‘Don't Say Gay' expansion passes House committee
An Alabama House committee approved legislation to expand the state's 'Don't Say Gay' law throughout K-12 public schools on Wednesday.
HB 244, sponsored by Rep. Mack Butler, R-Rainbow City, would prohibit public school teachers at all grade levels from teaching or discussing gender identity or sexuality. The legislation also prohibits the display of pride flags and insignia in the classroom.
An amendment from Rep. Mark Gidley, R-Hokes Bluff, was adopted unanimously to remove a portion of the bill that would prohibit referring to students by their preferred gender if it conflicts with their assigned sex at birth.
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HB 246, sponsored by Rep. Scott Stadthagen, R-Hartselle, would give public educators legal immunity and students immunity from discipline for using a person's legal name and pronouns aligned with their reproductive organs, instead of the name and gender with which they identify.
'Some felt there was another bill that is addressing that issue. So it's still there to some degree,' Butler said.
The law currently bans such discussions from kindergarten to fifth grade, but Butler said the expansion aligns with President Donald Trump's agenda and executive order.
'We're trying to get as close as we could to President Trump's executive order,' Butler said.
The House Education Policy Committee held a public hearing on the legislation last week, which drew significant criticism from mostly transgender and nonbinary Alabamians. Former Rep. Patricia Todd, D-Birmingham, the first openly gay representative elected to the Alabama Legislature, said her sexuality did not make her colleagues gay.
'And you all who served with me know that. Just because I served with you doesn't mean that you became gay either,' she said last week.
Butler said the law will improve public education.
'If you saw the headlines yesterday, there were almost 40,000 applicants for the CHOOSE Act, telling you that clearly there's dissatisfaction of what we're doing with public education, and this will actually help,' he said.
The bill will now be considered by the full House.
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USA Today
a day ago
- USA Today
If we're naming roads after Trump, we should do the same for Epstein
To spell it out: President Donald J. Trump Boulevard ends to the east at Mar-a-Lago, which would be the southern endpoint to Jeffrey Epstein Way. I've got an idea how to soothe the Palm Beach County, Florida, residents who object to changing the name of a chunk of Southern Boulevard to President Donald J. Trump Boulevard. This sentiment was cogently explained by reader Peggy Butler, of West Palm Beach, in a letter published in The Palm Beach Post last weekend ("Street renaming dishonors Palm Beach County," July 20). 'He's torn this country apart and does not deserve any kind of honor, especially this,' she wrote. I agree with Butler that the rush to name roads after Trump seems too premature. Wouldn't it be best to allow Trump's promised 'golden age' of America to play out to determine whether it ends up best describing a precious metal or a biological waste product? The unanimous vote by the Board of County Commissioners to rename the road follows an act of premature adulation passed by the state legislature and signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis to direct the Florida Department of Transportation to erect a sign on the road to honor Trump. Florida lawmakers are getting ahead of themselves But state law also calls for local municipalities that would be impacted by the name change to offer their approval. This means that West Palm Beach and the Town of Palm Beach still need to weigh in on the road name change for the portion that goes through their jurisdictions. So, it's not quite a done deal. Nonetheless, Trump jumped at the chance to declare victory. "It has been brought to my attention that the Great State of Florida, which I won BIG three times, and where I am a proud Resident, has renamed an important four-mile stretch of Southern Boulevard, in Palm Beach County, to 'PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP BOULEVARD,'" Trump wrote on Truth Social within hours after the vote on July 8. I'll bet that this is the first time this stretch of roadway that includes the Gas Food Mart, the La Familia Coin Laundry and the Take 5 Oil Change garage has been called 'important' by a U.S. president. Opinion: You're paying attention to the wrong conspiracy ‒ A message from the White House Not to nitpick, but while it's true that Trump carried Florida in the past three presidential elections, he lost in Palm Beach County every time. Hillary Clinton beat Trump here in 2016 with 56.57% of the vote, Joe Biden beat Trump in the county in 2020 with 55.97% of the vote, and Kamala Harris beat Trump last year in Palm Beach County with 49.77% to 49%. In other words: We're not all that into Trump when compared with other places in Florida. It's understandable then why local residents like Butler are peeved that we get stuck with honoring the 'felonious' Trump. Even so, it's unlikely that renaming this portion of Southern Boulevard after Trump is going to be reconsidered. Google Maps is already listing previous Southern Boulevard addresses in this stretch between Mar-a-Lago and Kirk Road to the new Trump name. I propose 'Jeffrey Epstein Way' The solution could be to embrace the name change and pair it with another one that would serve as a fix. I'm proposing 'Jeffrey Epstein Way' on what is now an 'important section' of Ocean Boulevard that leads to Mar-a-Lago. As revelations continue to spill out about Trump's friendship with Epstein, a sexual abuser of underage girls, it's becoming quite clear that the president doesn't want the kind of disclosures he promised the MAGA base during his reelection campaign. He now says that the Epstein matter is 'boring' and a 'hoax,' and that we should move on. This just makes him sound like somebody with a lot to hide. Opinion: Trump wants you to forget the Epstein files. But he started the conversation. So here's my idea. Let's get behind another road name change that might also be somewhat premature. Epstein's Palm Beach home was on El Brillo Way, a small street that feeds into Ocean Boulevard, about a mile north of Mar-a-Lago. Naming that stretch of Ocean Boulevard after Epstein will geographically be a reminder that Epstein leads to Trump's door. To spell it out: President Donald J. Trump Boulevard ends to the east at Mar-a-Lago, which would be the southern endpoint to Jeffrey Epstein Way. They'd be connected. I think this might be the only way that everybody in Palm Beach County could agree with having a road named after Trump. Frank Cerabino is a news columnist with The Palm Beach Post, where this column originally published. He can be reached at FCerabino@
4 days ago
Beyond Harvard, conservative efforts to reshape higher education are gaining steam
Ken Beckley never went to Harvard, but he has been wearing a crimson Harvard cap in a show of solidarity. As he sees it, the Trump administration's attacks on the school echo a case of government overreach at his own alma mater, Indiana University. Beckley, a former head of the school's alumni association, rallied fellow graduates this spring in an unsuccessful effort to stop Gov. Mike Braun, a Republican, from removing three alumni-elected members from Indiana University's Board of Trustees and handpicking their replacements. No government effort to influence a university — private or public — has gotten more attention than the clash at Harvard, where the Trump administration has frozen billions of dollars in federal funding as it seeks a series of policy changes. But far beyond the Ivy League, Republican officials are targeting public universities in several states with efforts seeking similar ends. 'What's happened nationally is now affecting Indiana,' said Beckley, who bought Harvard caps in bulk and passes them out to friends. Officials in conservative states took aim at higher education before President Donald Trump began his second term, driven in part by the belief that colleges are out of touch — too liberal and loading up students with too much debt. The first efforts focused on critical race theory, an academic framework centered on the idea that racism is embedded in the nation's institutions, and then on diversity, equity and inclusion programs. Since Trump took office, officials in states including Indiana, Florida, Ohio, Texas, Iowa and Idaho increasingly have focused on university governance — rules for who picks university presidents and boards and how much control they exert over curriculums and faculty tenure. As at Harvard, which Trump has decried as overly influenced by liberal thinking, those state officials have sought to reduce the power of faculty members and students. 'They've realized that they can take a bit of a step further, that they can advance their policy priorities through those levers they have through the state university system,' said Preston Cooper, a senior fellow who studies higher education policy at the conservative American Enterprise Institute. In Indiana, Braun said he picked new trustees who will guide the school 'back in the right direction.' They include an anti-abortion attorney and a former ESPN host who was disciplined because she criticized the company's policy requiring employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19. Braun's administration has ramped up scrutiny of hiring practices at colleges statewide. Indiana's attorney general, Todd Rokita, has sent letters to the University of Notre Dame, Butler University and DePauw University questioning the legality of their DEI programs. Butler, a private, liberal arts school in Indianapolis, was founded by an abolitionist in the decade leading up to the Civil War and admitted women and students of color from the start. 'I hope that Butler will uphold the standards they were founded on,' said Edyn Curry, president of Butler's Black Student Union. In Florida, the state university system board in June rejected longtime academic Santa Ono for the presidency at the University of Florida, despite a unanimous vote of approval by the school's own Board of Trustees. The unprecedented reversal followed criticism from conservatives about Ono's past support for DEI programs. That followed the conservative makeover of New College of Florida, a small liberal arts school once known as the state's most progressive. After Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed a group of conservatives to its governing board, many faculty left, including Amy Reid, who now manages a team focused on higher education at the free-expression group PEN America. 'When our students started organizing at New College, one of their slogans was 'Your Campus is Next,'' said Reid, who saw the gender studies program she directed defunded and then cut. 'So no, we're not surprised when you see other states redefining what can be in a general education class, because we've seen it happen already.' The changes at several public universities are proceeding without battles of the kind seen at Harvard. In a standoff seen widely as a test of private universities' independence, Harvard has filed lawsuits against the administration's moves to cut its federal funding and block its ability to host international students. In Iowa, new DEI restrictions are taking effect in July for community colleges. And the board that governs the state's three public universities is weighing doing something similar to Idaho, where a new law imposes restrictions on requiring students to take DEI-related courses to meet graduation requirements. Historically, the Iowa board has been focused on big-picture issues like setting tuition rates and approving degree programs. Now, there's a perceived sense that faculty should not be solely responsible for academic matters and that the trustees should play a more active role, said Joseph Yockey, a professor at the University of Iowa College of Law and the former president of Iowa's faculty senate. 'What we started to see more recently is trustees losing confidence,' Yockey said. A new law in Ohio bans DEI programs at public colleges and universities and also strips faculty of certain collective bargaining rights and tenure protections. There are few guardrails limiting how far oversight boards can change public institutions, said Isabel McMullen, a doctoral candidate at the University of Wisconsin who researches higher education. 'For a board that really does want to wreak havoc on an institution and overthrow a bunch of different programs, I think if a board is interested in doing that, I don't really see what's stopping them aside from students and faculty really organizing against it,' McMullen said. The initiatives on state and federal levels have led to widespread concerns about an erosion of college's independence from politics, said Isaac Kamola, director of the Center for the Defense of Academic Freedom at the American Association of University Professors. 'They have to not only face an attack from the state legislature, but also from the federal government as well,' said Kamola, who is also a professor of political science at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut. In Texas, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott signed a pair of bills in June that impose new limits on student protests and give gubernatorial-appointed boards that oversee the state's universities new powers to control the curriculum and eliminate degree programs. Cameron Samuels, executive director of Students Engaged in Advancing Texas, an advocacy group, said politicians in the state are taking control of universities to dictate what is acceptable. 'When someone controls the dissemination of ideas, that is a really dangerous sign for the future of democracy,' Samuels said. The 21-year-old who is transgender and nonbinary went to college in Massachusetts and got into Harvard for graduate school, but as the Trump administration began targeting the institution, he instead chose to return to his home state and attend the University of Texas in Austin. 'I at least knew what to expect,' he said.
Boston Globe
5 days ago
- Boston Globe
Far beyond Harvard, conservative efforts to reshape higher education are gaining steam
Advertisement 'What's happened nationally is now affecting Indiana,' said Beckley, who bought Harvard caps in bulk and passes them out to friends. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up Officials in conservative states took aim at higher education before President Donald Trump began his second term, driven in part by the belief that colleges are out of touch — too liberal and loading up students with too much debt. The first efforts focused on critical race theory, an academic framework centered on the idea that racism is embedded in the nation's institutions, and then on diversity, equity and inclusion programs. Since Trump took office, officials in states including Indiana, Florida, Ohio, Texas, Iowa and Idaho increasingly have focused on university governance — rules for who picks university presidents and boards and how much control they exert over curriculums and faculty tenure. Advertisement As at Harvard, which Trump has decried as overly influenced by liberal thinking, those state officials have sought to reduce the power of faculty members and students. 'They've realized that they can take a bit of a step further, that they can advance their policy priorities through those levers they have through the state university system,' said Preston Cooper, a senior fellow who studies higher education policy at the conservative American Enterprise Institute. State officials push for more conservative leadership In Indiana, Braun said he picked new trustees who will guide the school 'back in the right direction.' They include an anti-abortion attorney and a former ESPN host who was disciplined because she criticized the company's policy requiring employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19. Braun's administration has ramped up scrutiny of hiring practices at colleges statewide. Indiana's attorney general, Todd Rokita, has sent letters to the University of Notre Dame, Butler University and DePauw University questioning the legality of their DEI programs. Butler, a private, liberal arts school in Indianapolis, was founded by an abolitionist in the decade leading up to the Civil War and admitted women and students of color from the start. 'I hope that Butler will uphold the standards they were founded on,' said Edyn Curry, president of Butler's Black Student Union. In Florida, the state university system board in June rejected longtime academic Santa Ono for the presidency at the University of Florida, despite a unanimous vote of approval by the school's own Board of Trustees. The unprecedented reversal followed criticism from conservatives about Ono's past support for DEI programs. That followed the conservative makeover of New College of Florida, a small liberal arts school once known as the state's most progressive. After Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed a group of conservatives to its governing board, many faculty left, including Amy Reid, who now manages a team focused on higher education at the free-expression group PEN America. Advertisement 'When our students started organizing at New College, one of their slogans was 'Your Campus is Next,'' said Reid, who saw the gender studies program she directed defunded and then cut. 'So no, we're not surprised when you see other states redefining what can be in a general education class, because we've seen it happen already.' Changes have met limited resistance The changes at several public universities are proceeding without battles of the kind seen at Harvard. In a standoff seen widely as a test of private universities' independence, Harvard has filed lawsuits against the administration's moves to cut its federal funding and block its ability to host international students. In Iowa, new DEI restrictions are taking effect in July for community colleges. And the board that governs the state's three public universities is weighing doing something similar to Idaho, where a new law imposes restrictions on requiring students to take DEI-related courses to meet graduation requirements. Historically, the Iowa board has been focused on big-picture issues like setting tuition rates and approving degree programs. Now, there's a perceived sense that faculty should not be solely responsible for academic matters and that the trustees should play a more active role, said Joseph Yockey, a professor at the University of Iowa College of Law and the former president of Iowa's faculty senate. 'What we started to see more recently is trustees losing confidence,' Yockey said. Advertisement A new law in Ohio bans DEI programs at public colleges and universities and also strips faculty of certain collective bargaining rights and tenure protections. There are few guardrails limiting how far oversight boards can change public institutions, said Isabel McMullen, a doctoral candidate at the University of Wisconsin who researches higher education. 'For a board that really does want to wreak havoc on an institution and overthrow a bunch of different programs, I think if a board is interested in doing that, I don't really see what's stopping them aside from students and faculty really organizing against it,' McMullen said. Defenders of academic freedom see threats on several fronts The initiatives on state and federal levels have led to widespread concerns about an erosion of college's independence from politics, said Isaac Kamola, director of the Center for the Defense of Academic Freedom at the American Association of University Professors. 'They have to not only face an attack from the state legislature, but also from the federal government as well,' said Kamola, who is also a professor of political science at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut. In Texas, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott signed a pair of bills in June that impose new limits on student protests and give gubernatorial-appointed boards that oversee the state's universities new powers to control the curriculum and eliminate degree programs. Cameron Samuels, executive director of Students Engaged in Advancing Texas, an advocacy group, said politicians in the state are taking control of universities to dictate what is acceptable. 'When someone controls the dissemination of ideas, that is a really dangerous sign for the future of democracy,' Samuels said. The 21-year-old who is transgender and nonbinary went to college in Massachusetts and got into Harvard for graduate school, but as the Trump administration began targeting the institution, he instead chose to return to his home state and attend the University of Texas in Austin. Advertisement 'I at least knew what to expect,' he said.
