This week in Fox News Digital’s Campus Radicals investigative series, a historic military institute was thrust into an unexpected battle, while Chicago teachers caused multiple uproars and a nurse at a teaching hospital was fired after she went viral for all the wrong reasons.
Virginia Democrats in the state’s House of Delegates introduced a resolution Tuesday that would establish a task force to investigate the Virginia Military Institute and determine if the historic military college should continue to receive funding.
The move is the latest of Virginia Democrats’ efforts to reinvigorate Diversity, Equity and Inclusion policy in the state after much of the DEI mandates and policies were revoked after President Donald Trump was elected in 2024.
“This takes away from VMI, takes away from its mission,” Rep. Rob Wittman, R-Va., told Fox News Digital. “I think that it’s harmful to the Commonwealth of Virginia, harmful to VMI as an institution, harmful to all the incredible military leaders and community leaders that have come out of VMI.
“It’s just reprehensible that they would even go down this road,” Wittman added. “But it seems to be what’s happening in Richmond.”
GOT A SCOOP ON CAMPUS? SEND US A TIP HERE
Cadets Michael Ferrara, regimental S3 captain, and Devin Auzenne, regimental commander, sat down for an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital to discuss the core values of VMI and dispute some of the allegations that have pushed Virginia Democrats to threaten the institution.
“I would say on the cadet side, there’s a little bit of confusion,” Ferrara said. “One of the bills questions the contribution that VMI contributes to the commonwealth of the state, and this school produces nothing but prestigious men and women ready to serve the country.”
“We’ve had approximately 300 generals and flag officers coming from the Virginia Military Institute,” Ferrara added. “We’ve had seven Medal of Honor recipients, 11 Rhodes Scholars, one Nobel Prize winner.”
Ferrara graduates from VMI this spring and is commissioned to serve in the U.S. Air Force as a developmental engineer. He told Fox he attended VMI because he wanted to serve the country.
A Chicago area teacher is on administrative leave and facing calls to lose his job over a Facebook post last week offering support for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
“GO ICE,” the teacher at West Chicago’s Gary Elementary School, posted on Facebook last week. Shortly after the post was made, activists in the predominantly Hispanic community quickly began sharing the post and calling for action to be taken against the teacher, who Fox News Digital is not naming due to safety concerns.
“Imagine working as a teacher in an elementary school in West Chicago where the Latino community is highly populated and promoting ICE, sick AF,” one social media post said.
Another commenter called the teacher a “f—— piece of s—.”
Members of the Chicago Teachers Union filmed themselves protesting federal immigration enforcement and anti-DEI measures at a local Target Friday, sparking criticism both online and from experts who spoke to Fox News Digital.
In a video posted on Tuesday by the union, members entered a Chicago area Target holding anti-ICE signs, harassing employees and demanding answers about whether Target will “protect” its employees from ICE.
“As a private business, Target has a choice,” the post said. “They can use their Fourth Amendment rights and post signs that demand ICE show warrants to enter their building. Instead, they’ve allowed harm to their employees and customers, while continuing to roll back DEI commitments and bow to pressure from the Trump administration.”
A nurse at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) Health was fired after making a series of videos suggesting ways to harm ICE agents.
“Following an investigation, the individual involved in the social media videos is no longer employed by VCU Health,” the hospital told Fox News Digital. “In addition, VCU Health has fulfilled its reporting requirements under Virginia state law.”
On Tuesday morning, the hospital said it and the VCU Police were investigating the nurse over the posts after they went viral on X.
“We prioritize the health and safety of anyone who comes to us for care. We are aware of a series of videos that appear to have been posted by an individual confirmed to be an employee of our health system,” VCU told Fox News Digital in a statement. “The content of the videos is highly inappropriate and does not reflect the integrity or values of our health system.”
In one video, simply captioned with “#ice #resistance #sabotage,” the nurse instructed others to use a “sabotage tactic” against opponents.
“I thought of something good,” she said.
“Sabotage tactic, or at least scare tactic. All the medical providers, grab some syringes with needles on the end,” she said. “Have them full of saline or succinylcholine, you know, whatever. Whatever. That will probably be a deterrent. Be safe.”
Succinylcholine is an anesthetic that causes rapid, short-acting muscle paralysis. The paralytic effect typically lasts for four to six minutes.
“As we’ve documented at Do No Harm, VCU has a long history of pushing extreme identity politics into medical education and clinical treatment,” Do No Harm Executive Director Kristina Rasmussen told Fox News Digital. “Now, they act surprised when radicalism sprouts from a ground seeded with toxic ideology.”
The group represents employees and students in the medical field and patients and policymakers who are fighting to keep identity politics out of medical education, research and clinical practice. Do No Harm often pushes back against DEI initiatives and youth-focused gender ideology in medicine.
“When medical schools and hospitals allow radical politics to shape curriculum, they end up training harmful activists rather than skilled medical professionals,” Rasmussen continued. “VCU Health firing this nurse is the bare minimum response. Unless they clean up their act, how will any patient feel safe walking through their doors?”
The student government at a Catholic school in Queens, New York, denied classmates the opportunity to start a Turning Point USA chapter on campus last November.
St. John’s University’s student leaders shot down an application from TPUSA to be officially recognized as a club after a first, a school spokesperson confirmed Wednesday morning. The first time was in 2021.
“At St. John’s University, the sole authority to approve or deny new student organizations rests solely with Student Government, Inc. (SGI),” Brian Browne told Fox News Digital. “The four-round Power to Organize process aims to introduce or revitalize clubs/organizations to the St. John’s campus.”
He said that during the fall semester, only four of 19 proposed organizations were approved by the SGI.
“St. John’s students interested in Turning Point USA are encouraged to reapply to SGI in the Spring or pursue other existing alternatives for department-sponsored organizational support,” he said.
Several University of Minnesota student groups are leading what they are calling a “National Shutdown” in protest of federal immigration enforcement, and they are joined by far-left radicals from across the country.
On its Instagram page, the university’s Black Student Union made a post directing others to a webpage called nationalshutdown.us, where they can endorse the day of action. The protesters are refusing to go to work and school on Friday, and are also promising not to shop.
“The only way for us to get justice for Alex Pretti, Renee Good, and the countless people murdered by ICE is for the shut down to go national,” the Instagram post says. “NO WORK. NO SCHOOL. NO SHOPPING. VOTE NO TO ICE FUNDING.”
The Black Student Union is at the top of the list of endorsers of the day of action, alongside the school’s Somali Student Association, Ethiopian Student Association and Liberian Student Association. The Graduate Labor Union at the University of Minnesota also endorsed the event.
