Charleston Gazette: “Civic centers 'all over the place': Miller backs Washington Center amid criticism”
The following article by Dylan McCumbers was published in the Charleston Gazette on April 30, 2026.
As the Washington Center for Civics, Culture and Statesmanship prepares for its first semester at West Virginia University, some students and faculty have raised concerns about its mission and place at WVU.
The center, established by House Bill 3297 during the 2025 legislative session, will begin offering classes at WVU during the fall 2026 semester.
The state-mandated center's goal is to foster "intellectual diversity" and political debate within the campus community, according to the bill's text.
The Washington Center "is housed at West Virginia University and operates at the discretion of its director, who was appointed by the governor and is only required to consult with University leadership," according to Shauna Johnson, Executive Director of Strategic Communications at WVU.
In October, Duquesne University philosophy professor Patrick Miller was announced as the director of the Washington Center, with his term starting on Jan. 1.
Courses and concerns
For the fall 2026 semester, 21 classes will be offered through the Washington Center, including Social and Political Philosophy, which will discuss "what some of history's greatest thinkers had to say about justice, liberty, equality, and community, then figure out your positions on a number of current debates such as migration, national identity, free speech, race, gender, and family," according to the Washington Center's website.
Another class offered by the center is Woke, described as exploring "what the term signifies, whether the underlying ideas have merit, and the extent to which modern secular political movements are similar to religious revivals, such as the Great Awakening of Christianity in 18th-century America."
Ahead of its opening, the Washington Center has received pushback from students and faculty regarding civic engagement.
Venkat Das, a sophomore philosophy and anthropology major and vice president of the WVU Philosophy Club, is opposed to the Washington Center and believes it is operating on the state legislature's false depiction of higher education.
"There's this perceived idea that academia has become embedded with certain values and has strayed away from the academic mission of making more informed students," Das said. "A lot of people I talk to don't agree with the view of it being liberal oriented ... but I think they're coming out from a very different lens than how the legislature promotes it. I think students want kind of a different discussion on civic engagement and the role of the academy or the university in civic engagement, but I definitely think they would disagree."
Miller echoed the legislature's perception in a presentation he gave on Feb. 17, saying universities have been co-opted to promote what he describes as "new religion."
"Since the end of the Cold War — and especially in the last decade — American universities have become more like seminaries of the new religion than protectorates for those who would question it," Miller said.
Miller elaborated on "new religions" throughout the speech, comparing purported "new rituals" to the religions of the old world.
"This is exactly what Nietzsche foresaw. Whether you took a knee for St. Floyd, wore masks [during the COVID-19 pandemic] like a [self-imposed punishment], or went out of your way to recycle that one bottle, you were seeking relief from a guilt that has grown ever sharper as the new dispensation has taken shape," he said.
Miller's mention of "St. Floyd" referenced George Floyd, killed by Minneapolis police in 2020 following his arrest for allegedly using a counterfeit bill. The incident sparked nationwide protests against racial injustice and police brutality.
"The seven deadly sins are racism, anti-semitism, Islamophobia, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, capitalism, nationalism and populism. Okay, that's nine: more guilt, more sins."
Another point of concern for several members of the campus community is how the Washington Center's curriculum might overlap with or conflict with other courses already taught at WVU.
Matthew Vester, a WVU history professor, teaches courses focused on early modern European history. Vester has raised concerns about the center's creation in the wake of former President Gordon Gee's push for "Academic Transformation," which saw cuts to several academic programs.
"Part of the context is that we lost 40% of our humanities faculty including, as you know, the entire department of world languages," Vester said. "So, the Legislature decides there's a problem at WVU, without bothering to find out whether there's really a problem, and they solve the problem by appointing someone who has the power to create new positions in a context in which we've already lost a whole number of positions. In fact they did nothing when those decisions were being made, but they're going to impose some new kind of center."
'Increase the diversity of ideas'
Miller was interviewed by The Daily Athenaeum on April 14 and discussed the creation of the center and its goals at WVU.
"Civic centers are being established all over the place. Fourteen of them have been established by state legislatures in state universities. These are all 'red' states where the universities are perceived to be, let's say, 'blue' in the sense that the preponderant majority of the faculty are Democrats, registered Democrats, oftentimes ideological Democrats to the point that they exclude Republican voices, even from the classroom," Miller said. "And so, in these fourteen states, the legislatures seemed to believe that by inserting these centers into the universities, something can be done about that problem to increase the diversity of ideas that are discussed."
Miller spoke about the difficulties of integrating the center into the university, saying there is no minor established for the center, rendering the courses not "degree-pursuant," and strictly electives.
"I think there are institutional obstacles to creating anything new at this university," he said. "For example, the statute requires the center to have a minor in statesmanship. But, to have a minor of anything, you need to go through a rigorous process that takes 6 to 9 months I've heard described, and it has to go through many, many committees all the way up to the top of the University, and you can't start that until you have, what are called, 'permanent' courses."
Miller also touched on his search for faculty, saying that in addition to academic specialties, he is looking for those who have been "canceled" by their previous institutions or online.
"I'm looking for people who are willing to integrate into the classroom, into their public persona, into their writings and so on, ideas that have been excluded by the university. … Who better demonstrates that they are willing to do that than people who were already doing it and suffering for it," Miller said.