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Diversity University. This is the title of a program my college had the new freshman sit through as part of orientation. I do not want to use the incorrect pronouns in regards to the speakers, but for the purposes of this piece I will assume they are what they appear to be, a he and a she. (More on gender pronouns here). Now I could write this article in regards to the male speaker mentioning that All Lives Matter is not a proper response to Black Lives Matter. I could even use this article to talk about a part of their presentation that delved into privilege. Harping on “privilege” only furthers the victim mentality on college campuses. I digress.

I think what they did not say speaks volumes more than what they did. The speakers went into the usual diversity talking points, such as race, gender, sexuality, socioeconomic status, etc. They failed to even touch on the most crucial diversity to college campuses, that is currently threatened. That is diversity of thought. It is exactly what it sounds like. A group of people who think differently and discuss these differences. This form of diversity is especially crucial in the college setting, given that this is the time that students are able to figure out what they think, change the way they think, or affirm the way they think. In order to properly carry out this process, students should be exposed to all points of view.

Intellectually speaking, this method makes the most sense because it allows individuals to properly figure out where they stand by weighing the good and bad of all sides. Both speakers aligned themselves with leftist ideologies. He claimed to support Black Lives Matter, while she was a supporter of the current feminist movement. That is all well and good, but the fact that they could not even try to stay neutral and failed to mention diversity of thought is concerning.

The college should not have an orientation event, that is not specifically described as optional, be such a one sided presentation. If the event is going to be presented as something that students are expected to go to, include more speakers with different views on the world and focus on diversity of thought. If people in college are all expected to look differently, but hold the same ideologies, we as Americans are failing our youth and causing them to fall prey to a herd mentality. The nation never improved as a result of agreeing on all sides and if we wish to continue to be the most envied nation in the world, we must fight against college indoctrination.