在过去的几年里，几个州的公民发布了关于公立学院和大学在所谓的“多元化、公平和包容”(DEI) 管理方面的支出的报告——最著名的是缅因州、爱达荷州、田纳西州和北部的那些州 卡罗来纳州。 本月，又发布了两份此类报告：一份针对德克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校，由全国学者协会 (NAS) 发布，另一份针对弗吉尼亚，由 NAS 的弗吉尼亚分支机构弗吉尼亚学者协会 (VAS) 发布 ).
VAS 报告记录了 DEI 人员的支出，列出了弗吉尼亚州 15 所公立学校的低级和高级管理人员的头衔和薪水。 这比之前的大多数报告都更加详细，调查结果令人震惊：2020 年，弗吉尼亚州立学校在 DEI 管理上花费了超过 1500 万美元。 而且，正如报告明确指出的那样，这是支出的下限，因为报告只计算工资，不包括间接费用、福利待遇以及其他教职员工为 DEI 会议、培训、 和杂项活动，包括学生迎新活动。
更重要的是，这些数字是 2020 年的数据。从那时起，所有接受调查的学校都承诺增加 DEI 支出。 事实上，弗吉尼亚大学 (UVA) 和詹姆斯麦迪逊大学 (JMU) 这两所拥有 2021 年数据的学校——在那一年的时间跨度内几乎翻了一番他们的 DEI 支出。 JMU 在 2020 年为 33 名 DEI 管理员花费了 2,566,326 美元，但在 2021 年为其中的 65 名管理员花费了 5,302,266 美元； UVA 在 2020 年为 38 个 DEI 管理员花费了 4,149,732 美元，但在 2021 年为其中的 77 个管理员花费了 6,924,279 美元。
那么，我们可以放心地假设，该报告的数字已经被严重低估，这使得调查结果更加发人深省。 弗吉尼亚大会已经注意到； 本届立法会议提出的一项新法案 HB 1800 希望提高这些支出的透明度，并更频繁地向立法机关报告增长率。
报告提醒读者，花在DEI上的钱永远不是花在真正的教育需求上的钱，比如书籍、电脑、实验室、教授、讲师和学生奖学金。 该报告估计，2020 年在 DEI 上花费的 1500 万美元可以资助 150 名全职教授或 1100 名学生的全额学费奖学金。
关于这一趋势可以说很多——当然，这一趋势并不局限于弗吉尼亚，正如其他报告所显示的那样，而是在全国范围内——但最好从基础开始。
首先，尽管 DEI 的口号听起来很悦耳（谁能反对“公平”？），但它实际上是一种特洛伊木马——一种破坏性的意识形态，主要基于种族和性别，使美国人相互对立。
更糟糕的是，DEI 及其衍生运动如批判种族理论 (CRT) 也是怨恨的委婉说法。 他们将美国人按种族或性别划分，然后将这些群体标记为“压迫者”（坏）或“被压迫者”（好），并根据这种状态给予或拒绝给予好处。 例如，在 2021 年秋天，詹姆斯麦迪逊大学的学生指导负责人被告知，“压迫者”群体（坏的）包括基督徒、白人、男性、西欧人和……美国人！
DEI 不仅忽视了世界其他地区更严重的种族动荡，而且完全忽视了个人的作用——个人性格、个人才能和个人行业——这是美国方式的核心。 美国是个人的机会之地，而不是精心挑选的群体。 这种美国传统使美国成为世界上许多穷人和受迫害者希望居住的国家。
总之，DEI 是一种原始的、非美国的部落主义。
其次，虽然 DEI 已经够糟糕了，但它的影响更糟，因为它取代了美国学生的真正教育。 每一项可靠的调查都表明，美国大学毕业生越来越无知（一些调查表明他们在大学期间失去了知识！），并且越来越不具备高等教育所需的技能，例如阅读理解、高等数学以及分析和说服性写作。 美国大学毕业生对美国历史和公民知之甚少，对世界历史、地理或基本金融知之甚少。
最后一项不仅仅是学术性的。 正如大多数人所听到的那样，拜登政府与民主党政客一起提议利用美国纳税人来救助无法偿还学生贷款的大学毕业生。 NAS 一直表示，学院和大学是这场争议中真正的恶棍，因为他们得到了所有的钱，但没有债务。 NAS 提倡学校在大学财务方面“参与其中”——也就是说，他们对收到的大部分学生贷款负有责任。
但问题是，美国学生甚至不了解他们承担的贷款——现在其他人都不知道
In the past few years, citizens in several states have published reports on spending by public colleges and universities for so-called “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI) administration—most notably, those in Maine, Idaho, Tennessee, and North Carolina. This month, two more such reports were issued: one for the University of Texas at Austin, published by the National Association of Scholars (NAS), and another for Virginia, published by the Virginia affiliate of NAS, the Virginia Association of Scholars (VAS).
The VAS report documents spending on DEI personnel, listing titles and salaries for both low- and high-level administrators at fifteen of Virginia's state schools. This is a greater level of detail than most of the prior reports, and the findings are shocking: In 2020, Virginia state schools spent over $15 million dollars on DEI administration. And, as the report makes clear, this is the lower bound of expenditures, since the report counts only salaries, excluding hidden costs such as overhead, benefits packages, and the time and attention required of other staff and faculty for DEI meetings, trainings, and miscellaneous events, including student orientations.
What's more, these figures are from 2020. Since that time, all the schools surveyed pledged to increase their DEI spending. Indeed, the two schools which had numbers available for 2021—the University of Virginia (UVA) and James Madison University (JMU)—almost doubled their DEI spending in that one-year time span. JMU spent $2,566,326 for 33 DEI administrators in 2020, but $5,302,266 for 65 of them in 2021; UVA spent $4,149,732 for 38 DEI administrators in 2020, but $6,924,279 for 77 of them in 2021.
One can safely assume, then, that the report's numbers are already a dramatic undercount, which makes the findings that much more sobering. The Virginia General Assembly has already taken note; one new bill introduced this legislative session, HB 1800, wants more transparency for these expenditures and more frequent reports to the legislature about the rate of increase.
The report reminds readers that money spent on DEI is always money not spent on real educational needs, such as books, computers, laboratories, professors, instructors, and student scholarships. The report estimates that the $15 million spent on DEI in 2020 could have funded 150 full-time professors or 1,100 full-tuition scholarships for students.
Much could be said about this trend—a trend not limited to Virginia, of course, as the other reports show, but one that is national in scope—but it's always best to start with the basics.
First, despite the pleasant sound of the DEI slogan (who could oppose "equity"?) it is actually a Trojan Horse—a destructive ideology that pits Americans against one another, primarily based on race and sex.
Worse, DEI and its spin-off movements like Critical Race Theory (CRT) are also euphemisms for resentment. They divide Americans by race- or sex-based groups and then brand these groups as "oppressors" (bad) or "oppressed" (good), with benefits given or denied based on this status. In the fall of 2021, for example, student orientation leaders at James Madison University were told that “oppressor” groups (bad) included Christians, whites, males, Western Europeans and ... Americans!
DEI not only ignores far worse racial unrest in other areas of the world but also completely disregards the role of the individual—individual character, individual talent, and individual industry—that is so central to the American way. America is the land of opportunity for individuals, not cherry-picked groups. This American tradition makes the United States the country where many of the world's poor and persecuted wish to live.
In sum, DEI is a crude, un-American tribalism.
Second, while DEI is bad enough, its effects are even worse since it displaces real education for American students. Every reliable survey shows that American college graduates are increasingly ignorant (some surveys show they lose knowledge during college!) as well as increasingly incompetent in skills expected in higher education such as reading comprehension, advanced mathematics, and analytical and persuasive writing. American college graduates know little about American history and civics, and even less about world history, geography, or basic finance.
This last item is not just academic. As most have heard, the Biden administration, along with Democratic politicians, have proposed tapping American taxpayers to bail out college graduates who cannot repay their student loans. NAS has consistently said that colleges and universities are the real villains in this controversy since they get all the money but none of the debt. NAS advocates that schools have "skin in the game" of college finance—that is, that they be liable for a large portion of the student loan dollars they receive.
But the point is that American students do not even understand the loans they assume—and now others are being asked to bail them out.
In truth, both American students and American taxpayers are paying more and more for college and getting less and less education, as schools hire more and more DEI ideologues. The result? Not only taxpayers left holding the bag but graduates who are ignorant, resentful debt slaves instead of virtuous, patriotic young Americans.
This cannot continue.
Let's hope state officials around the country, not just in Virginia, take note and do something to stop the insanity of throwing good money at bad programs.
