ASU Platforms the DNC
Land Acknowledgements
The DNC released its 2024 platform, and it reads like a faculty meeting at ASU. I have kept you up on how my school at ASU (and many/most others) begins each faculty meeting with a “Native American Land Acknowledgement” reading. The problem with these is that they are performative and do no real good while politicizing what should be a faculty business meeting. It makes the liberal faculty members feel as if they’ve accomplished something by “putting words into the universe” when they haven’t done anything at all. Everyone knows these are liberal political statements.
It is very important that ASU is an inclusive place for students of all backgrounds. We, as faculty, have already signed a contract that says we support all students. These land acknowledgments are not about that. Such statements are a liberal ritual for people who reject religion but still need to fill that space in their lives. Those of us who are Christian do not hold church during faculty meetings, but the liberal faculty member tries to make all of us practice their rituals at our secular jobs.
What should a faculty member do? Support all students and help them achieve success in their university careers. If so moved, contribute their personal time to a charity of their choice. Protect the neutrality of ASU and faculty meetings by keeping them free from political bias. Faculty who violate this, especially if it is the first thing they do when given a position of authority, are the very hegemons they decry. ASU should consistently apply its faculty manual and discipline such administrators when they refuse to protect political neutrality.
Why is ASU imitating the DNC platform? Why isn’t there equal time given to the practices of the RNC? What is the effect of the largest state university in the country privileging one political party during an election year? This isn’t the first time ASU has privileged the Democratic Party this year, as evidenced by the high-profile speakers they invite to campus (see past posts of mine from this Spring).
This is an instance where they are telling you, out loud and in no ambiguous terms, that they will continue to discriminate against conservatives and Republicans. You should believe them. If you expect a state university that remains neutral and equally encourages both liberal and conservative viewpoints among students and faculty, ASU is telling you, “We aren’t that.”
ASU: remove your Native American Land Acknowledgment from the library web page, Law School web page, and anywhere else it is present. It is a virtue signal to much more than the importance of serving our Native American students, and everyone knows it.
