Once upon a time MIT had a clear and simple telos. It was to train the finest engineers and scientists in the land.
The rigors were many but were eagerly accepted by those who measured up. Distractions were few.
Alas, a cancer fell upon the campus. It began when the Long March Through the Institutions infected the humanities, arts, social sciences.
The Great Feminization followed. In the wake of Nancy Hopkins, MIT went on a female faculty hiring binge. The admissions office set a policy of making every entering class 50% female.
Before long the president, the chancellor, the provost, and the head of MIT’s faculty were all women. As was half the undergraduate student body, the majority of the admissions officers, and a majority of the administrative staff.
By the time the Great Awokening struck, MIT’s immune system had been thoroughly compromised.
DEI, cancel culture, encampments, misandry, and antisemitism ravaged campus culture.
The fever peaked in October 2023, but broke in November 2024. Recovery is underway. But the disease lingers in intractable reservoirs.
To wit, here are some of the undergraduate fields you can now major in at MIT.
Anthropology Comparative Media Studies Global Studies and Languages History Humanities Humanities and Engineering Humanities and Science Linguistics and Philosophy Literature Music Philosophy Science, Technology, and Society Theater Arts Writing
You can bet the woke Admissions Office is using “holistic” criteria to craft a diverse team that includes every humanities wannabe that can barely clear the minimum math SAT threshold that precludes them flunking out.
It’s just a matter of time before the pressure to water down the rigorous core curriculum to make MIT more amenable to non-STEM scholars and innumerate humanities professors overwhelms the resolve of the STEM faculty.
STEM excellence cannot survive regression to the mean.