#new college alumni association | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

funkopersonal · 4 months

Text

Here's your daily reminder that...

Jews are only 0.2% of the worlds population but...

Jews make up 14% of the World Total and 38% of the United States of America total winners for the Nobel Prize for Literature (source).

Of the 965 individual recipients of the Nobel Prize and the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences between 1901 and 2023, at least 214 have been Jews or people with at least one Jewish parent, representing 22% of all recipients. (source)

Jews make up 14% of the total winners of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction 18% of the total winners of the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry; 53% of the total winners of the Pulitzer Prize for Non-Fiction (source).

Jews make up 39% of the total winners of the Antoinette Perry (Tony) Award for Best Play; 54% of the total winners of the Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical (with 62% of all Composers and 66% of all Lyricists of Best Musical-winning productions being Jewish) (source).

Jews make up 40% of the total winners of the Academy Award (Oscar) for Best Original Screenplay; and 34% of the total winners of the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay (source).

Although Jews constitute only 3% of the U.S. population...

80% of the nation’s professional comedians are Jewish (source).

90% of American comic book creators are jewish (source)

38% of the recipients of the United States National Medal of Science are Jewish (Source).

Jews are very successful, with educational levels higher than all other U.S. ethnic groups with the exception of Asian Americans, and income levels the highest of all groups. Six out of ten Jewish adults have college degrees, and 41% of Jewish families report a household income of $75,000 or more” (source)

Jews are a minority across the globe. We've been historically opressed and hated. But these key figures from history are all Jewish and loved, yet many don't even know they're jewish (or they don't know these people in the first place!):

Stan Lee (birth name: Stanley Martin Lieber) - An American comic book writer and editor, Former executive vice president and publisher of marvel Comics, creator of iron-man, spider-man, and more.

Albert Einstein - a Theoretical physicist, Received the 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics, developed the theory of relativity and the "worlds most famous equation" (E = mc^2), and more.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg - Former Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, co-authored the initial law school casebook on sex discrimination, co-founded the Women’s Rights Project at the ACLU in 1972, and more.

Jack Kirby (birth name: Jacob Kurtzberg) - an American comic book artist, co-creator of Captain America, one of the most influential comic book artists

Harry Houdini (birth name: Erich Weisz) - a Hungarian-American escape artist, illusionist, and stunt performer, noted for his escape acts.

Emma Lazarus - An American author remembered for her sonnet "The New Colossus," Inspired by The Statue of Liberty and inscribed on its pedestal as of 1903.

Julius Rosenthal, Lillian Wald, Rabbi Emil G. Hirsch, Stephen Wise, and Henry Moskowitz - Jewish activists that helped form the NAACP along with W.E.B. Dubois, Ida B. Wells-Barnett, and Mary Church Terrell.

Mark Zuckerberg - Founder and CEO of Meta, a businessman who co-founded the social media service Facebook, and within four years became the world’s youngest self-made billionaire Harvard alumni.

Joseph Pulitzer - a politician and newspaper publisher, his endowment to the Columbia University established the Pulitzer Prizes in 1917, he founded the Columbia School of Journalism which opened in 1912.

Jacob William Davis - a Latvian tailor who is credited with inventing modern jeans and who worked with Levi Strauss to patent and mass-produce them, died.

Irving Berlin - drafted at age 30 to write morale-boosting songs for military revues (including “God Bless America”). Many Berlin songs remained popular for decades, including “Puttin’ on the Ritz,” “Cheek to Cheek,” “Anything You Can Do (I Can Do Better),” “There’s No Business Like Show Business,” and two celebrating Christian holidays: “White Christmas” and “Easter Parade.”

Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel - received his doctorate in Berlin. He was arrested by the Nazis in 1938, moved to the U.S. in 1940, and became an influential figure in the 1960s, marching with the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in Selma, Alabama, and speaking out against the Vietnam War.

Elie Wiesel - Romanian-American writer and professor, holocaust survivor, nobel laureate, political activist. Authored 57 books including Night, a work based on his experiences as a Jewish prisoner in the Auschwitz and Buchenwald concentration camps

Bob Dylan - an icon of folk, rock and protest music, won the Nobel Prize in literature for his complex and poetic lyrics.

J. Robert Oppenheimer - ran the Manhattan Project, considered the "father of the atomic Bomb," presented with the Enrico Fermi Award by President Lyndon Johnson.

Betty Friedan - co-founded the National Organization of Women and became its first president, wrote The Feminine Mystique (1963) and helped spark the second wave of feminism.

Gloria Steinem - one of the most prominent feminists of all time, launched Ms. Magazine and co-founded the National Women’s Political Caucus with Bella Abzug, Shirley Chisholm, Betty Friedan and Myrlie Evers-Williams, widow of Medgar Evers.

Sergey Brin - an American businessman best known for co-founding Google with Larry Page, president of Alphabet Inc.

Judith Heumann - a founder of the disability rights movement, led a 26-day sit-in at a federal building in San Francisco. The protest spurred implementation of Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, a precursor to the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Larry Kramer - co-founded Gay Men’s Health Crisis in response to the AIDS epidemic but was soon ousted over his confrontational activism. He went on to help launch a more strident group, ACT UP, and wrote a critically acclaimed play, The Normal Heart, about the early AIDS years in New York City.

Steven Spielberg - released his critically acclaimed epic film Schindler’s List, based on the true story of a German industrialist who saved Jews during the Holocaust. The movie won seven Oscars and led Spielberg to launch the Shoah Foundation at the University of Southern California, which filmed interviews with 52,000 survivors of the Holocaust and genocides in Nanjing and Rwanda.

Calvin Klein - made designer jeans and the infamous ad starring Brooke Shields revolutionized the fashion industry, sold his company to Phillips-Van Heusen (now PVH) for $430 million. Klein was the first designer to win three consecutive Coty Awards for womenswear.

Daveed Diggs - an American actor, rapper, and singer-songwriter. he originated the dual roles of Marquis de Lafayette and Thomas Jefferson in the musical Hamilton, for which he won a 2016 Tony Award for Best Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical. Along with the main cast of Hamilton, he was awarded a Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album in the same year.

And so much more. (a pretty decent list is available here)

Not only that, but the following are all Jewish inventions...

The Teddy Bear - made by Morris and Rose Michtom in honor of Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt.

The Ballpoint Pen - *the first commercially sucessfull ballpoint pen was made by Lazlo Biro, a Hungarian-Jew, and his brother.

Mobile Phones - made by Martin Cooper, nicknamed the "father of the cellphone", and was born in Chicago to Ukrainian Jewish immigrants.

The Barbie - made by Ruth Marianna Handler, born to Polish-Jewish immigrants.

Power Rangers - made by Haim Saban, a Jewish-Egyptian

Video Games - made by Ralph Baer, a German-Jew

Peeps - made by Sam Born, a Russian-Jewish immigrants who came to the United States in 1909.

Cards Against Humanity - created by a group of Jewish boys from the same high school

Many Superheroes including Superman, Ironman, spider-man, batman, and more!

and more! (an illustrated list available here.)

Conclusion: If you're Jewish, be proud. You come from a long line of successful people. No matter what happened to them, Jews persevered, and they strived for sucess. Be proud of your culture, your history, these are your people. You're Jewish.

(feel free to reblog and add more, or just comment and i'll add it!)

Last Updated: June 25, 1:35 AM EST

#funkowrites #jumblr #jewblr #jewish tumblr #israel solidarity #judaism #jewish #antisemitism #stop antisemitism #op is a proud jew #proud to be jewish #jewish joy #jewish positivity #jew #proud jew #we will persevere

470 notes · View notes

jakeluppin · 9 months

Text

A long but good read on antisemitism at universities and what could/should be done on campuses. Really good, especially for those of us in academia. Full article below, but a few highlights I wanted to share:

Many students today have little exposure to ideological diversity on campus, and most agree on most politically fraught topics, such as abortion or transgender rights, said Eitan Hersh, a professor of political science at Tufts University. Since issues in the Middle East are so divisive, even among groups that otherwise tend to align politically, students don’t know how to talk about them. They are “not equipped to know how to deal with that,” Hersh said.

“Students have been entirely left alone to sort this out for themselves with zero institutional support, with zero attempts to organize any kind of rational discussion or conversation about the issue,” [Tyler Austin Harper, an assistant professor of environmental studies at Bates College] said. “It’s not a big surprise that they’re floundering when adults have been too cowardly to do their jobs.”

A pro-Palestinian demonstrator asked [Jared Levy, an 18-year-old freshman at the University of Texas at Austin] how he could defend Israel. “I sat there in the rain for an hour and a half talking to students about why I supported Israel,” Levy said. He talked about the importance of a Jewish homeland, about his conviction that Hamas was a terrorist organization, and that Israel had made mistakes but had a right to defend itself. Some of the students with the pro- Palestinian group, he said, didn’t understand what Hamas was and had just been told by friends or social media that Israel was committing genocide and was an apartheid state.

“A lot of students have been eager to engage in dialogue and weren’t just here to yell in my face,” Levy said. At the local Hillel, a Jewish campus-life organization with chapters on many campuses, he said they’ve discussed organizing a “neutral- ground dialogue.” But despite Levy’s success in engaging with students one on one, he doesn’t feel the campus is ready for group discussions. “We came to the conclusion that things need to cool down first,” he said.

A Jewish student’s nose is broken in a melee sparked by attempts to burn an Israeli flag. Messages declaring “Glory to our Martyrs” and “Divestment From Zionist Genocide Now” are projected onto the façade of a campus building. Jewish students huddle inside a campus library while protesters shouting “Free Palestine” bang on the glass walls.

With each new headline and video snippet that goes viral, the pressure on colleges to respond forcefully and quickly to incidents of antisemitism is building. So too is the pressure to resist calls from politicians, donors, and alumni to crack down on protesters in ways that stifle protected speech.

College leaders, who’ve been lambasted over the past few months for failing to tackle antisemitism with the same ardor they’ve confronted other forms of prejudice and hate, are having to make quick judgment calls under the harsh glare of the national spotlight and the war between Israel and Hamas.

The questions are complicated, and backlash is certain. What counts as antisemitism? How can campuses help Jewish students feel safe? And perhaps of greatest consequence for colleges, where is the line between protected speech and prohibited harassment, and how should students who cross it be disciplined?

College leaders today “face tremendous pressures from competing groups of students, faculty, alumni, and administrators,” said Ethan Katz, associate professor of history and Jewish studies at the University of California at Berkeley, one of several universities facing lawsuits over alleged antisemitism. “The number and intensity of those pressures is pretty widely underestimated by the public.”

The Chronicle spoke with more than 20 scholars, free-speech experts, faculty members, and students — all of whom echoed a similar message: Battling antisemitism is one of the most pressing challenges facing campus leaders today, and it is also one of the most difficult.

Many colleges have taken a typically academic approach to the situation, forming or expanding task forces on antisemitism, and often, Islamophobia. To protect students who feel threatened, these groups have proposed tightening security, clarifying reporting procedures, and improving mental-health supports. They’re examining speech codes and student-conduct policies to ensure they’re being applied evenly and fairly. The task forces themselves are proving controversial, especially when it comes to who should be appointed to them.

When campus leaders are called on to intervene in a dispute, the terrain can turn treacherous. If they discipline pro-Palestinian protesters over chants many consider antisemitic, they’re accused of trampling free-speech rights. If they defend the right to demonstrate, they’re accused of failing to protect Jewish students from antisemitism. Impartial stances are attacked as weak, sparking debates about whether campus leaders should comment at all.

In Utah, Gov. Spencer Cox has made it clear he doesn’t want the leaders of public colleges speaking out about the Israel-Hamas war, or any other current events. “I do not care what your position is on Israel and Palestine. I don’t,” he said on December 1 after the Utah Board of Higher Education passed a resolution requiring colleges and their leaders to remain neutral on such topics. The board also called on colleges to spell out the protections and limitations of their speech policies.

Punishing protesters has only stoked anger on some campuses. When the president of George Washington University, Ellen M. Granberg, denounced pro-Palestinian messages projected onto the library in late October as antisemitic and the university suspended the group responsible, Students for Justice in Palestine, demonstrators formed a new coalition. Declaring that “the student movement won’t be silenced,” they marched to the president’s home.

Tightening restrictions on when and where students could protest has often resulted in even rowdier clashes. At the entrance to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, known as Lobby 7, pro-Palestinian protesters went ahead with a demonstration in November even after the area was left off a list of approved sites that the administration released the night before the planned event. Students clashed, some were suspended, and outrage followed.

In early December, that anger erupted on the national stage, when three university presidents testifying before a House congressional hearing on antisemitism appeared to waffle on a question about whether students should be punished for calling for the genocide of Jewish people. The backlash led to the resignation of one of the presidents, the University of Pennsylvania’s Elizabeth Magill, and was a factor in the resignation of another, Harvard University’s Claudine Gay.

Nationally, colleges have been accused of doing too little, too late. Between October 7 — when Hamas militants attacked Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking 240 hostage — and December 7, the Anti-Defamation League recorded more than 2,000 antisemitic incidents in the United States, compared with 465 during that period in 2022. At the same time, the free-expression group PEN America points out that there’s been a significant uptick in harassment of Muslim, Arab, and Palestinian students since the Israel-Hamas war broke out. Students have reported being called terrorists and having hijabs pulled off. Some politicians, including former President Donald J. Trump, have called for international students to forfeit their visas for participating in pro-Palestinian rallies. Three Palestinian American students were shot and injured — one seriously — on November 25 in Burlington, Vt., during their Thanksgiving break.

Pressure is building on colleges, and it’s coming from both Republicans and Democrats. Republicans have seized on rising antisemitism as evidence that the culture of higher education has dangerously liberal leanings. They’ve accused colleges of more aggressively enforcing speech and harassment codes when Black or Hispanic students accuse people of being racist and looking the other way when hateful, or even violent, speech is hurled at Jewish students.

More than two dozen colleges are under investigation by the U.S. Department of Education over complaints of antisemitism or Islamophobia. The vast majority of the investigations began after the October 7 Hamas attacks. The Education Department reminded colleges in November of their legal obligations under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to “take immediate and appropriate action to respond to harassment that creates a hostile environment.” That extends to discrimination against people based on shared ancestry or ethnic characteristics, including Jewish, Arab, Muslim, and Palestinian students.

Students complaining of antisemitism have sued several universities, including the University of Pennsylvania, the University of California system and its Berkeley campus, New York University, and Carnegie Mellon University.

Eyal Yakoby, a senior at the University of Pennsylvania who spoke at a news conference before the House hearing, is one of two students who sued his university, calling it an “incubation lab for virulent anti-Jewish hatred, harassment, and discrimination.” The lawsuit contends that Jewish students have been subjected to antisemitic chants, slurs, and graffiti, including a spray-painted swastika in an academic building.

Yakoby says the university has ignored his complaints, while aggressively disciplining those who harass other minority groups. “When it comes to the protection of Penn’s Jewish students,” the lawsuit states, “the rules do not apply.”

Meanwhile, the American Civil Liberties Union joined a pro-Palestinian group in suing Florida higher-education officials and Gov. Ron DeSantis after the Republican governor ordered public colleges in the state to “deactivate” campus chapters of Students for Justice in Palestine, and Chancellor Ray Rodrigues of the State University System of Florida conveyed that message to system presidents. That order, the plaintiffs said, violated the First Amendment.

Threats are also coming from state politicians, including Democrats. On December 9, Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York said in a letter that a call for genocide made on a public-college campus would violate state and federal law, as well as codes of conduct. Colleges that failed to discipline students for engaging in such behavior, she wrote, would face “aggressive enforcement action.”

To Jeffrey Melnick, an American-studies professor at the University of Massachusetts at Boston whose research interests include Black-Jewish relations, reports of antisemitism have turned into a “moral panic”: They have roots in a real situation but have been heightened out of fear. Colleges need to carefully distinguish, he says, between true instances of antisemitism and those he believes shouldn’t be considered antisemitism, such as chanting “Intifada revolution.”

If phrases like that make Jewish students uncomfortable, colleges need to help them understand their history and what they mean to the Palestinian movement, said Melnick, who is Jewish.

“Our main job as university instructors is ‘teaching the conflicts,’” he said. “You don’t shy away from them. You say: ‘This is complicated. A lot of people feel really invested in this, and now we need to kind of drill down and figure out what it all means.’”

While antisemitism needs to be confronted, Melnick said, the “panic” is distracting from the continuing violence in Gaza as well as other forms of hate on campuses. When college presidents are called on to condemn antisemitism and “no questions are asked” about how they’re handling Islamophobia, he said, “that silence speaks really loudly to me.”

Kenneth S. Stern, now director of the Bard Center for the Study of Hate, in 2004 drafted what became known as the “working definition” of antisemitism as a way to help data collectors identify trends in such incidents. Stern identifies antisemitism as “a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews.” He goes on to say, “Rhetorical and physical manifestations of antisemitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities.”

The definition also provides examples of antisemitic acts, including “denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination,” “drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis,” and “holding Jews collectively responsible for actions of the state of Israel.”

Though other definitions of antisemitism exist, Stern’s is one of the most widely accepted, having been adopted by the U.S. Department of State and the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance. In 2019 then-President Trump required all federal agencies, including the Education Department, to use Stern’s definition when assessing violations to Title VI.

The move drew widespread criticism, especially from Stern, who considered it an attack on free speech. Using the definition in Title VI enforcement has a “chilling effect” on administrators, who may try to over-correct speech violations out of fear of being sued, he told The Chronicle.

Such controversies have surfaced repeatedly in recent months. Chants like “Globalize the Intifada” and “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” have become staples of pro-Palestinian protests.

Rep. Elise Stefanik, Republican of New York, demanded a yes or no answer during the House hearing in December about whether calling for genocide — which she’d earlier equated with such pro-Palestinian chants — would warrant discipline. None of the presidents pointed out that the meanings of those phrases, and whether or not they’re antisemitic, are contested. The impression they left in those deer-in- the-headlights moments, when they all insisted that context was important, was that they wouldn’t immediately condemn actual, explicit calls for the elimination of the Jewish people.

Many Jews and their supporters do see the chants as calling for violence, the destruction of Israel, and the genocide of Jewish people across the world. But to many of the pro-Palestinian demonstrators, including students, the calls are for the liberation of Palestinians and the return of land they believe belongs to them.

Problems arise when definitions of antisemitism, such as Stern’s, are used as speech codes, said Will Creeley, legal director at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), a free-speech advocacy group. Many of the examples listed under Stern’s definition are protected speech under the First Amendment, as are pro-Palestinian chants, even some cases when one calls for “horrific acts, including genocide.” Other acts, especially ones that are true threats or incitements to violence, go beyond the bounds of the First Amendment, Creeley said.

“To impose a blanket ban on certain sentiments or phrases,” he added, “would imperil a great deal of constitutionally protected expression.”

In an initial hearing on antisemitism, in November, House Republicans spent much of the time blasting campus offices of diversity, equity, and inclusion, accusing them of dividing students and fomenting hatred, especially against Jewish students. Some argued that such offices actually encourage anti-Jewish sentiments by dividing groups of people into oppressors and oppressed and failing to see Jews, whom many regard as relatively privileged white people, as among those oppressed. In the second hearing, with the college presidents, Republican representatives repeatedly raised questions about whether Harvard was disciplining students for racist acts but not antisemitic ones.

A recent article on Jewish Insider.com described deep rifts within the current and former leadership of prominent Jewish communal organizations about whether campus diversity offices can be partners in combating antisemitism. Two former longtime heads of the Anti-Defamation League and American Jewish Committee argued that those offices and the infrastructure they support only worsen problems for Jews. Leaders of those organizations have recently urged members to work with diversity offices to better incorporate Jewish concerns into the DEI structure.

Meanwhile, lawmakers have taken advantage of the spotlight on antisemitism to intensify attacks on campus diversity offices. U.S. Rep. Dan Crenshaw, a Republican from Texas, introduced a bill in December that would strip federal funding for any university that requires students to write diversity statements, blaming them for the spread of antisemitism on college campuses.

“Make no mistake — the DEI bureaucracy is directly responsible for a toxic campus culture that separates everyone into oppressor vs. oppressed,” he said in a news release announcing the legislation, which also bans diversity statements as a condition of employment.

Paulette Granberry Russell, president of the National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education, calls such critiques “an orchestrated attempt to discredit and dismantle diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts in higher education.” She added that “these attempts by individuals, well-funded organizations, and legislators who have leveled such criticisms and misrepresentations stand in opposition to higher education’s efforts to create more diverse and inclusive campuses and experiences for all students.”

Many diversity offices, Granberry Russell said, provide opportunities for cross- cultural dialogues and encourage students from various racial and cultural groups to collaborate on community-service and other projects.

Georgina Dodge, vice president for diversity and inclusion at the University of Maryland at College Park, said her office is working closely with a task force on antisemitism and Islamophobia created in November at the main campus in College Park.

“Within our department, we have a unit dedicated to supporting any member of our community who has experienced hate or bias, which includes antisemitism,” Dodge wrote in an email to The Chronicle. “This has been a key element of our work for years, and recent events have only underscored the importance of this kind of care on our campuses.”

Granberry Russell agrees. “What is evident today is that there is much more work ahead,” she wrote in an email to The Chronicle. “But to ignore the work, and the evidence-based research that informs the work, of offices specifically designed to respond to the needs of a diverse campus, and to conclude that such offices” contribute to antisemitism is “ill-informed and short-sighted.”

Some, however, question whether diversity offices are equipped to handle the complexities of antisemitism and Islamophobia, especially at a time when their work is under siege from right-wing groups that have succeeded in getting many banned.

“Antisemitism doesn’t fit with what is generally DEI’s focus today — on structural issues of equity and inclusion,” said Berkeley’s Katz, who’s also faculty director for the UC flagship’s Center for Jewish Studies. In 2019, he co-founded the university’s Antisemitism Education Initiative, which has worked closely with campus groups, including the university’s DEI office, to educate people about the roots and different forms of anti-Jewish bias and hatred. That kind of close cooperation with diversity offices, he said, is somewhat of a rarity across higher education, as well as corporations.

“It’s clearly very difficult for DEI professionals to figure out what to do with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” Katz said. “When attacks are coming from white nationalists shouting ‘Jews will not replace us,’” in Charlottesville, Va., “it’s much easier to wrap your head around it and get on board.” But when the hostile language is coming from the left, and the terminology is disputed, the connections to hatred and exclusion might be harder for diversity officers to grasp without additional training and education, Katz said.

Colleges have failed to help students navigate “one of the most complicated geopolitical issues in the 21st century,” said Tyler Austin Harper, an assistant professor of environmental studies at Bates College who frequently writes about issues involving politics, culture, and race.

Part of an administrator’s job is encouraging open debate about complicated topics, he said. Rather than censoring student speech, colleges should be encouraging faculty members to model how to have conversations with people who disagree with them.

“Students have been entirely left alone to sort this out for themselves with zero institutional support, with zero attempts to organize any kind of rational discussion or conversation about the issue,” Harper said. “It’s not a big surprise that they’re floundering when adults have been too cowardly to do their jobs.”

That’s assuming that students are ready to have those conversations. “A lot of campuses are struggling with what to do now,” said Todd Green, director of campus partnerships at Interfaith America, which works to promote greater understanding among people of different religious backgrounds. “Do you try to bring students together now, or wait?”

In a different time, his group might have suggested bringing people from different faiths together in a room to try to find some common ground. To many, though, the issues at a time of daily bloodshed are too fraught, the emotions too raw. People from opposite sides may be shouting at each other, but there’s little talking, Green said.

Interfaith America, he added, “isn’t traditionally a crisis-response group. But we’re in the midst of a crisis that, in my years of higher education, is the most tense it’s ever been on campuses — even compared with post 9/11. In this moment, it’s very difficult to bring students together to try to build relationships.”

Some students, like Jared Levy, an 18-year-old freshman at the University of Texas at Austin, are doing their best to connect. Levy went to a Jewish boarding school in New York City, where his parents are both rabbis. In November, hundreds of UT students walked out of class to join in a large pro-Palestinian demonstration. Levy, with an Israeli flag pinned on his backpack, noticed a small group of Jewish students standing quietly off to the side. “People are being very cautious. You don’t want to be the next student to get punched in the face,” Levy said, referring to an incident at Tulane University where a Jewish student was smacked with a megaphone during a tussle over an Israeli flag.

A pro-Palestinian demonstrator asked him how he could defend Israel. “I sat there in the rain for an hour and a half talking to students about why I supported Israel,” Levy said. He talked about the importance of a Jewish homeland, about his conviction that Hamas was a terrorist organization, and that Israel had made mistakes but had a right to defend itself. Some of the students with the pro- Palestinian group, he said, didn’t understand what Hamas was and had just been told by friends or social media that Israel was committing genocide and was an apartheid state.

Other students, like Katie Halushka, a Jewish senior at George Washington University, also wouldn’t be comfortable participating in an open forum or other type of civil discourse. While she hasn’t felt threatened much on campus, even after Students for Justice in Palestine projected messages on a campus building, she’s still tried to avoid talking about the war out of fear that it could permanently sever some of her relationships.

“It’s been sort of a ‘damned if you do, damned if you don’t’ situation,” Halushka said. “If you say anything, someone will be upset with you.”

A popular move among college administrators has been to establish advisory groups to combat antisemitism and Islamophobia. They are typically made up of faculty members, experts, and sometimes students.

Most of the groups, often called task forces, lack the authority to make changes or respond directly to incident reports, but they meet multiple times a week to evaluate campus policies and climate.

Following its creation in early November, Columbia University’s 15-person Task Force on Antisemitism first met in full in mid-December. Columbia has been one of the most tumultuous campuses in recent months, with several tense rallies, dueling faculty statements, and clashes between students. It’s one of the colleges under investigation by the Department of Education for incidents of alleged antisemitism and Islamophobia. The university also banned two pro-Palestinian groups — Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace — saying the groups held “unauthorized” events that included “threatening rhetoric and intimidation.” The following week, 400 students and 200 faculty members protested the suspensions.

One of the group’s main goals is to evaluate the university’s policies on free speech and demonstrations, said Nicholas Lemann, a co-chair of the task force. When Columbia suspended the student groups, many on campus were unclear whether it was on the grounds of an existing campus policy or if the administration had created a new one. Once the group understands the specifics of the policies, Lemann said, they’ll recommend how to revise them.

He also hopes the group can study the root cause of discomfort among Jewish students, evaluate where antisemitism is present in classrooms, and include lessons on antisemitism in orientation programs for incoming freshmen.

“This is not an easy moment at our campus and many other campuses,” Lemann said. “But I do think that our charge from the president and the way we have been working so far makes me optimistic that we can produce something useful.”

Some task forces have had a rockier start, though. Ari Kelman recently resigned as co-chair of a Stanford University subcommittee on antisemitism, bias, and communication, after some controversy about his writings on the difficulties of defining antisemitism.

David Wolpe, a rabbi at Sinai Temple in Los Angeles, arrived at Harvard University’s Divinity School as a visiting scholar planning to do research and teach a class on Jewish spirituality. But since October 7, combating antisemitism has become his “full-time job.”

Amid a whirlwind of complaints over her response to the war and a highly publicized statement from a coalition of student groups solely blaming Israel for “all unfolding violence,” Gay, who was then Harvard’s president, called Wolpe asking for help. She was “clearly shaken,” Wolpe said, and he agreed to join a new advisory panel to help her respond to antisemitism on campus.

Wolpe’s inbox has since been filled with reports of antisemitism at Harvard, and he’s spent much of his time talking with administrators, donors, and alumni about the problem. But following Gay’s testimony during the House hearing this month, Wolpe met a breaking point. In a now-viral X thread, he announced his resignation from the panel.

While Wolpe anticipated that the university would make changes to campus, he said it wasn’t moving fast enough to discipline students, define antisemitism, enforce current regulations, or begin “serious education about Judaism and antisemitism.” Gay’s testimony was the final straw. “I saw what was going on as a five-alarm fire,” Wolpe said. “The way it was being treated was a sort of slow- burning flame.”

The focus, he said, should be on creating civil discourse and communication. Many campuses have become “screaming echo-chambers” where students find it impossible to have a conversation with someone whose view is different from their own, he said.

“If you can’t model civil discourse at Harvard University, where do you expect it?” Wolpe said.

There’s no sign that the political, cultural, and legal pressures on colleges over their handling of antisemitism will let up anytime soon. In addition to investigating the responses to antisemitism at Harvard, the University of Pennsylvania, and MIT, the House Committee on Education and the Workforce has set up an email address to report antisemitism on college campuses.

Wealthy donors will continue to flex their muscle, and faculty groups will continue to push back. The president of the American Association of University Professors, Irene Mulvey, issued a statement on December 12 saying that universities are obliged to protect both student safety and free expression. “We must not allow partisan actors to exploit this moment to demand further control over university curriculum and policy in order to shape American higher education to a political agenda,” she wrote.

Student protests continued to reverberate as the semester came to a close. Many of the demonstrators’ tactics have become increasingly disruptive — sit-ins, occupying buildings past normal hours of operation, and directly targeting campus programs and partnerships with Israel.

Colleges have ramped up their consequences as well. On December 11, 41 Brown University students were arrested after holding a pro-Palestinian sit-in at a university building and refusing to leave before 6 p.m. The next day, Rutgers University suspended a chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine on its New Brunswick campus for “disrupting classes, a program, meals, and students studying” and “allegations of vandalism,” according to a letter an administrator sent the organization. The student group accused the university of applying a “racist double standard” and attempting to silence Palestinian voices. Rutgers is the first public college to suspend the group.

As war continues to rage in the Gaza Strip, those who are pleading for a free exchange on campus of even sharply divergent opinions worry it may never come. Melnick, the professor from the University of Massachusetts at Boston, said that despite his “annoyingly optimistic” nature, he’s never seen the campus climate as grim as it has been over the past few months. And, with no easy solutions, some fear the turmoil could deepen in the new year.

An incident at Syracuse University in December underscored just how fraught things have become. Even a seemingly innocuous event — in this case an advertised study session before finals — can become a flashpoint. Students were gathered in the student center on December 14, three days after the university’s chancellor had released a statement saying that calling for the genocide of any group of people would violate the university’s conduct code. One student had taped a flier to her laptop that read “globalize the Intifada.” Some students complained they felt threatened. A campus administrator asked the student to remove it and she refused, a video posted on Instagram showed. The administrator told her the word called for genocide, and constituted harassment. She told him the word meant uprising and did not call for genocide.

A campus spokeswoman said other students had similar fliers that they were told to put away in their notebooks or book bags and that when they didn’t, they were told such refusal violated the student-conduct code. It’ll be up to the university’s Community Standards office to determine what, if any, punishment they’ll face.

#scott.txt #jumblr #i/p #academia #university

9 notes · View notes

detroitlib · 2 years

Text

Portrait of violinist Kemper Harreld, on right, posing with a group of unidentified men and women on building steps. Embossed on front: "A.P. Bedou, New Orleans." Label on back: "Kemper Harreld. Two programs bearing the name of Kemper Harreld in two of his roles -- as a concert violinist and as a discover and presenter of Black artists. For forty-five years was head of the music department at Morehouse College in Atlanta and through its alumni, and the alumni of associated Spellman college, his musical influence spread through the nation. After his retirement Mr. Harreld was a vigorous participant in the musical life of Detroit where his daughter Josephine Harreld Love, a pianist and director of Your Heritage House, resides. Kemper Harreld was a protégé of Mme. Hackley and active in the founding of the National Association of Negro Musicians." Handwritten on back: "Harreld, Kemper. Lower right hand side, glasses."

E. Azalia Hackley Collection of African Americans in the Performing Arts, Detroit Public Library

#kemper harreld #music #music history #detroit #detroit history #national association of negro musicians #african american #african american history #detroit public library

43 notes · View notes

tarobii · 1 year

Text

The Four Seasons Academy

Undersociation Masterpost here

The Academy has two main goals: to adequately prepare and educate students for the future; and to adequately prepare future Association employees.

The Academy is basically a prerequisite to working at the Association. It’s not a requirement, but it would greatly benefit the potential employees’ chances.

Students of high school age are in attendance.

However, it has a separate department with adults. This department is also where any employees of the Association receive training. As such, the Disciplinary Department of the Association operates here regularly.

=====

Dorms

The four dorms of the Academy are named after the four seasons.

There are eight dorms in total: two of each season, one for the high schoolers and one for the college age students.

Each dorm has a warden and vice head.

=====

Magic

Depending on the dorm a student is in, they are all taught to wield some form of elemental magic.

Winter: ice and temperature manipulation

Most students use this temperature manipulation to make the area colder, but they are also capable of making the area warmer, although students seem to struggle with that.

Spring: earth and generally things to do with nature

Summer: fire and water, more proficient students are able to manipulate the temperature as well

Autumn: wind and some other wild cards

=====

More info

Students are still able to use any magic they knew prior to joining a dorm, as well as learn any new magic other than their respective dorm elements.

The students are all given basic combat training so that they can handle the types of entities that the Association contains.

Students can get more training if they so wish, or if their desired division requires it.

Seniors (4th years) are able to choose between on-field internships or continuing their studies at the Academy for their last year of school.

There are few occasions where a graduate of the Academy does not wish to work at the Association. These alumni are allowed to live normal lives, under the condition that they do not leak any secrets about the Association. If this is violated, they are silenced.

#associationverse #undersociation #undertale #undertale au #utmv

12 notes · View notes

religion-is-a-mental-illness · 1 year

Text

By: John Sailer

Published: Sep 9, 2023

What happens in California usually doesn’t stay in California — and that’s bad news for higher education.

In his latest piece for the New York Times, Michael Powell catalogs just how extensively the Golden State’s universities have embraced mandatory diversity statements when hiring faculty. From junior college to prestigious research university, scientists and scholars throughout the state must demonstrate their commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) to remain in good standing.

By now, this should come as no surprise, but it is striking to see some of the most egregious ways the policy plays out. In 2016, the piece notes, at least five University of California (UC) campuses decided to initially screen faculty job applicants based only on diversity statements. For one large hiring initiative at UC Berkeley — the Life Sciences Initiative — the faculty search committee eliminated three-fourths of the applicant pool on the basis of diversity statements alone. Berkeley’s rubric for assessing diversity statements, moreover, dictates a low score for candidates who speak positively about diversity but in vague terms. Even more remarkably, it gives a low score to candidates who say they prefer to “treat everyone the same.”

All of this is especially notable because of what California represents to American public higher education. Out of any state, California best embodies the American vision of universal higher education — its promises and perils.

In 1960, UC System President Clark Kerr spearheaded the “California Master Plan for Higher Education,” an attempt to modernise the state’s system of higher education. The Master Plan institutionalised a rigidly tiered system for California’s colleges and universities, reserving the UC system for the top 12.5% of the state’s graduating high school students, the California State system for the top 33.3%, and the California Community Colleges system for everyone else.

The plan captured the country’s strong faith in higher education, its aspiration to send virtually every young person to college. Kerr once jokingly quipped that the mission of the university is “to provide sex for the students, sports for the alumni, and parking for the faculty” — an amusing, and functionally accurate, description.

No doubt, California set the example. Today, it remains a powerhouse; according to the U.S. News and World Report rankings, the UC system includes six out of the top 10 American public universities.

California still sets the tone for American higher education. And for that reason, we might add one more item to Kerr’s tongue-in-cheek summary of the university’s mission: “DEI initiatives for the administrators.” The trend Powell describes — whereby enthusiasm for DEI, whatever that might mean in practice, has become a virtual job requirement for scientists and scholars —has trickled down.

Berkeley’s Life Sciences Initiative, for example, was designed to test whether universities could use a method known as “cluster hiring” to advance the goal of diversity. Basically, the approach involves hiring multiple faculty at once with a heavy emphasis on DEI. In a forthcoming National Association of Scholars report, I describe how DEI-focused cluster hiring has boomed since Berkeley undertook its Life Sciences Initiative.

In 2020, the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center carried out a cluster hire — hiring researchers in cancer, infectious disease, and basic biology — which heavily weighed DEI contributions. In 2021, Vanderbilt University’s Department of Psychology undertook a cluster hire; it eliminated approximately 85% of its candidates based solely on diversity statements. And the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has allocated $241 million in grant money for cluster hires at universities around the country — with the condition that every search committee must require and heavily weigh diversity statements.

Berkeley’s rubric — the one that gives a low score to anyone who espouses race-neutrality — is likewise ubiquitous. Two of the universities receiving NIH money for cluster hires are the University of New Mexico and the University of South Carolina. Through a public records request, I acquired both universities’ rubric for assessing diversity statements, which was published earlier this year. Both universities use the Berkeley rubric verbatim.

As a consequence of these measures, trust in higher education will likely continue to fall, owing in part to a sense that some views are simply not tolerated. But DEI litmus tests do not merely diminish the public’s trust in higher education. They degrade higher education itself. Clark Kerr knew that the mission of the university isn’t sex, sports, or parking. It isn’t social justice, either. It’s the pursuit of truth, which, following California’s example, all too many universities seem to forget.

There are still some people who say stupid things like, "how can you be against equality and diversity?" Except, we all know at this point that these are ideologically-charged words. The rubrics themselves tell you that liberal principles of equality are unacceptable; rather, contested and ideological notions about the world. This makes "DIE statements" ideological loyalty oaths.

It would be like saying something stupid like, "what, are you not against people being bad and doing bad things?" when people object to making commitments and oaths against "sin."

#John Sailer #diversity equity and inclusion #diversity statements #loyalty oath #DEI statement #DIE statement #wokeness #woke #wokeism #wokeness as religion #cult of woke #ideological corruption #DEI rubric #DIE rubric #religion is a mental illness

9 notes · View notes

cries-for-no-one · 2 years

Text

Bad Biographies: Linda McCartney (Eastman)

I was listening to a podcast discussing the Beatles and once again an "expert" repeated the myth that Linda Eastman attended Sarah Lawrence College. In the past I have gotten annoyed when I heard biographers and journalists repeating this because they haven't done their research. If they can get this wrong, how can I believe the other things they say.

Personally, I have a memory of Linda saying that this isn't true, although admittedly I cannot remember the source. So, to hear others say it wrong gave me the impression they haven't done much research.

But now I have heard it so often, and read it in otherwise good biographies, that I realize that bad sourcing is endemic among biographers.

The biography of Linda

The mistake doesn't come from Linda McCartney - Wikipedia:

Eastman graduated from Scarsdale High School in 1959. She then attended Vermont College in Montpelier, Vermont, where she received an Associate of Arts in 1961... After graduating from Vermont College, she attended the University of Arizona and majored in fine arts while taking up nature photography as a hobby. While she was studying there, her mother was killed in the 1962 crash of American Airlines Flight 1 in Jamaica Bay, New York. She then left the University of Arizona without graduating, and married Joseph Melville See Jr. (in June 1962) Their daughter Heather was born in December 1962. They divorced in 1965, and Linda resumed using her maiden name.

Nor is the bad bio coming from Biography - LindaMcCartney.com website. Which offers a shorter version of the Wikipedia.

Nor is it coming from Sarah Lawrence College, Noted Alumni | Sarah Lawrence College. The college follows events in the careers of previous alumni such as Yoko Ono. Linda, unlike Yoko, is not mentioned at all and is not listed as an alumna.

Linda McCartney at Vermont College » Mining for Old (archive.org)

In fact, I couldn't find a source on the internet that gave the wrong details. Unless it is an obscure source that I have not thought of I assume the bad source is a book or article (or several).

Without asking them directly or scouring through many biographies that I do not own or articles I cannot access, then giving an analysis. I am just going to call it a day on finding the source. But it is strange that it is easy to fact check.

In fact, I would say from 1997 there really is no excuse for getting this wrong.

Many Years From Now

In 1997 Many Years From Now was published. The authorized biography quotes Paul (and Linda) so extensively it is often counted as an autobiography or memoir. Paul had a say over the final edit, so any factual errors are official.

Paul McCartney: Many Years From Now. | Miles (barrymiles.co.uk)

Paul and the author Barry Miles use the book to correct multiple myths they perceive as being spread. From how the book is written it seems to be a major motivation behind the book and reviewers criticized the defensive tone.

Paul McCartney: Many Years From Now book review | Miles (barrymiles.co.uk)

Here is the passage related to how Linda reacted to her mother's death...

"Linda moved to Tuscon, where she studied art and history. There is a myth that both Linda and Yoko Ono attended Sarah Lawrence, which was true of Yoko but not of Linda, whose brief academic career was at the University of Arizona. She was not exceptional academically and did not particularly enjoy it. It was an uncertain time in her life, she was mourning her mother and trying to find her place in the world." - Barry Miles, Paul McCartney Many Years From Now, Published (My version): Vintage 1998, Chapter: The White Album, Page: 507

Other myths about Linda that persist are mentioned in the book. Such as Linda being related to Eastman-Kodak, this circulates online, and it seems to only be due to her being a photographer with the surname Eastman. But I haven't come across it like I have this rumor, I assume the McCartneys have done enough to combat it, although it may just be due to how obvious it is that her father is actually a lawyer.

There are further rumors, that she slept with various celebrities or wasn't any good as a photographer, the McCartneys seem to just ignore these and just tell the story on their own terms. When gossip is a source, it probably depends on the biographer to how much weight it is given. Being a celebrity probably amplifies this kind of behavior towards you. Perhaps this celebrity drama creation is a factor for the myth.

Although Paul was criticized for being so defensive and feeling the need to set the record straight, somehow it hasn't stopped people getting this wrong. The book is an important source for information on Paul, his background and the band. It talks extensively from Paul's (and Barry and other insider's) point of view. Most biographers and Beatle experts would have this book, it is a heavily used source.

Why is the myth still repeated so often?

Given that it isn't very difficult to fact check, why do people keep getting this wrong?

I have decided not to name and shame the biographers and Beatle authorities I have heard saying this. I wouldn't be writing this if I didn't think it was a bigger problem. It seems to be a fact that is commonly believed but not examined enough for a basic fact check. Please take my word for it that this is a problem.

What is most curious to me is that it doesn't even matter. If you do not have a source for where she went to college, then don't mention it. It has nothing to do with the Beatles as a band and reflects little on her relationship with Paul.

Motive

When I have heard it used in discussions about her on Beatle Podcasts it was in relations to:

How her and Yoko attended the same school

Perhaps implying a connection between John and Paul's lives or the women they liked. Maybe a spiritual symmetry that is romantic to authors, but ultimately pointless and unnecessary. They had children the same age, loved art and lived in New York, isn't that enough.

However, perhaps the origin for this myth was mistaking Yoko's biography for Linda's.

Yoko at Sarah Lawrence

Speaking about how Paul liked posh girls

Drawing a parallel to his fiancée Jane Asher, whom he had split with a few months before Linda moved in with him.

I'm not sure how much evidence there is of this as some of his girlfriends and wives were posh, but others weren't.

But again it isn't necessary, just say she came from a nice area with a well-off family.

I have the feeling that there is some sort of shorthand by saying she went to that school. Like it meant Linda was super elite and privileged instead of attending the state schools and ordinary colleges.

Hopefully it isn't related to her background, coming from a Jewish family, sometimes people will project stereotypes in a weird antisemitic way. I have seen people comment (anonymously in comments sections) on her Jewish background as if that is significant.

A more generous analysis would be that as fans, commentators want the Beatles to have married high class ladies because it fits their ideals. The Beatles are special and so they shouldn't marry ordinary girls. This is a bit silly but subconscious biases may have an effect on what they believe to be true.

Other than that, I just don't know. They should know better but they don't. I don't want to pile on or irritatingly correct people. It just puzzles me that this myth persists. It concerns me because, although minor, if this isn't getting fact checked what else isn't.

The Future

One day in the hopefully not distant future this post (2022) will be irrelevant because they will stop, either because fact checking gets better (the dream), or more likely, because online people will correct them and embarrass them into changing.

#linda mccartney #linda eastman #the beatles #paul mccartney #yoko ono #Sarah Lawrence #Vermont college #university of arizona #biography #biographer #many years from now #Barry Miles #fact check #rumors #rumor mill

18 notes · View notes

mariacallous · 2 years

Text

A Letter to Our Community

Dear Students, Faculty, Alumni and Wider YU Community,

We hope you had an enjoyable holiday break.

As you know, Yeshiva University, since its inception, has been and remains a faith community dedicated to fostering and disseminating the principles, values, and dicta of the Torah. The essential features of our undergraduate curriculum and two single-sex campuses are reflective of the deep religious student experience that informs our faith community, including multiple prayer services throughout the day, Shabbat regulations, kashrut observance and a daily schedule requiring hours of Torah study.

In this context, we recognize that our undergraduate students, including our LGBTQ students, who choose to attend Yeshiva come with different expectations and navigate different challenges than those who choose a secular college. And as such, we have been working to formulate a Torah framework to provide our LGBTQ students with an enhanced support system that continues to facilitate their religious growth and personal life journeys.

Today, we are announcing a new initiative to support our LGBTQ undergraduates, which includes a new student club that presents an approved traditional Orthodox alternative to YU Pride Alliance and a commitment to strengthen our on-campus support services. The new club, designed to support and guide our students in living authentic Torah lives, was approved by the Administration, in partnership with lay leadership, and endorsed by senior Roshei Yeshiva. The club also reflects input and perspectives from conversations between our rabbis, educators, and current and past undergraduate LGBTQ students. Within this association, students will be able to gather, share their experiences, host events, and support one another while benefiting from the full resources of the Yeshiva community – all within the framework of Halacha – as all other student clubs.

At the same time, as we launch this initiative, our defense continues against the New York lower court’s ruling that we are not a religious institution and that we lack full religious authority over our environment. Our defense of this matter is essential to our ability to operate Yeshiva consistent with Torah values.

Throughout the course of the current legal case, some of our positions have been mischaracterized. To help share our perspective, we have developed FAQs that are attached below. We hope you find them informative.

May we continue to have the privilege of partnering with our students in their religious journeys, representing our Torah and sanctifying God’s name in the world.

Our Warmest Regards,

Rabbi Dr. Ari Berman

President and Rosh Yeshiva

Yeshiva University and Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary (RIETS)

Rabbi Hershel Schachter

Rosh Yeshiva, Yeshiva University

Rosh Kollel, Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary (RIETS)

Ira Mitzner

Chairman of the Board, Yeshiva University

Lance Hirt

Chairman of the Board, Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary (RIETS)

FAQs

1. Q: If Yeshiva University feels an equally profound sense of responsibility for all of its undergraduates, including LGBTQ students, why did it need to create a new club rather than recognize an LGBTQ club that is found at other universities?

A: Yeshiva is the flagship Jewish university. Rooted in core Torah values and an educational philosophy of Torah u-Madda that prioritizes Torah while simultaneously recognizing the religious value of worldly wisdom, Yeshiva has been committed to training the next generation of Jews in its Orthodox teachings for over 130 years.

The undergraduate experience at Yeshiva is intentionally designed to be an intensely religious one during the formative years of our students’ lives. Its fundamental purpose is to faithfully transmit our multimillennial biblical and halachic tradition to enable our students to integrate their faith and practice in lives of contribution, impact and personal meaning. The essential features of our campus life form the basis for a deeply religious student experience, including two single-sex campuses, multiple prayer services throughout the day, Shabbat regulations, kashrut observance and extra Torah study opportunities in the evenings. The daily schedule of our undergraduate students requires hours of Torah study—so much so, that, upon graduation, Yeshiva confers an Associate Degree in Hebrew Language, Literature, and Culture to nearly the entire undergraduate student population (over 90%) in addition to the Bachelor’s Degree of their particular academic major. In our dual-curriculum program, every Yeshiva student is in effect a double major, with Jewish studies serving as the basis for everyone’s education. In addition, on our men’s campus, our world-renowned rabbinic and post-rabbinic ordination program—the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary (RIETS)—seamlessly integrates with and influences the undergraduate experience and environment. Every undergraduate student who makes the personal choice to come to Yeshiva is choosing this religiously driven environment and curriculum, instead of other college experiences.

We love all of our students including those who identify as LGBTQ. Through our deep personal relationships and conversations with them, we have felt their struggles to fit into an Orthodox world that could appear to them as not having a place for them. We recognize the inherent challenges of our LGBTQ students who are fully committed to live uncompromising halachic lives. Their struggles are our struggles, and we remain eager to support and facilitate their religious growth and personal life journeys.

Our efforts to formulate a Torah framework to provide our LGBTQ students with profound support is driven by our deep commitment to them and recognition that those who choose to attend an Orthodox university come with a different set of expectations and navigate different challenges than those in a typical secular college setting.

Pride Alliance is a recognized movement in colleges throughout the country that not only fights anti-LGBTQ discrimination, a cause which we fully support, but also promotes activities that conflict with Torah laws and values. While an adoption of this national brand is inherently unacceptable in the context of Yeshiva, we also realize the need to find additional ways to be supportive of our students that are consistent with Halacha and inspired by our values. That is what we have done with the approval of this new student club. It is worth noting that this approach is in line with other devout faith-based universities nationwide, who similarly do not host Pride Alliances but have established clubs consistent with their own faith-based languages and traditions.

2. Q: What enables this new club to fit within Yeshiva’s principles? Will Yeshiva take any further steps to enhance the support services in place for its LGBTQ students?

A: Yeshiva has approved a club that respects the unique and irreplaceable value of each individual, assists our LGBTQ students in their journey in living an authentic Torah life, and is built upon a foundation of uncompromising Halacha. This club will be infused with the value of chessed in which our students share their experiences, support each other, and benefit from the full resources of Yeshiva University. Like all clubs on campus, this club will find nourishment within our rich heritage and not advocate against the Torah’s teachings. Its name and symbols emerge organically from our tradition.

See below for further details.

Statement of Guiding Principles

•

Yeshiva University, since its inception, has been and remains a faith community dedicated to fostering and disseminating the principles, values, and dicta of the Torah in today's world.

•

Yeshiva University’s religios-educational efforts are animated by:

1. Personalized love for all Jews

2. A profound sense of responsibility (ערבות – Arvus)

for their authentic spiritual and mental well-being.

•

Yeshiva University recognizes and empathizes with the formidable challenges which our LGBTQ identifying students face in living a fully committed, uncompromisingly authentic halachic life within our communities. Their challenges are our challenges. Their struggles are our struggles.

In keeping with these principles, and our students’ interest for an association under traditional Orthodox auspices, Yeshiva is establishing a student club for undergraduates: the Kol Yisrael Areivim Club for LGBTQ students striving to live authentic Torah lives. This club was approved by the Administration, in partnership with lay leadership, and endorsed by senior Roshei Yeshiva. It also reflects input and perspectives from conversations between Yeshiva’s rabbis, educators and current and past undergraduate LGBTQ students. The club will provide our students with space to grow in their personal journeys, navigating the formidable challenges which they face in living a fully committed, uncompromisingly authentic halachic life within our communities. Within this association, students may gather, share their experiences, host events and support one another while benefiting from the full resources of the Yeshiva University community – all within the framework of Halacha – as all other student clubs.

Yeshiva University is also committed to continuing and enhancing the support systems already in place for our students. Such measures already include:

•

sensitivity training for faculty and staff;

•

specialized consultations through the counseling center;

•

strict anti-harassment, anti-bullying, and anti-discrimination policies;

•

an ongoing LGBTQ support group; and

•

educational sessions for incoming students during orientation.

We will work with our students to identify ways in which we can enhance and add to these support services. Through these efforts, we hope to further enhance our campus life for all of our students, and project the loving and caring spirit that emanates from our Torah.

3. Q: Does this announcement affect Yeshiva’s ongoing defense and appeal of the New York lower court’s ruling requiring it to immediately establish a YU Pride Alliance on its undergraduate campus?

A: No. Yeshiva must continue to defend itself in the suit that was brought against the University in April 2021. Once we were sued with the claim that we were not a religious institution and that we lacked full religious authority over our environment, the matter became broader than endorsing an LGBTQ club. If the trial court’s ruling is upheld, Yeshiva would become subject to the full scope of the New York law at issue, which also prohibits religious decision making. Yeshiva could then face challenges, like any secular school, for its religion-based decisions such as maintaining sex-segregated campuses, preserving its synagogues and houses of study exclusively for Jewish worship and its rabbinic hiring practices for those who teach its Torah courses.

In its ruling, the lower court pieced together an argument that undermines our ability to operate our institution consistent with our values. The implications of this ruling are deleterious to the very fabric of our educational institution, with potential consequences way beyond Yeshiva. We therefore must continue to defend Yeshiva against the claim that it is not a religious institution and protect our ability to make our own decisions about internal religious matters, now and in the future.

See Additional Information & Background (Appendix 1) below for editorials and excerpts from amici briefs from prominent legal scholars, rabbinic leaders across the globe, and faith leaders around the country discussing the grave consequences of this case and essential need to support Yeshiva in these legal proceedings.

4. Q: Does Yeshiva’s charter registered under the Education Law undermine the claim that it is a religious school?

A: No. All educational institutions in New York are required to charter under the Education Law including seminaries and our own rabbinic and post-rabbinic ordination program, RIETS.

Central to the plaintiffs’ case is the misrepresentation that Yeshiva is not a religious school. For example, the lawsuit tries to “prove” that Yeshiva is secular by pointing out that Jewish Studies is not one of the five top majors of Yeshiva students—ignoring the fact that Jewish studies is an essential feature every day for every undergraduate student. As described above, all of Yeshiva students deeply engage in religious courses—enough for over 90% of Yeshiva’s undergraduates to receive an Associate Degree from Yeshiva University in Hebrew Language, Literature, and Culture.

The lawsuit also claims that Yeshiva needs to choose between either being an educational institution or a religious one. This reduces religion to either prayer or the study of Torah text. Indeed, our educational philosophy, like yeshiva day schools throughout the country, is that our holistic experience—including our academic studies—are essential to our religious mission. Other Orthodox and religious institutions across New York State are similarly susceptible to this same kind of re-interpretation of their charters by the courts (see Additional Information & Background (Appendix 2) below for a statement by Agudath Israel about how this ruling against Yeshiva threatens innumerable yeshivot and Jewish day schools.) It should also be noted that religious schools of all faiths in New York and throughout the United States, other than ordination seminaries, typically combine religious education with the provision of professional degrees.

In the 1960s and 1970s, Yeshiva revised its corporate charter and reincorporated as an educational corporation, as was required by changes to New York law. At no time did Yeshiva change its mission and its purpose, as reflected by its intense educational curriculum and daily religious activities. To “prove” their point, the plaintiffs take out of context the charter’s reference to our mission, citing our charter as saying that we are “organized and operated exclusively for educational purposes.” The charter’s language, however, expressly says:

“Yeshiva University is and continues to be organized and operated exclusively for educational purposes”

This language clearly references that the revised charter continues the purpose laid out in the former one, namely to educate Jewish students to be rooted in the Orthodox faith. The previous charter spoke about “the study of Talmud.” As Yeshiva expanded to add professional degrees, it continued to operate “exclusively for educational purposes,” which in our religious worldview is part of our religious mission.

5. Q: As a religious institution of higher education, can Yeshiva accept government funds? A: Yes. In fact, almost all religious universities and colleges receive state and federal funding. The Supreme Court has ruled repeatedly—as recently as this June—that, when the government makes funding generally available, it cannot discriminate in the distribution of those funds based on religion. For example, it can’t offer Pell grants to students generally but then deny them to students who want to go to a religious school. That would be religious discrimination.

6. Q: Did Yeshiva cancel all undergraduate student clubs?

A: No. We never canceled undergraduate student clubs. In fact, clubs had not even started yet. There were only four days left before we began the holiday schedule, which meant that students would not be on campus for a month, from before Rosh Hashanah until after the Sukkot holiday break. Yeshiva thus simply deferred the start of club activity on campus for four days.

Our public statements clearly referenced this holiday break and our intention to start clubs after the holidays, which we have done as planned. Unfortunately, our decision was deeply mischaracterized.

See Additional Information & Background (Appendix 3) below for further detail regarding this topic.

7. Q: Do the same expectations that apply to the undergraduate schools apply to Yeshiva’s professional and academic graduate schools? A: No. The way Yeshiva applies Torah values in its undergraduate schools is very different than the approach in the graduate schools.

We are very clear about the type of environment that exists on our undergraduate campus, and every undergraduate student who makes the personal choice to come to Yeshiva is choosing this religiously driven environment and curriculum, instead of other college experiences.

As students move from their formative years to our professional graduate schools, there is a shift in focus towards professional training and academic research. These schools, comprising a diverse student population, excel in their scholarship and education of excellent professionals in their respective fields. These schools also embody our core values to “Seek Truth, Discover your Potential, Live your Values, Act with Compassion and Bring Redemption,” in their respective learning communities. They also follow a Jewish calendar and maintain kosher standards to facilitate an accessible experience to our Orthodox Jewish students. But the focus is wholly different and so are the assumptions of student life.

Additional Information and Background:

Appendix 1 – Perspectives from others on Yeshiva’s legal position and the importance of maintaining its ability to operate consistent with its religious values:

The implications of the New York lower court’s decision have been explicated clearly in op-eds written about the case, including by William McGurn of the Wall Street Journal and former D.C. Circuit Judge Thomas Griffith.

In addition, prominent legal scholars, rabbinic leaders across the globe, and faith leaders around the country have written amicus briefs in support of our position:

“Yeshiva University is the nation’s premier center for Jewish education and is deeply religious to its core. Its very name means ‘school for the study of Jewish sacred texts.’ Yet the lower court ignored thousands of pages of evidence and focused instead on just a few documents—and a stilted view of public accommodations law— to reach its preordained conclusion.”

Professor Richard Epstein, the Laurence A. Tisch Professor of Law at New York University School of Law, the Peter and Kirsten Bedford Senior Lecturer at the Hoover Institution, and the James Parker Hall Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus and Senior Lecturer at the University of Chicago.

“The First Amendment protects the right of religious institutions ‘to decide for themselves, free from state interference, matters of [religious] government as well as those of faith and doctrine.’” Our Lady of Guadalupe Sch. v. Morrissey-Berru, 140 S. Ct. 2049, 2055 (2020) (quoting Kedroff v. Saint Nicholas Cathedral of Russian Orthodox Church in N. Am., 344 U.S. 94, 116 (1952)). This foundational principle of religious autonomy protects the ability of religious institutions like Yeshiva University to carry out their missions in accord with their faith. And it prevents the state, including the courts, from interfering with and becoming entangled in disputes about religious doctrine and belief.”

Professor Douglas Laycock, Robert E. Scott Distinguished Professor of Law and Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Virginia and the Alice McKean Young Regents Chair in Law Emeritus at the University of Texas

“Yeshiva University has earned a reputation as one of the jewels in the crown of world Jewry precisely because of its leading role in cultivating Torah values and beliefs for all Jews. As such, it is my view that Yeshiva University’s right to uphold religious liberty in the application of its Torah values must be protected. This is essential in maintaining its leading role as a preeminent Jewish educational institution and bastion of Jewish belief and tradition.”

Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis, Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of Great Britain and the Commonwealth

“Yeshiva’s ability to make decisions, in consultation with its Senior Rabbis, about how best to convey Torah values is at the heart of what it means to be a Jewish educational institution.”

Rabbi Dr. Warren Goldstein, Chief Rabbi of South Africa

“I write this letter from Kyiv, as the Chief Rabbi of Ukraine, after 6 months of chaos, conflict, and struggle. In response to this conflict, we have evacuated 30,000 people and saved many more. Despite the ongoing efforts, it feels of the utmost importance that I take this time to write this letter to address the current situation at Yeshiva University. On behalf of the Ukrainian Jewish Community, it is my hope and prayer that Yeshiva’s right to make decisions about how best to apply Torah values within its own campus community will be upheld.”

Rabbi Moshe Reuven Azman, Chief Rabbi of Ukraine

“Yeshiva University is one of the world’s most preeminent Jewish institutions. The value of Yeshiva’s role in upholding Torah beliefs and traditions for all Jews is, in our view, inestimable.”

Rabbi Eliezer Igra, Judge of the High Rabbinical Court, Israel

“As leaders of Jewish communities and institutions across the globe, we wish to express our support of Yeshiva University’s right to uphold religious liberty in the application of its Torah values.”

Chief Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt, President of the Conference of European Rabbis

“Yeshiva’s Application for Emergency Relief and Petition for a Writ of Certiorari are critical for our community’s ability to transmit to students in Jewish religious institutions of learning the ideological messages that have been taught in our faith for over 3000 years.”

Nathan Lewin, Counsel of Record

COLPA (National Jewish Commission on Law and Public Affairs)

Agudath Harabbanim of the United States and Canada

Orthodox Jewish Chamber of Commerce

Orthodox Union (Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America)

Rabbinical Alliance of America

Torah Umesorah (National Society for Hebrew Day Schools)

“Ultimately, Agudath Israel believes that any ruling, such as the one appealed from here, that derogates the wide range of First Amendment protections available to institutions to determine their own internal policies and structure in favor of a local law to the contrary could have dire national consequences. It can hardly be gainsaid that Yeshiva University itself has, for a century, been an important institution of higher learning and a major center of Torah scholarship in New York. Yet the New York state courts have decreed that, notwithstanding the iconic place of Yeshiva University as central to the modern continuation of one of the world’s most ancient and influential traditions, a judge’s perusal of its organizing documents may render Yeshiva University just another college in the eyes of the law. This judicial act arrogates to the state a power it not only does not have, but which it is prohibited to assume under the First Amendment.”

Agudath Israel of America

“The decision below—and the unreasoned refusal of the New York appellate courts to grant a stay of that decision—are a grave and pressing threat to religious liberty that warrants this Court’s immediate action. If not checked now, amici and many other religious institutions may soon face precisely the same impossible choice now presented to Yeshiva University: abandon your faith or risk being held in contempt. As explained below, the Constitution forbids this in the clearest and most fundamental terms; this Court should do the same, and without delay.”

The Archdiocese of New York,

Biola University,

Brigham Young University,

Cedarville University,

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,

The Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission,

Houston Baptist University,

Liberty University,

the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops,

Wheaton College

“Because Yeshiva is almost certain to succeed on the merits, and because protecting the First Amendment rights of Yeshiva and other religious schools would substantially benefit the public interest, this Court should grant the application.”

Association of Classical Christian Schools

“That is also why this case—which threatens to deprive religious schools of their ability to shape their communities according to their beliefs—is of great concern to Amicus Council for Christian Colleges & Universities (“CCCU”), which comprises some 140 faith-based institutions in the United States. Like Yeshiva, CCCU’s member schools cannot achieve their religiously motivated goals unless they can choose the standards governing campus life.”

Appendix 2 – Statement by Agudath Israel of America, which filed a brief at the U.S. Supreme Court supporting Yeshiva:

Agudath Israel represents and serves Jewish schools across New York City. A sizable number of such schools, for reasons based in legal, regulatory or other considerations likely lost in the depths of time, are incorporated as educational institutions. . . . Although the New York City Human Rights Law (“NYCHRL”) explicitly exempts religious schools incorporated under the Education Law from its scope, the court below, in concluding that Yeshiva University was not eligible to qualify for that exemption, based its decision in part on its own determination of whether its organizing documents were sufficiently religious. This scrutiny both crossed a well-recognized line in First Amendment jurisprudence and threatens the status of religious liberties of innumerable schools whose interests are included in Agudath Israel’s mission.

Appendix 3 – Additional detail regarding the decision to delay the start of undergraduate student clubs:

Yeshiva’s decision to defer the start of club activity on campus by four days took into consideration the upcoming holiday break, which would allow us the time to both define a path forward that is consistent with Torah values and gain relief in the courts from the original ruling.

And in fact, after the Supreme Court’s September 14 ruling, we immediately followed the Court’s instructions and requested a ruling on the stay from the New York courts by October 3—well before students would return to campus.

It is worth noting that while the Supreme Court, by majority rule, denied the stay sought by Yeshiva, it did so in an unprecedented way. Every single Supreme Court justice saw the threat that the New York trial court order posed to Yeshiva’s religious identity, and all nine Justices suggested that Yeshiva was entitled to relief. Typically, the Court resolves stay requests with one-line orders. Here, the Court issued a full opinion with two remarkable features. First, four justices let us know that we were likely to win if Yeshiva came before them. Second, in a clear message to the lower New York courts, the full Court laid out the exact route Yeshiva needed to take to get back to the Supreme Court.

Per our expectation and plan, the New York courts agreed to reconsider their denial of the stay on September 19 and promised a new ruling by October 3. This was a strong indication that the New York courts were going to grant the stay in light of the Supreme Court’s decision. Two days after the New York Appellate Division set the court date, the plaintiffs issued a press release that they were going to accept a stay. The stay was entered shortly thereafter.

11 notes · View notes

martinurbandds · 1 year

Text

The myth of work-life balance and finding your peace

The myth of work-life balance and finding your peace https://ift.tt/fNKpB5e Blogger Amrita Patel, D.D.S. (left), is a general dentist in private practice in Westchester County, New York, and an adjunct faculty member in the dental hygiene program at the University of South Dakota. She graduated from the New York University College of Dentistry in 2011 and completed a general practice residency immediately afterwards. From 2018-20, she chaired the New Dentist Committee of the New York State Dental Association. She was the recipient of a 2021 American Dental Association 10 Under 10 Award, which recognizes 10 new dentists from around the country for excelling in their work and inspiring others, as well as a Denobi award in 2022. She serves as the social media manager for ICD-Global, on the board of the NYU Dentistry Alumni Association, as the leadership columnist for the Academy of General Dentistry Impact magazine, and on the editorial board of Dental Economics. During my journey in dentistry, one of the phrases I’ve heard ad nauseum refers to work-life balance — this mystical and mythical concept of being able to juggle it all. Much is asked of us in this profession. We are expected to be business owners, practice leaders, team players, role models … and that’s before you add in the personal life component and all that goes along with it. It can seem overwhelming — and it is. I have accidentally overcommitted myself to meetings and Zooms and speaking engagements where I’ve realized almost too late that I had to be in multiple places at the same time. Aside from the stress of unwinding my schedule, the feeling of guilt over not being able to split up myself, and my time, started to really wear on me. I got to the point where it became apparent that I had been running my life this way (and running on fumes) for the better part of a decade, often to the detriment of my own sanity, health and stability. It was time to make a change. That change was hard; it took time and a hefty dose of introspection. What was I really looking for? What was my purpose? Were my actions helping me to fulfill my goals and hopes and dreams? This reorganization of priorities led to a serious reduction of stress, headache and heartache and an increase in my overall mental and physical well-being. Realizing that I didn’t have to do everything for everyone all the time and learning to lead my team better at work were the two biggest wins for me. But I get it. We’ve all been stuck behind a computer screen for the better part of the last 36 months, watching social media, analyzing what everyone else around us is doing and sometimes unfairly judging ourselves based on what we see. If you were to look at my Facebook and Instagram pages, a life that seemed glossy and happy was actually one that was bringing me no peace. The travel, the awards, the fun, even the private moments I didn’t share with the world, none of these made me happy anymore. Striving towards homeostasis was only depleting my emotional reserves as fast as I could build them up. Part of the introspection I forced myself through taught me that there is sometimes peace to be found in chaos when you realize that it’s not forever. Dentistry can be incredibly isolating, but with a village around you (friends, family, hobbies, pets, therapy — whatever), we have the capacity to be incredible providers, caregivers, leaders and contributors to society. Make sure to stay authentic to your own self on your journey and find your peace. via New Dentist Blog https://ift.tt/Q6W2LfM May 09, 2023 at 05:19PM

#New Dentist Blog

4 notes · View notes

wutbju · 1 year

Text

I wrote about Ted Mercer back in 2012 -- eleven years ago.

He was the 1951 Vintage dedicatee. Over the years that's always a tell. If they dedicate a Vintage to you, you'll be on the way out. It's a love bomb. Watch for them to dedicate the 2023 Vintage to Steve Pettit.

The first time I heard about Mercer was ~1993 when I was listening to my first graduate audition in the Division of Speech. A young man from Bryan College was applying for a graduate assistantship. And one of the senior, hoary-headed members of our faculty said to us all (something like), “Are we sure we should let him in? He is, after all, from Bryan.” Her words were pregnant with a mysterious and sinister meaning.

That was Dottie Harris.

Now I was the youngest faculty member in this group. And . . . I’m a little bit clueless as I’ve said before. So, in typical fashion, I just asked earnestly, “What do you mean? What’s wrong with Bryan?” Another less-junior-than-I colleague -- it was Lonnie Polson -- nodded and agreed, “Yeah, I’d like to know too! I have no idea.” And the senior member just sighed and shook her head, disappointed with these children these days about how they know nothing of the past. . . . I think. I don’t know why she was sighing. But I never heard the details that day.

Mercer graduated from BJU in 1943 -- president of the Senior Class. Immediately BJC made him the Dean of Men, and soon after he was the "Assistant to the President" through 1953.

But then it all fell apart. Something happened to piss off Bob Sr. so badly that he raged at Mercer -- raged so loudly that it's still in Dan Turner's official history. To explain his side, Mercer sent this “Statement Concerning my Dismissal from Bob Jones University” to BJU Board of Trustees after his firing on June 15, 1953.

If you’ve ever found yourself on the other side of a BJU administrator’s desk feeling the ax hovering above your neck, the statement reads eerily prophetic.

The litany of accusations against him are mostly familiar. We’ve all been called the same whether in front of or behind our backs — “avowed enemy of the school,” unfaithful, inefficient, deceitful, “one of the greatest crooks in the history of the school,” demon-possessed, “the devil.” Mercer euphemizes the most intense accusation of homosexuality under the term “my moral character” — an accusation that still lingers.

You’ll want to look at the list of BJU Board Members near the end. It’s at the very least intriguing. There’s Homer Rodeheaver and Jack Wyrtzen. There’s Mordecai Ham and Ernest Reveal. And you see some familiar fathers there. Look. There’s Ted Mercer’s dad, Jim. And John MacArthur, Sr. (father of the John MacArthur, Jr.). and William Piper (father of John Piper).

BJU apparently was undergoing an enormous faculty turnover in the 1952-53 school year — a movement that would only continue into the years to come. Mercer includes one letter of resignation in the end of his pamphlet from Karl E. Keefer. We who have been associated with BJU since 1952 don’t know Dr. Keefer. We do know his replacement very well — a 24-year-old Dwight Gustafson.

Then there's an additional statement to the Alumni. Read it. Notice Mercer’s description of faculty salaries and treatment, the Joneses’ attitude toward accreditation, their capricious and egocentric rule, their tendency for hyperbole, and their habit of playing good-cop-bad-cop with the younger Jones vs. the elder Jones.

Just change the dates and the people or the suffix on the end of the administrator’s name.

Nothing has changed at BJU.

If you're surprised at the John Lewis & Bob Jones III behavior, you haven't been paying attention. This is really old news.

#Bob Jones University #Ted Mercer #The Cruelty is the POint #Make BJU Great AGain #Closure #Make Pettit Prez Again

2 notes · View notes

explorer-of-art · 3 days

Text

The Dorm Leaders in Red's Time

Now that I posted about Red, I can about post the dorm leaders from his time.

When making Red, I initially had him in Ramshackle but now his dorm is in purgatory. I also made him close to the dorm leaders of the time and that resulted in me making MORE OCs. In present time, they're all Night Raven College alumni. They're all ~40 years old because I had Red come from 20 years before Main Story. Most of them are designed to be a foil to their original counterparts. Some are involved in North's story but aren't as involved in the crossover compared to Red and Abigail.

7 profiles under the cut because I don't want to make 7 separate posts. have fun trying not to lose your sense of literacy.

Lucero Espinosa, the former Diasomnia dorm leader, is a tutor primarily handling magic education subjects. He joins NRC staff after Book 4. Twisted from Dean Hardscrabble in "Monsters University".

He makes and uploads videos teaching his viewers magic to make magic education accessible to those who can't take the subjects at school. Most people don't know about the channel and he never talks about it.

He likes bugs and insects. Unless it's mosquitoes.

He was nominated for dorm leader and others challenged him for the role by magic duel.

When he gets mad, he appears more calm. If he's mad at you, you will feel like you will be torn to shreds. "I'm not mad, I'm disappointed."

Ignatius Kowalski, the former Ignihyde dorm leader, is a blacksmith. Very loosely twisted from the Snuggly Duckling thugs, especially Attila, in "Tangled".

The mask is cosmetic. He wears it to hide his facial expression, partly to avoid being judged based on that. He has many masks in varying colors and patterns.

Under the mask, he is rather beautiful that he wouldn't be out of place in Pomefiore.

He is still introverted and shy. He is more open with friends.

As a blacksmith, he mostly makes decorative items. He sometimes collaborates with Demetrius if magestones are involved. He has made a sculpture before because he was issued a challenge.

He is not from TWST!Corona. He did go there for an internship with a veteran blacksmith (TWST!Xavier) in his fourth year and met friends at a pub (who are also twisted from the Snuggly Duckling thugs but closer).

Demetrius Marsh, the former Pomefiore dorm leader, is a gemologist working with magestones. Twisted from Madame Medusa in "The Rescuers".

Tends to use he/him when referring to himself but is okay with any pronouns

Wears a corset from time to time

From Jubilee Port

Better at flying a broom than driving a car. He's still working on getting his driver's license.

Erhan Aksoy, the former Scarabia dorm leader, is a Magicam user and photographer who documents events. Twisted from Prince Achmed in "Aladdin".

He is not fond of cats. He doesn't hate them, he just doesn't want to get scratched or bit and he doesn't understand cat behavior.

Has accidentally discovered a new species once.

He wants to leave some kind of lasting impact and feel like his life meant something which is why he has a Magicam account.

Is also influenced by Prince Achmed in Starkid musical "Twisted" lmao

Jasper Seymour, the former Octavinelle dorm leader, is a museum curator focusing on magical artifacts. Twisted from Lyle Tiberius Rourke from "Atlantis: the Lost Empire".

Despite his strong appearance, he actually leans toward the academics.

Technomancy user

Unironically watches documentaries

Capable of hand-to-hand combat

Would know some Romance languages along with Latin and Greek

Sandip Gupta, the former Savanaclaw dorm leader, is now a martial arts instructor. Twisted from Shere Khan in "The Jungle Book". (I don't like this drawing but don't feel like redoing it lmao)

(bengal) tiger beastman

His primary elemental magic is Fire. He chose to hone fire because he believes being able to control it dispells the fear and association with destruction.

He would unironically have training montage songs like "I'll Make a Man Out of You" or "Eye of the Tiger" in his workout playlist.

He took one good look at Red and went "get in loser, your training starts now". And so he taught Red martial arts and hand-to-hand combat.

He becomes the one who adopts North

Sato (サト) is somehow the most distant one out of the group despite remaining close with them. Twisted from King Candy from "Wreck-it Ralph".

Sato is a nickname, not his real name. The others referred to him by first name back in the NRC days.

Ironically, he dislikes sweets. He prefers bitter foods. If he had to pick a candy, it would be dark chocolate.

He builds PCs. He mainly works with desktop PCs but has a built laptop for him to carry around.

His day job is unknown. The gang sometimes jokes about him being a secret agent and he humors them for the bit. The joke allows him to step out during hangouts without question.

#my art #twst oc #twisted wonderland oc #my ocs #long post #lucero espinosa #ignatius kowalski #demetrius marsh #erhan aksoy #jasper seymour #sandip gupta #sato

0 notes

flexible-student-accommodation · 8 days

Text

Top Job-Hunting Tips to Land Your Dream Job As a Fresher

Moving on to the job market might sound both optimistic and intimidating to you as an aspirant of a fresh graduate. With the right approaches, you can weather such unfamiliar territory and attain your dream job. The article herein is the crucial means of providing you with the initial steps to start your successful career journey.

1. Understand the Job Market

Before beginning your job search, it is essential to have a good knowledge of the situation of the job market at present:

- According to the 2023 survey by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), companies will initially recruit 14.7% more new graduates from the Class of 2023 than the Class of 2022.

- The important business areas are hiring young professionals in technology, health, money, and learning arena.

Tip: There is such an approach that is in the increasing trend in the market that acquiring skills with passing time is the key to being demanded by employers.

2. Craft an Impressive Resume

Most of the time, your resume is how the employers get to know you first through the jobs. Therefore, omit no detail:

- A brief and precise note: Companies reject 78% of resumes within 11 seconds because they think that they are very complex and too long.

- Job-specific wordings: 75% of resumes are not even read by the ATS before the people get to the interview stage.

Tip: Present your qualifications for each vacancy application by using the most relevant skills and professional experiences.

3. Leverage Online Platforms

In the present-day world, getting a job has become a bone of contention. There are a lot of people competing with you:

- 92% of recruiters utilize social media for sourcing strong candidates.

- LinkedIn, being the most favored, is a frequent platform for 87% of recruiters through their use of it.

Tip: So that professionals can see you, make a strong LinkedIn account and participate in the industry content.

4. Network, Network, Network

The professional network of relationships is a decisive factor in your job search:

- In total, 85% of all jobs are tracked through networking.

- Join industry events, join professional groups, and participate in online platforms.

Tip: Also, consider reaching out to alumni or professionals in your field for an informational interview.

5. Develop In-Demand Skills

The continuous mastering of new skills empowers one with an edge over other candidates:

- Most CEOs are worried about the deficiency of key skills in the workforce (79).

The highest growth areas include data analysis, artificial intelligence, and digital marketing.

Tip: Make use of internet tools and attend various courses or obtain a certification that will not only help you learn new skills but will also add to your competitive advantage.

6. Prepare for Interviews

Creating a good buying deal on top of the lots of ones is important:

- The typical number of interviews is 3-4 resumes you send before you get a job offer.

- Only one-third of interviewers know whether they will hire someone within the first 90 seconds of the interview.

Tip: Know everything there is to know about the company, go through the usual questions that are asked at the interview, and ask your interviewer some thought-provoking questions.

7. Gain Practical Experience

Employers give additional weight to hands-on practical experience in candidates.

- Over 65% of them think a person should have some work experience.

- Internships are also among the best ways to break into a new industry, besides full-time positions and volunteering.

While getting no salary, you can still learn skills and network with people during the practical experience.

8. Be Open to Different Opportunities

If you prefer your dream job to any other, it's great, but being adaptable helps you create unforeseen paths:

- 85% of jobs that will exist in 2030, haven't been ones that haven't been invented last yet.

- Maybe think of commencing in the white-collar type of a related field or at smaller companies to rise from the zero level.

Tip: Concentrate on jobs that not only challenge you but also offer opportunities for growth and the right goals.

9. Utilize Career Services

Make the most of the available facilities you have access to:

- 90% of colleges provide career services, but only 16% of students extensively use them.

- At the career centers, you can find information about job fairs and resume reviews and also you can have mock interviews there.

Tip: Set a session with the college you attend's career services weekly for your job search.

10. Follow Up and Stay Persistent

Since a job search is an exercise in patience and persistence:

- The container will be empty of 21 to 80 job applications until you reach one to go in.

- When they are asked inappropriately, 60% of the job applicants have pulled out from the process when it has been long or too complex.

Tip: If a job application has been a week, check that you have submitted it and do not wallow in defeat among rejections as they are an educational experience for each one of them.

Main Points

Joining a successful career sector as a fresher hinges on the pre-arranged mental readiness of the student, perseverance, and aptness of the strategic moves employed. With these rules, you will not only become a job market star but you will also start your career perfectly orderly.

Remember that your first job at the company is only the beginning of your professional path. Stay curious, keep learning, and be flexible for new opportunities to come along as you develop in your career.

When you start to seek out employers, always keep in mind that it can affect your accommodation comfort and convenience. The company Uninist which is a leading student accommodation service provider, offers, affordable and well-located housing options for students and young professionals. A comfortable living space can provide the peace of mind you need to focus on your job search and early career development. Consider Uninist for stress-free accommodation solutions that are tailor-made to your situation as you change from a student to a professional career.

#job hunting #flexible student accommodation #international students #student accommodation #short term student accommodation #student apartments #student housing #student rooms

0 notes

rightserve · 17 days

Text

Importance of Effective Project Management with BIM

Building Information Modeling, or BIM, has altered the AEC business. With 3D models and a brought together data set, BIM project the board encourages consistent cooperation and information sharing. It improves project timings, spending plans, and quality guidelines.

BIM project the board uses 3D modeling for effective preparation, coordination, and conveyance. Groups work together consistently in a brought together climate, staying away from obsolete drawings and going with information driven choices continuously

BIM project the board empowers ongoing coordination, conflict recognition, and critical thinking. This forestalls expensive slip-ups and keeps the undertaking on target.

Why BIM for Project Managers?

BIM project the executives brings exactness, speed, and straightforwardness to project the board. Here are a portion of the top advantages:

Collaboration and Coordination

BIM the executives guarantees a solitary wellspring of truth, lessening miscommunication in development projects. With 3D plan representation, partners can undoubtedly distinguish and determine issues almost immediately, limiting slip-ups and delays.

Planning and Scheduling

BIM the executives further develops project arranging by reenacting development arrangements and timetables. Associated information guarantees programmed refreshes, furnishing groups with an exact image of timetable effects.

Cost Estimation

BIM project the executives smoothes out quotes by evaluating materials from 3D models, limiting mistakes and financial plan invades.

Progress monitoring

BIM reforms development checking, coordinating continuous following of timetable and 3D model information for streamlined tasks.

BIM Management Implementation Guide

An organized BIM the executives program is significant for progress, with clear objectives and achievements attached to business targets. Here is a compact outline:

● Prep Stage: Put forth objectives, break down work processes, address innovation holes, and plan preparing.

● Pilot Stage: Test work processes with a little undertaking, it are proficient to guarantee processes.

● Execution Stage:

● Command BIM for new undertakings

● Change existing undertakings

● Empower resource the board

● Advancement Stage: Extend BIM across units, further develop development, and track return for capital invested.

BIM skills development: Now & in the Future

Changing to BIM requires reskilling for developing jobs. Project administrators should become BIM directors, zeroing in on innovation, process re-designing, partner commitment, information examination, and change the board. Upskilling current ability is vital, with new alumni likewise adding to reception. Numerous colleges offer pertinent AEC courses lining up with industry requests.

Conclusion

In synopsis, compelling undertaking the board with BIM is fundamental in present day development. Its cooperative, visual, and information driven highlights smooth out processes, moderate dangers, upgrade assets, and guarantee convenient, spending plan cordial task conveyance. Embracing BIM is about another task the board worldview encouraging proficiency, development, and progress in development.

0 notes

laraphleb · 26 days

Text

Leading 10 Phlebotomy Training Programs: Your Path to Success Starts Here!

**Title: Top⁤ 10 ⁣Phlebotomy Training Programs: Your Path ⁣to Success Starts Here!**

**Introductory‌ Section:** Are you interested in pursuing a career in phlebotomy? If so, you’ve made a great choice! Phlebotomy is a rewarding and in-demand field in the healthcare industry. However, ⁣to become a successful phlebotomist, receiving proper training is crucial. With so ‍many training programs available, it can be overwhelming to choose the right one. That’s why we have compiled a list of the top 10 phlebotomy training ⁣programs to help you‌ kickstart your career.

**1. XYZ Phlebotomy Institute** – Location: New York, NY – Duration: 6 weeks – Certification: National Healthcareer Association (NHA) – Curriculum:⁣ Hands-on training, venipuncture techniques, medical terminology -‌ Cost: $800

**2. ABC School of Phlebotomy** – Location: Los Angeles,⁢ CA – Duration: 8 weeks – Certification: American Society for Clinical Pathology (ASCP) – ‌Curriculum: Anatomy‍ and‍ physiology, infection control, specimen⁢ handling -‍ Cost: ⁣$1200

**3. 123 Healthcare Training Center** – Location: Houston, TX – Duration: 4 ⁤weeks – Certification: ⁣National Phlebotomy Association (NPA) – Curriculum: Blood collection procedures, lab safety, communication skills - Cost: $600

**4. DEF Community College** – Location: Chicago, IL – Duration: 10 weeks – Certification: American Medical‌ Technologists (AMT) – Curriculum: Phlebotomy theory, practicum experience, CPR certification -‌ Cost: $1500

**5. GHI Medical Academy** – Location: Miami, FL – Duration: 12 weeks – Certification: National Center for Competency Testing (NCCT) – Curriculum: Phlebotomy equipment, point of ‍care testing,⁤ legal issues – Cost: $1000

**6. JKL Institute of Health ⁢Sciences** – Location: Atlanta, GA – Duration: 6 weeks – Certification: American Society⁤ of Phlebotomy Technicians (ASPT) – Curriculum: Venous anatomy, capillary ‍puncture, customer service skills – Cost: $700

**7. MNO Technical Institute** – Location: Dallas, TX – Duration: 5 weeks – Certification: American Society of Clinical Pathology (ASCP) – Curriculum: Infection prevention, specimen processing, quality assurance – Cost: $900

**8. PQR Health Education Center** – Location: Phoenix, AZ – Duration: 8⁢ weeks – Certification: National Healthcareer Association (NHA) -⁤ Curriculum: Phlebotomy⁣ procedures, ‍medical ethics, patient rights – Cost:‍ $1100

**9. STU Medical Training‌ School** – Location: ‌Seattle, WA – Duration: 10 weeks – Certification: National Phlebotomy Association (NPA) – Curriculum: Blood collection techniques, computer skills, HIPAA regulations – Cost: $1300

**10. VWX College of Allied ⁤Health** – Location: Denver,⁣ CO – Duration: 7 weeks – Certification: American⁤ Medical Technologists (AMT) -‌ Curriculum: Phlebotomy fundamentals, lab management, resume writing – Cost: $1400

**Benefits and Practical Tips:** – Research⁤ each program thoroughly to ensure ‌it meets your needs and goals. – Consider ‌the certification offered by each program and its⁢ recognition in the industry. – Look for programs that offer hands-on training and clinical experience. – Compare costs and financial ⁣aid options available for each program. – Network with alumni ⁢or ‌professionals in the field for insights and recommendations.

**Conclusion:** Choosing a reputable phlebotomy training program is the first step towards a successful⁤ career in healthcare. By enrolling in one of the top 10 programs listed above, you can gain the knowledge and skills⁢ needed to excel in the‍ field of phlebotomy.⁢ Remember to research each program, consider your goals, and select the one that best fits your needs. Your path to success starts‌ here – embark on your phlebotomy journey today!

youtube

https://phlebotomycareertraining.net/leading-10-phlebotomy-training-programs-your-path-to-success-starts-here/

0 notes

religion-is-a-mental-illness · 1 year

Text

By: Stanley Goldfarb

Published: May 2, 2023

For better or worse, I have had a front-row seat to the meltdown of twenty-first-century medicine. Many colleagues and I are alarmed at how the DEI agenda—which promotes people and policies based on race, ethnicity, gender, religion, and sexual orientation rather than merit—is undermining healthcare for all patients regardless of their status.

Five years ago I was associate dean of curriculum at the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine, and prior to that, codirector of its highly regarded kidney division. Around that time, Penn’s vice dean for education started to advocate that we train medical students to be activists for “social justice.” The university also implemented a new “pipeline program,” allowing ten students a year from HBCUs (historically black colleges or universities) to attend its med school after maintaining a 3.6 GPA but no other academic requirement, including not taking the MCAT (Medical College Admission Test). And the university has also created a project called Penn Medicine and the Afterlives of Slavery Project (PMAS) in order to “reshape medical education. . . by creating social justice-informed medical curricula that use race critically and in an evidence-based way to train the next generation of race-conscious physicians.” Finally, twenty clinical departments at the medical school now have vice chairs for diversity and inclusion.

Although some discussion of social ills does belong in the medical curriculum, I’ve always understood the physician’s main role to be a healer of the individual patient. When I said as much in a Wall Street Journal op-ed in 2019, “Take Two Aspirin and Call Me by My Pronouns,” a Twitter mob—composed largely of fellow physicians—denounced my arguments as racist. Over 150 Penn med school alumni signed an open letter condemning me. Meanwhile, my name has since been scrubbed from the university’s website and I’ve been excised from a short history of the kidney division.

Similar outrage greeted the outgoing president of the Society of Thoracic Surgeons, John Calhoon, when, in a speech to members in January, he encouraged them always to “search for the best candidate” and noted “affirmative action is not equal opportunity.” Within 24 hours, the society denounced Calhoon’s speech for being “inconsistent with STS’s core values of diversity, equity, and inclusion,” and its incoming president announced, “We are going to do what we can to re-earn the trust of our members who have been hurt.” Apparently no one thought to ask the 170,000 Americans who annually undergo a coronary bypass—the most common form of thoracic surgery—if they, too, might prefer to be operated on by “the best candidate.”

After my drubbing by the Penn med school alumni, I didn’t stay quiet. At the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, I noticed that trainees were unprepared to care for critically ill patients. It was becoming clear to me that discriminatory practices—such as reserving monoclonal antibodies against Covid-19 for minority patients, and preferential hospital admission protocols based on race—were infiltrating medicine as a whole. I responded with another Wall Street Journal op-ed, “Med School Needs an Overhaul: Doctors should learn to fight pandemics, not injustice.”

I retired as I’d planned in July 2021, my honorific status as professor emeritus intact, though I haven’t been asked to teach. In March 2022, I published a book, Take Two Aspirin and Call Me By My Pronouns, and started a nonprofit called Do No Harm with some acquaintances to combat discriminatory practices in medicine. We began a program to inform the public and fight illegal discrimination. We demand that any proposed changes in medical school admissions or testing standards require legislative approval and a public hearing—and we are getting results.

Our argument is that medical schools are engaging in racial discrimination in service to diversity, equity, and inclusion. We have filed more than seventy complaints with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR), which exists in large part to investigate schools that discriminate based on race, color, ethnicity, sex, age, and disability. Surely the radical activists never expected anyone to turn the administrative state against them, but that’s what we did. And it worked—even under the Biden administration. Do No Harm has filed complaints through OCR over scholarships, fellowships, and programs with eligibility criteria that discriminate based on race/ethnicity (Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964) and/or sex/gender identity (Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972). Many of these are described as programs for students who are “underrepresented in medicine” (UIM).

For example, we brought the OCR’s attention to a Diversity in Medicine Visiting Elective Scholars Program (archived page) at the University of Texas at San Antonio’s Long School of Medicine, which excluded white and Asian students. This is illegal under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which made all racial discrimination associated with government programs illegal. As a result of our action, the OCR opened an investigation. However, Long School of Medicine took down the program page and scrubbed all evidence of it from its website, prompting OCR to close the investigation as “corrected.” While the original scholarship was meant for individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds, that worthy goal can and should be met without racial discrimination.

Or consider the University of Florida College of Medicine, which offered a scholarship solely to those who were “African Americans and/or Black, American Indian, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, Hispanic/Latinx, and Pacific Islander.” We asked the OCR to investigate, and the university eliminated the race requirement. Likewise, we filed a complaint against the Medical University of South Carolina over eight scholarships excluding applicants who did not qualify as “underrepresented in medicine.” The OCR opened an investigation, after which the school dropped the exclusionary policy.

* * *

Racially discriminatory scholarships are not the only sign of the decline of American medical schools. A colleague at Do No Harm and I examined the trend of resegregating medicine, including the idea that black physicians provide better healthcare to black patients than physicians of other races. There is no question disparities exist in health outcomes for minority communities. But no valid studies support the rationale of creating a corps of minority physicians, and last month Do No Harm filed a complaint with the OCR against Duke University’s School of Medicine’s Black Men in Medicine program for race- and sex-based discrimination.

Even the highly touted New England Journal of Medicine is pushing for race-based segregation in medical schools. Last month, the journal published an article by several doctors and academics at the University of California–San Francisco and UC–Berkeley, calling for the expansion of “racial affinity group caucuses,” or RAGCs, for medical students. “In a space without White people,” the authors write, “BIPOC participants can bring their whole selves, heal from racial trauma together, and identify strategies for addressing structural racism.” The RAGCs include a caucus for white-only medical trainees, as if this would lessen objections to an agenda that has nothing to do with healing and everything to do with identity politics.

Do No Harm is also pushing back against the tide of race-based programs in the corporate world. In February, in the wake of a lawsuit we filed against Pfizer last September claiming a violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, the pharmaceutical company ended a requirement that college junior applicants to its Breakthrough Fellowship program—which offers guaranteed employment—be black, Hispanic, or Native American.

At Do No Harm we have publicly and repeatedly pointed out that the likeliest basis for healthcare disparities is not racism, but patients presenting late in the course of their illness, too late to achieve best outcomes. Therefore, we push for better access for minority patients and encourage healthcare institutions to improve outreach to minority communities. We believe that focusing on racial identity will harm healthcare, divide us even more, and reduce trust between patients and physicians, all of which will lead to even worse outcomes.

We have heard from dozens of physicians, nurses, and medical students who feel prevented from speaking out. My advice to my colleagues, young and old, is this: fight back using every tool at your disposal. Highlight the damage that follows the lowering of standards. Call out discrimination done in the name of “equity” and “anti-racism.” Recognize that the majority of your peers may share your views, even if they stay quiet.

10 notes · View notes