It seems to me that many well respected CS departments in the US make use of multiple languages in introductory courses.
Some examples:
CS50 at Harvard uses Scratch, C, Python, SQL, JavaScript, CSS, and HTML.
CS 61A at UC Berkeley Primarily uses Python but also makes use of Scheme
CSCI 0190 at Brown primarily uses Pyret but also makes use of Python.
So it seems that it is common among introductory CS courses at a collegiate level to make up for the limitations of a particular language to use more than one.
Further, it seems that schools make an attempt to have a cohesive sequence of two or three introductory courses where courses build upon prior coursework to provide a broader breadth of foundational understanding. My favorite example of this is Cornell's CS 3110 which uses OCaml to teach Data Structures and Functional Programming.
I know this doesn't actually address your original question but I hope it inspires you to be flexible with the approach to the new curriculum.
I think System76 has much less of a perception problem than the others. For Purism, I read much more damming critiques like waiting 3 years for your order. For the others, I nearly never read about them unless I go out of my way to find people discussing them. I would say those are much bigger problems for companies to have.
The criticism is from two angles. First, Clevo is known for products that are not on the high end of the quality spectrum. They don't try to be. Which currently is an obstacle for improving the quality of System76 laptops. System76 however has be working with suppliers to increase the quality of the products and doesn't source everything from Clevo for their laptop lineup. Second, System76 doesn't have the order volume of other brands allowing them to have more control over what their suppliers will supply while keeping per unit costs low enough to satisfy System76 margin expectations and keeping prices attractive enough to customers.
System76 has been making good decisions over time to address these challenges and produce better value for customers. But I don't think it's unfair for people to be critical of the current situation. System76 laptops aren't cheaply priced so customers should expect System76 laptops to meet expectations in line with the prices. Not everyone will agree that System76 is or can do that with their current product offerings.
Unfortunately, the economics of laptop and desktop retail sales has subsidies from software based services built into the price expectations of customers. I like that System76 is moving against those headwinds. It means that System76 is not making decisions to try to get you to sign up for services and respects that the hardware you purchase is for your personal use and gives you autonomy to use it as you'd like without creating hurdles. But it also means their products aren't going to be as compelling to those that are willing to deal with hurdles in exchange for lower prices.
Seems like we've got all the feedback that we're going to get on this idea. I'm going to sit with it and return to it in the context of determining what might be the purpose of this community.
Perhaps Elixir is worth a look.