The left’s ideas are so popular that they have to be enforced as mandatory.
From the FIRE blog:
University of Oklahoma refuses to end compelled speech in diversity training programLast fall, FIRE discovered that the University of Oklahoma was running an online mandatory diversity training program for faculty and staff members — including some graduate students — that required trainees to acknowledge their agreements with the university’s approved political viewpoints in order to complete the requirement. FIRE pointed out that this was compelled political speech and asked OU to change the training. In an email to FIRE last week, OU officially refused to do so.FIRE first wrote to OU on Nov. 16, 2020, bringing the university’s attention to FIRE’s concerns about this violation of trainees’ rights of free speech and freedom of conscience. Our letter explained that the First Amendment protects the right to speak, but also the right not to speak. Accordingly, we called on the university to either make its diversity training optional or allow participants to still complete the training while selecting the answers that most closely reflect their beliefs, without punishment.It is FIRE’s custom to reach out to universities privately at first to give them a chance to make changes without being subjected to public opprobrium. But after months went by with no response to our letter, FIRE publicly wrote about the situation to add further pressure on the university to comply with its obligation to respect student and faculty First Amendment rights. This time, OU responded quickly, claiming to have previously responded to us — though we had not received a response — stating that it would consult with its software vendor, EVERFI, to discuss FIRE’s objections.
CLICK HERE FOR FULL VERSION OF THIS STORY