The ranking member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee has contacted Sandra D. Bruce, inspector general for the U.S. Department of Education, urging a probe into the use of taxpayer money to promote ideas in academia that he says justify discrimination.
“The primary problem with DEI [diversity, equity, and inclusion] is that it does not actually promote inclusivity,” Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) wrote in a letter on Aug. 12. “It is the opposite of diversity of thought when all members of the campus community are forced into groups based on their race and heritage.”
Cassidy wrote to Bruce that “at the same time that colleges and universities are spending record amounts to bolster their DEI infrastructure, the DEI ideology is being used as cover to justify discrimination and acts of intimidation on college campuses.”
Victims of this ideology include “Jewish students and faculty” who are “attacked because they are considered ‘oppressors’ under the DEI system,” said the senator.
The increased costs of higher education, subsidized by federal funding, also concerned Cassidy.
“As recipients of federal grant funding and the beneficiaries of trillions of dollars in federal student loans, colleges and universities should prioritize the academic success of their students over advancing ideological activism,” he told Bruce. “As the cost of higher education continues to rise, it is important that Congress receives a full accounting of how much federal funding is spent by colleges and universities to advance the DEI agenda.”
In addition to his letter to Bruce, Cassidy has also sought to raise awareness about his analysis of DEI’s problems through a Feb. 2 opinion column in the Washington Examiner and the introduction of the Dismantle DEI Act in June.
