The Examination of Woke at Harvey Mudd College

Introduction: the story that needs to be told

The case of Harvey Mudd College (HMC), is intended as a unique case study in that the woke install has been going on for sometime at a STEM prestigious college, with the initial goal of greatly enhanced diversity. This raw report below attempts to describe the steps that were taken to transform into a full woke institution, in a more gradual manner than USD. CSJ/DEI explained generated for the USD report applies also to HMC, but the one aspect of HMC is how CSJ came about in a more subtle fashion. As a premier STEM college the story is relevant and the question of reform is perhaps irrelevant at this point, the story however needs to be told. This is a story of a single College President who drove the install, and hired and admitted for over a decade to achieve her goal. The sections below attempt to paint that picture. You will also find links to the files used to create this report at the bottom of this page.

But first there is also a missing statement in the online articles and other media. What is missing is the tying of meritocracy to science. There are a great many statements and proclamations that suggest from the woke side of the aisle that science is science and would be perhaps even better off than to be tied to meritocracy. This statement seems quite contradictory to a scientist like many who are reading this page. See the article written to make the connection between the two for audiences that are in need of those arguments.

A Compilation of Several Sources

HMC Summary:

“In that time, and certainly for several decades before, academia has continued moving in bad directions. On one hand, it has increasingly submitted to the “alphabet soup” mentality —CRT, DEI, AGW, LGBTQ…, and so on. “ Sheep No More: the Alumni Rise — The James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal (jamesgmartin.center) The alphabet of causes and movements, never explicitly defined at its core, but mastering the value of vagueness in concepts, until you look further at the actions. CRT is it about racial sensitivity or racist bias? DEI is it about the value of embracing diversity or about racial suppression of whiteness? LGBTQ is it to accept alternative lifestyles defined by individuals or another form of cancel culture and indoctrination? Inequality can be apparently defined however one wants. The impact of the lack of diversity is however a great tool in higher ed.

Most woke higher ed institutions hide under the cover of good sounding words, which beg the question what are the real intentions? Harvey Mudd College (HMC) is a shining example. They have been doing this for a while and under the guidance of the current President, Maria Klawe, hired in 2006. Few institutions have done a Woke transformation better over the past 12 years than HMC. In this document we will see how admission focus was changed to change the demographic, and it had the adverse impact of reducing the standards of excellence. Eventually HMC saw a turning away from a focus on merit to one of diversity and eventually DEI. Woke install has progressed such that all institutions and programs at HMC have DEI in mind.

Historically HMC was a strong STEM college. It achieved a rating of 13th in 1973 for private institutions. This did mean a clear focus on science in all its forms and disciplines, meaning that the results of this undergrad college should be a high number of graduate applicants doing well in science at prestigious STEM grad schools. To achieve that level of focus one would expect to use high standards to meet the objectives and the mission statement, including in admissions and in teacher hiring. Over the past decade this has not been the case.

Prior to 2006 when Klawe Both the strategic plan of 2007 and 2020, had diversity as a strong and embedded intent lost in the details in both documents, as are the terms “unsurpassed excellence” leadership in STEM.

Harvey Mudd College now has rankings below, in National Liberal Arts Colleges. Schools are ranked according to their performance across a set of widely accepted indicators of excellence.

Harvey Mudd College's 2022 Rankings

#28 in National Liberal Arts Colleges

#15 in Best Undergraduate Teaching (tie)

#61 in Best Value Schools

Maria Klawe came to HMC in 2006 with a strong intent for diversity, starting with increasing the percentage of women on campus and in the teaching ranks. HMC was historically a white male populated college.

Klawe prioritizes diversity above all. “I was surprised,” she said in 2017, “to find out the meme around Harvey Mudd was that we are a merit-based institution and bringing in more women or people of color would mean lowering our standards.” Until 1971, the share of students who could be female was capped at 11 percent. It's long been an elite school, competing for students with bigger sciences powerhouses such as Cal-Tech and MIT. In 1996, says Klawe, female students made up 20 percent of the student body. Ten years later, when Klawe became president, that number stood at 30 percent. Now, half the student body is female.

Now nearly 55% of the computer science and mathematics graduates are women, the largest in the country.

The strategic plan of 2007 reflected the emphasis on diversity more on gender than race perhaps. Later in 2015, it became apparent that black enrollment was a high priority as well. From 2010 to 2021, the enrollment of whites has dropped by nearly 50% in absolute numbers, and 55% in percent of total enrolled. In contrast blacks have increased by 5X to nearly 4.5% of total, with Hispanics increased by 3X to 21% of total. The acceptance rates for women were on average 2.5X that for men, although dropping gradually given that men perhaps realized the bias and went elsewhere. One has to intuit the answer to the question why force the gender numbers under an equity flag? The percentage of women in the student body was 30% when Klawe took office in 2006. It is evident that the goal was soon to become much higher. Since high achieving males in High School test well in science, one would intuit that the natural number of males was greater than 50%. So, a goal of 50% women was clearly a goal of Klawe’s.

Aside from enrollment one can also see a shift in the gender of teachers. In Klawe’s words, teachers turn over less frequently than students. One can see in Math and Computer science a high number of female professors in comparison to other colleges.

Perhaps the largest change is in HMC grads attending a highly regarded STEM graduate program at an institution like Stanford. Those HMC receiving all degrees and PhDs in Physics at Stanford has fallen over each 14-year consecutive time slice, as shown below. A column for all graduate degrees is also presented. In both cases, the numbers have dropped strongly suggesting that the focus on STEM at HMC was falling

In the 2007 Strategic plan, the statement was made that this was a priority, and a statement of excellence even though it was already falling.

Harvey Mudd College has one of the highest percentages of graduates who go on to earn Ph.D.’s. In a 2002 Research Corporation study, we were ranked first in the number of science graduates earning a Ph.D. in the natural sciences within six years of graduation. The college’s reputation is built upon the excellence of its faculty and students, its independent spirit and sense of fun, the quality and innovation of its programs, and the extraordinary caliber and achievements of its graduates.

With 50% of current students enrolled in Computer Science, this number promises to drop further. CS Grads are mostly women and are about 2X the percentage that is seen at Berkeley and Stanford.

A measure in California to install a woke math framework. Replace the Proposed New California Math Curriculum Framework: News: The Independent Institute The proposed framework would, in effect, de-mathematize math. From HMC few signed the above petition objecting to this change: 0 of 17 Math & 2 of 12 Physics Profs Signed Mathematicians, and Pres Klawe & Prof Pippenger also did not sign.

How does a STEM institution justify these outcomes and what do students think about the current college? And what about the more typical woke takeover, was it occurring at HMC as well as the gender diversity transformation? The answer is yes but it was done in a subtle manner at HMC.

The ramp of Diversity at HMC involved more than gender

At about 2015 there was a ramp in the number of blacks enrolled, when that number increased by 50% and it has been progressing upward to a number in 2021 that is 5X that in 2010. The graduation rate for blacks in 4 years showed a decline in 2012, and continued until 2017, the end of the published data. The ratio of blacks to the total graduation rates dropped to roughly 70% + or – 10%. Given the low black numbers this is hard to drive a conclusion on, but it pointed to an issue of workload which came to a point where there was a large demonstration in 2017. In 2017, Klawe had conversations about diversity at all levels, when she engaged the outsider Freeman Hrabowski III, the “language changed.” Freeman is a black head of an east coast school, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and a previous appointee of Barack Obama. (progression of Klawe)

The college ground to a halt in April of 2017: Harvey Mudd cancels classes after student protests over issues of race, workload and more (insidehighered.com) (link page to this point)

Some faculty members, meanwhile, told the interviewers that students were not prepared for their classes, and that they’d observed deterioration in the quality of students accepted to Harvey Mudd over the years. They described students as wed to their phones and not committed to the sciences.

Still, someone provided it to the student newspaper, and a story on the so-called Wabash report was published two weeks ago, the same day that a memorial service for one of the students was being held on campus.

The 20-page Wabash report showed the process was a data gathering of sentiments, such as:

However, a significant number of faculty thought that Harvey Mudd students had, over time, become less capable of, and less interested in, meeting the challenge of Mudd’s difficult curriculum. While it is not unusual for us to hear faculty lament “the decline in the quality of students,” what was unusual, in our experience, was that many students had heard and felt this sentiment from some of their faculty.

The workload led many students to focus on content in their technical courses to the exclusion of the kinds of broader, more liberal arts pursuits both in and outside of the classroom. A number of students spoke eloquently about how they consciously gave up on the hope that had brought them to Mudd – the opportunity to get a challenging education in the sciences while also exploring other disciplines and interests outside of the sciences. And the students we spoke with saw this concession as their failure. Their demands were posted: Mental Health at Mudd (google.com).

Harvey Mudd eight years ago revised its core curriculum, cutting it back from four semesters of courses to three and allowing for more elective classes. So, in 2009 the reduction of workload apparently was not enough given the quality of the students. The quotes by students painted a picture of always being behind.

The administration realized that diversity had challenges. The faculty began conducting discussions on social justice in 2016. Harvey Mudd Faculty Members Lead Dialogue on Social Justice | College News | Harvey Mudd College (hmc.edu) And about the same time the office of Institutional Diversity began. Student Life - Harvey Mudd College - Acalog ACMS™ (hmc.edu) OID as they are referred to is their name for DEI. OID offers support for many orgs associate with woke causes at HMC: OID-Supported Student Organizations | Harvey Mudd College (hmc.edu) The OID goal is to “empower the campus community to take action on issues that matter to them, guided by a social justice framework”. (from Bob page 6):

In 2016, OID launched its “Social Justice League, a leadership team to help facilitate and lead workshops within the dorms on a variety of subjects. OID was able to successfully recruit 22 leaders who have been trained to create and run workshops that empower the HMC community to be agents of change”. (Ref 14)

Fall semester of 2016, OID “provided 18 diversity, social justice, and inclusion workshops, seminars, and presentations; and served 1,016 students, faculty, and staff”. More than 93 percent of “participants shared that they are willing to educate others ...”. (Ref 14)

Do the student organizations advised by OID (apispam, blam, epaic, FEMunion, prism, sacnas, spills) also foster, either individually or collectively, uniting the entire student body in the end as “Harvey Mudd students and classmates”?

OID believes the HMC community “must recognize that discrimination and underrepresentation have plagued higher education for decades ... and must act in ways to acknowledge these problems and help fix them ...”. Look at this in the context of the New York Times editor Bari Weiss’ recent criticism of her employer (Ref 14.5): “truth isn’t a process of collective discovery, but an orthodoxy already known to an enlightened few whose job is to inform everyone else.”

What also fascinates is the strategic plans began in 2007 and the next one was in 2020, after the rise of BLM. One bullet objective conveyed a great deal of intent:

Unsurpassed Excellence and Diversity at All Levels - 2020 Missions statement.

“Thematic Pathway to Reaffirmation of Accreditation Institutional Report” August 2021

The intent was clearly stated in the HMC 2020 Strategic plan. The goal of this “HMC 2020 Society” was to re-make HMC into “a gathering ground for individuals passionate about both science and social justice.” The accreditation report reaffirms the emphasis will continue to be on all things woke.

By this time, it is apparent that students want to see other students and teachers that look like them. This can be considered a reduction of meritocracy in the culture.

This is curious that even on their website there is little to report after 2017 up to 2020 on DEI or other activities. A lot transpired in 2020 at HMC, with several demands being made as well as demonstrations.

2020, the year of Full Woke at HMC:

Soon after the G Floyd incident, Black Lives at Mudd (BLAM) and others demanded better support for Black students Black Lives at Mudd and others demand better support for Black students - The Student Life (tsl.news) Klawe and some faculty were eager to appease and encourage the woke concerns.

On June 6, (2020) BLAM released a statement calling on Klawe and Harvey Mudd administration to “renew the college’s commitment to the Black community.” They asked the college to end relationships with organizations believed to profit from private prisons and the police — relationships such as the college’s partnership with Sodexo and the National Science Foundation’s undergraduate research experience at UCLA on research projects that work with police.

“You see your friends and members of BLAM dropping out in the middle of their college careers or they go somewhere else, or they just disappear.” — Natasha Crepeau HM ’21

The statement also asks Mudd to hire a tenure-track Black/Africana studies professor, hold workshops addressing systemic racism for all faculty and staff and include material about systemic racism and prejudice in the new Core Impact course.

“While we appreciate President Klawe making a statement, we are alarmed by the failure of her message to address the issue at hand: continuous police brutality and the murder of Black people,” BLAM said in the statement. “The avoidance and complacency of her statement speaks to the administration’s neglect of Black students at Mudd and ignorance of the Black community at large.”

BLAM also drew attention to the history of Black students at the college, from their overall presence at the college — Black students make up 13 percent of the U.S. population, but just four percent (4.5%) of the college’s student body — to retention rates of Black students at Mudd.

The 4-year graduation rate for Black students of the classes of 2018, 2019 and 2020 was 40 percent, 50 percent and 85 percent, respectively. Comparatively, the overall graduation rates of the 2018, 2019 and 2020 classes were 84 percent, 88 percent and 88 percent, respectively.

Professors were hired accordingly, as Heather MacDonald wrote about higher ed: “Diversity” is now an explicit job qualification in the STEM fields. Recent report: Other than merit: The prevalence of diversity, equity, and inclusion statements in university hiring | American Enterprise Institute - AEI

Identity Politics Is Harming the Sciences | Water Downed Requirements (city-journal.org)

A scientist at UCLA reports: “All across the country the big question now in STEM is: how can we promote more women and minorities by ‘changing’ (i.e., lowering) the requirements we had previously set for graduate level study?” Mathematical problem-solving is being deemphasized in favor of more qualitative group projects; the pace of undergraduate physics education is being slowed down so that no one gets left behind.

But the progression to woke at HMC started a few years earlier. Even Harvey Mudd, a Math and Science College, Has Surrendered to the Social Justice Movement | Washington Examiner:

In the leaked report, professors complain of "coddled" students not impelled by a passion for science but staring out dead-eyed awaiting instruction. One said, "There's a question about ability vs. motivation. The demographics of our students have changed over time. I feel like our students are not as sold on a discipline in college. They come here and say, 'I'll do what they tell me.' They're not interested in science body and soul, and they don't want to immerse themselves."

Publication Search - Harvey Mudd College - Acalog ACMS™ (hmc.edu) is the result of HMC 2020 Society

The goal of this “HMC 2020 Society” was to re-make HMC into “a gathering ground for individuals passionate about both science and social justice”

The number of Deans, Assoc/Asst Deans, VPs, Asst VPs, Directors, Assoc/Asst Directors, and Managers in the Dept of Student Affairs is greater than the number of professors in five of the seven academic departments. The Department of Humanities, Social Sciences, and the Arts (HSA) is larger than at least half of the STEM departments. Why?

Several other statements in this 2006 “Breaking the Mudd Bubble” tract are also interesting. It ostensibly rejected “the concept of a politically or religiously affiliated HMC”. Religiously affiliated? It also affirmed that “no actions should be taken to coerce currently apathetic students to act on the ideals of social responsibility and global engagement”. So much for viewpoint diversity. So much for students thinking for themselves. In fairness, Klawe apparently brought in outside diversity/social justice experts and advocates to help make her case with trustees, faculty, staff, students, and alumni - in the end earning support for her policies and priorities.

Black Lives at Mudd and others demand better support for Black students - The Student Life (tsl.news)

“President Klawe has stated clearly and unequivocally that ‘Black Lives Matter,’ and she stands behind her [June 24, (2020)] statement,” Mudd spokesperson Judy Augsburger said in an email. “She has been quite open and firm maintaining that this is what she believes — and that this message is an important and vital one for both our campus community at Harvey Mudd College as well as in all communities across the country.”

Even Harvey Mudd, a Math and Science College, Has Surrendered to the Social Justice Movement | Washington Examiner

Emphases on group projects made a required introductory course in computer science, key to Mudd's rigorous Core, a more attractive gateway to the discipline. The same course, formerly so dry that professors drew straws for it per the Los Angeles Times January write-up on Mudd's gender revolution, was altered to incorporate engaging projects and group work: "In the revamped curriculum, instead of having computer science students write arcane code, professors started giving them fun group puzzles and 3-D graphics to create their own games," and, "they used algorithms to solve evolution questions and analyze DNA sequences."

The need for achievable (good enough) overcame achievement (success, striving) in this time period of 2017 to 2020. After the G Floyd incident, there was even a professor at HMC who assisted in the leadership of a demonstration to Shutdown STEM. HMC Asst Prof Brian Shuve was a lead author of this June 10 Strike. It was a clear affront to meritocracy, and portrayed STEM and success as part of the problem.

Meritocracy was already under fire, as “whiteness” was elsewhere. These concepts were embraced also at HMC. Social justice found its way into so many activities at HMC, such as Providing a “social justice” discussion table in the dining hall during mealtimes. Harvey Mudd Faculty Members Lead Dialogue on Social Justice | College News | Harvey Mudd College (hmc.edu)

Talks at HMC were conducted in 2016 and beyond to link engineering and other STEM disciplines with racism. Views have become more radical as have teachers over time.

Anup Gampa, hired last year as a professor of Psychology, describes himself as a “Marxist-queer-feminist…interested in understanding and dismantling systems of oppression.” He stands “in full solidarity [with calls to] entirely abolish the police.”

Every job posting for new faculty contains the line, “your written materials should address your interests, experiences, and future plans with diversity, equity and inclusion.” The College will only hire scholars who have accepted these leftist dogmas. Burying Standards - The American Mind

Healthy Excellence: putting success in perspective (hmc.edu) In 2021 the efforts of social justice ramp further. Justice, Education, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI) Committee is formed:

In spring 2021, we realized the extent to which our multi-faceted and disaggregated work in diversity, inclusion, and equity is spread across the campus and might at times appear uncoordinated, siloed, and even invisible to others outside of their own areas. Vice Presidents Sullivan and Gonzalez recognized the possibilities inherent in formalizing the relationship between their two parallel associate dean positions and with approval from the President’s Cabinet, appointed the associate dean for institutional diversity and associate dean of faculty as co-chairs for a newly-formed Justice, Education, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI) Committee. This committee will be empowered to serve as the hub to facilitate the JEDI initiatives that occur across campus, to facilitate communication between departments HARVEY MUDD COLLEGE: Institutional Report 15 and constituents in regard to the JEDI initiatives and serve as a way to connect and leverage JEDI initiatives at HMC (CFR 1.4).

In the American Institute of Physics TEAM[1] UP program, which is designed to help departments look at their practices, develop strategic plans to support the success of current and/or prospective African-American undergraduate students, investigate their culture, and commit to racial equity for African-American students in physics and astronomy.

Additionally, the engineering department is using the framework of a prototyping mindset to change the culture within the department.

At the same time, searches on the HMC website turned up very little. Nothing on whiteness. White privilege had this Publication Search - Harvey Mudd College - Acalog ACMS™ (hmc.edu) with 1 link: RLST113 HM - God, Darwin, Design in America: A Historical Survey of Religion and Science Nothing on BLM. Racism had one course: PHIL129 HM - Contemporary Moral Problems There was an apparent attempt to not disclose what was underway.

HSA Statement of Solidarity | Harvey Mudd College (hmc.edu)

The Harvey Mudd College Department of Humanities, Social Sciences, and the Arts stands in solidarity with the Black community and with all those marching for the dignity and humanity of Black life. We affirm that Black Lives Matter.

We condemn white supremacy and police brutality. We demand accountability and justice for the extrajudicial murders of Black people by police violence. We stand against all forms of systemic racism and injustice, and in this moment, we are deeply saddened about the disproportional targeting of Black lives.

We commit to challenging the complicity of academic institutions and disciplines in anti-Black racism through our teaching, research, and acts of citizenship.

Overall CSJ, under the guise of institutional diversity, is pervasive and persistent in the life of a student. The full array of intersectionality (race, gender) is in play.

Feedback:

The goal of a study called the Keck Study was to assess how political bias in science education at a major California university (UCLA) and a major California college (Harvey Mudd College) affects students. This study had received funding from a variety of sources in Oct 2016 but was canceled before it could begin. The unfortunate conclusion is that the study would lead to feedback that was not favorable.

Other forms of feedback regarding HMC are captured below.

Harvey Mudd, like Cal Tech, Carnegie Mellon, and MIT, has a more competitive admissions rate for men (10 percent) than women (23 percent); of the four, Mudd boasts the broadest gap .

Are they overworked—or uninspired? Either way, per some professors, they're over-sensitive and easily cowed under pressure. One noted that, "I spend a lot more time and energy trying to make it interesting for students." While another said, "Students are different today. They don't know how to fail; they're coddled."

Washington Examiner 2017

Following are national liberal arts colleges with a gender gap of at least 3 points favoring women.

Harvey Mudd College (23 percent women, 10 percent men) 13 points (in 1st place)

Washington Post 2016

A previous Faculty Member:

“I do love my faculty colleagues at HMC (and the other Claremont Colleges) and find it a delightful place to work despite the general lack of political diversity. I do find that there is often room for viewpoint diversity in other areas, one just has to choose when and how to speak if backing an unpopular view.”

A bit of feedback from a grad from the 60s.

What exactly is the purpose of today’s Harvey Mudd? (Pg 10 Bob)

The Founders’ (picture at right) vision was “to attract the nation’s brightest students and offer them a rigorous scientific and technological education coupled with a strong curricular emphasis in the humanities and social sciences.” That vision was expanded in 2007 to include “global engagement” and “diversity at all levels”.

Yet Maria Klawe’s (picture at right) 24 June 2020 letter to the Harvey Mudd Community (“Addressing Systemic Racism”), and the 3 June 2020 “Statement of Solidarity” from the Faculty Executive Committee, beg the question of balance between providing a rigorous STEM (+ HSA) education, and inculcating students with an equal passion for social justice.

Klawe’s letter begins with an emphatic “Black Lives Matter”, and then states that HMC will take the following steps to help “stop” racial injustice and “support our Black students, faculty and staff”:

• Become an “institutional member of the National Center for Faculty Development & Diversity” (https://www.facultydiversity.org/)

• Work with the 5Cs to address systemic racism

• The DSA “will begin an Intergroup Program on Race and Ethnicity ... (and) recruit faculty, students and staff to be trained facilitators for an 8-week module” to encourage reflection upon “personal and social responsibility for building an equitable and socially just society”

• The OID will host a series of “Equity Scorecard Sessions” (https://cue.usc.edu/files/ 2016/01/Introduction-to-the-EqS.pdf, https://cue.usc.edu/tools/the-equity-scorecard/)

• The DSA will conduct “anti-racism sessions as part of the 2020 New Student Orientation”

• The Office of Advancement will work toward “develop(ing) curriculum that addresses systemic racism”.

Certainly, the changing terms does not hide the woke intent. How it continues to push DEI in whatever name, and how far it will degrade the standards, remains to be seen. With the reported concurrence of the Trustees, this transformation has progressed as Klawe drove it. When asked when the diversity transformation would be done, she answered “never.”

From an Alum, James Enstrom: (JE-J)

Potential HMC students need to be aware of these facts:

1) HMC has a 2020 US News National Liberal Arts College best value ranking of #83 and overall ranking of #23 (https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-liberal-arts-colleges ). By comparison, the 1973 College Rater showed that Haverford and Swarthmore were the only US colleges ranked higher than HMC and that Caltech and Stanford were the only California universities ranked higher than HMC.

2) The portion of HMC graduates who attend graduate or professional school has declined dramatically to 23% in 2019 (https://www.hmc.edu/about-hmc/fast-facts/).

3) The portion of HMC graduates who obtain a PhD from the best STEM graduate schools has declined dramatically based on my evidence for HMC physics majors (http://www.scientificintegrityinstitute.org/HMCPhysics021219.pdf).

4) HMC has shifted from training students in its original four STEM fields of engineering, physics, chemistry, and math to training students in computer science, with a strong focus on social justice. The apparent goal of most current HMC students is to use their BS degree to obtain a job with a high initial salary, rather than to become a distinguished scientist or engineer with an advanced degree.

5) HMC now preferentially selects female and minority students to promote “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (https://www.inc.com/kimberly-weisul/how-harvey-mudd-college-achieved-genderparity-computer-science-engineering-physics.html). The current campus environment is particularly bad for white males, who have traditionally been the HMC graduates most qualified for STEM careers (https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/weekly-standard/even-harvey-mudd-a-math-and-sciencecollege-has-surrendered-to-the-social-justice-movement ).

6) President Klawe, as a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science Board of Directors (https://www.aaas.org/governance#bod ), is playing a major national role in the current AAAS deconstruction of science and the scientific method. This deconstruction involves diverting science away from integrity and transparency and toward a focus on social justice, BLM, and “ShutDownSTEM” (https://www.aaas.org/news/aaas-ceo-statement-shutdownstem-and-black-lives-matter).

Conclusions:

HMC is quite committed to a woke agenda and has been longer than most. The idea of CSJ at HMC is prevalent in outside and inside activities. Support for BLM appears high over the past year. The progression of woke at HMC is initially through the gender goal of having a much higher percentage of females in the student body. This was their first step in “improving diversity,” and it morphed along the way to include race and transgender, and even further left political views. Several professors were outspoken on far-left ideas. HMC is not a good candidate for an ADU case reform effort unless the decision on the new president in 2023 can be impacted by such an effort.

The intent of this report is to bring to light the progression to woke, for current donors, applicants and even parents. For students graduating from HMC will appear more woke or as woke as many, which means that to achieve the goals they began with will take some work beyond college in adapting to a more competitive world than woke activists would have them think.

The idea of systemic racism is generally a bad proposition that has meaning to administrators like Klawe, but not to those who are focused on education or not as politically driven as she is. She focused on diversity at the expense, it can be argued, of excellence. The standards at HMC have changed, and it might best be described today as mostly a computer science vocational training center. Some Silicon Valley companies would love to have women software engineers who are woke. I can name a few such companies.

The bottom-line question for HMC is with an annual cost of $80K, that is one of the highest in the country, coupled with a low endowment fund, can HMC sustain a viable long-term future with such an emphasis on DEI, which itself is a downward slope generally? Having a low student to faculty ratio, the customer satisfaction and retention are high and can be sustained as long as it is financially viable. However, HMC has undertaken something that appears not to be sustainable. Unlike Stanford, Harvard, and others HMC does not have a large endowment. Aside from the financial challenges, there are the cultural ones as well.

How can one suppress equality in the interests of unfair treatment in equity? How is inclusiveness not about freedom and embracing the uniqueness of every individual. Diversity of many things, for ideas to culture and certainly ethnic heritage, is a real plus to the richness of any society. So why does if involve a racist policy and claim that is allowed in education? All DEI as it is now presented does not align well with our American values. How is that going to end?