The 28-year-old professor of gender studies at the University of Cincinnati, who gave her student a ZERO grade for using the term “biological women,” will be formally reprimanded and sentenced to free speech training

By Harriet Alexander and Alex Hammer

Published: 3:27 AM, July 1, 2023 | Updated at 8:18 AM, July 1, 2023

The University of Cincinnati has officially rebuked a gender studies professor who complained about a student’s use of the term “biological woman” and ordered the professor to attend a free speech class.

Melanie Nipper, a 28-year-old associate professor of sex studies at the University of Cincinnati, criticized student Olivia Krolczyk’s use of the term in an essay on trans women in sports.

Nipper told her, “The terms ‘biological women’ are exclusive and not allowed in this class as they further reinforce heteronormativity.”

“Please re-evaluate your topic and edit it to focus on women’s rights (not just ‘women’). I will then downgrade the rating.”

Krolczyk posted a TikTok on May 7th complaining about the incident. The clip has now been viewed more than a million times and has garnered media coverage nationwide: Krolczyk now has 10,000 Twitter followers and uses her social media accounts to speak out against trans women in sport and to take a stand on LGBTQ controversies.

On Thursday, the Cincinnati Enquirer reported that Nipper had been reprimanded by the university.

Melanie Nipper, an associate professor at the University of Cincinnati, was fined by the university after a student complained about receiving a zero grade for one of her projects

Olivia Krolczyk said in May she received a zero for using the term “biological women” in her Women’s Gender Studies in Pop Culture course

If a student is using “outdated terminology,” Nipper added when she received the zero mark (here with an accompanying explanation), she will always take the opportunity to correct those errors

She was instructed to complete her education and submit her curriculum for the upcoming school year to her department head.

The university document obtained by the newspaper said: “Please note that this is to be taken as a formal reprimand for your actions.”

“A copy of this letter will be placed in your permanent records. It is also understood that any other violation of UC policies may result in further disciplinary action up to and including termination.

“You are reminded that as an unrepresented, unclassified ‘at will’ employee, your employment may be terminated with or without cause.”

The letter also required that “you must complete training on the requirements of the campus free speech policy” and that she must submit “all syllabuses” “at least two weeks before classes begin” for review and approval.

Nipper defended her actions to the university.

Nipper remained defiant, insisting that she was correct in evaluating Krolczyk’s work

Meanwhile, Krolczyk has become an activist campaigning for LGBTQ issues online

She told them that “my restriction of harmful language” was “necessary to ensure a safe learning environment in the course discussions and for the pedagogical purpose of teaching introductory WGSS theory.”

She said she teaches from an “intersectional, 4th wave, and transnational feminist perspective” and argued that the student’s chosen topic for her project was “inappropriate as it targets trans women as a source of oppression of cis women in sport.” “.

Nipper added, “I felt it was necessary to educate them about inclusive language to ensure a safe learning environment for other students in the course discussion forums.”

Nipper previously defended her mark to The Cincinnati Enquirer.

She said her support for free speech lapses when “you are, intentionally or unintentionally, complicit in systemic harm of any kind” — including speech she deems transphobic or racist.

She said her assessment of Krolczyk’s work was fair.

“No zero for the course, no zero for a task,” she explained.

In the days leading up to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, David Bramlette was in a classroom in Washington, DC, discussing whether Russia could invade Ukraine. He was in the process of earning his master’s degree in international affairs from Johns Hopkins University. At the time, he admits, he thought the prospect of a Russian invasion unlikely.

But when Russia finally pulled the trigger and invaded Ukraine last February, David, who had previously worked for the US military as a Green Beret on an anti-Russia mission and as an Army Ranger in Iraq and Afghanistan, felt forced to Go and fight the Russians.

“There’s good and bad in my head,” Bramlette said in an interview with Kyiv’s The Daily Beast this week.

“I’m sitting in class and I’m thinking I could sit here and graduate and work an office job and have a little bit of an impact on the world by working in a government office, right?” Bramlette recounted. “I have the knowledge and the skills and abilities to help. So I kind of took a leave of absence from my master’s degree and went over there.”

In early March, Bramlette, who calls himself “Bam,” was on his way to Warsaw, Poland, to get his bearings before joining the Foreign Legion in Ukraine. While boarding the plane to Poland, Bam said he sent his parents a short email explaining why he was going to war for another country.

“I emailed my parents and said, ‘This is the fairest war I think my generation will see in our lifetime.’ ‘It’s a clear battle between good and evil,'” Bramlette told The Daily Beast. “That’s why I left. I thought I couldn’t take this shit.”

Like Bramlette, former Marine Troy Offenbecker was forced early in the war to join the fight against the Russian invasion. He told The Daily Beast that the Russian atrocities against Ukrainians reported in the news were part of the last straw that prepared him for war.

“There’s a lot of really stupid volunteers here that have nothing to do with going to war.”

“Last March I saw everything that was happening and when I heard about the international legion I knew I was coming,” Offenbecker told The Daily Beast in an interview from Kiev. “But back then I had some commitments that kept me there. It took two months… I had to sell my house, I sold my vehicles.”

Offenbecker spent time preparing for the fight, conditioning it and getting into better physical shape.

When he saw pictures of mass graves and executed Ukrainian civilians in Bucha, Offenbecker was beside himself.

“It really pissed me off that you could do something like that to such an innocent person,” he said. “It really pissed me off.”

“I have skills that I have learned. I was in the Marine Corps for six years, I taught other Marines, I taught other countries how to fight. I just thought it wouldn’t be right if I sat at home,” said Offenbecker.

The urge to choose Bramlette was also personal.

“This is my third war I’ve fought and this is by far the worst.”

In 2014, just two months before Russia illegally annexed Crimea from Ukraine, he came to Stuttgart to work for the 1st Battalion, 10th Special Forces Group. When Russia moved in, it was time for him to leave.

“When Crimea passed, our main focus was essentially on defending Eastern Europe. “My three years in the Special Forces consisted essentially of doing partner training throughout Central and Eastern Europe and also Western Europe,” Bam said. “But I never really felt like we accomplished much.”

And while Bramlette has previously participated in combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, there are quite a number of service members or veterans around the world who prepared to fight in Iraq and Afghanistan but for some reason didn’t make it . Of the vets he’s seen in Ukraine, many felt the urge to fill that gap, Bam said.

“There’s nothing more frustrating than training and training, training for something your whole life or for years, and then never having the opportunity to put your skills to the test,” he said. “A lot of these guys had a certain vibe.”

Offenbecker expressed similar views. “I’ve met some people who might have been here for a reason, they’ve seen their buddies go through war and they’ve never experienced that,” he said.

“Kill as many Russians as you can”

Once in Ukraine, preparations for war in Lviv and Kiev brought a little happiness and a little chaos, Bramlette said.

First, Bramlette was surprised at how many people without military experience went to fight in Ukraine.

“There are a lot of really stupid volunteers here who have no business in a war,” he said.

After arriving in Poland in early March 2022, he took the train to Lviv to meet with other volunteer fighters. But along the way he found several other foreigners he didn’t want to fight side by side with, he said.

“I met three other foreigners on a train. One was German and had no military experience. He was a carpenter or something,” Bramlette said. “He had fired a gun – kind of like that. And it was a hunting rifle.”

Once in Ukraine, Bramlette investigated various groups of foreign volunteers, but found that their military background was also lacking. He was “just as dissatisfied with the quality of the foreigners there,” he said.

A few days later, he joined forces with two other Green Berets to form a multinational force of about 12 people, forming a small unit tactical team, or special operations team.

“And then they basically gave us orders for Kharkiv and said, ‘Go and kill as many Russians as you can,'” he said.

After some training and preparation, with weapons and ammunition from Ukraine’s stockpiles, the force set out.

“We carried out recruitment exclusively from foreigners who were already in Kiev. And we’ve provided all of our resources and funds ourselves, like buying our own cars and financing our own safe houses,” Bam said.

In Kharkiv, their missions were largely self-directed. The Ukrainian government did not connect them with Ukrainian or other foreign volunteer units for coordination, so they took it upon themselves and introduced themselves to the Territorial Defense Forces, regular army units, airborne units and Ukrainian special forces.

After establishing contacts near the front lines, Bam’s squad got an overview of the latest developments regarding the Russians and determined what kind of mission they should carry out for the Ukrainians, from reconnaissance of enemy positions to mining.

Offenbecker, the former Marine, also had to organize his combat team spontaneously. He had applied to the International Legion but hadn’t heard from him in about a week. Instead of waiting for the final plans, he told a few family members and close friends, packed his bags and headed to Ukraine.

“I didn’t hear anything, so I just flew… anyway. I figured I’d volunteer and help out in other ways,” Offenbecker said.

Once in Ukraine, he made contacts with the right people to join the international legion and was soon fighting with them in Donbass in eastern Ukraine.

Even then he met some foreign volunteers who had no idea what to expect.

“I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m not going to go back and fight.”

“This is my third war I’ve fought and this is by far the worst,” Offenbecker told The Daily Beast. “You’re going to get damned smashed with artillery and tanks. Last week a plane dropped a bomb next to us about 300 meters away. It’s terrible shit.”

When he got there, some of his military friends began sending him messages asking for information on how he could join as well. But he ignored messages for months.

“It was pretty bad to be honest, so I didn’t want to involve anyone,” he said.

The operations were exhausting, said Bramlette. In Iraq or Afghanistan, Bramlette had air support or supported ISR or intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance. “The worst day in Afghanistan and Iraq is a great day in Ukraine,” he said. “Even when we thought that wasn’t the case, we were always in control of the situation…unlike commanding a team in Ukraine,” where there are more unknowns.

On reconnaissance missions in Ukraine, you simply have to wait for team members to come back as communication is not reliable. “I would always send out a recon element first…once these guys leave my side, I won’t really hear from them until they’re in sight again. And that can be 24 hours later, maybe 48 hours later,” he explained. “If two of them get hurt… no helicopter comes to get you… shit can go wrong very, very quickly. And that’s the kind of thing that’s pretty difficult.”

As winter rolled around, Bramlette decided to send the members of his small unit home for a break. Their thermal signatures cracked louder than they had in the summer, giving their position away. It was becoming more difficult to stay out of sight of the Russian troops by the day as the foliage cover disappeared. In addition to these problems, the troops’ vehicles kept breaking down and running out of money.

“Because we’re a small-unit tactical team, you run around… in front of the Ukrainian line and in front of the Russian line. The trees are leafless, the bushes are bare, the trees are bare and it’s colder… That’s really bad news, bears,” Bramlette said. “You can’t hide.”

Without drastically changing their approach, they were in danger of failing. “I was just afraid we’d go out there and do what we normally do and we’d basically all die,” he added.

And while the plan was to return in January, Bam couldn’t bring himself to do so once he was able to emerge from the fog of war.

“Coming back in December, it kind of gave me the distance, the space, to reassess everything that had happened, because when I’m in charge of a whole team, you don’t have time to really think about everything,” he says called. “I turned it off a bit, but it gave me the decompression room to reevaluate. And so I came to the conclusion that I’m not going to go back and fight.”

Bam is still working to support the war effort from Kiev through his work for the Weatherman Foundation, which has recently been dedicated to finding and repatriating the remains of Americans killed in action in Ukraine.

Offenbecker is currently working on a move to a new team in the Ukrainian Foreign Legion and plans to continue fighting in Ukraine.

“I look at these children and I have my own child, niece and nephews. If that were the case for them, I would hope that people from all over the world would come and try to keep them safe and secure as well,” Offenbecker said. “It’s what keeps me here.”

But if the world community is not ready to adequately counter Russia’s aggression in Ukraine, Moscow will only continue its territorial expansion course, Bramlette warned.

“If we don’t take our opinion on Russia seriously and don’t stop Russia here, the next step is… Belarus will be incorporated into Russia. Or Moldova will be annexed to Russia. Ukraine will be annexed to Russia,” said Bramlette. “Russia is a rabid dog. The Kremlin must be crushed.”

Rumors about the fate of this deputy of the Russian operations staff in Ukraine are piling up. He was one of the few senior army officers to benefit from the leniency of the paramilitary group’s chief.

Where is Sergey Surovikin? The fate of this high-ranking officer in the Russian army is a great mystery and rumors about him are piling up on social media. The general was notably absent during Vladimir Putin’s speech to the armed forces on Tuesday, June 27, after Wagner’s aborted march on Moscow. The fate of Sergey Surovikin, estimated by Yevgeny Prigoyine, is attracting all the more lively attention since he would have been informed about the paramilitary project in advance, the New York Times and Wall Street Journal confirmed on Wednesday. “Speculation and gossip,” the Kremlin replied.

Several media have now claimed that the general has been arrested. In reality, there is nothing that can confirm this. “My sources at the Defense Ministry and the FSB deny that Sergei Surovikin was detained,” Roman Anin, a Russian journalist and founder of Important Stories, an independent outlet, told franceinfo. “However, they confirm that he was interrogated before his release.” For its part, the Kremlin is content to appeal to the Defense Ministry. “A possible investigation does not necessarily mean that he is suspected of complicity, but that he may be aware of certain elements about Wagner,” Nuance, Russian political scientist Tatiana Stanovaya, told franceinfo.

At this point there is only one certainty. Sourovikine hasn’t appeared since Saturday morning, the day of the mutiny. With a serious and dejected expression, he then asked Wagner to break off his march towards Moscow. “Before it’s too late, we must obey the will and order of the President-elect of Russia,” he pleaded in a plain uniform, hardly to his advantage. Was this statement spontaneous or was he forced to record it? Both options are discussed by observers. The Department of Defense, which released the images, did not provide information about the location or circumstances of the shooting.

General Sergei Surovikin in a video recorded at an unspecified location and released by the Russian Ministry of Defense on June 24, 2023. (RUSSIAN MINISTRY OF DEFENSE / AFP)

If rumors about him circulate so quickly, it’s because Sergei Surovikin is an important face of the war. Between October and January he actually led the group of Russian forces deployed in Ukraine before being demoted to deputy on the orders of Valéri Guerassimov. In particular, the general had to manage the military evacuation of the large city of Kherson, which had been left to the Ukrainians. This episode remains the biggest disappointment for the Russian army since the conflict began. But Evguéni Prigojine had vowed the action of a “reasonable man” despite months of crushing the military command. The general is one of the rare officers, if not the only one, to arouse Wagner’s sympathy.

From one coup attempt to the next

Ironically, in 1991, Sergei Surovikin himself was involved in an attempted military coup. The tank convoy he led then broke through the barricades set up by demonstrators in Moscow, killing three people. He will serve seven months in prison before being pardoned by President Boris Yeltsin. A veteran of the civil war in Tajikistan in the 1990s, he also took part in the second Chechen war (1999–2000). Most importantly, Sergueï Surovikine excelled at spearheading the Russian operation in Syria, earning him the nickname “The Butcher of Aleppo.”

Wagner’s units were stationed in the country en masse and maintained excellent relations with Sergei Surovikin, who headed a military police squad. According to the Dossier Center, he even received an honorary paramilitary membership card in 2017. Created by Russian opponent Mikhail Khodorkovsky, this project claims to include the names of around thirty other officers and officials in this case. Then in February 2018 in Deir ez-Zor (Syria) 100 to 300 Wagner fighters were killed by US forces. Evguéni Prigojine accused Minister Sergei Shoigu of having lured the fighters into a trap and won over a sworn enemy.

General Sergei Surovikin during a visit by President Vladimir Putin to the Russian military base in Latakia (Syria), December 11, 2017. (MIKHAIL KLIMENTYEV / SPOUTNIK / AFP)

The mercenary needs Surovikin, as of October 2017 commander of the Russian Aerospace Forces. With sanctions already in place, “the Wagner group relied heavily on the capabilities of the Russian Air Force” to ensure its logistics and the movement of its mercenaries, Gleb explains to franceinfo Irisov, now in exile after becoming an Air Force lieutenant and correspondent for the Agency Tass had been. “Therefore, it was extremely useful for Yevgeny Prigoyine to have a direct line with the commander-in-chief of these units.” Without the army’s material support, it would have been difficult for the mercenaries to carry out their overseas operations.

“They have a lot in common”

Sergei Surovikin provided aircraft and the Russian military bases at Chkalovsky and Seshcha. From spring 2020, Wagner was even supplied with combat helicopters, which were intended in particular for Libya. These two men “appeared to be good partners if not friends during their talks,” says Gleb Irisov, a crew member on flights that brought the officer and mercenary together in 2019 and 2020. “They have a lot in common ideologically and in behavior”. It is not the carpet bombing that earned Sergei Surovikin his nickname “General Armageddon”, but “the chaos that reigned in the headquarters”, because of “his aggressive and rough character”.

Sergei Surovikin had remained a link between the Wagner group and the regular army in recent months. In February, when Yevgeny Prigoyine complained about being out of ammunition, he pointed out that his men were regularly turned over when the general was in command. Three months later, the paramilitaries demanded freedom of action in Bakhmout, stating that Surovikin was responsible for cooperation with the ministry, which the ministry never confirmed. Finally, on June 11, Yevgeny Prigoyine once again praised an “intelligent and experienced commander.”

Compliments that today sound like a kiss of death. Moreover, according to the Financial Times, the “pressure” that Sergey Surovikin is facing is related to his closeness to Yevgeny Prigoyine and not to suspicion of treason. “I am convinced that Vladimir Putin was aware of this intermediary role between Surovik and the army and that he gave his consent,” Tatiana Stanovaya believes. “However, the general could not perform a miracle and deliver the quantities of ammunition demanded by Wagner,” who turned his anger on Minister Shoigu.

How will Vladimir Putin react?

“There are undoubtedly sympathizers of the Wagner group at the lower and middle levels of the regular army,” the political scientist continued. But she rejects the idea of ​​a “Wagenerized” general, a weak link in the army. Despite fundamental differences of opinion with the Shoigu-Guerasimov duo, “Surovikine and the command are absolutely loyal to Putin”. The Aerospace Forces are “the only branch of the army that directly opposed the group during its uprising,” agrees Gustav Gressel, military expert at the European Council on Foreign Relations, quoted by Deutsche Welle. Several aircraft, including attack helicopters, were destroyed by the mercenaries.

The atypical career of this army “free spirit”, to use the words of Gleb Irisov, has not yet found an epilogue. In any case, the fall of the General, the Gold Medal of the Hero of the Russian Federation, revived the uncertainties about possible restructuring in the army. Some Russian military bloggers, including Mikhail Zvinchuk, a former Defense Ministry spokesman, have claimed that mid-level commanders have already been fired for their alleged inaction during the Wagner march.

Here, too, opinions differ. “For Vladimir Putin, treason is the ultimate sin,” said Roman Anin. It could affect everyone in Evguéni Prigoijne’s circle. It is therefore “possible that repression will be directed against his partners, friends and supporters within the army and the elites”. Tatyana Stanovaya acknowledges that Minister Sergei Shoigu may be tempted to get rid of the internal opposition and calls Surovikin a “traitor” to the Russian president. However, she recalls that Vladimir Putin has always been “reluctant to launch repressions because he prefers to solve problems in secret”.

Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s activity in Brussels was a long process of mediation both on the redistribution of migrants among the EU countries and on the question of aid for the countries of origin. It is a pity that Viktor Orban and Mateusz Morawiecki, the Presidents of Hungary and Poland, then said no, which broke the agreement. The two presidents do not want the law, which provides for mandatory resettlements or economic compensation for hostile countries. An agreement that Italy voted on twenty days ago at the summit of interior ministers. An unexpected blow from the two countries with which Meloni has always had good relations. And precisely because of the excellent relations, the Italian Prime Minister tried mediation in extreme cases, but the attempt was unsuccessful. “I have tried to reach an agreement but there is no agreement. The only option presented is to adopt the conclusions of the European Council Presidency and not the conclusions of the European Council committing all 27 countries, Meloni said. But then she also added: “I am never disappointed by those who defend their national interests.” The choice of Poland and Hungary does not concern my priority in the field of immigration, i.e. the external dimension, but the internal dimension, i. and asylum pact. Their position differs from ours because we are all defending our national interests, but we also have different needs geographically.” to relate.” Today we are most concerned with raw materials and energy sources, but we know how to cook insects. I would say that we need to go back to the priorities that belong to a major global political actor.”

Also read: Half past seven Mieli rejects the slowness of the EU: insignificant summit

If Meloni tries to mediate, Salvini chooses a less accommodating path: “I’m waiting for Europe to follow its words with deeds because thousands are landing.” I know that Meloni and Tajani demand the maximum. I don’t know if Paris, Brussels or Warsaw, Budapest or Berlin are to blame, but they keep ending up in Italy and the Italian mayors are having problems. I’m less interested in talking than zero: as we pay the condo expenses in the Europa condo but are having trouble only in Italy I’m asking them to take action. In the last few hours, 2,000 to 3,000 people have landed. It’s hard to imagine a summer like this: meanwhile, every European country agrees to welcome some of the thousands of immigrants who land in Italy. Anyone who wants to do it can do it today, even if the Poles don’t agree.”

Also read: Half past seven, Gruber demolishes Scanzi and defends Meloni: “You wouldn’t say of a male prime minister”

Orban and Moraviewcki are calling for the regulation already adopted to be amended by introducing the unanimity principle, which establishes the consent of all European Union member states and is one of the voting rules applicable in the Council. A request that the Council did not accept; Voting will therefore continue to be by qualified majority. The only positive: the opening of the so-called piano mattei, i.e. economic aid for countries of origin to seal off migrants. “The external dimension that we have been working on since Tunisia affects all countries. “There is a unanimous consensus,” said Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in a press statement at the end of the EU summit. “I believe that we have to keep working on it because everyone understands that it’s the only way to find a solution that applies to everyone,” he added. For this reason, a meeting with Morawiecki is planned for Wednesday in Warsaw.