Control the Issue
There is an old political trick: if you can “name” the issue, you can “control” the issue. The classic example is the ongoing American controversy over abortions. One side is against abortion, the other is for it. But that’s not how we talk about it. Our arguments generally accept the language of one side: “pro-life” folks are against abortion. And while the other side tried to “control” the language by calling themselves “pro-choice”, in the end, if you’re not “pro-life”, why, then you must be “pro-death”. And who wants to be “pro-death”? That’s controlling the issue.
Here in Ohio we are in a battle to control academic minds. Oh, we don’t name it that way. But there is a segment of the state, well over-represented in the state legislature, that believes that public colleges are “bastions of liberal thought”.
I just need to point out that if Ohio’s colleges are all so “liberal”, then how-come the voters of Ohio have acquiesced in a political system almost guaranteed to maintain the power of the MAGA-Republican party? It’s like those local community members who claim that school teachers are “indoctrinating” their children in a “liberal – National Education Association” view of the world. Indoctrinate students in a political view? Teachers can’t even get kids to stop chewing gum in class, or turn in their homework. If we could indoctrinate, we’d probably start there!
Diversity
But it’s a real issue for the state legislature. There is a proposal, Senate Bill 1, that is now on the Governor’s desk for signature into law. It “redefines” how public colleges (state schools) can teach. And they use the “boogie man” of MAGA world, the magic three letters “DEI”. The President of the United States and his billionaire buddies have made “Diversity, Equity and Inclusion” the most terrible thing that ever happened in American history.
Why in the world would we want America, a nation of immigrants from all parts of the world, to teach diversity? Why in a Nation supposedly dedicated to equality, would we want greater representation of different gender, ethnic, and cultural groups? And, why would we want folks from one of the different groups included with the others?
If you think about “DEI”, it’s really about America. And the fight against “DEI” is about America as well. MAGA’s greatest appeal is based on a reality: the changing demographic of our population. Donald Trump, Red MAGA Hats, anti-DEI laws or not; in the next fifteen years white people will no longer be a majority in the Nation. It’s that statistical reality that fuels the MAGA movement, attracting white people, and particularly white men, to claim “victimhood” to “DEI”. Changing America is taking away the advantage that white men had throughout our history. And the way to fight that, to maintain the advantage, is to stop “DEI” and to export anyone they can who doesn’t “fit”. That’s why Trump’s draconian and cruel immigration policies are so popular. They aren’t deporting “white” people.
Appropriated Language
In Senate Bill 1, the MAGA-Republicans have even appropriated the language of their ideological opponents.
On the academic side, each university must declare that its primary function is the “pursuit of knowledge” and “affirm and declare” that it will ensure full intellectual diversity. It must “demonstrate” intellectual diversity in all course approvals, general education courses, annual reviews, strategic goals for each department and student learning outcomes. (Ohio Capital Journal)
There’s the “magic word”, diversity. But in the case of Senate Bill 1, diversity means that the intellectual message of the right must be included in every discussion. So when a professor talks about climate change, they MUST include the views of those who ignore science and simply don’t believe in it. And when they talk about the history of Black Americans, they must add in the Ku Klux Klan, because “there were good people on both sides”. And if a law school professor actually might happen to venture into inherent racism in American law, say, the difference between punishments for crack use versus cocaine use; the old “boogie man” of “Critical Race Theory” will be thrown down like a gauntlet before a duel.
Intellectual Challenge
When I went to college, I got to learn from liberals and conservatives, Marxists and free marketeers, cutting edge scientists and staid elder statesmen. That’s real diversity of thought. And the best part, was that my young mind sponged it all in, and used the differing thoughts and philosophies to synthesize my own intellectual views. It was challenging, and exciting, and sometimes frustrating. But I got to see all sides.
Some of my professors were “controversial”. But Senate bill 1 states:
A state institution must establish a system to respond to complaints about any administrator, faculty member, staff or student who interferes with the intellectual diversity of another. So, in substance, students can file a complaint against a professor for addressing a controversial topic or stating a historic fact that students find infringing upon their intellectual diversity rights.
The bill defines “controversial belief or policy” as “any belief or policy that is the subject of political controversy, including issues such as climate policies, electoral politics, foreign policy, diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, immigration policy, marriage, or abortion. (Ohio Capital Journal).
Infringe
In short, if the professor “infringes” on someone’s personal intellectual MAGA beliefs (something we used to call the “Socratic Method” of teaching), instead of accepting the challenge and defending their views, they become “victims” and complain to the administration. And since the MAGA-Republicans control the budget, that professor, like those students who protest against losing “DEI” programs, are out of luck; and out of school.
It’s Ohio. Governor DeWine, just back from helping President Trump disband the Department of Education, will likely sign it. And the great benefit of college; exposing students to differing intellectual ideas and beliefs, will be stifled. Ohio State University and the other fifty public colleges and two-year institutions will carefully teach one party’s “line”, or risk losing all their funding. It brings a whole new meaning to the cheer, “Go Bucks”!
That’s real indoctrination.
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