Watchdog: Arizona State DEI training violates state law, uses copyright to hide requirements
September 27, 2023
Arizona State University is not only violating state law by training employees in diversity, equity and inclusion doctrines that rely on “blame and judgment,” the school’s also hiding materials related to that training and a mandatory DEI course for journalism students, according to a state watchdog.
The Goldwater Institute brought its concerns to the ASU Board of Regents and the Grand Canyon State’s taxpayers Tuesday after several months of haggling with school lawyers for copies of “narrow, specific, and reasonably described” public records, staff attorney Stacy Skankey wrote in a letter to regent board Chairman Fred DuVal.
“They are within the ASU’s possession and should be readily available for immediate production,” yet the taxpayer-funded university continues to flout state law requiring such records be turned over “promptly,” Skankey wrote.
The watchdog published email chains that show ASU subverting the instruction provided by the Cronkite School of Journalism, named after venerable CBS anchor Walter Cronkite and deemed by the Broadcast Education Association the best in the country for overall programs.