Arizona’s public universities claim they are abiding by state requirements and providing students with a robust education in American history, the principles of our constitutional republic, and basic economics.
But a course at Arizona State University that allegedly teaches these subjects requires students to “critically reflect on their positionality—recognizing how their identities, assumptions, and cultural background influence their understanding of U.S. democracy.” Under the guise of providing a foundational education in American civics, this course preaches a gospel of “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI) that focuses on categories of “identity” like race rather than the universal principles behind the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.
As revealed in Goldwater’s new report, Civic Decline: Arizona’s Public Universities Smuggle DEI into Required American Civics Courses, Arizona public universities are betraying one of their core purposes: to prepare students for thoughtful citizenship in the American republic.
Instead of offering rigorous civics courses that illuminate founding documents like the Constitution and the Federalist Papers and explain basic principles of economics, public universities are allowing faculty to push DEI and their own pet subjects in these “civics” courses. This academic subterfuge represents a blatant refusal to comply with the clear directive of the Arizona Board of Regents (ABOR) that American civics be integrated into each university’s general education program. The board and state legislators must end this mockery of education by finally requiring universities to faithfully implement general education in American civics.
The report finds:
- Through its American Institutions policy (AMIT), the Arizona Board of Regents requires Arizona public universities to provide instruction in American history, American civics, and basic economics in their general education programs.
- At Arizona State University, students can meet the policy’s requirement by taking courses in “Social Welfare, Work, and Justice in the US,” “Theatre and U.S. Democracy,” and “Anthropology of American Democracy”—courses that utterly fail to meet the board’s civics and history standards.
- At Northern Arizona University, courses like “Sociology of Chicanx and Latinx Communities” and “Indigenizing Museums and the Art World” are being used to meet the civics and history requirement in place of robust coursework on America’s constitutional framework.
- In utter defiance of the board’s directive, the University of Arizona has so far failed to implement AMIT at all. UA’s plan to integrate the civics and history requirement into general education has been mired in delays and troubling protocols.
- Arizona State and the University of Arizona use or are poised to use the civics and history requirement to smuggle DEI content into their general education programs that all students are required to complete.
“Arizona’s public universities are failing students by allowing niche courses steeped in DEI to satisfy the state’s robust history and civics requirements,” said Timothy Minella, the Goldwater Institute’s Director of Higher Education and the report’s author. “If university leaders won’t fully comply with state requirements, Arizona lawmakers should step in to ensure that students are getting the civics education they need and deserve.”
This latest Goldwater report provides further evidence that Arizona public universities are pursuing ideologically extreme programming that fails to serve the needs of students and taxpayers. Goldwater recently revealed how radical faculty hijacked honors programs at Arizona public universities to push DEI in required honors courses. State lawmakers must step in to restore public universities to their core purpose of education, not indoctrination.
Legislators should consider restricting a portion of university appropriations until the universities’ AMIT courses are brought into alignment with the ABOR requirements. Furthermore, to eliminate DEI course requirements in general education once and for all, legislators should pass the proposed state constitutional amendment to prohibit mandatory DEI coursework.
Students at Arizona public universities deserve a serious education in the principles of our constitutional republic. By demanding the faithful implementation of general education in American civics, state legislators can ensure that students are prepared to lead our country into the future.
You can read the full report here.
