A psychologist for Indianapolis Public Schools was among those held when police arrested 14 masked adults who officers said were blocking traffic late last month just outside the Governor’s Residence in the state capital. The school psychologist, Karisa Cole, and the other arrested protesters were charged with obstructing traffic April 25 at 10:30 a.m. on Meridian Street in Indianapolis.  Karisa Cole’s mug shot. (Photo: Office of Public Information/IMPD) In public statements that morning, the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department warned that although peaceful protesting is constitutionally protected, blocking traffic violates Indiana law.  After brief remarks and a collective chant calling for a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war and for Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb, a Republican, to divest from doing business with Israel, the protesters crossed into Meridian Street and blocked traffic. IMPD continues to make announcements telling protestors who are in the street they are in violation of Indiana law and subject to arrest.These announcements have been going on for at least fifteen minutes. https://t.co/YIbiZjS4xq pic.twitter.com/YlP9CAxWJ9— IMPD (@IMPDnews) April 25, 2024 When police officers arrived, they asked the protesters to leave the roadway multiple times. When the protesters didn’t move, officers arrested the 14 obstructers, who began to sing as officers pulled them off the street. IMPD now making arrests. @IMPDnews pic.twitter.com/XgKHrOX0kl— Gina Glaros (@ginaglaros) April 25, 2024 Cole, 45, appears to own several social media accounts that advertise her employment as a school psychologist by Indianapolis Public Schools since 2020. They include multiple anti-Israeli and antisemitic posts, including promotion of the ethnic-cleansing motto of the Hamas terrorist organization, “From the River to the Sea.” (This motto calls for Jews west of the Jordan River to be swept violently into the Mediterranean Sea to make room for the Islamic State of Palestine). Cole’s Instagram account, marked by “she/they” personal pronouns, includes instructions for teachers to “adopt social justice and anti-racist teaching skills” when “teaching about Palestine in the classroom.”  Cole warned teachers not to put Israel and Palestine on the “same level,” accusing Israel of being an apartheid state that is “committing an ethnic cleansing.” Cole also encouraged teachers not to describe Hamas as “extremist” or “terrorist.” She accused those who do so of racism “against Muslim or POC [people of color] communities.”  Hamas has been designated a terrorist organization by the United States and other NATO countries since 1997.  Hamas terrorists invaded southern Israel on Oct. 7, slaughtering 1,200, torturing or raping many first, and taking over 200 hostages. Ever since, the Israeli military has targeted the adjacent Gaza Strip—where Hamas is the elected government and uses civilians as shields—with the goal of “eradicating” the terrorist group. The Daily Signal obtained Cole’s booking photograph and other public information about her arrest from the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department.  Indianapolis Public Schools did not respond to The Daily Signal’s request for comment on whether the school district was aware of Cole’s arrest or what if any action it has taken as a result.  The Indianapolis Center for Inquiry School 70, the building where Cole works, lists her as a school psychologist on its staff page. Cole didn’t respond to requests for comment and confirmation that she owns the social media accounts cited above. However, the school psychologist’s LinkedIn account was deleted after The Daily Signal reached out. The post Police Arrests of Anti-Israel Protesters Include Indianapolis School Psychologist appeared first on The Daily Signal.

The University of North Florida closed its diversity, equity, and inclusion office on Wednesday, but DEI personnel were given new job titles, rather than being fired. The former chief diversity officer, Richmond Wynn, was not fired, but given a new title—vice president of community engagement and partnerships.  In the new role, Wynn is responsible for “developing and implementing comprehensive strategies to establish and enhance mutually beneficial relationships between the university and communities, stakeholders, and industry partners,” according to his LinkedIn profile.  He also “works with other UNF departments to facilitate and promote on-campus community engagement activities that embed civility and a culture of care throughout UNF, institutional values that support a safe and welcoming environment for all students, faculty and staff.” Wynn did not respond to a request for comment.  When asked if the job description means Wynn will continue to promote DEI-related initiatives at UNF, a spokeswoman for the university said the closing of the Office of Diversity and Inclusion and its centers is in response to Florida state Senate Bill 266 and regulations approved by the Florida Board of Governors of the State University System of Florida.  Signed by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis last May, the law bars public colleges and universities from spending taxpayer dollars on DEI programs. “By this week, all the centers were officially closed,” UNF Media Relations Manager Amanda Ennis told The Daily Signal. “Some staff members have left the University for other job opportunities. All other employees have moved to other open positions in the university that are not related to DEI.” UNF announced in January that it would begin phasing out the Office of Diversity and Inclusion. University President Moez Limayem said that no staff members would lose their jobs as a result, but would be assigned to work in other departments with the same or higher salary. The new role of Sheila Spivey, who was previously assistant vice president of diversity and inclusion, could not be found online, and an emailed request to her for comment bounced back with an “out of office” notice. Brandi Winfrey, director of inclusive excellence, has not changed her job title on LinkedIn and did not respond to a request for comment.  The diversity office staff also included two administrators, and two to three employees for each center.  UNF will continue offering a handful of DEI-related courses in the fall 2024 semester, according to the course catalog, including Introduction to Educational Leadership for Social Justice; Race, Gender, and Politics; Sex, Race, and Social Class; and Difference, Discrimination, and Oppression.  The latter course addresses “issues of power, inequality, privilege, discrimination and the resulting oppression,” according to the course description.  “Course material will use a social justice perspective for the study of and practice with oppressed groups at all system levels, including those distinguished by race, ethnicity, gender, age, sexual orientation, disability, immigration status, religion and social class,” the description adds.  The webpage that once displayed UNF’s DEI resources now shows “Access Restricted” result, with this message: “You do not have permission to access this resource.” The page previously included UNF’s “Inclusive Excellence” strategic plan, as well as information on its Intercultural Center, Interfaith Center, LGBTQ Center, and Women’s Center, according to a Wayback Machine internet search.  “Inclusive Excellence employs a broad and inclusive definition of diversity that includes genetic information, race, ethnicity, color, religion, age, sex, ability, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, marital status, national origin, veteran status and other important social dimensions that are part of the campus community,” the strategic plan said.  The LGBT Center offered resources on “preferred” personal pronouns, transgenderism, and more.  “Pronouns are a reflection of someone’s gender identity, and to ignore that is to say that their identity isn’t valid,” the resource on pronouns said. “Even when the person isn’t around, using the correct pronouns to refer to them says to those around you that you acknowledge the person’s identity, regardless of how you feel about the person, and encourages others to do the same.” The page includes a list of common pronouns, as well as “neo” pronouns, such as “Xe/Xem/Xyr,” “Ey/Em/Eir,” “Zie/Zim/Zir,” “Ve/Ver/Vis,” and “Ne/Nem/Nir.”  The Women’s Center was “committed to advocating for gender equality and improving the status of women.” “We recognize that gender inequalities are deeply connected to other areas of disenfranchisement and oppression in our society,” the archived webpage reads. “Therefore, our programs and services strive to value and promote respect for all differences. This means that women and men and people of all races, cultures, and sexual orientations are welcome in the Women’s Center.” The Diversity Office webpage also included a statement in support of anti-racism.  “Examining biases and exclusionary practices, and promoting integrity, inclusivity, and ultimately excellence, enhances our personal development, relationships with others, well-being, and global citizenship,” part of the statement reads.  Some UNF students voiced their complaints about the office’s closure on Wednesday.  “I think it’s a travesty we’re shutting down such great resources,” student Emily Roles told WJXT-TV in Jacksonville, Florida.  The UNF Diversity Office closure closely follows the shutdown of DEI at the University of Florida. The home of the Gators sports teams closed an office for a chief diversity officer and eliminated other DEI positions in March, and is reviewing whether the remaining Center for Multicultural Engagement and Inclusion violates state law.  While University of Florida fired DEI personnel, Florida State University took an approach similar to UNF’s, changing the titles and classifications of employees who were in related positions. The Board of Governors is in the process of reviewing programs in Florida universities to ascertain whether they violate state laws prohibiting DEI instruction, Communications Director Cassandra Edwards told The Daily Signal. She said that programs in state schools found to violate the law will be “eliminated.”  “As this is an ongoing, deliberate process, it will not conclude overnight,” she said. “But rest assured, thanks to Gov. DeSantis’ leadership, state or federal funds will not be used for DEI by Florida’s universities.”  The post DEI’s Demise: University of North Florida Closes Divisive Department appeared first on The Daily Signal.

The Columbia University anti-Israel encampment has been cleared out, but the New York school continues to beclown itself. According to a report by the Washington Free Beacon’s Aaron Sibarium, the student editors of the Columbia Law Review issued a statement on Wednesday, calling on Columbia Law School to cancel final exams. They wrote that it had to be done because the “violence” students had witnessed on campus left them “irrevocably shaken” and “unable to focus.” NEW: The student editors of the Columbia Law Review have issued a statement urging the law school to cancel exams in the wake of the police operation that cleared the university's encampment, saying the "violence" has left them "irrevocably shaken" and "unable to focus."? pic.twitter.com/BOD87x5mwM— Aaron Sibarium (@aaronsibarium) May 2, 2024 The statement “represents the majority opinion of the editorial board and was endorsed by five other law journals,” Sibarium wrote. Columbia Law Review isn’t some generic school paper or marginal publication, it’s the most prestigious law journal on campus and one of the most prestigious law publications in the country. The editors said that canceling exams would be a “proportionate response” to the “distress our peers have been feeling.” The law school already postponed exams on May 1 and has offered students pass/fail grading, though it didn’t make pass/fail mandatory. “The current exam policy raises concerns around equity and academic integrity,” the statement said. “Many are unwell at this time and cannot study or concentrate while their peers are being hauled to jail.” Given the kinds of “punishments” we’ve seen for other disorderly protesters who have been arrested, and given the judicial powers that be in New York City, it’s unlikely those arrested will face serious consequences.   “The events of last night left us, and many of our peers, unable to focus and highly emotional during this tumultuous time,” the statement read. “This only follows the growing distress that many of us have felt for months as the humanitarian crisis abroad continues to unfold, and as the blatant antisemitism, Islamophobia, and racism on campus have escalated.” The statement also said that the school “refused to consider our calls for making all classes this semester mandatory pass/fail.” Of course, by making classes pass/fail, they would just erode the school’s commitment to any kind of measurable standards of success and failure.   Your first reaction might be to think that the “cancel tests, we’re trembling in fear” demand is a sign of weakness. It’s just your typical college student snowflakes mewling about their bogus “trauma,” right? Not quite. In the upside-down world of America’s elite institutions, this is actually a power play. Victimhood, especially when it’s accrued on behalf of left-wing causes, holds the greatest social cachet in higher education. It can give one the power to command and silence others. It also can be used to escape consequences for one’s actions and bludgeon political opponents. By demanding that classes be canceled, Columbia Law Review editors are putting the school administration on notice, demanding recognition for their aggrieved status and justifying the supposed morality of the anti-Israel protesters. This is how the collective “safe space” of our intellectual leadership class operates, and the Columbia Law Review is eager to milk that system. This is the arrangement our future attorneys general, district attorneys, Justice Department officials, and top law firm associates think is right and reasonable. According to Reuters, “Columbia Law School snagged the top spot among U.S. law schools for having the highest percentage of 2023 graduates who landed jobs at big law firms.” How do you think these people will operate once they end up in a top law firm or in serious positions of power? They will enforce this code of victimhood status just as they try to do at their schools. That’s why what’s taking place on college campuses right now is so important, why in a certain sense it transcends our societal disagreements about Israel and Gaza or anything else on the international stage. This is about the transformation of our most powerful and once-exalted institutions into a malignant force for “social justice” at the expense of traditional forms of justice. It’s about how they have accrued power and impose their ideology, not just internally, but on the rest of our society from the top down. So, while whining about having to take tests after what happened at Columbia certainly sounds pathetic on its surface, it’s really a sign of how the whole rancid system operates. That’s part of the reason why this story continues to dominate the news and why Americans need to seriously rethink the role higher education plays in our country. The post Columbia Law Review Demands School Cancel Tests for Students Traumatized by NYPD appeared first on The Daily Signal.

The current demonstrations on college campuses against Israel remind some of the unrest on college campuses during the 1960s.  But the comparison is not a good one.   The unrest of the 1960s was defined by the war in Vietnam and by the Civil Rights Movement. Both had practical, personal impact on young Americans in their own country.  American soldiers were fighting and dying in Vietnam. There was real, life-and-death impact on all Americans, and certainly on young Americans.  The military draft was still operative then. Despite various deferments, including for university attendance, the draft was still a reality and was a looming presence for all college-age Americans. They knew they could be drafted and had friends and friends of friends who were.  The official number of American soldiers killed in Vietnam stands at 58,220.   Although there were legitimate moral concerns about American involvement in this war, the moral concerns were accompanied by young Americans having real skin in this game.  The Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s also had real personal moral impact on all Americans. And youth are always highly sensitive to the moral failings around them.  The reality of segregation and Jim Crow started getting national attention with the Civil Rights Movement, the activism of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and other, sometimes violent groups.   In contrast to the woke activism of today, which is totally political in character, the movement was led by a charismatic and articulate black pastor and had a religious, moral tone rooted in the Christian church.  Anyone that questions this should read, or reread, King’s “I Have a Dream” speech from 1963.  But King’s moral appeal was to an America very different than today.  In 1965, per Gallup, 70% of Americans said religion was personally “very important” to them. In 2023, by contrast, only 45% of Americans say religion is “very important.”  In 1962, per Gallup, 46% of Americans said they attended religious services over the last seven days. In 2023, this was down to 32%.  During this period there were two major wars involving Israel and the surrounding Arab states.   In 1967, Israel prevailed in the Six-Day War, which began with preemptive action by Israel against the Egyptian army mobilized for attack, and subsequent aggression by Syria in the North and Jordan in the East. In 1973, Israel again prevailed against attacks on these same fronts.  In 1967, per Gallup, 45% of Americans supported Israel against 4% who supported the Arab states, with 26% with no opinion. In 1973, 48% of Americans expressed support for Israel versus 6% expressing support for the Arab states and 24% with no opinion.  Support for Israel among Americans during this period was one-sided and clear.  But, again, America today is very, very different.   Our young people in the 1960s understood what personal responsibility is about.  On a national level, in the 1960s, all young Americans faced the reality of military conscription. Today, regarding national obligation and service, there are virtually no demands on our youth.   Now President Joe Biden is even erasing their student loan obligations.  On a religious, moral level, religion then had a much stronger hold on the nation. Religion teaches and inspires a culture where individuals have a sense they belong to and have obligation to something beyond their own egotistical inclinations.   Nature abhors a vacuum, and as religion has weakened and disappeared from our culture, it has been replaced by politics and the welfare state.  The end of it all is we now have a generation of youth insulated from all sense of national and religious and moral personal responsibility.  So now they demonstrate in support of terrorists and against the only free country in the Middle East that shares the very values that made our own country great.  COPYRIGHT 2024 CREATORS.COM  The Daily Signal publishes a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of The Heritage Foundation.  The post No, Demonstrations Today Aren’t Like the 1960s  appeared first on The Daily Signal.