A January 24, 2025 article in the sports section of the San Francisco Chronicle is yet another example of Wokeness providing comic relief: “Sonoma State move exposes jarring realities.” The “jarring realities” of a small university eliminating its athletic programs, as told by the Woke writer, Ann Killion, may surprise you…or not.
As a longtime reader of this newspaper, I deduce the Chronicle’s style manual contains the following dictates:
- We value free speech unless it’s speech we don’t agree with. Then it’s hate speech.
- Transwomen are real women.
- Laws protecting children, vulnerable adults, and women’s sports and spaces are anti-trans.
- Immigration laws are racist. Enforcing them is super-duper racist.
- Everything is the fault of Donald Trump and climate change (née global warming).
- Anyone who disagrees with the above is a Nazi.
The sports section of this newspaper is über-political. Their sportswriters love to fancy themselves the arbiters of acceptable socio-political thought and morality in the athletic world and everywhere else (me, too!). Whenever possible, and no matter how discordant the result, they’ll blindly infuse a sports story with broader politics, often with unintended hilarity.
Sonoma State University made the painful decision to eliminate its entire Seawolves athletic program. This small public university in Northern California is facing financial difficulties and was forced to cut, not just athletics, but some academic programs, as well. Students and staff aren’t happy about this, understandably so.
This is a newsworthy event, in which broader politics are certainly involved, but the writer just couldn’t help herself. Blame this situation on the ongoing fiscal follies of California’s state government, the gratuitously wasteful and inefficient spending of our university system, or a state no longer a desirable place to live, whether one is a college student or otherwise? Oh, hell no!
This plight is somehow Donald Trump’s fault, despite the fact the announcement of these cuts occurred mere days after his inauguration and was likely among the many cost-cutting measures considered in internal discussions well before then.
Huh? Then why blame him?
There is nothing these partisan Chronicle writers can’t link to climate change hysteria or Donald Trump. Ms. Killion previously opined about the dissolution of the Pac-12 athletic conference and most of its schools joining other far-flung mega-conferences, which greatly increased travel distances for games and meets, and that this has…wait for it…global warming implications. Hoo-boy, talk about maniacally trying to pound a square Woke peg into a round reality hole.
As ongoing evidence of the Woke’s inherent hypocrisy, her Pac-12 article mentioned nary a squawk about the several professional teams she covers and whose travel carbon footprints are gigantic. Why do they get a pass for gratuitous apocalypse-causing carbon spewing? Ironically, the Pac-12 situation also resulted from financial realities; in this case, the huge amounts of money generated by Division I football and basketball teams and the risk of not keeping up with the Joneses in getting a share of this pie worth billions of dollars. This greed crowds out any consideration of the impacts on other “lesser” sports or smaller schools.
For the Seawolves article, Ms. Killion consulted an academic at the University of Illinois who espoused honeyed words she no doubt loved hearing. Though he did provide some fiscal reasons roiling the current college sports landscape (e.g., NIL money), he couldn’t help himself and added a share of blame to “the incoming [Trump] administration and its hostility towards higher education.” Likewise, Ms. Killion couldn’t help herself and dutifully included this nonsense in the story, sans any critical thinking analysis.
Whoa, hold on there, Sparky. What the writer should’ve done is ask this learned person what specifically is President Trump’s hostility towards our ivory towers of academia and how exactly does this affect Sonoma State. She should also have asked a painfully obvious question: Would a Kamala Harris victory saved the Seawolves from extinction? The incurious sports “journalist” dared not ask. The answers might go jarringly against the grain of the desired narrative.
But wait…a retired Stanford professor was also interviewed, and he disputed the money angle, saying that is actually a larger NCAA Division I issue and would “have little impact on a small school program like Sonoma State.” Instead, this guru chimed in with this doozy regarding Sonoma State: “This case is part of a much bigger problem, which is the simultaneous phenomenon we’re witnessing: the decline in the birth rate causing the decline in American-born population going to college; an attack on immigrants, which is causing a decline in foreign student visas, [sic] and general dislike of higher education because of its elitism.”
I can understand demographics being a factor. We probably have far more universities than are needed (and have for a long time), especially if these were restricted to students who are intellectually and temperamentally suited to higher education—and largely obtaining economically worthwhile degrees. Also, people are learning that there are good jobs not requiring a college degree, which is a long overdue respect for “blue collar” work. You know, the down-and-dirty work that makes the world run and ultimately allows the Woke the leisure to indulge in supercilious pontification.
But if we indulge this guy’s illogic regarding an alleged anti-immigrant sentiment being a factor (those darn xenophobes!), then based on the flood of illegal immigrants over the last four years and the staggering extent to which the Biden administration indulged them, SSU should’ve been flush with cash and the Seawolves flown on luxurious charter jets to their games and meets!
Both the guru and the writer are examples of dunderheaded elitism and its pernicious illogic and smugness. Allow me to offer my two or three cents, something what the writer and the scholar fail to consider, deliberately or otherwise:
- This country has welcomed more legal immigrants than any country in history, and continues to do so. A country must have immigration laws and enforce these. This is called adult governance.
- A nation cannot allow unlimited and unvetted immigration.
- Illegal immigration is unfair to legal immigrants.
- Enforcing immigration laws, especially in a country that continues to allow huge numbers of legal immigrants and guest workers, is not anti-immigrant, racist, or xenophobic.
- The Woke are obsessed with the childish notion that any person denied illegal entry, residency, or work, even if a violent criminal, is proof that the non-Woke are evil. The Woke are never deterred by the obvious harm caused by their crazed ideology. In fact, they believe this harm is the ultimate proof of their virtue: “See, we even welcome illegal immigrant rapists and murderers to stay!” Yes, the Woke are that vile. And they don’t give a damn that these crimes are disproportionately committed against other illegal immigrants.
- Governments, including higher education, are burdened with unnecessary expenses; for example, those related to transgender ideology, illegal immigration, and DEI. This money must be better spent and perhaps have kept SSU from its current financial state. (Hmm, I wonder if SSU is cutting any of the staff responsible for implementing DEI-related activities?
- The plague of Wokeness infecting schools in blue states may also make these schools unfavorable to foreign students. Who wants to waste tuition on a university whose primary educational goal is enforcing the use of incorrect pronouns!
It would be nice if the Chronicle had columnists who would be allowed to rebut this nonsense with a thoughtful response. But that would require a level of professionalism and journalistic integrity long absent.
The Seawolves face extinction for many reasons, but Donald Trump or immigration laws are certainly not one of these. California’s government finances are mess at the state and local level. Therein lies the reason.
But wait!
Irony of ironies, the Chronicle ran a second article about the SSU plight, on the same day, in the general news section, this one written by Nanette Asimov: “Sonoma State to trim academics, faculty.” This article reported on the issue with a much better journalistic approach than Ms. Killion’s, not blaming President Trump or carbon dioxide. Ms. Asimov provided plausible reasons for SSU’s predicament, though she did allow an interviewee to take a swipe at Fox News as a contributory culprit. Sigh, they just can’t help it.
Ms. Killion could well learn a thing or two from Ms. Asimov. Both could learn from me.
Here’s links to both articles, so you can make your own decision:
“Sonoma State move exposes jarring realities.” (possibly behind a paywall): https://www.sfchronicle.com/sports/annkillion/article/sonoma-state-losing-athletics-says-college-sports-20051818.php
“Sonoma State to trim academics, faculty.” (possibly behind a paywall): https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/sonoma-state-budget-cuts-layoffs-20049685.php
Note: Ann Killion’s article has appeared under different titles.
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