The Daily Signal - #529: Preferred Pronouns and More: What a Mom Saw at Her Son's College Orientation

Episode Date: August 19, 2019

College campuses are known for radicalism -- but more and more mainstream colleges are bending to identity politics and woke activism. Recently, Penny Nance, the president and CEO of Concerned Women for America, attended her son’s student orientation at Virginia Tech, where gender ideology was a dominant theme -- pronouns and all. Read the interview, posted below, or listen on the podcast:We also cover these stories:•Attorney General William Barr has removed the acting chief of the Bureau of Prisons in the wake of Jeffrey Epstein’s suicide. •Planned Parenthood will not follow the new Title X regulations, and so so will no longer receive tens of millions of government funding.•President Trump is calling for a lawsuit against Google.The Daily Signal podcast is available on Ricochet, iTunes, SoundCloud, Google Play, or Stitcher. All of our podcasts can be found at DailySignal.com/podcasts. If you like what you hear, please leave a review. You can also leave us a message at 202-608-6205 or write us at [e-mail]. Enjoy the show! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is the Daily Signal podcast for Tuesday, August 20th. I'm Kate Trinko. And I'm Daniel Davis. College campuses are known for radicalism, but more and more mainstream colleges are bending to identity politics and woke activism. Recently, Penny Nance, the president and CEO of Concern Women for America, attended her son's student orientation at Virginia Tech, where gender ideology was a dominant theme, pronouns at all. Today, we'll talk to Penny about her experience and the response from parents. And if you're enjoying this podcast, please be sure to leave a review or a five-star rating in iTunes. Now on to our top news. Planned Parenthood will no longer be taking Title X funding from the government. The abortion giant made the announcement Monday after it became clear the courts weren't going to stop the Trump administration from banning Title X recipients from not promoting abortion.

Quote, we will not be bullied into withholding abortion information from our patients. Planned Parenthood acting president, Alexis McGill Johnson, told reporters per Politico. Heritage Foundation's Melanie Israel, in a piece for the Daily Signal, writes, Planned Parenthood, which reported $245 million in excess revenue in its most recent annual report, has determined that its commitment to abortion outweighs its desire to participate in the program. When the abortion giant makes good on its threat, other health centers at far outnumber Planned Parenthood facilities will continue, offering women comprehensive and high-quality care. The abortion giant is expected to get $60 million

less. Attorney General William Barr has removed the acting chief of the Bureau of Prisons in the wake of Jeffrey Epstein's suicide. The announcement came Monday nine days after Epstein, the wealthy financier and accused sex trafficker, was found dead in his cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center. Barr said he's appointing Kathleen Hawke Sawyer as the Bureau's new director. She previously, served in that role between 1992 and 2003. The shake-up comes as the FBI and Justice Department are investigating how Epstein was able to carry out his suicide in a high-security prison. Bar previously noted serious irregularities had been found in the prison. The New York Police Department has fired the officer who held Eric Garner in a chokehold leading to his death in 2014. Garner famously

said, I can't breathe, and his death stirred protests about police treatment of minorities. Here's New York Police Commissioner James O'Neill. During the struggle, Officer Pantileo had the opportunity to readjust his grip from a prohibited chokehold to a less lethal alternative, but did not make use of that opportunity. Instead, even once Mr. Garner was moved to his side on the ground, with his left arm behind his back and his right hand still open and extended, Officer Pantileo kept his hands clasped and maintained the chokehold. Garner's obvious distress is confirmed when he coughs and grimaces.

O'Neill also said this. I can tell you that had I been in Officer's Panthe, Officer's Pantheleo situation, I may have made similar mistakes. And had I made those mistakes, I would have wished I had used the arrival of backup officers to give the situation more time to make that arrest. And I would have wished that I had released my grip before it became a chokehold. Every time I watch that video, I say to myself, as probably all of you do, to Mr. Garner, don't do it.

Compli. Officer Pantileo, don't do it. I said that about the decisions made by both Officer Pantileo and Mr. Garner. But none of us can take back our decisions, most especially when they lead to the death of another human being. Meanwhile, the New York City Police Union isn't happy. Union President Patrick Lynch said in a statement that O'Neill, Quartz, Quote, has chosen to cringe and fear of anti-police extremists rather than standing up for New Yorkers who want a functioning police department.

President Trump is calling for a big cut to interest rates following last week's fears of a potential economic downturn. The president lashed out on Twitter saying, quote, our economy is very strong despite the horrendous lack of vision by Jay Powell and the Fed. He continued, The Fed rate over a fairly short period of time, should be reduced by at least 100 basis points with perhaps some quantitative easing as well. If that happened, our economy would be even better, and the world economy would be greatly and

quickly enhanced. Good for everyone. President Trump suggested that Google should be sued in a tweet Monday. The president wrote, quote, wow, report just out. Google manipulated from 2.6 million to 16 million votes for Hillary Clinton in 2016 election. This was put out by a Clinton supporter, not a Trump Trump supporter. Google should be sued. My victory was even bigger than thought, end quote. In testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee in June, Robert Epstein, who is a senior research psychologist at the American Institute for Behavioral Research and Technology, accused Google of bias. He said, quote, in 2016, bias search results generated by Google's search

algorithm likely impacted undecided voters in a way that gave at least 2.6 million votes to Hillary Clinton, whom I supported." Google said Epstein's research had been, quote, debunked, according to the Hill, which quoted an unnamed Google spokesperson as saying, we have never re-ranked or altered search results to manipulate political sentiment. American support for free trade has reached an all-time high. In a new NBC News Wall Street Journal poll, 64 percent of Americans now say they support free trade with foreign countries.

That's up seven points from just two years ago. By contrast, just 27% are opposed to free trade. Democrats and independents are much more supportive of free trade than they were in the same survey four years ago. The shift in favor of free trade comes as President Trump's trade war with China continues to escalate. Last week, we talked about The Hunt, the movie that had its release canceled after a national uproar, including a tweet from President Trump.

The movie seemingly focuses on conservatives being hunted down by liberals, but the final cut has been seen by very few, if any. Now the movie's director, Craig Zobel, is speaking out. He told Variety, quote, I wanted to make a fun action thriller that satirized this moment in our culture, where we jump to assume we know someone's beliefs because of which team we think they're on, and then start shouting at them. And this rush to judgment is one of the most relevant problems of our time.

The director also said, our ambition was to poke at both sides of the aisle equally. We seek to entertain and unify, not enrage and divide. It is up to the viewers to decide what their takeaway will be. Well, up next we'll be joined by Penny Nance, who will discuss what she saw at her son's student orientation. If you're tired of high taxes, fewer health care choices, and bigger and bigger government, it's time to partner with the most impactful conservative organization in America. We're the Heritage Foundation, and we're committed to solving the issues America faces. Together, we'll fight back against the rising tide of homegrown socialism,

and we'll fight for conservative solutions that are making families more free and more prosperous. But we can't do it without you. Please join us at heritage.org. So, joining us today in studio is Penny Nance. She is president and CEO of Concerned Women for America. Thanks for joining us. Oh, thanks for having me. It's always great to be here at Heritage Foundation, Daily Signal.

These are my peeps. Well, we love having you. So you are also a mom, and you recently went to freshman orientation at Virginia Tech, where your son is going, and you wrote about it for the Federalist. Tell us what you saw there. Well, I should first lead by saying that this is my second child to go to college. My first kid went to Liberty University, and it was a totally different experience, let me just say. But I have a son who's a math and science guy, wants to study engineering. We are from the great state of Virginia, and my son is military bound and wants to be a member of the Corps Cadet, and who wouldn't?

Because let me just tell you, it is fantastic. That's where it gets real. Those people are unbelievable. It's an unbelievable opportunity. The Corps Cadet at Virginia Tech is one of six senior military academies. I mean, it is really fantastic. I can't say enough good about core cadets. My beef, though, is with the administration of Virginia Tech.

But they're not alone. I'm singling them out because I experienced it firsthand. This is happening all over the country. This was just my wake-up call. So I take my son to freshman orientation, and my first tip-off should have been when at the beginning, and by the way, I'm not a complete rude. Like, I know that it's in our Christian school. We're not going to open in prayer, although I have heard of some.

I think it was Auburn and some others have. But I didn't expect that. And, you know, but let's remember that, you know, this is a fine military institution. And that they have a great military history. They have a memorial in the middle of their campus, the centerpiece is their drill field. And they have a memorial listing. The cadets have died. Every cadet that's died since World War I.

So it's very much a part of their DNA. It's really nice that they do that. It is. It's awesome. And the other thing is, it is. sadly, the site of the most deadly school shooting in the nation. So what I would expect, if we're going to take a moment to reflect on something or something important, it would have been one of those things.

But no, no, that's not what we reflected on. We instead took a moment to recognize the two Indian tribes on whose lands we sat. Because, you know, we stole it, I guess. I don't know. That was sort of the inference. There's been an op-ed sense to remind me the history like, yeah, that's it. okay, even if you think that, and maybe that's true, I don't know, maybe that is true. But is that really if we have a moment to reflect on something serious in orientation, is that where we should go?

I would think those other two issues would have been more timely and important. And those weren't dealt with at all. Okay, not even once. Not at all. So then you move into orientation, and like I understand you wanted to be upbeat, but it took this, you know, immediate it turned left from the very beginning from the first moments in which everyone has stood up and there was between, I lost track, 10 and 20 people that during those like couple hours stood up, introduced themselves their name and their preferred pronoun. Every single part. Look at first,

parents were like kind of, okay, that's weird, you know, surprising or whatever. By the end, it's so heavy-handed that they're looking at each other, they're rolling their eyes, they're annoyed, they're sighing. And as we're leaving, I'm hearing the remarks. to each other. Like, I cannot believe that just happened. I didn't realize it, but later in the day, the kids are, and by the way, the parents and the kids are almost immediately separated. So later in the day, they have the kids in like groups of 10, and this didn't happen in every

group. It didn't happen in my son's group. But now I'm starting to get responses because of my piece and more stories are coming out, in which all the kids were asked to introduce themselves and, again, give their preferred pronoun. So most of the kids, being 17-8-year-old, kids are like, yeah, I mean, they're coerced into it. Of course they're going to submit because they're new and they don't want to get

singled out and they don't want to say the wrong thing. But then you hear stories like one kid said, well, I prefer either sir or your highness. I'm really comfortable with either one. Yes. And which time the kids all burst into laughter because they get it. They understand that this is ridiculous and that understand also that there are people who truly and sincerely struggle with gender dysphoria. And we want to love them and be kind of them.

pro-life. We think there's intrinsic value in every human life at Consum Women for America, and we want to love and be kind. But at the same time, when you have this sort of indoctrination that's happening, not just on the university level, been high school, middle school, start even as young as elementary school, at some point you've got to speak up. And you've got to point out that we are asking an ideological question when we ask kids, oh, I forgot to mention that the kids, and I didn't even know this until I got there, were asked while there were registered orientation to submit to the school the preferred pronoun. And it wasn't very obvious.

We went back and looked. It wasn't really obvious, but it ended up being printed on their lanyard, on their badge that hung around their necks. So they've asked the kids. Wait, the key question is, did your highness kid have it printed? I don't know. I didn't see this. I don't think you could do that. I think you had like a limited amount because there's 60 genders.

Like how are you going to? They think it stops at 60. I don't think they had all 60. That sounds really not open-minded to me. That is exclusionary, actually. When you identify as your highness, what are you supposed to do? I mean, I don't know. Or princess.

I don't know. I like that one. But the issue is, you know, you have kids that are asked an ideological question. And their response to me at VentureTech is, well, no one was forced. So like, no, nobody was threatened with violence, but you certainly coerced them. And these are kids that aren't prepared to have this conversation, nor should they be. forced to have this conversation, a coercion of this conversation. This is a very private matter that they should be having with a health professional, with their parents, with their pastor,

with their rabbi, with people that can actually help them, a counselor, help them sort through things without just immediately, you know, exposing something that's very personal to the university. They have no right to ask the question. So you mentioned some of the parents were kind of hymning and hawing, like, oh, this is ridiculous. Do they actually, complain? Like, did parents actually get forward and, you know, object to this? Well, they weren't really given an opportunity because the questions throughout the day, the opportunity to ask questions were only written note cards because I was ready. I was going to raise my hand, and I guarantee you if I had, there had been a bunch of parents

behind me saying, yeah, what was that about? I wasn't comfortable with that. You know, we're Muslim or we're, you know, Orthodox Jew, and that is in direct contradiction to our faith. But no one was able to ask that question, certainly not publicly. Maybe there was a private one. But since my pieces come out, I have received, and something I wanted to mention here is that we have put together an email address for parents to submit their stories, either from Vintech or around the country. We won't provide your name unless you want us to, but we will provide your story because parents are experiencing this all over the nation and they're deeply concerned about what. what's happening. So it's university whistleblower at cwfa.org. I mentioned that in the federalist piece, and I've had an onslaught of people sharing their stories and just deeply concerned about what's

happening. So you mentioned that they separated the parents and the students almost right away at orientation. And you indicated that I assume in comparing notes with your son, that it seemed like parents were maybe hearing one thing and students were hearing another. Could you detail that? Well, and there was a couple of issues, and I heard this actually before I got there. I was kind of warned about this, that, you know, they get the heavy-handed diversity talk, which I kind of expected, right? This was just more than I expected. Again, I knew I wasn't sending my kid at a Christian school.

I was very clear on what, you know, the differences are, that this is a public institution. They are the math and science school, but, you know, they all kind of lean left now and, you know, it's not going to be the same. But even like on the issues, you know, in the world of Me Too, the issues of alcohol, I think, were, there was sort of the, the parents were told basically that, you know, zero tolerance and, and no underage drinking and no over drinking, over being over served. And then the kids are sort of given another story that like, well, you know, you're not going to get arrested for it. And, you know, it was much, it was to the point where one of the kids actually sort of clarified, like, like, is this a. line with the law, basically. And they were like, well, you know, and, and then, you know, there's other, as the parents are sent off to bed, we're just, we were dismissed, you know, earlier in the evening and the kids go to late. And, and then they have, you know, they bring in, um, someone

from the diversity track to say, don't make, you know, don't make judgments about the, the gender or the sexual identity of the person you're talking to, you know, school is a place to experience new things and you need to be open-minded. And we're told as parents, like, your kid may come home different. And that's when parents were like, what do you mean by that? Like, we understand that we believe that school is a place where you learn, where you learn from each other, where you, where you have discussions about ideology and about literature and art and science and all the important things. And you do need to be open mind. I don't care where you're at. You need to be to have a kind civil conversation because you can learn from each other. But it's a different story when you have

the school imposing essentially a speech code on what that's going to look like. I trust the kids enough that I think they would work it out amongst each other. We've raised our kids to be respectful and kind. And I truly believe that as at least the way I raise my children and everybody else that I know taught our kids to be kind and loving. And on a one-on-one, basis how you refer to each other, what you decide to say, I think is a deeply personal decision that the school doesn't need to enter into. Now, I would back up and say, no one should be harassed or bullied. Apparently, they don't feel that same thing for conservatives who disagree with their policies, but they, we can all stand together and say, like, let's be

kind, be you kind one to another, tenderhearted forgiving one another. Crisis forgiven you, That's what Christians believe. So how did your son respond to this kind of language coercion? My kid is pretty apolitical. And again, he's a math and science guy. My daughter, on the other hand, is much more like me. This is a kid that wants his standard engineering. He doesn't want to participate.

He has his own opinion. It's not going to impact him at all. The question, and I got his permission before I shared the story. story, I would never do that without getting permission for my kids whenever I talk about them. And I think most parents are in the public eye do that, hopefully. They should. But the bigger issue is, as the taxpayer, what are we paying for? And as a parent, are we literally paying for the indoctrination of our kids? Now, we all risk our kids leaving the nest and coming back differently. Okay, that's fair.

They are. They're going to do that. It's going to be different. They have to decide for themselves. There has to be an inculcation of their own faith, of their own belief system. It is healthy and it is right. But again, you do not need the institution that you're involved in coming down with a heavy hand in imposing a system of beliefs, coercing, bullying them into subjection of those beliefs. That's a different story.

You know, it's interesting because in your piece and the Federalist, you used the term, I believe it was educational refugees. And I found that interesting because, you know, just as you said, I think especially conservative men who want to study math and science and conservative women who want to, it is harder. A lot of these smaller conservative colleges, I'm a liberal arts major, they're great for that. Yes, they don't have. Or public policy or. Right. So many fields. But they don't tend to have the hard sciences, the STEM.

And I know that that's been a problem that's been discussed in. my circles for years. And anyway, I just was wondering, yeah, was this sort of the problem for your son and for other conservatives that they couldn't find a conservative place to talk this? There's a couple of things. One is, again, I love Liberty University. They're starting a new school of engineering and building this beautiful building. They're going to very quickly catch up. But if you, in the state of Virginia, and in every state has their own institution, their math and science school, for right now, that's where he wanted to attend. And, of course, it's a military tradition.

I mean, again, as upset as I am about the administration, I can't say enough good about the Corps of Cadets. It is timeless and is essential. And they are making men and women leaders out of these kids that are walking in. And they are going to be the military leaders of our nation. They are going to be the very top tier of our military. And God bless them because we need them. And I think there's a lot of history and. and character building and just important lessons that are going to be passed on.

And I am so excited about that piece of it. But that's almost like a school within the school. The president of Virginia Tech, and I don't think this is odd, but I think that parents need to be aware of who's heading up their institution. The president of Virginia Tech is a Berkeley grad from San Francisco who was voted in under the Terry McAuliffe government. Governorship. Elections have consequences. So you mentioned the president of Virginia Tech. You actually requested a meeting with him. I did. Did he respond? Did you get anyone at Virginia's administration? Yeah, this is the other thing. The two things they've said in response is one that no one was forced. And I said, well, no, not under threat of violence, but they were coerced. And the other thing is they said, you know, that they reached out to me.

The truth is that I reached out to the president of the university twice and the Regent. And I was not, I was, the President's office didn't even respond at all. I got sort of an innocuous email back from the Regent's office. And then a low-level employee offered to let me speak with the diversity dean, which is telling that they even have a diversity dean. Yeah, and which we looked it up and we're like, well, that's not going to be helpful. But regardless, I shouldn't have to. I run the nation's largest public policy women's organization. And I am a parent.

But let's just put all that aside. I had a sincere question. I wanted to understand his thinking, kind of what was going on, and he couldn't be bothered. And so after reaching out and really trying, I wasn't going to be patted on the head and dismissed. So I took it public. I wonder if we'd had that conversation. Maybe some of this could have been saved, but we'll never know because he refused to have that conversation with me. And I don't think punning me off on his low-level staff was going to be helpful.

So what do you think the big picture answer is here? I mean, I'm sure that if Virginia Tech is doing it, there are other universities doing preferred pronouns now. How do you think parents and students can fight back? Well, I mentioned in the article really three things. First, as I mentioned earlier, share a story at CWF as in Frank A.org. University whistleblower at CWFA.org. So we have your stories. We can continue to advocate for you.

The second thing is contact your state legislature, your state legislators. Contact them because most of the government money comes through the state, although there are federal dollars. But this is really who holds the purse strings for much of these institutions. Of course, there's like private fundraising, all that. But this is important. One sentence in an appropriations bill, a prohibition on use of our money in this way, and it'd be over. So in Virginia, we're looking at how to lean into that message for the, you know, the assembly and also the Senate. And then the third thing is to reach out and make your voice heard to the administration.

of your school, whatever that is, whether it's the school board on a, you know, a local county level or whether it's the president's office for a university, there is power in speaking up. There is power in speaking truth to power. And, you know, we're afraid. And I have to tell you, it's, it is scary. Like, you don't want your kid, and this is what parents face. They don't want their kid to be punished. They don't want them to be bullied. They don't, they're afraid. But I would say we really only have two choices. We lean and this is a freight train coming down the tracks.

And either we blow up the tracks now or we just get out of the way and let it go. And then we do have to basically become refugees to these other schools or just seat our children over to, you know, the left. I mean, we either speak up or we let it go. We lose it. We're at this moment where we have to speak up. meet it head on or it's too late. And we're almost there. Like it is, we're right there on the tipping point for public education.

And so I would say, you know, really those are your choices. And what is the response online, Ben? Have, you know, activists attacked you? Have there been threats to name your son and involve him even though, you know, you're the one who wrote this? Of course. Of course. because, you know, and, you know, the university has not been helpful at all in this matter. Yes, my son has been threatened online.

Of course, I'm called every name you could possibly think of, and I expect that. His likeness was doxed. You know, his picture was put out there in direct threats were made against him. And it's just overwhelming. I can't even tell you how that be. But I again come back to the idea that we're called to tell the truth. And if I am paralyzed by fear, then literally nobody else can speak. With all the resources I have, with all the women activists around me, with the legal resources that we have,

if I can't speak up, then no parent can speak up. And they are afraid. And I have had, you know, even at when I dropped my son off, I had a woman recognized me and come up and say, you know, are you Penny Nansen? I said, yes. And she said, with sort of a, you know, a wavering voice, she said, thank you for writing, what you did. I didn't know how to say what I was feeling, but I was able to forward your peace over to the president's office. So this is why they're mad. This is why they're pushing back because they've been exposed.

And I'm not the only one to say the emperor has no clothes. You know, I'm not the only one to notice emperor has no clothes. I was just the first one to say it. And others now are saying, she's right. She's right. I can't pretend anymore. And there are so many others who are thinking it and not acting on it. So, you know, if they can be enabled to stand up, you don't know what kind of impact you'll have.

And you are emboldened, right? You're emboldened when other people say something and you're like, yes, that's right. but it is uncomfortable to be the first one to say it. And I shouldn't say that because that's really not even true. There's been women fighting all over this country more, though, on the local level, more dealing with middle school issues and elementary school issues. We're seeing lawsuits start to happen over bathroom use and locker room use and teachers being fired against speech codes coming down.

But this is a First Amendment issue, right? this is about freedom of speech and freedom of religion. And so, you know, I wasn't fully aware because I had been fortunate enough to have my kids in this little cloistered environment of Christian school. And suddenly, you know, it's like the blinders came off. I see what's happening. I, on a different venue, someone was telling me that Franklin Graham has suggested that parents in New Jersey, who had have mandatory, I guess, education on these issues for their kids, I think all the way down perhaps to elementary school. I'm not sure about that, but has suggested that their kids,

that Christian parents might need to either homeschool or put their kids in Christian school. And I said, hey, I love Franklin Graham, and I've been so blessed by that, but it's not that simple. A lot of parents can't do that. There's a lot of parents, you know, for instance, one of my friends has a son with significant learning issues. And I don't know a single Christian school that would be equipped to teach them. They don't have the resources. So that's not, that's not a simple answer. I think that what's more helpful is the taxpayers to bind together and say, this is not a good use of our money. Let's, let's teach core arithmetic. Let's teach, you know, the math and sciences. We want more women in math and science, right? Let's help them get there in

STEM. Let's pour more resources into that. Let's help, you know, our kids learn. learn and be ready and be prepared for the workforce. Whatever that is. Given the test scores, it appears that maybe spending less time on social justice and more on the three hours would help America's kids a lot. But thank you so much for coming on, Penny Nance. Again, I've concerned women for America. Another reminder that there's no doubt that the left uses education to get kids.

And that'll do it for today's episode. Thanks for listening to the Daily Signal podcast brought to you from the Robert H. Bruce Radio Studio at the Heritage Foundation. Please be sure to subscribe on iTunes, Google Play, or SoundCloud, and please leave us a review or rating on iTunes to give us feedback. We'll see you again tomorrow. The Daily Signal podcast is executive produced by Kate Trinko and Daniel Davis. Sound design by Lauren Evans and Thelia Rampersad.

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