Penn. Riley Gaines, former University of Kentucky swimmer and activist who tied for 5th with Thomas in the 500-yard freestyle at the NCAA Championships in 2022, wrote on X (a social platform that used to be Twitter), “I wish I could’ve told [2022 Riley] what was to come in 2025. She felt cheated, betrayed, and violated. I’m just glad that girl trusted God and took a leap of faith by stating the obvious when it wasn’t popular. It was true then, and it’s true now. He’s a man.” Another former college graduate and Penn swimmer, Paula Scanlan, wrote on X, “The NCAA finally pulled their heads out of their asses and decided to ban men from women’s sports.”