You have /5 articles left.
Sign up for a free account or log in.
A conservative think tank is suing the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of an Arizona State University professor who refused to complete a required diversity, equity and inclusion training.
The complaint, filed Tuesday by the Phoenix-based Goldwater Institute in Maricopa County Superior Court, argues that ASU violated state law when it required Owen Anderson, a philosophy and religious studies professor, to complete the “Inclusive Communities” training. The virtual training presented information about sexual identities, white supremacy and microaggressions, among other issues, and included a quiz on the material, according to the suit.
For example, one of the quiz questions asked if “Bias is informed by fact and not ideologies,” and according to the suit, a copy of the training material identified "false" as the correct answer.
“I shouldn’t be forced to take training and affirm ideas with which I disagree as a condition of employment,” Anderson said in a press release from the Goldwater Institute. “This ‘training’ is simply racism under the guise of DEI. It goes against my conscience, and I want no part of it.”
Anderson’s refusal to complete ASU’s DEI training is part of the broader backlash to DEI by some lawmakers and faculty members over the past several years. Professors in other states have also spoken out against similar requirements at their institutions. Last fall, a group of California community college professors sued their college leaders over rules that would evaluate their adoption of diversity, equity and inclusion principles citing infringement of their First Amendment rights.
The legal argument the Goldwater Institute has lodged against ASU is based on an Arizona law that prohibits the state from “us[ing] public monies for training, orientation or therapy that presents any form of blame or judgment on the basis of race, ethnicity or sex” and the state constitution’s free speech protections that state an individual “may not be forced to speak a message he or she does not wish to say.”
The complaint asks the court to declare the training unconstitutional and prevent the Board of Regents from using public money “to impose, implement, administer, require, or grade the Inclusive Communities training that presents any form of blame or judgment.”
This isn’t the first time the Goldwater Institute has gone after ASU and ABOR’s DEI policies. In 2023, ABOR eliminated requirements for diversity, equity and inclusion statements in university job postings following scrutiny from the Goldwater Institute.
"The lawsuit filed by the Goldwater Institute regarding diversity at Arizona State University is false and without merit," an ASU spokesperson said in an email. "ASU trains all faculty on its charter commitment to inclusiveness and the success of students from all walks of life. The Goldwater Institute suit misleads the court and misrepresents both the content and requirements of this training to make an argument that represents a political perspective but is not based on the law. "
This article was updated with ASU's response to the lawsuit.
