ANALYSIS/OPINION

There’s never a dull moment in higher education. In addition to more than two dozen hate crime hoaxes and dozens of cancel culture incidents in 2025, there were the all-too-common jaw-dropping headlines that far surpassed satire.

From a drag queen hired as a Harvard professor to scholars saying permission must be obtained to change a baby’s diaper, academia outdid itself during the last 12 months. Here are some of The College Fix’s most outrageous headlines from 2025:

Harvard hires drag queen ‘LaWhore Vagistan’ to teach ‘Queer Ethnography’

Harvard University hired Kareem Khubchandani, a Tufts University associate professor who performs as the drag queen LaWhore Vagistan, as a visiting professor in its Women, Gender, and Sexuality department for this academic year. Khubchandani taught “Queer Ethnography” over the fall and will teach “RuPaulitics: Drag, Race, and Desire” this spring.

Aussie academics: Parents should get ‘consent’ before changing their newborn’s diapers

A pair of academics from Deakin University in Australia said parents should seek consent from their little ones before — wait for it — changing their diapers. “At the start of a nappy [diaper] change, ensure your child knows what is happening. Get down to their level and say, ‘you need a nappy change’ and then pause so they can take this in. Then you can say, ‘do you want to walk/crawl with me to the change table, or would you like me to carry you?’”

SUNY professor explores ‘queer canine’ and ‘lesbian feminist cyborg politics’

Relationships between dogs, cyborgs, and lesbian feminists was the subject of a scholarly paper this year by a State University of New York professor who goes by she/they pronouns. According to the abstract, the paper offers a “queer lesbian feminist analysis” of “lesbian-queer-trans-canine relationalities” and “the interconnected queer becomings of people, nature, animals, and machines amidst ecologies of love and violence in the 2020s.”

Franklin & Marshall College to ditch Ben Franklin for ‘gender-neutral’ mascot

The college has established a Mascot Working Group to gather input and come up with three new mascot proposals to present for a vote to the campus community this winter. Franklin & Marshall has not been displaying its mascots in recent years due to students’ concerns about the two Founding Fathers’ “racist views.”

More than 1,100 DEI-related jobs at University of Michigan

The number of University of Michigan employees who work either full-time or part-time on diversity, equity, and inclusion-related efforts topped 1,100 earlier this year. Ten DEI staff members earned more than $200,000 and 79 earned $100,000 or more. The average DEI salary at UM was $97,843.

Loyola Maryland English Department says literature built on ‘white supremacy’

Loyola University Maryland’s Department of English has announced its commitment to “anti-racism,” claiming literature promotes “white supremacy.” “Literature and the literary canons have been used to validate white supremacy,” the department’s website states. As a result, the department will “reflect on what it means to be called an ‘English Department’ given the discipline’s roots in imperialism and Eurocentrism,” and “will consider renaming.”

U. Portland theology majors no longer have to take ‘Biblical Texts’- can take ‘queer’ class instead

At the Catholic university, students must still take Theology 105, which does include a Biblical texts component, but now can “pick from a variety of upper-division courses to fulfill their second theology requirement.” These course options include “Queer Theologies,” “God Our Mother,” and a class on “the intersectionality of gender discrimination with other forms of discrimination.”

Are elephants ‘queer’? Feminist scholars say science is too ‘hetero’ and ‘feto-centric’

Feminist scholars discussed their concerns about science being too male, “hetero,” and “feto-centric” during an online event at Cornell University. The talk, “Is Fat Female? Evolution, Feminism, and Getting the Story Right,” featured scholar Cat Bohannon and philosophy Professor Kate Manne. Bohannon is the author of the best-selling book “Eve: How The Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Evolution.”

1 in 3 students say some level of violence acceptable to stop campus speech: survey

One in three students believe some level of violence is acceptable to stop a campus speech, according to the results of a large-scale survey by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression. The survey, which questioned more than 68,000 students at 257 colleges and universities nationwide on a variety of free speech topics, asked: “How acceptable would you say it is for students to engage in the following actions to protest a campus speaker? Using violence to stop a campus speech.” Two percent said “always acceptable,” 13 percent said “sometimes acceptable,” and 19 percent said “rarely acceptable,” or about one-third of those surveyed. 

Professors: Elon Musk’s Cybertruck reminiscent of apartheid-enforcing vehicle in South Africa

A pair of Rice University professors say Elon Musk’s Tesla Cybertruck is reminiscent of a vehicle that “patrolled and terrorized” black townships in apartheid South Africa. “[T]he Cybertruck’s harsh, sharp edges remind us […] of something from the past: the larger armored personnel vehicles that patrolled streets throughout Musk’s youth in apartheid South Africa,” the professors wrote.

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