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WITH CLAUDINE GAY OUT, HARVARD CAN DOUBLE DOWN ON DEI OR EMBRACE FREEDOM AND
TRUE DIVERSITY


DEI POLICIES AND PRINCIPLES CREATE A HIERARCHY OF OPPRESSOR AND OPPRESSED.
CONTRARY TO ITS PURPORTED MISSION, DEI DIVIDES US AS HUMAN BEINGS AND UPLIFTS
THE 'OPPRESSED' AT ALL COSTS.

Ingrid Jacques
USA TODAY

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Something interesting has happened in higher education since the Hamas attack on
Israel on Oct. 7. More specifically, a window has been opened to what’s been
going on in the hallowed halls of our nation’s elite institutions.

It’s not pretty.

Universities that boast the ideals of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) have
become hotbeds of hatred against Israel – and it's even directed at Jewish
students who have nothing to do with the ongoing conflict. 

And nowhere has that been more obvious than at Harvard University. 

Hate on campus:Harvard for Hamas? Something is very twisted on America's
university campuses



Claudine Gay, who resigned last week as president after only six months on the
job, is emblematic of the deep problems on her campus – and her departure
represents an opportunity for Harvard and other universities to rethink their
approach to both diversity and free speech. 

They just need to be smart enough to seize the moment. 




DEI HAS CURBED FREE SPEECH ON CAMPUS

Gay started fumbling Harvard’s response to the Oct. 7 attack right away,
offering no institutional moral clarity. And after her shocking testimony, along
with two other university presidents, at a congressional hearing on antisemitism
last month, it became obvious that Gay held a double standard on which students
deserve protection. 



Yet that is what DEI policies and principles do – they create a hierarchy of
oppressor and oppressed. Contrary to its purported mission, DEI divides us as
human beings and uplifts the “oppressed” at all costs. 

Fumble on Capitol Hill:Harvard president botched her testimony on antisemitism.
Firing her would've made it worse.



The growth of these diversity and inclusion bureaucracies come not only at a
large fiscal cost – but a cost to freedom as well. It’s not a coincidence that
universities’ heavy-handed speech codes have flourished along with this
administrative bloat. 

“The mass bureaucratization of universities has been a disaster for free speech
and academic freedom on campus,” Greg Lukianoff, who heads the Foundation for
Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), recently told me. “Those staffers have
been leading the charge for cancellations, new speech codes, new microaggression
policies.”



No wonder that students who’ve grown up with this ideology embrace it. If they
believe that Israel is an “oppressor” of Palestinians, then any actions to free
them – even coming from terrorists – should be celebrated. 

A recent Harvard CAPS-Harris poll found a shocking 67% of respondents ages 18-24
believe that Jews “as a class are oppressors and should be treated as
oppressors.” 

This explains a lot. 

Bill Ackman, the billionaire hedge fund manager and a Harvard donor and alum,
has helped raise the alarm about what’s happening on Harvard’s campus – as well
as Gay’s leadership. 



In a lengthy post last week on X, formerly Twitter, Ackman laid out what he had
discovered about the dangers of DEI and how entrenched it has become at Harvard
and other colleges.

“What I learned ... was that DEI was not about diversity in its purest form,” he
wrote. “Rather, DEI was a political advocacy movement on behalf of certain
groups that are deemed oppressed under DEI’s own methodology.



“Under DEI, one’s degree of oppression is determined based upon where one
resides on a so-called intersectional pyramid of oppression where whites, Jews,
and Asians are deemed oppressors, and a subset of people of color, LGBTQ people,
and/or women are deemed to be oppressed.”

Ackman is right. 


WHERE TO GO FROM HERE 

Republican states like Florida and Texas already have pushed back against this
DEI infiltration of higher education. And now Congress is getting involved. Last
month, Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas, introduced legislation that would withhold
federal funds from universities that require students to write or endorse DEI
statements. It also would prevent schools from using those statements as a
condition for employment. 

“Make no mistake – the DEI bureaucracy is directly responsible for a toxic
campus culture that separates everyone into oppressor vs oppressed,” Crenshaw
said in a statement. 

He crafted his bill to preclude any interference in classroom instruction, which
would be an infringement on the First Amendment. 

Combating this bureaucracy, on the other hand, is fair game. 



Groups such as FIRE also have laid out blueprints for how colleges like Harvard
can reinvent themselves and return to their core educational missions – and
getting rid of the DEI bureaucracy is an important component. 


DOES HARVARD WANT TO CHANGE? 

While this all sounds like a great opportunity for a reset, I’m doubtful it will
happen. In the days since Gay’s departure, she and her supporters have harnessed
DEI rhetoric to make her seem like a victim rather than the highly privileged
but disgraced leader that she is. (Gay remains on Harvard's faculty, by the
way.)



Elites acting badly:Whether it's Harvard president or Senate staff, identity
politics can't excuse bad behavior

Gay was Harvard’s first Black president, and rather than take responsibility for
her actions – including allegations of plagiarism – she has leaned on her race
as the reason for her perceived persecution. 



Many in the media have flocked to her defense, echoing her concerns of racial
animus. After all, it was conservatives and right-leaning news outlets who
spearheaded the scrutiny of her work (My favorite was this absurd Associated
Press headline – “Harvard president's resignation highlights new conservative
weapon against colleges: plagiarism”). 

The truth is the truth, however. It’s also Harvard’s motto: “veritas.” 

If Harvard and other universities want to pursue truth, they must shed the
blinders of DEI and replace it with policies that will lead to true diversity
and freedom – values essential to any education.

Ingrid Jacques is a columnist at USA TODAY. Contact her
at ijacques@usatoday.com or on X, formerly Twitter: @Ingrid_Jacques







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