By Leftist ideologues who promote diversity, preferred pronouns and safe spaces have ruined higher education, Gov. Kristi Noem wrote Thursday, and she wants the public’s help in fixing that.
Noem
In a wide-ranging letter to the South Dakota Board of Regents, Noem took aim at the “state of crisis” plaguing colleges and universities in South Dakota and across the nation.
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“For the last several decades, many states have allowed liberal ideologies to poison their universities and colleges,” Noem wrote.
She established a phone number for whistleblowers to hold colleges and universities accountable, and she said policy decisions will be guided by what students, parents and taxpayers report.
Noem unhappy with college graduation rate
Noem specifically draws attention to subpar graduation rates across the state’s six public universities, writing that their average graduation rates lag the national average.
But Noem’s cited graduation rate of 47% doesn’t line up with numbers provided by the Board of Regents. According to a Board of Regents fact sheet, six-year college graduation rates in South Dakota have been more than 59%, much closer to the national average.
Noem’s spokesman, Ian Fury, did not immediately respond to a request for comment to clarify the discrepancy. The governor’s letter cites the average from the U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard, which uses a different metric to measure graduation rates.
The letter also states that 43% of students who earned a degree were underemployed after graduation and that “countless students have been set up for failure,” while paying tens of thousands of dollars.
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“As a country, we should be ashamed of this,” she wrote. “As a state, South Dakota can show the nation what quality higher education is supposed to look like.”
The Board of Regents has undergone a number of significant changes over the course of the last several months. Noem announced the addition of Jim V. Lochner and Doug Morrison to the board in May. Another vacancy on the board awaits an appointment from the governor.
In April, former Board of Regents head Brian Maher took a similar job overseeing education in Nebraska.
Noem’s letter ends with a long list of action items she asks the board to take up. They include requiring courses in American government and a course in American history as part of general education graduation requirements and reviewing all funding sources for university centers to ensure none are coming from China.
Her letter encourages removal of any policy that prevents students from exercising their freedom of speech. At the same time, she wants policies that remove references of preferred pronouns in school materials and ban drag shows on college campuses.
‘Stong, conservative higher education’
“Together, we can and must set an example to the nation of what strong, conservative higher education can look like,” she wrote.
The agenda looks familiar to state lawmakers who pushed for a similar list of priorities during the 2023 legislative session. A bill sponsored by Rep. Chris Karr, a Sioux Falls Republican, aimed at limiting drag shows on public campuses failed in a Senate committee.
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Another piece of legislation championed by Rep. Scott Odenbach would have created the “Center for American Exceptionalism” at Black Hills State University, in Odenbach’s district. It failed to clear the House by one vote.
Odenbach
Noem’s office did not publicly support either bill.
“I agree with the need to keep higher education in South Dakota relevant and successful,” Odenbach said in a statement to The Dakota Scout. “Whatever their major, graduates who love this country and understand the link between hard work and success provide the foundation fo for our future as a nation.”