Latest news with #viewpointDiversity
Fox News
3 days ago
- Business
- Fox News
Dem senator takes aim at Trump's viewpoint diversity policy, calls it 'micromanaging' colleges
Education Sec. Linda McMahon defended President Donald Trump's efforts to reform Harvard University during a Tuesday hearing on Capitol Hill. McMahon appeared before the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee and faced lengthy criticism from Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., over the administration's actions against Harvard. Murphy began by arguing the Trump administration's instructions to Harvard were contradictory. "You told [Harvard] that they had to end all of their diversity programs, but then that they had to institute viewpoint diversity," Murphy said. "That doesn't make sense." "How do you tell them to end all their diversity programs…while instituting viewpoint diversity?" he asked. "No, the diversity programs we've asked and demanded to be eliminated were the DEI, where those programs were actually pitting one group against another," McMahon responded. "Isn't viewpoint diversity a diversity program?" Murphy pressed. "Viewpoint diversity is an exchange of ideas," McMahon retorted. "Now here, because Harvard only has 3%, by its own numbers, conservative faculty. Do you think they are allowing enough viewpoint diversity?" Murphy then shifted to the authority underpinning the Trump administration's effort, demanding to know what stature allowed them to "micromanage" Harvard's policies. "The statute is Title VI," McMahon says after a number of confused exchanges. "That is why we filed a case and defunded, or stopped the funding for a while, for Harvard as well as we did Columbia." "I don't understand any conception of civil rights law to give you the authorization to micromanage viewpoint diversity on campus. That's not authorized under the civil rights title provided to you by the United States Congress," Murphy said, closing out his questioning. The Trump administration is threatening to pull all federal funds from Harvard, amounting to a staggering $100 million in contracts, if it does not comply with the administration's reforms. So far, Harvard has remained resistant.
National Post
5 days ago
- Business
- National Post
Christopher Dummitt: Systemic discrimination is legal in Canada
Article content One wonders whether it even comes up when employers or universities set about establishing discriminatory affirmative action programs. Or, more likely, are they working from a consensus within the institution that there really are disadvantaged groups — and that this is obviously caused by discrimination? Article content We should be clear: it's entirely possible that disadvantages are caused by subtle forms of discrimination that continue despite Canada's now very equal legal system. It's certainly possible — and the idea ought to get a fair hearing. Article content But in many progressive circles today, it's now considered rude to even ask the question — to wonder whether social and economic differences between groups might be caused by something other than prejudice. Article content This is why the topic of viewpoint diversity — in our universities, our law schools, in the world of expertise — isn't the esoteric topic it might seem. Article content Even as the wider Canadian society seems to be retreating from the excesses of cancel culture and woke shibboleths (good news on that front), the staffing of our knowledge institutions, our universities and our law schools still overwhelmingly comes from those on the left — from the same groups who assume that socioeconomic variation is, de facto, linked to discrimination. Article content Article content These are the people who get to decide when — if ever — the only legal form of systemic discrimination allowed in Canada (affirmative action) will ever end. Article content There's plenty of evidence coming out of think-tanks and even Statistics Canada that the Canada of 2025 has moved a long way from the Canada of 1981, where affirmative action was justified. The most economically well-to-do Canadians are not those of European ancestry — despite the popular perception to the contrary. The groups of Canadians with the highest income — and highest levels of educational attainment — are those of South Asian and Chinese ancestry. Whites tend to come in the middle of the pack, while Black Canadians and Indigenous people are lower down the economic scale. If affirmative action is going to continue, the public needs to be reassured that those justifying its existence, at the very least, keep up to date with which groups are up and which are down — though even this framing shows how divisive such policies would be. Article content Article content There's also plenty of evidence that the 'race conscious' programs allowed by the Charter — and pushed by DEI advocates — actually exacerbate ethnic conflict in Canada. Article content Article content Article content
