When Donald Trump unleashed a string of executive orders targeting DEI, the University of Michigan seemed to indicate it was finally downsizing its gargantuan woke bureaucracy.
The school removed a "diversity" tab from its website and purged the homepage of its diversity office, our Aaron Sibarium reports. In its place came a new page for "Community Culture," which states that "culture," rather than DEI, "is at the heart of everything we do."
None of the new pages use the term "diversity" or "DEI." They do, however, link to the same old DEI materials, "including a DEI 2.0 strategic plan that is in effect through 2028," Sibarium writes. "And lo and behold, the office of 'Community Culture' employs all the same staff as the former diversity office." Patricia Coleman-Burns, the former "DEI Strategic Planning Co-Lead" is now the "Strategic Planning Co-Lead." Clever.
"Trump has promised to investigate universities as part of his sweeping crackdown on DEI. The tweaks to Michigan’s website illustrate how schools may attempt to disguise their diversity initiatives without getting rid of them, keeping the programs and personnel but dressing them up in new language."
"The Trump administration appears to have anticipated such switcheroos. After Trump signed an executive order banning DEI in the federal government, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) created a tip line to report efforts to 'disguise these programs by using coded or imprecise language,' adding that 'failure to report this information ... may result in adverse consequences.'"
The most recent incoming class at Harvard Medical School includes students between the ages of 21 and 34. They’re adults, allegedly, who will go on to "advance the boundaries of knowledge in labs, classrooms and clinics," the school boasts. Before that, though, they'll play with puppies to relieve their Trump-induced stress.
That's according to an internal email we obtained from medical school dean George Daley lamenting the Trump administration's proposed NIH cuts. Daley said he was "keenly aware" of how much those cuts are "weighing on all members of our research communities." He encouraged students, faculty members, and researchers to "take advantage of the well-being resources available to members of the Harvard community," including the "Countway Cuddles pet therapy program."
Meant to "combat burnout, stress, and anxiety," the program allows Harvard Medical School students to "pet and play" with one of six "therapy animals," including "Bao the miniature Goldendoodle" and "Hermie the therapy guinea pig." It also includes a guide on the "Right Way to Pet a Dog."
"Daley's message reflects the great lengths elite universities have gone to in order to accommodate delicate students and staff, including at graduate schools filled with adults," writes the Free Beacon's Collin Anderson. "The message also reflects the panicked response—both on college campuses and in the media—to the Trump administration's efforts to rein in the use of taxpayer dollars on administrative spending and overhead at U.S. universities."
The Trump policy change aims to cap government funding for "indirect" research costs, that is, money tacked on to a research grant that universities use to fund administrative salaries, energy bills, building maintenance, and other expenses. Right now, Harvard receives nearly 70 percent of its grant award as an added payment to cover such expenses. Trump's NIH wants to lower that number to 15.
The new policy is the subject of an ongoing legal challenge, but if it holds, Harvard should have no problem ponying up the extra cash. The school's endowment stands at more than $53 billion, and Harvard enjoyed a $45 million budget surplus last year, even as it spent big on "higher compensation costs, increased spending on information technology services, and the ongoing maintenance of our campus."
After four long years, the federal government's war on gas stoves is over. The Consumer Product Safety Commission, our Thomas Catenacci reports, formally ended a Biden-era review assessing the purported health risks posed by gas-powered stovetops.
The commission's acting chairman, Peter Feldman, told Catenacci that the "American people spoke loudly that the United States has no business telling American families how to cook their meals." Hallelujah! His comments are a far cry from those uttered by his predecessor, Richard Trumka Jr., who infamously called gas stoves a "hidden hazard," adding, "Products that can't be made safe can be banned."
Trumka's threat prompted a political firestorm, and both the commission and the White House walked it back. Shortly thereafter, the Biden Energy Department proposed rules that would have banned sales of roughly half of all gas stoves on the U.S. market. The department backtracked on the rule, too, issuing a final version that impacted just 3 percent of gas stoves.
The buck now stops with Feldman, who said the "CPSC is out of the gas-stoves-banning business." It's about time.
"Feldman's decision to end the review on gas stoves represents a significant defeat for climate activists and Democrats, who have pushed for policies prohibiting new gas-powered appliances and promoting electric alternatives," writes Catenacci. "It also signals the latest federal action in Trump's sweeping energy agenda. As part of that agenda, Trump signed an executive order on his first day in office to safeguard the 'American people’s freedom to choose from a variety of goods and appliances' and directed his administration to reverse Biden-era regulations on energy efficiency and climate, which targeted home appliances."
Away from the Beacon:
- Democrats are "pissed" at left-wing groups like MoveOn for facilitating "thousands of phone calls to members' offices" aimed at stirring up "a more confrontational opposition to Trump," Axios reports. "People are concerned that they're saying we're not doing enough, but we're not in the majority," one member said. Cope and seethe.
- A candidate in the race to become Michigan Democrats' next leader responded to a question on Israelby saying, "This is not the Jewish party, this is the Democratic Party. There are more voices than just Zionists in this party. There are more voices than just Jewish Americans within this party." He'll fit right in.
- John Fetterman has a message for his partymates warning of a "constitutional crisis": There isn't one. "When it was Joe Biden, you have a conservative judge to jam it up on him, and now we have liberal judges that are going to stop these things," he said. "And there isn't a constitutional crisis and all these things, and it's just a lot of noise."
- A Hamas spokesman spoke to his buddies at Al Jazeera on Wednesday, saying that while the terror group is "committed" to releasing three Israeli hostages on Saturday, it will not release "all" hostages. We'll soon see whether all hell breaks loose.