>DEI is already in retreat. After the peak of the “Great Awokening,” many universities are quietly course-correcting and embracing institutional neutrality. Last month, *The Economist* ran a special report, based on polling and statistical analysis, which [found](https://www.economist.com/briefing/2024/09/19/america-is-becoming-less-woke) that “America is becoming less ‘Woke,’” with, for instance, “attempts to censure academics” far below their peak in 2021. More recently, the *New York Times Magazine* published an approximately 9,000-word [investigative report](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/16/magazine/dei-university-michigan.html) by Nicholas Confessore, examining how the University of Michigan has implemented diversity, equity, and inclusion. He found that a backlash was brewing, not from right-wing provocateurs like Walsh, “but from inside the university’s own dorms and faculty lounges,” where most people regard D.E.I. with “a kind of wary disdain.” Turns out, left-wing illiberalism can be defeated through the normal process of cultural change. (And it has helped that some scholars and opinion-makers refuse to be bullied by it.)
….
>Put it this way. Mr. Walsh, if you’re reading this: you’re in the midst of a successful career, and for good reasons. But you’re leaning heavily into a style of far-right partisanship that nowadays can seem like its own form of ideological mania. So, if someone approaches you saying they want to make a flattering documentary about embattled podcast bros, remember something you mischievously told Robin DiAngelo. “You can never be too careful.”
!ping EXTREMISM
AmericanPurposeMag on
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>DEI is already in retreat. After the peak of the “Great Awokening,” many universities are quietly course-correcting and embracing institutional neutrality. Last month, *The Economist* ran a special report, based on polling and statistical analysis, which [found](https://www.economist.com/briefing/2024/09/19/america-is-becoming-less-woke) that “America is becoming less ‘Woke,’” with, for instance, “attempts to censure academics” far below their peak in 2021. More recently, the *New York Times Magazine* published an approximately 9,000-word [investigative report](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/16/magazine/dei-university-michigan.html) by Nicholas Confessore, examining how the University of Michigan has implemented diversity, equity, and inclusion. He found that a backlash was brewing, not from right-wing provocateurs like Walsh, “but from inside the university’s own dorms and faculty lounges,” where most people regard D.E.I. with “a kind of wary disdain.” Turns out, left-wing illiberalism can be defeated through the normal process of cultural change. (And it has helped that some scholars and opinion-makers refuse to be bullied by it.)
….
>Put it this way. Mr. Walsh, if you’re reading this: you’re in the midst of a successful career, and for good reasons. But you’re leaning heavily into a style of far-right partisanship that nowadays can seem like its own form of ideological mania. So, if someone approaches you saying they want to make a flattering documentary about embattled podcast bros, remember something you mischievously told Robin DiAngelo. “You can never be too careful.”
!ping EXTREMISM
Did you enjoy this article and wish to share your thoughts with Persuasion? Or are you interested in talking to our commenters? Or do you want to represent the values of liberal democracy on Substack? [Then join the conversation in the Persuasion comments section!](https://www.persuasion.community/p/am-i-racist-is-part-of-the-problem/comments)
-Ringo