As a sophomore at the University of Michigan, I have seen the effects that left-wing academic policies can have on the overall health of an educational institution firsthand.
Those influences take many forms, from “mandatory” gender and sexuality modules to required classes for many majors on racial and ethnic intolerance and “inequality.”
One thing that doesn’t change, however, is the institutional commitment to liberal polemics on display everywhere.
The programs created by that commitment are pervasive and require a tremendous amount of manpower to ensure their continued implementation. In a 2021 study, The Heritage Foundation found that the University of Michigan had the biggest diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) apparatus by far of any public university, with 163 employees devoted to advancing those aims, compared with an average of 45.
A recent analysis done by former University of Michigan professor Mark Perry suggests that the number is even higher currently, with 241 DEI employees on just one of the school’s three campuses.
With so much focus on “inclusion,” an outside observer might be led to think that the campus as an institution would be a warm and welcoming environment.
The opposite, however, has been my experience. What I’ve seen instead is the fostering of hostility between different identity groups. It’s not just my personal experience, however. My Heritage Foundation colleague Giancarlo Canaparo noted that as well in a March 2023 essay he wrote for The Daily Signal.
The position of the university regarding DEI has come under increasing scrutiny recently. In October, university leaders reaffirmed their position, stating that their “commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion is inseparable from the pursuit of academic excellence.”
Pushback, however, has been mounting, with members of the Board of Regents—and even some liberal faculty members—calling on University of Michigan President Santa Ono to “defund or restructure” the DEI program there.
The Daily Caller News Foundation reported Nov. 28 that the Board of Regents is “expected to vote on the matter on Dec. 5.”
For now, however, the situation remains far from being resolved. The efficacy of such reforms depends in large part upon an institutional commitment to change—something only a reverse “long march through the institution” would be able to accomplish.
At a university where fewer than 1 in 8 students, including me, consider themselves conservative, it’s a constant battle to maintain fidelity to principles and a sense of identity in an overall hostile environment.
This experience of constant struggle led me to reconsider my approach to higher education. I had previously thought positively about going to college in order to change the environment around me. However, after having received a true taste of the sheer volume of left-wing ideology extant at the University of Michigan, I realized that to do this would compromise my ability to effectively engage in academics there.
As I considered the notion of the University of Michigan potentially being my alma mater—an allegorical Latin term meaning “nurturing mother”—I realized that in every possible instance, thanks to its embrace of DEI policies, the University of Michigan was the opposite of “nurturing.”
Reflecting upon that, I resolved that I should shift my study to another place of learning that wasn’t as toxic.
It wasn’t that I didn’t want to engage in the fight to reclaim our beloved institutions, such as the once-great University of Michigan. Rather, it’s precisely the desire to fight effectively that led me to realize that I wasn’t able to both learn and fight at the same time.
Learning precedes fighting, as my ex-military grandfather reminded me, and that prompted me to seek another institution that was truly oriented toward education, not merely indoctrination.
My search culminated in another school well known in Michigan: Hillsdale College.
The more I learned about Hillsdale, the more I grew to love it. Here was an environment where true education takes place. Here was where truth is sought, where virtue is prized, and where students graduate equipped to go out into the world, to fight for the good, and to make a real difference.
On my preliminary tour, what stuck with me most was the people—or more specifically, the atmosphere—that I encountered on campus.
There was a commonality that I perceived there—a consensus of purpose, a constructive atmosphere for fielding disputes, and a genuine human respect that students had for one another.
But even more basic than that was the joy. There was a discernible note of laughter and study, of just sheer gladness in the truth, that made me genuinely sad to step off campus and return home.
What I took away from this contrast, and what ultimately informed my choice of Hillsdale over continuing at the University of Michigan, was that, as the psalmist says: There is a time for war and a time for peace. Learning occurs best in a place of tranquillity and serious—albeit joyful—study, as the term alma mater implies.
My life outside of the university will be a series of battles for the truth, which I look forward to engaging in and winning.
The best way to prepare for that, in my estimation, though, is in an environment like Hillsdale College’s, where education is truly prized. That’s what I look forward to participating in, as I prepare to begin my studies there next semester.
