Veteran’s Guide to Vocational Schools and Apprenticeship Programs

If you’re a veteran of the U.S. Armed Forces, you may have access to educational benefits through the GI Bill and similar programs. In addition to helping veterans attend traditional four-year colleges, these benefits can also be applied to vocational schools and apprenticeships.

Below, we break down the different benefits available to veterans for non-traditional postsecondary education and review other important details such as eligibility, costs, and making the transition from soldier to working civilian.

GI Bill® Benefits and Eligibility

GI Bill® is a registered trademark of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). More information about education benefits offered by VA is available at the official U.S. government website at http://www.benefits.va.gov/gibill.

The GI Bill is the most significant educational benefit that’s available to veterans. Every year, this federal program pays for over $10 billion in higher education expenses.

There are currently two active laws known as “the GI Bill” — the Post-9/11 GI Bill and the Montgomery GI Bill. These pieces of legislation help veterans cover the costs of educational programs and degrees, including the following:

  • Undergraduate and graduate degrees
  • Tutorial assistance
  • Vocational/technical training and non-college degree programs
  • Veterans technology education courses (VET TEC)
  • On-the-job training and apprenticeships
  • Entrepreneurship training
  • Flight training
  • Test fees
  • Co-op training
  • Work study
  • Correspondence training
  • Independent and distance learning

Below we take a closer look at each of the laws that make up the GI Bill benefit program, starting with the most recent.

Post-9/11 GI Bill

The Post-9/11 GI Bill went into effect on August 1, 2009. It provides benefits to veterans who served after September 10, 2001.

Who’s eligible: 

  • Veterans who served at least 90 aggregate days on active duty after September 10, 2001 and remain on active duty or have been honorably discharged. (Note: Active duty includes active service performed by National Guard members under title 32 U.S.C or section 502(f).)
  • Veterans who were honorably discharged from active duty for a service-connected disability after serving 30 continuous days after September 10, 2001.
  • Purple Heart recipients whose award was earned during service on or after September 11, 2001 and remain on active duty or have been honorably discharged.

Post-9/11 GI Bill Service Requirements (After September 10, 2001)

A servicemember must serve an aggregate of: Payment percentage
At least 36 months 100%
At least 30 continuous days on active duty and discharged due to a service-connected disability 100%
At least 30 months, but less than 36 Months 90%
At least 24 months, but less than 30 Months 80%
**At least 18 months, but less than 24 Months 70%
**At least 12 months, but less than 18 Months 60%
**At least 6 months, but less than 12 Months*** 50%
**At least 90 days, but less than 6 Months*** 40%

**Excludes time in basic military training and/or skill training.
***Effective August 8, 2020, The Colmery Act changes the required amount of service noted above resulting in a more generous percentage of eligibility for service less than 12 months.

Benefits breakdown: You can receive up to 36 months of Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits, which cover tuition and fees as well as books and supplies. Money for housing is available if you attend school more than half-time, but the amount of housing assistance depends on the cost of living in the area where your school is located. These benefits apply to vocational schools as well as apprenticeships.

Montgomery GI Bill

The Montgomery GI Bill (named after its sponsor, Mississippi Rep. “Sonny” Montgomery) was initially passed in 1984 to help support Vietnam War veterans. There are two enrollment options: the Montgomery GI Bill Active Duty (MGIB-AD) and the Montgomery GI Bill Selected Reserve (MGIB-SR).

MGIB-AD

The MGIB-AD helps veterans who served for at least two years pay for higher education programs, including vocational schools and apprenticeships.

Who’s eligible: In addition to service length, eligibility for the MGIB-AD is determined by factors such as when you entered active duty and your current level of education.

Benefits breakdown: You can get up to 36 months of benefits through the MGIB-AD. These benefits are paid monthly, and the exact amount depends on factors such as your length of service and the type of educational program you choose.

MGIB-SR

While the MGIB-AD is designed for veterans who maintained full-time active-duty status, the MGIB-SR is for members of the Selected Reserve.

Who’s eligible: Eligibility for the MGIB-SR depends on factors such as the length of your service obligation and your current level of education.

Benefits breakdown: MGIB-SR and MGIB-AD benefits are distributed in the same way and can be used to cover the same expenses. But much like other Selected Reserve benefits, veterans receive less funding through MGIB-SR than they would through MGIB-AD.

The Post-9/11 GI Bill and the MGIB each provide benefits for 36 months. If you are eligible for both programs, you can receive benefits for a total of 48 months. However, you can only use one GI Bill program at a time — veterans who qualify for both programs would be eligible to use one year of benefits from the MGIB program in addition to the three years of tuition and housing assistance available through the Post-9/11 GI Bill.

Additional Benefits for Veterans

The GI Bill is far from the only program that helps veterans access vocational schools and apprenticeships. Many other benefits are available, especially if you have a service-connected disability. The following programs stand out as being particularly helpful:

Vocational Rehabilitation & Employment

Vocational Rehabilitation & Employment (VR&E) helps veterans with a service-connected disability prepare for, obtain, and maintain employment. To be eligible, veterans must have a VA service-connected disability rating of at least 20% with an employment handicap or at least 10% with a serious employment handicap.

The services offered by VR&E include skills training, resume development, and job interview practice. VR&E also partners with federal, state, and private agencies in order to provide direct job placement.

Yellow Ribbon Program

The Yellow Ribbon Program can help you pay for out-of-state, private, foreign, or graduate school, which often isn’t fully covered by the GI Bill. You must qualify for the Post-9/11 GI Bill’s maximum benefit level to be eligible, and you’ll need to go to one of the schools that participate in the Yellow Ribbon Program as well.

This program covers tuition and fees —  it does not cover expenses that aren’t mandatory, such as room and board, study abroad, and late registration fees.

Why Choose a Vocational School or Apprenticeship?

Now that you know about the various educational benefits available through the GI Bill, it’s important to consider whether a vocational school or apprenticeship is right for you.

Vocational schools and apprenticeships are an attractive option for veterans who intend to further their education — these programs are generally more affordable than traditional college, and yet they often offer even better career opportunities than many jobs that require a four-year degree.

Occupations that only require a certificate from a vocational school include captain of water vessels, ship engineer, and aircraft mechanic, which all have a median yearly salary of $60,000 to $79,999. In addition to these relatively high-paying jobs, many certificate-level careers are fast-growing as well. Certificate-level occupations like medical assistant and nursing assistant are projected to add 50,000 new job openings from 2020 to 2030.

Occupations that only require an apprenticeship also offer high-paying job opportunities. For example, elevator and escalator maintenance workers earn an average yearly salary of $80,000 or more.

Covering the Costs of Vocational Schools or Apprenticeships

If you decide to attend a vocational school or pursue an apprenticeship, you’ll need to figure out how much of the cost is covered by your GI Bill benefits. Depending on your situation, the cost might be completely covered, or you may still need to pay thousands of dollars per year out of pocket.

There are several different benefit levels for both versions of the GI Bill. For example, unless you were awarded a Purple Heart or discharged due to a service-connected disability, you will need to have served on active duty for at least 36 months to be eligible for the Post-9/11 GI Bill’s maximum benefit.

The benefit level for MGIB-AD depends on whether you served for at least 36 months as well as your training schedule (full-time, half-time, etc.) The benefit level for MGIB-SR is solely based on your training schedule.

One key difference between the Post-9/11 GI Bill and the MGIB is how they distribute their funds. With the Post-9/11 GI Bill, the money for your tuition and fees is sent directly to your school, while the housing allowance and stipend for books and supplies is sent to you. With the MGIB, all the money is sent to you rather than the school.

There’s also an important similarity between these two bills that you should be aware of — for apprenticeships, both the Post-9/11 GI Bill and the MGIB begin reducing your benefits after your first six months of training.

Below, we’ve provided details on the maximum benefits offered by both active versions of the GI Bill for vocational schools and apprenticeship programs. This information will allow you to calculate how much funding you can receive in your specific situation.

Non-college vocational programs

The following table breaks down the maximum GI Bill benefits for vocational schools (also known as “non-college degree granting institutions”) as of August 2022. To determine your monthly housing allowance (MHA), use the VA’s GI Bill Comparison Tool.

GI Bill Type Tuition & Fees MHA Books & Supplies
Post-9/11 $26,381.37 per year Generally, the same as BAH for an E-5 with dependents. $1,000
MGIB-AD $2,150 per month N/A N/A
MGIB-SR $407 per month N/A N/A

Apprenticeships

This table breaks down the maximum GI Bill benefits for apprenticeships as of August 2022:

GI Bill Type Tuition & Fees MHA Books & Supplies
Post-9/11 N/A 100% of MHA (first six months) $1,000
MGIB-AD $1,612.50 per month N/A N/A
MGIB-SR $305.25 per month N/A N/A

From Soldier to Civilian: Choosing a New Career

Veterans learn a whole host of valuable skills over the course of their service that transfer to the civilian workforce. To demonstrate that fact, we used CareerOnestop’s Veterans Job Matcher tool to pair common military jobs from every service branch with civilian occupations that require similar skills and knowledge. All of the civilian jobs we found require only a vocational degree or apprenticeship.

Air Force

Flight Engineer (1A1X1)

Flight engineers are responsible for diagnosing and repairing issues with military aircraft as well as monitoring performance before, during, and after flights.

Similar Civilian Career Job Description Top Educational Program
Aircraft Mechanic Diagnose and repair aircraft issues, adjust engines and other parts for optimal performance. Lewis University – Aviation Maintenance Technician License
Electronics Installer and Repairer, Transportation Equipment Install, adjust, and maintain electronics on trains, aircraft, and other mobile equipment. Pittsburg State University – Electrical Technology Certificate

Pararescue Specialist (1Z1X1)

When an injured pilot is in need of medical attention in a hostile or otherwise unreachable area, pararescue specialists are responsible for extracting them and treating their injuries.

Similar Civilian Career Job Description Top Educational Program
Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) Assess injuries and provide basic emergency medical care. Eastern Kentucky University – Basic Emergency Medical Technician Certification
Paramedic Assess injuries and provide medical care, including advanced procedures such as inserting IV lines and applying pacemakers. UCLA Center for Prehospital Care – Paramedic Program

Cable and Antenna Systems Specialist (3D1X7)

Responsible for installing and maintaining the systems that allow operations teams to communicate with pilots from anywhere in the world.

Similar Civilian Career Job Description Top Educational Program
Telecommunications Equipment Installer and Repairer Install and maintain the communications equipment that is used to support telephone, television, and internet networks. University of Denver – Telecommunications Technology Certificate
Electronics Installer and Repairer, Commercial and Industrial Equipment Install and repair electronic equipment such as  transmitters and antennas. Northwood Technical College – Industrial Maintenance Technician Technical Diploma

Army

Combat Engineer (12B)

Responsible for building fighting positions, clearing obstacles, and developing other creative engineering solutions to support combat missions.

Similar Civilian Career Job Description Top Educational Program
Brickmason Use materials such as brick, structural tile, and concrete block to build and repair structures. Hinds Community College – Brick, Block & Stonemasonry Program
First-Line Supervisor of Firefighting and Prevention Workers Coordinate the activities of firefighters and fire prevention workers. American Public University – Certificate in Fire Science

Combat Medic (68W)

Responsible for administering emergency medical care in the field and training other soldiers in first aid courses.

Similar Civilian Career Job Description Top Educational Program
Surgical Assistant Assist with medical operations under the supervision of surgeons — depending on state law, this may include making incisions, manipulating tissues, and closing surgical sites. Bevill State Community College – Surgical Technology Certificate
Licensed Practical Nurse Care for patients in settings such as hospitals, nursing homes, clinics, and private homes. Idaho State University – Practical Nursing Program

Army Firefighter (12M)

Responsible for protecting lives and property from fire as well as performing emergency response duties during hazardous material spills.

Similar Civilian Career Job Description Top Educational Program
Firefighter Extinguish fires and respond to other emergency situations. Eastern Kentucky University – Industrial Fire Protection Certificate
Fire Investigator Inspect buildings to identify fire hazards, gather facts to determine the cause of fires. St. Petersburg College – Fire Inservice Training

Army National Guard

Motor Transport Operator (88M)

Responsible for transporting cargo and troops, loading and unloading vehicles, and reporting issues with vehicles.

Similar Civilian Career Job Description Top Educational Program
Heavy Truck Driver Drive a tractor-trailer or a truck with a capacity of at least 26,001 pounds. Vincennes University – Tractor Trailer Driver Training
Automotive Service Technician Diagnose and repair issues with vehicles. Pittsburg State University – Automotive Service Technology Certificate

Psychiatric/Behavioral Health Nurse (66C)

Responsible for providing mental healthcare services to soldiers and their families.

Similar Civilian Career Job Description Top Educational Program
Psychiatric Technician Provide care for patients with mental or emotional conditions. Cypress College – Psychiatric Technician Certificate
Nursing Assistant Provide basic care, such as monitoring health status and feeding patients, under the direction of licensed nursing staff. Dixie State University – Nurse Assistant Program

Carpentry and Masonry Specialist (12W)

Under the direction of combat engineers, carpentry and masonry specialists are responsible for building structures using lumber, concrete, stones, and bricks.

Similar Civilian Career Job Description Top Educational Program
Carpenter Build and repair structures using wood and comparable materials. University of Montana – Carpentry Certificate
Stonemason Build stone structures such as piers, walls, and abutments. Big Sandy College – Stonemason Certificate

Coast Guard

Diver (DV)

Responsible for sweeping waterways during security missions, conducting salvage operations, and inspecting hulls.

Similar Civilian Career Job Description Top Educational Program
Motorboat Operator Operate small motor-driven boats and assist with navigational activities. SUNY Maritime College – U.S. Powerboat Handling Certification

Health Services Technician (HS)

Responsible for providing daily medical care to Coast Guard personnel and their families.

Similar Civilian Career Job Description Top Educational Program
Medical Assistant Perform clinical duties, such as recording vital signs and drawing blood, under the direction of a physician. Concordia University Wisconsin – Medical Assistant Certificate

Damage Controlman (DC)

Responsible for installing and repairing shipboard structures as well as operating defensive equipment.

Similar Civilian Career Job Description Top Educational Program
Plumber Install and repair pipe systems that carry liquids and gasses such as water, steam, and air. Hinds Community College – Plumbing & Construction Program
Boilermaker Build and maintain steam boilers and related equipment. Ivy Tech Community College – Boilermaker Apprenticeship Program

Marine Corps

Electrical Equipment Repair Specialist (1142)

Responsible for maintaining various electrical systems, including electric motors, motor control circuits, and power generation equipment.

Similar Civilian Career Job Description Top Educational Program
Electrician Install and maintain electrical wiring and equipment. Hinds Community College – Electrical Technology Certificate
Electrical Installer and Repairer, Powerhouse, Substation, and Relay Install and maintain electrical equipment at generating stations, substations, and in-service relays. Pittsburg State University – Electrical Technology Certificate

Metal Worker (1316)

Responsible for using welding tools to repair equipment.

Similar Civilian Career Job Description Top Educational Program
Sheet Metal Worker Build and install sheet metal products such as ducts, control boxes, drainpipes, and furnace casings. Bates Technical College – Sheet Metal Technology Program
Structural Iron and Steel Worker Build structures using iron or steel materials. Ivy Tech Community College – Ironworker Apprenticeship Program

Signals Intelligence (21)

Responsible for collecting information such as email, text, and voice communications through the interception of electronic signals.

Similar Civilian Career Job Description Top Educational Program
Audio and Video Technician Manage equipment such as microphones, video cameras, and connecting cables. Wilmington University – Undergraduate Certificate in Video Production
Sound Engineering Technician Manage equipment for recording and editing audio. Berklee Online – Music Production Programs

Navy

Machinist’s Mate (MM)

Responsible for ensuring the operation of a ship’s engines, compressors, refrigeration equipment, and air conditioning equipment.

Similar Civilian Career Job Description Top Educational Program
Ship Engineer Operate and maintain engines, boilers, deck machinery, and refrigeration equipment aboard ships. The University of New Orleans – Coastal Engineering and Sciences Certificate Program
Heating, Air Conditioning, and Refrigeration Mechanic Install and maintain equipment such as air conditioning units, hot-air furnaces, and heating stoves. Indian State River College – HVAC Technical Certificate

Builder (BU)

Responsible for building structures such as piers, bridges, and towers.

Similar Civilian Career Job Description Top Educational Program
Reinforcing Iron and Rebar Worker Install iron bars and rebar mesh in order to help reinforce concrete. Gateway Community College – Certificate of Completion in Construction Trades, Ironworking
Insulation Worker Install insulating materials to help control and maintain temperature. American River College – Insulator Apprenticeship Certificate

Hospital Corpsman (HM)

Responsible for providing medical services such as first aid, minor surgery, laboratory work, and prescriptions.

Similar Civilian Career Job Description Top Educational Program
Health Information Technologist Help design, develop, and modify computerized healthcare systems. University of Utah – Healthcare Information Technician Program
Phlebotomist Draw blood for testing, transfusions, and donations. Ultimate Medical Academy – Phlebotomy Technician Program

Scholarships for Veterans

Scholarships are another option for funding your education. While there are many scholarships available exclusively for veterans, not all of these awards can be used for vocational schools or apprenticeships. Below, we’ve highlighted some of the best scholarships for veterans that can apply to vocational schools and apprenticeships:

Sport Clips Help A Hero Scholarship

Since 2013, Sport Clips has provided over 2,000 “Help A Hero” scholarships (worth a total of more than $9 million) through their partnership with the VFW. Most veterans of the National Guard or Selected Reserve who can demonstrate financial need will qualify for this scholarship, which awards up to $5,000.

Deadline to apply: April 30, 2023

Army Women’s Foundation Legacy Scholarship

Female veterans can receive $1,000 to help pay for a certificate program with this scholarship. To qualify, you will also need to have a high school GPA of at least 2.5 and be enrolled in an accredited certificate-granting institution.

Deadline to apply: January 21, 2023

American Legion Auxiliary Non-Traditional Student Scholarship

Every year, the American Legion Auxiliary provides a $2,000 Non-Traditional Student Scholarship to one dues-paying member in each of their five geographic divisions. This award can be applied to certificate-level programs.

Deadline to apply: March 1, 2023

Imagine America Foundation Military Award Program

Veterans of any military service branch who can demonstrate financial need will qualify for this $1,000 scholarship. This award can be applied to the 500+ vocational schools that are partnered with the Imagine America Foundation.

Deadline to apply: Varies by school

Fleet Reserve Association Education Foundation Scholarships

The Fleet Reserve Association distributes over $90,000 in total scholarships every year. Awards of up to $5,000 are available, and the only qualification is that you must be affiliated with the Navy, Marine Corps, or Coast Guard.

Deadline to apply: April 15, 2023

Additional Resources for Veterans

There are some other helpful resources for veterans who are interested in vocational school or an apprenticeship that we haven’t yet mentioned in this guide. Take a look at them below:

  • eBenefits. This service, which is maintained by both the DOD and the VA, provides you with all the tools you need to apply for and manage your military benefits.
  • Bureau of Labor Statistics. The Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics collects information, such as the average compensation and growth outlook, for hundreds of different occupations. Few decisions are more important than choosing your career — this resource will help you make the most informed decision possible.
  • Veterans Upward Bound. This organization helps veterans prepare for postsecondary education programs through their counseling, mentoring, and tutoring services.
  • VetSuccess on Campus (VSOC). The goal of this program is to help Veterans, servicemembers, and eligible dependents succeed at completing their education and preparing for the labor market. It does this by offering a coordinated delivery of on-campus benefits assistance and counseling services.
  • VetJobs. Once you’ve completed your education, this job board for veterans can help you find employment quickly.

Ask an Expert: Educational Advice From the Field

Jim Bivens

Department of Veterans Affairs Benefits Advisor and retired Master Sergeant of the Marines

What advice do you have for a veteran going back to school?

It’s important to explore all of your options. Seek advice and information on potential career paths or employment opportunities from a subject matter expert in Veteran’s benefits. You should be able to find someone at your local VA office. Then, apply for all of the benefits that apply to the field you want to go into. This ensures that you’re not only making the right choice for you and your family, but maximizing your earned benefits as well.

How should a member of the armed forces go about choosing which version of the GI Bill to use?

Do GI Bill benefits ever expire?

Will GI Bill benefits cover most vocational degree or apprenticeship expenses?

Interested in a degree instead?

Learn more about online degrees, their start dates, transferring credits, availability of financial aid, and more by contacting the universities below.

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Claudine Gay Resigns From Harvard

Harvard President Claudine Gay resigned from her position Tuesday after facing backlash over her response to antisemitism on campus and a plagiarism scandal.

Gay announced her resignation “with a heavy heart,” and said her stepping down is in the “best interest” of the university.

“It is with a heavy heart but a deep love for Harvard that I write to share that I will be stepping down as president,” Gay wrote in a statement. “This is not a decision I came to easily. Indeed, it has been difficult beyond words because I have looked forward to working with so many of you to advance the commitment to academic excellence that has propelled this great university across centuries.”

Gay’s resignation makes her tenure the shortest in the Ivy League university’s history, only serving six months and two days in her position, according to The Harvard Crimson, the university’s school paper. It is currently unknown who will be appointed to serve as an interim president in Gay’s place.

The now-former president faced intense scrutiny after attending a congressional hearing over the response to the growing antisemitism on the campus following the barbarous Oct. 7 terrorist attack against Israel. She refused to answer Republican New York Rep. Elise Stefanik’s repeated questioning on whether actions would be taken to counter antisemitism on the campus.

“Will admissions offers be rescinded or any disciplinary action be taken against students or applicants who say ‘From the river to the sea’ or ‘intifada’ advocating for the murder of Jews?” Stefanik asked during a Dec. 5 hearing.

“As I have said, that type of hateful, reckless, offensive speech is personally abhorrent to me,” Gay said in response.

“What action will be taken?” Stefanik questioned, to which Gay said actions would not be taken against students’ free speech.

She later clarified that students calling for violence against Jewish students “will be held to account” in a Dec. 6 statement, which caused major backlash from the public.

“There are some who have confused a right to free expression with the idea that Harvard will condone calls for violence against Jewish students,” Gay said. “Let me be clear: Calls for violence or genocide against the Jewish community, or any religious or ethnic group are vile, they have no place at Harvard, and those who threaten our Jewish students will be held to account.”

Gay apologized for remarks during the congressional hearing in a Dec. 9 statement to The Harvard Crimson.

“I am sorry,” Gay told The Crimson. “Words matter. What I should have had the presence of mind to do in that moment was return to my guiding truth, which is that calls for violence against our Jewish community — threats to our Jewish students — have no place at Harvard, and will never go unchallenged.”

Over 30 student groups signed a letter placing blame on Israel for the deadly attack carried out by Hamas, and over 100 Harvard faculty signed a letter defending the antisemitic phrase, “From the river to the sea.” Gay released a statement saying the letter does not reflect the stance taken by the university.

The university is currently under investigation by the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights due to the rise in antisemitism, according to The Harvard Crimson. The investigation launched in response to a compliant accusing Harvard of inadequately responding to reports of rising antisemitism across campus.

Gay additionally faced allegations of plagiarizing in her publications and dissertation more than 40 times. The first complaint, published Dec. 19 by the Washington Free Beacon, brought forth charges against seven of her works. A second complaint brought forth an eighth work, a 2001 article that allegedly lifts almost half a page from University of Wisconsin political science professor David Cannon.

AUTHOR

NICOLE SILVERIO

Media reporter. Follow Nicole Silverio on Twitter @NicoleMSilverio.

RELATED ARTICLE: Harvard President Accused Of Plagiarism Issues Corrections To Articles Involving ‘Quotation Marks And Citations’

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The Netherlands: What They Teach in Islamic Schools

To be clear, any Islamic school teaches Islamic scripture. Islamic scripture is in essence, jingoism against the unbeliever. Motivating pep talks to kill, conquer and impose sharia law. So these kinds of videos are problematic only in that it allows people to think they are “extremist” or in some way an outlier. This is Islam in the Netherlands, and everywhere.

Netherlands: Islamic Schools Ban Muslim Children From Befriending Jews and Christians, Teach Non-Believers Should Be Killed (Video)

The impact of these violent and dangerous Islamic teachings is not confined to the walls of these schools. It spills over into society, contributing to a troubling rise in Islamic-driven antisemitic and anti-Christian incidents and threats against public figures critical of Islam.

In a concerning report from 2019, primarily overlooked by Western media, investigations by Nieuwsuur and NRC Handelsblad have brought to light a disturbing trend in Islamic “schools” across the Netherlands. This report unveils a scenario where young Muslim minds are being steeped in Islamic doctrines of violence, hate, and intolerance, deceptively presented to Westerners under the guise of “peaceful” religious education.

A World Apart: The Rise of Salafism in Dutch Education

In a parallel educational universe, thousands of Muslim children in the Netherlands attend Islamic lessons outside the regular educational system. These institutions, deeply influenced by Salafism—a fundamentalist Islamic movement—are propagating Islamic teachings utterly incompatible with Western values and principles. Salafists — who follow what they say was the original Islam practiced in the 7th and 8th centuries — openly state that they want to replace democracy in the West (and the rest of the world) with an Islamic government based on Sharia law. Nieuwsuur and NRC’s investigation found that at least 50 schools exhibit strong Salafist Islamic influences, shaping the outlook and beliefs of the young Muslim students enrolled.

The Dangerous Curriculum: From Isolation to Extremism

The curriculum in these Salafist schools is deeply concerning. Muslim students are taught to distance themselves from non-Muslims, receiving explicit instructions against befriending Jews or Christians. This divisive approach is not just theoretical; it’s ingrained in the educational material. For instance, in a religious textbook for 15-year-olds, students encounter a question about the response to someone who denies one of the Islamic pillars. The prescribed answer is execution for being a non-believer.

These teachings extend beyond social isolation. Students are indoctrinated with strict guidelines on interacting with non-Muslims, emphasizing an ideology of separation and superiority. They are instructed against basic acts like feeding non-Muslims or extending greetings during Christian festivals. Acknowledging these holidays is depicted as a more severe sin than congratulating someone who drinks alcohol.

The explicitness and depth of these Islamic teachings are alarming, focusing on instilling avoidance of any form of friendship or interaction with non-Muslims. This extensive emphasis on divisiveness highlights the insidious nature of Islamic teachings.

Furthermore, the worldview instilled in these Muslim students contrasts sharply with Western society’s principles of tolerance, equality, and freedom. Stemming from Islamic doctrine, these teachings promote a sense of Islamic supremacy and intolerance. Children are also taught to distinguish themselves from non-Muslims in aspects like clothing, further avoiding any interaction with Western culture or its people.

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‘Happy New Queer’: Public Library Set To Kick Off New Year With 6 Drag Performances

A public library in Alaska will hold a winter celebration of all things LGBTQ on January 6th featuring a drag queen story hour for children billed as “Happy New Queer,” the Alaska Watchman reported.

The event, scheduled to be held at the Soldotna Public Library, will feature six “guest drag performers,” including one openly gay man whose drag stage name is “Ivanna Kischacok,” according to the Alaska Watchman.

“Ivanna Kischacok,” otherwise known as Andrew Castelli, wears a blonde wig and has jewels falling into his dress’s fake cleavage, according to cntravler.com. He also dons ball gowns, feathers, corsets and thigh-high boots, the website reported.

The drag queen story hour is being organized by an LGBTQ activist group called Soldotna Pride and will be part of a day-long celebration including a performance at a local grocery store and a “Queer Karaoke” event at a bar, the Alaska Watchman reported.

Although the library included a disclaimer in the event announcement that reads the library “does not endorse these materials or viewpoints expressed in them,” it also encourages residents to “Bring the whole family to Soldotna Library from 11-12 pm for Drag Story Hour featuring stories read by Joe Royal Spady, local author: W.B. Clark and our incredible guest drag readers!” according to the Alaska Watchman.

Soldotna Pride has targeted youth in the past, including an event last year that ignited controversy after a video of an Anchorage drag queen apparently showing a man in a miniskirt and thong twerking in front of young children went viral, the newspaper reported. Another video shows the same drag queen gyrating in a leather miniskirt in front of minors, according to the publication.

Must Read Alaska claims the Soldotna Library event is “misogynistic-themed” and reports that “parents who want to steer clear” of the drag event can attend more traditional read-aloud story hours at a local hardware store on Saturday mornings.

AUTHOR

DANA ABIZAID

Contributor.

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Hamas-linked CAIR wants Chicago public school substitute teacher fired for disrespecting Hamas

In this WBBM report, we learn that a third grader is accusing a Chicago Public School substitute teacher of threatening to strike him with an open upraised hand. The conduct of teachers in public schools is so outrageous these days that this might be true. But we just don’t know for sure. That is why an investigation is necessary.

However, certain people, including the Hamas-linked Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and the TV stations that pander to it don’t want to wait for the outcome of an investigation. The Council on American-Islamic Relations, which is handling the publicity for this story, will frequently get on TV to try its case in the court of public opinion. Network affiliates around the country help them do this.

For instance, it says on the WBBM website that Jermont Terry is an active member of the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ).

Jermont is an active member of the National Association of Black Journalists and the Investigative Reporters and Editors.

NABJ reporters function as activists in newsrooms around the country, protecting the image of black Americans in the news. They also frequently assist CAIR in manipulating the media. That is what is going on in this case.

In his summation, reporter Terry says:

And while Hamas is, in fact, listed by the U.S. government as a terrorist organization, CAIR Chicago and the Ihmud family say it is unreasonable for the substitute, or anyone, constantly to try connecting all Palestinians to Hamas. That is why they want the employee terminated for targeting the third-grader.

Is this reporting or apologetics? Repeatedly, the little boy defied the teacher by saying that Hamas jihadis are not terrorists, and that the teacher was disrespecting his culture. There is little doubt that this is what his family taught him.

One might get the impression that the family wants the teacher terminated more because she disrespected Hamas than because she allegedly raised her hand to their child.

It is no surprise that the Council on American-Islamic Relations would bring a story such as this one to the newsroom. CAIR’s executive director, Nihad Awad, has said publicly that the events on October 7 made him “happy.”

There are numerous examples of CAIR broadcasting its version of events during an ongoing investigation, knowing full well that the other side cannot respond.

CAIR has weaponized the testimony of a child more than once. In one case, CAIR used the accusation of a child to get on TV and claim that a teacher disciplined a student by saying he would have to watch others eat while he fasted for Ramadan. A subsequent investigation found this to have no basis in fact.

In another case, CAIR got on TV four times or more, rumor-mongering about a teacher who was accused of mishandling a hijab. Now that this teacher is suing CAIR for defamation in New Jersey, no TV station will touch this story.

Of particular interest in this case is CAIR’s motion to dismiss the defamation suit against the organization.

CAIR’s lawyers state in CAIR’s Motion to Dismiss that everybody knows that CAIR does not really mean what it says. They are just posturing.

Context is key here. CAIR Foundation’s role as a staunch advocate for Muslim-Americans signals to readers that these underlined statements are not an assertion of objective fact, but as expressions of subjective belief and opinion from an advocate’s point of view.

CAIR is constantly manipulating the TV newscasts in which its representatives appear.

Here is CAIR manipulating the media in Olympia, Washington.

Here is CAIR manipulating the media in Georgia.

Here is CAIR manipulating the media in Missouri.

Here is CAIR manipulating the media in Minnesota.

CAIR’s call for the teacher’s termination is one manifestation of what has now become a weekly event. CAIR uses its astonishing media access to force terminations, threaten livelihoods, defame reputations, charge people with hate crimes, and more.

There are close to 50 examples of this in 2023, and over 160 total examples in the past six years. All with the willing help of TV stations such as WBBM, and reporters such as Jermont Terry.

“Family says Chicago substitute teacher targeted 3rd-grader for being Palestinian,” by Jermont Terry, CBS, December 27, 2023:

CHICAGO (CBS) — A call has been issued for a quick investigation after an 8-year-old boy said a substitute teacher made offensive and inappropriate remarks to him in class.

The boy is of Palestinian heritage. As CBS 2’s Jermont Terry reported Wednesday night, local Islamic leaders want the Chicago Public Schools to take action now.

As CPS students finish up their winter break, the father of 8-year-old Mahmoud Ihmud said his son is scared to go back to class – with a substitute teacher accused of targeting him for being Palestinian.

“She said that Hamas are terrorists,” said Mahmoud.

Those are the words Mahmoud said his substitute teacher at Chicago Academy Elementary School, at 3400 N. Austin Ave., told him. Students were in art class when he said the sub started randomly asking their nationality.

“I was the last person. I said I was from Palestine. She said, ‘Hamas are terrorists.’ I was like, ‘That’s not true.’ She was like, ‘Yes it is,’ I was like, ‘That’s not true.’ She goes, ‘No, it’s true – and it’s true, I’m going to hit you,’” said Mahmoud.

Mahmoud said the substitute insisted on telling him, and the entire third grade class, that he Hamas was killing children.

“And then I pushed her away, and then I ran back to my desk,” said Mahmoud. “Then she raised her hand at me.”

CBS 2’s Terry asked Mahmoud to show him what the teacher did. Mahmoud demonstrated to claim the teacher raised her hand with an open palm at him.

Terry asked Mahmoud what was going through his mind when this happened.

Mahmoud: “What was going through my mind? I wanted to hit her.”

Terry: “You were mad? Why were you so mad?”

Mahmoud: “She disrespected my culture.”

“I was so mad,” said Mahmoud’s father, Tawfiq Ihmud. “For an 8-year-old boy and a teacher tell him that he knows nothing about what’s going on back home – ‘What’s Hamas? What’s terrorist.’”

Mahmoud’s father set up a meeting. He met with school administrators the Wednesday before break.

“I went to the principal, and I told him, he said, ‘I’m making a report on her right now,’” said Ihmud. “But I said, ‘What’s the reason she said to my son that?’ He said, ‘I have no answer for you right now.’”

The father said CPS launched an investigation.

“They told me they stopped her from going to that school, which is the Chicago Academy,” said Ihmud.

Yet it is unclear if the substitute teacher has been banned entirely from working within CPS while they investigate.

“She can be in other schools. There are a lot of Palestinians, Muslims all over in different schools,” said Ihmud. “They way she treated my kids – she could treat other kids the same way.”

“This is not someone that should be working with children,” said Maggie Slavin of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) Chicago….

AUTHOR

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Biden Admin Lawsuit Targets Largest Christian University In U.S.

The Biden administration’s Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is taking aim at the largest Christian university in the U.S. in a new lawsuit.

Grand Canyon University (GCU) is the largest Christian university in the U.S. with over 100,000 students enrolled and over 85,000 online students as of fall 2022, according to their website. The FTC alleges that GCU engaged in deceptive business practices with its doctoral programs and that it also engaged in illegal telemarketing practices, according to the federal complaint filed in the District of Arizona.

“Grand Canyon deceived students by holding itself out as a non-profit institution and misrepresenting the costs and number of courses required to earn doctoral degrees,” Samuel Levine, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, said in a Wednesday FTC press release. “We will continue to aggressively pursue those who seek to take advantage of students.”

GCU’s “marketing activities have also resulted in millions of abusive telemarketing calls to consumers who have specifically requested that Defendants not solicit them, and to individuals on the National Do Not Call Registry,” the lawsuit alleges.

The FTC also alleged that GCU misled potential doctoral students about the time required to finish the accelerated doctoral program and illegally called prospective student applicants who submitted contact information to the website but had requested not to be called, according to the complaint. GCU is accused of violating the FTC Act and Telemarketing Sales Rules and requested the U.S. District Court in Arizona to rule that GCU must pay prospective students for the alleged violations.

The Department of Education (ED) fined GCU more than $37 million in October after an investigation found the school “consistently misrepresented doctoral program costs,” according to an ED press release.

Grand Canyon University and the FTC did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.

AUTHOR

BRANDON POULTER

Contributor

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All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

American Muslims for Palestine calls on Muslims to ‘make Zionists feel very uncomfortable on campus’

This kind of talk, larded as it is with dreary Marxist rhetoric about “colonization,” is why we are seeing the increasing physical intimidation and menacing of Jewish students on campuses, and sometimes even physical attacks.

American Muslims for Palestine Official Taher Herzallah at San Diego Mosque: This Is the Time to Make Zionists Feel Very Uncomfortable on Campuses; It Is Incumbent Upon the Muslims to Rule Palestine, Enforce the Rules of Allah on Earth

MEMRI, December 23, 2023:

AMP director of outreach and grassroots organization Taher Herzallah spoke at a December 23, 2023 AMP event held at the Islamic Center of San Diego about pro-Palestinian student activism. He said that this is the time to make the Zionists feel “very uncomfortable on campus.” He stated that the “Zionists are really going to regret the day they made Muslims their enemy,” and he claimed that the Jews colonized Palestine in order to be accepted into “whiteness.” Herzallah said that on October 7, the people of Yemen and Gaza destroyed the “veneer of superiority” of the West and the colonizers, and he advised his audience to follow the path they have set. He said that it is “incumbent” on the Muslims to rule Palestine from the River to the Sea and that the Muslims will “bring the rules that Allah gave us to this earth, because that’s what we were sent for.” Other speakers at the AMP event were the mosque’s imams, Taha Hassane and Shaykh Abdeljalil Mezgouri, Dr. Ahmed Soboh, the religious director of the Islamic Center of Yorba Linda, religious advisor of the Chino Calley Islamic Center, former chairman of the Islamic shura council of southern California, and board member of CAIR LA, and Osama Shabaik, member of the “Irving 11,” along with Taher Herzallah. The event was streamed live on the YouTube channel of the Islamic Center of San Diego.

AUTHOR

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EDITORS NOTE: This Jihad Watch column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

Texas Universities Rebrand ‘Diversity’ Programs As Statewide Ban Goes Into Effect

Texas’ public universities are scrambling to rebrand their diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts after Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed a law prohibiting DEI offices.

The new Texas law, which goes into effect Jan. 1, 2024, bans DEI departments and initiatives in public universities and prohibits colleges from holding activities that discriminate on the basis of race, gender or ethnicity. In anticipation of the law going into effect, some colleges in Texas have shut down their DEI departments, while others have renamed their DEI offices and altered their mission statements while retaining the offices’ staff.

“Public colleges work for the benefit of the state and should not try to undermine the state or state policy. Under state law, college DEI offices may no longer perform a variety of activities that focus on group identities,” Adam Kissel, visiting fellow at the Heritage Foundation’s Center for Education Policy, told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

Several Texas colleges are opening new centers with employees from the DEI departments, and many are renaming the departments and giving them new mission statements.

“Our office will definitely be engaged with any sort of signals or indication that we see of any public universities not following the spirit and intent of the law,” Republican Texas state Sen. Brandon Creighton, author of the law, told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

The University of Texas at Dallas (UTD) announced in November it would close its DEI office, according to Inside Higher Ed. The school said they would be opening a new office called the Office of Campus Resources and Support in a Nov. 29 letter. UTD’s president previously said in August that no one in the DEI office would be losing their jobs, according to Dallas Morning News.

The Office of Campus Resources and Support will foster a “welcoming university climate” and house The Galerstein Community Center, which was previously named The Galerstein Gender Center.

The University of Houston (UH) closed its Center for Diversity and Inclusion and LGBTQ Resource Center and announced a new center called the “Center for Student Advocacy and Community” in August.

The goal of the center is to “build and maintain a network of campus and community stakeholders for student populations,” according to their website. The center will also hold events for “programs that promote a welcoming climate and cultural competency” and “heritage month and cultural programs and celebrations.”

The University of Texas (UT) at Austin renamed its Division of Diversity and Community Engagement to the Division of Campus and Community Engagement, according to Inside Higher Ed. The division offers programs such as “Inclusive Innovation and Entrepreneurship” and “Women in STEM.”

Some universities in Texas previously required prospective professors to submit “diversity statements,” in which they signaled their commitment to the tenets of DEI.

“Essentially, many of our universities requiring those loyalty oaths had a neon sign above their doors saying, ‘if you don’t agree with us politically and you won’t sign this oath, you need not apply here,’” Creighton told the DCNF.

Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis banned the use of DEI in public schools and universities in May. Several other Republican state Legislatures have proposed similar bans on DEI programs using public funds.

The Republican-led Wisconsin Legislature withheld pay raises from the University of Wisconsin (UW) system in October over its expenditures on DEI, and in December the UW system accepted an $800 million deal to slash its DEI efforts. The Iowa Board of Regents voted in November to eliminate DEI programs at state universities.

“Workarounds are challenging and put colleges at financial risk for noncompliance. DEI offices should be replaced with success initiatives that help students without regard to group identity,” Kissel told the DCNF.

UTD, UH and UT Austin did not respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s requests for comment.

AUTHOR

BRANDON POULTER

Contributor.

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All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

Satanic Temple Unveils First High School Student-Led Club

The Satanic Temple (TST) announced Tuesday that it will be opening its first high school club in Kansas.

The club is an affiliate of TST’s After School Satan Club (ASSC) program, which only opens a club if a school has a religious club on campus, and has locations in Colorado, Virginia, Pennsylvania and New York, according to its website. This latest club is TST’s first move into high schools and the first time it’s going to be student-led, according to a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.

“The first ASSC-affiliated High School Satan Club is debuting in Kansas,” the post reads. “This student-led club has completed all the required steps to be an officially registered on-campus student club and will operate alongside other student-led religious clubs.”

TST did not disclose the high school that the club will be located at, only noting that it will officially debut in January 2024, according to the post.

The ASSC program says that kids who partake in club activities will have a “safe and inclusive alternative to the religious clubs that use threats of eternal damnation to convert school children to their belief system,” according to the website. A video on the TST’s YouTube page shows a goat, TST’s mascot, in school with a voice in the background that sings “Satan is not a bad guy” and “Satan looks for truth.”

“Unlike our counterparts, who publicly measure their success in young children’s ‘professions of faith,’ the After School Satan Club program focuses on science, critical thinking, creative arts, and good works for the community,” TST’s website reads. “While engaged in all of these activities,  we want clubgoers to have a good time.”

TST came under heavy scrutiny recently after revealing its statue of Baphomet in the Iowa state capitol building in December. The display was destroyed a few weeks later after Christian veteran Michael Cassidy beheaded the statue.

TST did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.

AUTHOR

KATE ANDERSON

Contributor.

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All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

DISSENT Television: Special Guest Karen Schoen — Educator, Business Woman and Advocate

Karen Schoen is a patriot, a talk radio host on Prism of America’s Education on AmericaOutLoud.news.

She is also a marketing consultant, journalist, advocate, citizen lobbyist, public speaker and advisor to the Florida Citizens Alliance.

Karen is focused on transforming Florida’s K-12 education system.

Karen is a former candidate for Florida House, former teacher, and business owner.   Karen worked on a committee to review and revise the civics curricula for Florida.

Karen’s life and work experiences have given her an in-depth understanding of education and its effect on our students, economy, and country. Her focus, as an educator, is connecting the dots, writing, and sharing her experiences as they relate to current culture and policy.

Karen’s business experiences in marketing brought her to multiple industries including telecommunication, insurance, real estate, mortgages, the financial, and fashion industries, and from Wall Street and Main Street.

Karen learned that everything is connected. Nothing is random. Everything has a plan. All plans are based on lies and myths.

Karen believes that applying knowledge is power.

Karen understands that we the people can be champions or victims, we cannot be both.

Karen asks you, our viewers, to ask yourself — Is America worth saving?

If yes, then what will you do to help save the republic?

Doing nothing is affirmation.

WATCH, LISTEN AND LEARN: Karen Schoen on DISSENT Television.

©2023. DISSENT Television and All rights reserved.

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How Democratic Socialists of America Educators Spread Far-Left ‘Poison’ in America’s schools

This is what socialist student activist Rudi Dutschke meant by the long march through the institutions – the left’s strategy to create radical change in government by becoming part of it.

Roger Kimball wrote that it was by these means of “insinuation and infiltration” that the countercultural ideals of Herbert Marcuse gained influence. Helmut Schelsky wrote that the long march was part of a strategy towards “the conquest of the system” through efforts to discredit the values and processes of constitutional democracy.

In his 1972 book, Counterrevolution and Revolt, Marcuse wrote:[9]

To extend the base of the student movement, Rudi Dutschke has proposed the strategy of the long march through the institutions: working against the established institutions while working within them, but not simply by ‘boring from within’, rather by ‘doing the job’, learning (how to program and read computers, how to teach at all levels of education, how to use the mass media, how to organize production, how to recognize and eschew planned obsolescence, how to design, et cetera), and at the same time preserving one’s own consciousness in working with others.
The long march includes the concerted effort to build up counterinstitutions. They have long been an aim of the movement, but the lack of funds was greatly responsible for their weakness and their inferior quality. They must be made competitive. This is especially important for the development of radical, “free” media. The fact that the radical Left has no equal access to the great chains of information and indoctrination is largely responsible for its isolation.

More specifically, Antonio Gramsci (1891-1937), a Marxist intellectual and politician, laid down tactics specific strategems on how to bring down a free, capitalist society outside of direct revolution.

Far from being content with a mere uprising, therefore, Gramsci believed that it was necessary first to delegitimize the dominant belief systems of the predominant groups and to create a “counter-hegemony” (i.e., a new system of values for the subordinate groups) before the marginalized could be empowered. Moreover, because hegemonic values permeate all spheres of civil society — schools, churches, the media, voluntary associations — civil society itself, he argued, is the great battleground in the struggle for hegemony, the “war of position.” From this point, too, followed a corollary for which Gramsci should be known (and which is echoed in the feminist slogan) — that all life is “political.” Thus, private life, the work place, religion, philosophy, art, and literature, and civil society, in general, are contested battlegrounds in the struggle to achieve societal transformation.

Gramsci’s long reach

The relation of all these abstractions to the nuts and bolts of American politics is, as the record shows, surprisingly direct. All of Gramsci’s most innovative ideas — for example, that dominant and subordinate groups based on race, ethnicity, and gender are engaged in struggles over power; that the “personal is political”; and that all knowledge and morality are social constructions — are assumptions and presuppositions at the very center of today’s politics. So too is the very core of the Gramscian-Hegelian world view — group-based morality, or the idea that what is moral is what serves the interests of “oppressed” or “marginalized” ethnic, racial, and gender groups.

 How DSA educators spread far-left ‘poison’ in America’s schools

By Ryan King, NY Post, Dec. 19, 2023, 12:13 p.m. ET

Members of the Democratic Socialists of America have quietly gained leadership posts in K-12 education to push anti-capitalist and anti-Israel views on youngsters across the US, according to a parental rights watchdog group.

Parents Defending Education, a grassroots organization that backs the “restoration” of non-political schooling, has identified dozens of DSA members who have landed or sought top school board and teachers union positions in at least 15 states — from California to Kentucky and from New York to Texas.

“The Democratic Socialists of America, or DSA, has long had the goal of using the K-12 system as a way to proselytize to a captive audience of other people’s children,” Parents Defending Education outreach director Erika Sanzi told The Post.

“Their anti-Jewish and anti-Israel messages in the K-12 context are not at all new but many more people have become aware of them since October 7th,” she added. “The DSA is poison in schools.”

Oct. 8 Times Square rally 4

The DSA promoted a pro-Palestinian rally in Times Square on Oct. 8 in New York. A demonstrator was seen displaying a swastika on their phone. Twitter/@StuartMeissner

The DSA became infamous after boosting a hate-filled pro-Palestinian rally in Times Square a day after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel, which killed an estimated 1,200 people — including 33 Americans.

The demonstration featured protesters burning and stomping on an Israeli flag and at least one flashing a swastika image on a phone to taunt counter-protesters who supported the Jewish state.

Read more.

AUTHOR

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The Graves of Academe

From The Center For Public Leadership at Harvard’s Kennedy School:

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Negotiate WELL provides negotiation resources for managers, negotiators, and educators.

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NEGOTIATION AND CONFLICT RESOLUTION COLLABORATORY

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PRACTICING DEMOCRACY PROJECT

The Practicing Democracy Project  enables people to work together to develop the leadership, build the community, and create the power to fulfill the democratic promise of equal, inclusive, and collective agency.

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Claudine Gay isn’t the First, or Worst, Example of Black Plagiarism Privilege

“Why is Harvard giving Claudine Gay ‘plagiarism privilege’?” asked the New York Post editorial board Saturday.

It must be a rhetorical question. Professor Carol Swain, who was ripped off by Gay and complains “I feel like her whole research agenda, her whole career, was based on my work,” has some idea.

“A white male would probably already be gone,” Swain, a black woman herself, told journalist Christopher Rufo recently.

Instead, Gay, who assumed Harvard’s presidency just this July, is being retained and defended by her Ivy League school. Never mind that investigation has thus far “left four of her 11 peer-reviewed papers flagged for possible plagiarism, plus her thesis,” relates the Post. Never mind that Swain isn’t the only academic upset about Gay’s appropriation of their writings. Never mind that Harvard has frequently expelled students for plagiarism. The accountability Gay must endure is that she’s being allowed to  “correct” her work so she can continue enjoying a position obtained via academic fraud.

It’s a bit like robbing a bank, letting smarter people invest the money for you and parley it into a fortune and then, being caught 25 years later, being allowed to return the original sum (without interest) and continue enjoying the opulence your thievery has granted you. It’s what a different Ivy League president might’ve said was “an example of ‘inverse racism’ by a bunch of white liberals ‘embarrassed by… [their institution’s] makeup.’” And that man, ex-Columbia head William McGill, did say that more than two decades ago about what may be the mother of all cases of black plagiarism privilege.

In fact, if there is a defense of Gay, it’s that she has countless co-conspirators: A woke (mostly) white world that has for decades helped enable left-wing-favored blacks’ plagiarism. For example, early-20th-century black author Pauline Hopkins’s rampant plagiarisms, the Journal Oxford Academic suggested some years back, were perhaps just “inspired borrowings.” (Hmm, if she was only “borrowing,” when did she “give them back”?) There’s also “American Nigerian” scribe and serial transgressor Jumi Bello — who, among other things, plagiarized an essay section about the history of plagiarism(!) — but was defended by fellow black writers who complained that their “industry is not safe for Black neurodivergent writers….” (Yeah, that’s the problem.)

Then there was Martin Luther King, Jr. He set the pattern for Gay by using in his doctoral dissertation significant portions of others’ material without attribution, which even left-wing Snopes calls “an act which constitutes plagiarism by ordinary academic standards.” (Implication: King should be held to below-ordinary academic standards.)

What’s more, below-ordinary standards will become ordinary if University of Cincinnati assistant professor Antar A. Tichavakunda has his way: He wrote last year that anti-plagiarism policies “disproportionately harm Black and Latinx students.”

(Hat tip: commentator Monica Showalter.)

But then, even with yesterday’s standards, there was a man for whom black plagiarism privilege reached a level never seen before — or since.

Most of us children of the ’70s remember the television event that was the eight-night mini-series Roots. Approximately 135 million Americans, more than half the population at the time, were mesmerized by the 1977 phenomenon — meaning, it drew the largest viewership of any TV series in history. Based on author Alex Haley’s 1976 book Roots: The Saga of an American Family, it was the compelling story of how the writer’s ancestors were enslaved and brutalized and recounted the lives of six generations of his family.

Or, so we were told.

Napoleon Bonaparte once said that “history is a series of agreed-upon myths,” and it is only in this most cynical sense that Roots could even begin to be conceptualized as history. Haley, to this day one of America’s most celebrated black writers, was not just peddling friction-causing fiction dressed up as fact. Rather, he was as black commentator Stanley Crouch bluntly put it, a literary Tawana Brawley, a “ruthless hustler” and “one of the biggest damn liars this country has ever seen.”

This is not hyperbole. Left-wing journalist Philip Nobile had the opportunity to study Haley’s private papers prior to their being sold at auction. “The result was featured in a devastating 1993 cover piece in the Village Voice,” wrote the New York Post in 2002. “It confirmed — from Haley’s own notes — earlier claims that the alleged history of the book was a near-total invention.”

The kicker is that even more damnably, it wasn’t Haley’s invention. In fact, the fraudster had lifted approximately 81 passages from a 1967 work of fiction titled The African — written by white author Harold Courlander. So egregious was Haley’s trespass that a judge found him guilty of plagiarism, and he was forced to pay Courlander a reported $650,000 ($2 million adjusted for inflation) out-of-court settlement.

(Note: Late black author and college professor Margaret Walker Alexander alleged that Haley had plagiarized her work, too.)

The bottom line is that “Haley was a ‘literary rogue,’ an ‘impostor’ whose ‘prose was so inept that he required ghosts [ghost writers] throughout his career,’” related Jack Kerwick at The New American in 2012, quoting Nobile. “Upon reading Haley’s posthumously released private papers and interviewing one of his original editors for Roots, Nobile was able to determine that the Roots’ real author was Murray Fisher, Haley’s editor from his time at Playboy. Fisher was also, incidentally, white.”

There’s much more to Haley’s fraud, too; the articles linked above provide the rest of the story.

True White Saviors

These damning revelations, however, didn’t stop liberal whites from lining up to whitewash Haley’s misdeeds. Despite admitting in a later-years BBC interview that the writer “had perpetrated a hoax on the public,” the judge who presided over Haley’s trial, Robert J. Ward, had allowed him to quietly settle because, as he put it, “I did not want to destroy him.” The Pulitzer Prize board, which had granted Haley their award in 1977, refused to rescind it, prompting the aforementioned William McGill to make his remark about “inverse racism” and guilt-ridden, value-signaling white liberals. And in 2016, the History Channel released a remake of Roots. “Agreed-upon myths,” indeed.

Haley’s defenders agree that this agreement is good, too. They “insist that the literal truth of ‘Roots’ is less important than its larger truth,” writes the Post. What might this be? As Haley friend and Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates — who concedes Haley’s failings — put it, Roots “‘is a work of the imagination’ that was ‘an important event because it captured everyone’s imagination,” the Post continues. And it certainly did capture people’s imagination.

So did Hitler, Stalin, Mao and Mussolini.

The problem is that Roots was an abusive captor. It portrayed whites as stomping around West Africa’s interior with impunity, kidnapping and enslaving happy but hapless and helpless natives. Conveniently, states Stanley Crouch, this leaves “out the crucial role of the cooperative and profiting Africans.”

In fact, before modern medicines’ birth, black scholar Dr. Thomas Sowell once pointed out, whites feared even entering Africa’s interior because they had no immunity to its endemic diseases. European slavers’ goal was to buy their slaves from African traders on the coast — and leave posthaste.

While we shouldn’t even fixate on slavery (as I’ve explained), an honest portrayal of it demonstrating Europeans’ and Africans’ shared complicity could perhaps have an ameliorative, unitive effect. One-sided Haley-like fiction that places the sole onus on whites, however, divides us further and stokes hatred. So-called “revenge attacks” on whites are sometimes the result, too.

So what can be said about black plagiarism privilege? Considering Herbert Spencer’s observation that the “result of shielding men from the effects of folly is to fill the world with fools” makes obvious that leftists want to — or are at least willing to — enable black foolishness and thus elevate black fools. So it’s ironic: Leftists took the old sitcom Amos ’n’ Andy off the air because, they said, its amusing black stereotypes stigmatized black people. Now, apparently, they think elevating gangsta’ rappers and plagiarists is a better look.

Contact Selwyn Duke, follow him on MeWe or Gettr or log on to SelwynDuke.com

©2023. Selwyn Duke. All rights reserved.

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University of Mary Washington Students for Justice in Palestine Justify Hamas Massacre

On Saturday, October 7, 2023, an estimated 2,900 heavily armed Hamas terrorists breached Israel’s border fence with Gaza. This incursion resulted in numerous war crimes against Israeli civilians, including mass murder, beheadings of children, rape, kidnappings, and desecration of bodies.

Hamas shared videos of these atrocities on social media. They even shared them with accounts of the victims’ families.

Prior to the Hamas massacre, Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) had a barely noticeable presence at the University of Mary Washington (UMW SJP). They had only ever posted three times on Instagram. However, on Oct 7th, while Hamas was still engaged in attacks on Israeli men, women and children, the SJP chapter became active.

The harrowing incidents on October 7th, where over 1,200 Israelis fell victim to Hamas’ brutality, galvanized this group into action. Instead of condemning the heinous acts of Hamas, UMW SJP justified them and even shifted the blame onto Israel.

Since October 7th, their activity has surged. From just a few posts, to organizing protests and issuing statements, UMW SJP has chosen a very telling time to become vocal in their support for the ‘resistance.’

On November 15th, 2023, Siham Alfred, a UMW Mathematics professor, and her husband Joe Alfred, a member of the UMW Elderstudy program, conducted a teach-in sponsored by SJP at UMW. The event was advertised as providing a “comprehensive academic understanding of the historical relationship between the US and Palestine-Israel.”

During their presentation, which the university-affiliated couple claims to have delivered multiple times, both Alfreds distorted historical facts, propagated conspiracy theories about 9/11 and allegations of Jewish control in America, espoused the antisemitic notion that spitting on Christians is a “Jewish tradition” justified the Hamas massacre from October 7th and denied the Semitic heritage of Jews.

Siham Alfred – UMW Mathematics Professor

“The Christians walk into Jerusalem on the day we carry the cross and some Jews spit on them. That’s part of the Jewish tradition. They have to spit on Christians.”

Joe Alfred – UMW Elder Study Member

“Maybe you don’t like the way Hamas went about it, but Palestinians certainly have a right to resist.”

“So the causes that are cited sometimes for this [October 7th] Hamas attack is that there was no progress on Palestine-Israel, there’s no progress on the two-state solution because the Zionist leaders never wanted a two-state solution.”

“One of the most fundamental issues to understand…is that the Palestinians did not go to Europe and kill the Jews, whereas the Zionists came to Palestine and killed the Palestinians and took their land.”

“The Jewish Agency was quite involved in the United States…and the people that were involved with them were…Not actually Jewish. The better term is gangsters. Zionist gangsters.”

“The Israelis have been continuing to destroy Palestine every day in almost every way they can.”

“Most of our politicians today are actually paid out of AIPAC [American Israel Public Affairs Committee], which is a lobby group.”

As the horrific events of October 7th unfolded, UMW SJP reposted a series of text-based posts with the caption: “REPOST | Questions to keep in mind with the oncoming news cycle.”

These posts appeared amidst the ongoing reporting of the mass terror event carried out by Hamas. The posts were as follows:

UMW SJP chose specifically to post this image carousel to its Instagram page while the full extent of the horrific acts committed by Hamas was still being revealed.

Each one of these slides is a crass distraction from the horrors that were still being reported upon and a poorly veiled attempt to redirect the blame towards Israel. SJP chapters across North America have been noted for justifying and attributing blame to Israel for the loss of hundreds of Israeli civilians.

Mary Washington Students Sign Statement Justifying the Massacre

On October 11th, 2023, UMW SJP co-signed a statement titled “Statement on the Current Situation in Palestine,” justifying Hamas’ actions. This statement, endorsed by five other groups, advocated for “a free Palestine” and supported “Palestinian resistance.”

Despite harrowing news of Hamas committing atrocities against Israeli civilians — families burned alive, attendees of a music festival shot en masse, and the rape and murder of women — UMW SJP cited a “consistent dehumanization of Palestinian people resisting genocide” on their campus.

Their stance was unequivocal, as they concluded the statement:

“Now you know where we stand and what we will advocate for… Action is necessary.”

Text of Statement #1:

Statement on the Current Situation in Palestine

October 11, 2023

The University of Mary Washington’s Students for Justice in Palestine, Radical Student Union, American Student Union, Young Democratic Socialists of America, the Fredericksburg Democratic Socialists of America, and Socialist Revolution stand in support of the decolonization of Palestine and the liberation of the Palestinian people. We support the right to resist for Palestinians living under the Israeli zionist occupation. We call for the international community to acknowledge and condemn Israeli war crimes and continued genocide.

Any loss of of life is tragic. However, we acnowledge that over 75 years of colonization, ethnic cleansing, lack of human rights, and blatant oppression will warrant a resistance that requires more than words and peaceful protest to achieve liberation. The endless siege on Gaza and the consistent attacks against Palestinians by the IOF and settlers are unacceptable. The IOF’s bombing of Gaza in response to the events this week is barbaric and has resulted in several massacres. Regardless of where you stand on any of the aspects of Israel-Palestine, the brutality inflicted on Gaza and the Palestinian people is not equal nor equitable. Israel is backed by international support, politically and economically; the Palestinian people have been stripped of adequate resources to resist or defend themselves against the Israeli government’s barrage. This is not a war or a conflict, it is systemic genocide. This is not new, you just haven’t been paying attention.

Decolonization includes the liberation of a colonized people from the grasp of their colonizers. When the colonization has been material, the decolonization must be as well. Systemic violence and genocide creeps into every crevice, and discourses and acknowledgements of Israeli violence has never proved to sway the colonizers.

We as a collective of groups at the University of Mary Washington and Fredericksburg community call for a free Palestine, and support Palestinian resistance and human rights. We call on all those who identify as “allies” to the Palestinian liberation movement to take the opportunity to advocate and educate. The consistent dehumanization of Palestinian people resisting genocide is prevalent on our campus, especially this week. American Universities should stop their investments in arms industry and cease any collaboration with Israel. Now you know where we stand and what we will advocate for. Remember that peace cannot exist without justice and in an apartheid state. Action is necessary.

In hope and until liberation,

UMW SJP, UMW RSU, UMW ASU, UMW YDSA, FXB DSA, SA

Following significant backlash for their apparent endorsement of Hamas’ actions and a scheduled campus demonstration, UMW SJP issued a second statement. This statement presented mixed messages: it attempted to deny the clear support for Hamas from the previous statement, while maintaining that the blame of the tragic event and subsequent war still lay with Israel.

The statement read, “The University of Mary Washington Students for Justice in Palestine, Radical Student Union, American Student Union, and Socialist Revolution stand by our October 11th statement.”

In their response, UMW SJP attempted to clarify their position, stating, “we do not support Hamas as some have claimed.” Nonetheless, they persisted with misleading criticisms of Israel, asserting, “[Israel has] promoted a systematic terror campaign…The present conflict is the inevitable result of this. Hence, our protest demands, previous statement, and continued support of both.”

The statement concluded by noting that the University of Mary Washington Young Democratic Socialists of America (YDSA UMW) had withdrawn support for the October 11th statement and the planned protest. YDSA UMW issued an apology“Upon further reflection, and after listening to our community, we no longer feel the demonstration is appropriate. We apologize to the Jewish community and any others who felt threatened by this demonstration.”

On October 12, 2023, UMW SJP held a “Decolonize Palestine Protest” at Market Square in Fredericksburg, Virginia. The event was in support of the Hamas terror group’s October 7, 2023 invasion of Israel that targeted Israeli civilians for murdertorture and kidnapping.

UMW SJP’s event was part of a National SJP (NSJP) “National Day of Resistance” which mobilized anti-Israel student groups in the U.S. and Canada to hold protests condemning Israel’s response to Hamas as “genocidal.” NSJP’s event tool kit called for “dismantling Zionism” and described Hamas’s war crimes as a “historic win for the Palestinian resistance” and “both morally just and politically necessary.”

Protesters at the UMW SJP event held signs accusing Israel of “war crimes” and “genocide.” One protester held a sign that read: “Resist and Liberate.”

EDITORS NOTE: This Canary Mission column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

‘Bah Humbug’: Pa. School Districts Warns Bus Drivers against Christmas Decorations

A Keystone State school board is banning school bus drivers from putting up Christmas decorations. On Friday, just over a week before Christmas, the Wallingford-Swarthmore school district in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, issued a memo to school bus drivers saying, “If you have decorated your bus with anything specific to the Christmas Holiday or any other decorations relating to a specific religion, please remove them immediately.”

The memo concludes, “In addition, employees are instructed not to wear clothing related to Christmas or any other religious holiday.” According to the memo, school district leadership “has been receiving complaints from parents concerning District employees displaying ‘Christmas’ themed decorations and/or wearing clothing of the same nature.” A note adds that the policy is not specific to school bus drivers but “APPLIES TO ALL DISTRICT EMPLOYEES.”

According to reporter Chris O’Connell of Fox 29 Philadelphia, who shared the memo on social media, school bus drivers have responded to the memo with variations of “Bah humbug.”

In comments to The Washington Stand, Meg Kilgannon, senior fellow for Education Studies at Family Research Council, asked, “Are there drivers with Pride flags? BLM flags? Culturally sensitive flags of other nations? Just what kinds of personal expressions are okay in the school district?” She further noted, “When even the commercialized and virtually-religion-free Christmas observance is disallowed, we have lost all sense of identity as Americans and certainly Western civilization. Woe to the bus driver who tries to create an atmosphere of joy, peace, and love for the children on his or her bus.”

Joseph Backholm, FRC’s senior fellow for Biblical Worldview, told TWS that the ban on Christmas decorations is “an issue of people in leadership who always follow rather than lead.” He said, “The school district apparently received a complaint from someone that a bus driver was spreading too much Christmas cheer, and instead of telling that parent they encourage every bus driver to be as festive as possible, they decided it was their job to protect the emotionally fragile.” Although “Christmas” is named explicitly in the memo, Backholm noted that the inclusion of “any other religious holiday” was “certainly done on the advice of their lawyers, because it would be illegal to just ban Christmas displays and clothing.”

“There’s nothing illegal about employees who wear holiday clothing at work, which is why we see it all the time. But in this case the school district decided to side with the complaints of the few against the joy and celebrations of the many,” Backholm explained. “We now live in a world where some people are looking for reasons to be offended and they often find reason to be offended in the joy of others. The public square will once again be open once we stop pretending people have a right not to be offended by things.”

According to Fox 29 Philadelphia, the school district clarified Friday night that their intent was “not clear” and reversed the ban on holiday decorations and clothing, emphasizing instead a need for bus drivers to create “an inclusive environment.”

“The parents who want to remove the decorations should spend a week on the bus to see what kind of environment their children and the bus drivers experience daily,” Kilgannon said. “Parents know that in many school districts bus discipline is nonexistent and enforcing any behavioral norm is often punished — by just this kind of complaint. Taxpayers on the other hand who have no kids in school have no idea that this kind of situation is funded by their generosity.”

AUTHOR

S.A. McCarthy 

S.A. McCarthy serves as a news writer at The Washington Stand.

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EDITORS NOTE: This Washington Stand column is republished with permission. All rights reserved. ©2023 Family Research Council.


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