Some Faint Rays of Good News on the College Front

 Back in 2019 we covered the libel trial and $32 million verdict against Oberlin College repeatedly (here, here, here, and here), and we’re happy to report that an appeals court in Ohio has upheld the damage award. William Jacobson has the full details over at Legal Insurrection. Oberlin College, which is still lying about the case, will probably appeal to the Ohio Supreme Court, but they are unlikely to succeed and should pay up.

Point Park University, a small vocation-oriented college in downtown Pittsburgh, PA, is closing its office of Equity and Inclusion:

The Student Government Association (SGA) announced at its legislative body meeting on Monday, March 7, that President Don Green is planning on dissolving the Office of Equity and Inclusion (OEI). However, President Don Green’s administration is saying that changes to OEI are happening at the office’s request, not the president’s.

In an interview with The Globe, SGA President Dennis McDermott said that SGA’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Chair Eli Bagaporo notified the Executive Cabinet on Friday, Feb. 25 that the office would be “disbanded” before the start of the Fall 2022 semester.

PPU may be small, but it’s a start.

The faculty senate at San Diego State University has voted to abolish their “land acknowledgement” rule that required faculty to include the virtue-signaling statement on all course syllabi:

San Diego State University faculty on Tuesday voted to stop requiring inclusion of a message about the history and culture of the Kumeyaay in their course syllabi. The vote by the school’s University Senate followed a complaint by a civil rights group that claimed the policy violated the First Amendment rights of teachers. . .

The matter became an issue when unidentified faculty members at SDSU complained to the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), a non-partisan civil liberties group in Philadelphia that took up their cause.

In a January 17 letter to the university, FIRE said the syllabi requirement “imposes an institutional orthodoxy on its faculty that contravenes the university’s strong commitment to freedom of speech.”

“We urge SDSU to uphold its First Amendment obligations and promise of freedom to express differing perspectives by eliminating this mandate,” the letter said.

Chaser: Watch the first 30 seconds of this video from Microsoft’s 2021 “Ignite” conference held last fall to see the most awkward and cringey land acknowledgement of all time:

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