Idaho White Nationalism: Inside a New Class of Republican Power – The Daily Dot

So this place is Satans temple, Dan Gookin said ironically. The cozy confines of the pub in downtown Coeur dAlene, Idaho dont bear any resemblance to a place for worshiping anything but a cold pint or bangers and mash.

Gookin explained that they used to have a poster for Menstruatin with Satan, a fundraiser for menstrual supplies organized by the Satanic Temple of Idaho. The Satanic Temple is a non-theistic organization that encourages benevolence and empathy, rejects tyranny, and advocates for bodily autonomy. In recent years, its become best known for fighting for reproductive freedom. Members dont worship or even believe in Satan.

Nevertheless, it drives conservative Christians wild.

Gookin has a frank manner and strong, clear voice. He tends to speak quickly with a serious delivery belied by the occasional flash of a dry wit. On an evening in late November, he said the poster convinced some local right-wingers that the pub is affiliated with the dark lord, a ridiculous, inaccurate assumption thats also convenient for his purposes. They wont step foot in the place.

We had campaign meetings here because we knew that there would be no spies, Gookin said. See, we can talk freely in here because we know there will never be a wacko anywhere near us.

The whackos are the Kootenai County Republican Central Committee (KCRCC) and their allies. Gookin, a conservative best known nationally for creating the For Dummies books, is a longtime city councilman and KCRCC member. These days hes persona non grata with the committee, not that he seems to mind.

They didnt count on me calling them out, Gookin said on a recent episode of his YouTube show, Kootenai Rants.

Idaho Republicans are in the midst of a civil war between the far-right wing and relative moderates like Gookin. In recent years, far-right extremists have moved to the heavily white and conservative state as part of an ideological migration that accelerated during the pandemic. Far-right comedian Owen Benjamin now lives about an hour-and-a-half north of Coeur dAlene.

Rather than reject the extremists, some powerful Republicans have embraced the Holocaust deniers and white nationalists whove made Idaho their home. This outrages many longtime locals of the county that famously defeated the neo-Nazi Aryan Nations decades ago. Gookin and other conservatives are fighting back in the press, election booth, and courts.

Its an uphill battle; the opposition is well-funded, organized, and willing to get its hands dirty. It even has a network of print and online publications steadily pumping propaganda into the information ecosystem.

This story is part of a series exploring far-right figures and groups impact on communities theyve relocated to in Idaho, West Virginia, Florida, and Maine; and what, if anything, those communities are doing about it. The Daily Dot spent the last several months visiting these communities, talking to locals, consulting historic and public records, and interviewing experts on extremism.

As the 2024 election approaches, the far-right will become more visible and vocal.

Former President Donald Trumps 2016 victory emboldened the neo-Nazis and white supremacists who coalesced at the deadly Unite the Right rally. His 2020 defeat inspired militias, conspiracy theorists, and hate groups to attack democracy. Both corresponded with increases in hate, antisemitism, and white supremacy that came screaming from the internet into the real world.

They may have failed on Jan. 6, 2021, but theyre back, mobilized, and ready to fight. Seizing control of places like Coeur dAlene is one of the ways theyre plotting their comeback.

Gookin isnt cowed. We need to fight this.

The week after Thanksgiving, Coeur dAlene was decked out in 1.5 million holiday lights sparkling off the lake and into the darkness beyond. Business was in full swing in the town of 55,000. Each night sold-out boats took excited children to see Santa Claus while adults packed into warm bars and restaurants for a bite and a bit to take the edge off.

Washington is less than an hour west and in another political world compared to Idaho, one of the most consistently Republican states in America. More Idahoans voted for Trump in 2020 than 2016. The state hasnt voted for a Democratic presidential candidate since Lyndon Johnson, and it chose Richard Nixon (R) over John F. Kennedy (D) in the election before that.

Its also a longtime harbor for racists.

From the mid-1970s to the turn of the century, the white supremacist Aryan Nations had a 20-acre compound in Kootenai County, which encompasses Coeur dAlene. Aryan Nations declared bankruptcy following a $6.3 million verdict against it in a case brought by a mother and son who were shot at and beaten by its security guards.

Fluffy white snow blanketed Coeur dAlene as Kate Bitz, 38, recalled hearing stories about all-ages punk shows turning into brawls when skinheads showed up and seeing news coverage of white supremacists marching down Sherman Avenue when she was growing up just across the border in Washington. On outings to Farragut State Park, theyd sometimes have to make a snap decision if the guys with the white power tattoos are showing up, do we leave and give them the whole beach, or stay.

Growing up in a hotbed of extremism led Bitz to a career opposing it. She works for the advocacy nonprofit Western States Center.

Bitz isnt surprised that the far-right is resurging. Idaho is the longtime home of a variety of extremists, ranging from evangelicals to neo-Nazis. People forget how multifaceted it was, she said, adding, This has all happened before in a different form.

Extremist groups have been active in Idaho for decades, Bitz said. For example, Northwest Front was described by Politico as Americas worst racists in 2015; racist mass murderer Dylann Roof highlighted the group in his manifesto. Northwest Front has been encouraging people to move to the Pacific Northwest to create a white ethno-state for years. American Redoubt, which has been described as white Christian nationalist (it identifies as a non-racist preparedness movement for Christian patriots), has been recruiting people to move to the area for over a decade. Idaho GOP Chair Dorothy Moon is a member of the far-right John Birch Society.

Now theres a new crop of extremists.

David Reilly and Vincent James Foxx are two of the most notorious newcomers in Idaho politics. Theyre part of far-right efforts to take control from the bottom up via the precinct strategy championed by Steve Bannon. Both are affiliated with white nationalist Nick Fuentes. Reilly has professed being a fan of Fuentes and reportedly attended his CPAC alternative, America First Political Action Conference. Foxx is the national treasurer of Fuentes America First organization.

Reilly became the focus of a scandal about his attendance of Unite the Right in 2017. He subsequently resigned from his fathers radio station where he was a host. InvestigateWest reports he sported a pin with the logo of the neo-Nazi Identity Evropa to the rally. In his resignation letter, Reilly denied being racist, white supremacist, or a neo-Nazi. A judge later threw out his lawsuit against a Pennsylvania-based news outlet and individuals he claimed had defamed him by calling him racist.

In recent years, Reilly called himself a Fuentes stan. Reilly is also purportedly an ally of the Unite the Right marcher best known for the catchphrase Hitler did nothing wrong. He has a lengthy history of antisemitic posts on X, formerly known as Twitter. Reilly did not respond to interview requests.

Reilly made his way to Idaho a few years ago.

In 2021, Reilly sought a seat on an Idaho school board, which he lost with 47% of the vote. (KCRCC endorsed him.) During the campaign, a group from his Pennsylvania hometown urged people to vote against him because of his involvement in Unite the Right.

When Reilly left our community, he acknowledged himself, not even McDonalds would hire [him]. Please consider if you, the voter, would want to hire Reilly to create policy for your schools, Bloomsburg Stand Against Hate wrote.

He didnt have as much trouble finding employment in Idaho.

During his failed 2022 gubernatorial campaign, anti-government militant Ammon Bundy paid $30,000 to a firm the Inlander reports was linked to Reilly. KCRCC also paid Reillys company $11,000 for videos.

Bitz said of KCRCC Chair Brent Regans association with the men, I think he sees Reilly and Vincent James as his pet white nationalists who he can push consulting money to during elections.

Regan did not respond to interview requests.

In December, InvestigateWest reported that Idaho Freedom Foundation (IFF), which Regan also chairs, employs Reilly to help with its communications strategy. The piece noted that Reilly has claimed Jews invented terrorism and control the media.

In response to the story, Regan penned an op-ed claiming he has no authority over IFFs hiring decisions and claiming its Jewish president, Wayne Hoffman, interviewed Reilly. I believe it is fair to say that Wayne Hoffmans sensitivity to anti-Semitism is greater than mine so that if he is okay with Reilly, so am I and so should you, Regan wrote. He also denied that Reilly is antisemitic or a white supremacist.

Regans editorial made no mention of Unite the Right.

Last week, amid rising criticism, IFF announced that Hoffman had been replaced with a far-right former lawmaker. It did not say if Hoffman quit or was fired.

Holocaust denier Foxx is another white nationalist who found more welcoming pastures in Idaho in recent years. In 2017, ProPublica described Foxx as a 31-year-old video blogger and livestreamer with a fondness for white supremacists and radical right-wing politics. It reported that Foxx was essentially an unofficial propagandist for Rise Above Movement (RAM), a violent, racist group at the center of much of the violence at Unite the Right. Three members were convicted for violence they committed at Unite the Right.

He didnt merely document RAMs violence, per ProPublica. The outlet reports that Foxx could be heard screaming, Get that f*cking cuck! in a YouTube video he posted of a RAM member and several others pummeling a man in California. Identity Evropa founder Nathan Damigo fought alongside RAM that day.

In 2021, Foxx moved from California to Idaho.

He was photographed with then-Lt. Gov. Janice McGeachin (R); Media Matters for America reported he said he had deep connections to her. Last January, he gave a speech to a group of north Idaho Republicans in which the Southern Poverty Law Center reports he echoed the racist great replacement conspiracy theory that whites are being intentionally displaced by nonwhite immigrants. In September, a former school board member who was once a KCRCC committeewoman claimed he said political leaders convinced him to move there.

Since becoming an Idahoan, Foxx has continued to espouse white nationalist talking points. He did not respond to interview requests.

Foxx is the national treasurer of Fuentes America First organization. In 2022, Foxx gushed great clip!! of a video of Ye (formerly Kanye West) praising Hitler. After Fuentes infamously had dinner with Trump, Foxx bragged, We have in fact infiltrated the mainstream flank of the GOP. Just look at what Tucker Carlson is talking about lately. We have parts of the nation talking about secession, talking about banning gay marriage. Last month, Foxx posted a video of actor Michael Rapaport claiming people would be thrown off a building for asking where to find an LGBTQ business in Gaza. Foxx captioned it, Wait a minute. Do I love Gaza now??!

Right Wing Watch unearthed a video of him saying, We are the Christian Taliban and we will not stop until The Handmaids Tale is a reality and even worse than that.

Last year, Foxx ran for chair of the Idaho Young Republicans. In his pitch for votes, he advocated using the precinct strategy to install extremists in positions throughout the state.

He lost.

People agree that Foxx and Reilly are just the tip of the spear.

Sarah Lynch is the executive director of North Idaho Pride Alliance (NIPA). Over coffee at Evans Brothers Coffee, a cheerful space on the same street where white supremacists used to march during Aryan Nations heyday, Lynch said after she and her wife moved to the area, she noticed it was a weird mix of like Nazis and granola hippies.

The darker side of the picturesque town was front and center in June 2022 when 31 members of the white nationalist Patriot Front were arrested en route to Pride in the Park in Coeur dAlene.

The incident stunned the nation. Patriot Front is one of the most active white supremacist groups in America and it often posts photos of its activities in Idaho. But a few dozen men in riot gear in the back of a U-Haul is a significant escalation from sneaking around at night to spray paint stencils and hang banners, which the hate group usually sticks to.

All the men were charged with conspiracy to riot; many have been convicted or pled guilty since then. Charges were dismissed against Patriot Front leader Thomas Rousseau last fall.

Police officers were doxed and received death threats after the arrests. Police Chief Lee White told media that they got 100 calls afterwardhalf from supporters and half from critics.

While Patriot Front generated headlines and fear, Lynch said it couldve been much worse.

Despite all the hateful rhetoric that was going on last year, and despite the events that occurred, we still had our largest ever Pride in the Park. It was our first one back since COVID, there were over 2,500 people there, Lynch said.

Lynch, a retired veteran with a Ph.D. in public safety, said that theyd established a communication line with law enforcement before the event, which has strengthened with time. The arrests also spurred some local and state officials to publicly support LGBTQ equality. Mayor Jim Hammond (R) declared June as Pride Month. Weeks before Lynch sat down for coffee, Hammond was named a Pillar of Idaho for his public stance against extremism.

These developments may have some feeling optimistic, but it isnt all sunshine and rainbows in Kootenai County.

Lynch said some families with queer children have moved away; others have said their queer adult relatives wont even come home for Thanksgiving because they dont feel safe there.

She described the homophobic and transphobic segment of the extreme far-right as a very loud minority.

As long as nobody else stands up and says anything, then thats the only narrative thats heard, she said.

Several years ago, Army veteran Sam Rowland moved back to the area where he was born. Rowland, a musician, has a thick red beard and eyes that seem older than his 39 years. He did a couple tours in Iraq; he said Coeur dAlene reminded him of the small town in Saudi Arabia where he grew up.

Then 2020 happened and it exposed itself. He paused. It re-exposed itself.

During the civil rights protests inspired by George Floyds murder, people took to the streets of Coeur dAlene to protect the community from antifa. Photos from the publication that Reilly purportedly runs show heavily armed men, most of whom appear to be white, gathered on the sidewalk downtown.

Rowland said some wore insignias identifying themselves as members of militia-type groups like the III Percenters. Prominent white supremacists were out there, he said. I was followed home.

He and others said that churches in the area have become breeding grounds for extremism, with pastors making little to no effort to separate politics from theology.

Rowland sees whats happening in Coeur dAlene as part of a larger strategy. You have to take the little towns first, he said.

It appears that they would like to have it turned into a very conservative quasi-religious institution that still has the benefit of public funding.

A large Coeur dAlene rejects hate sign hangs in the window of Crown & Thistle Pub. Jennifer and Ben Drake spent years making plans for the British-style pub, which served its first half-pint in 2019. Every detail, from the cask ales to the 120-year-old bar and the menu, which includes bangers made by Ben and a delectable Guinness short rib pie, is designed to make you feel like youre steps away from London Bridge, albeit in a snug in northern Idaho. (A snug is an enclosed booth from when it was faux pas for women to be seen drinking alcohol in public.)

Jennifers family has been in Coeur dAlene for five generations. Running the Crown & Thistle in her hometown is the fulfillment of a dream first glimpsed attending the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. Its come with nightmares that have nothing to do with Scotch eggs or ales.

Shes the type of person who stands up for what she thinks is right. Rejecting hate aligns with those values.

Over the din of the suppertime crowd on a snowy Friday night in December, Ben said they originally put up an 8 x 11 sign. Then, he said, We started getting hate mail.

They brushed it off, deciding to increase the size of the sign each time they received another hateful missive.

When she was a kid, Jen said the town was united against the Aryan Nations. Now theyre divided between people who fall in line and those who take a stand.

Both Drakes are Republicans. Yet theyve ended up on the opposite side of Regan and the partys radical flank.

Theyve infiltrated the community to the point that they say they are the community, Jen said.

The incidents, Jen said, escalated gradually. People call them liberals online. They dogpile the pub with one-star reviews. Insane misinformation floats from the internet to the streets.

They honestly think Im a Satan-worshiping communist witch, Jen said in a pained voice. And its too much for me. Im Lutheran. Im tired.

As chair of both IFF and KCRCC, Brent Regan is a powerful force in Idaho politics. IFF rates politicians based on their voting records; the more conservative, the higher the rating. KCRCC recruits and endorses candidates. These efforts have been effective. Various positions of power in Kootenai County are now held by people who score high on IFFs ideological purity tests and have the KCRCC stamp of approval.

Several people said that the candidates might check the right boxes, but they can struggle to govern effectively. They pointed to North Idaho College (NIC), whose board is under far-right control.

NIC has been hemorrhaging money since they took over. Worse, the 90-year-old community colleges accreditation is hanging by a thread.

A bust of Patrick Stewart circa Star Trek gazed down from the shelf in Dan Englishs office at Healing Hearts, the mental healthcare clinic he runs with his wife. A quilt hangs on the wall by his desk; English mentioned with endearing husbandly pride that his wife made it. Bagpipes softly played holiday music as English shared memories of the town where he was born and raised.

English, the lone Democrat on the city council, has been an elected official in Coeur dAlene for 30 years. He previously served on the school board and as clerk-auditor. He describes himself as an election geek who enjoys crunching data. The numbers from 2020 were extremely illuminating to him.

Eighty-five-plus [percent] had been a registered voter here less than like, you know, two years or four years or something. So its no wonder they have a hard time passing bonds for schools, he said.

English said that some of the transplants are from the extreme right and others are more traditional conservatives. The newcomers include a lot of retired police, so many from Los Angeles, in fact, that the area is sometimes called LAPD North. Theres also a contingent of liberals. The combination creates what he calls a weird melting pot.

It pains him to see his hometown torn apart by politics.

The sad part is how much time, energy, and financial resources is wasted over these ideology battles, or just peoples inflated ego, like the college, English said.

After the far-right took over NICs board, it fired the college president, who sued for wrongful termination and received a $500,000 settlement. NIC later put his replacement on leave; a court in a separate lawsuit determined this was without cause and ordered it to reinstate him and for the school to pay his attorneys fees.

Between litigation with the president it was deemed to have placed on leave without cause and a separate case the local newspaper brought over public records (NIC lost that too), attorneys fees, travel costs for officials from the accreditation agency, and training for the board itself, the Coeur dAlene Press reports that its spent $1.2 million. An Idaho Statesman columnist recently referred to this as an incompetence tax.

Now English says NIC cant afford the light bill to keep the library open a few extra hours on Sundays.

Its ironic that people get elected are a lot of those, anti-education, anti-science, and yet they want to be in positions of monitoring educators, he said. It appears that they would like to have it turned into a very conservative quasi-religious institution that still has the benefit of public funding.

Education has been thrust into the forefront of the conservative culture wars across the country.

KCRCC candidates won control of the library board last year by campaigning on reducing childrens access to sexually explicit books. During the campaign, KCRCC reportedly circulated a letter falsely accusing the incumbents of giving kids access to graphic books with text and pictures describing every imaginable sex act, books so explicit that if you were to give them to a child, you would be committing a crime.

They may have gone too far. The two women who allege they were smeareda lawyer and a longtime member of the library boardare suing Regan and KCRCC for defamation.

City councilman Gookin is also wrapped up in a defamation suit with KCRCC. Its suing him over what he characterizes as mean tweets. KCRCC claims that Regan has demonstrated profound ill will and malice toward many KCRCC officers and affiliated candidatesin particular, KCRCCs chairman, Brent Regan on his YouTube show, Kootenai Rants, and posts on X.

The KCRCC appreciates that Gookin is entitled to engage in speech that is protected by the First Amendment, the complaint states. However, his recent statements have crossed the line from protected speech into unprotected defamation because they accuse KCRCC of rigging its 2023 candidate rating and vetting process, perpetrating a fraud on its members, and violating campaign finance lawsthings which simply have not happened.

Gookin views their case as an attack on his free speech right to criticize them. He seems eager to have his day in court.

Its ping-pong time, he said in an email earlier this month.

Gookin describes the political migrants who are pushing Idaho further to the right as people who were p*ssed off living in more liberal areas. He said this migratory pattern accelerated during the pandemic because they thought theyd have more freedom there. (The libertarian Cato Institute actually ranks Idaho 49th in personal freedom.)

But it didnt absolve their anger.

They hate our governor. They hate our legislators. They hate elected officials like me, they hate people whove made it a conservative state, Gookin said. And they want to replace them with their own people who, like we see in Washington, D.C., are incompetent and incapable of governing.

Read this article:

Idaho White Nationalism: Inside a New Class of Republican Power - The Daily Dot

Ashley Biden’s diary could implicate Project Veritas in a case with far-reaching implications – Singapore News – The Independent

U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres rejected Project Veritas assertion that the governments investigation was an attempt to stifle the press, emphasizing that the First Amendment arguments were inconsistent with Supreme Court precedent.

It paved the way for prosecutors to access over 900 documents related to the alleged theft of President Joe Bidens daughters diary.

The legal saga traces back to November 2021 when raids were authorized, resulting in the confiscation of electronic devices from the group members, including James OKeefe.

The seized materials have the potential to shed light on the alleged theft of Ashley Bidens diary and could implicate Project Veritas in a case that has far-reaching implications.

Project Veritas gained notoriety for its hidden camera stings targeting news outlets, labor organizations, and Democratic politicians.

The groups lawyers argued that the investigation was politically motivated, contending that the government would not have probed an abandoned diary if it didnt belong to someone with the last name Biden.

The case took a significant turn with the guilty pleas of Aimee Harris and Robert Kurlander in August 2022. The duo confessed to conspiracy to commit interstate transportation of stolen property.

Their admission revealed a bizarre plan to sell stolen items, including the diary, to then-President Donald Trumps campaign.

Despite these developments, Project Veritas maintains its innocence, asserting that its activities were ethical and legal newsgathering.

Hannah Giles, Chief Executive of Project Veritas, recently resigned, citing an unsalvageable mess with evidence of past illegality and financial improprieties. Her departure adds another layer of intrigue to an already complex situation.

The intricacies of the alleged diary theft and its aftermath raise broader questions about the delicate balance between press freedom, investigative journalism, and potential criminal activities at the heart of political scandals.

Read More News

Liberal agenda is to replace White people in America?

Cover Photo: Wikipedia

The post Ashley Bidens diary could implicate Project Veritas in a case with far-reaching implications appeared first on The Independent News.

Read the rest here:

Ashley Biden's diary could implicate Project Veritas in a case with far-reaching implications - Singapore News - The Independent

Why Argentinians are gambling everything on ‘anarcho-capitalist’ Javier Milei podcast – The Guardian

Hes known as the madman, his hairdresser likens him to Wolverine, while the man himself prefers the term anarcho-capitalist. But this week Javier Milei has a new title: president of Argentina.

By now the world should not be surprised by a far-right TV personality with attention-grabbing hair winning at the polls, but Mileis meteoric rise up the ranks of Argentinian politics still shocked observers. On the election trail, he promised to close the central bank, dollarise the economy and insulted Argentinas biggest trading partners, China and Brazil. But what will he do now that he has power?

The Guardians Latin America correspondent, Tom Phillips, has been in Buenos Aires for Mileis inaugaration. He tells Nosheen Iqbal how he has spoken to everyone from former ministers to astrologers to try to understand Mileis appeal and speculates how Argentina will fare under the former Rolling Stones tribute band member. He explains the toll sky-high inflation is taking on the people of Argentina and why voters would rather risk everything on Milei than prop up the status quo.

Support The Guardian

The Guardian is editorially independent. And we want to keep our journalism open and accessible to all. But we increasingly need our readers to fund our work.

More here:

Why Argentinians are gambling everything on 'anarcho-capitalist' Javier Milei podcast - The Guardian

The liberal arts’ role in mental health (opinion) – Inside Higher Ed

I began my role as dean of the College of Arts & Sciences at Georgetown University shortly after we emerged from the instructional Zoom world of the pandemic. When Ifirst began informally meeting with students on campus, they told me that one of the hardest things they dealt with was the perceived stress culture, which they defined as a constant state of seeing who could be the most stressed out.

This cannot be a healthy culture for learning. And students at Georgetown arent alone.

America is experiencing an escalating mental-health crisis among college-age youth. Almost three-fourths of students report experiencing moderate or serious psychological distress, according to a recent survey from the American College Health Association.

Most Popular

The alarm bells are sounding. It is imperative that we listen and respond.

It is not a coincidence that this mental health crisis is happening at precisely the same time we are devaluing intellectual exploration and a liberal arts education. In 2020, just 4percent of college graduates majored in English, foreign languages and literatures, history, or philosophy.

The increasingly public push against a liberal arts education is separating students from their intrinsic motivations for learning and pushing them toward purely extrinsic factors in their choice of major. A wealth of research demonstrates that intrinsic motivation is a catalyst for learning; it is associated with deeper engagement, perseverance and a greater understanding of new material.

A liberal arts education, with its commitment to exposing students to disciplines across the arts, humanities, natural sciences and social sciences, is rooted in the practice of discernment, embracing intellectual exploration and knowledge in a highly personal and meaningful manner. Discernment is the process of seriously pondering and reflecting upon whom you are supposed to be and what you are supposed to do. It is fundamentally about searching for your personal path and purpose in life.

I went to Yale University as an undergraduate with lots of financial aid, work-study jobs and a full dose of impostor syndrome. Back then, my immigrant parents did not understand how I would go to a university for four years and not graduate as somethinga doctor or a lawyer. At 18, I explained to my parents that this was the American educational system. Today, as the dean of a liberal arts college, I am a firm advocate for this educational system that provides students with the freedom to explore their intellectual interests and career options in law and medicine, and also in the multiplicity of fields and careers that many 18-year-olds may not know exist.

Fortunately, our students are smart and creative and, when confronted with the resistance to the liberal arts, they push back. It is what they are doing when they double major and minor in the humanities next to their ostensibly high-paying primary majors. Many students tell me that they are majoring in a field, like economics, for their parents and to prepare themselves for a high-paying job after they graduate.

However, these same students double major or minor in classics, English, French or Spanish. In the College of Arts & Sciences at Georgetown, about 76percent of our undergraduates have a second major or a minorthey often define these as what they study for themselves, to satisfy their curiosity, interests and passions. These second majors and minors are where their personal and intrinsic motivations lead them.

Attacks on liberal arts education are nothing less than roadblocks, prohibiting discernment and inhibiting young people from finding their own values, interests and purpose in lifefactors that lead to happiness, well-being and a life filled with meaning and balance. Thus, liberal arts colleges are not a problem; rather, they are very much part of the solution to a rising epidemic tide of mental health problems among college-age youth.

There is a litany of factors affecting undergraduate mental healthrising social media usage, precarious world events and, of course, the lingering effects of the coronavirus pandemic that upended the routines, educational paths and lives of todays college students. Yet even before the pandemic, college-age students were grappling with deteriorating mental healthnearly half reported they had felt so depressed that it was difficult to function within the last 12 months in the 2019 National College Health Assessment survey.

By encouraging students to pursue the breadth and reach of a liberal arts education, not only do we help tackle the mental health crisis spreading across college campuses, but we also better prepare and support young adults to become dynamic, motivated and courageous thinkers and problem-solvers.

Rosario Ceballo is a psychology professor and an expert on adolescent development. She is the dean of Georgetown Universitys College of Arts & Sciences.

See the original post here:

The liberal arts' role in mental health (opinion) - Inside Higher Ed

Previous Speakers | Diversity Speaker Series at the College of Liberal Arts – University of Nevada, Reno

Gabby Rivera, Writer, speaker, storyteller

September 14, 2018

Gabby Rivera is a Bronx-born, queer Latinx writer. She is the author of Juliet Takes a Breath, which was named one of the top 25 essential books to read for women's history month by Mic. She is also a comic book writer, writing the America Chavez series for Marvel, which is their first queer Latina superhero series. Rivera is a "QTPOC writer, an LGBTQ youth advocate and speaks about the importance of centering joy in our narratives as Latinx people and people of color," according to her website.

Excerpt from:

Previous Speakers | Diversity Speaker Series at the College of Liberal Arts - University of Nevada, Reno