Former Ivy League professor claims anti-White, anti-Western policies in blistering essay
A history professor who taught at Harvard University for 40 years has left the Ivy League for greener pastures, penning a biting critique on the state of the school on his way out the door.
In a piece titled “Why I’m Leaving Harvard,” published in Compact Magazine, history professor James Hankins said he decided in 2021 to leave the school amid a flurry of wokeness and COVID restrictions, but honored a four-year retirement contract that expired just weeks ago.
“We had just endured almost two years under the university’s strict Covid regime,” Hankins wrote. “This was a form of emergency governance that mirrored to a fault the whole country’s uncritical acceptance of The Science and its proclivity, when backed by public power, for tyrannous invasions of private life.”
He added that the school forced professors to lecture wearing masks and give seminars via Zoom, which did not comport with his views on education.
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Then, Hankins referenced the 2020 “Summer of Floyd,” when violent riots broke out nationwide after George Floyd died at the hands of police in Minneapolis. He said the university’s response, which he thought would amount to “empty virtue-signaling,” turned out to be much more sinister, suggesting that discrimination against White men in graduate admissions became policy.
“In reviewing graduate student applicants in the fall of 2020 I came across an outstanding prospect who was a perfect fit for our program,” wrote Hankins. “In past years this candidate would have risen immediately to the top of the applicant pool. In 2021, however, I was told informally by a member of the admissions committee that ‘that’ (meaning admitting a white male) was ‘not happening this year.'”
He described another instance of an even higher caliber student — one who had gone to Harvard as an undergraduate and had the highest overall academic record of anyone in his class and whom Hankins described as “certifiably brilliant” — being rejected by every Harvard graduate program to which he applied.
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“He too was a white male,” Hankins wrote. “I called around to friends at several universities to find out why on earth he had been rejected. Everywhere it was the same story: Graduate admissions committees around the country had been following the same unspoken protocol as ours.
“The one exception I found to the general exclusion of white males had begun life as a female,” he continued.
A Harvard spokesperson affirmed, as Hankins wrote in his piece, that graduate admissions are faculty-led and localized at the department level.
But Hankins, who has now taken a role as a visiting professor at the University of Florida, didn’t just critique the school over these particular examples. He also described how, during his 40-year tenure at the school, the history department, harangued by activists, has lowered academic standards and all but abandoned the Western canon and Western history alike.
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He explained that senior academic appointments at Harvard before the 1990s followed a “two-book standard. Appointees were expected to have published two books, one typically a graduate or doctoral dissertation republished as a book, and another showcasing the academic’s expertise on a given subject, before their appointments.
“The two-book standard would be shelved in the late 1990s when we were under increasing pressure to hire more women faculty,” he wrote. “Feminist activists, at Harvard as elsewhere, were demanding that half of all new appointments be women. That, they claimed, was what liberal standards of equality required.”
The feminist push had a devastating effect in the history department, according to Hankins.
“Since at the time women formed less than 10 percent of PhDs in history and were even rarer in the mid-career cohorts from which Harvard tended to hire, equality required that standards be lowered. Feminists denied vociferously that this was happening,” he wrote.
“The real problem, they said, was the inability of men properly to value female scholarship,” wrote Hankins, later adding that he and others who opposed the new order were labeled “sexists.”
When the school began focusing on “global civilizations” and “transnational history” rather than Western civilization in the classroom, the disaffected professor fought back. He guided a two-semester course requirement that would first teach students about Western civilization, and then integrate non-Western civilization into their body of historical knowledge.
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That program was short-lived, lasting only through the early 2000s, when Hankins described continued and more rapid decline in academic standards.
“Soon the department was promoting an ever higher percentage of junior faculty,” he wrote. “The dynamic was similar to Congress voting to restrain its own spending. At one point we took a vow to curb promotions at 20 percent, then 50 percent. After that, there emerged an expectation that junior faculty would be promoted in the course of nature so long as they could get a book-length manuscript, or maybe a few really strong chapters, ready for publication in time for a tenure review.”
He described these newer and less qualified promotees as “left-leaning,” and said that “countervailing winds” at the university ushered in an institutional globalization, including more foreign students and the continued dwindling of Western history courses.
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“‘Transnational history’ meant that Europeanists would no longer teach the internal history of European nations—no more courses on the German Reformation, Elizabethan England, or the French Revolution,” he said. “Rather they would teach about interactions between Europe and the non-European world.”
Hankins later remarked that while professors of other history courses, like Chinese history, taught the jingoistic Chinese patriotism and the country’s long and successful struggle against a colonial and suffocating West.
However, such pride was not to be broached in Western history classes.
“Western global history, by contrast, displays no loyalty to Western societies or traditions; quite the contrary,” he wrote. “In the hands of hyper-progressive (or ‘woke’) practitioners, Western global history is often, indeed, actively anti-Western. Older Western societies are presented as inherently illiberal, to be contrasted unfavorably with the perfectly liberal society promised by the prophets of the progressive future.”
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Hankins concluded that he has little hope for reform in what he calls “Ivy-Plus” institutions.
“For those like myself, however, who have lived through the decline of higher education in ‘elite’ universities, that would be a triumph of hope over experience, as Johnson said of remarriage. For now, a better hope lies in building new institutions unencumbered by the corruption and self-hatred that infect the old.”
Minnesota voters growing angry over fraud scandal as Walz faces calls to resign
Anger is growing across Minnesota as voters say they are “fed up” with fraud and demanding accountability, former Tim Walz rival Donna Bergstrom said Tuesday.
“Fraud is fraud,” Bergstrom, who ran for lieutenant governor on Republican Jeff Johnson’s ticket in the 2018 race against Walz, said on “Jesse Watters Primetime.”
Bergstrom said she hears mounting frustration from voters across the state who believe taxpayer dollars have been squandered and oversight failures ignored. She argued that Minnesotans want the governor held responsible for what they see as a pattern of mismanagement.
“They want Tim Walz to be held accountable,” Bergstrom said. “We just recently had Minnesota legislators call for his resignation, but Minnesotans want this to stop.”
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Minnesota GOP floor leader Harry Niska echoed those concerns, accusing the governor of refusing to take responsibility for the scandal and ignoring repeated warnings from lawmakers.
“[This] is a perfect storm of political corruption, woke ideology and incompetent big government, and they want to buy off this voting block,” Niska said.
“They are afraid to be called racist if they ask any questions, and he’s staffed his administration with people who are totally unable to do the job.”
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Walz, however, took accountability in recent remarks to reporters.
“This is on my watch. I am accountable for this. And more importantly, I am the one that will fix it,” he said.
But Walz questioned whether federal prosecutors’ accusations that the fraud could have totaled in the billions were politically motivated.
“You should be equally outraged about $1 or whatever that number is, but they’re using that number without the proof behind it,” Walz said. “But to extrapolate what that number is for sensationalism, or to make statements about it, it doesn’t really help us.”
Niska proceeded to call the scandal an “embarrassment” for the state on Tuesday, adding that the issue has become a “top priority” for state-level Republicans seeking accountability.
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A spokesperson for Walz also recently released a statement addressing the swath of fraud allegations plaguing the state, saying, “The governor has worked for years to crack down on fraud and asked the state legislature for more authority to take aggressive action. He has strengthened oversight.”
Others have denied claims surrounding fraud allegations, including Ibrahim Ali, the manager of Quality Learning Center, a daycare facility at the core of some allegations.
Charlie Kirk’s widow shares how she preserves his memory during Christmas season
Erika Kirk shared an emotional Christmas message Tuesday, reflecting on life after the death of her husband, saying how faith and devotion continue to guide her as she navigates grief and raises her children.
Kirk, the wife of the late conservative icon and Turning Point USA (TPUSA) founder Charlie Kirk, shared pictures and videos on Instagram of her two children celebrating Christmas and described how she’s balancing old traditions with new ones.
“This Christmas we tucked away. And while the world, again, kept being the world, I loved settling into a space of continued healing where silence is golden and is a statement in itself,” Kirk wrote. “The outpouring from our loved ones, has been a sacred and holy balm to our hearts.”
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Charlie Kirk was assassinated in Orem, Utah, Sept. 10, at the age of 31, leaving behind Erika and their two children — a daughter born in 2022, and a son born in 2024.
Kirk acknowledged that “life is different now” and sometimes painful, adding that she keeps many of her husband’s belongings undisturbed, including his socks, shoes and vitamins, which she described as love notes from Heaven.
She also addressed outside scrutiny directed at her, saying that “none of it shakes me.”
“Their words, accusations, assumptions, and slander don’t land, they don’t burn. Never will. I owe the world nothing,” Kirk wrote.
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The TPUSA CEO said she hopes her message encourages other wives to remain deeply devoted to their spouses, even during difficult moments.
“When your heart is set on letting your love story be one of deep devotion and self-sacrifice instead of self-serving, the Lord will use your marriage in ways completely hard to explain,” she said.
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Kirk shared videos of her children opening Christmas gifts and listening to carols and ended her post by wishing her late husband a Merry Christmas, saying she continues to cherish what she believes are reminders of his love from Heaven.
Convicted Idaho killer altered behavior at stores following quadruple homicide: video
FIRST ON FOX: Newly unveiled Walmart surveillance videos show convicted murderer Bryan Kohberger was a regular shopper at the store during his single semester in the Pullman-Moscow area — and that he started shopping with gloves on after killing four University of Idaho students.
The previously unreleased videos were obtained by Fox News Digital through a public records request. Police collected them as part of a years-long case against Kohberger, who pleaded guilty in July to avoid the death penalty in connection with the November 2022 massacre.
The videos show Kohberger making at least 13 trips to the Pullman store between Oct. 28, 2022 and Dec. 8 of that year, all but one after dark.
The murders happened on Nov. 13, and Kohberger is believed to have left town around Dec. 15 for a cross-country drive home with his dad to Pennsylvania, where he was arrested at his parents’ house on Dec. 30.
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A visit to Walmart on Nov. 12 was the last time cameras recorded Kohberger at the checkout without gloves on. He checked out at 10:34 p.m., according to police reports, then committed the murders just after 4 a.m. the following morning.
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Subsequent videos show he returned to Walmart with gloves on multiple times and only exposed a single thumb after that, when he pulled his credit card out of his wallet to pay while keeping his other fingers covered. The only exception appears to be his final visit to the store, on Dec. 8, when he arrived with gloves on but took them off before searching through his wallet and paying.
On one occasion, Dec. 2, Kohberger arrived and left with another person, although they paid at separate self-checkout registers. The supplemental report detailing his Walmart purchases does not include any references to this person, and Kohberger is believed to have acted alone in the crime.
Kohberger was studying for a Ph.D. in criminology at Washington State University, which is about 10 miles away from the crime scene, over the state line. The Walmart store is between the two schools.
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According to previously released court documents, a Walmart worker told police that a suspicious White male had come in looking for a black ski mask.
Police confirmed that Kohberger used the same debit card on all 13 visits to the store and purchased only two items of evidentiary interest, according to Moscow Police Department documents.
Those were a beanie, purchased during his Nov. 7 visit, and “utility clothes” on Dec. 1. Police were unable to uncover specific details about the beanie, including whether it qualified as a ski mask. The second item turned out to be a nine-pack of gray hand towels, according to the documents.
Search warrant returns also show police seized a Walmart receipt from Kohberger’s home and that they served warrants on the retail giant as they tracked down where he bought the murder weapon, a Ka-Bar knife.
Police ultimately discovered Kohberger bought one on Amazon and later searched for another after the murders. The murder weapon itself was never found, but Kohberger left a Ka-Bar sheath with his DNA on it at the crime scene.
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Investigators later revealed the killer entered the home at 1122 King Road in Moscow, Idaho, wearing a black balaclava over his face, through which the lone eyewitness said she could see only his “bushy eyebrows.”
Inside, he killed 21-year-old Madison Mogen, 21-year-old Kaylee Goncalves, 20-year-old Xana Kernodle and 20-year-old Ethan Chapin. All but Kernodle were asleep at the start of the massacre, according to authorities.
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Kohberger is serving four consecutive life prison sentences without the possibility of parole, plus another 10 years.
He has given no explanation for the crime.
Middle-class mom’s lottery win ushers in New Year’s with stunning windfall
A mother who skipped plans for after-work drinks ended up with far more than a quiet night in.
She became an instant millionaire just ahead of the New Year of 2026.
Nikita Muse, 35, was named the latest winner of Omaze’s Monthly Millionaire Draw, taking home a £1 million, tax-free prize in the U.K. after entering the competition for several years.
Her windfall is equivalent to about $1.34 million in U.S. dollars.
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Omaze is a prize-draw platform that offers participants the chance to win large cash prizes and luxury homes.
Muse, a finance manager at a golf course, was finishing up at work when she received a call telling her she had won something.
She initially doubted the news, she told news agency SWNS.
She and her husband assumed the call wasn’t for real — until representatives arrived at their home to confirm it in person.
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She had been on her way out to meet a friend for after-work drinks but quickly changed plans.
Muse joked that canceling was worth it — telling her friend that “the drinks are on me” the next time they meet.
The reality of the win soon began to sink in.
“This is going to be an incredible New Year’s Eve for us,” she said, as SNWS reported.
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“What a way to see out the year and head into the next one knowing our children’s futures are so secure.”
She also said, “I’m not a huge drinker — but we did open a bottle of champagne to celebrate at home.”
Muse and her husband share four children between them.
She said the win immediately eased financial pressure and opened up new possibilities for the family.
“You never think it’s actually going to happen, but the money is in my account now.”
The couple plans to pay down their mortgage, replace an older vehicle and take family trips — including returning to New York and visiting Disney World.
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Muse said she had been entering Omaze drawings for nearly five years.
She was motivated, she said, by both the chance to improve her family’s future and the charitable causes the organization supports.
“It was such a crazy moment,” she said about learning she had won the lottery. “You never think it’s actually going to happen, but the money is in my account now — I’ll never forget seeing all those zeros appear!”
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She also said, “We’ll be able to treat the kids – I mean, if you can’t treat them after winning a million, when can you?”
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She said the family “can’t wait to go on some amazing [vacations]. Making those kinds of family memories is priceless.”
The real reasons older Americans are giving up on GLP-1 weight-loss drugs
GLP-1 medications have dominated the weight-loss landscape this year — but some older Americans are reportedly kicking the trend to the curb.
A study published in JAMA in January 2025 — which looked at more than 125,000 overweight or obese people — found that nearly 47% of those with type 2 diabetes and 65% of those without diabetes stopped taking their prescribed GLP-1s within a year of starting them.
Dr. John Batsis, a geriatrician and obesity specialist at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, told The New York Times in a recent report that people over 65 years old are “prime targets” for this medication, as obesity prevalence is about 40% in older adults.
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These drugs, which mimic a natural gut hormone called GLP-1 (glucagon-like peptide-1), are primarily used for type 2 diabetes and weight management. However, they have also been tested to target a variety of other conditions, like sleep apnea and cardiovascular events.
Starting and stopping these drugs often leads to weight regain, increased appetite and the loss of other associated health benefits, like redued blood pressure and cholesterol, according to Stamford Health and other experts. The risk for obesity-related conditions, such as heart disease and sleep apnea, may also increase.
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Despite the risks, some older Americans are reportedly abandoning their weight-loss medications for a variety of reasons, from intense side effects to climbing costs.
Below are four of the main reasons seniors might not stick to their GLP-1 prescriptions.
No. 1: Cost
The price of GLP-1 medications is a major factor in keeping up with treatment, especially as shortages threaten availability.
The New York Times shared the story of 75-year-old Mary Bucklew, a public transit retiree living in Delaware, who had been paying just a $25 monthly co-pay through her health insurance plan to receive Ozempic for weight loss.
Bucklew lost 25 pounds in six months and reportedly gained more energy. But her insurance company notified her that they would no longer cover the drug, despite her arguments that it was necessary for her health.
Without the coverage, Bucklew’s prescription would cost more than $1,000 per month out of pocket, leaving her no choice but to stop taking it, per the report.
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Some GLP-1 manufacturers have made efforts to make the products more accessible. In December 2025, Lilly announced that it would lower the price of Zepbound (tirzepatide) single-dose vials.
“Far too many people who need obesity treatments still face cost and coverage barriers,” said Ilya Yuffa, executive vice president and president for Lilly USA, in the announcement. “Today’s action underscores Lilly’s commitment to improving access across the obesity care landscape. We will keep working to provide more options — expanding choices for delivery devices and creating new pathways for access — so more people can get the medicines they need.”
No. 2: Side effects
In an interview with Fox News Digital, Dr. Sue Decotiis, a medical weight loss doctor in New York City, confirmed that more than half of seniors stop taking a GLP-1 medication due to cost or side effects.
Common side effects often include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, constipation, bloating, headaches, fatigue and hair thinning, according to experts.
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“Older patients may be more sensitive to the GI side effects, too,” Decotiis said. “Careful monitoring by a physician who is knowledgeable in the area of medical weight loss is imperative.”
No. 3: Dehydration
Older patients are often dehydrated from the start and do not consume enough water to offset GLP-1 side effects, according to Decotiis.
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“A body composition scale can determine water muscle mass and bone density, and can show the patient by illustration what they need to do,” she advised.
In Novo Nordisk’s official Wegovy prescribing information, the drugmaker warns that nausea, vomiting and diarrhea can lead to dehydration, stating that it’s “important to drink plenty of fluids to prevent dehydration,” especially for people with underlying kidney issues.
No. 4: Muscle loss
Muscle loss, which is another side effect of GLP-1 medications, can be “detrimental” in this age group, Decotiis cautioned.
When people are dehydrated or don’t consume enough protein, they may lose more muscle and less fat, she said.
An October 2024 review from the American Heart Association cited two recent studies showing that less than half of the weight lost from GLP-1 medications came from fat, with a substantial portion coming from muscle mass.
The loss of muscle among older individuals can lead to an increased risk of falls and fractures. After age 35, muscle mass may decrease by up to 2% each year, according to Harvard Health — and that number increases to 3% after age 60.
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People can take certain steps to counter the risk of semaglutide-related muscle loss, experts agree.
“It starts with heightened surveillance from both the patient and the physician,” Dr. Brett Osborn, a Florida-based neurosurgeon and longevity expert, previously told Fox News Digital. He recommends that physicians conduct regular body measurements of patients and adjust the medication dosage if benchmarks are not being met.
Finding success and sticking to it
Healthcare providers who approve the use of these medications without “carefully following” the patients can contribute to failure of the medications, according to Decotiis.
“Many of the patients who quit their GLP-1 drugs could have stayed on them with the right personalized care.”
“Often, using a customized dosing plan helps the patient avoid undue side effects and helps them burn more fat, which is the mechanism by which GLP drugs work long-term and systemically,” she told Fox News Digital. “For certain patients, a high-quality compounded GLP-1 can achieve tailored dosing.”
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“Many of the patients who quit their GLP-1 drugs could have stayed on them with the right personalized care.”
Transportation Sec Duffy comes out swinging against California DMV claim
Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy said on Tuesday that the California Department of Motor Vehicles does not have an extension to the deadline for the cancellation of commercial driver’s licenses issued to foreign nationals who do not have legal U.S. status, disputing the delay announced by the department.
The California DMV said that the roughly 17,000 licenses that were set to be terminated on Jan. 5 will now last until March 6, but Duffy said the licenses will not be afforded a 60-day extension and that failing to meet the deadline could result in lost federal funding.
“[California Gov.] Gavin Newsom is lying,” Duffy wrote on X. “The deadline to revoke illegally issued, unvetted foreign trucker licenses is still January 5.”
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“California does NOT have an ‘extension’ to keep breaking the law and putting Americans at risk on the roads,” he continued.
Duffy added, “Miss the deadline, Gavin, and the @USDOT will act — including cutting nearly $160 million in federal funding.”
The California DMV justified its 60-day delay by arguing that it needs more time to ensure that it does not wrongfully terminate licenses for drivers who legally qualify for them.
This comes after a class-action lawsuit was brought by the Asian Law Caucus, Sikh Coalition, and Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP on behalf of five affected drivers and the Jakara Movement.
The groups had argued that many of the targeted drivers may actually qualify for their licenses.
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Last month, the California DMV sent notices to 17,299 non-domiciled commercial driver’s license holders notifying them that these licenses would be canceled on Jan. 5 after records showed mismatches between the license expiration dates and the drivers’ work authorization or lawful presence documentation.