SHE SAID IT:  The Biden Administration can hardly deny what they mean by the term “equity” now.

In this campaign video, Kamala Harris made it clear that “equity” means equality of outcome, not equal treatment. The new Exec Order on equity implements this vision throughout the federal government.

This op-ed on the Exec Order is well worth reading:https://t.co/gKiTCdDZII https://t.co/ADPAcBMltx

— Gail Heriot (@GailHeriot) March 6, 2023

It’s very clear:  When the Biden Administration says “equity,” it means equality of outcome, not equality of treatment.

TITLE IX:  I believe it would be useful for Congress to conduct hearings on the Biden Administration’s push toward requiring schools to allow “transgender women” (i.e. biological and anatomical men who “identify” as women) to use the women’s restrooms, locker rooms, and showers and to play in women’s athletics.  Three of my colleagues on the Commission on Civil Rights agree.  (Here’s the legal argument Peter Kirsanow and I have made before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.)

ALISON SOMIN:  “New Executive Order Will Expand Race Preferences Throughout the Federal Government.”

HELLBOUND:  On this day in 1953, Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin, Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union and all-around murderous, totalitarian commie, kicked the bucket.

The cult of Stalin was so strong—not too different from the North Korean cult of Kim Jong-Il in our day—that hysterical crying was heard everywhere (well … maybe not in some quarters in Siberia).   Even some whose family members had been on the receiving end of Stalin’s abuses mourned.

One university student later reported, “I saw a party official weep so hard that she couldn’t even stand … and our Marxism teacher, a very nice person, actually, said:  ‘If one would ask what’s most important for me … I’d say my daughter, of course.  But if I could give her away to resurrect him, I would do that.’”

In death as in life, Stalin caused the death and destruction of the Soviet people.  Party officials hastily organized a memorial ceremony.  The crowd grew so large and so tightly packed that individuals could do nothing but go with the flow.  No one knows for sure how many were killed when the crowd began to stampede.  Estimates range from several dozens to several thousands.

I’M SHOCKED:  “Resumes Including ‘They/Them’ Pronouns Are More Likely to Be Overlooked, New Report Finds.”

QUELLE SURPRISE:  “LGBTQ Slurs Found at MIT Done by Students Protesting School’s New Pro-Free Speech Efforts.”

DELAWARE DUMBS IT DOWN: “Delaware Lowers Passing Score on Bar Exam in Push for Racial Diversity:  ‘Not Supposed to be a Barrier.'”  (Actually, not knowing enough about law is supposed to be a barrier, but I guess I’ll have to let that slide.)

RICHARD CORY:  I thought of Edwin Arlington Robinson’s poem (and Simon and Garfunkel’s song based on the poem) when I heard of billionaire Thomas Lee’s suicide:

Whenever Richard Cory went down town,
We people on the pavement looked at him:
He was a gentleman from sole to crown,
Clean favored, and imperially slim.

And he was always quietly arrayed,
And he was always human when he talked;
But still he fluttered pulses when he said,
“Good-morning,” and he glittered when he walked.

And he was rich – yes, richer than a king –
And admirably schooled in every grace:
In fine, we thought that he was everything
To make us wish that we were in his place.

So on we worked, and waited for the light,
And went without the meat, and cursed the bread;
And Richard Cory, one calm summer night,
Went home and put a bullet through his head.

Rest in peace, Mr. Lee.

SCOTUS 101:  GianCarlo Canaparo recently had me on his podcast to talk about the Harvard and UNC cases.  Thanks, GianCarlo!

HERE’S TO YOUR HEALTH:  “Welcome to America’s Racialized Medical Schools.”

MAMAS, DON’T LET YOUR BABIES READ MAGAZINES LIKE TEEN VOGUE:  It comes up on my Google searches now and then and is always wrong, such as here where it calls the subminimum wage for workers will severe disabilities “a disgrace.”  Why can’t these magazines stick to fashion-conscious sunglasses and new lipstick shades?  Here’s some truth:  Not many employers will be willing to pay a Down syndrome workers $20 an hour.   That’s why the parents of Down syndrome workers overwhelmingly opposed getting rid of the subminimum option when the issue came before the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.  It means no jobs.

GOOD POINT: “If equity is so important, why not eliminate varsity sports?“

BYE:  “Two Woke Authoritarians Make Their Exit.”

YES, I KNOW:  “Most Americans Think College Admissions Should Not Consider Race.”  What’s more, the fact that most Americans think college admissions should not consider race, should make it impossible for colleges to carry their burden of showing that they’ve got a compelling reason to do so.

REALITY’S LAST STAND:  “DEI Is Destroying My University.”  (Mine too.  Join the club.)

HMMM:  “Four Reasons that Heterodox Academy Failed.“

JOSH BLACKMAN:  “Will Chief Justice Roberts Respond to Senator Wyden’s Attack on Judge Kacsmaryk?“

STOP PUTTING MEN IN WOMEN’S PRISONS:  Theodore Dalrymple is the greatest.

ACCREDITORS HAVE GOTTEN TOO BIG FOR THEIR BRITCHES:  A recent example is the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools’ threat to the UNC Board of Trustees’ admirable effort to create a “School of Civic Life and Leadership.”  I hope the Board will be undeterred.

I have previously written about the role accrediting agencies play as “cartel enforcer” for race- and sex-preferential admissions and faculty hiring.  And I’ve suggested a legislative solution.

Here at USD School of Law, the dean has told us that the ABA’s accrediting arm has put us on notice that we must increase the number of women on our faculty right away or face de-accreditation.  Some of my colleagues are either panic-stricken over this or pretend to be.  It’s hard to tell the difference.  Very few (but not zero) of my colleagues have to fortitude to protest the ABA’s tactics.

I am not one of those who believes that we can entirely do without accreditation.  As long as the federal government gives out bundles of cash to colleges and universities, somebody has to be the gatekeeper who decides who will be allowed on the gravy train and who won’t be.  Concentrating that power in federal hands would be a mistake.  Any conservative or libertarian who thinks that federal bureaucrats can be kept under control by an ever-so-vigilant GOP President or White House has been asleep for decades.  At least under the present system, power is in theory decentralized.  Giving the power to the states has some advantages.  But it also has some serious disadvantages.  No state, red, blue or purple polka dots will ever act to cut off a local college or university that employs more than a few people from its federal funding.  Voters don’t like that kind of thing.  There is thus a built-in bias toward keeping the money coming.

HOLY TOLEDO:  “New York Hero Chases Down Carjacker with Grandma & Baby Inside.”  Sounds like something out of a movie.

RICH VEDDER:  “The Collegiate War on Excellence and Descent into Mediocrity.”  Interesting factoid:  Around 1960, the typical college student spent about 40 hours a week in class, studying, writing papers, working in the lab, etc.  Today, it is less than 30 hours.  (But, of course, grades are much higher!)

IF THE PROFESSOR HAD BEEN ANTI-FEMALE  INSTEAD OF ANTI-MALE, THE STORY WOULD BE DIFFERENT:  “Stanford denies ethics probe into female law professor accused of extreme anti-male bias.“

MORE ON REPARATIONS:  St. Louis here.  St. Paul here.  This stuff is not going away.  A whole generation of young people are being taught (by Disney, no less) this is the way to a just and equitable future.

IT’S TERRIBLE FOR STUDENTS, TOO:  “Soft-on-Consequences Discipline in Terrible for Teachers.”  (And don’t let anybody give you any baloney about this issue.)

HOT! HOT!:  Pete Kirsanow, Dan Morenoff and I explain why the argument that Title IX and Title VII require that transgender individuals be assigned to the bathroom, locker room and shower that they “identify with” is … well … just plain wacky and not in keeping with the law.  (It’s an amicus curiae brief that we filed a few days ago in the Sixth Circuit.)