Over the past few years, there has been a rise in illiberalism across the United States. One of the most concerning places where this is occurring is at our higher education institutions, the very place that is supposed to nourish freedom of thought and the free exchange of ideas. According to the 2024 College Free Speech Rankings report by College Pulse and the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), almost two-thirds of surveyed college students believe that it is acceptable to “shout down a speaker to prevent them from speaking on campus.” While there are many reasons for this intolerance of different viewpoints among college students, one very important reason is due to poorly constructed diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs at these institutions. Diversity, inclusion, and equal access to opportunity are important values but can be harmful when implemented with the wrong approach. These programs have been heavily influenced by anti-racism, an ideology that promulgates that all racial disparities are due to racism and calls for unending discrimination in order to make up for past injustices. An ideology such as this elevates race as the most important attribute, pits racial groups against each other, and increases intolerance for those that differ in opinion because if you are not anti-racist, you are a racist.
This intolerance has seeped deep into our higher education institutions, and I have seen it first hand in the classrooms. For example, I took a political science class this past year at the University of Michigan and one day, we were debating about DEI and its funding at the university. The first student who spoke for the side of “increasing funding for the university’s DEI program” ended their argument by saying “and if you don’t support a strong DEI program, then you shouldn’t be here.” This was followed up by a round of finger snaps from the students’ side which showed that they supported the message. Now, whether or not the student meant that you shouldn’t be in the classroom, in the class, or at the university, is not important. The message was clear, an opposing view of the DEI program was unwelcome. I believe that this moment perfectly encapsulates what DEI currently stands for. A program that calls for diversity and inclusion, and yet does not value diversity or inclusion of differing opinions.
This intolerance, however, is not exclusive to the University of Michigan. An analysis by the EAB, an education consulting firm, of 130 statements by U.S. and Canadian universities on racial justice and anti-racism in 2020 after George Floyd’s murder by Minneapolis police found that 60% of the statements included some sort of short-term institutional commitment to anti-racism. This ideology is clearly not a fringe theory at our higher education institutions and has some substantial, negative consequences for free inquiry. A statistical analysis by the Heterodox Academy, a non-profit advocacy group working to protect free speech and viewpoint diversity on college campuses, found that “the size of a university’s DEI bureaucracy is […] strongly correlated with how students feel about allowing controversial conservative speakers on campus.” This means that the larger the DEI bureaucracy, the more intolerant students are of allowing controversial conservative speakers on campus. For example, when looking at support for preventing a speaker who once said “Black Lives Matter is a hate group”, a predicted 66% of students at universities with the smallest DEI bureaucracy support the prevention while a predicted 80% of students at universities with the largest DEI bureaucracy support the prevention. Furthermore, the study also found that “the size of a university’s DEI bureaucracy is significantly and positively correlated with student support for disruptive action.” More specifically, “universities with the largest DEI bureaucracies are predicted to have student populations” that are 19 percentage points “more supportive of shout-downs,” 10 percentage points “more supportive of blockades,” and 12 percentage points “more supportive of violence” than student populations of universities with the smallest DEI bureaucracy.
While this study does not indicate causation, it does show that there is a strong connection between the size of university DEI bureaucracies and intolerance of conservative speakers, who usually hold a differing opinion from the majority of students at liberal universities. However, this does not mean that DEI must be dismantled. Instead, it needs to be reimagined. First, these programs must distance themselves from anti-racism as there is no benefit in following an ideology that calls for continuous discrimination based on race which pits racial groups against each other. This only creates division among students and intolerance for differing opinions. Second, there must be a commitment to diversity and inclusion, not only of different races, but also of different political perspectives. In a time of rising illiberalism, universities should be at the forefront of free speech, allowing for different viewpoints to be disseminated and debated. Only then, will students of all different perspectives feel like they belong in the classroom and the university community.