My first adult writing byline, about a month after I left the Army in 1984, was with Princeton’s rebel Alumni magazine, a publication entitled “Prospect.” My editor there, we were both quite young, was Dinesh D’Souza. That editor and this analyst have come a long way since then. But poor Princeton seems to be meandering down the same sad leftist road it was trodding over 35 years ago.

Well, U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos is getting quite tired of it. What sparked her fatigue? After a recent mea culpa over past racism Princeton has embarked upon…wait for it…more racism. Only this time directed the leftist boogeyman of the evil white male and other members of the white middle class. Of course, who is doing the Jim Crow work at Princeton? The same alleged white middle class oppressors, only safely clad in the dull armor of upscale PC academia. DeVos has had enough of the hypocrisy and had her staff send this letter to Princeton this week announcing an investigation into their current practices.

 

“On September 2, 2020, you admitted Princeton’s educational program is and for decades has been racist,” the letter notes. “Among other things, you said ‘[r]acism and the damage it does to people of color persist at Princeton …’ and ‘[r]acist assumptions…remain embedded in structures of the University itself.’ Because of racism, you announced race-based ‘diversity’ measures for hiring, procurement, teaching, fellowship, and research funding. Based on its admitted racism, the U.S. Department of Education is concerned Princeton’s nondiscrimination and equal opportunity assurances in its Program Participation Agreements from at least 2013 to the present may have been false. Finally, the Department is further concerned Princeton’s many nondiscrimination and equal opportunity claims to students, parents, and consumers in the market for education certificates may have been false, misleading, and actionable substantial misrepresentations in violation of U.S. law. Therefore, the DOE is opening an investigation into Princeton and may end up removing funds from the university — and demanding Princeton pay back taxpayer funds it should not have received. Based on the facts, the Secretary of Education may consider measures against Princeton for false Program Participation Agreement nondiscrimination assurances, including an action to recover funds.” Wow. Score a big one for DeVos. Excellent stuff.

Princeton lamely responded, “It is unfortunate that the Department appears to believe that grappling honestly with the nation’s history and the current effects of systemic racism runs afoul of existing law. The University disagrees and looks forward to furthering our educational mission by explaining why our statements and actions are consistent not only with the law, but also with the highest ideals and aspirations of this country.”

The investigation was ignited by a letter Princeton President Christopher L. Eisgruber wrote on Sept. 2. In it he criticized the school’s record, saying it “intentionally and systematically excluded people of color, women, Jews, and other minorities” and that racism will “persist at Princeton as in our society, sometimes by conscious intention but more often through unexamined assumptions and stereotypes, ignorance or insensitivity, and the systemic legacy of past decisions and policies.” Complete PC horse manure. All they have done is switch targets, as DeVos understands.  Let’s hope this Bolshevik incubation center gets the royal pranging it deserves from the Department of Education.