Only One Student Has Enrolled in New WVU Program Designed to Counter ‘Woke Ideology’

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West Virginia University opened a new program in response to “woke ideology” in higher education. At the time of writing, just a single student had enrolled.

This fall will mark the first semester for the Washington Center for Civics, Culture and Statesmanship. The opening of the program has been in the works for the last two years and has cost approximately $3 million in state funding.

As noted in a report from West Virginia Watch, the formation of the program was mandated by House Bill 3297, a Republican-led effort at “teaching constitutional studies and ‘great debates of Western civilization.'”

The report added:

Lawmakers gave Gov. Patrick Morrisey the task of appointing its director in consultation with the Senate and WVU’s Board of Governors. Morrisey, who publicly supported the center, named Dr. Patrick Lee Miller to the position last October 2025. The state funding goes to Miller’s annual salary of more than $300,000.

“Dr. Miller and the Washington Center are going to push back on the woke ideology that has infected our schools and help return higher education to its true purpose,” Morrisey said during a press conference last year.

Among the courses offered at the Washington Center are “Woke,” “Nation and Migration,” and “The New Right.”

House Speaker Roger Hanshaw told West Virginia Watch that he anticipated low enrollment due to that the university had yet to approve the courses to count toward college credits.

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