Frequently Searched

Moral Corruption at Community Colleges: DEI Harms Students Everywhere

November 17, 2023

In a new report, Heritage Foundation Will Skillman Fellow in Education Jonathan Butcher, who also serves as a Senior Fellow at the Goldwater Institute, discusses the proliferation of “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI) initiatives at community colleges around the country. The report’s summary and key takeaways are below, and you can read the rest at the Heritage Foundation.

Community colleges offer academic opportunities and career training for high school students, high school graduates, and adults. Yet community colleges have long reported dismal completion rates. Educators should focus on improving student outcomes, not diverting attention to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs. There is no evidence that DEI programs improve student learning or help two-year college students earn a degree.

Community college leaders should close their DEI offices and redirect school spending to programs that are specifically designed to improve student outcomes.

Key takeaways:

  1. Community colleges allow students who struggled in high school or who cannot afford a four-year college to continue their education and enhance their job prospects.
  2. Yet DEI activists have captured community colleges across the country, which already have dismally high dropout rates. DEI programs do not improve student outcomes.
  3. State lawmakers should prohibit public two-year colleges from using taxpayer resources to fund DEI offices, staff, and programs.

Read the rest of the report at the Heritage Foundation.

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

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.

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!