Year in Review: The End of DEI Starts Here

Racially divisive “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion” (DEI) mandates got the axe in state after state in 2024.

Coincidental trend? Nope. It’s all part of the Goldwater Institute’s multi-pronged strategy to completely defeat DEI and usher in a new era of merit-based achievement and equal protection under the law in public higher education. And it’s working. In 10 states, we’ve enacted policies to eliminate DEI—ranging from banning “diversity statement” litmus tests in hiring, to dismantling the DEI bureaucracy that embeds discrimination in every aspect of campus life.

The job isn’t done yet; wasteful, counterproductive DEI programs continue to force anti-American ideology on millions of students and faculty. But Goldwater is committed to ending the DEI scourge for good—future generations are depending on us.

Read the latest about our battle against DEI here.

Goldwater Shows America How to Hold Cities Accountable

Now you have our attention on homelessness.

That’s the message elected officials in six Phoenix metropolitan-area cities are sending their fed-up constituents just one month after Arizonans overwhelmingly adopted Proposition 312, a first-in-the-nation law that compensates property and business owners for damage created by the homelessness crisis.

Mesa, Tempe, Goodyear, Surprise, Phoenix, and Scottsdale are all enforcing bans on public camping. City officials cite Prop 312, which Goldwater designed to compensate law-abiding residents who have lost faith in government to provide the public-safety services their tax dollars are supposed to fund.

 Prop 312 is incentivizing municipalities to crack down on lawlessness. And the Goldwater Institute is charting a course for the nation on how to hold cities accountable.

Read more here.

Goldwater Scores First Amendment Victory

It’s a victory for fundamental First Amendment rights, and the latest in the Goldwater Institute’s national efforts to defend the freedom of speech. Goldwater just stopped the Arizona State Bar from forcing attorneys to pay for lobbying activities as a condition of practicing law.

Arizona is one of dozens of states that force lawyers to join their state’s privately run bar associations, which use their members’ dues to engage in a host of controversial activities that have nothing to do with ensuring lawyers are qualified and behave ethically. But after Goldwater urged the Arizona Supreme Court to bring its rules in line with constitutional protections, the court announced it would eliminate the State Bar’s authority to levy membership dues for activities that have nothing to do with their job.

Arizona is just the latest state where Goldwater has stopped mandatory bar associations from trampling on the First Amendment. After all, no one should be forced to fund speech with which they disagree, especially not as a condition of earning a living.

Read more here.