PHOENIX — This week, attorneys representing ASU are expected to file a response to a lawsuit that challenges the school’s diversity, equity and inclusion program.
The plaintiff filed the claim earlier this year, alleging the university forces employees to “attest their agreement” with discriminatory teachings shrouded as messages of tolerance.
DEI advocates said the programs promote representation of diverse groups, build safe and equitable environments, and combat bias.
However, there has been an uptick in legal challenges to DEI initiatives across the country.
ASU professor Owen Anderson contends in the lawsuit ASU’s mandatory Inclusive Communities training:
- Teaches “extreme, racially discriminatory tenets of DEI”
- Places “blame or judgment on the basis of race, ethnicity or sex”
- Amounts to an unlawful use of taxpayer funds
The suit, filed by attorneys for the Goldwater Institute, references a 2021 law signed by then-Governor Ducey that bans state-sponsored “training.. that presents any form of blame or judgment on the basis of race, ethnicity or sex.”
An ASU spokesperson told The State Press the suit is without merit, political, and “misleads the court and misrepresents both the content and requirements of this training.”
"ASU's commitment to providing a supportive and welcoming educational environment for students of all backgrounds will continue and the university will respond appropriately to the Institute’s tactic,” the spokesperson said.
The lawsuit also references Critical Race Theory an academic movement by civil rights scholars and activists that examines America’s history through the lens of race and racism. CRT teaches concepts like white privilege, microaggressions and institutionalized racism; ideas many educators say help students understand the state of America today.
But the suit alleges ASU’s mandatory training forces employees to agree to beliefs by providing answers on an exam.
“(Arizona law) permits the state and its entities, such as ASU, to present such ideas-that is, to teach about them-but it forbids the state from promulgating, imposing… or requiring its employees to accept, agree with, or support, the doctrine of blame or judgment,” the lawsuit states.
Marion Kelly is the founder of Arizona’s Diversity Leadership Alliance, a nonprofit that uses DEI-based tools to educate schools and businesses.
“Equity, inclusion, diversity, belonging, welcoming, whatever you want to call it, it’s all about inclusion,” Kelly said.
Kelly said opposition to such programs has taken different forms over decades.
“The challenges that we’re seeing are not new,” he said.
Asked about critics’ concerns, Kelly said diversity training programs vary depending on the organization.
“But I think the outcomes are really to bring about education, help people to change perspective,” Kelly said.
The Goldwater Institute is asking the court to declare ASU’s Inclusive Communities training a violation of state law and to order the university to make the training optional.
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