Colleges Don't Need DEIA | Opinion

Diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) policies are harmful, and universities should abandon them. While many people may be afraid to publicly condemn these policies, I feel it is my duty to speak out for the sake of academic liberty and the future of this country. These policies are insulting to minority students, they are racist to both minority and Caucasian students, they devalue and denigrate higher education, and they produce subpar results.

Today's universities foolishly place diversity of race, ethnicity, sex and economic class above all else, including diversity of thought, merit, and aptitude. This inversion of priorities results in poor academic performance, lower graduation rates, and conformity of thought. In addition to gatekeeping university admissions, DEIA policies have permeated the classroom. These policies affect grading systems, curriculums, and academic interactions. Many professors have abandoned teaching their subjects from a classical and ideologically neutral perspective in favor of emphasizing diversity, racism, feminism, and other progressive ideologies in subjects such as math and science. The quality of academic product has declined due to this change. Other countries laugh at us for mixing racism with math.

DEIA has inverted our values. University culture nowadays values diversity more than academic rigor and aptitude. This encourages people to lean into their minority status, or adopt a victim mentality instead of focusing on academic achievement. These institutions produce woefully immature and undereducated graduates. What students and "future us" need are sound learning institutions, where the brightest students are accepted and challenged to perform their best.

Harvard University President Claudine Gay has become a lightning rod for criticism of DEIA policies, and it's no wonder. She's been accused of plagiarism, and she was inarticulate and flubbed a question about genocide when she was questioned by Congress. How did she become the president of Harvard University? Disastrous DEIA policies have placed incompetent individuals in roles they have not rightfully earned, and left many of us feeling awkward and wondering if we are racist for calling out the obvious. These sinister policies extend past universities and operate as thought police of the general public. These policies should be abandoned and meritocracy should be restored. Race, gender, and sexual orientation should not be factors in whether someone is accepted, promoted, hired, or fired. People should be treated equally, regardless of race, gender, or sexual orientation.

DEIA has made higher education worthless in the eyes of many Americans. These policies are not fair to Caucasian students who have studied hard and scored high on SAT's and admissions exams. In addition, these policies are extremely damaging to minority students. DEIA policies place unqualified students in academic positions where they are likely to fail. They cause resentment with students who are passed over in favor of DEIA requirements and they worsen race relations. They assume that minority students are not as intelligent or are under qualified to attend universities without bending the rules. DEIA is the bigotry of low expectations. It infantilizes minority students and treats them as inferiors who can only excel via handout. Why pursue a degree at Harvard if you are going to be passed over to meet a racial quota or spoon fed anti-racism (racism), anti-ableism, anti-sexism ideology in every class? The condescending racism of DEIA ideology has infested classes, not just admissions, and hounds students in their classes, reminding them of their lowly status and indoctrinating them to believe that the whole world is against them. It is a gross, racist lie, and it should be abolished.

"Diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility" is anything but its stated name. The only thing that can save the university system is a return to meritocracy, a respect for independent thought, and a belief that all people are equal—independent of their race or sex.

Angela McArdle is chair of the Libertarian National Committee.

The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.