Sean CastenCongressman, IL-06. Engineer. Former CEO. Dad. Husband. Occasional piano player. "The best friend of a nation is he who most faithfully rebukes her for her sins—and he her worst enemy who, under the specious… garb of patriotism seeks to excuse, palliate or defend them." - Frederick Douglass
Sean CastenPlease get vaccinated. This doesn’t have to happen. But it will happen more, and with more fatalities as long as RFK Jr and his anti-science enablers continue to spread disinformation. https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/measles-south-carolina-quarantine-utah-arizona-us-rcna248435
Sean CastenHeinrich is right. Stopping this project will raise prices by reducing cheap electricity's market access. But it's worse than that: sending a signal that who you know matters more than what you do attacks the rule of law and will cripple the US economy. https://www.canarymedia.com/articles/transmission/doe-is-raising-power-bills-by-thwarting-transmission-line-heinrich-says
Sean CastenGOP dysfunction in a nutshell: This week, Donald Trump is not appointing horribly unqualified people to federal jobs because Mike Johnson insists on protecting Jeffrey Epstein.
Sean CastenPutin was sanctioned by the ICC for stealing children from Ukrainian families. He will meet with Trump - who has complained that Epstein stole children from him at Mar a Lago. If Trump truly put America first, he would arrest him when he sets foot on American soil. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/08/us/politics/trump-russia-ukraine-deal.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare
Sean CastenAnd by the way, that applies just as much to hiring managers in the corporate world. (As an old HR consultant once told me, "businesses tend to hire for hard skills and fire for soft skills".) The easy metrics to capture are rarely the ones most likely to predict your long term fit and success.
Sean CastenBottom line: it is in your self interest to maintain a diverse workforce / student body. It makes no more sense to say that a school can't prioritize a mix jocks/nerds/language majors/goth kids/etc over test scores alone than it does to consider race and gender. Unless you're a racist ass. /fin
Sean CastenIf you said yes to any of the above, then would you not also agree that those other measures of diversity (because that's what it is) should be factored in and that in some cases used to select people with lower test scores who bring those other attributes to campus? Of course you would!
Sean CastenAnd by the way, that applies just as much to hiring managers in the corporate world. (As an old HR consultant once told me, "businesses tend to hire for hard skills and fire for soft skills".) The easy metrics to capture are rarely the ones most likely to predict your long term fit and success.
Sean CastenShould the university consider anything on your application besides your GPA and test scores when making selections? Teacher recommendations, essays, interviews, extracurricular activities, etc?
Sean CastenIf you said yes to any of the above, then would you not also agree that those other measures of diversity (because that's what it is) should be factored in and that in some cases used to select people with lower test scores who bring those other attributes to campus? Of course you would!
Sean CastenShould a university try to achieve gender parity in their incoming class (would you like to go to a school that didn't?) Should there be a mix of student interests consistent with the mix of academic departments on campus? Should there be a mix of introverts and extroverts?
Sean CastenShould the university consider anything on your application besides your GPA and test scores when making selections? Teacher recommendations, essays, interviews, extracurricular activities, etc?
Sean CastenShould the University of Illinois seek to accept people from all parts of the state or only from Chicago & Chicago suburbs? Should an incoming class have kids who replace graduating seniors on the football team and the band and the theater department?
Sean CastenShould a university try to achieve gender parity in their incoming class (would you like to go to a school that didn't?) Should there be a mix of student interests consistent with the mix of academic departments on campus? Should there be a mix of introverts and extroverts?
Sean CastenOK, so this is objectively racist in the purest sense. The ONLY reason to do this is to penalize black and brown people for being black and brown. Replace "race" with any other measure of diversity on a college campus to see why. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/07/us/politics/trump-schools-race-data.html
Sean CastenShould the University of Illinois seek to accept people from all parts of the state or only from Chicago & Chicago suburbs? Should an incoming class have kids who replace graduating seniors on the football team and the band and the theater department?