$3 Million Later, West Virginia’s New Center Aimed at Countering ‘Woke Indoctrination’ Has Enrolled Just One Student

An effort to combat “woke” education in West Virginia is getting off to a slow start, with just one student enrolled in a new civics center at the state’s flagship school ahead of the fall semester. Over the last two years, lawmakers in West Virginia poured $3 million into the creation of the Washington Center for Civics, Culture, and Statesmanship, according to the civic watchdog group West Virginia Watch. The center, housed at financially troubled West Virginia University, is slated to offer 23 courses when it opens this fall.One course, titled “Woke,” aims to “explore what the term signifies, whether the underlying ideas have merit, and the extent to which modern secular political movements are similar to religious revivals, such as the Great Awakening of Christianity in 18th century America.”Some other classes include “The West and the Church,” “Statesman of the Bible,” and “The New Right.”In 2025, West Virginia’s legislature passed House Bill 3297, which required that WVU create the Washington Center to teach students about the “great debates of Western civilization.”West Virginia’s governor, Patrick Morrisey, said at a press conference last year that the center will “push back on the woke ideology that has infected our schools and help return higher education to its true purpose.”But ahead of its launch, the center has failed to attract much student interest. The executive director of strategic communications for WVU, Shauna Johnson, said in a statement, “As of June 22, one student was enrolled in three separate Washington Center courses.”Ms. Johnson said there are currently 18 classes available, but the center says it will be offering 23 classes. Supporters of the program have brushed off the low enrollment rate, noting that the classes are not required for any of the university’s existing majors. A state senator, Mike Oliverio, told West Virginia Watch that he was “excited” that the legislature has allocated state funds for the center because he thinks its instruction on civics “only strengthens our republic.”Mr. Oliverio brushed off concerns about the enrollment, telling the outlet, “These classes are not required by any major, so students may be interested in the subject, but they may choose another class over these that is required for them to be able to complete their degree on time, and so that’s a real limiting factor here.” He suggested that offering a minor in statesmanship “might drive more participation.”The center has faced criticism. A local TV station, WTOV9, reported that students have raised concerns that the Washington Center will be pushing a right-wing message.The center’s director, Patrick Miller, told the station, “It only seems like we’re ideologically right-wing in an environment in which left-wing ideology has been the ocean in which everybody’s been swimming.” He said the instructors will “teach views from all sides of the spectrum.”Critics of the center noted that the state was spending $3 million on the center after WVU reported a $45 million budget deficit. In 2023, the university’s board of governors voted to eliminate 28 academic programs, including all mathematics graduate degrees and all foreign language majors. The university also made cuts to its jazz and creative arts programs and slashed more than 140 faculty positions. A state senator who opposed the creation of the Washington Center, Tom Takubo, told West Virginia Watch that he was concerned about allocating money for the center after the university made those cuts. West Virginia is not alone in putting civic centers like the Washington Center on campus. At least nine Republican-led states have created civics centers on campuses since 2017. In June, Iowa’s governor, Kim Reynolds, signed legislation into law that requires University of Iowa students to take a course from the university’s Center for Intellectual Freedom to graduate.

$3 Million Later, West Virginia’s New Center Aimed at Countering ‘Woke Indoctrination’ Has Enrolled Just One Student

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