Hunter
10/06/20
The University of Iowa is temporarily halting diversity, equity and inclusion training after a White House executive order stopping training that they say is offensive, anti-American race and sex stereotyping and scapegoating .
The Daily Iowan reports that the university is putting a two-week hold on the training in order to determine if continuing the training puts their federal funding at risk.
President Trump signed the order on September 22nd, seeking to upend what the administration calls “destructive ideology…grounded in misrepresentations of our country’s history and its role in the world.” It states that a federal contractor shall not use any workplace training that implies, among other things, that individuals are inherently racist, sexist or oppressive, either consciously or unconsciously, bears responsibility for actions committed in the past, should feel distress because of their race or sex.
Interim Associate for Diversity Equity and Inclusion Liz Tovar sent an e-mail to the UI President’s Cabinet and Council of Deans late last week, saying that preliminary evaluations of institution-based training related to the issues, and with the seriousness of the loss of federal funding penalties that come with non-compliance of the order, a two-week pause was recommended.
The DI says the University of Iowa has 923 active federally funded projects on campus, and received over $346.7 million in federal dollars in fiscal year 2020.
Tovar added that diversity, equity and inclusion remain core values at the University.