October 07, 2020

Diversity training programs

In an article captioned "Diversity Work, Interrupted",* Inside Higher Ed's daily news update dated October 7, 2020, reports that "some institutions have begun to cancel diversity, equity and inclusion programs in response to an Executive Order, "Executive Order on Combating Race and Sex Stereotyping," issued on  September 22, 2020.

Preliminary guidance from the State University of New York notes that the order "makes a passing reference to a carve out for education, stating (in full) that '[n]othing in this order shall be construed to prohibit discussing, as part of a larger course of academic instruction, the divisive concepts listed in section 2(a) of this order in an objective manner and without endorsement.'" Yet it is "unclear how the EO would define its 'objectivity' and 'non-endorsement' requirements." 

The Executive Order is posted on the Internet at https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/executive-order-combating-race-sex-stereotyping/. 

* See https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/10/07/colleges-cancel-diversity-programs-response-trump-order?utm_source=Inside+Higher+Ed&utm_campaign=275597c9a5-DNU_2020_COPY_02&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1fcbc04421-275597c9a5-236506338&mc_cid=275597c9a5&mc_eid=bf9965f865