I Am Not a Hero

My conversation with a real hero, Leslie Elliott Boyce

In our present interconnected world you just never know where anything you do online will land. The ripple effect of any post may reach places you never expected. My recent article in the National Review, which was published on December 26, came to the attention of Rick McCarthy, a marriage and family counselor in San Clemente, California. My story of fighting diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives in the American College of Surgeons struck a cord with Rick, who has experienced his own Tyrannization by the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists (CAMFT) because he objected to the ideological transformation of the organization. He contacted me to discuss our parallel experiences with DEI. Interestingly, both of us were in our 45^th year in our respective professions.

Rick’s letter to the CAMFT brought him to the attention of Leslie who had started her own podcast, The Radical Center, after her experience with ideological indoctrination and subsequent illiberal treatment by her graduate program for a masters degree in mental health counseling at Antioch University in Seattle, WA. She interviewed Rick and he mentioned this when we spoke. I viewed that interview and contacted Leslie to see if she might be interested in my story, which I have detailed in previous articles and interviews. https://www.city-journal.org/article/isolated

It was in speaking to Leslie before and after our interview that I learned her story and what led her to start her podcast. I asked why she chose to name it The Radical Center and she replied that there is so much extremism on both the left and right on so many issues these days that the radical position is now really in the center.

Leslie’s story made me realize how much others have given up because they will not bow to petty social justice tyrants and accept the toxic and illiberal ideology of DEI in our academic institutions. My ban in the ACS for standing up to DEI did not cost me anything other than my voice within the College. I wasn’t even expelled. While appallingly unjust and without due process, my ban did not put my career in jeopardy. I had already had a full career. Leslie’s principled stand at Antioch cost her the dream she had of becoming a licensed mental health counselor. In addition to being indoctrinated in social justice advocacy, she was told that the goal of the department at Antioch was not to produce objective, competent counselors trained to deal with clients dispassionately to help them resolve their personal mental health issues. It was to indoctrinate them to see how their race, ethnicity, class, etc. either placed in them in the category of the oppressed or oppressor and turn them into “woke” advocates for DEI. They were not counselors; they were soldiers in the culture war against systemic racism.

The teachings at Antioch included attempting to eliminate the word “woman” substituting instead “AFAB people with vulvas” (AFAB stands for ‘assigned female at birth’) and inclusion of critical race theory in counselor training. Her objections to this led to an email from the CEO of Antioch’s Seattle campus and Dean of the Graduate School of Counseling, Psychology, and Therapy to students and faculty excoriating her for expressing “white supremacy, transphobia, and other harmful ideologies” and telling students to avoid viewing her videos because they might be harmful to them

The final break for Leslie came when she was told she must sign a “civility pledge” which required that she agree with radical ideological positions that she opposed. The pledge requires that the student “acknowledge that racism, sexism, heterosexism, classism, ableism, ageism, nativism, and other forms of interpersonal and institutionalized forms of oppression exist, among other things.” She dropped out a few course short of the degree toward she had worked for years. She cannot be a licensed mental health counselor because she will not sign on to an ideology that is now in retreat everywhere you look, except for a few places where the zealots are hunkering and doubling down on this. Antioch University in Seattle is one of those places. So is my American College of Surgeons.

Here is our conversation: