Washington:
The latest battle in the culture wars dividing American society centers around diversity programs on college campuses, which are now restricted or banned in a growing number of U.S. states.
The debate is divided between the left, which advocates improving education for minority students affected by entrenched inequalities, and the right, which believes people should be judged on their merits rather than the color of their skin.
Rep. Jordan Pace, a Republican in the South Carolina House of Representatives, said, “The idea that current discrimination is a remedy for past discrimination … is inherently wrong.”
“We don’t like to judge people based on characteristics that are immutable, whether it’s gender, race, height or whatever,” he said, calling the United States a “super-meritocratic society.”
Often referred to as “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI) programs, many U.S. universities give special consideration to minority students, especially black, Hispanic and Native American students, as they seek to redress long-standing inequalities .
Last June, the country’s conservative-majority Supreme Court ended affirmative action in college admissions, reversing one of the major gains of the civil rights movement of the 1960s.
Now, Pace is urging his state to follow the lead of Florida and a dozen other states and eliminate DEI programs on campus.
“Get rid of us”
“The primary target group across the country … is black people,” said Ricky Jones, a professor of Pan-African studies at the University of Louisville in Kentucky.
Carlie Reeves, 19, was the first in her family to go to college, and when she arrived at the University of Louisville, “it was obvious that my professors didn’t really think I belonged here. They didn’t Genuinely think I’m smart. ”
DEI leaders on campus “talked life into me and told me…you have good qualities.”
Many minority students are in school “100 percent because of DEI,” she said, citing the example of black students who benefit from race-based scholarships.
But on March 15, Kentucky lawmakers introduced a proposal to limit such programs, prompting Reeves to co-organize a protest on campus.
“I felt like I had a responsibility to tell students, ‘Hey, you guys are trying to kick us off campus… We have to do something,” she said.
Kentucky is following other conservative states, including Texas, Alabama and Idaho.
In early March, the University of Florida terminated its DEI program and related efforts as part of Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’ offensive against what he calls “woke ideology.”
“A very dangerous kind of forgetfulness”
“I’m very concerned,” said Stephanie Anne Shelton, a professor and director of diversity at the University of Alabama School of Education.
While provisions of the state’s new law allow her to teach certain diversity awareness courses to future educators, she worries about “the extent to which concepts like academic freedom will remain.”
In Alabama, it is now prohibited to “force students … to personally identify, adopt, or adhere to divisive concepts” — with specific instructions including making an individual feel the need to “apologize based on his or her race.” “
The law states that failure to comply may result in dismissal.
Republicans often complain about “critical race theory,” an academic approach that studies how racism permeates the U.S. legal system and institutions in subtle ways.
Republican White House candidate Donald Trump has called for reforms at the federal level.
“On day one, I will sign a new executive order cutting restrictions on anyone who imposes critical race theory, transgender madness, and other inappropriate racial, sexual, or political content on us,” he said at a rally in Ohio. federal funding for their children’s schools.”
Jones, the Louisville professor, said the new law “sets back the racial clock locally, across the state and nationally.”
Going forward, he said, black academics will avoid states like Florida and Texas, predicting “a very, very dangerous forgetting that’s going to happen here.”
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
