by Staff Reporter | May 12, 2024 | Education, News
By Staff Reporter |
Arizona State University (ASU) banned a professor after his verbal confrontation with a Muslim woman on campus went viral online.
ASU professor Jonathan Yudelman, a School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership postdoctoral research scholar, confronted a hijab-clad Muslim woman during a pro-Israel protest near campus last Sunday, captured in viral footage amplified by pro-Hamas activists.
The events leading up to the heated, expletive-laden exchange weren’t captured or circulated, and the identity of the woman is unknown. It is also not known if she is an ASU student.
“You’re disrespecting my religious boundaries,” said the woman.
“What does this have to do with religion? You’re spewing hate,” said the man with Yudelman, former IDF soldier Sammy Ben.
“You disrespect my sense of humanity, b****,” said Yudelman.
“Get the f*** out of my face,” responded the woman.
“Get the f*** out of here,” said Yudelman.
“Go back to Jihad,” said Ben, to which another woman recording the viral exchange began screaming “Hate Crime!” and yelling for the cops to come handle the two men. At that point, Ben turned around to face the woman filming.
“What do you say about the seventh of October? Do you have an opinion about it? You also glorified it? You’re happy about it?” asked Ben.
Clemson University professor C. Bradley Thompson, a peer of Yudelman, offered some background to the viral exchange: the mystery woman had allegedly engaged by verbally accosting him first, and Yudelman wasn’t initially part of the pro-Israel protest.
According to Thompson, Yudelman is talking with a lawyer about his situation.
ASU President Michael Crow said in a statement that Yudelman was not only dismissed, but completely banned from campus and future teaching opportunities.
“He is no longer permitted to be on campus and will never teach here again,” said Crow.
Yudelman resigned before Sunday’s incident, though his resignation wasn’t scheduled to take effect until the end of June. Yudelman is an associate professor with University of Austin, a new private university enrolling its first undergraduate class this fall.
Yudelman formerly held positions with Harvard University, Princeton University, Baylor University, and the University of Texas.
Activists and organizations such as the Arizona chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-AZ) demanded Yudelman to be arrested and fired for the exchange.
CAIR-AZ Executive Director Azza Abuseif said Yudelman’s rhetoric amounted to a “broader pattern of Islamophobia and religious intolerance weaponized by pro-Israel, pro-genocide extremists.” Abuseif also called for any criminal charges possible to be filed.
In a Wednesday press release, ASU reported that it had placed Yudelman on leave on Monday pending their investigation. The university referred the matter to Tempe police.
“Arizona State University protects freedom of speech and expression but does not tolerate threatening or violent behavior,” said ASU. “While peaceful protest is welcome, all incidents of violent or threatening behavior will be addressed.”
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by Staff Reporter | May 11, 2024 | Education, News
By Staff Reporter |
Charter school students are making a name for Arizona schools nationwide: two BASIS Charter School students were named presidential scholars by the Department of Education.
The department selected only 161 high school seniors for the honor, and two of the three came out of Arizona charter schools: Matteo Huish from BASIS Mesa, and Sruti Peddi, from BASIS Scottsdale. The third student, Vivian Saavedra, attends Chaparral High School.
There are an estimated 3.7 million students expected to graduate from high school this year. Out of that total, over 5,700 candidates qualified for the scholars recognition.
The three Arizona students were selected out of 144 Arizona candidates total, and 19 semifinalists from the state. This year’s presidential scholars announcement marks the program’s 60th anniversary.
In a press release, BASIS Charter Schools CEO Carolyn McGarvey said she was proud of Huish and Peddi for their hard work and talent.
“Their achievements reflect the rigorous academic standards and commitment to excellence that define BASIS Charter School campuses nationwide, and particularly here in our home state of Arizona,” said McGarvey.
11 of BASIS Charter Schools were recently ranked in the top 100 public schools out of 24,000 schools in America by U.S. News & World Report, including the number-one school in the country overall: the BASIS Peoria campus. Both Huish and Peddi’s campuses were among the 11 ranked.
Semifinalists represented Bell Academy Homeschool, BASIS Scottsdale (three students), Brophy College Preparatory, Primavera Online High School, Paradise Valley High School (two students), BASIS Mesa (two students), Desert Mountain High School, University High School, BASIS Phoenix, BASIS Chandler (two students), Chaparral High School, The Jones-Gordon School, Arcadia High School, and Northland Preparatory Academy.
Presidential scholars are not selected on an application basis; the recognition comes through invitation only.
Eligible students must have scored exceptionally well on either the SAT or ACT. The Department of Education takes the top 20 male and female scorers in each state, and reaches out to them to submit candidacy materials such as essays, self-assessments, secondary school reports, and transcripts. The department evaluates the candidate materials on academic achievement, personal characteristics, leadership and service activities, and essay content.
Each Chief State School Officer — in Arizona, the superintendent — may also nominate 10 male and 10 female candidates, and partner programs may nominate up to 40 candidates.
Semifinalists were selected by an independent national committee of educators convened by the Commission on Presidential Scholars.
The Department of Education also recognized three Arizona teachers for distinguished teaching paired with their respective 2024 Presidential Scholars: Sadie Puerner, a chemistry teacher out of Chaparral High School nominated by Saavedra; Charity Taylor-Antal, an English teacher out of BASIS Scottsdale nominated by Peddi; and Greg Thorson, an economics teacher out of BASIS Mesa nominated by Huish.
The department also recognizes presidential scholars in the arts as well as career and technical education. This year, however, Arizona didn’t have any scholars listed in those categories.
BASIS Charter Schools has had one or more Presidential Scholars in seven years since its inception in 1998: 2023, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, and 2013.
The network of charter schools has 40 campuses serving over 24,000 students in Arizona, as well as Louisiana, Texas, and Washington, D.C.
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by Staff Reporter | May 7, 2024 | News
By Staff Reporter |
Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen were key speakers for the McCain Institute’s 2024 Sedona Forum.
The McCain Institute is a D.C.-based organization within Arizona State University (ASU).
Blinken’s remarks were the headline of the forum, where he discussed global threats to U.S. interests, such as the conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East and relations with China. Utah Republican Sen. Mitt Romney joined Blinken on that panel.
A transcript of Blinken’s full remarks are available here.
Yellen’s speech, “Democracy Delivers: An Economic Case for an Uncertain Era,” focused on improving the American economy to better ensure democracy and support the nation’s allies.
A transcript of Yellen’s full remarks are available here.
While in Arizona, Yellen also visited Mesa with Maricopa County Board of Supervisors Chairman Jack Sellers and Mesa Mayor John Giles. In her Mesa remarks, Yellen claimed that the economy under the Biden administration had recovered historically and only grown in strength. Yellen also claimed that the job market was healthy, and that families were spending more from their savings and extra income.
The two-day forum featured remarks from mainly Democrats, with a few Republican elected officials sprinkled in: Gov. Katie Hobbs; Sen. Mark Kelly; Sheryl Sandberg, former Facebook COO and founder of a nonprofit dedicated to establishing female leadership across the public and private sectors; David Axelrod, ASU professor and formerly Obama’s chief campaign strategist and senior advisor; Sedona Mayor Scott Jablow; West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin; Damon Wilson, National Endowment for Democracy president and CEO, and formerly a top longtime NATO strategist; Sarah Margon, director of Democratic dark money tycoon George Soros’ Open Society Foundations; David Pressman, U.S. ambassador to Hungary, formerly Obama’s assistant secretary in the Department of Homeland Security and UN ambassador; Vermont Sen. Peter Welch; Pennsylvania Congressman Brendan Boyle; Jon Finer, deputy national security advisor, formerly an Obama administration staffer; Colorado Congressman Jason Crow; and Rhode Island Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse.
Other left-leaning individuals who spoke at the event included Sen. Kyrsten Sinema.
Other notable attendees included Alex Soros, the heir apparent to Democratic dark money tycoon George Soros’ $25 billion empire; Carl Bildt, co-chair of European Council on Foreign Relations and World Health Organization special envoy; and Nat Rothschild, of the famed trillionaire family.
The McCain Institute’s executive director, Evelyn Farkas, was Obama’s deputy assistant secretary of defense to Russia, Ukraine, and Eurasia. While in that role, Farkas advised on Russia’s first invasion of Ukraine and annexation of Crimea in 2014. Farkas was largely responsible for Russian escalation with her role in initiating the admission of Montenegro into NATO, an apparent threat to Russia. All the while, Farkas urged greater U.S. involvement in the war between Russia and Ukraine.
Farkas’ work on these European relations was key to her resignation from the Obama administration.
Farkas was one of the first to push the Russiagate conspiracy against President Donald Trump.
After war escalated again between Russia and Ukraine, Farkas again advocated for more U.S. involvement.
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by Staff Reporter | May 5, 2024 | News
By Staff Reporter |
The Arizona Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that the Republican Party of Arizona (AZ GOP) won’t be punished for challenging the 2020 election. The court vacated the attorney fees awards issued by the trial court and court of appeals, and vacated the court of appeals’ opinion.
“Petitioners’ claim was not groundless and arguably was made in good faith,” ruled the court. “‘Raising questions’ by petitioning our courts to clarify the meaning and application of our laws and noting the potential consequences of the failure to do so — particularly in the context of our elections — is never a threat to the rule of law, even if the claims are charitably characterized as ‘long shots.’”
In a press release, the AZ GOP said the ruling was a victory for election integrity. The case concerned the party’s lawsuit against Maricopa County election officials’ administration of the mandatory hand count of ballots following the 2020 general election.
“This ruling reaffirms the fundamental legal principles that raising questions about the interpretation and application of election laws is a legitimate use of the judicial system, not a groundless or bad faith action,” stated the party.
The AZ GOP’s lawsuit against the county sought declaration that the 2019 Election Procedures Manual (EPM), passed under then-Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, violated state law directing precincts to be the sampling source for the hand count, rather than voting centers.
The AZ GOP sued to prevent the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors from canvassing the votes before the late November deadline.
In the ruling, authored by Justice John Lopez, the court determined the AZ GOP hadn’t brought a groundless claim, and that therefore the trial court and court of appeals had erred in awarding attorney fees against the AZ GOP.
The Supreme Court ruled that the trial court was wrong to find the AZ GOP’s claim was groundless over several criteria: the party failing to name the secretary of state as a defendant, seeking mandamus relief unavailable as a matter of law, and improperly contesting a pre-election procedure.
“It is untenable to invoke an alleged procedural defect like the one in this case — readily remediable and, in fact, remedied one day after the complaint was filed — to irrevocably mar a complaint as groundless,” wrote Lopez. “Whatever the Secretary’s interest in Petitioners’ declaratory action, it was fairly debatable whether Petitioners’ naming of the County as a defendant in their complaint was adequate, and, regardless, the parties agreed to the Secretary’s intervention just one day after the complaint was filed.”
Lopez wrote that the requested mandamus relief was fairly debatable, not groundless.
“Thus, because the Maricopa County election officials enjoyed no discretion in the discharge of their hand-count duties — a prerequisite to mandamus relief rather than a legal disqualifier — the trial court erred,” wrote Lopez. “[W]e only hold that Petitioners’ requested mandamus relief was not groundless because it was at least fairly debatable, even if a ‘long shot,’ whether the County was obligated to conduct a hand count consistent with [the law] or an arguably conflicting EPM provision.”
Lopez further wrote that the trial court erroneously assumed that the challenged hand count constituted a pre-election procedure subject to the election-law time bar. The judge noted that the 2019 EPM also doesn’t include hand count among its pre-election procedures.
“[T]he hand-count protocol continues past the election’s conclusion. In fact, although the statute directs the sampling from precincts, the actual selection of polling places does not commence until after the election,” wrote Lopez. “The merits of Petitioners’ claim are not before us; therefore, we need not determine whether, or to what extent, the election-law time bar applies to a procedure, like the hand count, that straddles the election. We merely conclude that Petitioners’ post-election claim was not groundless because whether their claim was time-barred by our jurisprudential election-law procedural rule is at least ‘fairly debatable.’”
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by Staff Reporter | May 4, 2024 | News
By Staff Reporter |
Candidate Gina Godbehere criticized her opponent, incumbent Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell, for not heeding the extradition request of a murder suspect from Alvin Bragg, Democratic district attorney in New York.
Mitchell refused to extradite murder suspect Raad Almansoori, 26, expressing concern over Bragg’s ability to properly prosecute Almansoori. Almansoori was arrested in Arizona after stabbing two women; he was also the suspect in the New York murder of another woman, 38-year-old Denisse Oleas-Arancibia. Mitchell said she could guarantee Almansoori would be imprisoned for an appropriate amount of time, whereas she felt that he would not be under Bragg.
“We have two very violent crimes here, we have two women that were stabbed and he is facing a lengthy mandatory prison sentence here. And even though there’s a homicide in New York, we can guarantee that he’s going to stay in custody here,” said Mitchell. “Let me be clear, my heart goes out to the next of kin in New York, and I’m not casting aspersions on the NYPD either, they did a hard job in putting this case together, but we have a case here and we have him in custody.”
Godbehere told KFNN last month that Mitchell lacked the authority to refuse Bragg’s request.
“I have a real problem of what she did by calling out Bragg on that issue — because unless my opponent was running for governor, she has no say or no role in any of that,” said Godbehere.
Bragg’s tenure has been marked with a drop in conviction rates, due to a decline in the number of cases his office has chosen to prosecute. When the Manhattan DA first came into office in 2021, he swore to not prosecute low-level crimes such as traffic infractions, resisting arrest, obstructing governmental administration, subway-fare evasion, or prostitution.
The DA also pledged to not imprison mentally ill individuals who committed crimes.
In one of the numerous times Bragg’s office made headlines in 2022, his team dropped multiple larceny charges against an alleged gang member with a lengthy rap sheet — 46 prior arrests — instead opting to require the member to attend a handful of social worker counseling sessions.
Godbehere is campaigning as a Republican. As reported by The Arizona Daily Independent, Godbehere’s campaign staffer has also been critical of mainstream Republican candidates and stances, and reportedly indicated that he voted for President Joe Biden.
Godbehere previously challenged Mitchell in the 2022 election. Ahead of that year’s primary election, Godbehere issued a retracted comment erroneously advising voters on the Active Early Voting List that ballots dropped off on the deadline day would be rendered provisional.
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