(NewsNation) — A group of community college professors are suing the state of California over new regulations mandating diversity, equity and inclusion views in their curriculum.
The six professors are represented by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, which says it warned the state that the new regulations violate their clients’ First Amendment rights.
Daniel Ortner, the lead attorney on the lawsuit, said Monday on “Dan Abrams Live” that the government “can’t be the thought police” and dictate what professors teach.
“It requires professors to endorse this highly contested viewpoint, it compels them in speech. It also bars them from sharing competing ideas,” Ortner said.
The new guidelines require community college instructors to teach in a way that is culturally inclusive, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. Teachers must also prove in performance evaluations that they respect and acknowledge students of diverse backgrounds.
In its lawsuit filed Thursday, the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression argues the new regulations “force professors to endorse the government’s view on politically charged questions regarding diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA).”
Lawyers are asking a federal court to deem the rules unconstitutional.
Each of the six professors teach within the State Center Community College District in the Fresno area, including Reedley College professor Bill Blanken.
“I’m a professor of chemistry. How am I supposed to incorporate DEI into my classroom instruction?” he said in a news release from FIRE. “What’s the ‘anti-racist’ perspective on the atomic mass of boron?”
Instead of mandating a commitment to promoting diversity, Ortner argues professors and students should be able to debate the merits of such diversity and inclusion efforts.
“That helps prepares these students to be citizens in a democratic society, as well. It teaches them different perspectives, how to reason, not to be close-minded to different perspectives,” Ortner said. “That’s really what we need … evidence-based discussion and analysis of what actually works.”
The lawsuit from FIRE is similar to another filed in July by the Institute for Free Speech, on behalf of Bakersfield College history professor Daymon Johnson, National Review reported.
The college has called Johnson’s lawsuit meritless.
“Kern Community College District plans to vigorously defend itself,” a spokesperson told the San Francisco Chronicle.