The desire on the part of some students and professors to make political and social “statements” in university settings is one of the most insufferable aspects of higher education today.

Case in point: Beginning this fall, the University of Minnesota-Duluth (UMD) will join a growing list of schools (UC-Berkeley, George Washington University, the University of Maryland, et al.) that offer a lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) minor.

The head of UMD’s women, gender, and sexuality studies department told Campus Reform that “‘The job’ the LGBTQ minor prepares students for is to understand and embrace all members of an increasingly diverse society.”

Another UMD professor said, “Offering the LGBTQ minor is a real indicator of what the campus climate is like….When these programs are available, it makes a statement that this is important to us.”

Yes, offering the LGBTQ minor makes a statement. It makes clear that for some individuals on campus, what a person believes is considered to be far more important than what he actually knows, or how well he can think and make rational arguments. It makes clear that studying and learning and challenging oneself academically are secondary concerns.

It also makes clear that fields like women’s studies and LGBTQ studies are fraudulent. They have nothing to do with serious academics or learning, and everything to do with proselytizing and grievance peddling.

If students want to study “queer cinema in international perspective” (also the title of a course that UMD’s LGBTQ minors will be required to take) on their own, that’s fine, I guess. Taxpayers, however, should not be on the hook.