Closing “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI) offices around the country is a powerful step in halting the illiberal and divisive harm-centric monoculture that has taken over higher education. However, there remain far too many student-facing administrative offices that seek the same goals. Whether in residential services or student life offices, administrators wield significant power and […]
Read More
If there is an annual event that most clearly demonstrates the importance of merit and skill on American college campuses, it is the March Madness surrounding the NCAA basketball championships. The public, whose support of higher education is sharply waning in light of increasing collegiate inanities, intensely roots for favorite schools and players. In higher […]
Read More
If you are at all familiar with the history of Western Civilization or perhaps the movie 300, then you probably already know the basics about the Battle of Thermopylae. 2500 years ago, a small band of Spartans led by King Leonidas and some allied Greek forces sought to prevent an invasion of the Greek peninsula […]
Read More
Editor’s Note: This article was originally published by Blaze Media on March 7, 2024 and is crossposted here with permission. The Sunshine State is now the test case of whether anti-DEI laws can have a meaningful effect in turning back these neo-racist programs. The University of Florida boldly advanced to the front of the academic line last […]
Read More
Editor’s Note: This story originally appeared in Tablet Magazine, and is reprinted with permission. A massive increase in foreign money and students on American campuses is driving radicalization and subsidizing institutional failure. Something new and peculiar stands out about the wave of anti-Israel student activism that has rocked American university campuses since October: There is […]
Read More
The New York Times recently unveiled a fascinating shift in the landscape of “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI) programs. Instead of the overt focus on race and gender representation, a new trend of rebranding is emerging. Now, we see the rise of more innocuous-sounding initiatives like “culture surveys” and “performance training.” While opponents should rightfully […]
Read More
In January 2024, Minding the Campus reported that the University of Illinois Springfield firmly ditched its “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI) audit, which found that the university “fail[ed] to adequately address a rape case” involving one of its recruiters. Colleagues have contacted us about a similar situation at the University of Tennessee Knoxville (UTK), the […]
Read More
Editor’s Note: This article was originally published by National Association of Scholars on January 24, 2024 and is crossposted here with permission. In the aftermath of Claudine Gay’s defenestration as president of Harvard, many conservatives, libertarians, and un-woke liberals see an opportunity to rally public support for an operation to rescue higher education. The idea has caught […]
Read More
Editor’s Note: This article was originally published by Law & Liberty on January 18, 2024 and is crossposted here with permission. For a number of years now pleasant young women (or persons identifying as women, or with female-sounding names) have been contacting me from the university’s diversity office, inviting me to attend sessions to discuss our DEI policies. […]
Read More
If there’s one thing to thank “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI) experts for, it’s their knack for revealing the stunning hypocrisy behind universities’ DEI initiatives. Case in point: Maria Thompson and Susan C. Turell’s 2022 DEI audit of the University of Illinois Springfield (UIS), laying bare the university’s failure to adequately address a rape case […]
Read More
I know of no country in which there is so little independence of mind and freedom of discussion as in America — Alexis de Tocqueville From 1991 to 1994, at Duke University, I edited a publication called the Faculty Newsletter. The Newsletter had a short and rather erratic history and folded a couple of years […]
Read More
If economic rationality guided American universities, the recent Supreme Court decision declaring racial preferences unconstitutional should have been welcomed. The decision provides an off-ramp to costly failures at a time when higher education struggles financially. Given these fiscal strains, why fund diversity, particularly if this invites expensive litigation? Even those embracing the “diversity is our […]
Read More
How much do the diversity—equity—inclusion (DEI) movement and anti-Semitism feed on one another? There was a time when DEI advocates thought it was part of their remit to fight anti-Semitism too. In fall 2017, the University of Washington’s Department of Epidemiology issued a glossary of DEI terms that along with “ableism,” “birth assigned sex,” and […]
Read More
On November 29th, 2023, the Ohio House of Representatives Committee on Higher Education heard testimony on House Bill 151 (Senate Bill 83), which would enact common sense restrictions on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion activities at publicly funded universities. Jonathan Pidluzny provided the following testimony. I’m here today because campus DEI programs are anathema to the […]
Read More
Eight states have already passed laws limiting DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion). Senate Bill 83, introduced by State Senator Jerry Cirino, makes Ohio one of 20 states that have proposed but not yet passed such laws. Although SB 83 does far more than rein in DEI, I will focus here on two recent developments that […]
Read More