A man on X says that he plans to have his college diploma crushed by a hydraulic press in protest of the university’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) policy.
The fiasco began over the weekend after Scott Adams, a vocal supporter of former President Donald Trump and the creator of the Dilbert comic strip, spoke out against the University of California, Berkeley after the New York Times reported on the school’s rubric for assessing DEI.
Specifically, the Times reported that when analyzing applications, the university scored vague remarks regarding diversity, such as saying that all people should be treated the same, lower than those that were more in-depth.
“I disavow my degree (MBA) from Berkeley,” Adams wrote. “They are a ridiculous racist organization. I’m embarrassed to ever have been associated.”
DEI policies, which have been adopted by many universities as well as major businesses, are intended to support different groups of individuals, such as people of different abilities, ethnicities, genders, races, religions, and sexual orientations.
Yet critics, such as Twitter user Jason DeBolt, argue that such policies are discriminatory towards those not in minority groups. Adams’ tweet led DeBolt to similarly disavow his ties to the University of California, Los Angeles.
“I disavow my business economics degree from UCLA. The UC system is a racist organization. I’m ashamed to ever have been associated. This is not a joke,” DeBolt wrote. “I will never leverage my previous association with UCLA in any way for anything. No job applications, no alumni events, no sports games, no apparel. The racism at these institutions is utterly destructive, and will continue to metastasize through the private and public sectors.”
But DeBolt wasn’t finished. In a follow-up tweet, the Twitter user shared his plans to have a prominent YouTube channel known as “Crazy Hydraulic Press” destroy his diploma. DeBolt even shared screenshots of an alleged correspondence with the channel on Instagram where they appeared to agree to the idea.
“Hi, I love your channel. Can I mail you my leather bound college diploma to crush?” DeBolt allegedly asked. “I want to publicly disavow my college degree from my woke university (UCLA). I have 138k followers on Twitter/X and will promote your content. Thanks.”
The YouTubers allegedly replied that they would be willing to destroy the diploma so long as DeBolt was willing to send it to Belarus.
The Daily Dot reached out to the channel’s Instagram profile, which uses the name “Crazy Russian Experiments,” to inquire about the alleged messages. The account stated that the messages were legitimate. Crazy Russian Experiments also said that DeBolt did not plan to send them the diploma until November.
The announcement from DeBolt was met with mixed reviews. Some applauded the plan while others argued that such actions were a waste of time. Others complained that the diploma wasn’t being destroyed in the U.S.
The Crazy Hydraulic Press YouTube channel currently boasts more than 1.1. million subscribers.
In May, conservatives vowed to boycott Chick-fil-A after discovering a years-old page on the company’s website detailing its own DEI policy.
