On Friday, my uni, like many others, received a “Dear Colleague” letter from DoE acting assistant secretary Trainor. The letter threatens to withhold funding unless we demonstrate compliance with the administration’s anti-DEI program. It uses words like “depraved” and “shameful” and promises that the days of “overt and covert discrimination” are over. It also says that higher ed has engaged in “toxically indoctrinat[ing] students with the false premise of structural and systemic racism.”
@xankarn this isn’t just language policing but also a dictation of what one may value and may not value.
I teach two courses on ethics (one on ethics and ed tech, another on ethics and autonomous and intelligent systems). There’s no way to cover that without discussing racial and gender bias, discrimination, equity, etc. And every set of professional standards and ethics includes these “shameful” ideas.
We made a t-shirt that says “Immoral. Shameful. Wasteful.” in scarlet letters.