The Corrupting Influence of DEI on Military Education
By now, the diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) industry’s capture of academia, business, and government is obvious to most Americans. From former Harvard president Claudine Gay’s televised equivocations before Congress to the unhinged, violent student and faculty occupations in support of Hamas at some of America’s most elite universities, many are no doubt wondering if DEI is producing something counter to its placid-sounding words.
That this shameful behavior is occurring at civilian institutions of higher learning is probably no surprise to most observers. Unfortunately, DEI has metastasized beyond the confines of the civilian world and found a willing host in America’s armed forces. Left unchecked, DEI-focused military education and training will lead to the same nihilistic abyss as their civilian counterparts. If current trends are allowed to persist, the military and its service members risk succumbing to the same divisiveness and politicization that are roiling academia, but with arguably far direr and deadlier consequences.
Left unchecked, DEI-focused military education and training will lead to the same nihilistic abyss as their civilian counterparts.The growing evidence coming from entrenched civilian DEI bureaucracies, in higher learning in particular, demonstrates both a pernicious trend and DEI’s true nature. Reviewing how DEI has corrupted civilian institutions offers a useful proxy to examine how it has and will continue to influence the attitudes and behaviors of our nation’s military personnel, especially the officer corps, to the detriment of national security. Military DEI programs, just as in academia, will likely result in similar outcomes, where identity-based discrimination and forced “equity” are elevated and prioritized over color-blindness and equality of opportunity.
In recent years, prominent authors and organizations have detailed how DEI corrupts institutions and civil society. John Sailer has convincingly writtenabout how DEI supplants merit with discrimination in faculty-hiring practices. Chris Rufo has described how DEI co-opts universities, transforming them into institutions of political activism. The Heritage Foundation has examined how DEI is used by universities to cull “problematic” thinking and behavior among the faculty, with the intent of shaming, isolating, or purging non-conformists.
