MARSCHALL: My favorite stories from 2022

In 2022, Campus Reform saw more examples of leftist indoctrination on college campuses. But we also witnessed conservatives standing up for themselves against liberal bias. Those are the best kind of higher education stories. 

Below are five times that liberal bias did not prevail this year:

1. Duke reinstates pro-Israel student group after repeated barriers

A Pro-Israel student organization has gained official recognition at Duke University after a months-long battle with the Duke Student Government (DSG), an undergraduate entity.

Students Supporting Israel at Duke University was unanimously recognized as a registered student organization by the DSG on Feb. 23 during a late-night meeting. 

2. NEW: GW supports Clarence Thomas teaching at law school

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas will not be ousted from his teaching position at George Washington University (GWU) School of Law, university officials confirmed in a campus-wide email in June.

The email followed a student-led movement to revoke Thomas’ employment due to his concurring opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which overturned Roe v. Wade on June 24. 

3. School to pay professor $400K settlement over pronoun case

A philosophy professor at Shawnee State University (SSU) won $400,000 in a settlement from the university over the school’s attempt to force him to use non-biological pronouns for a student.

Nicholas Meriwether filed a lawsuit against the Ohio school in 2019 for compelling him to honor a male student’s request to “address him as a woman because he identified as such.” 

Meriwether declined to do so on the basis that using preferred pronouns would be in contrast to “religious convictions and philosophical beliefs.” Instead, he offered to refer to the student as his chosen name.

4. OP-ED: Oberlin learns a $31 million lesson for falsely accusing a local family business of racism

On March 31, 2022, an Ohio Appeals Court upheld a lower court verdict against Oberlin College awarding  $31.2 million to a local bakery on the grounds that, among other things, the College and its Dean of Students defamed the business.  

5. University eliminates bias reporting system after receiving legal demand letter

Southern Utah University recently removed bias incidents from its reporting system after receiving a demand letter from the Southeastern Legal Foundation. 

In its letter, SLF warned that SUU’s bias reporting system was vague in that it provided no guidelines for following up on reports, and it risked causing students to self-censor out of fear of punishment.