For the first time in a long time, conservatives and heterodox thinkers seem to be getting the upper hand in the culture war. At the federal level, executive orders such as those ending federal “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI) programs, combatting racial discrimination in institutions that receive federal funding, and pushing back against radical transgenderism have been rolled out in rapid succession. A major college accreditor had considered eliminating its DEI function, while many universities nationwide started the new year dismantling their DEI efforts.
However, expecting the visible hand of swift government action to undo decades of damages from omnipresent thought capture is plain wishful thinking.
[RELATED: Resistance to Trump’s Orders Sows Doubt About Reform]
Shortly after the WASC Senior College and University Commission (WSCUC), one of six regional college accreditors, announced the proposal to remove its DEI language, the progressive establishment fought back. A WSCUC member and university professor decried:
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion are not just aspirational ideals—they are operational frameworks that hold institutions accountable for addressing disparities. DEI language explicitly acknowledges the existence of barriers rooted in systemic racism, socioeconomic inequity, and historical exclusion. Without such language, standards may fail to require institutions to dismantle these barriers actively, allowing inequities to persist under the guise of broad, undefined goals.
Another WSCUC member, the Colleges of Law Dean Jackie Gardina, riled up the opposition by linking the proposal to “the tyrannical Trump administration.” She counseled her fellow “revolutionaries,” many of whom make a quarter million dollars a year like herself, to resist: “The proposed revision runs counter to the ‘first rule for combating tyranny—do not obey in advance.’” In response, WSCUC quickly reversed course and doubled down:
The Commission reaffirms WSCUC’s historic, powerful, and enduring focus on fundamental principles of equitable success for all students.
Recently, the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida filed a lawsuit on behalf of six professors against the state and the state university system’s Board of Governors, alleging that an anti-DEI state law and relevant board rules violate their free speech. In November 2022, a U.S. District judge ruled against Florida’s Stop Wrongs to Our Kids and Employees (“Stop W.O.K.E.”) Act, striking down the bill’s higher education provisions. The establishment intelligentsia would not easily concede power. The government’s strong hand against their blatant radicalism gives them an opportunity to gaslight their critics while claiming a moral high ground.
As the mandate to combat woke ideologies moves from red states to the national level, more legal pushback can be expected from the ACLU, NAACP, and other major players of the “Big Diversity” industry.
We can’t fight culture with government alone.
When done right, legislative and executive policy redress can drive meaningful change, especially at a time when our national conscience has been hijacked by identity tribalism and groupthink for far too long. But public actions alone are not enough. In higher education, a parallel battle must be waged to restore equality, merit, competitiveness, and viewpoint diversity—one that is won in the marketplace of ideas.
Mustering the courage to speak out on important issues whilst not worrying about political correctness or the prospects of being canceled is the crucial first step towards reforming the culture on college campuses. This applies to both faculty and students. A 2024 Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) survey found that conservative professors are three times more likely than their progressive colleagues to hide their political beliefs to keep their jobs.
An earlier FIRE poll of 2,007 undergraduates corroborates this chilling picture of self-censorship and speech restrictions, with one in ten students reporting being disciplined or threatened with discipline by college administrators. That included about 12 percent of somewhat conservative students and 21 percent of far-right students, compared to seven percent of somewhat liberal students and nine percent of far-left students. It also found that 42 percent of Hispanic students, 48 percent of black students, 63 percent of Asian students, and 51 percent of white students were somewhat worried about their reputations being damaged because someone misunderstood something they expressed.
[RELATED: Law Schools Must Create a Culture That Promotes Viewpoint Diversity. Here’s How.]
If a small percentage of tenured faculty, who object to the identarian, race and gender-based way of thinking, can overcome a fear of retribution and rise above the very humane but often irrational need to avoid discomfort and conflict, the culture will change tremendously and it will change for the greater good of truth-seeking. Professor Perry Link of the University of California Riverside did it. So did Professors Matthew Garrett of Bakersfield College, Gordon Klein of the University of California Los Angeles, Steven Earnest of Coastal Carolina University, and many others. Every one of them, at some point in their battles against the overshadowing woke orthodoxy, experienced threats, smears, reputational damages, and even temporary job losses. They fought back and were more empowered because of it. We need more like them to stand up to the leftist religious cabal of seeing the world through the prism of group labels and imaginary oppressions. If you can’t be the first, can you be the second? If not the second, how about the third?
Multiplied, this transformation from being afraid of sharing what you know is right deep down in your heart to proudly proclaiming your truth can catapult the cultural shift American higher education needs now. When that happens, a free marketplace of ideas will eventually trickle down to the students and spread out to the broader society. Courage is contagious.
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Image: Opposition by Nick Youngson CC BY-SA 3.0 Pix4free
“An they shall die.”
Thirty years ago, that’s how the Provost of a large state university summarized her attitude toward both the National Association of Scholars and the concerns they were raising about what was then called “Political Correctness.”
Hired into a tenure track slot a decade earlier, rapid advancement of this sort was not uncommon back then because all the people hired in the late 1960s (when higher education rapidly expanded) were retiring. There also was pressure to hire women — both in what had been a mostly-male department and then as the institution’s first female Provost.
What the “Tenured Radicals” knew was that if they could control replenishment, it wouldn’t be necessary to win the debate on the merits because those on the other side (then close to retirement) would soon be retiring and/or dying. Coming of age in the subversive culture of the anti-war movement, her generation quietly obtained tenure in the 1980s and then started using it in the 1990s.
They were willing to serve on the graduate admissions committees — and screen out anyone to the political Right of Vladimir Lenin. Or admit them but not fund them, which actually is worse because even if they manage to graduate, they are not going to have much of a CV.
This is where the battle was lost, and it was lost 30-40 years ago because without a grad degree, one doesn’t go on in higher education as anything more than a janitor.
But then there was the “Overton Window” with the “Tenured Radicals” hiring “Gen Xers” who were more radical than they, and then the “Gen Xers” hiring even more radical “Millennials.” That’s how we got to where we are, and it is not realistic to ask people to commit career suicide.
Higher Education is like the railroads circa 1968 — I don’t think it can be saved from it’s inevitable implosion.