Transparency Item: The Perspectives section of the Graphic is comprised of articles based on opinion. This is the opinion and perspective of the writer.
On Aug. 4, Pepperdine University announced the Board of Regents unanimously voted to extend President Jim Gash’s term by five years.
Gash has been the president of Pepperdine for six years, and while some of the changes he brought to the University have been beneficial, other changes have been harmful to the community or Pepperdine’s image.
Concerns with Gash’s presidency for many are wide-ranging, but I see them as three main points: Pepperdine’s academic reputation, expression on campus and a clear political leaning. The net impact Gash has had has been negative, and his renewal was not a good decision.
Academic Reputation
One of the key metrics to measure the public face of a university is the U.S. News and World Report ranking. More than 50% of high school seniors refer to this when deciding what college to apply to, according to a 2024 poll by Art & Science Group.
Since Gash became the president, there has been stagnation and ranking drops for Pepperdine. One of the most significant drops was in 2023, when the ranking methodology changed, according to previous Graphic reporting.
This methodology change was to better reflect post-graduate outcomes and highlight an institution’s ability to help its students achieve socioeconomic mobility, according to Inside Higher Ed.
Pepperdine defended the drop in rankings by saying the University is performing well in other ranking metrics included in the report, according to a release by the Pepperdine Newsroom in 2023.
Despite this, Pepperdine has continued dropping in previously strong metrics, such as from 74 to 103 in Best Value Schools or 48 to 53 in Best Colleges for Veterans, both changing from the 2025 to the 2026 rankings, according to previous Graphic reporting.
Pepperdine has also dropped in the peer reputation category, which is our academic quality assessed by the administrators of other institutions. This makes up 20% of the ranking, and in 2024, Pepperdine experienced a drop from 3.5 to 3.4 on a 1 to 5 scale, according to previous Graphic reporting.
The University has publicly ignored the decrease and failed to acknowledge the most recent drop in the rankings in its 2025 Pepperdine Newsroom report.
Ideally, Gash would publicly direct the University to do its best to understand what the cause of these drops in rankings truly is.
Expression on Campus
Since his tenure began, Gash has chosen a series of themes to guide each academic year, with the current year being the theme of “Purpose,” and last year’s theme being “Freedom.”
In 2016, with the inception of the label, Pepperdine was rated a “Warning” school in the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) free speech rankings, and as of May 2025 is still considered a “Warning” school. Pepperdine’s ranking suggests its policies actively inhibit the right to free speech.
It is not Gash’s fault the University started as a “Warning” school when he began as president. Despite this, it is still within his capabilities to direct the President’s Office to address and potentially make changes so Pepperdine is no longer rated so poorly.
While many other religious and non-religious universities are also rated poorly, the importance of the FIRE rating is exacerbated by Gash’s choice to connect Pepperdine directly with the idea of freedom.
The value of this theme of “Freedom” is further questionable, considering how the university has approached expression on campus.
Last spring, a representative from Student Affairs requested censorship of the language the Gender and Sexuality Alliance was allowed to use for the naming of an event, according to previous Graphic reporting.
While Gash and the President’s Office are not directly responsible for the handling of this event, Gash could set a more inclusive standard for free expression on campus.
The University administration also recently shut down an exhibition at the Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art. The administration directed the Weisman Museum to censor parts of two art pieces, due to their being “political in nature,” according to previous Graphic reporting.
This ultimately led to the closure of the exhibition, as artists pulled their pieces from the Museum in protest of the administration’s decision.
The content that was deemed “political in nature” included messaging such as “No aceptaremos una América racista” [in English: “We won’t accept a racist America”], “Say it loud, say it clear, immigrants are welcome here” and “SAVE THE CHILDREN” and “ABOLISH ICE,” referencing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, according to previous Graphic reporting.
Arguably, all art is inherently political, and more overtly political art is often intended to create discussion and express a diversity of ideas.
This event sets a terrifying precedent from Gash and his President’s Office and bodes poorly for expression issues on campus going forward.
Political Leaning
Pepperdine has never explicitly expressed a political stance, including under Gash’s supervision.
Since becoming the University’s president, though, Gash has increasingly shifted toward a conservative political leaning. He has made several appearances on news and entertainment programs such as Fox News and written for publications like Newsweek.
In his writing for Newsweek, Gash wrote about the need to instill “foundational American values” into students through education — a call to action that feels strange considering Pepperdine is committed to “Christian values,” not explicitly American ones.
In that Newsweek op-ed, Gash even took a position against the student protests across the nation for nearly two years in response to the United Nations-described Israeli government’s genocide of Palestinians. He also appeared on a Fox News segment that framed these protests as hateful, and defended his argument that universities should respond to these protests by focusing on American values, when he said, “We can’t just be passive and let the culture, let society tell us what we should be believing.”
Pepperdine claims Gash is committed to “diverse perspectives,” according to his renewal announcement. Despite this, Gash has appeared on Fox News multiple times within the past two years, a corporation well-known for having a right-wing bias, according to AllSides.
His political bias and influence does not end there. Under his guidance as president, Pepperdine has hosted several “thought leaders,” according to the renewal announcement. These have included Palmer Luckey, Jordan Peterson, Mike Pence, Robert George and Cornel West, Condoleezza Rice, Barbara Barrett, Ari Berman and Tani Cantil-Sakauye.
Despite it seeming like a large variety of speaker backgrounds, the majority of these guests have been right-wing political figures. Cornel West was the only self-described left-leaning speaker, and he was one of relatively few speakers who shared the stage during his appearance at Pepperdine, according to the President’s Speaker Series website.
While under Andrew K. Benton, president from 2000 to 2019, right-wing political commentator Ben Shapiro came to campus, this event was not arranged under Benton’s direction, according to previous Graphic reporting. On the other hand, the President’s Speaker Series — under which these other speakers were brought to campus — is an initiative developed and brought to Pepperdine by Gash, according to previous Graphic reporting.
These don’t seem like diverse perspectives. Rather, it seems a political agenda is being created by failing to present legitimately diverse perspectives.
Associations With Starr, Moore
Gash’s past relationship with the late Ken Starr also reflects badly on the University.
Starr served as the dean of the Caruso School of Law from 2004 to 2010, at the same time that Gash was Caruso’s associate dean for student life, according to previous Graphic reporting and the Pepperdine Magazine.
Starr is notable for many reasons due to his career in law and political associations.
Starr played a key role in the impeachment of President Bill Clinton through the Monica Lewinsky scandal, defended President Donald Trump in his first impeachment trial in 2020 and resigned as president of Baylor University due to mishandling of sexual assault allegations between students, according to the Miller Center, PBS and NPR.
Starr also wrote a letter of support for convicted child molester Christopher Kloman, and Starr is perhaps most famous for playing a role in securing Jeffrey Epstein — a well-known child sex offender — a plea deal in 2008, according to PBS.
Most of these events happened after Starr was hired at the University, and Starr’s presence at Pepperdine was no fault of Gash’s.
Starr’s historical association with the University is problematic enough on its own, and Gash’s influence is making it worse.
Despite all of this widely available information about Starr and his negative public associations, Gash still oversaw the creation of the Ken Starr Institute for Faith, Law, and Public Service last year, according to the Pepperdine Newsroom.
Gash also acknowledged Starr’s relationship in his life when he said, “I am profoundly grateful for Ken’s leadership, mentorship, counseling, guidance and encouragement,” according to the Caruso School of Law Newsroom.
Perhaps worse is the recent hiring of Johnnie Moore, the executive chairman of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. The foundation has been criticized for its role in continuing the famine and genocide in Gaza, according to previous Graphic reporting.
The Good
In some ways, Gash has brought good to the University.
He is responsible for the expansion of the RISE program to the RISE Institute, an organization that helps engage students on campus and promotes wellness practices.
He also launched the Hub for Spiritual Life and is overseeing the construction of The Mountain at Mullin Park, both of which include helpful resources for students.
Most recently, Gash’s direction helped Pepperdine get recognized as a Research 2 (R2) University, a prestigious recognition that reflects a focus on research and advances Pepperdine’s image.
Despite this, his influence is vastly negative for the University. Continuous drops in rankings only reflect a declining state of the University, free expression is limited on campus and Gash has increased Pepperdine’s public political leaning.
Gash’s presidency extension should not have occurred, and I am worried about the future of the University under his continued guidance.
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Contact Noah Burton via email: noah.burton@pepperdine.edu
