Dan Lennington, deputy counsel at the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty (WILL), explains that the University of Wisconsin is the flagship university in Madison, Wisconsin that educates thousands of students from all over the United States.
It also has 188 positions that are dedicated to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI).
One example is that incoming freshmen must take mandatory white privilege training, where students are divided up by their race and told that some races are better than others.
"There are mandatory diversity statements that perspective employees have to file, which basically explains how they are devoted to diversity, equity, and inclusion before they are even considered as a candidate," Lennington continues. "The university's medical system has devoted themselves to something called health equity, which is training doctors to treat patients differently based on their race."
The Madison campus also has segregated housing.
"This is a racialization of higher education. It tells students and perspective employees and staff that some races are better than others and should be given special treatment to make up for past injustices," Lennington says. "That is contrary to federal law and federal constitutional law."
DEI policies have come under fire in Florida, North Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, and Texas – states that have banned or severely restricted them at the university level.
In Wisconsin, by withholding raises for 32,000 university employees until the system is dismantled, the state legislature has cast a spotlight on the school's problematic positions and the money that goes to fund them. The school has tried to find a way around that.
"WILL recently received records from the university revealing that instead of dismantling their DEI system, they have rebranded the system," Lennington reports. "Instead of DEI, they are now calling these officers inclusive excellence officers."
Essentially, they are changing the names of the positions and moving these positions around the university system "in what appears to be an effort to hide what they're doing from legislators and taxpayers."
AFN emailed the University of Wisconsin for comment but did not hear back by press time.
As WILL plans to hold the university accountable, Lennington says this is something to keep tabs on.
"The concern is the indoctrination that is done by the whole DEI apparatus, which is why DEI has come under fire in several other states," he notes. "There are actually 22 states now that have considered a ban on DEI initiatives at higher education."
The hope is that the University of Wisconsin will follow their lead.
