A number one Senate Republican has requested that the Training Division’s Workplace of Inspector Basic examine how faculties and universities use federal cash to assist variety, fairness and inclusion packages and insurance policies.
“The first downside with DEI is that it doesn’t really promote inclusivity,” Louisiana senator Invoice Cassidy, the highest Republican on the Senate Training Committee, wrote in a letter Tuesday to the Inspector Basic. “It’s the reverse of variety of thought when all members of the campus group are compelled into teams primarily based on their race and heritage.”
Cassidy and different congressional Republicans have been essential of DEI, blaming the insurance policies and packages partially for the rise in antisemitic incidents on school campuses following the beginning of the struggle in Gaza. The senator has additionally sponsored laws to eradicate federal DEI packages.
Cassidy is asking for an accounting of federal monetary support {dollars} that went towards working DEI places of work over the previous 5 years. He has additionally requested a breakdown of what number of establishments mandate DEI coaching for college kids and workers, and what number of require college students to take a minimum of one DEI-related class with the intention to graduate, amongst different objects. The evaluate would come with the greater than 5,700 faculties and universities that obtain federal monetary support.
For establishments at present below investigation for alleged violations of federal civil rights regulation associated to antisemitism, Cassidy needs the inspector basic to supply supplies utilized in employees coaching, freshman orientation programming and courses required for commencement that seek advice from Jewish individuals or the state of Israel.
“As recipients of federal grant funding and the beneficiaries of trillions of {dollars} in federal scholar loans, faculties and universities ought to prioritize the tutorial success of their college students over advancing ideological activism,” Cassidy wrote. “As the price of greater training continues to rise, it’s important that Congress receives a full accounting of how a lot federal funding is spent by faculties and universities to advance the DEI agenda.”
