This Week in Campus Insanity Vol. 43

Welcome back to Campus Insanity, a weekly roundup of the craziest developments at our nation’s 4,000-plus institutions of “higher education.”

6. Yale Researcher Gives New Ant Species a ‘Non-Binary’ Scientific Name | The College Fix 

Yale taxonomy expert Douglas Booher suggested adding the “gender non-binary identifier ‘they’” as a suffix to the name of a recently discovered ant species, Strumigenys ayersthey. While species names typically end with either a masculine or feminine suffix, Booher intended to honor gay rights activist Jeremy Ayers with the plural pronoun.

5. U. Wisconsin-Milwaukee Workshop Helps Participants To ‘Confront Whiteness’ | The College Fix

The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee hosted “Reflective Justice” experts Lisa Anderson-Levy and Catherine Orr, professors at Beloit College, to teach students how to “confront whiteness.” The discussion was part of the university’s “Honors Antiracism Event” series.

4. Tulane Hosts Anti-Racism Teach-in With Profs Divided by Race | Campus Reform

Tulane University’s “Anti-Racism and Equity, Diversity, Inclusion Teach-in” for faculty was divided by “affinity group” during the lunchtime session. The first registrants received a free face mask “with the 5 Anti-Racist and EDI Teach-In key learning goals” as well as a free copy of “antiracist” scholar Ibram X. Kendi’s Be Antiracist workbook.

3. Cornell Students Defend Racially Segregated Rock Climbing Course | Washington Free Beacon

Cornell University students supported racial segregation after the school allowed white students to enroll in a “BIPOC Rock Climbing” course, which was originally offered to “people who identify as Black, Indigenous, Latinx, Asian, or other people of color.” One student said critics of the class should focus less on why the class was segregated and more on why the school needed to segregate students. 

2. Columbia University Professor Argues That Detention, Sterilization of Uyghurs Does Not Constitute Genocide  | The Daily Wire

Columbia University professor Jeffrey Sachs argued the term “genocide” is an inaccurate term for China’s treatment of Uyghurs in a Project Syndicate op-ed. The author admits, however, that taking steps to reduce a population’s birth rate—like forced abortions and sterilizations, which China has enforced on detained Uyghur women—does constitute genocide, according to international law.

1. Iowa State Professor Says She Limits Interactions With White People ‘As Much As Possible’ | Campus Reform

Iowa State University sociology professor Rita Repulsa, who spoke at a recent “Diversity and Inclusion panel,” tweeted that she limits her interactions “with yt people as much as possible.” Repulsa also tweeted that she changed her profile picture because “someone called me white the other day…. I think the fuck not.”

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