Behind Vermont’s DEI debate
Soulia: When “inclusion” stops at ideology
Green: Who cares whether the ref is a white male?
Shouldn’t the qualifications for a referee be based on merit and his or her ability to do the job with skill, excellence, and integrity, instead of an artificially imposed quota of arbitrary external characteristics?
Vermont AG among those challenging federal DEI oversight
California Attorney General Rob Bonta and a coalition of 17 other Democratic attorneys general are urging the U.S. Department of Education to withdraw a proposed expansion of federal data collection on college admissions, arguing it would violate student privacy and distort civil rights law.
Tiemann: NEA handbook pushes gender and race-based ideologies on children
I’m very grateful for Jarrod Vaillaincourt’s excellent commentary in the Dec 10th issue of the Vermont Daily Chronicle. He exposes efforts by elementary school staff to market a new school-sanctioned “sexuality” club – to elementary school students! Although such conduct by public school educators is beyond revolting, it’s unfortunately not surprising.
Soulia: “Jingle Bells” is racist?
What the research actually says
O’Neil: What drives the transgender violence against Christians?
None of this means most people who identify as transgender pose a violent threat, nor that activist groups like the Human Rights Campaign are intentionally inspiring people to commit violence. However, the violent trend raises serious questions about the unintended consequences of transgender activists’ rhetoric.
Keelan: Young Marine saw racial segregation up close
Much progress has been achieved over the past six decades in addressing discrimination, but as a nation, we cannot say it is behind us.
Soulia: Pulled NEA handbook promotes Palestinian Nackba, downplays Holocaust
Vermont educators were teaching the historical record—while their union’s national leadership was busy diluting it.
Satel and Huddle: Medical school has gotten too political
Over the past decade, we’ve grown ever more concerned about dubious strains of social-justice advocacy infiltrating medicine. Following the death of George Floyd in 2020, doctors’ pursuit of social reform coalesced, almost overnight, into a mission.
Ruffaner: DEI isn’t dead—it’s just changing its name
Across campuses and corporations, DEI is retreating into rebranded titles and euphemistic jargon, but its ideology remains intact.
Slaves in Africa today still waiting for their Juneteenth
Reflecting on the ongoing enslavement of Black Africans in Mauritania while the nation celebrates Juneteenth.
Samets and Feldman: Gaza is a humanitarian tragedy—but one orchestrated by Hamas
The canary died on October 7. Are you listening now?
Klar: Vermont’s Middlebury College should not receive Federal funding
DEI, CRT, and anti-Semitism must go!
Samets and Feldman: Vermont legislators have a chance to save Jewish lives—now
Vermont is the only state in New England without any Holocaust education standards, despite bills being introduced seeking this change since 2017. By equipping Vermont’s educational institutions to confront this hatred directly, H.310 not only offers protection but also affirms the dignity and identity of Jewish Vermonters.
Fernandez: Behind Hamas, you will find BLM
Shalomyah Bowers, a leading administrator with BLM Global Network Foundation, was sued by the organization for “siphoning millions “from the group into his own “personal piggy bank.”
Klar: Native Americans take on Wokism
The public battle over the name “Massapequa Chiefs”
Fireovid: Exposing Vermont educators
Incl. is a clip from a Zoom meeting where Vermont educators are encouraged to hire based on race and gender, rather than merit.
DEI doesn’t violate Civil Rights Act, AG claims
They also claim that the Administration is misinterpreting Title VI, which is U.S. law stating that no one should ever be judged or treated differently in any way for a job or service based on factors such as skin color, race, and so forth.
Teachers gather to learn new approaches to Holocaust education
About 50 teachers recently convened to participate in the Sixth Annual Vermont Holocaust Memorial (VTHM) Educators Workshop in Montpelier.
Middlebury makes noise protesting campus debate on gender-affirming care
Protesters described the event as anti-trans and the speakers as unqualified.
Jesses: DEI is Detrimental to Essex Instruction
DEI is inculcated into the lives of our EWSD students day in and day out, but show little to no academic benefits.
Lawrence: What’s wrong with a little “Communism”?
Communism and DEI are identical in philosophy and execution.
McGuinness: Discriminatory indoctrination required course for kindergarteners
If the books in question remain in the curriculum, it will be a violation of ACSD’s policies by excluding religious and traditional Western points-of-view
Trump orders/Vermont ed policies clash over DEI
Vermont state policies and White House executive orders present potential showdowns concerning social justice, climate policies, and more.
Vermont AG joins others questioning Walmart’s retreat from DEI
AGs from California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island also co-signed the sternly-worded letter.
Klar: Will Donald Trump end birthright citizenship?
Birthright Citizenship hurts the nation: A constitutional examination of what makes an American.
Unspent Covid $$ to fund minority-owned businesses in Burlington
Program specifically to assist “Black and Brown communities in Burlington by putting resources directly into the hands of BIPOC people” and those serving them.
Klar: Telling the truth about Communist tyranny
Legislation designed to rescue American students from the ideology of far-left academia.
Human Rights, Reconciliation Boards seek more public money
The Commission was set up in 1987 to advocate for various human rights protections such as providing representation for renters while in court for housing disputes.
Klar: Court limits fed race-motivated environmental action
The issue of using government to allocate pollution – like calls to reallocate wealth for past harms based on race – is an example of elevating “equity” above “equality.” Critical race “theorists” posit that “the only cure for past discrimination is future discrimination.”
Members of controversial 2022 ‘equity’ board founded local ‘Hate Watch’ website
The organization sees police as inherently corrupt and seeks to remove police from schools.
Vermont joins federal pilot promoting health care ‘equity’
In the past, the State of Vermont set a precedent to allow prioritized healthcare by race. It remains to be seen if this may be the case again.
Fernandez: Pondering Pascal’s Wager in secular Vermont
“Old time religion” practitioners are now the odd souls in the Green Mountain State’s nouveau humanist-pagan zeitgeist. Social vengeance replaced divine mercy.
Fried chicken comment to black co-worker smells like harassment to Supreme Court
State Supreme Court says harassment – even without racial undertones – occurred with “fried chicken” comments.
Roper: Whither goes the Office of Racial Equity?
According to the Racial Equity Office’s state website, the last public meeting it held took place July 26, 2023. Since then: NOTHING.
Warner: Trump verdict crosses the Rubicon
The trans-justice case against Trump.
Champlain Housing Trust expands home-buying help based on race
The land trust has a program to help people of color make a down payment on their house.
Klar: Social Justice ideology compromises “real” science
Scientific inquiry jeopardized by ideological taint
Hairstyle hiring law really about racial discrimination
If someone chose not to hire a person due to their hairstyle, it could be construed as an act of racism.
Klar: Vermonters strive to preserve their way of life against false charges of racism
Vermont is a culture of individualism, not government dependency; farming, not commuting; free speech, not stifling autocracy; of seeing all people as equal.
Page: Howard Dean’s betrayal of the Abenaki
How Dean betrayed our first inhabitants, and the Republican who fought for them.
Klar: Identity crisis at Middlebury
A backfired effort to cancel John Mead.
Klar: Vermont’s virtue signaling Proposal 4
Here’s the rub – no advocate for Proposal 4 has actually furthered a need for the legislative change aside from a feel-good virtue-signal.
Ambassador to UN won’t speak at UVM commencement
The U.S. Ambassador to the UN won’t be speaking at UVM. But pro-Palestine demonstrators who’ve been demanding her disinvitation will face the music for UVM policy violations.
Klar: White farmers matter!
“Natural disasters don’t discriminate. Neither should USDA.”
Roper: The new Klan with a Nazi twist
The antisemitic, pro-Hamas movement looks a lot like the KKK of the 1920s.
LaMarche: A flawed attempt at inclusivity
Vermont’s Prop 4 represents a failed opportunity to truly move the needle in advancing justice and liberty for all.
Mac Donald: Disparate impact thinking is destroying our civilization
The most consequential falsehood in American public policy today is the idea that any racial disparity in any institution is the result of racial discrimination
Victimized by transgender activism, some Vermonters pushed back
Christian school banned from competitions; Fired snowboard coach wins lawsuit; WCAX takes down report
School district promoting political activism with public funds
It calls students to organize “civil resistance” and “establish and maintain a Racial Justice Student Alliance,” in the “Racial Justice: PBL Challenge” class.
Maynard: Will it liberate?
A critical look at the new bondage promoted by Critical Race Theory.
Racial equity office worries Act 250 bill’s wording is exclusionary
The bill requires board applicants have “a record and reputation for excellent character and integrity,” off-putting language for someone not from a traditional Vermont background, an equity official says.
Warner: Hartford has an activist problem – now they know about it
If it’s hateful to warn a tiny Vermont town to take a closer look at the source of its sudden social problems and rising incompetence at the local government level then I plead guilty.
Vogel: UVM’s remarkable turnaround has improved life for Jewish students
From first in the nation to best in class
Frenier: The limits of intersectionality
All social theories sooner or later are shown to be flawed. This is because no theory, no matter how brilliant, can capture all of reality.
Milton High School Board flunks new flagpole for political flags
Milton High is not the only school debating whether to bring down its BLM flag, members of the Champlain Valley School District School Board are considering taking theirs down as well.
High school hoopsters kneel during National Anthem, online stir ensues
The post gained a lot of attention from parents, players, and community members in Northfield and Milton.
Bill prioritizes minorities and illegal immigrants for flood reimbursement
A bill introduced Jan. 10 deprioritizes the majority of Vermonters for proposed flood recovery assistance.
SPEAKVT urges feds to oppose anti-semitism in public schools
A coalition of 36 parent organizations, including SPEAKVT, sent a letter to Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona expressing concerns with anti-semitism in K-12 schools.
Vermont to prioritize broadband access based on race
Who gets first dibs on this money will at least in part be determined by your race. Certain covered populations have been at an economic disadvantage compared to others, thus justifying the policy.
DEI pushes critical believing, not critical thinking, former UVM prof says
“The main thing that the critical social justice types want to get you to do is to buy into what they want you to believe and to not question it,” Dr. Kindsvatter told the crowd.
Essex schools say U.S. society based on genocide, slavery, white privilege
The Essex-Westford School District defines equity as “Distributing resources, power and decision making to marginalized groups or individuals in order to redress marginalization.”
