The College Fix

One university modifies course following report

At least three public universities in Louisiana require aspiring teachers to take “diversity, equity, and inclusion” courses, a conservative think tank recently reported.

One university told The College Fix it has modified its DEI course following the report. Another university acknowledged the DEI-focus of its course, but said it has not made any changes.

The Goldwater Institute’s May report states that “At least three public institutions—University of Louisiana at Lafayette, University of Louisiana at Monroe, and McNeese State University—require students in certain degree programs such as education to take DEI courses simply to graduate.”

A fellow at the institute and the report’s author, Tim Minella, told The Fix he doesn’t believe students should be “forced” to spend time and tuition money on DEI courses that intend to “indoctrinate rather than educate.”

At the University of Louisiana at Monroe, students majoring in Elementary Education must take a course titled “Educational Foundations for Diverse Learning Environments.” It “provides multicultural insight to support the educational needs of diverse students in their learning environment,” according to the report.

Contrary to Minella’s claim, a ULM spokesperson told The Fix that the course’s purpose isn’t to “indoctrinate” future teachers but to “educate” them about different students’ needs and learning styles.

“Those who are teachers and who train teachers understand that the gaps in a learning environment are some of the most challenging aspects of classroom management and teaching,” the spokesperson said.

Further, he told The Fix that the school has changed the description, syllabus, and reading list of the course to “better reflect the content of the course,” since the report identified it as DEI-based.

However, the course’s title has not been changed because the university believes it still “aligns with [its] current accreditation requirements.”

ULM pledged to continue reviewing its course catalog and making adjustments as needed.

The Goldwater report also states that students seeking a bachelor’s degree in English Education Grades 6-12 at McNeese State University must take a course titled “Orientation to Multicultural and Diversity in Education.”

Tanya Brewster, assistant director of communication at MSU, told The Fix she agrees the course could be interpreted as “DEI-focused.”

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However, Brewster said it “is not centered on personal characteristics and identities, and the course does not promote a stance in an attempt to shape a student’s opinion.”

Instead, its purpose is to provide students who are seeking careers in education with knowledge about “the various cultural, historical, pedagogical, political, and sociological influences and principles that play a role within educational systems.”

This knowledge, according to Brewster, is “instrumental” for equipping future teachers for the workforce. MSU has not modified the course.

Brewster also said that as a public institution, MSU intends to comply with federal and state regulations. However, the campus also wants to maintain its approach to providing students and employees with a productive work environment based on “fair and ethical standards.”

At the third school, the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, master’s students seeking a degree in Education must take a course titled “Diversity for the Progressive Educator,” according to the Goldwater report.

The course description states that it examines “critical elements of race/ethnicity, class, gender, language, and their impact on society, schools, communities, and individuals.”

The report states the course has a “progressive, activist agenda,” as it urges students to “take action” against inequality instead of merely analyzing it.

The course’s professor, Natalie Keefer, wrote that “the course assignments were designed to facilitate the development and practice of critical consciousness” in a 2021 article titled “A Case Study of Teachers’ Critically Conscious Discourse in an Online Graduate Asset-Based Social Justice Curriculum.”

To address concerns about indoctrination, Minella’s report urges states to eliminate mandatory DEI courses in public universities by implementing the Goldwater Institute’s model policy called the Freedom from Indoctrination Act.

This act merely prevents universities from requiring DEI courses instead of mandating that universities fully remove courses from their curriculum.

Further, Minella told The Fix the Louisiana Senate should move forward with passing a bill that would remove these “unjustifiable” DEI course requirements. The bill has already passed in the House of Representatives.

“The states cannot rely on the federal government to address DEI course mandates like the requirements in Louisiana,” Minella told The Fix. “They need to take action themselves.”

According to Minella, university employees anticipate that enrollments within some academic departments will decrease if students aren’t forced to take DEI courses because such mandates “artificially inflate enrollment.”

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IMAGE CAPTION AND CREDIT: UL Lafayette campus; University of Louisiana at Lafayette/Youtube

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