The Sketch Book of Nick DeLuca

Earlier this year, the Wyoming State Legislature, driven by the Wyoming Freedom Caucus, proposed cuts to the University of Wyoming budget of up to $60 million. Though the legislature ultimately restored UW’s full funding, the question on many Wyomingites’ minds was: why? Freedom Caucus members said the reason was to “get UW’s attention.” They certainly did that, and in doing so recalled an anti-intellectual strain in Western political culture that’s historically been hostile to academia, expertise, and critical inquiry.

But given that UW is the state’s only four-year public higher-ed institution and enrollment is down since COVID, it was an unusual posture for the legislature to take.

I think one of the West’s most beloved adopted sons would also be concerned if he were alive today: Theodore Roosevelt.

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