Dennis Minott | Study first: Navigating America’s campus culture wars

This year, hundreds of Caribbean students will board flights to the United States with scholarships secured, visas stamped, ambitions sharpened. They will go to study engineering, medicine, physics, economics, psychology, law, and literature.

They must also prepare for something else.

They are entering American universities at a moment of deep cultural contestation. The United States remains intellectually vibrant, scientifically pre-eminent and culturally inventive. Yet it is politically polarised in ways that increasingly shape campus life.

This reality need not alarm you. But it must be understood.

Two broad currents dominate much of the public argument. One is often labelled by critics as “wokism” – a progressive framework emphasising structural injustice, systemic bias, and the need for institutions to correct historical inequities. The other is associated with MAGA Republicanism – a populist-nationalist movement stressing national sovereignty, cultural continuity, border enforcement, and individual merit.

These labels simplify complex positions. But the tension between them is real – and universities sit directly in its path.

WHY CAMPUSES BECOME BATTLEGROUNDS

American universities are not marginal institutions. They shape judges, journalists, scientists, policymakers, and corporate leaders. Whoever influences universities influences the future.

From elite private institutions such as Harvard University, Williams College, and Stanford University to flagship public universities such as Florida State University, The University of Texas at Austin, and Michigan State College, campuses are centres of serious scholarship. They are also arenas where debates about race, gender identity, immigration, free speech, national history, capitalism and climate policy play out intensely.

You may encounter

• A classroom discussion that becomes ideologically charged.

• A guest lecture disrupted by protest.

• A student group demanding institutional reform.

• A professor making a snide political aside.

• Social media controversies spilling into campus life.

For students from Jamaica or elsewhere in the Caribbean, the intensity can be startling. In America, disagreements are often framed as moral absolutes rather than policy differences.

The danger, however, is intellectual capture.

FOUR PRINCIPLES

If you are heading north, consider four guardrails.

1. Guard your intellectual independence: You are not obliged to become a spokesperson for any ideological tribe. Resist pressure to display virtue through fashionable slogans. Equally resist the temptation to adopt reflexive contrarianism simply to appear bold. Serious scholarship requires evidence, nuance, and patience. Every framework – progressive or populist – contains insights and blind spots. Binary thinking is the enemy of learning.

2. Learn before you judge: Read primary texts. Study history in context. Understand the strongest arguments of thinkers with whom you disagree. The American constitutional tradition is complex. So are critiques of power and privilege. Universities reward depth, not reaction. Your credibility will rest not on how loudly you speak but on how well you reason.

3. Protect your reputation: In an age where screenshots are permanent, prudence matters. Freedom of speech exists. So do consequences – social, professional and reputational. Express disagreement with civility. Ask questions rather than issue declarations. Avoid performative outrage. You are building a professional identity that will outlast any news cycle.

4. Remember why you are there: You did not cross borders to fight culture wars. You came to master your discipline. Do not allow ideological turbulence to derail academic excellence. Employers and graduate schools value competence, discipline, and integrity – not online theatrics. Study first.

CARIBBEAN ADVANTAGE

Caribbean students bring assets often underestimated. You understand plural societies. You have navigated economic constraint. You can distinguish rhetoric from lived reality. You know what fragile institutions look like.

That perspective breeds proportion.

American debates sometimes presume endless abundance and institutional permanence. Students from small states understand that institutions can weaken quickly when trust erodes. Your lived experience can anchor you when others drift towards excess.

AVOID TWO TEMPTATIONS

The first is cynicism. Do not conclude that all politics is theatre or that all institutions are corrupt. American universities still produce Nobel laureates, groundbreaking technologies, and transformative scholarship. The research infrastructure remains formidable.

The is zealotry. Intensity is not intelligence. Loudness is not depth. Moral certainty without evidence is intellectual laziness – whether it marches under a progressive banner or waves a nationalist flag.

Caribbean students must avoid both extremes.

SEEK CONVERSATION

Engage those who disagree with you. Attend lectures across ideological lines. Join structured debates rather than protest spectacles. Handled properly, disagreement strengthens democratic societies. Suppressed or weaponised, it weakens them.

You will meet thoughtful scholars across the spectrum who value reasoned exchange. Seek them out. Build relationships grounded in respect rather than tribal identity.

UNDERSTAND THE POLICY FLUX

American higher education is itself evolving. Some states are curtailing Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) offices. Others are expanding them. Court rulings have altered admissions frameworks. Federal policies shift with administrations. These changes affect funding, campus climate and research priorities.

Stay informed. But do not panic. Institutions endure beyond electoral cycles. What remains constant is the demand for competence.

WORD TO PARENTS AND COUNSELLORS

Parents, teachers, and guidance counsellors should prepare students not merely academically but psychologically. Exposure to intense debate is not inherently harmful. It can sharpen thinking and deepen resilience.

Encourage students to cultivate intellectual calm – the ability to listen carefully, respond thoughtfully, and separate evidence from emotion. That skill is rare and also powerful.

If you must choose a side, choose truth. If you must align with anything, align with evidence. If you must protest, protest injustice with integrity. If you must defend tradition, defend it with knowledge.

The measure of your overseas education will not be which slogans you echoed. It will be whether you emerged wiser, steadier, and better equipped to contribute meaningfully to your society – whether in Kingston, Port-au-Prince, Port of Spain, Bridgetown, Georgetown, Mayaguez, or Miami.

The United States remains a land of extraordinary opportunity. It is also a society wrestling with identity, power, and memory. You will witness that struggle up close. Approach it not as a combatant but as a scholar.

In turbulent times, intellectual calm is a competitive advantage. Cultivate it. Then return to your books.

Dennis A. Minott, PhD, is a physicist, green energy consultant, and long-time college counsellor. He is the CEO of A-QuEST. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com.