HOLD THE DECONSTRUCTIONISTS TO THEIR OWN ILLOGICAL STANDARDS.

That's what Princeton mathematician Sergiu Klainerman does.

The Woke ideology, dominant in almost all our universities today, holds two contradictory notions of reality: One, postmodernist in nature, according to which truth is a social construct determined solely by contests of power, and another one according to which it alone is in the possession of the ultimate Truth. The Woke ideology's belief system divides people based on the perceived position of power of the group, or groups, to which the people belong, according to a crude scheme of "intersectionality." The proposed remedy to this is a reparation strategy that calls for affirmative action and reverse discrimination. The ideology underlies many things we now associate with campus culture such as critical race theory, queer theory, and, most importantly, the administrative monster that is DEI. Like all totalitarian ideologies that claim to be in sole possession of the Truth, the Woke ideology rejects free inquiry and robust debate, which are denounced as tools of oppression. In the name of higher morality, fanatics "cancel" those who challenge it, and seek to compel all others to pledge fealty to it.

That's an area of dispute that I've been involved in for a long time, and a column in Newsweek, as well as the ongoing work of Governor DeSantis, continues the encouraging trend. "The good news from that recent post is that people with bigger platforms than mine are paying attention to those more serious failings. When I wrote the essay, it was with the hope of persuading people to pursue a different course from the one the trendy scholarship was pursuing."  The people pursuing that trendy course might have had to hit rock bottom first, or perhaps there was still enough rigor left in higher education years ago for the common culture to live off of it.  No more.

A student body raised on a culture of grievances, sensitive to the slightest "micro-aggressions"; a professoriate that leans overwhelmingly to the Left; out-of-control university administrations both more left-wing than the professors and more interested in running their universities as businesses, rather than preserving their truth-seeking missions; toothless and corrupt boards of trustees; politicians that, on one hand, encumber the universities with ill-conceived mandates while, on the other hand, incentivizing their worst excesses through an out-of-control student loan program.

Yes, the denial of coherent beliefs has brought incoherence. I warned them then: "We are only beginning to see the consequences of our failure to carry out our mission. The employers who hire our students and the legislators who underwrite our efforts are questioning our effectiveness."  Perhaps, had the people in charge of higher education discharged their duties more diligently, we would not be at a place where the poobahs of Florida public universities are crying about censorship.  Academician Klainerman isn't sympathetic.

States invest huge amounts of money in their universities. As a result, and despite the hand-wringing of academics pleading for non-interference in the Woke take-over of our universities, states not only have the right, but a duty, to ensure that public funds are used wisely. The wise use of university funding means, at minimum, ensuring that they fulfill their primary truth-seeking mission. The failure of previous attempts to ensure that universities seek to pursue their highest mission, even in red states such as Texas, suggest that the only way to do so is with robust changes at the top. This is what Governor DeSantis has done at New College of Florida by appointing board members and senior executives steadfast in their goal of making sure that universities are accountable to the people and uphold their highest mission. DeSantis's initiative aligns with the recent model DEI legislation proposal of the Manhattan Institute, and it could inspire other states to do the same.

This is hopefully the beginning of the restoration of universities to their original mission: seeking truth and preserving knowledge. As a professor at Princeton University, ranked a dismal 169 out of 203 on freedom of expression by FIRE, I can only hope for an effective mechanism by which private universities, and not merely public universities, can themselves be pressured to reform.

We do have market tests. I wouldn't want to be managing the endowments at Oberlin or Hamline these days, and perhaps alumni of other private universities can send the latest fund raising letter straight to the recycle bin.