Princeton has an ideological diversity problem

I’ve enjoyed my time at WWS and the opportunity to debate viewpoints different from my own. But few in the program can claim the same — the school writ large does not understand half of the country.

One hundred years after Woodrow Wilson’s presidency, WWS continues to struggle with diversity issues. Unlike the progressive president’s legacy, it is conformity of thought, not racial animus, undermining its legacy. And unlike the U.S., it is political uniformity, not division, that plagues the WWS.

On Dec. 4, a student sent an email titled “Trump Won, Now What?” through the official school distribution system. It read in part, “White supremacy and white nationalism is [sic] at the core of the election of Donald Trump … Interested in working towards dismantling the system?” The dean declined to address the use of a university platform to seditiously promote the system’s “dismantling” and brand Trump supporters as “white supremacists.”

There’s no need to be hyperbolic when the examples stand alone. During a fall 2015 national security panel, three professors spent almost the full two hours praising the “positive effects of illegal immigration on the U.S.” During the Q&A portion, I inquired about concerns on crime, sanctuary cities, and homeland security. One panelist replied while another laughed, “It’s not like Godzilla is coming over the border.”

Few in the WWS understood what drove 63 million Americans to vote for Donald Trump, instead resorted to blaming “–isms” rather than addressing their own tone-deaf views. The school’s sponsoring of “doughnut and coping sessions” for graduate students is indicative of coddling rather than processing the election results.

Classmates dismissing my perspective is indicative of an elitist standpoint where opposing opinions are disparaged. For the first time in my life, I was told “you need to check your privilege.” The son of an auto mechanic from the Rust Belt with seven deployments and more than a decade of military service, I was lectured by a classmate attributing my enrollment in the program to my skin pigmentation.

The students may be diverse on the surface, but they represent a singular worldview. Meaningful discourse is scarce. The school uses coursework, announcements, and mandatory presentations to affirm those who nod their heads in agreement while condescending those who dare dissent.

WWS professors and students uniformly dismissed not only those supporting President Trump, but also the very legitimacy of his campaign. Frequently during the campaign, professors and graduate students alike referred to the next president as “whoever she will be” or “her administration.” Even trips abroad echoed with refrains of, “I know I can speak on behalf of everyone here, when Clinton wins the election…”

In December, several WWS alumni produced a liberal playbook for “resisting the Trump agenda.” It drew on effective grassroots tactics employed by the Tea Party in the 2010 midterm elections. However, they made clear they opposed the Tea Party, which “ignored reality and made up their own facts,” and which “threatened… physically assaulted… and targeted their hate not just at Congress, but also fellow citizens (especially people of color).”

They determined the “Tea Party’s ideas were wrong, and their behavior was often horrible,” and Trump was a “petty tyrant.” Their conclusion from the ivory tower was, “We are better than this. We are the majority, and we don’t need petty scare tactics to win.” The WWS’ Facebook page proudly linked directly to the document itself. When I pointed out the promoted inflammatory comments and false narratives the post was removed. Yet, hours later, the page shared an article praising the alumni for their partisan activism. The school then shared numerous media articles about the alumni and gave them their own podcast.

I am a military service member who has fought and bled for all Americans, divided though they may be. WWS disrespects the American public and its diversity. It belittled inauguration day, spurning a chance to unite the country. It declined to celebrate the peaceful transition of power, an American tradition (dare I say, privilege) for more than 200 years.

WWS generously funds its graduate students through endowments. Its motto is “Princeton in the nation’s service…” To understand the partisanship in Washington, one must look no further than WWS for a cogent case study. Its silence is telling of its core beliefs, and its donors and alumni deserve to know the program dismisses half of the country in which they profess to “serve.”

Major Mike Kelvington is an MPA candidate at Princeton’s WWS. He is an Infantry officer in the U.S. Army and been awarded the Bronze Star Medal with Valor and two Purple Hearts for wounds sustained in combat. The opinions expressed above are his own, and do not represent the official position of the Combating Terrorism Center, the U.S. Army, or the U.S. Government.

If you would like to write an op-ed for the Washington Examiner, please read our guidelines on submissions here.