by Elizabeth Troutman | May 6, 2024 | Education, News
By Elizabeth Troutman |
The principal of Corona del Mar Middle & High School in Newport Beach, Calif., issued a statement on the death of University of Arizona student Erin Jones, who was shot and killed last Sunday.
Jones, a 2022 graduate of Corona del Mar, was shot and killed while attending a house party in Midtown Tucson.
Principal Jake Haley said he was at a loss for words about the untimely loss.
“Erin was a well-known student on the Corona del Mar Campus and the ripple effect of the loss will be felt by many, especially our soccer community where Erin was an active member,” Haley said. “We are providing a space of gathering on campus this week for athletes and others who are directly impacted by the loss of Erin.”
Jones was a sophomore at the University of Arizona.
Police said officers were called to the 3200 block of E. 5th St. after several people called 911 to report the shooting.
Officers found University of Arizona student Erin Jones, 20, outside the home. Jones’ friends said she was waiting for an Uber when she was fatally shot, CBS News reported. She was taken to Banner University Medical Center where she died.
No arrests have been made in the shooting.
“Details are extremely limited at this time, and investigators are actively working on what led up to the shooting,” a Tucson Police Department press release says. “They believe there was a large gathering at the residence before the shooting took place, and several witnesses left the area prior to police arriving.”
Elizabeth Troutman is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send her news tips using this link.
by Staff Reporter | Apr 28, 2024 | Education, News
By Staff Reporter |
A University of Arizona assistant professor who moonlights as a drag queen, Harris Kornstein, pushed children to support Hamas during a recent drag story hour with Valley Families for Palestine, arranged by Queer Storytime for Palestine.
Kornstein encouraged the crowd of children to chant “Free Palestine!” as a response to: “If you’re a drag queen and you know it…” during a performance this week.
Palestinians don’t tolerate LGBTQ+ individuals, especially Hamas. Anyone involved in those lifestyles in the area risks persecution and violence at minimum, even death.
Valley Families for Palestine, an activist coalition located in the Connecticut River Valley, privatized their social media accounts after Kornstein’s video went viral.
Also involved in the drag story hour were Sarah Prager, an LGBTQ+ author; Hannah Moushabeck, a queer author and Palestinian supporter; Jewish Voice for Peace Western Mass; Booklink Books; MassEquality; Parasol Patrol at Western Mass; and Western Mass Mask Bloc.
Kornstein, who goes by the drag name “Lil Miss Hot Mess,” often does his drag performances for minors in other states in addition to drag story hours.
Kornstein is also a board member for Drag Queen Story Hour, and author of two books marketed to children normalizing drag lifestyles: “The Hips on the Drag Queen Go Swish, Swish, Swish,” and “If You’re a Drag Queen and You Know It.”
Drag Queen Story Hour is a national organization with state chapters that emerged from Michelle Tea, a leftist author from San Francisco who launched it out of her desire almost 10 years ago to raise her toddler in “queer culture.”
In a 2021 research paper, Kornstein defended the creation of Drag Queen Story Hour as a means of allowing children to explore “queer pedagogy” and engage in “queer imagination” from a young age. The latter term, Kornstein said, enhanced child development through play as praxis, aesthetic transformation, strategic defiance, destigmatization of shame, and embodied kinship. Kornstein noted that drag queen engagement with children would lead to normalization of the practice.
“Within this complex political landscape, [Drag Queen Story Hour] seems to uniquely thread the needle between queer activism and broad cultural acceptance,” said Kornstein.
At the University of Arizona, Kornstein taught in the College of Humanities Public & Applied Humanities. Up until he went on research leave last year, Kornstein served as an assistant professor for the Institute for LGBTQ+ Studies, School of Art, School of Information, and Graduate Interdisciplinary Program in Social, Cultural, and Critical Theory.
Kornstein was able to go on leave thanks to a $60,000 grant from the Biden administration’s National Endowment for the Humanities. That funding is going toward a book project theorizing queer and transgender strategies of countering “surveillance capitalism” through observations of drag queens, transgender taxi drivers, cruising gay men, witchcraft, “mystical intuition,” and “gay hanky codes.”
Last December, the University of Arizona awarded Kornstein the Chatfield Impact Award — an honor for exemplary teaching, research, and service — for which he received $5,000.
Kornstein auctioned his books for a “Books for Palestine” fundraiser last November.
AZ Free News is your #1 source for Arizona news and politics. You can send us news tips using this link.
by Elizabeth Troutman | Apr 5, 2024 | Education, News
By Elizabeth Troutman |
The University of Arizona is getting a new president.
University President Robert C. Robbins told the Arizona Board of Regents on April 2 that he will step down by the end of his current contract as soon as his successor is ready.
“After significant consideration and personal contemplation, I informed the regents this morning that I will step down as president of the University of Arizona after fulfilling the terms of my current contract,” Robbins said in a statement. “When a new president has been appointed by ABOR and she or he is prepared to start sooner than the end date of my contract, I will ensure a smooth transition to my successor and step aside earlier.”
Robbins has served as president since 2017. He has been under fire over the last six months because of the university’s $177 million deficit.
“The University of Arizona has and will continue to tackle the more pressing challenges of our time,” Robbins said. “And it is time to begin to think about what is next for the university, and I will continue to serve the institution with pride and work with ABOR to ensure a smooth transition at the appropriate time.”
Arizona Board of Regents Chair Cecilia Mata said the board plans to start a national search for the 23rd president of the university soon, and Robbins will serve as president until his successor is ready to start. His current contract expires June 30, 2026.
As president, Robbins oversaw the creation of the new Center for Advanced Molecular and Immunological Therapies, as well as the largest fundraising campaign in the university’s history, Fuel Wonder, which has raised $2.2 billion toward the $3 billion goal.
“The University of Arizona has a long-standing reputation as an elite public research university – one with a rich tradition of service and a leader in advancing new frontiers and making remarkable discoveries,” he said.
Robbins said this is a difficult but necessary decision. He said he has no doubt the university is in good hands.
“It has been a true honor to lead the University of Arizona for so many years, particularly during a time of transformational change in higher education and with challenges in the world around us,” he said. “I am proud of the many advancements we made together in elevating the institution, by enhancing the student experience; by attracting and retaining world-class faculty and staff; by increasing our research funding and philanthropy; by achieving significant milestones in science, astronomy and medicine, among many other disciplines; by engaging our indigenous tribes and rural communities; and by improving the lives of Arizona residents and the global community.”
Mata said the board appreciates Robbins’ dedication to UA’s mission and values.
“He has built a legacy of commitment to student access and success, as well as advancement of the university’s land-grant mission,” she said. “President Robbins implemented a strategic plan focused on the opportunities and challenges presented by the Fourth Industrial Revolution. His keen ability to weave together the biological, digital and technology sectors to further advance the mission of the university has led to exceptional accomplishments.”
Elizabeth Troutman is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send her news tips using this link.
by AZ Free Enterprise Club | Mar 30, 2024 | Opinion
By the Arizona Free Enterprise Club |
Racist programs and activities do not belong in our state. But in the name of so-called “progress,” they have taken Arizona’s universities by storm. This isn’t the way it was supposed to be. Back in 2010, our state’s voters passed Proposition 107. This amendment to Arizona’s Constitution banned affirmative action programs in the state that were administered by statewide or local units of government, including state agencies, cities, counties, and school districts. But the left found a loophole and has been working to exploit it ever since.
Using words that sound harmless like “diversity,” “equity,” and “inclusion” (DEI), our universities have been flying under the radar in an attempt to indoctrinate students and bring racial discrimination back to campus.
At ASU, the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication currently requires some of its students to take a course called, “Diversity and Civility at Cronkite.” And the Goldwater Institute recently revealed that more than 100 classes offered in ASU’s Spring 2024 catalog include terms like “diversity,” “equity,” and “inclusion.” The University of Arizona’s medical schools in Tucson and Phoenix have been the epitome of DEI best practices—with DEI offices, requirements to complete six hours of DEI credit, and more. And NAU has launched multiple initiatives to increase the number of Native American and Hispanic science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) graduates, including revising graduate admissions processes to increase inclusivity and diversity.
But it’s not just students who have been affected by DEI programs…
>>> CONTINUE READING >>>
by Elizabeth Troutman | Jan 29, 2024 | News
By Elizabeth Troutman |
Former Arizona State Sen. Kirsten Engel received campaign funding from a liberal dark money group “fellowship,” the Washington Examiner uncovered.
Engel lists the American Mainstream Policy Leadership Institute, or AMPLI, fellowship on her University of Arizona profile page, but she did not respond to questions about why she didn’t disclose any payments from the group.
“What is Kirsten Engel hiding? Engel’s intimate involvement with these secretive left-wing forces orchestrating this unprecedented corrupt scheme is disturbing and Arizonans deserve answers immediately,” National Republican Congressional Committee Spokesperson Ben Petersen said in a statement.
Engel unsuccessfully ran for Congress in Arizona in 2022 against Republican Rep. Juan Ciscomani. She is running to unseat Ciscomani in 2024 in a district Cook Political Report calls a “Republican toss up.”
Engel’s financial disclosure report filed with the House clerk in August of last year did not disclose any income from the fellowship.
New Politics Leadership Academy, a charity that trains prospective candidates and has an affiliated advocacy group called New Politics 527 previously sponsored the AMPLI fellowship. New Politics also ran a similar one in 2019 which cut large checks to failed candidates, drawing legal scrutiny from campaign experts.
New Politics Leadership Academy has since moved on from the initiative, which was absorbed by Our American Future Foundation, or OAFF, a newly-formed charity incorporated in Washington, D.C., by an associate of Democratic superlawyer Marc Elias, according to documents obtained by the Washington Examiner.
New Politics Leadership Academy’s partnership with AMPLI only lasted for one month, New Politics spokesman Gabe Ramos told the Washington Examiner. Ramos indicated tension between the two groups.
“The fellowship was never our thing,” Ramos said in an interview with the Washington Examiner, describing how New Politics Leadership Academy ran a one-time 2019 fellowship, though, in October 2022, began sponsoring a project called the American Mainstream Policy Leadership Institute that offers a revamped version.
Our American Future Foundation’s involvement with the fellowship could have legal implications due to the legal scrutiny New Politics Leadership Academy faced in recent years over pushing thousands of dollars to candidates, the Examiner reported.
Tax experts have questioned whether New Politics Leadership Academy may have violated its charity status by compensating congressional hopefuls. The Federal Election Commission received at least one formal complaint against a candidate in 2020 regarding the candidate being “paid to run for Congress by Democratic groups,” including New Politics Leadership Academy.
In 2022, the FEC voted to dismiss the complaint.
New Politics has claimed it’s bipartisan, though the vast majority of the candidates it has supported have been Democrats, the Washington Examiner reported.
Little information is available online about AMPLI or OAFF.
Ramos, the New Politics spokesman, agreed it’s odd there is such little information on the internet about both AMPLI and OAFF.
“By design I suspect,” he told the Washington Examiner.
Elizabeth Troutman is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send her news tips using this link.
