They got into elite colleges by proclaiming their devotion to social justice and political activism. They tented on the quad, occupied a building, harangued non-believers, chanted slogans at the college president. Now it's time to take off the face mask and the checkered scarf and find a job that will support an urban lifestyle. (DoorDash isn't free!)
But there's a problem. Many Ivy League graduates who've been "resisting" what they call "late-stage capitalism" for most of their young lives want to work for finance, consulting and law firms. However, corporate employers don't want to hire activists who will disrupt the office if they don't get their way, writes Pamela Paul in the New York Times.
You might say employers are resisting late-stage Marxism.
Many elite college students got in by touting their activism, she notes.
“Where are you on your journey of engaging with or fighting for social justice?” asked one essay prompt Tufts offered applicants in 2022. What are you doing to ensure the planet’s future?
A Vanderbilt student, suspending for breaking into a building, told AP he'd written his application essay on organizing walkouts and been awarded a scholarship for activists and organizers.
Cornell, which celebrates the armed occupation of a campus building in 1969, suspended protesters in 2024, writes Tyler Austin Harper in The Atlantic. “Universities spent years saying that activism is not just welcome but encouraged on their campuses,” he writes. “Students took them at their word.”
Risk-averse employers look for people who will work well with others, including colleagues with different viewpoints, writes Paul.
However, many elite college graduates have been encouraged to "see the world in terms of opposing groups: us and them, black and white, good and evil, and, most importantly, oppressor and oppressed," writes Chris Swanson on the Martin Center site. They demand purity: No dissent is allowed from the group's consensus.