“The reason that university politics is so vicious is because stakes are so small,” former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger once restated Sayre’s law in this famous quip on competition in academia. That was the 1970s when scholarly debates about communism and Marxism had little influence on government policies at the height of the Cold War. Times have changed.
The fights are still vicious, but the stakes are no longer trivial today because progressive academic elites wield considerable influence over the country’s cultural and political landscape. The “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI) cult policies are taught by university departments and corporate boards. Anti-racist university salons are even transforming early education, in which preschoolers are exposed to ideations of racial identities, intersectionality, and unconscious bias via summer camps, coloring activities, and so on.
There is a more insidious and equally consequential battle taking place on college campuses: the battle of administrative capture, in which full-time, unelected bureaucrats actively usurp higher learning, academic freedom, and the marketplace of ideas. Once in position, agents of administrative capture work tirelessly to maintain the status quo for purposes of ideological proselytizing, self-aggrandizing, or both.
The ensuing power structure is change-resistant in the sense that insiders protect their own, often at the expense of institutional integrity and transparency. Those exposed for their scandalous or subprime conduct, so long as they are part of the power structure, often just get a gentle slap on the wrist, followed by some type of congratulatory ritual, as if whatever wrongdoing that got them into trouble in the first place is an insignificant sidenote to the greater cause. After being pressured to resign amidst allegations of plagiarism and antisemitism, former Harvard President Claudine Gay has continued with the school in a faculty position that pays roughly the same as her nearly-million-dollar annual salary. To add insult to injury, Gay has been made a martyr in the posh circle of the race-obsessed, identity-crazed, progressive, cultural bourgeoisie. She was recently presented with a “Leadership and Courage” award by the Harvard Black Alumni Society. Former U.S. President Barack Obama not only intervened to help save Gay’s job, but is also producing a new Netflix series to immortalize her life story—rinse and repeat.
On the receiving end are a minority group of independent university board trustees, part-time volunteers, as well as heterodox academics daring to voice dissent. For them, the administrative state is never so forgiving. Job loss, reputation loss, career advancement loss, harassment and alienation are among the instruments of retribution employed to penalize dissent and non-compliance.
The sharp contrast between enabling bad actors who uphold the woke orthodoxy and punishing dissenters is unfolding in a small California community college district. There, a conservative professor lost his job after exposing his school’s engagement with DEI, sued the school district and won a multi-million-dollar settlement. Yet, a top administrator who presided over the former professor’s investigation leading up to his termination and evidently cost the school district a fortune is getting a contractual renewal with a healthy pay raise.
Dr. Matthew Garrett was a tenured history professor at Bakersfield College, a two-year public community college and part of the Kern Community College District (KCCD). In April 2023, the school fired him on grounds of “immoral/unprofessional conduct,” “dishonesty,” “violation of COVID guidelines,” “unsatisfactory performance” and other politically charged offenses. In a 19-page report, Bakersfield College substantiated the litany of charges against the conservative academic, starting with Garrett’s 2019 oped, criticizing the school’s labeling of anti-Marxist stickers on campus as a “hate crime.”
Bakersfield College’s troubles with Dr. Garrett escalated in 2022 when he co-founded the Renegade Institute for Liberty, a faculty free speech coalition. When the group posted a chart breaking down KCCD’s spending on segregated classes and programs in the 2021-22 academic year, the school disparaged the effort as “harmful,” “divisive,” and “inflammatory.” Garrett was also removed from the school’s diversity committee after questioning the school’s use of grant money on social justice initiatives.
Student statements were taken to demonstrate that Garrett was causing “very real harms.” One of these statements goes:
As an African American student, I felt that our safety and education here on campus was not important to a few people inside of the room. I also felt that if I went to register for any of those professors’ classes that I would fail in the classes because of the color of my skin.
Alas, the woke’s garden-variety accusations range from blatant attacks on the target’s free speech rights to the weaponization of feelings. “Show me the man and I’ll show you the crime.” Stalinist thought policing and political persecution are having a comeback in American academia.
Dr. Garrett fought back with a lawsuit and was exonerated of all allegations. To avoid further embarrassment, the school district offered to settle with $2.4 million plus a one-time payment of $154,520 for back pay and benefits. The settlement offer is a slap in the face to the entire school district and to those KCCD administrators who investigated the case and recommended dismissal.
In California, state law protects public employees’ rights to due process by requiring a pre-disciplinary hearing called a Skelly Hearing. In Dr. Garrett’s case, Cerro Coso College—part of the KCCD—President Dr. Sean Hancock served as the Skelly officer. But instead of ensuring the case against Dr. Garrett was meritorious, Dr. Hancock disregarded Dr. Garrett’s well-founded counterarguments and promoted false allegations smearing the professor.
Rather than upholding accountability with a reprimand or a robust performance review of Dr. Hancock’s work, the school district board will extend the employment contract with him in early renewal for three more years with pay raises, making the total price tag swell at $757,400. How is this possible?
In a letter to the KCCD Board of Trustees, Dr. Garrett wrote:
Sean Hancock’s dishonesty led the district to pursue dismissal that culminated in an embarrassing and costly legal defeat. Facing an inevitable loss, the Board approved a massive and humiliating settlement—perhaps the largest ever paid to a wrongly “cancelled” professor. KCCD’s abusive conduct made national headlines, and this financial burden now falls on taxpayers, while Dr. Hancock is poised to receive a pay raise and contract extension… Can he ethically fulfill his duties when facing managerial pressure? Taxpayers deserve public officials who prioritize truth, integrity, and fiscal responsibility over political expediency and personal gain.
As a whistleblowing outsider, Dr. Garrett’s words fell on deaf ears as KCCD Board Trustees voted on October 10th to approve Dr. Hancock’s contractual renewal and pay increase. In the perennial battle between full-time bureaucrats and their “amateur” opponents, the professionals scored another win.
Image of Claudine Gay giving remarks following her inauguration as the 30th President of Harvard University on September 29, 2023 — Wikipedia
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