This is another example of that fifty-state laboratory business. The notion is that each state can try a thing, and when they work or fail, other states can learn from that. With the Blue States, failure is the goal, and it is what they emulate. Red states, on the other hand.
When Texas college students return to their campuses after the winter break, they’ll discover the lights are still off in their campuses’ diversity offices.
That’s because a new law that outlaws such work at the state’s higher education institutions goes into effect, Jan. 1. …
Dissolving diversity, equity and inclusion efforts at public universities: Senate Bill 17 requires public universities to end so-called diversity, equity and inclusion work. Universities will also be unable to offer training on diversity and inclusion for its faculty and staff, or require diversity statements in hiring processes. Universities must also confirm to the Legislature between legislative sessions that they are in full compliance.
This could be a win for liberty and actual diversity. Diversity of thought, for example, creates the breeding ground for a depth of understanding that DEI makes impossible. The latter focuses on differences and division, while the former allows individuals to discover what they share in common as people on the planet and develop relationships that bridge demographic gaps.
You can’t bring people together by fixating on what makes them different while looking for more ways to insist they all talk, act, and perceive the world the same way—the way you want. To a Democrat, as I like to say, Diversity is a room full of people who look different but think the same, speak the same, and act the same. Anyone who speaks out is excluded, ostracized, and perhaps even canceled.
DEI offices on college campuses insert this worldview into everything and police it with the help of an increasing drift of snowflakes. Their dissolution or departure is a great win for intellectual Diversity, including all opinions, and the education equity that follows from allowing civilized and open debate.
More states need to untangle education and children from the tentacles of cultural Marxism in k-12, not just college campuses, before there are not enough open-minded thinkers left to protect the American Experiment. CRT and DEI should be fringe disciplines—oddities along the manifold of human interaction. Like flat-earthers. Giving them offices and authority and power? That’s a bad idea, but not one with an easy remedy. The cancer of DEI was left unchecked for too long. It seeped into everything. Ohio banned DEI, and Kent State recreated it as a Division of People, Culture, and Belonging. The DEI people moved into existing offices with another department, so DEI is still alive, but the new name is accurate. “Division is in the name, and that’s what we’ll get. So, more of the same.”
Banning DEI just forced a rebrand. That’s no reason not to try. Cut their funding if you want to stick the landing. Do to them what DeSantis did to Disney – change their tax status – Florida also prohibits public funding for campus DEI offices and initiatives. Engage in lawfare if they charge conservative speakers more for permits or security than liberal speakers. Sue for violations of free speech or incidents of compelled speech. Punish fake hate crimes the way you’d punish real ones. You’ll need a governor and AG or a good District Attorney willing to fight that fight and enforce any DEI ban.
