REVERSE DISCRIMINATION TROPE

The DOJ is suing Yale, accusing it of discriminating against Asian American and white applicants. Their claims are 'leveraging the model minority myth' to pit racial groups against each other, scholars say.

Inyoung Choi, INSIDER•October 9, 2020

Yale university in New Haven, CT. Associated Press/Beth J. Harpaz

On Thursday, the Justice Department sued Yale University, accusing it of race-based discrimination on "most Asian and White applicants" after alleging in August that Yale discriminated against Asian American and white applicants based on a two-year federal investigation.

Scholars of the Asian American and Pacific Islanders community are criticizing the DOJ's accusation, saying it's part of a larger attempt to pit racial minorities against each other.

The DOJ is "leveraging the model minority myth to undermine the opportunity to build a multiracial coalition in this country to dismantle racism," a former board member of the Korean American Association told Insider in August.

Meanwhile, students and faculty have criticized legacy status as a factor of admissions that favors white applicants

The Department of Justice sued Yale University on Thursday, accusing it of discriminating against Asian and white applicants.

The lawsuit comes months after the DOJ in August accused Yale of imposing undue and unlawful penalties on racially-disfavored applicants, including Asian American and white applicants in particular. Their notice followed a two-year investigation following complaints about admissions at Ivy League colleges. Yale President Peter Salovey denounced the allegation at the time as "baseless."

In a statement issued Thursday, Salovey doubled down on the university's belief that the DOJ's "allegation is based on inaccurate statistics and unfounded conclusions."

"I want to be clear: Yale does not discriminate against applicants of any race or ethnicity. Our admissions practices are completely fair and lawful," he said. "Yale's admissions policies will not change as a result of the filing of this baseless lawsuit. We look forward to defending these policies in court."

Connecticut Attorney General William Tong also criticized the DOJ's allegations and said: "this lawsuit is as baseless as it is offensive, and every aspect of it demonstrates complete and utter overreach. My office is exploring all legal avenues to support Yale University and its students. The Department of Justice action deviates starkly from decades of well-established legal precedent and threatens to disrupt admissions practices at hundreds of universities nationwide."

The DOJ's claim is messaging stoking 'white resentment,' scholars say

Scholars of the Asian American and Pacific Islanders community criticized the Justice Department's accusation in August that Yale discriminates against Asian American and white applicants, pointing out the move just pits racial minorities against each other while ignoring the larger problem of legacy admissions.

"It's leveraging the model minority myth to undermine the opportunity to build a multiracial coalition in this country to dismantle racism," Dona Kim Murphey, a former board member of the Korean American Association, told Insider in August.

According to Michael Li, senior counsel at The Brennan Center for Justice, a nonpartisan public policy center that focuses on equal representation in government, the DOJ's accusation is ultimately "messaging for white people."

"It's like 'Hey if you're stuck at a job or not moving up the economic ladder, your income hasn't increased for decades — you can blame people of color and elites for keeping you out of schools like Yale,'" Li told Insider in August. "That's just political messaging for November."

Li added that this messaging was in line with the Trump campaign stoking "white resentment for people taking jobs and spots in schools." He said that, in addition to targeting white working-class resentment, the campaign seeks to promote white suburbanite resentment by talking about "what schools children of white suburbanites get to go to."

"The message that this sends to the AAPI community is that the DOJ is very interested in dismantling policies that create diversity and increase access to those who have been excluded to places like Yale," Janelle Wong, a professor of American Studies and Asian American Studies at the University of Maryland, told Insider in August. Wong received her doctorate at Yale.

Last year, a federal judge rejected Students for Fair Admissions' lawsuit that claimed Harvard discriminated against Asian-Americans. Brooks Kraft/Corbis via Getty Images

Many selective private colleges use a holistic admissions process that accounts for each applicant's background, including their race. They also take into consideration a number of other factors, like legacy status.

At Yale, only 5.8% of the entire student population identifies as Black. Fewer than 10% are Hispanic, and under 15% are Asian. Nearly 43% of the student body is white.

The Justice Department's action against Yale resembles a recent case against Harvard University that also took aim at affirmative action policies. Last year, a federal judge ruled against plaintiffs in a lawsuit that claimed Harvard discriminated against Asian-Americans. The lawsuit was filed by Students for Fair Admissions, which is led by Edward Blum, a white politically conservative legal strategist. In February, the Justice Department threw its support behind the lawsuit when it was sent to an appeals court.

"There's been a movement to dismantle affirmative action policies for decades at this point," Kim Murphey, a Harvard alumna, told Insider in August. "It's very misguided and the fact that they're drawing Asian Americans into that is exceedingly problematic."

Yale University. Michelle McLoughlin/Reuters

Jennifer Lee, a professor of sociology at Columbia University, told Insider by email in August that the DOJ's accusation is another example of "a full-throttle attack on affirmative action, fueled by the false equivalency of race and minoritized status."

She said that, in reality, "affirmative action is not negative action against Asian Americans" — and most voters recognize that. A 2016 AAPI data survey of Asian American attitudes shows that nearly two-thirds of Asian Americans support affirmative action.

"There's so much evidence that these policies create the learning environment these students thrive in," Wong said, adding that affirmative actions do not harm but benefit the AAPI community.

The Department of Justice did not respond to Insider's request to comment in August.
Meanwhile, students and faculty call the end of legacy status

Admissions processes have been known to favor applicants with legacy status, meaning they're members of families who attended or donated to the respective university.

In a 2005 article published in Yale's student newspaper, the dean of undergraduate admissions, Richard Shaw, said legacy "gives a slight edge, and we have no qualms about that."

But there is little data or investigation into how tangibly the status affects applicant status. According to The New York Times, Harvard places children whose parents attended the college — who often donate money as alumni — on a "Z-list," where they are admitted after a gap year.

A survey conducted by the Harvard student newspaper showed that over a third of the Harvard Class of 2022 were legacy admits. A study by the National Bureau of Economic Research published in 2019 showed that over 43% of white admitted students were "recruited athletes, legacies, those on the dean's interest list, and children of faculty and staff." Fewer than 16% of African American, Asian American, and Hispanic admitted students, respectively, fit that category.

Collin Binkley/AP Photo

But data on legacy admissions released from the university are largely unavailable. A spokesperson for Harvard told Insider in an August statement that "we do not publicly release this type of data, as it is not part of the IPEDS data set, required by the federal government." Yale publicly disclosed that 12% of the Class of 2023 had a legacy affiliation.

Earlier this year, Ronald J. Daniels, the president of Johns Hopkins University, wrote an essay in The Atlantic explaining why the university chose to end legacy admissions, citing that ending "hereditary privilege in American higher education" would be a step towards accessible, equitable education. In July, students and faculty at Georgetown started signing a petition calling for the same.

"I never became reconciled to the prevalence of this form of hereditary privilege in American higher education," Daniels wrote. "Particularly given this country's deeply ingrained commitment to the ideals of merit and equal opportunity."

Climate change concerns Latinos in Florida
Associated Press Videos•October 9, 2020



The Associated Press spoke with three Latino voters in Florida – an independent, a Democrat and a Republican – about key issues in the battleground state, including climate change, for the interview series “AP Newsmakers.” (Oct. 9)
Video Transcript

SHARIKA MITHA-OCHOA: We have a major problem in Biscayne Bay. And I know we have a problem globally, what's going on out in the West Coast is terrifying, lack of oxygen in the air for humans, but we have a problem here and we're surrounded by water and we need to take care of our waterways. And it just doesn't seem like we're doing enough.

RUBEN VICENTE: I think that we need to discuss more what things we have in common, what goals we share, what differences we have, and where we can reach middle ground. Because trust me, I'll be out there with you with my big old, I'm an old Republican shirt, I'm already old. And I'll be picking up the litter off of the side of Biscayne Bay.

GISELLE MAMMANA DIAZ: So I have seen it, I have personally experienced it. I haven't been able to take my twin boys sometimes to the beach, because there's too much seaweed and bacteria on the shore. So I do see it, I just wonder what moves the conversation for people to actually act and make a change.

Italian teenage computer whiz beatified by Catholic Church

GREGORIO BORGIA and COLLEEN BARRY,
Associated Press•October 10, 2020



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Italy Teen Beatification
An image of 15-year-old Carlo Acutis, an Italian boy who died in 2006 of leukemia, is unveiled during his beatification ceremony celebrated by Cardinal Agostino Vallini in the St. Francis Basilica, in Assisi, Italy, Saturday, Oct. 10, 2020. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

ASSISI, Italy (AP) — A 15-year-old Italian computer whiz who died of leukemia in 2006 moved a step closer to possible sainthood Saturday with his beatification in the town of Assisi, where he is buried.

Carlo Acutis is the youngest contemporary person to be beatified, a path taken by two Portuguese shepherd children living in the early 1900s who were proclaimed Catholic saints in 2017.

At the beatification ceremony in Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi, a portrait of Acutis was slowly unveiled, revealing a smiling teen in a red polo shirt, his curly dark hair illuminated by a halo of light. Cardinal Agostino Vallini, the papal legate for the Assisi basilicas, kissed each of the boy’s mask-wearing parents, Andrea Acutis and Antonia Salzano, after reading the proclamation decreed by Pope Francis.

Already touted as the “patron saint of the internet,” Acutis created a website to catalog miracles and took care of websites for some local Catholic organizations. While still in elementary school, Acutis taught himself to code using a university computer science textbook, and then learned how to edit videos and create animation.

“Carlo used the internet in service of the Gospel, to reach as many people as possible,’’ the cardinal said during his homily, adding that the teen saw the web “as a place to use with responsibility, without becoming enslaved.”

Acutis was born in London on May 3, 1991, to Italian parents and moved to Milan as a child. Already as a small child, he showed a strong religious devotion that surprised his non-practicing parents. His mother told the Corriere della Sera newspaper that from age 3 he would ask to visit churches they passed in Milan, and by age 7 had asked to receive the sacrament of Holy Communion, winning an exception to the customary age requirement.

’’There was in him a natural predisposition for the sacred,” his mother said.

His curiosity prompted her to study theology in order to answer his questions, renewing her own faith.

“Carlo saved me. I was an illiterate of faith. I came back thanks to Father Ilio Carrai, the Padre Pio of Bologna, otherwise I would have felt discredited in my parental authority. It is a path that continues. I hope to at least wind up in purgatory,” she told the Milan daily.

Acutis died of acute leukemia on Oct. 12, 2006.

He was put on the road to sainthood after Pope Francis approved a miracle attributed to Acutis: The healing of a 7-year-old Brazilian boy from a rare pancreatic disorder after coming into contact with an Acutis relic, a piece of one of his T-shirts.

“I was sure he was already a saint while alive. He healed a woman from cancer, praying to the Madonna of Pompeii,” his mother told Corriere.

Another verified miracle is necessary for sainthood, although Pope Francis has waived that on rare occasions.

Acutis was buried in Assisi at his own requests, having become an admirer of St. Francis of Assisi for his dedication to the poor. The Umbrian town was one of his favorite travel destinations. His body, clad in a tracksuit and sneakers, has been on display for veneration in a sanctuary in the town, and his heart will be displayed in a reliquary in the St. Francis Basilica.

Acutis told his mother that he would give her many signs of his presence after death.

“Before he left us, I told him: If in heaven you find our four-legged friends, look for Billy, my childhood dog that he never knew,” the mother said. One day she got a call from an aunt who was unaware of the mother-son pact, saying “I saw Carlo in a dream tonight. He was holding Billy in his arms.”

CANADIAN 1%
Who is Clare Bronfman, the Seagram’s heiress who financed Nxivm?
Adam Gabbatt in New York, The Guardian•October 10, 2020
Photograph: Timothy A Clary/AFP/Getty Images

Clare Bronfman, daughter of a billionaire Canadian father and a British mother, was making a name for herself as a showjumper in Europe in 2002.

Riding a 12-year-old gelding called Charlton, Bronfman – the heir to the Seagram’s liquor fortune – won the Rome Grand Prix equestrian tournament, and later placed second in a show in Bremen.

Related: 'This is about abuses of power': the shocking true story of the Nxivm cult

Away from the arena, however, the English-boarding-school-educated American was being drawn into a secretive society in New York state, an involvement which this week saw Bronfman sentenced to almost seven years in prison for her role in what would become a sex cult.

Bronfman, 41, was the first to be sentenced in connection with a federal investigation in Nxivm, whose leader, Keith Raniere, was convicted in 2019 of racketeering, forced labour, sex trafficking and child abuse images charges.

Victims were groomed by Raniere and his lieutenants to become sex slaves, imprisoned and branded with Raniere’s initials. Among Raniere’s facilitators was the actor Allison Mack, who pleaded guilty to charges she manipulated women into becoming sex slaves for the Nxvim leader in 2019.

Behind the scenes Bronfman financed Raniere as women, and a 15-year-old girl, were lured into his cult. Bronfman spent more than $100m on Raniere and Nxvim, prosecutors said, buying property in New York and LA, as well as a 22-seat private jet.

But Bronfman’s fortune would also be spent on silencing Raniere’s victims.

Clare Bronfman arrives at court in Brooklyn, New York, on 9 January 2019. Photograph: Brendan McDermid/Reuters

She used her vast resources to dispatch armies of lawyers at Raniere’s former members and Nxvim members. During the sentencing hearing victims described Bronfman as “a predator” and a “dangerous megalomaniac”, and described how Bronfman had sued them relentlessly, leaving lives ruined.

After pleading guilty in 2019 to conspiring to conceal and harbor an undocumented immigrant for financial gain, and fraudulent use of identification, Bronfman was sentenced to six years and nine months in prison on Wednesday, a judge telling the court she had “used her incredible wealth as a means of intimidation, threat and exacting revenge on individuals who challenged [Nxvim’s] dogmas”.

Bronfman’s lawyers had asked for leniency in her sentencing, arguing that she had no direct involvement in Raniere’s and Nxivm’s DOS subgroup, which was involved in the most disturbing sexual accusations.

Federal judge Nicholas G Garaufis accepted that there was no evidence Bronfman had been aware of DOS, but agreed with prosecutors who said Raniere could not have funded his sexual crimes without her largesse.

“I am troubled by evidence suggesting that Ms Bronfman repeatedly and consistently leveraged her wealth and social status as a means of intimidating, controlling, and punishing” opponents of Nxvim, Garaufis told the court in New York as he sentenced Bronfman.

“She used her incredible wealth as a means of intimidation, threat and exacting revenge on individuals who challenged its dogmas.”

Bronfman’s years-long association with Raniere began when she was introduced to Nxvim by her sister, Sara Bronfman, in 2002.

In a letter to Garaufis this summer Bronfman said she was suffering from anxiety and “patterns of self-loathing, insecurities, shame and fears” when she discovered Nxvim, which claimed to offer personal and professional development through a series of seminars.

Then 23, Bronfman had spent her childhood attending boarding school in England and visiting their Essex-born mother, Rita Webb, in Kenya. Webb, who is also known as Georgiana, married the actor Nigel Havers in 2007.

Clare Bronfman competes in the 2004 Olympic selection trials in San Juan Capistrano, California, on 23 May 2004. Photograph: Alamy Stock Photo

During her trial in New York Bronfman spoke in an English accent, although she left the UK in her mid-teens to reunite with her father, Edgar Bronfman Sr, who had a net worth of $2.5bn before he died in 2013.

Bronfman Sr was involved himself with Nxvim, reportedly taking a five-day course at the program in early 2003. According to Forbes magazine Bronfman Sr briefly became a Nxvim devotee, writing a glowing testimonial for the course before turning on the enterprise and branding it a “cult”.

Clare Bronfman never soured on Nxvim, or Raniere.

“Many people, including most of my own family, believe I should disavow Keith and Nxivm, and that I have not is hard for them to understand or accept,” Bronfman wrote in her letter to Garaufis.

“However, for me, NXIVM and Keith greatly changed my life for the better.”

Bronfman was ordered to forfeit $6m from her personal fortune of $200m as part of her sentence, and pay a $500,000 fine. Her lawyer called the prison sentence an “abomination” after the hearing, and said they planned to appeal.

In the meantime, as Bronfman begins her sentence, Raniere is being held at the Metropolitan detention center in Brooklyn, New York, while he awaits his fate.

Prosecutors have asked that he be sentenced to life in prison, but like Bronfman, many of his acolytes have stood by his side.

Over the summer members of Nxvim spent weeks dancing outside the detention center – where Ghislaine Maxwell is also currently detained – in an apparent show of support for Raniere.

Reportedly their only impact was to have Raniere moved to a different cell where he could not view their performances.

Snowboarders accused of starting avalanche should pay $168,000, Colorado official says

Brooke Wolford,Miami Herald•October 9, 2020


“Dude, we just buried the road.”

That was snowboarder Tyler DeWitt’s comment after he and Evan Hannibal allegedly triggered an avalanche in Summit County, Colorado.

GoPro footage from the two backcountry snowboarders is being used as evidence against them in a case of reckless endangerment, KDVR reported.

Prosecutors want them to pay Colorado $168,000 for the damage caused by the avalanche, according to the Vail Daily.

DeWitt, 38, and Hannibal, 26, were snowboarding on March 25 in the White River National Forest above the Eisenhower Tunnel, the Daily reported. They are accused of causing a large slab of snow to shift and cascade down the mountain, burying the road below, according to KDVR.

The avalanche was “large enough to bury and destroy a car, damage a truck, destroy a wood frame house or break a few trees,” the Colorado Avalanche Information Center reported.

“The avalanche damaged a remote avalanche control unit ... and covered over 400 feet of the roadway with debris up to 20 feet deep,” the agency said.

The avalanche control unit called an O’Bellx — a piece of equipment that costs $120,000 — is used to trigger small avalanches to decrease the risk of larger ones, according to the Daily.

“If the system is designed to prevent large avalanches, it certainly hadn’t in that case,” Hannibal told the Daily.

There were no vehicles on the service road, which is mostly used by state transportation workers, at the time and no one was injured, KDVR reported.

Fifth Judicial District Attorney Bruce Brown chose to charge the two snowboarders with one count of reckless endangerment each because of the potential disaster that could have occurred, according to the TV station.

“They recognized that there was a risk but they went down that chute anyway,” said Brown, according to KDVR. “With an interstate that has 100,000 cars going across it every week, it could’ve been a disaster.”

The misdemeanor charge would usually only result in a $750 fine and up to six months in the county jail, the TV station reported. But since the state had to pay so much money to clear the road and replace the avalanche equipment, Brown is seeking $168,000 in restitution from them.

“The pair was clearly worried about avalanche conditions but proceeded down the path anyway,” Brian Metzger, a Summit County Sheriff’s Office special operations technician who responded after the snowboarders called in the incident, told the Vail Daily.

“Clearly we made a mistake,” Hannibal told the newspaper. “But this is not the only area in Colorado where people have snowboarded with a road nearby that has the potential to be buried should a slide occur, and I’ve never heard of anyone receiving a criminal penalty for making a mistake like this.”

The snowboarders both pleaded not guilty at their first court appearance on Sept. 28, according to KDVR. A judge is expected to set their trial date on Oct. 27.

Rare 1794 silver dollar goes unsold at auction in Las Vegas

Associated Press•October 9, 2020

LAS VEGAS (AP) — A 1794 silver dollar believed to be among the first ever minted in the U.S., and the most valuable, went unsold during a public auction in Las Vegas.

Legend Auctions chief executive Matthew Bell said offers for the coin dubbed the Flowing Hair Silver Dollar didn’t reach a minimum bid and Las Vegas resident Bruce Morelan retained ownership.

Morelan sold 12 rare coins during the Thursday event at the Bellagio resort, reaping almost $4 million.

Coin collecting experts had thought the Flowing Hair coin could sell for more than the $10 million Morelan spent to buy it in 2013.


The coin features images of Lady Liberty ringed with stars on the front and an eagle on the back. A different Lady Liberty image was adopted for silver dollars beginning in 1795.

Experts say the coin is one of perhaps 300 original silver dollars that still exist among 1,758 struck in one day at the first U.S. Mint in Philadelphia.

It has been certified as authentic and its previous sale eclipsed the $7.59 million that a collector paid in 2002 for a 1933 $20 U.S. gold double-eagle coin

Polish GM ends world chess champion Carlsen's record undefeated run

Issued on: 11/10/2020 - 

Carlsen has been world champion since 2013 Claus Bech Ritzau Scanpix/AFP

Oslo (AFP)

World chess champion Magnus Carlsen has suffered his first defeat in more than two years and a record 125 games, while playing a tournament in his native Norway.

The world number one resigned after when he was a bishop down in the endgame against Polish grandmaster Jan-Krzysztof Duda, who is ranked a relatively humble number 15 in the world.

But on Saturday evening, 22-year-old Duda managed to do what no one -- including the world's top 10 players -- had managed to do since July 2018.

It was Duda's only win of the tournament in Stavanger so far and, as he told Chess 24 afterwards, "I didn't expect to win this game."

But he was, he said "extremely happy, obviously".

Carlsen, who is often tough on himself in post-game analysis, offered no excuses. "Extremely disappointing", he said: "Completely unforgivable".

Carlsen's undefeated run stretches all the way back to July 31, 2018, when Azerbaijani grandmaster Shakhriyar Mamedyarov defeated him. During that time, Carlsen scored 44 wins and 81 draws against his opponents.

© 2020 AFP

Supreme Court denies request to lift injunction on FDA abortion pill rule


The Supreme Court on Thursday rejected a request to lift a nationwide injunction on Food and Drug Administration rule requiring patients to see a medical provider before receiving a pill used in medical abortions. File Photo by Chris Chew/UPI | License Photo


Oct. 8 (UPI) -- The Supreme Court on Thursday declined to lift a nationwide injunction preventing the Trump administration from regulating a pill commonly used for medication abortions.

In its first action on reproductive rights since the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the shorthanded court rejected the bid to remove the emergency stay against restoring regulations that require patients to see a medical provider before receiving Mifeprex.

"A more comprehensive record would aid this Court's review," the majority wrote Thursday.

The Supreme Court did not indicate its merits on the issue, but gave the judge who imposed the ban the opportunity to modify it to make it less restrictive.

Medical and advocacy groups challenged Food and Drug Administration rules requiring patients to obtain the medication -- prescribed for abortions in early pregnancy -- in-person despite the fact that it can be taken at home, citing increased risks associated with visits to medical offices and clinics amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

In July, federal District Court Judge Theodore Chuang of Maryland supported the challenge, stating keeping the FDA rule amid the pandemic would "place a substantial obstacle in the path of women seeking a medication abortion and thus may necessitate a more invasive procedure."

Chuang said the pills could be sent by mail and issued the order stopping enforcement of the FDA rule nationwide.

The Justice Department, however, challenged the injunction, stating that suspending the requirements could worsen health risks associated with Mifeprex, "which can increase if the patient delays taking the drug or fails to receive proper counseling about possible complications."

The government also said the rules did not amount to an undue burden on rights to abortion access, citing the availability of surgical abortions, stating the FDA rule did not present a substantial obstacle "even if the COVID-19 pandemic has made obtaining any method of abortion in person somewhat riskier."

Justices Clarance Thomes and Samuel Alito dissented, saying the court should have lifted the injunction.

"Changes in the severity of the problems caused by the COVID-19 pandemic ... does not justify the Court's refusal to rule," the wrote.

Facebook removes hundreds of fake accounts linked to young conservatives group

Oct. 8 (UPI) -- Facebook announced Thursday that it removed hundreds of fake accounts linked to an organization for young conservatives.

The social media company said Rally Force, a marketing company, worked with Turning Point USA, a non-profit for conservative students, to create some 200 fake accounts and 55 fake pages on Facebook, and 76 fake accounts on Instagram.

Nathaniel Gleicher, Facebook's head of security policy, said Rally Force then used those accounts and pages to post criticisms of Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden and offer support for President Donald Trump. The marketing company also used the accounts to comment on pages and posts by major U.S. news organizations.

"Many of these accounts used stock profile photos and posed as right-leaning individuals from across the U.S. In 2018, some of these accounts posed as left-leaning individuals to comment on content as well," Gleicher wrote in a blog post.

The fake accounts commented on issues including sport hunting, the 2018 midterm elections, the 2020 presidential election and the COVID-19 pandemic.

Turning Point USA said Rally Forge worked with a separate but affiliated legal entity called Turning Point Action.

"Turning Point Action works hard to operate within social platforms' [terms of service] on all of its projects and communications and we hope to work closely with FB to rectify any misunderstanding," Turning Point Action said in a statement to CNN.

U.S. space mining policies may trigger regulatory 'race to the bottom,' scientists warn


While the United States has set up national regulations and bilateral commercial space agreements, some experts suggest an international agreement -- akin to the Montreal Protocol that limited CFC usage -- could better guide the eventual commercialization of space and the moon. Photo by NOAA | License Phot

Oct. 8 (UPI) -- In a newly published policy paper, a pair of Canadian scientists warn that the United States is angling to establish itself as the de facto gatekeeper of the moon and other celestial bodies.

Earlier this year, NASA published a new set of rules for lunar mining and other space activities, dubbing the voluntary guidelines the "Artemis Accords."ADVERTISEMENT

Aaron Boley and Michael Byers, authors of the new Science paper, argue that the Artemis Accords are part of a concerted effort by the U.S. and NASA to set a legal precedent for space-based resource extraction.

"It's not the Artemis Accords alone that are problematic," Michael Byers, professor of global politics and international law at the University of British Columbia, told UPI in an email. "Rather, it's the ongoing and concerted U.S. diplomatic effort to promote national regulation of space mining and to proceed with resource extraction before a multilateral agreement has been negotiated."

RELATED NASA needs new funding by February for 2024 moon landing, administrator says

In 2015, Congress passed the Commercial Space Launch Competitiveness Act, which allowed U.S. citizens and companies to "engage in the commercial exploration and exploitation of space resources."

Last month, NASA said it plans to buy lunar soil from a commercial company.

"We are buying the regolith, but we're doing it really to demonstrate that it can be done, that the resources extracted from the moon are in fact owned by the people who invest their sweat, and their treasure, and their equity into that effort," NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said during a virtual presentation in September.

RELATED NASA reveals new details of $28B Artemis lunar landing program

Byers and his co-author Boler, professor of astronomy and physics at the University of British Columbia, see the succession of legislative and policy moves by the United States as an attempt to establish national regulation of space mining.

"The current U.S. approach to space mining emphasizes national regulation and rejects space as being a 'global commons,'" Byers told UPI. "The result could be inconsistent national laws, a regulatory 'race to the bottom' and even 'flags of convenience' as nations compete to attract space mining companies."

Without international standards and an independent system of monitoring, Byers and Boler argue, bad behavior by one nation begets bad behavior by another. The paper's authors suggest bilateral agreements like the Artemis Accords could imperil efforts to forge future international space agreements.

RELATED NASA, space industry seek new ways to cope with space debris

"A better alternative would be to negotiate a multilateral agreement, and to do so now, rather than seeking to set precedents through unilateral and bilateral actions," Byers said.

Byers and Boler would like to see a multilateral approach to space resource management. The authors point to the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer as a model for international cooperation.

"The key is to have solid science, open information sharing, alternative technologies, and cooperation among actors," Byers said. "An international framework will set the standards and provide the required transparency. It will also give a voice to nations that cannot operate in space now, but will in the future. Scientists, engineers, and industry can do the rest."

While the Montreal Protocol has enjoyed considerable success in shrinking the hole in the ozone layer, the fight to curb the release of ozone-depleting chemicals isn't a precise corollary for regulating space mining.

"Many in the U.S. space industry would disagree with the idea that we need an international, multi-lateral treaty to move forward with space mining," Alex Gilbert, research fellow at the Payne Institute at the Colorado School of Mines, told UPI in an email. "There is no evidence that a multilateral or global treaty would be more effective than the approach the United States is taking."

Rather than the Montreal Protocol, Gilbert points to the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea -- not as an ideal model but as an example of a multinational agreement gone wrong. The United States declined to sign the law because it requires participation in an international profit sharing mechanism.

"The administration of UNCLOS deep sea mining regime leaves much to be desired -- commercial extraction has yet to take place, the profit sharing mechanism is not clearly established, and it is unclear whether there will be sufficient levels of environmental protection," Gilbert said. "Most deep seabed mining leases have gone to China and without effective governance it is not clear that that system is more effective than alternatives."

To date, attempts to establish a multinational space mining regulatory regime have faltered, and Gilbert suggests bilateral agreements like the Artemis Accords can serve as a stepping stone to a multinational space governance regime.

"The U.S. is uniquely suited to be a leader on space mining policy and space policy more broadly," Gilbert said. "It is currently engaged with space partners around the globe and its efforts are making it a global leader in space policy. International accords are difficult to negotiate but the U.S. approach is well suited to developing an iterative, collaborative and international process."