The Iowa Board of Regents Votes To Abolish DEI
The Iowa Board of Regents voted to abolish several diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs for state universities.
Following the ruling, Iowa public universities are prohibited from requiring that employees, students, applicants, or campus visitors to provide their preferred pronouns.
The Board of Regents says the steps taken will also ensure students and staffers will not be required to submit DEI statements or “be evaluated based on participation in DEI initiatives” unless the position is one required for “DEI-related compliance or accreditation.”
Here's a closer look at the changes incoming:
Republican Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds signed a bill in June to initiate a “comprehensive study and review of the diversity, equity and inclusion programs and efforts of each institution of higher learning."
Similarly, Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis -- who says DEI stands for "Discrimination, Exclusion, and Indoctrination" -- signed a bill into law in May to eliminate DEI in public Florida colleges.
As did Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott in June.
Hopefully, other governors follow suit.
Diversity, equity and inclusion is a form of what I call Excused Racism, the presumption that society must discriminate against certain groups to reach impartiality.
I wrote a column on this phenomenon last summer, regarding a Supreme Court ruling on affirmative action.
DEI is no different.
The idea behind DEI was to swing the pendulum toward groups that institutions say they once discriminated against.
However, the attempt at a correction became an overcorrection. The pendulum swung too far, to where supposedly privileged groups (white people) were often discriminated against.
In the name of "diversity," of course.
In addition to scaling back DEI programs, the Board adopted proposals to explore ways to promote intellectual diversity and free speech -- which so many modern universities have come to lack.
Today is a win for students in Iowa.
Meanwhile, Biden's Department of Defense is looking to drop a total of $269.2 million on the diversity, equity, and inclusion agenda over the course of three years....