Professors sue over diversity, equity, inclusion policies in California. Here’s why

A lawsuit filed in federal court last week to halt diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility standards for teachers at California’s community colleges.

The suit was filed by Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression on behalf of instructors at Clovis, Madera and Reedley community colleges and seeks to declare the regulations as unconstitutional under the First and Fourteenth amendments.

The schools are part of the State Center Community College District, which includes Fresno City College, though no instructors from that school signed on to the suit.

The DEIA standards were first proposed in 2022 and adopted by SCCCD in March.

According to a news release from FIRE, the regulations “explicitly require professors to pledge allegiance to contested ideological viewpoints” and forces them to incorporate “anti-racist” viewpoints into classroom teaching.

The Fresno-area instructors are complaining that, among other things, they have been forced “to change their syllabi and teaching materials, lest they face repercussions,” as performance and tenure are now evaluated based on commitment to and promotion of the viewpoints, the release said.

According to the suit, the Chancellor’s Office in June 2022, released its Model Principles and Practices for DEI in Curriculum to set out curricular priorities that districts were encouraged to incorporate. The document instructs faculty to not “weaponize academic freedom and academic integrity as tools to impede equity” or “inflict curricular trauma on our students” with material that runs contrary to the DEIA viewpoints, the suit said.

“These regulations are a totalitarian triple-whammy,” said Daniel Ortner, an attorney with FIRE. “The government is forcing professors to teach and preach a politicized viewpoint they do not share, imposing incomprehensible guidelines, and threatening to punish professors when they cross an arbitrary, indiscernible line.”

The district last week said it had not yet been officially served with the summons and complaint and legal counsel would need to review the suit, but on Friday, SCCCD said it was not able to provide comment on the lawsuit, as it is in active litigation.

Madera instructor part of lawsuit

Loren Palsgaard has worked as an English instructor at Madera Community College for 25 years. Conversations about diversity, equity and inclusion have been happening on campus for years, and he said there’s never been a time when those things weren’t on his mind.

It’s one the things he appreciates about the mission of the school.

But when the state starts making mandates “that’s, to me, when it became problematic.”

According to the suit, Palsgaard has stopped assigning course material that might generate debate on race and questions of diversity or equity “because he is afraid of violating the DEIA Rules and the faculty contract.”

The politics and ideology behind the regulations aren’t really at issue here, Palsgaard said, pointing out that the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression filed a similar suit against Florida’s “Stop WOKE Act” last year.

Palsgaard hopes this latest suit will send a strong message to the state.

“We can’t lose the First Amendment and academic freedom.”

Prior First Amendment lawsuit at Clovis campus

This isn’t the first time FIRE has filed a First Amendment suit against SCCCD.

Last year, it represented a group of conservative students in a suit against Clovis Community College alleging the school violated their First Amendment rights by ordering them to remove pamphlets they had posted on bulletin boards around campus.

Earlier this month, a federal appeals court upheld an injunction in that case, saying the school’s policy on posting flyers on campus “invites ‘arbitrary and discriminatory enforcement.’”

This story was originally published August 28, 2023 at 5:30 AM.