What is the downside here? It’s about time that people started waking up to this issue.
The Chronicle of Higher Education reports:
Colleges Could Be Flooded With Citizen Lawsuits Under Proposed DEI LegislationAs the assault on diversity, equity, and inclusion programs at hundreds of colleges across the country continues, conservative forces trying to stamp out the programs in at least four states have proposed turning to higher-education employees and the general public to act as regulators of race- and sex-conscious efforts to root out discrimination on campus.Of the 17 states that have so far introduced bills to ban or limit diversity, equity, and inclusion, or DEI programs, according to a Chronicle analysis, Arizona, Arkansas, Iowa, and Texas have gone as far as allowing people to sue schools that they think deploy a variety of efforts to tamp down on perceived racism, sexism, homophobia, and transphobia on campus.Arizona’s bill, SB 1694, would ban universities from adopting policies “to influence the composition of its work force based on race, sex or color,” and prohibit the adoption or promotion of unconscious or implicit bias, cultural appropriation, allyship, structural racism, and disparate impact among other prohibited stances. It also allows employees to sue the university for making DEI training mandatory.Arkansas’ bill would end explicit efforts to recruit employees of color in public colleges and allow those who believe they have been denied employment because of their identity to sue the college.In Iowa, SF 81 prohibits training related to “racism/scapegoating” and allows students’ parents and faculty members to sue institutions that offer such training.A similar bill moved out of the State Senate education committee in Texas on Wednesday. The Lone Star state’s bill allows anyone to seek an injunction against a public university that supports or sponsors diversity, equity, and inclusion activities beyond what is required by the 14th Amendment or statements by the university endorsing lifestyle, racial, or religious identification.In effect, the series of bills would deputize regular citizens in the fight against DEI.
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