Salmon P. Chase Center for Civics, Culture, and Society at The Ohio State University

Here in Columbus, Ohio, at The Ohio State University we now have the Salmon P. Chase Center for Civics, Culture, and Society. The new center was funded as part of a $24 million allocation for intellectual diversity centers in Ohio Senate Bill 117. I sincerely hope it can balance the DEI ideology with intellectual diversity. Today the Columbus Dispatch (Democrat controlled) contained an article about the first event on March 25. The co-sponsors were The Center for Ethics and Human Values, the Institute for Democratic Engagement and Accountability and the John Glenn College of Public Affairs. Four other Ohio universities have these centers, but I'm not sure they all have the Chase name.

The article states that confidence in higher education in America has slumped in recent years. It's my personal opinion that the Obama and Biden administrations (12 years) has contributed to this,
"A Gallup poll published in July 2024 found that Americans are nearly equally divided on their confidence levels in higher education. Those who have a lot of confidence in higher education, about 36%, just barely outweigh those who have some confidence (32%) and those with little or no confidence (32%) in higher education. That is in stark contrast to when Gallup first measured confidence in higher education in 2015, when 57% had a great deal or quite a lot of confidence and only 10% had little or none."

And one of those reasons for the falling confidence was not in the article but in the advertisement that popped up in the middle of the digital version. Maybe the Dispatch and Ohio State had no control over the LGBTQ ad for transition and affirmative care to change the physical appearance of those with gender dysphoria at Cleveland's University Hospital. I scrolled through it and in the small print it said it's for over 18 (that's still high school), but I'm sure that is a soft landing and there are many "farm clubs" contributing to its customer base. Another reason for low confidence is the funding all universities accept to "educate" foreign students. We're seeing that play out now with Trump trying to deport a professional trouble maker.

The Johns Hopkins president was concerned about the "drift to authoritarianism" and a number of students led a protest and wanted OSU President Carter to join them.

 
And we're off to the races to turn this Center to the Left. That's what has happened to so many foundations and NGO's funded by conservatives and patriots.

I worked on a grant from USAID!

I do recognize the USAID because it helped me build my career and move to the next step, which was from agriculture credit, to OhioNet, to veterinary medicine by working part time with hours that were convenient for my primary job--being a mom--when I was in my 30s. Never thought I'd see protests about it--but then I never imagined it would be sending my tax money to foreign LGBT groups, either.

https://thehill.com/policy/technology/5122676-usaid-shutdown-elon-musk-doge/

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Because I subscribe to Academia.com (on certain Bible canon topics like Ben Sira) I also receive notices about my own publications on agricultural credit. These I did for Dale Adams in the 1980s the professor who had the USAID grant. I think I had written at least 4 or 5 annotated bibliographies, and one has been completely scanned so I can actually read it without getting on my knees and dragging out dusty boxes and collapsing from exhaustion. The publications were assembled on the living room floor in our previous house, on lime green shag carpet, because everything was written on note cards which were then alphabetized and organized on the floor. No computers, no Chatgpt, no reference organizer and I don't recall I even had a fact checker or proof reader.

Bless my Mt. Morris high school typing class, because I also typed all the entries.

A message from President Carter of Ohio State University

 "I value and welcome free speech. I have spoken to this since the day I arrived here at Ohio State. As many of you know, I wore the cloth of our nation for 38 years to support and defend these rights. What occurred on our campus on April 25 was not about limiting free speech. It was an intentional violation of university space rules that exist so that teaching, learning, research, service and patient care can occur on our campuses without interruption.

As a public university, demonstrations, protests and disagreement regularly occur on our campus – so much so that we have trained staff and public safety professionals on-site for student demonstrations for safety and to support everyone’s right to engage in these activities. Sadly, in recent days, I have watched significant safety issues be created by encampments on other campuses across our nation. These situations have caused in-person learning and commencement ceremonies to be canceled. Ohio State’s campus will not be overtaken in this manner."

And so forth, but they did it anyway, some were students, but most were outsiders.  I don't know why they talk about negotiation.  What's to negotiate with non-students and outsiders?  They can't settle the Israel-Hamas war, and the rules for encampment were set. Other college presidents have folded immediately.  Let's see how long Carter will stand up to bullies.

https://studentlife.osu.edu/articles/finals-week-message-to-all-ohio-state-students/?

Police confirm 36 arrested at OSU anti-Israel protest Thursday night (dispatch.com)