A study by the National Association of Scholars finds that Arizona Universities Ignore the Board of Regents.

According to the report: “The Arizona study finds that, despite efforts by the Arizona Board of Regents, Arizona’s universities provide very little formal training in American history and civics. Instead, students in Arizona’s universities are likely to learn American history indirectly, through efforts that fall under the broad umbrella of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). NAS recommends substantial reform to Arizona’s governance of its public university system.”

According to the author of the study, John Sailor, “The Grand Canyon State is a perfect study of how college administrators obfuscate clear guidelines to achieve their own political goals, such as perpetuating the ideology and bureaucracy of diversity, equity, and inclusion. Instead of ensuring a robust civic education, Arizona’s universities give priority to an ever-growing number of classes rooted in critical theory.”

He adds, “Public universities exist to shape citizens and leaders, but Arizona’s universities seem to equate that purpose with a call for a more ideologically-charged education. The people of Arizona deserve better, and its lawmakers should take note.”

Indeed legislators should take note.  One of the curious developments is that about half the states in the United States have Republican leadership in both the legislature and governorship, yet little has been done to root out extreme left-wing bias in state-sponsored universities.

NAS recommends reform of the Arizona Board of Regents so that it may engage in closer oversight of the public universities; state laws to increase transparency and accountability in public higher education, to strengthen civics requirements, and to prevent universities from substituting DEI ideology for civics education; and reforms by university presidents to restore transparency, accountability, and a civic mission to their institutions.

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This study can be read in full here.