VIDEO: Pushing Back: The Renegade Institute

National Association of Scholars

In California, the Kern Community College District (KCCD) has imposed an aggressive DEI agenda on its constituent colleges. Included in this is the creation of courses that some have compared more to political indoctrination and activist recruitment than to scholarship.

In response, a group of faculty at Bakersfield College banded together to form the Renegade Institute for Liberty at Bakersfield College, which describes itself as “dedicated to the pursuit of free speech, open inquiry [and] critical thinking to advance American ideals … of meritocracy, civic virtue, liberty of conscience and free markets.” For their opposition to the DEI agenda, members of the Renegade Institute drew the ire of the Trustees of the KCCD, leading one trustee to compare them to rogue cattle that have to be “culled.” The Renegade Institute pushed back.

This webinar features Joe Saldivar, Ximena Da Silva Tavares, and Timothy Plett are professors of, respectively, biology, chemistry, and physics at Bakersfield College, and are members of the Renegade Institute.


Photo by John Bakator on Unsplash

  • Share

Most Commented

May 7, 2024

1.

Creating Students, Not Activists

The mobs desecrating the American flag, smashing windows, chanting genocidal slogans—this always was the end game of the advocates of the right to protest, action civics, student activ......

March 9, 2024

2.

A Portrait of Claireve Grandjouan

Claireve Grandjouan, when I knew her, was Head of the Classics Department at Hunter College, and that year gave a three-hour Friday evening class in Egyptian archaeology....

April 20, 2024

3.

The Academic's Roadmap

By all means, pursue your noble dream of improving the condition of humanity through your research and teaching. Could I do it all again, I would, but I would do things very differently....

Most Read

May 15, 2015

1.

Where Did We Get the Idea That Only White People Can Be Racist?

A look at the double standard that has arisen regarding racism, illustrated recently by the reaction to a black professor's biased comments on Twitter....

October 12, 2010

2.

Ask a Scholar: What is the True Definition of Latino?

What does it mean to be Latino? Are only Latin American people Latino, or does the term apply to anyone whose language derived from Latin?...

September 21, 2010

3.

Ask a Scholar: What Does YHWH Elohim Mean?

A reader asks, "If Elohim refers to multiple 'gods,' then Yhwh Elohim really means Lord of Gods...the one of many, right?" A Hebrew expert answers....