(Opinion) Why Progressives Are Abandoning Arizona State University

written by a member of the WCB

Unraveling of Liberal Ideals

Arizona State University stands as a profound case study of institutional failure—not through a conservative lens, but from the perspective of genuine progressive values. This is a story of systemic betrayal, where performative activism has replaced meaningful social transformation.

Hollow Promise of Progressivism

Diversity and Inclusion: Facade

• Tokenism Over Substance

  • Surface-level diversity initiatives

  • Administrative checkboxes replacing genuine representation

  • Marginalized communities used as marketing tools

1. Representation Theater

   • Leadership remains predominantly white and privileged

   • Diversity offices that produce reports, not change

   • A bureaucratic machine that commodifies social justice

2. Economic Exclusion

   • Skyrocketing tuition costs

   • Working-class students priced out of education

   • Financial aid system that perpetuates inequality

Academic Industrial Complex

Systemic Contradictions

• Research Funding Corruption

  • Corporate partnerships undermining academic integrity

  • Research priorities driven by donor interests

  • Suppression of critical scholarship that challenges power structures

• Adjunct Exploitation

  • Massive reliance on underpaid, precarious labor

  • Destruction of academic worker rights

  • Complete abandonment of labor solidarity principles

Environmental Hypocrisy

Sustainability: More Than a Buzzword

• Climate Action Performatives

  • Green marketing without substantive institutional change

  • Carbon-neutral pledges without meaningful infrastructure

  • Research disconnected from actual environmental justice

The Intellectual Capitulation

Knowledge as a Commodity

• Curriculum Corporatization

  • Education transformed into job training

  • Elimination of critical humanities

  • Destruction of transformative learning models

Progressive Indictment

ASU represents not just an educational failure, but a comprehensive betrayal of progressive principles:

• Institutional performativity

• Economic exclusion

• Intellectual commodification

• Social justice as a marketing strategy

VERDICT:

• Progressivism Betrayed

• Social Transformation Abandoned

• Radical Potential Neutralized

When institutions become the very mechanism of oppression they claim to challenge.

Radical Autopsy of Institutional Failure