Two-Thirds of Colleges Mandate DEI Courses for Graduation, Report Finds

A new report released Thursday by the group Speech First finds that nearly two-thirds of colleges and universities reviewed have requirements for diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) courses to satisfy graduation requirements.

The report, titled “No Graduation Without Indoctrination: The DEI Course Mandate,” investigated 248 colleges from all 50 states plus the District of Columbia and found that 67% of the institutions reviewed mandate DEI courses to satisfy general education requirements. Of the 165 institutions identified that enforce DEI requirements, 59% were taxpayer-funded public institutions and 41% were private institutions.

Speech First Executive Director Cherise Trump — no relation to the former president — spoke with FOX Business’ Lydia Hu about the report and said that the idea to look into DEI graduation requirements came about through conversations with college students.

“We had heard about some of the trainings through freshman orientations and some of the online modules,” she explained. “But we had not heard that you have to take full semester-long courses in order to graduate {snip}”

The investigation by Speech First, an organization that was founded as a nationwide community of those who support free speech on college campuses, found that the curriculum of DEI courses required for graduation often advocates far-left ideological perspectives and can also encourage students to engage in political activism on those issues.

“Looking at some of the courses that the students are required to take in order to satisfy these requirements, we realized that this is actually going to take a lot more effort by the states to actually disentangle DEI from campus,” Trump told FOX Business.

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