By Howard Fischer
Mail | X: @azcapmedia

PHOENIX — The Arizona Senate voted Thursday to slash all state funds to public universities and community colleges that offer courses on diversity, equity and inclusion.

Senate Bill 1694 spells out what its sponsor, Sen. David Farnsworth, considers to be offensive.

The measure, given preliminary approval on a voice vote, would forbid courses that include anything that relates to contemporary American society to things like whiteness, institutional racism, unconscious bias, gender identity, social justice, race-based reparations and gender-based inclusion. And that’s just a partial list of what’s the measure crafted by the Mesa Republican would not allow.

And to prove his point that such instruction is taking place, Farnsworth cited readings he saw while taking a community college course.

All this comes as higher education institutions are scrubbing references to DEI in their programs and websites under the threat of losing federal dollars.

The University of Arizona already removed two diversity-related websites. And it just deleted the phrase “committed to diversity and inclusion” from its statement acknowledging that it sits on the land and territories of Indigenous peoples.

Farnsworth told members of the Senate Education Committee, which first reviewed the bill, he is a believer in the idea of diversity, equity and inclusion.

But he said he got an eye-opening lesson when he signed up at Rio Salado Community College to go after his bachelor’s degree in elementary education.

“It was recommended I take a course on cultural diversity,” Farnsworth said. That required he purchase a copy of “Multicultural Education in a Pluralistic Society.”

And Farnsworth read to colleagues some of what he found.

“Through the hidden curriculum of value-laden rules, both the formal and hidden curricula often reinforce the values of the dominant culture which includes white, middle-class, heterosexual, English-speaking, able-bodied and Christian norms and values,” he quoted from the book.

“And this is teaching teachers so they can teach our students,” Farnsworth said.

The senator said people should be sensitive to the feelings of others and treat each other as brothers and sisters. But that, he said, is not what’s being taught here.

“I believe strongly that this course, this required course, does not encourage acceptance or, as Martin Luther King Jr. said — I’m not going to quote — to appreciate each one of us for the value of our character and not the color of our skin,” Farnsworth said.

There were other references in the book he said were inappropriate, like talking about WASP — White, Anglo-Saxon Protestant — being the dominant culture in America.

“It goes on to say, ‘Today, WASPs are worse because they lack modesty, humility, chivalry and public spiritedness,’” Farnsworth said. Then there are references to men historically being treated superior to women, that they tend to speak before and over women in meetings, “and the dominant culture in the U.S. is the WASP culture and the norm against which citizens are judged and expected to assimilate.”

No one from either the university system or the community colleges, whose state funding would be at risk, turned out to testify against the measure.

A spokeswoman for the Arizona Board of Regents would say only that members “are actively engaged at the legislature and working close with lawmakers and the governor’s office on bills relating to our universities.”

But it did draw questions from Sen. Catherine Miranda. The Laveen Democrat pointed out Farnsworth has said he does believe in diversity, equity and inclusion. So why, she asked, does he want to financially penalize community colleges and universities that teach such concepts.

Farnsworth said the issue is what is taught here.

“If we offered a course that was fair and unbiased and stimulated the value of appreciating diversity, I would be totally supportive of it,” he said. This, Farnsworth said, isn’t what the book says.

“I was shocked,” he said. “This book is biased.”

The only person who testified against the measure was Alberto Plantillas with the Arizona Students Association. He said it would “hinder enrollment and inclusivity programs for veterans, disabled Americans, female students and members of the LGBTQ+ community.”

“It promotes a conformist revision of history, ignoring the country’s ongoing issues with discrimination and violence against marginalized groups,” Plantillas said.

“I’m not opposed to diversity training,” Farnsworth responded.
“I realize that there is prejudice in the world,” he continued. “But we just have to do it very carefully and make sure it’s correctly done without a bias on one side or the other.”

The legislation does have an exception for a course “that identifies or discusses historical movements, ideologies or instances of racial hatred or race-based discrimination.” And that specifically includes slavery, removal of Native Americans from their lands, the Holocaust and Japanese-American internment during World War II.
There is a lot of money at stake.

The University of Arizona currently gets $334.7 million from the state general fund, with $377.8 million to Arizona State University and $127.7 million to Northern Arizona University. Community colleges overall get $88.5 million.

SB 1694 now needs a final roll-call vote in the Senate before going to the House.