Published by The Washington Post
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With their competing visions, the two megastates spotlight an emerging red-blue divide in higher education: The culture wars are breaking public universities into polarized camps. At stake is who goes to college, whether those students feel welcome on campus and who decides what gets taught there.
If, as a result, more prospective students gravitate to what they perceive to be politically like-minded colleges, analysts say that could produce a vicious cycle of division. “It will further advance the polarization,” said David Strauss, a higher education consultant in Baltimore. “That to me is a danger.”
The divide has deepened in recent years. Nearly all colleges shuttered their campuses in early 2020 in response to the coronavirus pandemic. But those in red states were generally faster to reopen dormitories and classrooms. Those in blue states were faster to mandate coronavirus vaccines for students and employees, and they stuck longer with mask requirements.
Many red states have imposed abortion limits or bans since the Supreme Court last year struck down the federal right to abortion. Those bans, in turn, can influence whether prospective students want to enroll at schools in those states.
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“Faculty and campus leaders are now expected to walk a very delicate tightrope,” said Mildred García, president of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities. “That walk is becoming increasingly difficult and costly. If you go against the political wind, sometimes you can get undesired attention or even loss of funds.”
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Around the country, most competitive colleges and universities have become “test-optional” at least temporarily in recent years — not requiring the SAT or ACT tests, but not ignoring any scores that applicants submit. The trend, accelerated by the pandemic, has cheered critics who say the tests favor wealthy students. They already have many advantages and can pay for courses to prepare.
But California’s public universities went a step further, going “test-free.” That means they no longer consider those scores at all for freshman admissions. A small but growing number of schools elsewhere, including Washington State and Northern Illinois universities, have followed suit.
Analysis of testing policies nationwide, from the tracking site FairTest, shows a clear red-blue divide between states and schools that mandate scores for admission and those that ignore them. Officials in red states often contend that test scores are an essential indicator of merit.
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Liberals, in favor of the commitments, contend that racial privilege and biases must be thoroughly understood, acknowledged and addressed. Conservatives argue that colleges should be race-blind and that any other course is inherently discriminatory. DeSantis, for instance, called DEI a “scam” and suggested that universities too often stray from a “classical” curriculum.
The Chronicle of Higher Education is tracking 29 anti-DEI bills in 17 states with Republican-controlled legislatures. An Arizona measure would prohibit public colleges from requiring employees to engage in DEI programs. Measures in Iowa, Texas, Oklahoma, Ohio and Florida would bar certain forms of DEI spending. Bills in various states would ban or limit the use of diversity statements in hiring or admissions. So far, none of the bills on the Chronicle’s list has been enacted.
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Campus culture wars are likely to flare anew this year when the Supreme Court decides whether to ban race-conscious admissions nationwide. The court’s conservative majority is widely expected to end affirmative action in admissions, a decision that could reshape the racial and ethnic mix of students at the most competitive schools and inject more volatility into the red-blue debate.