Defeating DEI: Stopping Radical Politics In K-12 Classrooms & Higher Education

Radical, racist political ideologies are crippling higher education, but the Goldwater Institute is showing the country how to rein in the “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI) regime. Goldwater enacted a powerful reform in Texas in 2023 that completely defunds the bloated apparatus of DEI administrators currently swarming the state’s public colleges and universities. The Texas law was signed just weeks after Florida adopted Goldwater’s reform banishing “diversity statements” and other discriminatory techniques used by the left to enforce ideological conformity on campus under the guise of DEI.

Goldwater is completely shutting down the entire campus apparatus dedicated to fomenting race or gender-based radicalism. DEI rode swiftly to power over our institutions in recent years. But thanks to Goldwater’s work, so too is it now poised for an equally rapid downfall.

Enacting Reforms Nationwide

The Goldwater Institute has partnered with allied organizations to create a set of complementary model policies for state legislatures to adopt. Taken together, this suite of higher education reforms will dislodge the corrosive impact of DEI initiatives at the administrative and classroom level, while upholding academic freedom of students and faculty.

The following model policies may be adopted individually or together as a comprehensive approach to restoring the academic integrity of public universities:

Abolish DEI Bureaucracy

(with Manhattan Institute)

• Eliminates all DEI administrator positions
• Prohibits mandatory diversity training sessions
• Prohibits universities from requiring “diversity statements” from job applicants
• Prohibits racial discrimination (affirmative action) in hiring and admissions

Freedom from Indoctrination Act

(with Speech First)

• Prohibits universities from requiring or coercing students to take DEI related coursework
• Shields faculty from pressure to infuse DEI content into curricula or “diversify” their syllabi based upon the race or gender of authors
• Ensures that student orientation programming affirms the principles of free speech
• Adds instruction in American Institutions (incl. the Constitution & Declaration of Independence) to general education requirements

Protecting Students from Bias Reporting Systems

(with Speech First)

• Eliminates university operated “bias reporting systems,” which encourage students and staff to report their peers to campus authorities for politically incorrect or “biased” speech.

Campus Free Speech Act

(with Stanley Kurtz)

• Prohibits university speech codes that limit on campus free speech protected by the 1^st Amendment
• Prohibits administrators from censoring / disinviting speakers or charging excessive “security fees”
• Establishes disciplinary policies for those who interfere with the free speech rights of others
• Requires universities to adopt policies affirming the importance of free speech and remain institutionally neutral on matters of political controversy

Academic Transparency (K-12)

To expose and defeat DEI in K-12 classrooms, the Goldwater Institute has also pioneered the Academic Transparency Act. To learn more about this powerful policy solution click here.