A Moms for Liberty activist in California sparked controversy by stripping down to her bikini during a school board meeting to protest a district policy allowing transgender students to choose their bathroom based on gender identity. Beth Bourne, the Yolo County chapter chairwoman, staged the protest on September 18 during a Davis Joint Unified School District meeting.
Mark A. Welsh III, president of Texas A&M University, resigned amid growing backlash over a viral classroom video in which a professor discussed gender identity in a children’s literature course. The controversy led to the firing of the professor, Melissa McCoul, and the removal of two department leaders. While Welsh did not explicitly say that the viral incident caused his resignation, many observers see a clear connection between the political pressure he faced and his decision to step down.
A vice president of a local Democrat club in Texas attempted to organize adults in a private Facebook group to pressure Stratford High School teachers not to sponsor a Turning Point USA chapter, known locally as Club America. Leaked messages show adults urging others to email teachers and spreading false claims about the motives behind Charlie Kirk’s assassination.
Students at Thurston High School in Oregon staged a walkout this week after a teacher sparked outrage by publicly celebrating the assassination of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk. Despite widespread backlash, the teacher remains employed at the school.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul is under fire for refusing to disclose how much taxpayer money is being spent on a fuzzy, cartoon-like mascot dubbed “Frankie Focus.” The character, part of a campaign to promote cellphone bans in public schools, debuted last week at a Brooklyn middle school. Critics across the political spectrum are blasting the initiative as wasteful and “tone-deaf.”
Texas lawmakers have voted to abolish the STAAR test, long criticized as an ineffective burden on students and teachers. But the replacement plan may leave students with more tests—not fewer. House Bill 8, sponsored by Rep. Brad Buckley (R-Salado), has passed both chambers of the Texas Legislature and awaits final concurrence before heading to Governor Greg Abbott for signature.
California Governor Gavin Newsom is refusing to acknowledge the extent of antisemitism at UCLA, where Jewish students were harassed and excluded from campus spaces by anti-Israel protesters during 2024’s encampments. His dismissal comes as the Trump administration presses the university to pay a $1 billion fine for civil rights violations and implement reforms to protect Jewish and Israeli students.
A new analysis from the Commonwealth Foundation finds that Pennsylvania is violating federal and state law by failing to properly identify persistently dangerous schools and provide students with safer alternatives. The analysis criticizes the state's reliance on arrest data rather than violent incident reports to determine which schools qualify as dangerous.
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., have reintroduced legislation in Congress aimed at exposing foreign influence in America’s public schools. The TRACE Act would require public K-12 schools receiving federal funds to disclose any ties to foreign governments or entities of concern.
Germany’s Charité University of Medicine in Berlin has barred an Islamic student group, the Medislam Collective, from holding further events on campus. The decision follows accusations of gender-segregated seating during lectures and sex-specific student activities, which the university says violate its anti-discrimination policies.
