A Uniquely Terrible New DEI Policy

Attacks on faculty rights are frequent in academia, where professors’ words are now policed by illiberal administrators, state legislators, and students. I’ve reported on related controversies in American higher education for more than 20 years. But I’ve never seen a policy that threatens academic freedom or First Amendment rights on a greater scale than what is now unfolding in this country’s largest system of higher education: California’s community colleges.

Roughly 1.9 million students are enrolled in that system. Its 116 colleges admit almost everyone who applies. Students who’ll transfer up to UC Berkeley or Cal Poly San Luis Obispo study alongside others seeking an associate degree or a certificate in fields as wide-ranging as nursing, welding, and law enforcement. And per-unit costs are low, with financial aid for the needy.

All told, these colleges represent the best version of diversity, equity, and inclusion. Any adult can attempt to improve their lot with help from educators and a realistic shot at success. But frustratingly––even tragically––the same system is implementing new DEI rules, mandated by state bureaucrats, that trample on free speech while coercing faculty members on how to teach their subjects, which scholarly conclusions to reach, and even what political positions to advocate. Some faculty members say they feel like they must choose between their job and their conscience.

[Conor Friedersdorf: The hypocrisy of mandatory diversity statements]

This approach exemplifies the very worst of what DEI can mean in higher education, and two lawsuits by faculty members credibly challenge the new regime as a civil-rights violation. The state should abandon the new guidelines and refocus on the proper mission of community colleges: helping students achieve their goals, not forcing faculty to adopt trendy social-justice dogma.

U to California’s education code, all community-college employees will be evaluated in a way that places “significant emphasis” on “antiracist” and “DEIA competencies.” (The stands for “accessibility.”) For professors, that means all will be judged, whether in hiring, promotion, or tenure decisions, on their embrace of controversial social-justice concepts as those concepts are understood and defined by state education