West Virginia Spent $3M to Establish Anti-‘Woke’ University Program. Only 1 Student Enrolled

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• West Virginia lawmakers pledged $3 million in taxpayer funds last year for a brand-new university center to “push back on the woke ideology that has infected our schools”

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• But only one student at the state’s largest university has enrolled in courses, the university told PEOPLE

• The center is offering 19 courses for the Fall 2026 semester and paid its director a salary of more than $300,000

West Virginia lawmakers pledged $3 million in taxpayer funds last year to create a brand-new university center that would offer nearly 20 courses and pay its director a salary of more than $300,000 to “push back on the woke ideology that has infected our schools.”

Courses titled “Woke,” “The New Right” and “Decline of the West” are among the offerings of West Virginia University’s The Washington Center for Civics, Culture, and Statesmanship.

Only one student has enrolled in just three of the courses as of late last month, a university spokesperson confirmed to PEOPLE on Friday, July 10. West Virginia Watch first reported on the lack of interest in the program on Wednesday, July 8.

West Virginia University had an enrollment of more than 26,000 students in the Fall 2025 semester.

“As of July 9, one WVU student had registered for three of the 19 courses available through the Washington Center for the Fall 2026 semester,” Shauna Johnson, WVU’s executive director of strategic communications, said in an email to PEOPLE.

Dr. Patrick Lee Miller, the center’s director who previously worked as a philosophy professor at Duquesne University in Pennsylvania, did not immediately respond to a request for comment from PEOPLE on Friday.

The center “is dedicated to the study and appreciation of Western civilization and the American ideals of free inquiry, freedom of religion, freedom of speech, and freedom of association,” the center’s about page states.

According to West Virginia Watch, $3 million was allocated to the center to cover costs and scholarships for prospective Washington Center students after a law passed in April 2025 by the West Virginia legislature and signed by Gov. Patrick Morrisey established the center.

“Dr. Miller and the Washington Center are going to push back against the woke ideology that’s infected our schools, help return higher education to its true purpose,” said Morrisey at an October 2025 press conference announcing Miller as the center’s inaugural director.  “The Washington Center will ensure that the values that made America great are taught with not only honesty, but a sense of pride.”

The governor’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from PEOPLE.

According to the university spokesperson, the center is funded and directed independent of university leadership. Miller “has overseen the establishment of courses and the hiring of personnel” since he was tapped for the role, the spokesperson told PEOPLE.

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West Virginia House Speaker Roger Hanshaw, a Republican co-sponsor of the legislation, told West Virginia Watch that he’s “not necessarily surprised that enrollment hasn’t begun to tick up” because the courses have not yet been approved by university leadership to be counted toward existing academic majors.

Delegate John Williams, a West Virginia Democratic state lawmaker, told the local news outlet that the lack of interest in the program was why he opposed it in the first place.

“I’m not happy about it,” Williams said. “Now we’re in a position where we’ve allocated so much money towards this program, and only one person is taking advantage of it.”

“It’s frustrating when state government, since I’ve been in the Legislature, is so unwilling to make a meaningful investment in higher education, and then they come around with this pet project that we now see has one enrollee,” Williams added.

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The center’s establishment came amid a Republican push, led by President Donald Trump and the GOP-controlled Congress, to crack down on universities and other academic institutions for “diversity, equity and inclusion” policies, campus protests, and academic programs the party found distasteful.

“Now, we know President Trump has done critical work to restore common sense and American values and education,” Morrisey said at the October 2025 press conference. “I’m proud that the Washington Center and quite frankly… WVU that you’re going to play a really important part of that effort.”

Read the original article on People