DEI is a small billion-dollar cottage industry within the ESG umbrella, which is a multi-trillion dollar behemoth. Both are destructive tyrannical ideologies that must be banished in order for our civilization to survive: https://yuribezmenov.substack.com/p/how-to-raise-your-esg-score
What is happening at Florida International University is frightening, especially when you consider that it's happening at 95% of colleges and universities around the country. Since most Americans are still oblivious to all of this, I think part of the answer is a public awareness campaign. I am doing what I can in my "2026" Substack at 2026.substack.com with recent articles on "Top 7 Marxism Clues" and "Marxism in Current Events." I would love to hear ideas about how people can work together on this problem. There is strength in collaboration.
Straight up from the communist playbook!! no holds barred. They’ve got their marching orders to implement the Marxist regime there in Florida, sponsored by the elite lift/soros implemented by useful idiots in academia.
Mr rufo, Great discussion on the Jordan Peterson podcast!
I had a question for you: why did you say that you were kind of embarrassed about your flirting with or considering libertarianism?
You made this comment kind of as a throwaway early in the podcast.
Later on you expressed anger over the fact that children are being indoctrinated into racial theory in primary education. You made the point that in most places in the United States education is compulsory by state law
If you are upset, if it pisses you off that children are being indoctrinated, then the answer is to stop making education compulsory. That is a libertarian principle. The state has no moral authority to compel education
If there was a completely free market in education we very well might have schools that catered to certain ethnic or religious groups, but those would be entirely voluntary
I felt embarrassed mostly because libertarianism in the United States is totally impractical. We have a large state as the status quo and libertarianism does not provide a viable philosophy for prudential government given that prior. In my experience, libertarianism also ends up as a form of libertinism. After starting a family, I realized the importance of social conservatism, not just economic conservatism—which, to me, is another key weakness of libertarianism.
Interesting. What about the economic writings of libertarians like Mises and Murray Rothbard? The American revolution itself was not a conservative movement. Its was a radical libertarian restructuring and reimagining of human society. You’ve come all this way now its just a little further to repudiate the statist paradigm
The answers to the problems you seek involve casting off Coercive political bureaucracy.
Human flourishing can only occur under conditions of liberty. People have to be free to make moral choices or else they have no choices at all
Chris, I salute your efforts and those of the other trustee appointees at NCF. The childish public comment lunacy we witnessed at yesterday’s trustee meeting clearly demonstrates the need for new leadership and approach.
I will say, however, that if you and the other trustees have made any missteps, it would be the size of compensation package offered to the new interim chancellor. Surely you understood beforehand that this decision could undermine your credibility and create, at best, an unneeded distraction. Thoughts?
I appreciate the feedback. My belief is that President Corcoran is the man for the job and, given his experience as the state House majority leader and head of public education in Florida, as well as the difficult task of our reform effort and the short-term nature of his interim contract, the package of $699,000 per year plus benefits is worthwhile. He has already helped unlock $15 million from the legislature and I expect that he will be able to bring in tens of millions of dollars in public and private support over the next year. He will be ~100x more effective than the previous president at only ~2x the cost.
Excellent. Food for thought in dealing with your doctors and understanding the risks vs rewards of any recommended course of treatment. Ask questions. Get a second opinion from a contrarian.
Excellent work Christopher Rufo! As always. How many universities around the country are like this, fully captured by the DEI ideology? What can be done??? Can the governor dismantle this bureaucracy? Is there any hope?
I would estimate that 95% of the universities have fallen for the DEI scam. But there are still holdouts, such as Hillsdale, that are committed to a classical liberal arts education.
Chris, you are active in Florida. Some of us know DeSantis and are active in our own ways. This is a PUBLIC institution. We need a set of instructions as to what we do to fix this. Hand wringing is getting old. We know that you personally are doing a lot. What about the rest of us. We have ALREADY voted in the good guys...and yet we still have this. So that must not be the answer. What is?
Chris, I reached out to you a weeks ago about NCF. I am a career conservative higher education administrator and offered my services to you and the college. I received a reply from Armen and I hope he passed it along to you. I go by Frank but my CV would be my formal name Francisco.
My info is on the email so please feel free to reach out. I am very excited about the direction NCF is going and I am very disappointed in FIU for embracing the wokeness.
The answer to the corruption of public universities is to stop having government subsidize education. In a libertarian world the state would have no role to play in education. In fact as it stands government, the state has no legitimate role to play in any kind of education
Won't this rampaging madness result in the South Africanization of Universities? By replacing merit with favored status will not the quality of the "education" produced drop low enough that the product is not worth the price, requiring ever more subsidization to attract "students"? The institution becomes no longer fit for purpose. Collapse follows. Florida must do better.
if this isn't Communism I don't know what is! and in Florida of all places--can't DeSantis put astop to this? and it has to be unconstitutional? it's clearly discriminating! I am afraid for America but at same
time I am hopeful because of people like you--thank you for all the work you do
DEI is a small billion-dollar cottage industry within the ESG umbrella, which is a multi-trillion dollar behemoth. Both are destructive tyrannical ideologies that must be banished in order for our civilization to survive: https://yuribezmenov.substack.com/p/how-to-raise-your-esg-score
All identifying words such as. "he" "she" "Mother". "father" "doctor" "teacher" :"leader" "player"
should be replaced with the word "taxpayer".
“...the May 2020 death of George Floyd in police custody. As riots spread across the United States...”
Finally, an accurate description of those world changing events.
Good article. Terrible woke capture of a university.
Thanks for exposing this.
What is happening at Florida International University is frightening, especially when you consider that it's happening at 95% of colleges and universities around the country. Since most Americans are still oblivious to all of this, I think part of the answer is a public awareness campaign. I am doing what I can in my "2026" Substack at 2026.substack.com with recent articles on "Top 7 Marxism Clues" and "Marxism in Current Events." I would love to hear ideas about how people can work together on this problem. There is strength in collaboration.
Brainwashed is the new college degree (with a minor in Groupthink).
At the heart of many/most of our nation's problems is our educational systems.
Thank you, Mr. Rufo, you are doing good work and I am hopeful your efforts will help to turn this around.
Thank you!
Straight up from the communist playbook!! no holds barred. They’ve got their marching orders to implement the Marxist regime there in Florida, sponsored by the elite lift/soros implemented by useful idiots in academia.
Mr rufo, Great discussion on the Jordan Peterson podcast!
I had a question for you: why did you say that you were kind of embarrassed about your flirting with or considering libertarianism?
You made this comment kind of as a throwaway early in the podcast.
Later on you expressed anger over the fact that children are being indoctrinated into racial theory in primary education. You made the point that in most places in the United States education is compulsory by state law
If you are upset, if it pisses you off that children are being indoctrinated, then the answer is to stop making education compulsory. That is a libertarian principle. The state has no moral authority to compel education
If there was a completely free market in education we very well might have schools that catered to certain ethnic or religious groups, but those would be entirely voluntary
Maybe libertarianism deserves a second look
I felt embarrassed mostly because libertarianism in the United States is totally impractical. We have a large state as the status quo and libertarianism does not provide a viable philosophy for prudential government given that prior. In my experience, libertarianism also ends up as a form of libertinism. After starting a family, I realized the importance of social conservatism, not just economic conservatism—which, to me, is another key weakness of libertarianism.
Interesting. What about the economic writings of libertarians like Mises and Murray Rothbard? The American revolution itself was not a conservative movement. Its was a radical libertarian restructuring and reimagining of human society. You’ve come all this way now its just a little further to repudiate the statist paradigm
The answers to the problems you seek involve casting off Coercive political bureaucracy.
Human flourishing can only occur under conditions of liberty. People have to be free to make moral choices or else they have no choices at all
Man V the welfare state by Hazlitt
https://mises.org/library/man-vs-welfare-state-0
For a new liberty - rothbard
https://mises.org/library/new-liberty-libertarian-manifesto
mises “Bureaucracy “
https://mises.org/library/bureaucracy
Chris, I salute your efforts and those of the other trustee appointees at NCF. The childish public comment lunacy we witnessed at yesterday’s trustee meeting clearly demonstrates the need for new leadership and approach.
I will say, however, that if you and the other trustees have made any missteps, it would be the size of compensation package offered to the new interim chancellor. Surely you understood beforehand that this decision could undermine your credibility and create, at best, an unneeded distraction. Thoughts?
I appreciate the feedback. My belief is that President Corcoran is the man for the job and, given his experience as the state House majority leader and head of public education in Florida, as well as the difficult task of our reform effort and the short-term nature of his interim contract, the package of $699,000 per year plus benefits is worthwhile. He has already helped unlock $15 million from the legislature and I expect that he will be able to bring in tens of millions of dollars in public and private support over the next year. He will be ~100x more effective than the previous president at only ~2x the cost.
Excellent. Food for thought in dealing with your doctors and understanding the risks vs rewards of any recommended course of treatment. Ask questions. Get a second opinion from a contrarian.
Excellent work Christopher Rufo! As always. How many universities around the country are like this, fully captured by the DEI ideology? What can be done??? Can the governor dismantle this bureaucracy? Is there any hope?
I would estimate that 95% of the universities have fallen for the DEI scam. But there are still holdouts, such as Hillsdale, that are committed to a classical liberal arts education.
Chris, you are active in Florida. Some of us know DeSantis and are active in our own ways. This is a PUBLIC institution. We need a set of instructions as to what we do to fix this. Hand wringing is getting old. We know that you personally are doing a lot. What about the rest of us. We have ALREADY voted in the good guys...and yet we still have this. So that must not be the answer. What is?
Im a physician and medical schools and professional societies are embracing it too
As an FIU alum and former employee I'm digusted by this. It's an International university for crying out loud. Duh.
So happy you're cleaning up and out NCF.
Chris, I reached out to you a weeks ago about NCF. I am a career conservative higher education administrator and offered my services to you and the college. I received a reply from Armen and I hope he passed it along to you. I go by Frank but my CV would be my formal name Francisco.
My info is on the email so please feel free to reach out. I am very excited about the direction NCF is going and I am very disappointed in FIU for embracing the wokeness.
Thanks
The answer to the corruption of public universities is to stop having government subsidize education. In a libertarian world the state would have no role to play in education. In fact as it stands government, the state has no legitimate role to play in any kind of education
Won't this rampaging madness result in the South Africanization of Universities? By replacing merit with favored status will not the quality of the "education" produced drop low enough that the product is not worth the price, requiring ever more subsidization to attract "students"? The institution becomes no longer fit for purpose. Collapse follows. Florida must do better.
Our coalition is advocating for legislation in Florida that would abolish these programs entirely.
Where are the lawsuits?
Is racial discrimination illegal or not?
I'm hoping that the attorney general of Florida will open an investigation. We will see.
if this isn't Communism I don't know what is! and in Florida of all places--can't DeSantis put astop to this? and it has to be unconstitutional? it's clearly discriminating! I am afraid for America but at same
time I am hopeful because of people like you--thank you for all the work you do