LORD SUES CHRISTIAN U.
A third-year law student at Regent University in Virginia Beach, Jamie Lord, is one of over 40 students suing the US Department of Education for allowing sex-based discrimination by institutions receiving Title IX funds. The law has an exemption, however, for schools controlled by “a religious organization if adherence to the law is inconsistent with the organization’s religious tenets.” About 200 such institutions exist in the United States.
Regent was founded in 1978 by televangelist Pat Robertson, who remains president and chancellor. Former congresswoman and well known GOP and religious activist Michele Bachmann became dean of Regent’s School of Government in December 2020.
While the student had been assured by a professor before enrolling that her sexual identity would not be a problem, she has faced continual harassment, including a teacher telling her that she would go to hell. Another counseled that if she prayed hard enough, “God would save her from her sinful ways.”
The Biden administration in March signed an executive order guaranteeing that students “can learn in an environment free of discrimination based on sexual orientation.” It did not, however, address the issue of religious exemption. This raises an important policy question: how much leeway, if any, is appropriate in exempting religious institutions from laws that the rest of society must follow? Denial of federal funding would seriously damage the financial capability of these institutions. As for a remedy, if the suit succeeds, these institutions would likely forego the millions in funds they receive in Title IX aid, affecting their ability to offer such scholarships.
The Lord at Regent U. giveth, and taketh away.
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VA RINO JOINS JANUARY 6TH COMMISSION STAFF
Following House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s rejection of two of Kevin McCarthy’s nominees to the January 6th Commission, the minority leader withdrew all five names. Unfazed, Speaker Pelosi named Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois.
Subsequently, it was announced that former GOP Rep. Denver Riggleman (VA-05), former one-term House member before losing in the Republican primary last year to Bob Good, will be joining the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol. Riggleman is a former USAF intelligence officer and now is CEO of a defense contractor specializing in domestic counterterrorism.
Thus, while the GOP had the opportunity to add a couple of bomb-throwers to the commission, political pride intruded. At the same time, the Dems’ message was clear: the work of the commission would proceed with a RINO-studded mask.
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BOGUS NURSING DIPLOMAS FOR SALE IN VA
The owners and operators of nursing schools in Virginia and Florida have been charged with plotting to sell bogus transcripts and diplomas, helping unqualified candidates pass nursing board exams and get health care jobs, according to federal authorities.
A witness told the FBI in 2019 that a Manassas, VA, resident and a Laurel, MD, resident were creating illegitimate transcripts and certificates through a nursing school in Woodbridge, VA. After the school was shut down for violating state regulations, the pair continued selling bogus transcripts and certifications backdated to when it was operating.
Evidence showed that students paid between $6,000 and $18,000 for the fake documentation from the Virginia school, the affidavit says. About 175 graduates of the Virginia nursing school applied to the Maryland Board of Nursing for licenses between August 2012 and July 2019, with about 62 licensed practical nurses actively working in Maryland, according to the agent. The two men charged are free on bond.
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WASHINGTON & LEE HONORS CUSTODIAN-TURNED-PROFESSOR
Washington and Lee University announced it will name a new academic center for teaching and research on race after one of its late, influential history professors, Ted DeLaney, who started his career at the school as a custodian.
DeLaney, who died in December at age 77, had a nearly 60-year career at Washington and Lee; he eventually earned enough credits to graduate at 41, then returned a decade later as a history professor and the school’s first Black department head. He spearheaded the effort at the university to reckon with its ties to the Confederacy, especially Gen. Robert E. Lee, after whom the school is named.
Said Washington and Lee’s President, “Ted’s work provided keen insights into the history of the university and the local community. His personal history and the example that he set for all of us represent the best of the university’s core values. The center that bears Ted’s name will be a model for the work that was so important to him and remains so critical to the understanding and advancement of our society in the future.”
Learning from those who can teach. . . .
[See also VoxFairfax, January 11, 2021, https://wp.me/p9wDCF-2aN.]
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