{"id":7722,"date":"2023-12-14T16:25:34","date_gmt":"2023-12-14T17:25:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/?p=7722"},"modified":"2023-12-14T18:03:39","modified_gmt":"2023-12-14T18:03:39","slug":"the-real-world-intrudes-for-a-moment-at-uw-madison","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/?p=7722","title":{"rendered":"The real world intrudes for a moment at UW-Madison"},"content":{"rendered":"

This post originally appeared at https:\/\/www.badgerinstitute.org\/dei-moment-at-uw-madison\/<\/a><\/p>\n

How about some real diversity instead of the DEI sham that demonstrably does not help Black students?<\/strong><\/em><\/h4>\n
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\"Aerial<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

I don\u2019t want to get in the way of the decent idea finally and begrudgingly approved by the Board of Regents as part of the DEI deal \u2014 approximately doubling the number of conservatives on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus faculty and adding one more.<\/p>\n

But I do hope whoever writes up the job posting is honest.<\/p>\n

Wanted: A really smart person to join the faculty at the OG of progressivism: UW-Madison. We don\u2019t care about the color of your skin (just this once!) but unusual thickness is an absolute must. Epidermis should be approximately as thick as, say, a good border wall. Candidates with lesser thickness should have willingness to wear Kevlar.<\/em><\/p>\n

I think it might be helpful to also explicitly require a good sense of humor, but that need is going be pretty apparent once the posting gets out and progressives accuse the university of both discriminating against illegal immigrants and making light of gun violence.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s nothing wrong with adding one more conservative \u2014 if they can find the right one. But the truth is that adding one more is peanuts.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile happy to see the university is recognizing this as a deficiency,\u201d one of the few admittedly conservative professors at the university, UW-Madison Political Science Professor Ryan Owens, says, \u201cthis effort needs to be much more significant and institutionalized.\u201d<\/p>\n

No doubt.<\/p>\n

Research conducted by the National Association of Scholars a couple of years ago found that Democratic professors outnumber their Republican colleagues by a ratio of 8.5 to 1 on top college campuses.<\/p>\n

Comes from the top<\/h4>\n

There\u2019s no reason to think Madison is substantially different; it\u2019s probably worse \u2014 and the climate and culture isn\u2019t just emanating from the faculty lounge. As evidenced by the debate over DEI this week, it comes from much of the administration and even a chunk of the Board of Regents.<\/p>\n

The deal, initially rejected by the regents and then approved after a few of them\u00a0 realized there is a real world out here, basically curtails \u201cDiversity Equity and Inclusion\u201d efforts in exchange for pay raises for UW employees and a promise to advance a bunch of other stuff, including a new engineering building.<\/p>\n

The formal agreement passed by the regents says that UW-Madison will seek philanthropic support to create an endowed chair that will focus on conservative political thought, classical economic theory or classical liberalism, depending on the donor\u2019s interest.<\/p>\n

The university will also freeze DEI positions and realign about a third of them, 43, \u201cto areas with a primary focus on academic and student success.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s too bad they can\u2019t realign all of them. As we\u2019ve pointed out<\/a>, there\u2019s no evidence the extensive DEI program actually works.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0low number of Black students<\/a>\u00a0graduating with a bachelor\u2019s degree at UW-Madison is a travesty \u2014 and, despite an enormous DEI bureaucracy, it\u2019s not getting better.<\/p>\n

According to 2022 U.S. Census figures, 6.6% of Wisconsin is \u201cBlack or African-American alone.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the 2021-22 school year, 146 Black students earned a bachelor\u2019s degree at UW-Madison. That\u2019s less than 2% of the 7,460 students who earned a degree at that campus that year. The number of graduates fluctuates a little year to year, but that is only three more Black students than the 143 who earned a bachelor\u2019s degree in 2011-12.<\/p>\n

Segregation and animosity<\/h4>\n

Such horrific numbers don\u2019t deter DEI advocates outraged by the deal this week.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s be perfectly clear here,\u201d Rep. Dora Drake, D-Milwaukee, said at a Wednesday news conference. \u201cThis deal is part of a systemic, racist deal, and it is discriminatory. It\u2019s discriminatory toward students, faculty and staff of color, because their experiences should never have a price tag.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shannon Whitworth, executive director of the Free Enterprise Academy at Milwaukee Lutheran High School and member of Badger Institute\u2019s Board of Directors,\u00a0penned a piece recently<\/a>\u00a0that explains how DEI programs actually do more harm than good:<\/p>\n

\u201cDEI also works against students by actively encouraging the students to separate themselves from the rest of the student body, with segregated activities, curriculum and housing.\u202fThis imposed isolation denies Black students the opportunity to advance their academic and social education cooperatively, just like any other students on campus.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis creates a culture of anti-intellectualism, segregation and animosity, which serves no one except the bursar. Is it any wonder why so many Black students don\u2019t finish?\u201d\u202f<\/p>\n

Drake obviously doesn\u2019t get that. The vast majority of professors don\u2019t get that. And much of the administrative bureaucracy pushing this idea that people must be categorized into groups and some groups given priority don\u2019t get that.<\/p>\n

One other thing UW-Madison could do to help eradicate the harmful DEI program is get away from this notion that administrators need to come from academia. There\u2019s no reason everyone from chancellors right down to deans of students who have some hiring power can\u2019t come from the real world.<\/p>\n

Because that\u2019s not the world they live in right now.<\/p>\n

Mike Nichols is the President of the Badger Institute. Permission to reprint is granted as long as the author and Badger Institute are properly cited.<\/em><\/p>\n

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