A few states have begun the hard battle to reverse the growth of the toxic “diversity, equity and inclusion” ideology that has swept through higher education. It’s like starting a course of treatment for a very serious infection. The Martin Center is looking into these state efforts, and the first in our series involves Tennessee. Professor Scott Yenor looks at the anti-DEI steps that have been taken in the Volunteer State.
Elected officials in Tennessee have been pushing back against DEI since 2016, but without much to show for it. Yenor writes:
By 2022, under the noses of the legislature, UTK had put in place 26 DEI administrators, revamped its hiring and promotion policies to encourage more equity, and begun undertaking a review to infuse general education with more diversity classes. Each department at UTK had developed a diversity action plan, as they were required to do by the university’s strategic plan. Most, if not all, universities in the system had hired high-level DEI administrators who were readying to do the same.
This is just what you’d expect from DEI zealots. They want control no matter what the legislature — the source of funds — might say. And what is the legislature doing about this arrogance?
One thing was to insist on reinstating standardized tests for admission in 2022. “Also in 2022,” Yenor writes, “the legislature held hearings and grilled university officials, moves that culminated in a ‘divisive concepts’ bill accompanied by a more accessible grievance procedure for employees. This law pledged respect for academic and classroom freedom but banned ‘compelled speech’ and removed ‘divisive concepts’ like inherent racial bias or racial superiority from university trainings. Furthermore, it prohibited university employees from taking adverse actions if students refused to believe in ‘divisive concepts.’”
This is better than nothing, but Yenor argues that the state has far to go.
Read the whole thing.