A Goldwater Institute report shows that a number of public Louisiana universities require the completion of diversity, equity, and inclusion-related courses to graduate from some degree programs.

“At least three public institutions – University of Louisiana at Lafayette, University of Louisiana at Monroe, and McNeese State University – require students in certain degree programs such as education to take DEI courses simply to graduate,” the Goldwater Institute report said.

The Goldwater Institute is a “free-market public policy research and litigation organization,” according to its website.

Goldwater Institute’s senior Constitutionalism fellow Tim Minella told The Center Square that “requiring these activist courses wastes time and tuition dollars while failing to develop the knowledge and skills that will serve students in their careers.”

“Even in red states, students in public universities are being forced to sit through courses intended to indoctrinate them in the radical tenets of DEI just to graduate,” Minella said.

“As this new report shows, the University of Louisiana at Lafayette requires students in the master's of education program to take ‘Diversity for the Progressive Educator’ a course that focuses on ‘critical elements of race/ethnicity’ and seeks to enhance ‘the commitment to take action against [systems of inequality],’” Minella told the Center Square.

Likewise, as stated in the report, “at the University of Louisiana at Monroe (ULM), Elementary Education majors are required to take ‘CURR 2001: Educational Foundations for Diverse Learning Environments,’ which ‘provides multicultural insight to support the educational needs of diverse students in their learning environment.’”

Additionally, “at McNeese State University, students seeking a B.A. in English Education Grades 6-12 must take ‘EDUC 204: Orientation to Multiculturalism and Diversity in Education,’” the report states.

When asked by The Center Square why it is inappropriate for public universities to require DEI-related courses to graduate, Minella said that “DEI course requirements force students to sit through lectures in the progressive agenda instead of gaining a real education that enhances knowledge and develops valuable skills.”

“As this report shows, Louisiana's schools of education are focusing on training political activists instead of preparing students to be effective classroom teachers,” Minella said.

“Furthermore, DEI course requirements artificially inflate the enrollment of DEI courses,” Minella said. “Many students would decline to take these activist courses and opt to enroll in more valuable academic activities, if not for DEI course mandates.”

“This report demonstrates the pressing need for states to eliminate mandatory DEI courses in public universities by adopting Goldwater's Freedom from Indoctrination Act reform,” Minella told The Center Square.

The Freedom from Indoctrination Act is a model legislation made up of three sections: “Prohibit Mandatory DEI / [Critical Race Theory] Based Course Requirements,” “Ensure Basic Instruction in American Institutions,” and “Ensure Freshman Orientation Programs Promote the Free Exchange of Ideas rather than Political Indoctrination.”

The Center Square reached out to the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, the University of Louisiana at Monroe, McNeese State University, and the University of Louisiana System for comment.

McNeese State said it would respond by next week. The other universities did not respond.

The Trump administration has been working to root out DEI with various executive orders by the president as well as the Education Department’s Dear Colleague letter that stated race-based decisions in education are unlawful, as The Center Square previously reported.

Tim Minella wrote in an article for the Goldwater Institute that “although President Donald Trump has dismantled federal support for DEI, his executive orders rightly exempted ‘academic instruction’ in higher education from these new federal protections, leaving oversight of academic standards to the states.”

“Louisiana must act to eliminate DEI indoctrination in the classroom,” Minella wrote.