If you think the recent diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) political rancor that has embroiled higher education is reserved for four-year institutions, think again. In a new piece, the uber-right Heritage Foundation has turned its sights on community colleges.
Leading with an allegation of moral corruption, the Heritage Foundation has indicated that it plans to disembowel community colleges who dare to address DEI in their curricula. If it hasn’t yet occurred to you, this is a slippery slope.
The Heritage Foundation has made it known that it plans to identify the classes that should and should not be offered at higher education institutions, including community colleges. As far as The Heritage Foundation is concerned, if a class isn’t related to workforce training, then it doesn’t belong in a community college program.
That’s a page right out of the Reagan Administration. Reagan was big on the idea that the only legitimate reason to go to college is to prepare for the workforce. That philosophy ignores the possibility that someone may attend a community college with the intention of transferring to a four-year institution. Or perhaps they’re already enrolled in a four-year institution and want to transfer credits earned over the summer. Or maybe they just want to broaden their horizons.
According to an opinion piece, the Heritage Foundation has been examining DEI initiatives at community college. They’re apparently dismayed to find that more than 8 out of 10 community colleges have DEI initiatives, and 6 out of 10 community colleges list DEI staff on their websites.
In other words, the Heritage Foundation is making a list of targets.
Of course, the Heritage Foundation views this as a moral issue. And yes, that’s a hill the Heritage Foundation is willing to die on.
Community colleges should have a plan
The immediate future of higher education is not going to be bright, especially if you happen to believe that higher education opportunities should be open to all people. That picking winners and losers is decidedly undemocratic (with a small “d”). And that the Land of Opportunity schtick works best when we don’t prevent (certain) people from accessing the resources that we (as in “all of us”) have built.
While community colleges aren’t going to fall down the Heritage Foundation’s moral staircase because they have a competitive admissions process, or because their presidents don’t say the right things in front of Congress, rest assured that the Heritage Foundation is looking for other ways to burn the community college house down.
Best of luck to you.
Photo Credit: Alisdare Hickson, via Flickr
