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CATEGORY: EDUCATION (3 MIN)
The forefront of countercultural movements usually involves the youth of the community. College students and those around their age, influenced by their passion and energy, often lead efforts against the predominant understanding of the day. But in many ways, today’s young revolutionaries are no longer standing against institutions but with them—especially their teachers.
In National Review, Rich Lowry targets the Columbia students who occupied and shut down their college campus in protest of their school’s relationship with Israel. Lowry discusses the impact the protests had on Jewish students and the police effort required to clear the occupiers out.
He spends most of his time comparing these 2024 protests with their more famous counterparts from Columbia in 1968. Lowry notes a lot of similarities between the incidents—although 1968 was much more destructive, the motivating reasons of “institutional racism” and “complicity” in an “imperialist” war remain the same.
But Lowry also finds one major difference. This time, a huge portion of American academia supports the 2024 protests and has taught the ideas these protestors rely on. As Lowry puts it, the students are “crudely expressing the attitudes and tropes that they hear in many of their classrooms.”
Read Lowry’s article right here.
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Weekly Poll
On a scale of 1 to 5, how surprised are you by the University of Columbia Protests?
[A] 5 (Very Surprised)
[B] 4
[C] 3
[D] 2
[E] 1 (Not Surprised)
RESULTS: 4/18/24
Which of the following Founding Fathers is your favorite?:
[A] George Washington - 54.9%
[B] James Madison - 16.7%
[C] Thomas Jefferson - 16.7%
[D] Alexander Hamilton - 11.8
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CATEGORY: CULTURE (6 MIN)
Earlier this month, Disney released a plan to add channels to its streaming service Disney+. The channels would show content from various Disney IPs 24/7, allowing people to tune into Star Wars or Marvel content whenever they want. Sound familiar? Yes, it’s cable, back from the dead. And to some overwhelmed by streaming choices, it’s a welcome sight.
Clare Coffey experienced the complexity of streaming services while finding a place to watch a playoff baseball game last year. She turned those thoughts into an ode to older technology that works, published in The New Atlantis. Coffey focuses on her old GE family radio, an ungainly box that has outlived nearly everything else of its kind since then.
Coffey laments the loss of quality in technology today, noting that there’s absolutely nothing in the technological sphere that could last 50 years like her GE radio. Now, nearly everyone expects to replace their phones and TVs within a few years, and no one would think of passing something like that down as an heirloom.
Coffey compares the current technological state to a personal “bureaucracy” where we no longer know how things actually work and instead follow endless directions on drop-down menus. And with the demise of the old, sturdy, working things, Coffey says, we’ve also lost an inter-generational unifying force.
Discover Coffey’s entire piece here.
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CATEGORY: VIDEO
The terrorist attack in Israel on October 7th by Hamas undid an uneasy peace in the Middle East, the fruits of a hard-fought effort to bring stability to a region rife with enmity and violence. Now, Israel and Palestine find themselves at war once again, and this development has caused a global backlash. In America, universities have become hotbeds of political turmoil over the conflict, causing calls for reform to university speech policies.
But what should universities do to prevent harm to Jewish students in light of October 7th? How free should free speech be on a college campus? What is the proper balance between a university’s mission of educating and forming students and the right of free expression?
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ISI's Annual
Homecoming Weekend
Join ISI on September 20-21, 2024 for a garden party that’ll welcome students, professors, alumni, and friends of ISI from across the country.
Every year, we host ISI’s annual Homecoming festivities right on our 20-acre campus tucked away into a bucolic pocket of Wilmington, DE. Our Homecoming sets the tone for the new school year and is an opportunity to celebrate and network with our impressive community of students, teachers, alumni, and professionals from a variety of backgrounds.
Reserve your ticket>>>
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Because our student editors and writers are bravely bringing conservative ideas to their campuses, we’re highlighting their efforts here.
The Texas Horn Wins John Parker Award for Journalism via The Texas Horn
“On April 20, 2024, The Texas Horn accepted the Young Conservatives of Texas’ John Parker Award for Journalism at their 2024 State Convention. YCT gives this award to the best right-of-center student-run news publication from universities across Texas... Finally, we would especially like to thank the Collegiate Network at the Intercollegiate Studies Institute, who has generously provided logistical support and publicity to The Texas Horn from the very beginning.”
Editorial: Three UChicago Students Were Just Robbed at Gunpoint. Our Administrators Must Do More to Protect Us via The Chicago Thinker
“On Wednesday, April 17, gunmen mugged three of our fellow students at the University of Chicago. One of them—named Madelyn—fought back, causing her would-be robber to take off running. Though she encourages future mugging victims not to resist, Madelyn is a profile in courage and a total contrast to the UChicago administration, which has been caught obfuscating and with its tail in between its legs.”
BREAKING: Undergraduates Call for Permanent Ceasefire in Gaza, Divestment from Weapons Manufacturers in Referendum via Cornell Review
“On Monday, April 22, Cornell announced the results of two Cornell student referenda which asked students if Cornell should call for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, as well as if Cornell should divest from weapons manufacturers such as Boeing, BAE Systems, General Dynamics and others. Both measures passed, with a 2:1 ratio voting yes to both measures, with around 47% undergraduate student participation.”
Anti-Boeing Protestors Attempt to Shut Down Bear Beginnings via The Danforth Dispatch
“Every year, WashU hosts an event called ‘Bear Beginnings’ for admitted students to learn about the university before committing. This event, which only resumed in 2022 after being canceled for several years due to COVID, is probably the least political event that one can think of... However, this year the anti-Boeing/pro-Palestine movement decided to try to shut the event down by storming Graham Chapel during a presentation being given to the prospective students.”
BYU Security Head Holds Secret Meetings with LGBT Activists, Praises “Brilliant” Rainbow Y Lighting via The Cougar Chronicle
“Chris Autry, the Managing Director of BYU Police and BYU Security, has been using BYU campus facilities to hold secret meetings with LGBTQ activist groups, the Cougar Chronicle confirmed this week. These events were likely held in violation of BYU’s own Speakers and Events policy, which prohibits the use of campus resources for events ‘intended for an audience broader than a single college or educational support unit’ unless they are previously approved by the BYU administration.” |
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CATEGORY: HISTORY (29 MIN)
Demonstrations and protests like those at Columbia in 1968 and in 2024 have certainly left their mark. But the students pale in comparison to true radicals who are willing to use whatever means necessary to accomplish their goal. Terrorists in the Middle East and in other hotbeds of conflict over the past 30 years have used horrific methods to attempt political change.
This is hardly a new idea. For this week’s article from the Modern Age website, we look to a piece by Paul Norton from the 1985 issue of Modern Age. Norton traced the ideas behind terrorism to the writings of Niccoló Machiavelli, the famed author of The Prince. He specifically looked at three teachings of Machiavelli that connect to modern terror: cruelty, fraud, and conspiracy.
Norton said that Machiavelli taught cruelty as a virtue, since it’s an inevitable and effective way to control the state. Machiavelli linked this with fraud(the element of surprise) and conspiracy(working with others to achieve these goals). Norton admitted that Machiavelli did not actually recommend attacking innocent lives, but he argued that Machiavelli’s principles and examples, which emphasize effectiveness, naturally lead to terrorism.
“Machiavelli’s impatience for success leads him to sacrifice the sense of ‘common decency’ which the patriot, but not the terrorist, fortunately knows,” Norton wrote.
Do you agree? Learn more at the Modern Age website right here.
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Thought of the Day:
“The lion cannot protect himself from traps, and the fox cannot defend himself from wolves. One must therefore be a fox to recognize traps, and a lion to frighten wolves.”
- Niccolò Machiavelli
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Join ISI’s new Alumni Giving Club
It’s never been easier for you to support our mission—and stay part of our community—with ISI’s new Alumni Giving Club!
For just $19.53 a month, you can join the fight and “pay it forward” by educating the next generation for ordered liberty.
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