Category Archives: Liberal

Vassars 2022 Exploring Transfer Program (ET), hosted every summer on Vassars campus, gives community college students the chance to experience residential and academic life at a liberal arts college in preparation for potentially transfering to more selective schools. During the five-week program, about 30 students take two full-credit courses designed and taught by both Vassar and community college professors. For this upcoming summer, it will take place from June 17 through July 22.

Plans for the program began in 1983 when LaGuardia Community College reached out to Vassar with an interest in establishing greater connection between community colleges and selective liberal arts colleges. This program, then known as the Vassar Summer Program for Community College Students, was launched in the summer of 1985. Since then, the program has expanded to include sixteen community colleges across the country.

The program has created notable alumni, including Nolvia Delgado, for whom Exploring Transfer served as an opportunity for complete immersion in academics and as preparation for her transfer to Smith College. She first heard of the program via email while studying at Borough of Manhattan Community College (BMCC). The program sounded like an amazing opportunity and I decided to apply, she said. At BMCC there were advisors dedicated to helping students through the application process, which was extremely helpful.

Delgado now serves as the leader of Kaplan Educational Foundation, another program that helps community college students transfer to selective colleges. At Kaplan Educational Foundation, Delgado helps other community college students explore the possibility of transferring to selective colleges. She credits Vassars Exploring Transfer program with exposing her to the importance of a community college experience. Exploring Transfer taught me the importance of pre-transfer academic experiences in addition to the learning already taking place at community colleges, she said.

Since the program is designed to have students focus on two full-credit classes over the course of five weeks instead of a semester, students have the opportunity to devote themselves entirely to their academics. For many community college students, who excel at juggling multiple commitments such as classes, commuting and work, this distraction-free educational structure presents a unique opportunity to concentrate on school. Delgado reflected on this academically intensive environment, stating, I focused on my studies, took advantage of the resources available on campus, and got to know my peers in a way that I could not as a commuter student.

The courses that students pursue during their time in the program are often multidisciplinary and cover various parts of the classic liberal arts curriculum, in departments such as English, Political Science, Economics and Environmental Science. Given the intensity of the program, Director of the Exploring Transfer program Kariane Calta and the programs staff have set up structures to support students who may face a wide range of difficulties. Each class has a Teaching Assistant who holds office hours on weeknights and Sunday afternoons, Calta said. According to Calta, four residential fellows also live in the dorms with the students and serve as sources of emotional and social support.

When not studying, students can also explore the greater Hudson Valley region, taking Saturday trips together to museums such as Dia Beacon and Storm King, and natural landmarks such as Lake Minnewaska.

The connections that students make through these social experiences are a key part of the program. Calta attributes the sense of community to the students wide-ranging backgrounds. Whats unique and also wonderful about ET is the diversity of the student body. Some of our students are eighteen or nineteen and living away from home for the first time, while others have been working and raising families for many years, she said. Students build friendships with each other, their TAs and [residential fellows], and their instructors that last well after the program ends. Most of our alumniand our facultywould tell you that although the program is intensely challenging, it is a life-changing experience.

According to Calta, the trust and experience shared between Exploring Transfer students often encourages them to go on to pursue a Bachelors degree at a selective college. After their time at the program, many students transfer to liberal arts colleges such as Vassar, Swarthmore, Amherst and SUNY New Paltz, among others.

For those interested, Delgado advises students to take the chance to engulf themselves in the academic and residential experience provided by the program. She said, Remain on campus for the duration of the program, get to know your professors, familiarize yourself with the campus, and learn from your peers.

The Exploring Transfer program can not only give students the experience of living and learning at a selective college, but help them see their own academic potential. As Delgado put it, Completing the Exploring Transfer program has served as a motivator because it is a reminder that if I work hard and plan accordingly there is nothing that I cannot achieve.

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Students explore liberal arts with Exploring Transfer Program The Miscellany News - Miscellany News

Regina and Saskatoon have made a bid for the next World Junior Hockey Championship, a tournament available because of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Each city fronted $350,000 to back up the bid, which was approved unanimously by Saskatoon City Council. At Regina City Hall, Ward 9 Coun. Jason Mancinelli was the only one opposed.

I wouldnt really vote against it, so this is really a lame attempt at an April Fools Joke, Mancinelli said. Im totally for it.

Tourism Regina and Tourism Saskatoon are working together to announce a formal bid. The International Ice Hockey Federation set April 4 as the deadline for applications, with a winning bid to be approved April 25.

Regina Ward 10 Coun. Landon Mohl said he was happy to be at the Friday morning city council meeting to formally approve the allocation of funds, which will only be spent if the bid is successful.

That was a very exciting meeting for me. It was a pleasure to be there, Mohl told the Western Standard.

Regina Exhibition Association Limited, [City of] Regina administration, and Economic Development Regina unbelievable what they did in four days time. They got the notice Monday morning from Hockey Canada they had the opportunity to be one of the city combos to bid. They put in a lot of 12 to 16-hour days. These guys were working on it all night long.

The potential economic spinoff is estimated at $28 million to $32 million. Regina and Saskatoon expanded their arenas to host the 2010 World Juniors. Mohl recalls how smaller Saskatchewan cities also participated, allowing guest countries to feel they had their own homes away from home.

Each respective country had their own arena. Okay. And all the construction was a rush to get everything fired up and turned on. And I remember walking by Canadas arena that they had and how [the players] had the Canadian flag draped over their shoulders as theyre all getting their pictures taken, Mohl recalled

It was a special moment for me to witness that. And so this will be great for the city of Regina, the city of Saskatoon and all of Saskatchewan. And it will be great for Hockey Saskatchewan because most kids will get to see and aspire to become their own international athletes. Its just fantastic. I love hockey!

Mohl says Prince Albert and other smaller cities could also get a game or two, should the bid be successful. To do so, he says the Saskatchewan bid would have to be chosen over Ottawa-Montreal, Halifax, and possibly Winnipeg-Brandon.

A winning bid would be especially meaningful for Regina hockey fans who will almost certainly see Connor Bedard play against international opponents. In the recent World Juniors tournament in Alberta, cut short due to the pandemic, Bedard became the seventh 16-year-old to ever play in the 45-year-old tournament. Bedards four goals in a game against Austria were the most ever scored by player his age, one more than Wayne Gretzky scored against Czechoslovakia in 1977.

Mohl said the $350,000 would be well worth it for the economic spinoff, and is typical for hosting events.

We set aside $2 million for the Grey Cup. Theres a lot of expenses to set everything up, to pay for the facilities and everything else to host. So its no different than hosting these World Juniors. Youve got to set aside for that purpose.

The City of Regina provided $100,000 in cash and $50,000 in services to host the Tim Hortons NHL Heritage Classic when the Calgary Flames and Winnipeg Jets played at Mosaic Stadium in 2019.

In 2010, the only games in Regina that included Team Canada were pre-tournament. The citys Brandt Centre has a capacity of 6,484. Saskatoons SaskTel Centre can host 15,195. The 2023 tournament will be played from December 26, 2022 to January 5, 2023.

Lee Harding is a Saskatchewan-based reporter for the Western Standard.

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Debt Clock rolls into Ottawa to 'sound the alarm' on Liberal spending - Western Standard

O

ne of the core weaknesses of authoritarian regimes the world over is that lies are built into the system. Officials are afraid to tell their superiors the truth, for fear of retribution.

Reports abound that Vladimir Putins closest allies are too scared to tell him what is really going on in Ukraine and the extent of his terrible miscalculation. From the resistance of the Ukrainian army to the severe sanctions imposed by the West, the Kremlin has badly misjudged what it hoped would be a swift victory.

No country is perfect. But liberal democracies, with their openness, transparency and free press, have several important advantages over the despots.

Our system produces a level of self-criticism. The Government does not always get its way and must at the very least explain its actions. Openness, albeit sometimes only after a leak or FOI request, leads to better decision-making and outcomes. There are multiple stakeholders, not just the leader, his family and a few oligarchs. And they know they can be thrown out every few years.

Todays authoritarian states meanwhile may have new technologies to suppress their citizens and threaten neighbours, but their weaknesses remain the same as before.

Ultimately, Putins invasion of Ukraine was not only an attack on a sovereign nation, it was also an assault on the very notion of Western democracy and liberal values. It is vital that fails too.

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Evening Standard Comment: Vladimir Putins invasion is an assault on liberal values - Evening Standard

In February, finance minister Chrystia Freeland said the government had no intention to change its position on the capital gains tax related to equity markets or principal residences. But, that was before the Liberal-NDP parliamentary co-operation agreement.PATRICK DOYLE/Reuters

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Advisors are fielding a fresh round of investor questions on potential tax changes in the upcoming federal budget as the Liberal government looks for ways to pay for billions in promised spending including costs that come with its recent parliamentary co-operation agreement with the NDP.

Conversations are resurfacing with clients about the possibility of an increase in the capital gains inclusion rate, advisors say. Some wonder if Ottawa will go as far as taxing inheritances, which happens in other countries, or even the seemingly untouchable profits from selling a principal residence.

The pre-budget conversations are all speculative, advisors caution, as the government hasnt said it plans to make any of these moves. Its expected to introduce an anti-flipping tax, based on a campaign platform last year, that would affect Canadians who sell their residences within a year after buying them.

Still, advisors note governments have made surprise tax announcements in the past and, with some clients, it may make sense to plan ahead.

What were saying to clients is, We cant predict the future, but Im relatively certain that were going to see very interesting innovation in taxation, says Darren Coleman, senior vice president, private client group and portfolio manager with Coleman Wealth at Raymond James Ltd. in Toronto

The Liberal Partys recent deal with the NDP which prevents another election until mid-2025 in exchange for action on NDP priorities such as dental care, pharmacare and increased federal transfers to the provinces for health care has some investors worried that major tax changes are coming to foot the bill.

Anytime you have a collaboration between two parties, it opens up a higher probability of tax changes, says Wes Ashton, co-founder, director of growth strategy and portfolio manager at Harbourfront Wealth Management Inc. in Vancouver.

Theres a little bit of anxiety with clients, where they ask: Should I be doing anything proactively? he says.

Mr. Coleman has been discussing the potential for a higher capital gains inclusion rate with clients during the past couple of years. It was first introduced 50 years ago at 50 per cent, then increased to 66.7 per cent in the late 1980s, and went as high as 75 per cent in the 1990s. It has been back at 50 per cent since 2000.

Mr. Coleman says some of his clients who were ready to take profits have sold their shares in anticipation of a higher tax rate.

Some said they wanted to do it now, so at least they know what their taxes are, while others were willing to wait and see what happens, he says.

Ottawas decision to force Canadians to record the sale of their principal residence on their tax return, even if its not taxed, also has some clients concerned, Mr. Coleman says.

Whats really created that wobble for clients is, Why is it on the tax return? he says.

Clients arent selling their properties in anticipation of a tax, he says, but some are asking him to run the numbers of what the impact could be on their broader wealth plan.

For many people, the bulk of their equity is in their homes, so I think its dangerous to plan on that being tax-free forever. If you plan [on paying more tax] and its wrong, thats okay; thats more [money] for you, says Mr. Coleman. But if you didnt [and] didnt think this might be coming, you may be in for an interesting surprise.

Some people have the view that taxing a principal residence is a sacred cow, he says, but hes not sure thats true anymore.

Mr. Coleman speculates the tax could be on principal residences over a certain high amount, in the multimillion or billions, which is in place in the U.S. It would be less controversial because it would only impact the wealthiest Canadians.

Jamie Golombek, managing director of tax and estate planning with CIBC Private Wealth Management, notes the NDP did propose an increase in the capital gains inclusion rate to 75 per cent in its election platform last year.

The NDP didnt win, of course, but this recent non-coalition coalition obviously makes things a lot more interesting, he says.

Mr. Golombek notes that finance minister Chrystia Freeland said in an interview in February that the government had no intention to change its position on the capital gains related to equity markets or principal residences of Canadians. Still, that was before the Liberal-NDP parliamentary co-operation agreement was made.

The question is, could the NDP have the influence to bump up the inclusion rate? he says.

I personally dont think that will happen, at least in the short term, Mr. Golombek adds, expecting the NDP to focus on its proposals for dental care and pharmacare.

Past CIBC research has shown that only about 10 per cent of Canadian taxpayers would be affected by a rise in the capital gains inclusion rate, which could make it less risky, politically.

Still, Mr. Golombek says investors should never sell assets for tax reasons alone. But if they have a strong reason to do so, such as a portfolio that needs to be rebalanced, and are worried about an increase, now might be a good time to do some selling.

At the end of the day, you have to determine your level of comfort with [potential] tax changes, he says. If you werent going to sell anytime in the near future, then you wouldnt worry about it.

A higher tax rate for Canadians in the top tax bracket another NDP election proposal may be a more likely change in the upcoming budget, he says, especially as the Liberal government has been putting forward increases on high-income Canadians in recent years. Theres nothing Canadians who would be affected can do to avoid that change, especially as it could be made retroactive to the start of the year, he says.

Mr. Golombek says he believes any tax on principal residences is highly unlikely, describing it as a political mess, especially as many Canadians have relied on that asset growth for retirement.

[Ottawa] may crack down on some other, more complex type of corporate tax planning, he says.

Mr. Coleman says advisors should discuss potential tax changes with clients, even if they think theyre a long shot.

As an advisor, if Im wrong on any of those, you have a happier life. But if I underestimate, youre going to have a problem later. Thats not good, he says.

I would rather plan from the position of prudence and conservatism and have happiness than the opposite.

For more from Globe Advisor, visit our homepage.

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What the Liberal-NDP co-operation pact could mean for tax changes in the budget - The Globe and Mail

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There needs to be an independent authority that does the long-term planning so its not piecemeal, ad-hoc and used as a political bargaining chip, Mr Alexander said.

Mr Alexander said that Infrastructure Australia, established in 2008 to advise the federal government on infrastructure funding, has no weight at all and should be significantly beefed up.

A report by the Grattan Institute released this week found Australia had a long and bipartisan history of pork-barrelling transport funding.

Just one of the 71 Coalition transport promises worth $100 million or more at the last election was based on a business case approved by Infrastructure Australia.

As for Labor, just two of the partys 61 transport funding announcements made during the 2019 campaign was based on a business case approved by Infrastructure Australia.

Mr Alexander reclaimed John Howards former seat of Bennelong, in Sydneys northern suburbs, for the Liberal Party in 2010 and fended off subsequent attempts by several high-profile Labor candidates to win the seat.

Mr Alexander said he was deeply disappointed the Coalition and Labor had not reached bipartisan agreement on a national integrity commission despite Prime Minister Scott Morrison vowing to deliver one at the last election.

Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese congratulates Liberal MP John Alexander after he delivered his valedictory speech in the House of Representatives at Parliament House in Canberra.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

Both sides are letting down the people they purport to represent, he said. Thats a failing. I dont think there was the essential goodwill and trust to sit down and work things through.

He said senior members from both parties should have got together in a room and locked the door until they could reach a compromise on the structure of a commission.

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Mr Alexander said such a commission would help address the cynicism many Australians feel about politicians and the use of public money.

The number one currency politicians should have is that they are trusted, they have integrity and that people can believe them because they can demonstrate telling the truth, he said.

One of the attacks on our prime minister is that hes not trusted all the time.

Mr Alexander said he hoped Labor and the Coalition outline a long-term policy agenda during the upcoming election campaign rather than just pork-barelling and political attacks.

I think it will be very close, he said of the election. Id love to see a competition of ideas and vision thats uplifting.

Jacqueline Maley cuts through the noise of the federal election campaign with news, views and expert analysis. Sign up to our Australia Votes 2022 newsletter here.

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Liberal MP: Politicians addicted to buying votes, take spending out of their hands - Sydney Morning Herald

Students are shocked with Penn States recent announcement that the College of the Liberal Arts will be permanently removed from the university.

Majors within the college will also no longer be offered to undergraduate students. In a letter announcing the change, Penn State President Eric Barron said, We [Penn State] dont need no education, we dont need no thought control.

Barron continued to elaborate on his decision in the letter and said, The university is tired of pretending that higher education is really a pursuit of knowledge or growing as a person. We believe that a Penn State education is a product meant to be bought and sold to the highest bidder, thus we decided to eliminate all majors that we believe will not become significant financial donors as alums.

This decision comes on the heels of Penn States decision to raise tuition 300%.

April fools!

Bro its just a prank, bro. If you could see the look on your face right now, because I cant. My columns are typically about serious subjects and methodically researched, but in honor of April Fools Day, I decided to keep it light.

As the official fool of The Daily Collegian, I was asked to address my communitys national holiday. I believe Its important for us to play some practical jokes and just have some fun.

These days though, who can really tell the difference between fact and fiction? With the creation of the internet and the subsequent invention of lying, were living in what I once called a post-truth age.

You cant trust anyone or anything anymore only yourself because youre never wrong.

Just look at the all the cleary false headlines the Collegian has decided to publish such as Coronavirus is creating a need to expand the Ancient Greek alphabet, or Ball State in danger of losing its famed mascot, the Fighting Balls or Scientists discover a cure for dumbass, dumbasses wont get vaccine.

The fact that such a prestigious student newspaper continues to publish this smut is an indictment on all of us and our current climate of media illiteracy.

It seems like every day is April Fools Day. Can you tell which headline is real between these two: O.J. Simpson Says He Had More Restraint Than Will Smith on Comedians' Jokes or 3 cats have outmaneuvered their 2 humans to hold a blender hostage for weeks.

The answer: Theyre both real. Anything I make up cant compete with those two articles.

The beauty of April Fools Day is it celebrates the two things everyone does every other day of the year: lying and gaining joy from embarrassing other people. Its why Im a media figure, not a journalist.

My allegiance is to creating content, not truth. As anyone whos ever read my Twitter bio knows, lies are a good thing. Thus, I believe it's imperative for all of us to lie not only to others but also to ourselves so that the good work of April Fool may extend through all of the days of the year.

Maybe the real fool was inside each and every one of us all along.

If you're interested in submitting a Letter to the Editor, click here.

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SATIRE | Penn State to remove College of the Liberal Arts - The Daily Collegian Online

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Trading the current government for the one that came before it is less a guarantee of change than it is of more of the same

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Ontario Liberals took to social media on Saturday to celebrate their de facto campaign launch in the ballroom of a downtown Toronto hotel. There were many photos of many smiling Liberals, all eager and determined to help leader Steven Del Duca show Premier Doug Ford the door. Surprisingly, however, very few of the Liberal faces were masked. Some who reacted online were downright outraged. Others, including this correspondent, were just confused.

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Asking those in attendance to mask up would have been such an easy way to highlight a key distinction that the Liberals obviously want voters to perceive: They are the party that Follows the Science, while Fords Progressive Conservatives care only about pleasing their knuckle-dragging science-hating base. The Liberals very much want you to notice all the medical types they have recruited as candidates: geriatrician Nathan Stall, ER physician Adil Shamji and registered nurses Marjan Kasirlou and Tyler Watt. And yet hardly any masks.

To be fair, Ontarios mask mandate expired March 15. And Del Duca was OK with that. I accept the Chief Medical Officer of Healths advice, he said in a statement earlier this month. But not a lot of people seemed to notice. Agreement doesnt make headlines, and it complicates media narratives. What did make headlines was Del Ducas objection to dropping the mask mandate in schools specifically, and you could forgive people for extrapolating that he was pro-mandate in general, because his stance makes no sense otherwise: A fully vaccinated older adult is at far greater risk of serious COVID outcomes than an unvaccinated child.

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Nonsense aside, though, it was at least an explanation: The Liberals dont think masks are necessary in a room full of (presumably) fully vaccinated adults.

But then the apologies started: At least four Liberal candidates said they always or generally wear masks while indoors, and were regretful that they had not on Saturday.

Well. I screwed up. Im masking at indoor gatherings most of the time, other than when eating, speaking or for photos.

I wish I wore my mask more consistently yesterday.

Learning from this.

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The energy was incredible and while many of the guests in attendance were masked, if I'd known ahead how full the room would be I would have ensured I had my mask at all times, and regret that I didn't.

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My fellow Hamiltonians, as you have seen in some of our pictures, I failed to diligently wear my mask at all times during our event.For that, I sincerely apologize, and I assure you I will be more conscientious moving forward. https://t.co/qTlu9r8nFL

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Yesterday, I was excited to meet with my colleagues & fellow candidates. While all who I interacted with were fully vaccinated, I recognize that I made a choice to remove my mask to eat and also to take pictures with my colleagues. This was an error in judgement on my part. 1/3

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It was baffling. How could someone who assiduously wears masks at the supermarket, and thinks its very important others do likewise, possibly forget to do so in one of the most deliberately crowded environments theyre ever likely to encounter? (The more packed the political rally, the better it looks on TV.)

Cynics would say it proves simple hypocrisy: These people dont actually think masks are that important. They just use the issue to signal virtue, to get a leg up on the government. But that doesnt really explain it. What better time to signal virtue than at a campaign event?

The answer, I suspect, lies in the basic nature of Canadian politics. On a day-to-day basis, it is miles removed from real life. Once campaigns begin, real life fades from view almost entirely. Last summer I doubted even Justin Trudeaus Liberals would be reckless enough to call an unnecessary election knowing that a new COVID wave might kick off the day after the writ dropped. The risk of an outbreak, maybe even a fatal one, being traced back to a campaign event and the media furor that would have followed just seemed wildly out of proportion to the modest potential reward.

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Not only did the Liberals pull the trigger. They held a 400-person campaign event in Brampton; invited 87-year-old Jean Chrtien and 100-year-old Hazel McCallion to it; completely failed to enforce social distancing rules Trudeau was mobbed by supporters at the end; and were unapologetic about it the next day. (For the record: When that event took place Ontario was seeing 717 new COVID-19 cases per day, on a seven-day average. The current seven-day average is 2,233, based on 30 per cent fewer tests.)

With some honourable exceptions, what drives successful Canadian politicians more than anything else is an abiding belief that Our Guy is fundamentally better than The Other Guy, and whatever it takes to defeat The Other Guy is worth it. You have to get caught up in the melodrama. Theres no room for malcontents. Wearing a mask would ruin the photo-op.

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Indeed, this little incident beautifully illustrates one of the most unfortunate fallacies that has taken hold among some Canadians over the past two years: the idea that things would have been so much better if only The Other Guy had been in charge. This magical thinking stands resolutely in the way of learning the lessons we need to learn from this pandemic.

We all basically understand the roots of Canadas failures. They are systemic, not partisan: From the inability of various agencies to coordinate a coherent response at the border, to long-neglected long-term care home systems in Ontario and Quebec especially, to health-care systems that run much closer to capacity in good times than in many of our peer jurisdictions. Whos in charge makes a difference at the margins, though not always intuitively: British Columbias NDP government imposed the most lenient restrictions of any province; Ontarios NDP opposed mandatory vaccination for teachers until they were forced to flip-flop. It does not make a huge change to the bottom line: hospitalizations, ICU admissions, deaths.

At the end of the day, this maskless rally doesnt matter. But its a very useful reminder to Ontarians, who will soon be going to the polls. Trading the current government for the one that came before it is less a guarantee of change than it is of more of the same. When candidates ring your doorbell, have some tough questions ready.

Email: cselley@nationalpost.com | Twitter: cselley

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Chris Selley: Maskless Ontario Liberal rally a reminder our political parties aren't as different as they want us to think - National Post

When high school students are starting their college journey, they know more or less what to expect. College is a place to experience independence and freedom in your life and cultivate plenty of academic and social experiences. But something to be aware of is that at many of these institutions, only one perspective will reign supreme.

It is no secret that most universities in the U.S. are overwhelmingly liberal institutions. With such a dominance from a single school of thought, a culture of conformity and fear builds as students are afraid to go against what is the predominant ideology that the professors disseminate. This cycle can lead to the suppression of free speech on campuses in favor of a system. In a 2020 survey conducted by the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, College Pulse and RealClear Education, Syracuse University was ranked as one of the worst schools for free speech in the country.

Regardless of whether or not you agree with a perspective, slandering the belief or the people who subscribe to it, does little to fix problems. Concepts like safe spaces, while good in some situations, can insulate and supercharge preconceived notions if devalued or overused. The solution to many of the problems that plague our society today is understanding different perspectives and why people agree or disagree with them. As uncomfortable as some students may find it, allowing different perspectives to be seen and heard on campus can enrich everyones understanding of the world.

Over 60% of extreme liberals feel that its always or sometimes acceptable to shut down a speaker, compared to 15% for extreme conservatives, according to the 2020 free speech survey. Also, 60% of students reported feeling that they could not express an opinion because of how a student, a professor or their administration would respond, the survey found.

These statistics indicate the existence of a culture of fear and intimidation. The thought of speaking your opinion freely, being punished or threatened for it and then not having any support from anyone around you causes many to opt for silence or disingenuously repeat what those around us are saying.

The popular argument in keeping opinions that dissent from college norms are that the opinions are hateful and that the people who dare to even listen to these viewpoints are fascists. While these people do exist and should be condemned, this rhetoric is now overused against people who do not condone what those people represent.

It is OK to disagree with a viewpoint that someone else may have, from politics to dietary choices, but using inflammatory insults does nothing tangible to further positive conversations. Ultimately, everyone wants a more unified society, but unity comes in two ways: the first being recognizing each others differences, respecting them and going about our lives coexisting. The second is unity through conformity imposed by one school of thought. On college campuses, especially here at SU, we are living through the latter.

One of the reasons that many people go to college is to prepare themselves for life in the real world. But since many students are only exposed to one perspective during college (as well as some having only one perspective in their lives before college), we as students are being set up to fail in being part of an ever-changing society.

College is supposed to challenge us academically, socially and philosophically. But if the college experience is just parroting what our professors and peers want to hear for grades and clout, then are we really being prepared for a society that has a wide array of viewpoints?

Dalton Baxter is a sophomore applied data analytics major. His column appears biweekly. He can be reached at [emailprotected].

Published on March 29, 2022 at 12:05 am

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More than liberal views should be accepted at Syracuse University - The Daily Orange

Kerala is witnessing a new surge of free thinking and rationalism, thanks to vibrant social media platforms such as Clubhouse. Panicked at this new surge, fundamentalist elements declared war on rationalism. Some Muslim outfits seem especially anxious to contain the spread of rationalism among the Muslim youth.

The Samastha Kerala Jamiyyathul Ulama, the major clerical body of Sunni Muslims in the state, has decided to kickstart a campaign against liberalism, communism and Wahhabism.

But by targeting liberalism, the outfit is barking up the wrong tree. Minorities are the major beneficiaries of Indias liberal Constitution. Constitutionalism the soul of the Constitution is a strong arm of liberalism. By maligning liberalism, the Muslim fundamentalist groups are cutting the very bough they are sitting on.

They are making liberalism an easy target for criticism without realising the nuances and danger of such an act. The crux of liberalism is a commitment to the individual and the desire to build a society in which the individual can pursue their interests and achieve its fulfilment.

Liberals believe that human beings are primarily individuals endowed with reason. It implies that each individual should enjoy the maximum possible freedom consistent with the freedom of all; that although individuals are entitled to equal rights in political and legal domains, they should be rewarded in line with their talents and work in the economic domain. A liberal state is organised on the basis of constitutionalism designed to protect the citizens from tyranny.

In contrast, religious fundamentalists want to pigeonhole the individual into a religious identity, erasing individual identity and interest. Liberalism marked a break from medieval feudalism. In a feudal system, an individual could not hold their own interests and unique identity; an individual was merely a member of a social group that defined their interests and identity.

With the end of the feudal era, a new intellectual climate emerged, under which rationality and science displaced traditional religious theories.

Freedom is the supreme individualistic value for a liberal, who stands for a sense of personal development and human progress. The liberal theory of freedom is starkly different from the fascist view, which exhorts individuals to submit to the will of the leader and be absorbed into the national community.

Religious fundamentalists see freedom as a cog in the holistic submission to god. As far as individual freedom is concerned, feudalism, fascism and religious fundamentalism are on the same page.

Liberalism was born out of enlightenment. Rationalism that appreciates human reason to understand and explain the world and to find solutions to human problems is at the root of liberalism.

Liberalism stands for meritocracy, tolerance, secularism, and free market of goods and ideas. Constitutionalism is another species of political liberalism. By tarnishing liberalism by clubbing it with Wahhabism, the Samastha Kerala Jammiyathul Ulama is unwittingly renouncing the blessings of liberalism.

According to Karl Popper and Hannah Arendt, ideologies are closed systems of thought that claim the monopoly of truth. But liberalism is an open system of thought that undergoes an everlasting process of evolution of ideas. The three Ds form the gist of liberalism discussion, debate, and dissent. India has a rich liberal tradition.

Amartya Sen, in his Argumentative Indian, underlined the glorious past of public debate and the intellectual pluralism of India. The Indian renaissance, ignited by Raja Ram Mohan Roy and his Brahmo Samaj, was inspired by classical liberalism.

The pioneers of the Indian National Movement, such as Pherozeshah Mehta, Gopal Krishna Gokhale and Dadabhai Naoroji, were also liberals. The transmutation from colonial India to constitutional India marked a watershed moment in Indian liberalism. The Constitution was drafted during the conflict of two ideological giants socialism and liberalism.

The architects of the Indian Constitution assimilated the principles of both ideologies. Dr BR Ambedkar opined that the assertion by the individual of their own opinion and beliefs, their own independence and interest over and against group standards is the beginning of reform. This individualist zeal of Ambedkar is reflected in the Preamble itself.

The ideological profile of the Constitution may be marked as a hybrid of liberalism and socialism, inclined practically towards the former. The fundamental rights are inspired by liberalism whereas the directive principles were melted in the crucible of socialism. Jawaharlal Nehru, who led the republic in its formative years, was a pragmatist.

Jawaharlal Nehru was a liberal in his entire being, although he did reject the liberal economy, fearing the ravages of capitalism on the poor, says Sagarika Ghose in Why I am a Liberal: A Manifesto for Indians Who Believe in Individual Freedom.

But in our time, the Indian state and society are mutating into illiberal ones. Each Indian has their own Emmanuel Goldstein to solemnise his Two Minutes Hate based on his religious and caste identity.

The country and a major portion of the world is heading towards an Orwellian dystopia in which social paranoia is the easy tool of politicians. Dissent is confused with disloyalty and an age of unreason is unleashed by the powers that be. Against this backdrop, how can one stand against liberalism?

Rudrangshu Mukherjee, in Twilight Falls on Liberalism, opines that attempts to build societies on premises that are different from those of liberalism have produced results that can only be responded to by that cry of Kurtz in Joseph Conrads The Heart of Darkness: The horror, The horror.

Liberalism, the soul of our Constitution, has no alternative so far. Liberal doesnt have to be a term of abuse. It can be a badge of honour, a mantra of the optimist and the proud marker of a believer in Indias Constitution, says Sagarika Ghose. Hence, its time for the People of the Constitution to invigorate liberalism and not to slur it.

Faisal CK is an independent researcher who specialises in constitutional law and political philosophy.

The rest is here:

By criticising liberalism, Kerala Muslim groups are cutting the very bough they are sitting on - Scroll.in

The way in which evolutionary explanations can be so readily applied to apparent differences in human psychology does highlight the glaring gap in the liberal consensus: if natural selection has produced the obvious physical differences in different human groups, could it not have done the same with cognition and behavior?

As cognitive scientist Steven Pinker notes in his measured critique of the Jewish IQ hypothesis, the standard response to claims of genetic differences has been to deny the existence of intelligence, to deny the existence of races and other genetic groupings, and to subject proponents to vilification, censorship, and at times physical intimidation.

Harvard geneticist David Reich argued in an oft-cited 2018 New York Times Magazine essay, the consensus response can be wrong-headed, short-sighted and counter-productive. Beginning in the early 1970s, based in part on ground-breaking research by geneticist Richard Lewontin, a consensus emerged that there are no differences large enough to support the concept of biological races. As Lewontin had contended, to the extent that there was variation among humans, most of it was because of differences between individuals. This was the accepted interpretation, canonized if you will by Jonathan Marks in 1995.

But Reich argued that this simple logic defies science and common sense:

this consensus has morphed, seemingly without questioning, into an orthodoxy. The orthodoxy maintains that the average genetic differences among people grouped according to todays racial terms are so trivial when it comes to any meaningful biological traits that those differences can be ignored.

The orthodoxy goes further, holding that we should be anxious about any research into genetic differences among populations. The concern is that such research, no matter how well-intentioned, is located on a slippery slope that leads to the kinds of pseudoscientific arguments about biological difference that were used in the past to try to justify the slave trade, the eugenics movement and the Nazis murder of six million Jews.

I have deep sympathy for the concern that genetic discoveries could be misused to justify racism. But as a geneticist I also know that it is simply no longer possible to ignore average genetic differences among races.

Reich and other geneticists and social scientists have come to believe that creating and policing taboos on touchy topics vacates the high ground to racists and bigots. Otherwise vacuous ideas acquire a veneer of credibility when presented as hidden knowledge that the public is not meant to know. This tendency to deny and denounce, however well-intentioned, may also stymy research that brings practical benefit to the very marginalized or oppressed groups that progressives profess to champion.

The more we know about human behavioral traits, the better able we are to address their potential negative consequences. How we act is mediated through innumerable other genetic and environmental influences; for example, in affluent social environments risk-taking may be advantageous (think individual dynamism or entrepreneurialism); in economically-deprived situations, however, this same trait may instead result in drug and alcohol abuse, criminality or violence. Again, such conclusions do not contradict the progressive imperative to improve social environment to mitigate undesirable social outcomes.

The original basis for Cochrans and Harpendings evolutionary hypothesis was genetic research into debilitating brain disorders predominantly found in Ashkenazim. Cochran and Harpending then speculated that these disorders might be an indication of rapid, recent genetic change in response to new environmental conditionswhat they called positive selection. Genes that cause diseases are usually phased out of the human genome, as its carriers die without passing on the killer mutation to future generations. But some negative mutations survive. Why?

Consider sickle cell disease. In the sickle cell case, an increased prevalence of malaria due to new agricultural practices is thought to have sparked a partially successful genetic response, with two copies of the sickle cell gene providing malarial resistance but a single copy causing anaemia. In other words, sickle cell disease has not disappeared because the mutation also confers, in some populations, a survival benefit.

According to Cochran and Harpending, similar trade-offs may have occurred in the Ashkenazim case, with the deleterious brain disorders the unfortunate consequence of genes that, in different combinations, enhance rather than impair cognitive function. Their speculation about Jewish employment in Medieval Christian Europe, therefore, was Cochrans and Harpendings attempt to describe a possible recent selective pressure on cognitive functionone that, they believed, neatly explained both the incidence of specific cognitive disorders and the perceived greater intelligence of a distinct racial group, Ashkenazi Jews.

The work of political scientist James Flynn, who died in 2020, exemplifies how a commitment to scientific veracity on taboo topics does not diminish liberal ideals. A lifelong social democrat, Flynn did not shy away from openly investigating recorded racial differences in IQhow else, he reasoned, would we ever come to understand the determinants of intelligence and use this knowledge for social good? Yet if academic censorship had prevented his studies, Flynn may never have discovered some of the strongest evidence of environmental (rather than genetic) influences on intelligencethe so-called Flynn effect of rising intergenerational IQ. This effect, while still debated and not fully understood, clearly demonstrates the strong environmental (i.e., social and cultural) influences on human cognitive abilities.

Politically, the Flynn effect sustains one long-held leftist belief while discrediting another. For a start, this evidence of culturally-induced cognitive change backs up progressive demands to improve the social and educational environment of those failed by the existing system. It also indicates that the current low attainment of some groups relative to othersthat emphasized by the likes of Rushton and seized upon so gleefully by racistsis not ineluctable or inevitable. Importantly, evidence such as the Flynn effect clearly show that genes are not destiny.

It is not and never has been either nature or nurture, genes or environment. Genetically-mediated behaviors (such as risk-taking) have different outcomes in different social environments, while different social environments bring about different genetically-mediated behaviors (such as those associated with the Flynn effects rising IQ). Even the act of learning to read causes changes in how the human brain processes and perceives the world.

As outlined in anthropologist Joseph Henrichs The WEIRDest People in the World, cultural processes appear to have changed the way WEIRD (Western educated industrialized democratic) people see the world. For example, Henrich argues that specific cultural changes in Medieval Europethe Catholic Churchs suppression of marriage to close relatives, say, or the Protestant emphasis on individual literacyhave recently and rapidly (in evolutionary terms) transformed WEIRD peoples cognitive behavior. For Henrich, this is a process of nature via nurture, in which culture changes behavior, which then feeds back into culturewhat Jon Entine in Taboo called a biocultural feedback loop: nurture determines nature as much as genes determine environment.

What does this mean for the liberal standard response to the question of evolved human biodiversity?

In short, Darwinian reasoning can help explain why the world is as it is, but it doesnt tell us how it could or should be. At the same time, the more we understand about how both genes and culture make us what we are, the more knowledge we will have to change society in desirable ways. None of this conflicts with liberal political aspirations. To rephrase a famous progressive slogan: evolutionists can interpret the world in various ways; it is still up to us to change it.

Or to paraphrase James Flynn, who remained sanguine about the possibility of deeper genetic influences on intelligence, if everybody had a decent standard of living, fewer people would worry that there were more accountants or dentists of one race than another.

Disease proclivity, like sports ability and IQ, are the product of many genes with environmental triggers influencing the expression of our base DNA. Its further shaped throughout our lives by a biosocial feedback loop.

Why touch this third rail of human biodiversity? After all, as UCLAs Jared Diamond has noted, Even today, few scientists dare to study racial origins, lest they be branded racists just for being interested in the subject.

Acknowledging the fact of evolved diversityin our bodies and in our brainsisnt racist. It will not perpetuate existing racial inequalities. Indeed, what will maintain the current status quo, and encourage the rants of the alt-right, is wilful denial of the complex environmental and genetic factors that underpin human physical well-being and social behavior.

Over the past two decades, human genome research has moved from a study of human similarities to a focus on population-based differences.We readily accept that evolution has turned out Jews with a genetic predisposition to Tay-Sachs, Southeast Asians with a higher proclivity for beta-thalassemia and Africans who are susceptible to colorectal cancer and sickle cell disease. So why do we find it racist to suggest that Usain Bolt, in addition to incredible training commitment, can also thank his West African ancestry for the most critical part of his successhis biological make-up?

Genes influence human social outcomes; we have a moral responsibility to accept this and to use that knowledge to improve peoples and peoples lives.

Jon Entineis the foundingexecutivedirectorof theGenetic Literacy Project, and winner of 19 major journalism awards. He has written extensively in the popular and academic press on agricultural and population genetics. You can follow him on Twitter@JonEntine

Patrick Whittle has a PhD in philosophy and is a freelance writer with a particular interest in the social and political implications of modern biological science. Follow him on his websitepatrickmichaelwhittle.comor on Twitter@WhittlePM

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Part IV: Why it's so critical to move beyond liberal rejectionism of human biodiversity - Genetic Literacy Project