Losing Enrollment: Identity Politics Meets Reality at Universities

Humanities hit hardest

As we watch university humanities programs crash in flames we know who is at fault. Anytime something fails, you look at who was in charge. How did they get their authority? Did they demonstrate skill and wisdom with a track record of successfully growing programs? Or did they fit into the political climate of their day?

The real world is performance-based. You can talk all you want, you might impress a few simple-minded people, but the proof is in the pudding. When you’re in charge, how do you perform? Did your program, school, or college fail under your leadership? The buck stops with those in authority. Were you on the governing board while that failure happened? Then it's on you.

This is why being in authority is a serious matter. But those who crave power often rush into it. In our day, they use identity politics to gain that power. But when failure comes, they are judged by their performance. Failure is failure. Identity politics won’t save you.

Socrates addresses this at the beginning of The Republic. Those who crave power, who promote themselves and their identity, are not to be trusted with authority. They are self-seeking and desire the benefits of power, such as praise and recognition, but they lack wisdom. The proof is in the results: the programs and institutions they oversee fail. Like all inept rulers, they try to shift blame to circumstances beyond their control. But the truth is that a wise and capable leader rises up and overcomes challenges. Failure reveals a lack of wisdom in leadership.

Thus, when you see someone promoted to a position of power due to identity politics and not because of skill, you can know what to expect. They will destroy what they have authority over because they only wanted praise and power and did not first seek out wisdom.

I’ll share some numbers with you to show how this plays out at ASU. I’ve seen it many times. Reality demands skill to achieve success, you won’t get that simply by belonging to the “correct” identity group. We all knew this, but somehow, over the last 20 years, that truth was thrown out the window in favor of elevating “the oppressed and marginalized,” while it was only applied critically to “the whiteness.” People seemed to think that being called “marginalized” granted wisdom and success without any proof. Now we’re seeing the results: colossal failure as entire programs and schools begin to collapse.

It turns out that when you are given a voice you might not have anything coherent to say.