Latest news with #Ethnicity
Time of India
23-07-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
Trump administration floated unprecedented plan to seize control over Harvard, internal memo reveals
Harvard memo reveals how Trump aimed to reshape US higher education system The Trump administration privately circulated a confidential memo in early April outlining an extensive plan to exert federal control over Harvard University, including the possibility of placing a lien on all university assets and eliminating specific academic and student support programs, according to documents recently disclosed in a court filing, as reported by The Harvard Crimson. Dated April 3, the four-page memo was marked 'Privileged and Confidential' and sent to Harvard's legal team the same day a public letter from the White House threatened to cut off $9 billion in federal funding unless Harvard implemented sweeping reforms. While the public letter included broad categories of institutional change, the internal memo provided a more detailed roadmap of proposed federal interventions. Memo included governance changes and asset controls The internal document proposed a series of governance reforms aimed at increasing federal influence over Harvard's leadership, according to The Harvard Crimson. These included setting a minimum requirement of 15 years of 'acceptable leadership experience' for future Harvard presidents, a policy that would have excluded former president Claudine Gay and interim president Alan M. Garber. The memo also suggested placing Harvard's academic departments under receivership and appointing a federally approved senior provost to oversee reforms. Programs identified for potential federal oversight included Jewish Studies, Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, and Ethnicity, Migration, Rights in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS); Religion and Public Life at the Harvard Divinity School; and the François-Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights at the Harvard School of Public Health. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like ACE Nest Yamuna Expressway – Affordable Luxury Awaits Ace Noida Book Now Undo Plans to dismantle DEI efforts and regulate student groups As reported by The Harvard Crimson, the memo called for the elimination of all Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) offices and a ban on protest masks. It also targeted the Foundation for Intercultural and Race Relations, which supports minority and first-generation students, recommending its elimination. The Trump administration also proposed using trademark law to penalize unrecognized student groups using Harvard's name, such as Harvard Out of Occupied Palestine. It recommended holding recognized organizations accountable if they shared members with unrecognized groups. The memo referred to these actions as an 'augmented Columbia accountability ask,' referencing similar interventions at Columbia University. Internal proposals preceded April 11 demands The April 11 letter — which Trump administration officials later stated was sent in error — shocked Harvard officials, but the memo indicates the university had already been informed of the scope of possible federal action days earlier, according to The Harvard Crimson. After receiving the memo, Harvard continued talks with the federal government for over a week, until the April 11 letter formalized many of the proposals. Some proposals in the memo were never made public in official correspondence, including placing a lien on Harvard assets, abolishing the Faculty of Arts and Sciences Faculty Council, and launching a 'Legacy of Antisemitism' initiative modeled after Harvard's slavery reparations program. Additional report proposed conservative academic center and suspensions As reported by The Harvard Crimson, a separate undated 10-page report, released with the court filing, proposed creating a Center for Antisemitism Research co-led by Harvard Chabad and Hillel. It called for Harvard to suspend student government operations for five years, sever ties with Palestinian institutions, and establish a conservative academic center modeled after the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. It remains unclear whether Harvard ever received the report. Neither the Trump administration nor Harvard has publicly confirmed its involvement in the document's creation, and the White House declined to comment, The Harvard Crimson reported. Since April, Harvard has renamed DEI offices across its schools and reduced commitments to underrepresented hiring. According to The Harvard Crimson, it is also in discussions with donors and Harvard Corporation members about building a conservative academic center. TOI Education is on WhatsApp now. Follow us here . Ready to navigate global policies? Secure your overseas future. Get expert guidance now!
The Irish Sun
23-06-2025
- The Irish Sun
Rochdale grooming gang leader ‘throws PARTIES at UK home on street full of kids' after Pakistan refused to take him back
A VILE Rochdale grooming gang ringleader has reportedly been throwing wild parties at his UK home near kids after Pakistan refused to take him back. Qari Adil Rauf lost an appeal against in 2018 but has never been sent back to Pakistan. 4 Qari Adil Rauf now lives in the same area he committed his vile crimes Credit: nb press ltd 4 He served just two and a half years of a six year prison sentence Credit: PA Rauf, 55, was among nine men jailed in 2012 for raping and trafficking young girls across the north of England. Up to 47 girls as young as 12 were plied with alcohol and drugs and gang-raped across Rochdale during a two-year reign of terror. Rauf was due to be He has avoided deportation by destroying his passport and claiming he is stateless, Pakistan has refused to accept the convicted paedophile without valid Read more in News The fiend remains in Rochdale where his victims are forced to live alongside him. It has now emerged the fiend has been throwing Neighbours say they have been left terrified to let their kids play outside and remain constantly vigilant of their movements. Rauf now lives in a terraced house under extra protection with neighbours claiming he has a panic button linked directly to Greater Manchester Police in his home. Most read in The Sun Residents living on the same street have said the ringleader of the Ethnicity of child sex abuse suspects will be logged after truth about Asian grooming gangs was 'dodged for YEARS' Angie Harrison, 45, a mum of two girls aged seven and eight, told the "We are back-to-back with his house. I don't like letting the kids in the garden. I have told them all about him. It is disgusting. "It is horrible. It is awful when you have to sit out watching your kids. We're the ones watching over our own kids like prison guards." Rauf reportedly lives just two doors down from a childminder who said she would pay for travel documents if it meant he was removed. Residents say they are constantly reminded of grooming gangs when they pass by the vile Rauf now lives in the same area he committed his crimes with victims forced to see him while he is out and about. The paedophile has been spotted being chauffeured around by his son by angry locals who say there is nothing they can do to get rid of him. 4 Rauf was convicted alongside nine other men Credit: PA:Press Association 4 He allegedly throws parties at his home with dozens of guests turning up Credit: nb press ltd Residents say they are surprised the Neighbours have been told by cops not to say anything to Rauf as he has 'done his time' and are reportedly removed by police if they stray to close to his home. One local claimed they shouted "paedo" at the vile man if their windows are open but Rauf just shrugs it off. Lena Carter, 64, who has lived on the street for nearly 30 years, told the She added: "I understand he has been banned from the mosque. He walks around in Western clothing now unless his friends are around. "What can we do to get him out if the law says he can stay? The police will turn up and remove you if you are near his house. "They tell us to leave him alone. I don't think any of them work apart from the son who sometimes runs the father around in his car." The news comes after it was revealed Pakistan is refusing to take Rauf and his joint ringleader Adil Khan back despite the UK A Pakistani official claimed it would be "extremely difficult' to allow in such The battle has been further complicated by Rauf and Khan renouncing their Pakistani citizenship. They both exploited a loophole by ripping up their passports, becoming "stateless", which can block a deportation. Rauf and fellow gang leader Khan, who got a 13-year-old girl pregnant, lost a lengthy fight in 2018 against deportation alongside a third member of the gang, Abdul Aziz. They subsequently launched another appeal- insisting the order breaches their human rights as they both have wives and children in the UK. Their The subject of grooming gangs has been thrust back into the spotlight this week following a bombshell report by Baroness Casey. The scathing review found councils, police and the Rauf and Khan were ringleaders of a prolific Khan got a 13-year-old girl pregnant and trafficked another girl, 15, to others - using violence when she complained. He was sentenced to eight years in 2012 and Dad-of-five Rauf trafficked a 15-year-old girl and raped her in a secluded area before taking her to a flat in Rochdale where others had sex with her. He was caged for six years and released in November 2014 after serving Grooming gang crackdown unveiled BARONESS Casey's report sets out a series of recommendations, which the government has accepted in full. 1. Strengthen the law : Tighten the law so that any adult who has sex with a child under the age of 16 is automatically charged with rape, removing current legal grey areas that allow abusers to avoid proper punishment. 2. Address Historical Failings : Through a national inquiry pursue justice for past cases and hold accountable those who failed to act. 3. Enhance Intelligence Gathering : Improve the collection and analysis of information to combat exploitation more effectively. 4. Improve Inter-Agency Collaboration : Foster stronger cooperation and information-sharing among agencies. 5. Mandatory Reporting : Require all services to share information when a child is at risk. 6. Introduce Unique Child Identifiers : Implement a system to ensure children are consistently and accurately identified across services. 7. Modernise Police Systems : Upgrade technology to enable seamless communication and prevent missed opportunities. 8. Treat Grooming Gangs as Serious Organised Crime : Employ the same robust strategies used to combat other forms of organised criminal activity. 9. Investigate Declining Reports : The Department for Education must examine why reports of child abuse are decreasing and take corrective action. 10. Understand the Underlying Drivers : Conduct in-depth research into the factors underpinning grooming gangs, including cultural and online influences. 11. Regulate the Taxi Industry : Prevent exploitation by restricting the use of 'out-of-area' taxi drivers. 12. Commit Government Resources : Ministers must allocate funding and ensure measurable progress is achieved.
Black America Web
20-06-2025
- Politics
- Black America Web
New Study Shows White Republicans Still Support Trump After Jan. 6 Because Of White Grievance…Also, Water Is Wet
Source: BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI / Getty A recent study found that white Republicans who continued to support President Donald Trump after he instigated the Jan. 6 Capitol riot did so out of racial resentment and a feeling that white people are now on the losing end of systemic racism. Now, I know what you're thinking: of all the 'water is wet' news out there, this has to be the water-is-wettest . And yes, you would be correct. Still, the study published in the Journal of Race, Ethnicity, and Politics serves the purpose of illustrating the power of white fragility — a phenomenon that is, apparently, so influential that it can cause a person who probably thinks of themself as a pro-police 'patriot' to decide inspiring an domestic terrorist attack on the U.S. government and its police officers does not constitute a deal breaker in selecting a commander in chief. From PsyPost: The researchers, based at Harvard University, were interested in understanding why some Republicans continued to back Trump after the January 6th attack, despite its unprecedented nature and broad condemnation. Prior studies had already shown that many Republicans did briefly disapprove of Trump after the insurrection, but those changes were relatively small and short-lived. This study set out to explain which members of Trump's base were more likely to remain supportive—and why. The authors theorized that a key reason for the uneven reaction among Republicans lies in how individuals perceive their group's place in American society. Specifically, they focused on white Republicans' beliefs about whether white people are experiencing growing discrimination and losing their historical dominance in American politics and culture. Previous research has shown that these perceptions, often referred to as 'racial status threat,' are linked to support for right-wing populism, political violence, and distrust in democracy. The researchers hypothesized that Republicans who feel this kind of threat would be less likely to withdraw support from Trump—even after he encouraged an attack on the U.S. Capitol. To test their idea, the team conducted a series of studies using multiple datasets. In the first study, they analyzed responses from more than 5,000 white Republicans surveyed just before and after January 6th, 2021. The survey, conducted by the Nationscape project, asked respondents about their support for Trump, including favorability and job approval. Importantly, it also asked how much discrimination respondents believed white people face in society. Source: Kent Nishimura / Getty What researchers found was, again, pretty damn predictable. Among white Republicans who don't happen to believe we have entered a new era of Caucasian Jim Crow, support for Trump dropped post-Jan. 6. Of white Republicans who believe white people are experiencing systemic racism in a country that is predominantly white and a government that is overwhelmingly white, support for the president who caused an insurrection on U.S. soil remained steadfast. In the second and third studies, researchers replicated this analysis using data from the Gallup World Poll and the Pew Research Center, respectively. Both databases surveyed Americans both before and after the Capitol riot, and both studies of those databases produced generally the same results: white people continued to support propagandist and riot instigators because they're really upset that white supremacy doesn't feel as potent to them as it used to be. (Obviously, I'm paraphrasing here.) More from PsyPost: To determine whether this pattern held over time, the authors examined four additional surveys conducted between 2021 and 2024. Across all these studies, the results were consistent: white Republicans who expressed strong disapproval of January 6th were generally less supportive of Trump, but that relationship was significantly weaker among those who felt white people were under threat. Even years after the Capitol riot, status threat continued to shape how white Republicans evaluated Trump's actions and political future. This is why Trump's anti-DEI propaganda has been so effective. It's why the white nationalist Great Replacement Theory has been so thoroughly embraced by MAGA Republicans, including GOP legislators. Trump spent months repeating factless claims that the 2020 election had been rigged against him, then he told his followers to go to the Capitol and 'fight like hell,' which they did. It's not any more complicated than that. Trump lied, influenced a terrorist attack, and got elected again a few years later by running a campaign designed to cater to white grievance and MAGA white delusion. Sad. SEE ALSO: Poll Shows Everyone But MAGA Believes The Trump Administration Should Follow Court Orders Protecting Protest Rights And Dissent Amid Trump's Attack On Freedom SEE ALSO New Study Shows White Republicans Still Support Trump After Jan. 6 Because Of White Grievance…Also, Water Is Wet was originally published on Black America Web Featured Video CLOSE
Yahoo
04-06-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
New book details ‘troubling history' of eugenics in Texas
AUSTIN (KXAN) — Eugenics, or the pseudoscience of human breeding, reached the height of its notoriety in the early 1900s but never truly disappeared, according to a new book that examines the influence that the debunked movement had on Texas. 'The Purifying Knife: The Troubling History of Eugenics in Texas,' written by Michael Phillips and Betsy Friauf, was published this week. It examines the history and influence of eugenics in the state. Co-author and former history professor Dr. Michael Phillips spoke with KXAN about the book on Wednesday. 'We had mixed feelings doing this book, because this comes in a time when there's so much dangerous rejection of science in terms of vaccines, in terms of climate change and other issues,' Phillips said. Phillips, who earned his doctorate in 2002 at the University of Texas at Austin, has focused his work on the history of racism in Texas. His first book 'White Metropolis: Race, Ethnicity, and Religion in Dallas, 1841–2001' published in 2006 and built off his UT Austin thesis. His and Friauf's research began in 2014. 'Although there were a lot of victims on the way to this science becoming marginalized, the scientific method ultimately did work, and mainstream science did reject it,' he said. 'Eugenics was accepted all across the political spectrum from the very conservative to what were called progressives then, who were the forerunners of liberals today, and it was just accepted scientific wisdom.' Before science moved past eugenics, 36 states passed laws enacting some of the movement's ideas. This included forced sterilization of people deemed 'unfit' — at least 60,000 people were victims of these laws. Texas was one of 12 states that didn't pass eugenics laws, Phillips said. 'Cotton growers in Texas and the big landowners were very much in favor of immigration, because they wanted to exploit Mexican workers as underpaid labor in their fields,' he said. 'Eugenicists were very anti-immigration. So [Texas] had a powerful economic interest that was afraid that if eugenics became law, that immigration from Mexico would stop and that would drive up the cost of their labor.' Fundamentalist Protestantism, which had become a force in Texas politics in the 1920s, was also opposed to eugenicist ideas derived from Darwin's theory of evolution. Phillips said that he sees the emerging pro-natalist movement as a home for discredited eugenics ideas — a natalist conference at UT Austin in March featured speakers who self-described as eugenicists, he said. But also leveled criticism at the environmental movement of the 1960s and 70s for allowing eugenicists. 'I think natalism is easier to sell than outright explicit eugenics. I think a lot of times, modern eugenicists describe themselves as pro-family,' Phillips said. 'But in the 1960s and 1970s … there was a real panic about the world becoming overpopulated. And they really pushed for birth control policy, but they always focused on Africa, Asia and Latin America. It was always places where people of color lived that they wanted to control population.' He warned that people should look critically at anyone who claims the existence of biological differences between racial groups or who believe IQ should determine if a person should be allowed to reproduce. 'There's an assumption that somehow, 'smarter,' whatever that means, is better. And I don't think that necessarily bears up in history,' he said. 'People who had ethics, emotional intelligence, a sense of the need for community, may not have scored well on IQ tests, but they function better in and help contribute to a better society.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Business Wire
04-06-2025
- Business
- Business Wire
Firefly Health Drives Virtual Care Quality as First National Primary Care Practice to Achieve NCQA Accreditation
WATERTOWN, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Firefly Health, a pioneer in virtual-first care, is among five organizations nationwide to earn the prestigious NCQA Virtual Care Accreditation. Importantly, Firefly is the first national primary care practice to receive this designation, distinguishing itself from other accredited programs operating in limited states or providing non-longitudinal care. As healthcare shifts to virtual and hybrid modalities, NCQA identified a need for standardized, safe, effective, and equitable frameworks. Firefly was a key collaborator in this two-year pilot, helping to both develop and then apply for the program. ' NCQA's commitment to quality and patient-centered care aligns with Firefly's mission. Achieving one of the first virtual primary care accreditations reinforced our dedication to high-quality care and strengthened our processes. We're excited to continue partnering with NCQA to set the standard for virtual care, expanding access to patients nationwide, ' said Dr. Nisha Basu, Chief Clinical Officer of Firefly Health. The NCQA Virtual Care Accreditation standards address vital elements of quality and patient protections. Key areas include ensuring personalized, actionable treatment plans that demonstrate a real investment in the patient beyond a virtual interaction. This means assessing virtual care suitability, ensuring translation services, identifying external resources, and utilizing the virtual setting to gather comprehensive patient information, including social determinants of health. Aligning with NCQA's framework, Firefly refined its operations. This included developing detailed Standard Operating Procedures for technology, clinical, and operational practices, and strengthening training. The company also improved its Race, Ethnicity, and Identity (REI) data collection to continually address evolving patient needs. About Firefly Health Firefly is a primary care and health plan provider serving members and employers nationally. Through their hybrid primary care offering, Firefly delivers team-based care that seamlessly integrates primary care, chronic condition management, mental healthcare, and specialty care into its affordable employer-sponsored health plan. Learn more at About NCQA NCQA is a private, nonprofit organization dedicated to improving health care quality. NCQA accredits and certifies a wide range of health care organizations. It also recognizes clinicians and practices in key areas of performance. NCQA's Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set (HEDIS®) is the most widely used performance measurement tool in health care. NCQA's website ( contains information to help consumers, employers and others make more informed health care choices. NCQA can be found online at on Twitter @ncqa, on Facebook at and on LinkedIn at
