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‘Destructive and divisive,’ scholar argues

Diversity, equity and inclusion and critical race theory topics now pervade U.S. Armed Forces educational trainings and programs, according to newly published research.

The recent report out of Arizona State University’s Center for American Institutions detailed the extensiveness of DEI training throughout the branches of the military and military academies, as well as highlighted an increasing budget for DEI training.

At the West Point, for example, students can minor in diversity and inclusion studies, taking courses titled “Social Inequality” and “Power and Difference” as well as classes focused on feminist and queer theory, the research found.

At the U.S. Air Force Academy, DEI training is required and includes topics such as Black Lives Matter, white fragility, and the 1619 project, the research found. In contrast, U.S. history is an optional elective.

“The research reveals serious problems within our military complex. The U.S. military now has a well-developed, taxpayer-funded DEI bureaucracy dedicated to rooting out ‘white privilege’ and white supremacy, and that allows for (and sometimes teaches) the overt criticism of the United States, its founding, its founders, and its founding documents, alleging that they are all rooted in systemic racism,” the report’s executive summary reads.

Titled “Civic Education in the Military,” the 41-page report represents the culmination of findings from the year-long study led by Professor Donald Critchlow.

“I want to emphasize that DEI training is not your old time workplace sensitivity training. It is destructive and divisive,” Critchlow told The College Fix via email.

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He said students are told to report on their peers about any conversation deemed racist through so-called “eyes and ears” programs, adding these efforts “replace trust with suspicion” and undermine teamwork.

“Critical race theory is found in classroom instruction as well [as] in cadet training. Critical race theory comes directly out of Marxism. It claims that whites enjoy privileges as a race because of systematic racism embodied in our Constitution and history,” he said.

The Department of Defense did not respond to The College Fix’s request for comment.

The U.S. Navy also was found to have extensive DEI training and programming. “Highlights include introduction to DEI 101, Unpacking Your Bias, Emotional Intelligence, and Psychological safety and DEI Observances,” the report states. The report also notes the Navy promoted a “sailor’s drag show aboard a warship.”

As well as DEI training, the U.S. Air Force encourages adding personal pronouns to email signatures because it may affect whether or not someone leaves the organization.

“Traditionally, young people enlisted for many reasons, with a major one being patriotism – to protect the family, country, and faith. That patriotism, if held by a white male, now raises suspicions of white supremacy,” the report states.

“A search for white supremacists – seemingly the only extremists that interest the military – has come up short,” according to the report,  as “only 100 members of the military were deemed to be extremists out of a force of 2.1 million.” The problem is that Department of Defense officials have not issued a clear definition of what “extremism” is, and what “associations, expressions, and attitudes are prohibited,” it added.

The budget for DEI training has also increased significantly over the past few years.

“The DOD’s [Department of Defense] allocation for DEI projects jumped from $68 million in fiscal year 2022 to $86.5 million in fiscal year 2023. The Pentagon is requesting $114.7 million for fiscal year 2024,” according to the report.

“However well-intended these mandates for DEI training, the ramifications of these programs pose long term consequences on multiple levels,” the report states. “Most importantly, our soldiers, our sailors, our Marines, and airmen, as well as service academy cadets and midshipmen, are being indoctrinated into a belief that they should defend a nation that is racist, sexist, homophobic, and transphobic to its core.”

Critchlow told The Fix a solution is for Congress “to go after DEI training in the military and our service academies. Defunding them is the solution. Much more is at stake than in our universities.”

He argues in the report that DEI programs “should be replaced by civic educational programs that convey the strengths of our nation and an appreciation of our nation’s founding principles, and professed ideals – achieved and aspirational.”

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IMAGE: United States Air Force Academy / X

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