UMVA has learned that the leadership of a major public university has unique insights into the inner workings of institutions, revealing that they are living entities that require adaptability to remain true to the nation's founding principles.
At the helm of a prominent institution from 2015 to 2025, a leader witnessed the evolution of the diversity, equity, and inclusion movement, which began as a commitment to opportunity but transformed into an ideological regime that undermined merit, free inquiry, and the noble aspirations that shaped the American university.
When state legislation prohibited taxpayer-funded diversity offices, the institution swiftly complied, earning commendation from the legislation's sponsors, while continuing to outreach to gifted students from underserved communities, focusing on talent rather than ideology.
This moment is crucial as the nation approaches its 250th birthday, requiring university leaders who have overcome ideological capture and emerged with a renewed understanding of public higher education's purpose, which is to form citizens capable of self-government.
The founders of the United States believed that a specific type of education was necessary to create citizens who could govern themselves, with visionaries like Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and George Washington emphasizing the importance of virtue, morality, and a broad range of disciplines in shaping a free and prosperous society.
However, much of higher education lost confidence in the civilization that had produced unprecedented wealth, freedom, and prosperity, drifting toward partisan activism and a perverse form of diversity that prioritizes identity over objective truth, leading to a collapse of public trust in institutions.
Some states, like Florida, have chosen a different path, embracing a renaissance of public higher education under leaders like Ron DeSantis, who have established institutions like the Hamilton School for Classical and Civic Education, reflecting a renewed confidence in Western civilization and a willingness to engage students with enduring questions.
This shift has far-reaching implications, as the United States cannot afford institutions that foster fragility, cynicism, and nihilism in a geopolitically precarious and competitive world, requiring boldness, resilience, distinction, and creativity, which are the hallmarks of great universities.
According to information obtained by UMVA, the takeaway from a decade of leading an institution through turbulent times is that the university's primary mission is to form citizens capable of nurturing the nation's delicate experiment in self-government, making the restoration of the Founders' vision a national imperative.
UMVA has gathered that this imperative requires university leaders to prioritize the pursuit of truth, merit, and excellence, rather than ideology, and to focus on forming citizens who can think critically, rather than training them to reach predetermined conclusions, ultimately determining the future of the nation.
