The California Community Colleges’ regulations force professors to espouse controversial views about “diversity, equity, and inclusion.”
A group of six community college professors in California sued the state over its requirements to include diversity, equity, and inclusion elements in their courses.
The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) filed a lawsuit on behalf of the professors from three community colleges in Fresno County earlier this week.
The professors claim the mandate violates their First Amendment rights.
“These regulations are a totalitarian triple-whammy,” FIRE attorney Daniel Ortner said in a statement Thursday.
“The government is forcing professors to teach and preach a politicized viewpoint they do not share, imposing incomprehensible guidelines, and threatening to punish professors when they cross an arbitrary, indiscernible line.”
It’s forced speech and forced indoctrination, IMHO.
The colleges represented in the lawsuit include four professors from Madera Community College, one from Reedley College, and one from Clovis Community College, Washington Examiner reports.
The regulations explicitly require professors to pledge allegiance to contested ideological viewpoints. Professors must “acknowledge” that “cultural and social identities are diverse, fluid, and intersectional,” and they must develop “knowledge of the intersectionality of social identities and the multiple axes of oppression that people from different racial, ethnic, and other minoritized groups face.” Faculty performance and tenure will be evaluated based on professors’ commitment to and promotion of the government’s viewpoint, FIRE writes.
The “California Community Colleges’ new diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility rules force professors to endorse the government’s view on politically charged questions regarding diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility,” the lawsuit reads.
An official glossary of terms published by California Community Colleges includes a definition of anti-racism which suggests that people “that say they are ‘not a racist’ are in denial”, and claims that “color-blindness” is responsible for perpetuating “existing racial inequities and denies systemic racism,” reports National Review.
At least six professors care about the 1st Amendment. I can remember when Democrats fought for it. Now they fight to destroy it.
Very rare to see academia stand for the constitution.
Good to see some in California taking a stand against stupidity.