Guests - Dr. Stanley Ridgley, Bruce de Torres
DEI Exposed: How Ideology Almost Toppled Higher Education
The Toxic Reality Behind DEI Programs
Dr. Stanley K. Ridgely, a clinical professor of strategic management at Drexel University and author of "DEI Exposed: How the Biggest Con of the Century Almost Toppled Higher Education," joined the program to discuss the reality behind diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives in higher education.
"DEI is not what people tend to believe it is," Ridgely explained. "It's not about creating a level playing field. It's not about giving everyone a fair shot at the brass ring. It's not about teaching about race and teaching about slavery. It's none of those things."
Instead, Ridgely described DEI as "a toxic ideology of Manichean good and evil" that categorizes everyone into one of two racial categories: villains or victims. "That's the fact of the matter. And that's what DEI Exposed explains in detail, in the words of the people who propound this noxious ideology."
According to Ridgely, DEI programs promote the idea that America is fundamentally racist and permeated with "white supremacy culture." He characterizes this approach as a "virtuous victimhood" strategy where ideologues declare themselves victims and convince institutions that others are villains, enabling them to demand reparations through what he calls a "resource extraction strategy."
"My book guides parents and students through this thicket of nonsense and tells you how to avoid it, how to fight back if you're a victim of it, and eventually get that education that you're paying lots and lots of money for," Ridgely stated.
The Rejection of Success Behaviors as "White Supremacy Culture"
Ridgely observed that DEI programs often reject traditional success behaviors by labeling them as symptoms of white supremacy culture. "Individualism or individualism, that's a symptom of white supremacy culture. Professionalism, punctuality, frugality - these are all symptoms of white supremacy culture."
He emphasized that these are "success behaviors that are open and available to everyone" but are being stigmatized through DEI ideology.
"DEI is simply another manifestation of things we've seen before. It falls under the umbrella of what is called social justice," Ridgely explained. "This is a collectivist mentality. And I say collectivist in the sense that in social Marxist or Socialist or even the C word, Communistic, the idea that group goals, common goals are more important than individual goals."
Ridgely described how DEI has pervaded campus life through what proponents call "M-E-A-L to you management" - messaging the social justice ideology "24/7 on the campus, in the classroom, outside the classroom, in dormitories, in dining halls, every chance they face a student."
Trump Administration's Response to DEI in Higher Education
When asked about President Trump's recent executive orders addressing DEI in education, Ridgely expressed strong support.
"I think he's doing a great service to the country. I think he's bringing order, stability, sound, sobriety, and seriousness back to higher education," he stated. "Higher education has been absolutely irresponsible and has abandoned its responsibility and accountability in its self-governance. It simply cannot govern itself."
Ridgely praised the administration's approach of linking federal funding to compliance with constitutional principles: "The president's raft of executive orders are basically telling universities you have to adhere to U.S. civil rights laws and equal protection, like equal protection is guaranteed under the U.S. Constitution, or you will forfeit your funding."
He believes this approach is effective because it speaks "the language that universities and colleges understand, and that's money and bad publicity. It's the only language they understand."
Ridgely expressed optimism about recent developments: "I think there's reason for optimism. I think that the fact that we're having this conversation, that is something I could never have imagined five years ago. So I am incredibly optimistic. This is the best I've seen, the best raft of news that I've seen about higher education in years."
The Harvard Example
Ridgely pointed to Harvard University as an example of institutional problems in higher education. He noted that while Harvard recently announced the end of their DEI program, they were essentially repackaging it under a new name with "the word community in there" while keeping "the same person, a person who is guilty of plagiarism, a known plagiarist" in charge of the program.
"Harvard is incredibly flawed. And from top to bottom, I think that you've got a university with a $53 billion endowment, receiving $9 billion in federal grants and separate contracts," Ridgely stated. He criticized the university's leadership structure, describing its board as "led by a billionaire Oligarch by the name of Penny Pritzker, whose brother is J.B. Pritzker, who is the governor of Illinois."
Ridgely questioned Harvard's claims about academic freedom: "The idea that, oh, well, President Garber's standing for academic freedom and freedom of speech - no, he's not. He's a pawn of these billionaires who are actually running the corporation."
He cited the controversy surrounding former Harvard president Claudine Gay as further evidence of institutional problems. Gay resigned after plagiarism allegations but "kept her $900,000 a year salary. And she's now in the faculty teaching the Department of Government...So there's no shame with regard to Harvard...they figured they can do whatever they want to, and there's no accountability."
American Small Business League: Fighting for Fair Federal Contracting
The Battle for Small Business Federal Contracts
Bruce de Torres, Director of Communications for the American Small Business League (ASBL) and the Don't Cheat Women project, joined the program to discuss the systematic diversion of federal contracts intended for small businesses to large corporations.
"Our website is asbl.com and we are in the business primarily of exposing the fact that federal contracts that are supposed to go to our small businesses routinely for decades go to big businesses," de Torres explained.
He detailed how this occurs "through fraud loopholes, bad policies, lax oversight at the Small Business Administration" and emphasized that "billions of dollars every year are awarded to Fortune 500 companies that should be going to our small businesses."
De Torres highlighted the economic significance of small businesses in America: "99.9% of all businesses in America are small businesses with less than 500 employees. Most people don't know that 98% of them have less than 100 employees and they generate almost half the GDP. They create most of all new jobs."
Despite federal mandates requiring that 23% of all federal contracts go to small businesses, de Torres claimed that in reality, they receive only about 3%. "That means that one-tenth of 1% of companies that are big businesses are getting around 97% of federal contracts - about $340 billion a year of business that they don't need."
The impact of this misallocation is substantial: "If those contracts legitimately went to our small businesses, they would have to create about 2 million new jobs every single year...It would be the largest economic stimulus plan in our history."
Concerns About the Small Business Administration
De Torres expressed concern about recent developments at the Small Business Administration (SBA), noting that President Trump has "cut the staff 43%, which will cut the budget about half. It's always been one of the least supported, least funded agencies."
He pointed to the irony that an agency with a reduced budget "under $600 million" that "recently made headlines being accused of mismanaging over $600 million in loans" is now being tasked with managing "$1.6 trillion in student loans."
"This is what we see being set up to fail," de Torres suggested. "We expect to hear any day, 'Oops, that was a mistake. Let's push all of the SBA's functions into the Department of Treasury or Commerce.' And lost in the fog of bureaucracy will be the contracting program."
De Torres emphasized that the core issue is not the SBA itself but its implementation: "We love the Small Business Administration. It needs to be reformed. It needs to be greatly expanded...Billions of dollars every year are awarded to Fortune 500 companies that should be going to our small businesses."
A Plan for Small Business Economic Reform
De Torres outlined the ASBL's Small Business Economic Plan to address these issues:
"Launch investigations to prove all these claims...Have the Government Accountability Office, the Senate and House Small Business Committees, the SBA Inspector General do new investigations."
"Reform and greatly expand the SBA, change the definition of small businesses from 500 to 100 or less employees."
"Increase the contract goal from 23% - small businesses are 99.9% of all businesses. Should they only be getting 23% of federal contracts?"
"Introduce legislation that removes large firms from small business contracting."
"Make public the names of all firms that are coded as small businesses."
"Support annual recertification for small businesses that have existing federal contracts. So they don't get acquired by the end of the year and then still can fulfill their small business contract for the next five or ten years."
Don't Cheat Women: Advocating for Women-Owned Businesses
The Stark Disparity in Federal Contracting Goals
Bruce de Torres also highlighted the ASBL's "Don't Cheat Women" project, which focuses on the disparate treatment of women-owned businesses in federal contracting.
"On our homepage at the bottom half, we've got a video and a link over to our other website, which is DontCheatWomen.com," de Torres explained. "And it is highlighting the fact that the goal to steer federal contracts to women is only 5%."
De Torres emphasized the stark contrast between this goal and the reality of women's business ownership in America: "Women are half the population and they own 42% of all businesses in America. Why oh why should men get 95% of federal contracts and women get 5%?"
He noted that this disparity becomes even more concerning when considering that even this modest 5% goal might not actually be met: "They probably get less than that."
The Path to Reform for Women-Owned Businesses
De Torres advocated for increasing the federal contract allocation for women-owned businesses to more accurately reflect their presence in the business community. He emphasized the importance of educating the public about these disparities and pressuring elected officials to address them.
"It's about spreading the word. It's about letting the basic facts get known," he stated. "The umbrella is 23% of contracts are supposed to go to small businesses. They don't. What the heck is this goal? Only 5% for women-owned businesses. Let's get that more fair."
De Torres urged a targeted approach to advocacy: "Tell everyone who can do something about it. We want it done at the federal level. So target A, first of all, it's our federal representatives. It's our Congress people, and it's our senators. And then find those committee members, and then also target President Trump in every way with information."
He also connected the project to broader issues of power dynamics in society: "The way that companies owned by men have been getting an alliance share of federal contracts contributes to why men are responsible for over 70% of all political contributions."
According to the Don't Cheat Women website, "Giving women a more equitable portion of government spending will give them the financial resources to gain the power they deserve to affect both foreign and domestic policy."