We all have heard about addictions. Sometimes, the word is used in a teasing, joking manner. "He is addicted to checking his email." In reality, addictions are quite serious. One of the most deplorable addictions in higher education is to DEI courses and programs.
DEI addictiveness has been on the rise in recent years, and it has resulted in meaningless academic programs, either as electives or required gen-eds, and students being a captive audience to this content while preparing to live in the real world. How severely are DEI program coordinators controlled?
Baseline info
Based on information provided by Accuracy in Media and Young America's Foundation, symptoms of DEI addiction include such acts as: constant engagement in creating DEI class materials, frequently lying to investigative journalists about DEI program usage, and neglecting real education with banal class assignments.
YAF's 2026-2027 Comedy and Tragedy Report provides a sample of seemingly intentionally over-the-top college classes, including "Gender and Women Studies 184 PO Trans/Gender-Variant Aesthetics" and "Art History 214: Queer Art."
Plus, instead of reading real literature, the DEI addict will often perform "research" to produce material to the tune of "White Paint is Racist" — a notorious example, courtesy of The College Fix — so that they can still focus on the game and satisfy their expectations from their "Studies" degree.
This book about white paint was written several years after such arguments as "SpongeBob is racist toward the indigenous" and within the same year as "Disney movies are about white privilege." Addicts often make minimal changes.
When President Donald Trump's executive orders or other U.S. laws attempt to cut DEI programs short, the addict will often have withdrawal symptoms, like feeling moody, angry, or depressed, since someone is interfering with their precious DEI time.
Why is DEI addictive?
For what reasons could they be addicted to such mind games? Some people relentlessly strive to beat their last DEI collection, or the virtue-signaling of other players, since they thrive on the rapid burst of adrenaline from this competition with themselves or others.
They could love the endless reinforcement- money, titles, "[insert something here] Studies" degrees, achievements, university-press book publication (often on a mad-libs "fill in the blank" type of meaningless subject like the white paint example), prizes, and so on.
All of that was bestowed upon them for completing DEI-related tasks. They really cannot wait to see what the next quest is that the system will dole out, so that they can receive more reinforcement.
For others, however, DEI may serve as an escape from difficult circumstances. This is due to the fact that DEI runs a perpetual fantasy world that often allows the player to create his or her own fictitious intersectional persona, permitting them to temporarily become a very powerful person who is able to have more control than in the real world.
The DEI mind games paint people as akin to virtual characters in video games, whether player avatars or static characters (NPCs, or non-player characters).
When DEI becomes a trend in higher ed, there is always the strong possibility that an instructor will be controlled.
Recommended: DEI Is Still Here? Common Sense vs. DEI
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