Frequently Searched

Academic Transparency

Civil Forfeiture

Critical Race Theory

Right to Try

School Choice

DEI Doesn’t Work. Taxpayers Shouldn’t Pay for It

January 27, 2023
by Jonathan Butcher

The evidence has been mounting for years: Diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, ironically enough, don’t make people more tolerant of individual differences. So why aren’t the “experts” who say racism is still omnipresent calling for different solutions?

Likely because they are the ones spreading — and benefitting handsomely from — the DEI gospel.

Ibram X. Kendi, for example, whose proposed remedy for discrimination is more discrimination, makes $20,000 or morefor presentations before public-school districts. He has also presented for the DEI offices at Georgia Tech, the University of Virginia, Lehigh University, the University of Southern California, UC Davis, the University of Illinois, and elsewhere. Robin DiAngelo, author of White Fragility, who makes between $14,000 and $30,000 for her speaking engagements, has spoken at DEI departments at Cornell, the University of Michigan, Ohio State University, and Seattle University. The list goes on, but, at some point, the press releases become repetitive.

Then there are the consulting companies, which can charge up to six figures. The Racial Equity Institute lists dozens of colleges, K–12 school districts, and businesses as its clients, including Arizona State University, Duke Divinity School, Ben & Jerry’s, and the Charlotte-Mecklenburg school district in North Carolina. In case there is any question about DEI’s roots, another training company called The Equity Collaborative has a presentation entitled “Introduction to Critical Race Theory,” which was used, for instance, to train teachers in Loudoun County, Va.

Read the rest of the op-ed at National Review.

Jonathan Butcher is the Will Skillman Fellow in Education at the Heritage Foundation and a Senior Fellow at the Goldwater Institute.

 

 

More on this issue
Education

Donate Now

Help all Americans live freer, happier lives. Join the Goldwater Institute as we defend and strengthen freedom in all 50 states.

Donate Now

Since 1988, the Goldwater Institute has been in the liberty business — defending and promoting freedom, and achieving more than 400 victories in all 50 states. Donate today to help support our mission.

We Protect Your Rights

Our attorneys defend individual rights and protect those who cannot protect themselves.

Need Help? Submit a case.
Join our pro-bono attorney network.

Get Connected to Goldwater

Sign up for the latest news, event updates, and more.

Wait! Don’t close this yet!

We are grateful for your support of the Goldwater Institute’s efforts to advance and defend liberty throughout the United States. For over 36 years, we’ve been defending the rights of Americans to live their lives free from government interference.

And Goldwater is unique in that we direct our efforts to the 50 states where we introduce and advance innovative ideas that expand freedom. And we fight in courtrooms and capitals nationwide to defend individual liberty.

In 2024 alone, we scored over 50 policy and litigation victories defending liberty!

And that’s just the beginning.

Our plans for 2025 include:

  • Stopping pernicious DEI and other woke programs in America’s universities.
  • Ensuring that patients suffering from rare and terminal diseases have access to cutting-edge, lifesaving medical treatments, without having to first seek permission from the government.
  • Defending parental rights across the United States so that parents can send their kids to the school that best fits their needs, free from leftist indoctrination.
  • Eliminating government interference in the fundamental right of individuals to own property and use it as they see fit.
  • And much, much more

We seek to restore the presumption of liberty; that people are free to act without first asking permission from the government.

But we cannot do this without you. Will you join us as we fight to preserve and advance liberty throughout the country? As we seek new and innovative ways to defend freedom in all 50 states?

And there’s great news: Thanks to a generous Goldwater supporter, your donation today will be doubled!

So please, join us in fighting to advance liberty and score real wins for freedom from coast to coast!

Donate Now