The Belltower Times
What the "Big Beautiful Bill" and a recent Supreme Court decision mean for Furman.
Announcements: July 2025
We hope you and your family enjoyed the fireworks, the barbecue, and America’s 249th birthday.
You’ll notice that our monthly newsletter has a new name—The Belltower Times—and a fresh new format. These changes are part of a broader effort to bring you more thoughtful, high-quality content about Furman.
Here’s what you can now expect each month:
📰The Belltower Times
A column from yours truly, offering timely commentary and analysis on what’s happening at Furman today.
📊 The Data Din
A sharp, visual snapshot of key data about the university—from admissions trends to faculty composition.
✉️ Dear President Davis
An open letter from our president, Jeff Salmon, to Furman’s president, Elizabeth Davis, addressing pressing issues on campus.
🕵️ The Paladin Report
A focused, investigative look at one key aspect of Furman’s administration, academic culture, or student life.
Despite the new name and additional content, our mission remains unchanged: To be your number one source for honest, informed, and independent news about Furman.
So, stay tuned, and thank you for standing with us.
Furman Trivia: Independence Day Edition
How much do you know about Furman? This section will test your knowledge. Our question this month honors July 4th.
Question: How many years separate Furman’s founding from the Declaration of Independence?
Answer at the bottom of the newsletter!
Campus Dispatch: A Quiet Campus, A Loud Summer
These days, the temperature is high, the dorms are empty, and updates from Furman are few and far between.
But that doesn’t mean there’s nothing important happening—especially beyond campus gates. This month, I want to bring you two major developments from Washington, D.C., both of which will have serious consequences for Furman—and for higher education nationwide.
1.)💰 The “Big Beautiful Bill” and the New Endowment Tax
On July 4th, the “Big Beautiful Bill” was signed into law. Among its provisions is a new, tiered tax on university endowment investment income, structured around a college’s endowment per full-time student:
Elite institutions like Harvard and Yale will see their investment income hit hard. Furman, however, is exempt on two counts:
Our endowment per student is approximately $330,000, according to Inside Higher Ed—well below the threshold.
The bill exempts schools with fewer than 3,000 students, providing an additional layer of protection.
Much of the media coverage has focused on how the bill was carefully crafted to spare Hillsdale College, a conservative school in Michigan with roughly 1,700 students. But Furman—and many other private institutions—also pushed back against the bill. In this case, President Elizabeth Davis and her administration deserve credit: they helped Furman navigate this legislation.
2.) ⚖️ The Supreme Court Strikes a Blow to DEI
The second major development is the Supreme Court’s recent unanimous ruling in Ames v. Ohio Department of Youth Services. The case was brought by a heterosexual woman who alleged workplace discrimination. In a landmark decision, the Court sided with her—unanimously.
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, widely regarded as one of the Court’s most liberal members, wrote the opinion. It affirms that civil rights laws protect members of “mainstream” or “majority” groups (white people, men, heterosexuals, etc.) just as fully as they protect minority groups. In the past, courts often held claims of discrimination from majority-group plaintiffs to a higher standard. No longer.
This decision has seismic implications for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs across American campuses—including Furman’s.
DEI ideology has long rested on the premise that white people cannot be victims of racism, only its perpetrators. That framework has justified policies and practices that disadvantage students or faculty based on their race, sex, or orientation—so long as they belonged to a “majority” group.
But now, that legal cover is gone.
From this point forward, any policy that discriminates against white people, men, heterosexuals, or other majority groups is just as vulnerable to legal challenge as those targeting minority groups. These cases will be adjudicated under the same legal standards, not a double standard.
In plain terms: Furman can no longer rebrand DEI under another name and continue with business as usual.
If it tries, it will be sued—and it will lose.
This should sound a death knell for DEI at Furman. Good riddance.
CLPs of the Month: What is a CLP?
Every month, Furman hosts a lineup of Cultural Life Programs (CLPs)—university-sanctioned events that students are required to attend. Each student must accumulate 32 CLP credits over their four years in order to graduate.
According to Furman, these programs are intended to “provide enriching, challenging cultural experiences” and “foster a sense of community on campus.”
We think alumni should know what counts as “cultural enrichment” these days.
So, starting this fall—when students return to campus—we’ll use this space to bring you the most curious, compelling, and sometimes downright bizarre CLPs of the Month.
Buckle up. It’s going to be a wild ride.
Trivia Answer:
50 years!
The Declaration of Independence was signed in 1776, and Furman University was founded in 1826.