On Monday, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals heard oral arguments in a lawsuit arguing against the state’s ban on abortions solely for genetic defects.
In the case, Isaacson v. Mayes, pro-abortion doctors and groups appealed the district court’s denial of a preliminary injunction against Arizona’s ban on abortions based on genetic defects.
The legislature passed the ban, SB 1457, back in 2021.
The plaintiffs in the lawsuit against the ban are abortionists Paul Isaacson and Eric Reuss, along with the National Council of Jewish Women, Arizona National Organization For Women, and Arizona Medical Association.
Isaacson was a Phoenix-based abortionist with Family Planning Associates. Reuss was a Scottsdale-based OBGYN and former board member for Planned Parenthood of Arizona.
Judges Roopali Desai, Ronald Gould, and Andrew Hurwitz heard the oral arguments. While Desai and Hurwitz were engaged in the arguments with their questions, Gould hardly spoke except to request an adjustment of the livestream audio.
In March, House Speaker Ben Toma (R-LD27) and Senate President Warren Petersen (R-LD14) stepped up to defend the ban after Attorney General Kris Mayes said she would refuse to enforce the law. Mayes is acting as the defense in the lawsuit currently.
During Monday’s oral arguments, the main question at hand was whether the plaintiffs had Article III standing. Article III of the Constitution, as held by the Supreme Court, requires plaintiffs to prove an actual or imminent alleged injury that is concrete and particularized.
Jessica Sklarsky with the Center for Reproductive Rights argued on behalf of the plaintiffs that they suffer undisputed economic harms and threat of prosecution due to the abortion ban. The district court determined that the plaintiffs failed to meet the standard set by the 2014 Supreme Court case Susan B. Anthony List v. Driehaus, which determined that pre-enforcement challenges satisfy the Article III standard and are justiciable when a statute’s enforcement is sufficiently imminent.
Sklarksy also argued that the abortion ban qualified as a vague law, and therefore violated due process rights.
“Vague laws force those they govern to either avoid doing anything that is arguably covered by the law, or to engage in that conduct with the constant threat of arbitrary enforcement,” said Sklarsky.
Denise Harle with Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), counsel on behalf of Toma and Petersen, countered that no Article III injury exists due to the lack of a credible threat of enforcement.
Harle pointed out that all 15 county attorneys have acceded their authority to Mayes, and that Mayes has disavowed enforcement of abortion law. Harle also pointed out Gov. Katie Hobbs’ executive order in June usurping all county attorneys’ authority on abortion law and conferring it to Mayes.
Hurwitz and Desai pushed back against Harle’s reference to Mayes and Hobbs’ conduct, arguing that Mayes didn’t issue a disclaimer in this case specifically detailing her intent to not enforce the law.
Hurwitz indicated that Toma and Petersen’s support of the law, as well as the private enforcement aspect of the law, indicated a credible threat of enforcement.
“Does the law really require that a credible threat be communicated? If the state of Arizona passes a statute and the two leaders of the legislature are here defending its constitutionality, isn’t that enough to show there is a credible not a certain but a credible threat of enforcement?” asked Hurwitz.
Harle disagreed, saying the potential for private enforcement constituted a hypothetical. She alluded to the arrangement by Hobbs and Mayes to not enforce abortion law.
“[T]he theoretical possibility of an injury sometime in the future is too conjectural when it’s not imminent,” said Harle.
Desai followed up by stating that the court’s decision in Tingley v. Fergusoncould apply to this case. In that case, a family counselor challenged the state of Washington’s ban on conversion therapy as a violation of free speech and religious practice. Harle responded that the existence of a law alone wasn’t sufficient for direct injury.
“Virtually anyone could look at a law, say ‘I’m not sure what that means, I’m going to do something or not do something’ [and] that would be enough for a federal court to weigh in and adjudicate the merits of that claim on a facial challenge,” said Harle.
Watch the full hearing here:
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
The Department of Defense (DOD) headed to Arizona State University (ASU) this week to seek out more diversity hires.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, the Biden administration’s DOD came through its Taking the Pentagon to the People Program (TTPTTP) initiative. The program was created by the DOD’s Office for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (ODEI).
In a press release, ASU advised students that the DOD was seeking out a “diverse workforce.” ASU executive vice president and chief operating officer, Chris Howard, said that the Pentagon was aiming for “inclusive excellence.”
According to a DOD Equity Action Plan from last April, TTPTTP’s express purpose is to “improve racial equity in the U.S., and bolster the ranks and presence of minorities working in DOD.”
The following includes the speakers and recruiters present at the event:
Air Force Civilian Services: Kristine Billings, Affirmative Employment program manager;
Air Force Personnel Center: Ed Bujan, Force Renewal Programs chief recruiter; Crystal Garza, Force Renewal Talent Management Branch Diversity and Inclusion program manager;
Arizona Army National Guard HQ: Lance Leon, executive officer;
Army Combat Capabilities Development Command: Michael Bailey, acting director; Ja-Neen Owens, Technology Integration and Outreach Branch HBCU/MI program manager;
Army Intelligence and Security Command HQ: Michael Nilius, senior exploitation analyst;
DOD Civilian Personnel Advisory Service: Desiree Seifert, associate director; Bruce Bixby, HR Specialist;
DOD Counterintelligence and Security Agency: Israel Sanchez, recruiter; Kevin Lukacs, Developmental Division Team Chief;
DOD Diversity Management Operations Center: Victoria Bowens, Diversity & Inclusion associate director;
DOD Finance and Accounting Service: Maylene Vazquez de Jesus, DFAS Limestone career programs coordinator; Michelle Lugo-Bonet, DEI program manager;
DOD Human Resources Activity: LaTasha Dawkins, Senior Disability Program manager; Sam Drummond, Workforce Recruitment Program director;
DOD Institute of International Education: Michael Saffle, Boren Awards Program specialist;
DOD Language & National Security Education Office: Larry Rentz, principal consultant with Rentz Group;
DOD Logistics Agency: Honney Barner, PEO Strategic Communications & Collegiate Partnerships director; Martina Miles Johnson, R&D operations integrator;
DOD Office of Force Resiliency: Olivia Logan, Violence Prevention Cell communications specialist;
DOD Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness: Charmane Johnson, ODEI;
DOD SMART Scholarship Program: Corinne Beach, deputy program manager;
DOD Threat Reduction Agency: Daisy Valentin, Outreach Program manager; Rudy Chavez, Test Diagnostics Branch engineer; Kiran Shah, Test Diagnostics Branch chief; Jesus Elias, Human Resources Division ABQ chief; Sharon Morrow, small business director; MiChele Stevenson, Mentor-Protege Program manager;
Department of the Air Force: Ed Bujan, Force Renewal Programs chief; Crystal Garza, Diversity and Inclusion program manager;
Department of the Navy: Cache Carter, FA Staffing and Classification section head;
National Guard Bureau: Jacqueline Ray-Morris, DEI Special Emphasis Programs Equal Employment Opportunity manager;
Naval Criminal Investigative Service: Shelagh Hopkins, intern program specialist; Sam Tubb, NCIS Pacific Operations desk officer; Eric Powers, field training agent/investigator;
Office of the Secretary of the Air Force: Jenise Carroll, Office of Diversity and Inclusion deputy director;
Office of Naval Research: Michael Simpson, Naval STEM Grants Program Officer;
Prevention Workforce Representative: Elizabeth Gaylor, prevention researcher; Laura Neely, senior research psychologist; Olivia Logan, communications specialist;
U.S. Army Intelligence and Security Command HQ: Rita Scamurra, HR specialist; Ken Schimpf, offensive cyber capability developer; Michael Nilius, senior exploitation analyst;
Washington Headquarters Services: Mary Michelle Eveleigh, Human Services Directorate Talent Acquisitions and Outreach Branch chief recruiter;
White House Initiative on Advancing Educational Equity, Excellence, and Economic Opportunity for Hispanics: Melody Gonzales, executive director; Emmanuel Caudillo, Management and Program analyst; Kevin Lima, deputy director; Jasmin Chavez, confidential assistant
Work-Life and Special Programs Division: Mininia Hawkins, Work-Life and Special Programs Division chief
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
Mesa Public Schools (MPS) board member and National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) East Valley chapter president Kiana Sears says more discussions about race need to occur.
Sears issued the remarks in an interview with The Mesa Tribune regarding the recent Supreme Court decision effectively ending the practice of affirmative action in college admissions. Sears advocated for the use of equity in policy, rather than equality, to make up for systemic racial inequalities. She acknowledged that people may have the same capabilities, but that circumstances should be mitigated to equalize outcomes.
“There is a local angst about the [ruling], especially in the climate where you have seen,” said Sears. “There’s no difference in the capacity of people to learn and to grow and to actually learn[,] but you have unnatural and man-made barriers and institutional barriers that make it harder for some people.”
According to Sears, avoidance of prioritizing race in conversations is due in part to the demonization of Critical Race Theory (CRT) and related concepts like “inclusivity.” Upon taking office in January, Arizona Department of Education (ADE) Superintendent Tom Horne disavowed the presence of CRT in schools and launched a hotline for parents to report inappropriate lessons on racial, gender-based, sexual, and social and emotional ideologies.
Over the summer, ADE reported receiving numerous valid complaints of inappropriate materials at schools, including MPS. Horne reported at the time that MPS was working with ADE to resolve the complaint.
“A teacher reported through the hotline that the Mesa school district has a training program for teachers that clearly states that certain Americans are ‘living under a system of white supremacy.’ That is a divisive and bigoted statement that has no place in education,” said Horne. “We are individuals, entitled to be judged by what we know, what we can do, our character, and not the color of our skin.”
During this most recent interview, Sears accused the hotline of creating a climate of “fear and intimidation.”
Sears also implied that race-conscious interactions and practices result in a greater good for everyone.
“[It’s important] to make sure if we have a population that is not doing as well, for whatever reason, we remove those barriers,” said Sears. “We know we’re as strong as our weakest link. No matter who, what, when, why, let’s remove all of those barriers.”
Sears was twice chosen as the MPS representative to attend the National School Boards Association (NSBA). MPS opted to remain with NSBA despite the national controversy over their 2021 letter to President Joe Biden requesting a federal investigation into parents attending school board meetings.
In addition to attending the NSBA events, Sears was elected the secretary/treasurer of NSBA’s National Black Council of School Board Members Board of Directors. Two other Arizonans serve on that board: chair Devin Del Palacio with the Tolleson Union High School District, and regional director Lindsay Love with Chandler Unified School District.
Following the SCOTUS decision, Sears’ NAACP branch held an event, “Affirming Black Brilliance,” to discuss strategies for ensuring racial equity in education. It appears that Sears runs the publicity for the branch as well, since she is the only point of contact for all press, media, and public comment requests.
Sears became the NAACP branch president in 2021. Last January, STN featured Sears for her roles as an NAACP president and MPS governing board member. Similarly to her recent call to action, Sears called for a greater focus on race.
Arizona List, a committee for pro-abortion Democratic women, endorses Sears in her role as an MPS Governing Board member.
In addition to her role as an NAACP president and MPS board member, Sears serves as the program director for Arizona State University (ASU) Faith Based Outreach and Community Partnerships.
Sears was the 2018 Democratic nominee for the Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC). The Arizona Attorney General’s Office launched and later dropped an investigation into Sears for failing to disclose dormant businesses when she launched her campaign, upon a referral by the Secretary of State’s Office. Sears said at the time that these were name-only businesses, meaning she and her husband filed for business names to reserve them with the intent to one day turn them into actual businesses.
Last year, Sears’ campaign was again mired in controversy. Sears faced bribery accusations for her hire of former Democratic State Rep. and Minority Leader Reginald Bolding, through his political consulting firm “Blue Wave Victory.” Sears paid Bolding’s company over $18,000 in a contract that Bolding’s then-opponent, now-Secretary of State Adrian Fontes, alleged was influence peddling.
Bolding managed the firm alongside the former first vice chair for the Arizona Democratic Party and former congressional candidate, Jevin Hodge, to provide services for Sears’ campaign. In a complaint letter to former Attorney General Mark Brnovich, Fontes’ campaign accused Bolding and Hodge of having “sold their positions as a means of access to others in exchange for monetary gain.”
As Fontes’ letter noted, Bolding’s political consulting firm operated out of the same building and suite as his controversial nonprofits.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
Arizona’s Republican Schools Chief is taking the state’s Democrat Governor and Attorney General to court.
Last week, Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne announced that he had “filed a lawsuit against Governor Katie Hobbs and Attorney General Kris Mayes for a judicial declaration that all schools must obey a voter passed and protected initiative that English language learners must be taught in English immersion rather than dual language.”
In a statement that accompanied the press release, Horne said, “Governor Hobbs is named as a defendant because of a court of appeals decision stating that the governor is a proper defendant in these kinds of cases because of the constitutional requirement that she see it to it that the laws are faithfully executed. Attorney General Mayes is named because the same case states that an action questioning the constitutionality of a law names the Attorney General. A law passed by the legislature in 2019 has been interpreted by some as authorizing dual language instruction. This is incorrect because the voter-protection law is part of the Arizona Constitution and any change to a voter-protected initiative must further the purpose of what voters intended. Dual language instruction is the opposite of the initiative’s purpose.”
The Arizona Department of Education provided context for the initiative in question, adding, “The initiative, which passed by a margin of over 60%, states explicitly: ‘All children in Arizona public schools should be taught English by being taught in English, and all children shall be placed in English language classrooms.’”
Horne also said, “The fundamental purpose of the initiative is that students be taught throughout the school day in English, so they become proficient in English quickly, and can succeed academically, and not that they be taught half a day in another language, which would stunt their ability to master English.”
According to the Department, “the lawsuit also names as a defendant the Creighton school district, which is among the handful of districts defying the law established by the voter approved and protected initiative. The district’s rate of English Language Learners becoming proficient in English last year was 5.1%. This contrasts with some districts referred to in the complaint that have structured English immersion and who’s rates range from 23.87% to 33.03%.”
The lawsuit was filed in the Superior Court for the State of Arizona in the County of Maricopa. Horne asked the Court to declare that “A.R.S. 15-756.01 is unconstitutional if its intent was to authorize dual language without waiver, because it does not further the voter-protected initiative’s purpose that children be taught in English for the entire school day, in order for them to quickly become proficient in English”; and that the State Board’s dual language model, if it is without statutory waivers, is in violation of Arizona law, and the Defendant Attorney General’s opinion that district and charter schools can rely on the State Board’s dual language model without waivers is legal error.”
The court filing from the Arizona Department of Education fulfills a promise made by Horne earlier this summer to take this issue to the judiciary. The scuttle between Horne, Mayes, and Democrat legislators began on June 19, when the Superintendent announced that “public schools that are not teaching English Language Learners in English as required by state law risk losing funds for this legal violation.” Horne said at the time, “Proposition 203, the voter protected initiative passed in 2000, specified that classes for English Language Learners must be taught in English: ‘all children in Arizona public schools shall be taught English by being taught in English and all children shall be placed in English language classrooms.’”
Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes issued an opinion to answer the question of “which state entity has statutory authority to eliminate a model of structured English immersion approved by the State Board of Education.” Mayes sent her findings to Democrat Representatives Jennifer Pawlik, Laura Terech, Nancy Gutierrez, and Judy Schwiebert.
In her opinion, Mayes wrote, “Arizona law is clear that the Board has the sole authority to eliminate or modify an approved SEI model. The Board also has the sole authority to determine whether a school district or charter school has failed to comply with Arizona law governing English language learners. Only those school districts and charter schools found by the Board to be noncompliant are barred from receiving monies from the English language learner fund.”
The Attorney General declined to answer the Representatives’ question of “whether the Dual Language Immersion SEI Model approved by the Board is consistent with Arizona law.”
The battle over the Structured English Immersion law is the second significant conflict between the Attorney General and Superintendent this year. Horne and Mayes have been locked in escalating public disputes over the state’s universal school choice program.
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
An Arizona community’s months-long wrangling over water will be coming to a temporary end.
On Tuesday, the Scottsdale City Council voted to adopt Resolution No. 12892, which is an agreement to provide water for the Rio Verde Foothills Standpipe District.
Scottsdale City Council last night approved an intergovernmental agreement with the Rio Verde Foothills Standpipe District to address the lack of a sustainable water supply for Maricopa County residents living in the Rio Verde Foothills area.💧 Learn more: https://t.co/qzvR4ya5impic.twitter.com/vaE0idtq1N
According to a press release issued by the City of Scottsdale in the days leading up to the Council’s vote, the agreement stipulates that “Scottsdale’s own water resources will not be used, and the rate charged to the standpipe district is set so that costs are fully recovered on behalf of the Scottsdale residents who pay for the infrastructure and operation of the city’s water system.”
That September 1st press release from the City of Scottsdale outlined three points under the agreement, including:
The Rio Verde Foothills Standpipe District will acquire a water supply that can be provided to Scottsdale at one of the city’s surface water treatment facilities – Scottsdale’s own water resources will not be used.
The city will treat the water and make it available at the Pima Road Fill Station, from which haulers contracted by the district could provide water for up to 750 customers in Rio Verde Foothills (the limit stipulated by A.R.S. 9-500.40).
The city’s agreement is with the district only, which may then contract with other parties as needed to supply water to Rio Verde Foothills customers; the agreement will terminate Dec. 31, 2025.
The agreement originated from the signing of SB 1432, sponsored by Senator Justine Wadsack, which “outlined requirements of a city or town that provides water service through an intergovernmental agreement (IGA) with a standpipe district for a period of up to three years by use of a standpipe for water hauling to residences outside the city’s or town’s water service area that do not have access to sufficient water.”
Democrat Governor Katie Hobbs held a ceremonial signing ceremony on August 22. Two lawmakers, Wadsack and Laura Terech, were in attendance. Senator Wadsack tweeted, “Signing Ceremony in the Governor’s Tower for my bill SB 1432. The people of Rio Verde will have water again!! Water is not a partisan issue. Water is life.”
Signing Ceremony in the Governor’s Tower for my bill #SB1432. The people of #RioVerde will have water again!!
— AZ Senator Justine Wadsack (@Wadsack4Arizona) August 23, 2023
Representative Terech added, “Today, I had the honor of joining Governor Hobbs, Senator Wadsack, and the Rio Verde Foothills Standpipe District Board at the ceremonial signing of SB 1432. It was an emotional morning. For me, this bill represents the bipartisan cooperation that we will need to secure Arizona’s water future. There’s a long way to go from here and many communities who also face significant water needs, but this is a powerful step forward. I’m proud to have played an integral part in the process.”
Today, I had the honor of joining Governor Hobbs, Senator Wadsack, and the Rio Verde Foothills Standpipe District Board at the ceremonial signing of SB1432. It was an emotional morning. For me, this bill represents the bipartisan cooperation that we will need to secure … pic.twitter.com/pbSSf8y7iI
After signing the bill in June, Hobbs stated, “This bipartisan bill shows that when we put politics aside, we can come together to solve problems for everyday Arizonans. While it isn’t perfect, I’m glad we were able to deliver relief for the residents of Rio Verde Foothills. Moving forward, I will keep working across the aisle to protect water for every Arizonan and ensure we continue our growth and make Arizona the best place to live, work, and raise a family.”
The signing of this legislation led to the Rio Verde Foothills Standpipe District’s approval of an IGA with Scottsdale, which Republican Representative Alexander Kolodin covered on September 2: “We interrupt our regularly scheduled Twitter war to bring you the news that the Rio Verde Foothills Standpipe District has just voted to approve an IGA with Scottsdale to restore water service. Now back to our program!”
We inturrupt our regularly scheduled Twitter war to bring you the news that the @rvfsdaz has just voted to approve an IGA with Scottsdale to restore water service. Now back to our program! pic.twitter.com/pYnyHZKjAb
Few legislators worked with more intensity at the Arizona Legislature over this issue than Kolodin in the recently completed session. It was Kolodin’s HB 2561 that was added onto SB 1432 as an amendment before both chambers sent the bill to the Governor’s Office. After SB 1432 passed the legislature, Kolodin thanked many of his colleagues, including Senator John Kavanaugh, Wadsack, Terech, and Representative David Cook, for their efforts in ensuring the proposal’s success. Kolodin wrote, “This is not the first water crisis Arizona has faced and it will not be the last. But, today, we proved that the era of kicking the can down the road is over. This legislature is ready, willing, and able to roll up its sleeves and solve the problem – together.”
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
A professor hailing from China with a World Economic Forum (WEF) background is behind critical race and gender theory research on children at two of Arizona’s taxpayer-funded universities.
Sonya Xinyue Xiao teaches psychological science and performs developmental research on moral and gender development at Northern Arizona University (NAU). Xiao was a postdoctoral scholar at the Arizona State University (ASU) T. Denny Sanford School of Social and Family Dynamics (SSFD) from 2020 to 2022, where she taught until last year. NAU has Xiao on a tenure track.
Presently, Xiao is also an affiliated research fellow for the Cultural Resilience and Learning Center (CRLC) in California and a member of the Diversity Scholars Network in the National Center for Institutional Diversity at the University of Michigan (UM). Xiao’s UM profile declares her social priority on children, youth, and families, with her specific focus pertaining to that priority on gender, sexuality, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, social class, and socioeconomic status.
“[Xiao] is investigating how early adolescents’ multiple intersecting identities in gender and race/ethnicity are related to their prosocial behavior toward diverse others over time, with youth from diverse ethnic racial backgrounds,” stated her UM profile.
Additionally, Xiao has served as the programming committee member for the Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and Expression (SOGIE) Caucus of the Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD) since 2021. The SRCD has repeatedly opposed efforts to restrict or ban gender transitions for minors.
Xiao’s published research papers have declared the need for parents to raise their children to embrace gender theory in themselves and their peers, under the claim that rejection results in poor social and emotional outcomes later in life, as well as to engage their children in diverse friendships, under the claim that those as young as preschoolers can be racist.
Characteristics aligning with progressive critical race and gender theories are what Xiao defines as “prosocial behaviors” throughout her research.
Finally, the last paper I started in grad school class on #gender is out in time for #PrideMonth! I was auditing carol's gender class, and that was the semester when covid hit….The paper has been in submission for 14months! Nonpaywalled version here: https://t.co/VEHUH7WEtN
— Sonya Xinyue Xiao, Ph.D. (@SonyaXinyueXiao) May 30, 2023
Last year, Xiao contributed to a chapter entry in a book, “Gender and Sexuality Development.” The chapter expanded the understanding of gender to many gender identities.
Check out this new meta-analysis on understanding predictors of prejudice toward trans individuals 👏 The authors tested 15 predictors, all but one are important (e.g.,political orientation, social dominance orientation, religiosity, gender essentialism) https://t.co/Q16biGeq2m
Xiao’s work includes “gender integration,” which studies the differences between genders with the ultimate goal of total integration. Xiao’s team with the T. Denny Sanford School of Social and Family Dynamics (SSSFD) holds the belief that gender is fluid and not binary; they receive federal funding through the Institute of Education Sciences (IES).
Xiao’s research has also relied on participants’ self-reported gender identities. Elsewhere, her current research team’s most recent release of preliminary findings asked children “how much they think they look like girls and how much they think they look like boys,” and reported that 10 percent thought they looked like both genders, and nearly one percent believing they didn’t look like either gender.
we are doing school-based research in AZ now and ask an open-ended question "what's your gender?” and the reader/experimenter says "for example, I am a girl."
In May, Xiao’s work on gender integration was featured in an IES blog series focusing on “research conducted through an equity lens.” SSSFD professor Carol Martin said that their work aims to achieve diversity, equity, and inclusion in education. Martin further insisted that teachers need to break up naturally-occuring gender segregation in their students to encourage diversity.
“We study the importance of having diverse classrooms (mixed-gender in our case) and breaking down barriers that separate people from each other but stress that this diversity matters only when it is perceived as inclusive and fosters a sense of belonging,” said Martin. “For some students, additional supports might be needed to feel included, and we hope to identify which students may need these additional supports and what types of support they need to promote equity in classrooms around issues of social belongingness.”
— Sonya Xinyue Xiao, Ph.D. (@SonyaXinyueXiao) May 6, 2023
According to her LinkedIn, Xiao attended Tianjin University of Science and Technology before beginning her career as a teacher at Zhenguang Primary School in Shanghai, China. While at Tianjin, Xiao had two notable back-to-back volunteering stints in 2010: first, a two-month gig at the Shanghai World EXPO 2010, then a month-long gig at the World Economic Forum (WEF) Summer Davos. For the latter gig with the WEF, Xiao reported providing document and verbal translation at the Lishunde Hotel, as well as assistance to conference attendees.
China’s practice of its cultural subversion tactics on U.S. soil, especially involving children, have been widely reported over the years, most recently concerning TikTok. While the Beijing-based company behind the app pushes content ranging from the mind-numbing to dangerous to foreigners, it restricts Chinese youth to a domestic version, Douyin, which contains only educational and inspirational content. In its short existence, TikTok has become a major influence in American children’s development.
Papers published while at ASU or NAU where Xiao was the principal author are listed below:
Xiao has also contributed in over a dozen other research papers uplifting critical race and gender theories, as well as promoting “nurturant parenting,” described as inductive discipline and punishment avoidance, versus the disciplinary model of “restrictive parenting,” described as punitiveness, corporal punishment, and strictness. That paper on nurturant versus restrictive parenting further advised that white parents should avoid restrictive parenting to ensure their children behaved better toward non-white peers.
Other papers to which Xiao contributed argued that white parents who claimed to be color-blind or were displaying evidence of “implicit racial bias” caused their children to have less empathy toward Black children.
