
We have an urgent request – please go show your opposition against a race-based  [curriculum](https://crlxn8bab.cc.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001S4s3nXljtpxh8_5lz4jGzdgcseafbpbLGaPOPkUEp1vf-FrHh-xLvDllRz0o-VXVRsTvfFfONyUpeJvjBuBQlt15nWWDLAUHJGRTGrN1EpMxaufaizKUiuNtNq78k3YStne4yho4R7eD77NUZcsQ8w==&c=H92tHjkSW4BhdAeJMnBpvzIR6tBfzFfIYCNrH-6z-v6zWGF-0KtgEg==&ch=39WCE8N4ktJ53EZRZSIu14AoRT10Nrt2jhzHDwBhFCWA-RCYulHDSA==)  and your support of an independent trustee who was  [targeted](https://www.youtube.com/live/PIjik0fdqmA?si=mkIQzVWjKF8Wyh-e)  due to his objection to the curriculum in the Franklin McKinley School District (FMSD).

If you are in the Bay Area, please attend a FMSD school board meeting  **tonight (Tuesday, Dec 17)**  at  **6:30pm**at  645 Wool Creek Dr., San Jose. If you are not in the area, you can still support by contacting the FMSD Board via email (email addresses provided below).

On December 10, the FMSD  [met](https://go.boarddocs.com/ca/fmsd/Board.nsf/files/DBQ2T503ACB9/$file/Dec10_BoardAgenda.pdf)  and voted on an  [action item](https://go.boarddocs.com/ca/fmsd/Board.nsf/goto?open&id=DBLV5W7F21F8)  (No. 8.02) to approve a contract with Freedom Soul Media Education Initiatives. The contract outlines a pilot for a series of programs targeting only the school district’s “Black/African American Youth.” This $31,250 pilot includes:

· A curriculum and course for Black/African American students at Sylvandale Middle School.

· Monthly sessions for Black students.

· Documenting student experience and voice.

At the board meeting, Trustee Marc Cooper voiced his strong objections to using taxpayer funds on unconstitutional, race-based programs. His criticism was not well received as another board member Trustee Rudy Rodriguez immediately commented:

**“We have one white person on our board and he's talking like he's from the KKK."**

This is **a serious attempt to silence and punish an independent school board member who dared to criticize a blatantly illegal program.** Censuring Trustee Cooper on the basis of his race/color is an act of racism. We must not keep quiet!

If you can’t make it to the FMSD Board Meeting tonight in person, you can email the FMSD Board to voice your objection to the race-based curriculum and your support of Trustee Cooper. The Board can be reached at:

-Board President George Sanchez,  [george.sanchez@fmsd.org](mailto:george.sanchez@fmsd.org)

-Board Vice President Milan Balinton,  [milan.balinton@fmsd.org](mailto:milan.balinton@fmsd.org)

-Board Clerk Steven Sanchez, [steven.sanchez@fmsd.org](mailto:steven.sanchez@fmsd.org)

-Board Trustee Marc Cooper, [marc.cooper@fmsd.org](mailto:marc.cooper@fmsd.org)

-Board Trustee Rudy Rodriguez, [rudy.rodriguez@fmsd.org](mailto:rudy.rodriguez@fmsd.org)

Thank you for standing up for equality and free speech!

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Support Equality and Free Speech in the Franklin McKinley School District!

We are not slowing down this holiday season. Allow me to bring you up to speed with some important updates from our allies and CFER.

1. **SARD is launched to sue the University of California. You can support them.**

For years, the University of California (UC) has practiced race-based admissions, in violation of Proposition 209 and more recently of the Supreme Court affirmative action ruling. Students Against Racial Discrimination (“SARD”) is a new  [organization](https://sard.law/)  that seeks to hold UC accountable. have secured legal representation and sufficient funding to launch an enforcement effort.  **SARDS’s attorneys plan to file a federal lawsuit against the University of California by December 20, 2024.**

You can help SARD’s pursuit of equal justice if you are:

• A prospective student planning to apply to a UC college or graduate school, concerned about being discriminated against based on your race.

• A student who applied and was rejected by a UC college or graduate school, suspicious that race was a factor in your rejection.

• Someone who works in admissions at the UC, or volunteers your help in an admissions program, with information about discriminatory practices at the university.

• A concerned resident in California who would like to see the university follow the law and treat people from all races equally.

You can [**join SARD**](https://sard.law/) **or share information anonymously**.  Or phone 626-325-8460, to speak with Professor Richard Sander, a UCLA law professor (and CFER advisor) who is helping SARD to document university practices and to screen potential members of the plaintiff class. Professor Sander and CFER's Wenyuan Wu were interviewed on this topic in today’s College Fix report [here](https://www.thecollegefix.com/in-wake-of-affirmative-action-ban-ucla-enrolls-record-number-of-black-and-latino-students/).

**2.** **A major conference on “Censorship in the Sciences” on January 10- 12, 2025 in Los Angeles**

Alas, the academia is taking a hard look at the persistent issue of cancel culture. A group of professors and academics organizing a  [conference](https://dornsife.usc.edu/cesr/censorship-in-the-sciences-interdisciplinary-perspectives/)  on the topic of “Censorship in the Sciences” on January 10 to 12, 2025 at the University of Southern California. Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) CEO Greg Lukianoff, Kentucky State University Political Sciences Professor Wilfred Reilly, anthropologist Elizabeth Weiss, and many other renowned experts will speak at the convention.

You can find the conference program  [here](https://drive.google.com/file/d/19YCeirdwU-izcY86aaNQ_4hm8znTaMML/view). If you are interested, please  [sign up](https://dtspayment.usc.edu/OnlinePayment/cesr/conference/conference-registration.cfm)  today.

**3.** **Help us fight Sacramento’s race-based parent welfare program.**

In October, we sent Sacramento County and the California Department of Social Services an intent to sue [letter](https://strapi-cfer.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/a8d5a2257bb29909c96bd41d88351402.pdf), urging them to stop Family First Economic Support Pilot ([FFESP](https://dcfas.saccounty.net/Admin/Pages/Family-First-Economic-Support-Pilot.aspx)). This is a taxpayer-funded welfare program excludes parents of White, Asian, Hispanic and Pacific Islander children.

While we continue to look for parents and families who are discriminated against by the county due to this unconstitutional program, we are gearing up to stand up to the discriminator in court.  **If you live in Sacramento and want to help us strengthen our case, you can join as a co-plaintiff.**  Please let us know by replying to this email!

Last but not least, we had a productive zoom meeting on last Saturday, December 7th  with some CFER donors who received our report on CFER’s progress and future plans. If you missed our meeting and would like to get our report, kindly respond here.

At CFER, we will never stop fighting for equality and merit. Please consider supporting our work with a kind  [donation](https://www.cferfoundation.org/support)  today.

We appreciate your trust!

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Support SARD to Challenge UC’s Discriminatory Admissions, Join a Conference on Censorship, Help Us Challenge a Sacramento Race-based Program and More…

As colleges and universities start to make admission offers for the 2025 academic year, allow me to call your attention to something alarming. **While the ideological storm of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) seems to be in retreat, the general environment for free speech on college campuses remains hostile**, especially towards non-progressive students, faculty members and guest speakers.  
  
Earlier this year, the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression released its “[2025 Free Speech Rankings,](https://www.thefire.org/research-learn/2025-college-free-speech-rankings)” which surveys over 58,000 college students from 257 schools on campus speech climates and their attitudes about free speech. **Harvard is ranked at the bottom for the second year in a row.** With **20 documented speech controversies** in which expression of unpopular viewpoints was censored, suppressed, or shouted down, America’s oldest and most prestigious private university receives an “Abysmal” speech climate.  
  
Other reputed institutions don’t fare much better. **Columbia** University is ranked #250 with an abysmal rating. Of all those with a 200 or lower ranking, **University of Pennsylvania, Syracuse, Northwestern, Georgetown, Dartmouth, Princeton, Stanford, Cornell, Brown, Fordham, University of Southern California, University of California Davis and UC Berkeley** are on the list.  
  
Notably, Northwestern University (NU), which ranks 231st on students’ level of comfort expressing ideas, 142ndon disruptive conduct, 217th on administrative support of free speech and 163rd on self-censorship, [cancelled](https://www.mindingthecampus.org/2023/10/09/northwestern-cancels-former-trustee/)a former board trustee- Mr. Ben Slivka. Mr. Slivka, who was a Northwestern graduate and donated over $ 7 million to the school, was appointed to the NU Board of Trustees in 1998 and served in that capacity until his tenure concluded in 2018. Last year, a Diversity and Inclusion Officer at the school’s Athletics Department admonished Mr. Slivka for his “racist and/or sexist” comments and demanded he “refrain from any future arranged meetings with Northwestern’s student-athletes.”  
  
The complaint originated from Mr. Slivka’s remarks at a NU Women’s Cross-Country reception, during which he expressed appreciation for **America as a great country that welcomes hard-working immigrants**. Mr. Slivka also commended an athlete for returning back to the sport after childbirth. In other words, showing affection for America is racist, while commenting on motherhood is sexist.  
  
It is no wonder that more students in 2024 (than 2021) find it acceptable to shout down a controversial speaker, block other students from attending a campus speech or use violence to stop a controversial speech. 55% of the students think the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is hard to discuss, while 41% want to avoid discussions on transgender issues/rights. 34% of conservative students engage in self-censorship “very” or “fairly” often. A class of 2024 UC Berkeley student commented:  
  
_“Berkeley seems only tolerant of liberal views. Professors obviously have a liberal learn (with some even taking time to acknowledge what land we're on and gives their pronouns, etc.). There is no chance I'll expose my independent / lean conservative views. I don't feel safe at all. I pretend to be a hardcore liberal on writing assignments because I know the professor won't like me."_  
  
The marketplace of ideas is not free because of overshadowing woke ideologies. The ideological capture is so entrenched that it will take considerable work in the long term to bring cultural and institutional changes. **With persistence and strategy, it is also possible to reverse the trend.** For instance, University of Virginia, Michigan Technological University, Florida State University, Eastern Kentucky University and Georgia Tech receive top free speech ratings. After falling out of top 10 in 2023, Claremont Mckenna College has made a comeback with a ranking of 6. University of South Carolina and Virginia Common Wealth University have made the top 50 after being ranked towards the bottom in previous years.  
  
As Class of 2028 begin their college journeys, I hope that our summary of the FIRE report offers you some insights on higher education. When it comes to this topic, it is not only academic ranking that matters. Parents and students also desire enriching experiences that engage the student in multiple perspectives, including views not shared by the majority or the establishment. Academic competitiveness is jeopardized when academic freedom is threatened.  
  
At CFER, we strive to produce and promote research that helps enlighten the minds and souls of our fellow Americans. If you believe in what we do, will you consider CFER in your [charitable giving](https://www.cferfoundation.org/support) during this holiday season? Help us reach our end-of-year fundraising goal so that we can continue to expand our work and impact.  
  
Thank you!

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The Current State of Free Speech in Higher Ed.

On this Thanksgiving, in a spirit of gratitude, please allow us to thank you for your long-term support of CFER. Without you, we couldn’t have gone this far. In the same spirit, will you please write a thank you letter to your school district board trustees and superintendent, to share an opinion about DEI? While appreciating their hard work throughout the year, whether you like it or not, you may also bring the latest research and trend about DEI to their attention.  
  
Change is on the horizon. **Just before Thanksgiving, Walmart – the world’s biggest retailer,** **[announced](https://cferfoundation.us10.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b78c84756813bc7a3a38500a0&id=7b3624b073&e=0111f1f5cd)** **that it will**  **revamp its DEI commitments**. Walmart will no longer consider race or gender in granting supplier contracts. Nor will the company collect demographic data in assessing subcontractors’ financial eligibility. It will also roll back racial equity training for staff, stop using the term “DEI” in official communications and review its support for LGBTQ advocacy. Walmart is joining a growing list of businesses and educational institutions in doing away with DEI. Check out CFER’s “Defund DEI” list [here](https://cferfoundation.us10.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b78c84756813bc7a3a38500a0&id=f65c6f27aa&e=0111f1f5cd). You may use whatever case you see fit to inform your school district leaders.  
  
More importantly, a Network Contagion Research Institute [study](https://cferfoundation.us10.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b78c84756813bc7a3a38500a0&id=c521cd5086&e=0111f1f5cd) by researchers from Harvard, Rutgers and other prestigious institutions **casts serious doubt on the efficacy of DEI training focused on fighting “systemic oppression.”** Surveying participants’ attitudes towards “anti-oppressive DEI educational materials” in race, religion and caste, the study found that DEI engenders bias, amplifies perceptions of prejudicial hostility, and arouses punitive responses to the perceived bias. In other words, **instead of reducing bias, DEI significantly induces racial prejudice and suspicion, while increases left wing authoritarianism**. Unfortunately, mainstream media [buried](https://cferfoundation.us10.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b78c84756813bc7a3a38500a0&id=b7fb9c691c&e=0111f1f5cd) this important story and opted for amplifying voices of so-called DEI experts. It’s so important for us, we the people, to inform our school district officials the latest research. Show them proof and ask them to follow science.  
  
If you are ready, CFER Executive Director Dr. Wenyuan Wu has prepared a sample [letter](https://cferfoundation.us10.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b78c84756813bc7a3a38500a0&id=2c4fbbf28c&e=0111f1f5cd) for your reference.  
  
On **Saturday morning (10 -11am), December 7th, 2024, we will hold CFER’s online annual donor meeting** to thank our donors and give a presentation on what their contributions have helped CFER achieve this year. We will also discuss the strategies in the years to come**.** Please [register](https://cferfoundation.us10.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b78c84756813bc7a3a38500a0&id=e8deb7abe6&e=0111f1f5cd) here to attend this online presentation. May we ask you for a generous [contribution](https://cferfoundation.us10.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b78c84756813bc7a3a38500a0&id=83e2e4ff21&e=0111f1f5cd) to help CFER close our deficit, if possible?

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This Thanksgiving, send a thank you letter to your local education leaders and share an opinion on DEI!

**Education leaders must hear diverse perspectives on DEI and be willing to share opposing positions with students and teachers. Please use the sample letter as a reference when you engage your local school district leaders in a conversation on DEI. Feel free to modify the letter as you see fit.**

Dear Board Trustees and Superintendent,
 
Happy Thanksgiving! On this traditional American holiday, I hope you are as appreciative to our country and its traditional values of freedom, equality, grit, agency and perseverance as I am. In this spirit, I want to urge you to take immediate actions to safeguard public education in our local schools by doing away with harmful diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI).
 
While the cultural establishment and the legacy media often promote how wonderful DEI programs are, there is growing evidence otherwise. Reputed researchers from Harvard, Rutgers and the Network Contagion Research Institute documented many negative effects of carrying out DEI training to combat so-called “systemic oppression.” They found that DEI training exacerbates bias, prejudice and far-left authoritarianism. This is not Fox News or the National Review. Please take a look at the study: https://networkcontagion.us/wp-content/uploads/Instructing-Animosity_11.13.24.pdf.
 
Many universities and companies are ditching DEI. MIT, University of North Carolina, state universities in Texas, Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, Missouri, Arkansas, and Kentucky are eliminating DEI positions. Boeing, Ford, Lowes, Zoom, and most recently, Walmart are curbing their DEI commitments.
 
We must do better. And you, who are entrusted by our community and local parents with the education, development and edification of our precious next generation, can do better!
 
It is time that our school district catches up and reviews our own policies, programs and activities. Is our Ethnic Studies class designed to teach identities, power and oppression? Do school district employees and teachers need to pledge support to DEI, racial justice or racial equity? Are our students forced to accept DEI as a universally held truth?
 
If DEI is being propagated in our schools, make a decision to defund it. At the minimum, you should provide our students and teachers the opportunity to access opposing arguments for and against DEI. Show them the study and tell them about the growing movement to roll back DEI. Allowing access to such information is the first step against indoctrination.
 
Please take action today. Our kids and our community deserve it.

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Sample Letter to Your School Board Trustees and Superintendent

**Even in one of California's most progressive cities, it is possible for parental rights and common sense to win!**  
  
On this Thursday (11/21/2024), Cupertino Union School District (CUSD) trustees [voted](https://youtu.be/3rFsbdWIwhk?feature=shared) unanimously to adopt [Board Policy 6144](https://go.boarddocs.com/ca/cusdk8/Board.nsf/goto?open&id=DAXQVG6B25CF), adding clear guidelines and guardrails on classroom instruction/discussion regarding controversial issues.

**This is no small feat.** Even though local teachers' unions [coordinated](https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1DSjBfPq4d/) a grossly misleading [campaign](https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1Ahg6MfaxL/) to stop the policy from being adopted and mainstream media [weighed in](https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/article/cupertino-gender-pronouns-schools-19907642.php&ved=2ahUKEwi6h6GTnuuJAxUlSDABHWw6JFAQxfQBKAB6BAgOEAE&usg=AOvVaw2eUYdrk3YFyhCq1rtGdCoa) to support "LGBTQ teacher rights," **local parents and community members succeeded by organizing effectively and presenting the Board with compelling arguments**. CFER assisted with an official [letter](https://strapi-cfer.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/a0c5a385f22d9afe064b1ec4443d08d5.pdf) to the CUSD Board asking for their approval of the policy and a media [column](https://californiaglobe.com/fr/it-is-not-controversial-for-four-year-old-boys-to-wear-dresses-to-school-teachers-union-affirms/) exposing the unions' radical move.  
  
Unions want to stop a common-sense policy in order to appease and enable a transgender TK teacher. This particular teacher was caught **discussing "boys can wear dresses" and pronouns with four-year-olds**! Parents are rightfully outraged by said teacher's brazen conduct which is unduly endorsed by the unions. **See for yourself one of the union's campaign posters and the teacher's statement below.** If this is not misconduct and indoctrination, what is?  Do you think any adult in a position of power has the right to inculcate young children? Do you trust this kind of union schemes and teacher misconduct for the sake of public education?

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We won't blame you if you are feeling angry and concerned like we do. Many parents packed the school board meeting and **nearly 100 made public comments urging the CUSD Board to approve Board Policy 6144**. At the end, the union schemes and smears did not work as  **every single board trustee sided with the parents and the community** that our kids deserve better than unfettered ideological inculcation.  
  
Many, if not most of the endemic problems in education, can be attributed to the teachers' unions. CFER will continue to stand with local parents and stakeholders to **expose and challenge union hijacking, radicalization and misconduct throughout the Golden State**.  
  
We understand **parents' win in CUSD is just the beginning**. Hopefully, this encouraging victory will be the momentum for them to continue to organize in their local school district, holding the school district accountable and safeguarding education going forward. CFER will keep on monitoring the situation and provide assistance when needed. Can you help us out with a kind [donation](https://www.cferfoundation.org/support) today so that we can carry on our important work in grassroots organizing?  
  
p.s. Check out CFER's 2024 annual [report](https://strapi-cfer.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/48fd410ec86b06b966a57cf393566149.pdf) and let us know your thoughts!

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Cupertino parents took on the teachers' union and won!

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