Sen. Vance: ‘If universities keep pushing racial hatred…we need to look at their funding’

December 9, 2023

U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) sent a letter to Ohio State University to ask “about the troubling rise of racial prejudice on campus.”

“I write to express frustration with the culture at my alma mater, The Ohio State University, and to understand how that culture might change once you become its president,” wrote Vance in the letter. “In particular, I am concerned by recent news reports that considerations related to ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion’ have been infused into the university’s hiring practices and curricula.”

Vance wrote about a recent analysis by John Sailer of the National Association of Scholars who “discovered that so-called ‘diversity’ considerations — including both applicants’ immutable characteristics, like race, ethnicity, and sex, and applicants’ views on diversity as a social and political matter — were central to faculty hiring decisions across the College of Arts and Sciences.”

“However, I recently learned that the problem here may go well beyond hiring practices,” wrote Vance. “Once again, a public records request has revealed that a core function of the university — this time, teaching — has been compromised in the name of DEI dogma.”

Vance, 38, was first elected to serve Ohio in the U.S. Senate in the Nov. 2022 General Election. He defeated U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio), winning 53% to Ryan’s 47%.

Vance served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 2003 to 2007, graduated from Ohio State University, and received a J.D. from Yale University Law School.

He also is the author of the the 2016 book, “Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis,” which reached The New York Times Bestseller list in 2016 and 2017.

His full letter to Ohio State University can be found here: