Rob Jenkins is a Higher Education Fellow with Campus Reform and a tenured associate professor of English at Georgia State University – Perimeter College. The opinions expressed here are his own and not those of his employer.
No one thinks that, with a stroke of Donald Trump’s pen, all “diversity, equity, and inclusion” programs will simply disappear from America’s college campuses. We all know such programs will evolve, rebrand, and go underground as necessary to avoid extinction. I’ve addressed that phenomenon in this space and elsewhere, as has my colleague Adam Ellwanger.
That said, those of us on the side of truth and sanity have, in recent weeks, enjoyed some very impressive wins, thanks in part to President Trump’s executive orders but also to the hard work of activists like Matt Walsh, Chris Rufo, and the Leadership Institute’s own Riley Gaines. Indeed, Campus Reform’s home page, which normally reads like a catalog of leftwing excesses, these days looks more like a scorecard, with the home team finally in the lead.
We conservatives are generally bad at celebrating our wins, being more inclined to shrug and move on to the next fight. And I’m not saying we shouldn’t continue girding our loins for the inevitable upcoming battles. Nor am I suggesting we become complacent. But I do think we ought to pause for a moment to savor the victories.
For example, Jack Roberts reports that the Ibram X. Kendi Center at Boston University is closing in June amid accusations that it squandered millions of dollars in donors’ and university funds while producing virtually no “scholarship.” Few public figures have done more damage to this country than the false prophet Kendi, with his divisive, oxymoronic “antiracist” rhetoric. We should celebrate his figurative demise.
[RELATED: Coast Guard Academy rolls back DEI as cuts at Naval Academy may soon follow]
No doubt Kendi (nee’ Henry Rogers) will continue to wreak destruction, or at least attempt to, in his new home at Howard University. But his abysmal record and very public failure at BU will likely render him at best a fringe figure, moving forward, rather than a key player.
We also learned this week that many of the more vocal pro-Hamas sympathizers on college campuses may finally get their comeuppance, thanks to another Trump EO.
As Campus Reform’s managing editor Elad Vaida notes, the President’s executive order titled “Additional Measures to Combat Anti-Semitism” not only provides a mechanism for campus leaders to report incidents of anti-Jewish hatred, it also stipulates that pro-terrorist students in the U.S. on student visas may be deported.
Those of us concerned with DEI in the military as well as in higher education got a “two-fer” last week. As C.J. Womack reported for Campus Reform, “The United States Air Force Academy in Colorado has removed the ‘Diversity and Inclusion Studies’ minor from its official list of majors and minors.”
Courses in this minor included “Gender, Sexuality, and Society,” “Diversity and Security,” and “Gender and Sexuality in History”—none of which, apparently, will now be offered at the Air Force Academy. Perhaps cadets can get back to—oh, I don’t know. Learning to fly? Killing the enemy?
[RELATED: Trump Dept. of Ed launches investigations of anti-Semitism at five universities]
Finally, I must mention one other development that is a direct result of Campus Reform’s reporting. According to Michael Duke, “the University of California, San Francisco canceled a webinar due to be taught by a lecturer who previously said that ‘Whites are psychopaths.’”
This followed a Campus Reform story in December noting “that [Dante] King was slated to lead a two-day webinar Feb.20-21 about ‘Understanding the Roots of Racism and Bias: Anti-Blackness, and Its Links to Whiteness, White Racism, Privilege, and Power 2024.’”
King told The San Francisco Chronicle that he decided to cancel the webinar because “the attention the course is receiving could lead to more harm than good for me personally, for my family and for the (UCSF) organization.” He neglected to mention the harm the webinar itself might do to the community and to the nation—perhaps because, like most DEI grifters, he either doesn’t recognize it or doesn’t care.
Those are just a few examples of the wins our side has stacked up lately, following Donald Trump’s return to the Oval Office and years of push-back on these issues by Campus Reform and likeminded organizations. No doubt there are many battles still ahead, but I for one plan to enjoy these victories even as we anticipate more.
Because no, President Trump–I’m not even close to being tired of winning.
Editorials and op-eds reflect the opinion of the authors and not necessarily that of Campus Reform or the Leadership Institute.
This article was originally published at campusreform.org
