The reason why 46% of parents want their children to pursue alternatives to traditional college has never been clearer. Many universities have strayed from their original purpose of preparing students for success in the workforce and have instead become centers of ideological indoctrination driven by left-wing philanthropists.
A new report from Defending Education revealed just how deep this influence runs. Left-wing nonprofit organizations, often bolstered by taxpayer dollars, have funneled vast sums into academia to advance political agendas, undermining the very educational mission these institutions claim to uphold.
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“Obviously, there’s only so much time in a school day. Time devoted to ideological agendas is time that’s not available for reading, math, or science,” Frederick Hess of the American Enterprise Institute told the Washington Examiner.
“There’s always a desire to educate children to see the world the way we do. By itself, this is normal and unexceptional. The problem is when we see instances of curricula and classrooms being bought by ideological actors,” he added. “The emphasis on pushing materials and training can be a particular disservice to instruction related to civics or history. Classrooms can wind up in one-sided proselytizing at the expense of factual mastery or nuanced understanding.”
As Hess explained, that’s precisely the problem. The massive influx of outside funding into higher education has warped academic priorities, pressuring universities to align with the agendas of their donors.
The report found that the Mellon Foundation and the Hewlett Foundation have collectively funneled roughly $19 million into colleges and universities to expand and promote ethnic studies programs and departments.
For example, the Mellon Foundation has given the City University of New York $8,000,000 since 2020 to “support the further development of ethnic studies across the CUNY system.”
The foundation also gifted $1,500,000 to the California State University system for additional ethnic studies programs, particularly ones focused on gender and sexuality studies, across state universities and community colleges.
Additionally, the Mellon Foundation granted Salem State University $3,000,000 to create institutions that “develop undergraduate-focused digital humanities with an emphasis on ethnic studies and community engagement.”
The W.K. Kellogg Foundation gave New Mexico State University $250,000 to “provide core support for the Borderlands and Ethnic Studies Research Center to address inequities in PreK-12 schools by developing culturally responsive place-based lessons.”
The Ethnic Studies Initiative at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities, a program that provides teachers with free lesson plans that promote student activism for left-wing causes, has links to controversial people and groups and is funded by nearly 20% of the state’s sales tax revenue.
Likewise, the University of California, Berkeley’s High School Ethnic Study Initiative would not have been possible without funding from the state’s Department of Education and independent grants such as those from the Ford Foundation.
The philanthropists cited in Defending Education’s report are far from the only ones advancing these programs through generous donations. In recent years, dark money has infiltrated academia at unprecedented levels, quietly shaping educational priorities behind the scenes.
The Washington Examiner recently reported that Arnold Ventures and the Coalition for Evidence-Based Policy, two organizations financed by Texas billionaire John Arnold that focus on tackling “social issues” in academia, partnered with the state of Maryland to administer $20 million to social spending programs for students.
Arnold Ventures also donated to the Conversation, an “academic” journal for administrators in grade school and higher education. As mentioned by the College Fix, the Conversation recently received scrutiny after many of the administrators who influence America’s next generation celebrated the murder of conservative figure Charlie Kirk in the journal.
The Washington Examiner also recently reported that the daughter of Jim Simmons, the late Wall Street billionaire turned philanthropist, donated over half a million dollars to TODOS-Math for All, an Arizona-based organization that calls for elevating diversity, equity, and inclusion practices and anti-racist activism into all math instruction, before she donated to Zohran Mamdani’s New York City mayoral campaign.
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“We can no longer believe that a focus on curriculum, instruction, and assessment alone will be enough to prepare our children for survival in the world. We need antiracist conversations for ourselves and for our children,” TODOS President Linda Fulmore announced in 2020.
These organizations clearly have their own objectives and have now invested their resources in academia to fulfill their goals. This undermines students’ abilities to excel academically and calls for pushback from lawmakers.