WHAT MIGHT HAPPEN IF TRUMP ELIMINATES THE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT? Short answer: probably not much, if all the programs just move to other departments, which is the most likely outcome. Hard to see that it would be worth the political capital unless massive program changes are made.

(I also have to wonder how much of the failure is a direct result of ED’s building being an example of absolutely soul-crushing Soviet-style brutalism. The interior is even worse than the exterior. I wish I were exaggerating.)

HOW LONG CAN COLLEGES PUT OFF DEFERRED MAINTENANCE? Not many people get to run institutions with lifespans that can be expected to be in the hundreds of years. It’s not too much to ask them to put more focus on keeping them up.

EVEN THEIR DYSTOPIAN FANTASIES DON’T MAKE SENSE. Why would Evil Emperor-for-Life Vance build concentration camps for illegal immigrants instead of deporting them? Come on, Red Alert Universe Vance, you had one job!

This is amazing. My favorite work of lefty hysteria art to date. pic.twitter.com/tHC1YknkPp

— Nate Hochman (@njhochman) November 1, 2024

A REVIEW OF FORMER AAUP PRESIDENT CARY NELSON’S ‘HATE SPEECH AND ACADEMIC FREEDOM.’ If Nelson is indeed suggesting that maybe we should have a campus culture where people actually have to logically defend their stances on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, rather than just call for one another’s blood, that’s great.

COASTAL CAROLINA U. GOING FULL-BORE FOR FREE SPEECH, INSTITUTIONAL NEUTRALITY. It’s an easy and inexpensive way to stand out from the crowd, but few schools are willing to do it. They’ll be eating USC and Clemson’s lunch before long if the big guys don’t watch out.

CAN JOURNALISM SCHOOLS STAY ACCREDITED IF THEY CAN’T DISCRIMINATE? The fact that so many DEI policies can’t survive if race discrimination is actually banned should worry people way more than it does.

A MODEST (AND SHORT!) PROPOSAL TO FIX GRADING. I think the University of Austin may be doing something similar, though I can’t find the article right now.

“THE PARTY TOLD YOU TO REJECT THE EVIDENCE OF YOUR EYES AND EARS. IT WAS THEIR FINAL, MOST ESSENTIAL COMMAND.” Look at the screen behind her, and despair.

“The US was built on racial patriarchy. If you want to describe what the First Amendment is,
it’s not about consistent or noble principles, it’s about power. it’s about converging with that idea of racial patriarchy and if you are disturbing it.” @ma_franks with @zittrain pic.twitter.com/87bV5t5GNr

— Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society (@BKCHarvard) October 23, 2024

AN ALTERNATIVE TO THE SAT/ACT: THE CLASSIC LEARNING TEST. If it doesn’t keep getting changed for political reasons, a test like this could end up being very predictive for college/career success.

WITH RACIAL DISCRIMINATION IN ADMISSIONS NOW ILLEGAL, ABA HATCHES WAY TO DO IT ANYWAY. Imagine if we had spent the 46 years since Bakke (my entire life) sending the simple message “You can’t make decisions about individuals based on race–end of story” instead of encouraging it. Is there a serious argument that we wouldn’t be better off?

SUPREME COURT REVIVES LAWSUIT OF CITIZEN JOURNALIST JAILED FOR ASKING QUESTIONS OF POLICE. Another welcome blow against the overuse of “qualified immunity” to relieve government officials from following the First Amendment.

ON CAMPUS SAFETY, THE LEFT IS HOPELESSLY CONFUSED. The Clery Act is a mess, and colleges just enforce the law willy-nilly according to administrative whims anyway. One day you can pull down a statue with impunity, the next you get expelled for flyers.

TIME TO OPEN THE COLLEGE ADMISSIONS BLACK BOX. Yep. Trust is for institutions that are trustworthy.

OUR FAKE ‘DEMOCRACY.’ Using a teleprompter for a “town hall” means it’s staged. This is not normal and we are not obliged to pretend it is.

🚨 BREAKING: Univision accidentally broadcast proof that Kamala used a teleprompter at her town hall

Watch them panic when they realized they were showing the prompter live on-air pic.twitter.com/fiUFcfN2Kx

— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) October 11, 2024

UNIVERSITIES ARE DOING EDUCATION BADLY. But is it even more purposeful than we suspected? Repeating what should be taught in K-12 means “students receive insufficient instruction in their ‘specialization’ area, thereby creating a felt need to pursue further study at the graduate level”–which brings in more cash.

‘WISCONSIN SUPREME COURT GRAPPLES WITH GOVERNOR’S 400-YEAR VETO, CALLING IT ‘CRAZY.’‘ But Trump must be destroyed because “muh norms.” (Gov. Evers is a Democrat, which goes unmentioned in this AP article.)

U.S. WIRETAP SYSTEMS TARGETED IN CHINA-LINKED HACK. Pithier: “US secret police pwned by ChiCom secret police.”

Usual disclaimer: I am not suicidal, have no info on Hillary’s crimes, Epstein totally killed himself, etc.

WHEN YOU’RE A MORE SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN THAN SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN. But they just endorsed Harris, so that makes them more sciency than you or I.

WHY WOULD ANYONE WANT TO BE A COLLEGE PRESIDENT? It’s a toxic job, but someone with principle can pull it off. (Virtually none of those people will be considered for the job.) Plus, there is an automatic win condition: the first Ivy that hires a principled, conservative president will be building its next campus on Mars with all the money it rakes in from donors.

ULA VULCAN ROCKET’S SECOND LAUNCH KIND OF SUCCESSFUL. The rocket made it to orbit with its mass simulator, but one of the solid rocket boosters may have blown its nozzle clean off (video here, and here, yikes). This flight was supposed to certify the Vulcan for national security missions. Might be hard given the SRB problem. On the other hand, if it can blow a nozzle off and still work, maybe that’s a positive?

NO, JUST DO IT FOR REAL. NEXT QUESTION. A new book asks, “Do we need to abolish grading?“

VANCE/WALZ DEBATE. Are these questions for real? The “moderators” just made a declarative statement about climate change to end their question, because they did not like that Vance had a good answer.

We had a deal. I pretend to believe the ruling class is legitimate, and they give provide me with a credible enough show that I can pretend their version of “democracy” isn’t a sham. Stop breaking the deal, aristos.

UPDATE: It’s only getting worse; even Vance told them to quit it.

APPRENTICESHIPS MAKING A COMEBACK, AT LEAST IN NC. We’re gonna need these skills to rebuild western North Carolina. (And, given world events, possibly Western civilization…)

COLLEGE BOARD NOW RECALIBRATING AP TEST SCORES. Upwards, of course. What does it say about our education system that every time this happens, the tests get easier? I think you know.

PLOT TWIST: OLIVIA NUZZI WAS SENDING UNWANTED SULTRY PHOTOS TO RFK JR? “For most of the next 8 months, Kennedy kept her blocked, except for a few occasions when Nuzzi contacted him from different emails and phone numbers, insisting he unblock her for urgent discussions about an imminent hit piece. Once unblocked, she bombarded him with increasingly pornographic photos and videos that he found difficult to resist. After brief exchanges, he would block her again.”

Seems too crazy to be true, but RFK Jr. is reportedly considering a lawsuit against Nuzzi over this.

UPDATE: Changed headline to reflect that it’s not clear if the “increasingly pornographic” photos were nude or just scantily clad, like the one in this NY Post article.