The title for this piece should read something more like, “Texas A&M Smothers Students’ Freedom to Learn and Professors’ Freedom to Teach.” Texas A&M clearly is no longer in the business of encouraging open learning and has instead embraced censoring speech. www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty...
insidehighered.com
Texas A&M Requires Approval for Courses That “Advocate” Certain Ideologies
Many faculty members decried the new restrictions on race- and gender-related courses as an assault on academic freedom. Meanwhile, the board also discussed a once-per-semester systemwide course revie...
![All of us are stunned that the decision to terminate all diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives at Michigan may now put us at odds with the very institution that empowered us to fight injustice and taught us respect for the rule of law.
As alumni and attorneys, we expect the Law School to recognize that the executive orders and Dear Colleague Letter that President Ono cited in his decision are baseless and morally abhorrent. In particular, the Dear Colleague Letter incorrectly indicates that the Supreme Court held in Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President and Fellows of Harvard College (“SFFA”) that schools cannot consider race in any aspect of education. This is patently false. Chief Justice John Roberts was explicit in limiting the decision to admissions, noting that it does not “prohibit[] universities from considering an applicant’s discussion of how race affected his or her life.”
After the decision was issued, President Ono acknowledged SFFA’s limitations, issuing a statement that SFFA “significantly narrow[s] how race can be considered in admissions policies.” In that same statement, President Ono reaffirmed the University’s commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. Now, less than two years later, and despite the fact that the University submitted an amicus brief in SFFA supporting the consideration of race in admissions, President Ono has reversed course with apparent ease.
Rather than fight back against attempts to bully and extract compliance, the University has preemptively capitulated. This preemptive capitulation is all the more shameful given Michigan’s public education commitment, vast resources, and history of successfully defending the principles of diversity, equity, and inclusion.
The University of Michigan is first and foremost a public education institution, whose mission should include a commitment to serve the public.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:6skbaxc5yfahqvcn3wd5y42r/bafkreihxolfgidusivolbpxu5scqpje4iige3pen3nrxigsqwfyt7kpphe)
