XPost: alt.politics.equality, alt.politics.republicans, talk.politics.guns   
   XPost: sac.politics, alt.politics   
   From: yourdime@outlook.com   
      
   FRESNO, Calif. (CN) — A federal judge ruled Friday that a community   
   college can’t fire or discipline a professor for his opposition to   
   policies promoting diversity, equity and inclusion — commonly referred to   
   as DEI — but it can require the teacher to take mandatory DEI training as   
   a requirement to participate on faculty screening committees.   
      
   The ruling is temporary, since it came in the form of a preliminary   
   injunction, meaning the case is active and can still proceed to trial.   
      
   Daymon Johnson is a history professor and leader of the Renegade Institute   
   for Liberty, a right-wing faculty coalition that claims to stand for   
   “diversity of thought and intellectual literacy through the free and open   
   discourse of American ideals.” The former leader of the group, Matthew   
   Garrett, a tenured professor of history and vocal critic of DEI policies   
   spreading across the Kern Community College District, was fired in 2023.   
   Garrett sued the district, which later agreed to settle the case for $2.4   
   million. Apparently fearing he’d be next on the chopping block, Johnson   
   also sued, rather preemptively.   
      
   “Bakersfield College has already subjected Professor Johnson to a lengthy   
   and intrusive investigation merely for criticizing and questioning a   
   colleague’s views on RIFL’s Facebook page,” Johnson wrote in the most   
   recent version of his civil complaint. “Although it ultimately cleared   
   Professor Johnson of violating any actual rules, the process was the   
   punishment.”   
      
   In the suit, Johnson claims he’s afraid to express his beliefs, both   
   online and on campus, for fear of “being subjected to further   
   investigations and termination.”   
      
   Diversity, equity and inclusion — sometimes paired with “accessibility”   
   and called DEIA — is a broad set of policies and goals that have been   
   adopted by a wide range of state and local governments, universities and   
   businesses. They might include diversity goals for hiring and sensitivity   
   training, or more controversial measures like unconscious bias training.   
   Johnson and Garrett say DEI represents a sort of “groupthink” that   
   pressures everyone to conform to left-wing ideologies or be forever   
   branded a racist.   
      
   While DEI policies were all the rage in the years following the George   
   Floyd protests in 2020, they have fallen out of fashion since President   
   Donald Trump outlawed them in the public sector at the beginning of his   
   second term and started accusing private employers of discrimination   
   against white people. Diversity targets have also been the subject of   
   numerous lawsuits, particularly in California.   
      
   “The state has recently doubled down on its commitment to the ‘diversity’   
   and ‘antiracist’ ideologies by adopting a set of regulations that command   
   faculty to adhere to and implement these ideologies, in their very   
   concepts of self and in every facet of their existence on campus,   
   including in their curriculum and pedagogy,” Johnson wrote in his   
   complaint. “Obedience to the state’s pervasive, all-encompassing political   
   cult is now required to teach, work or lead within California’s community   
   colleges.”   
      
   In 2024, a federal judge dismissed the lawsuit for lack of standing, since   
   Johnson had yet to experience any of the harms he was suing over. But   
   three-judge panel from the Ninth Circuit revived the lawsuit last year on   
   appeal, finding the teacher had “adequately alleged a ‘credible threat’ of   
   enforcement.”   
      
   On Friday, U.S. District Judge Kirk Sherriff, who had previously dismissed   
   the case, handed Johnson another partial victory, temporarily enjoining   
   Bakersfield College “from investigating, disciplining or terminating   
   Johnson … based on Johnson’s proposed social or political speech.”   
      
   “Johnson has shown that his intended speech would be in his capacity as a   
   professor and would concern matters related to scholarship or teaching, or   
   that it would be in his off duty capacity as a private citizen (including   
   as a public academic),” Sherriff wrote in his 27-page ruling.   
      
   The ruling did not, however, “preclude defendants from requiring that   
   Johnson take Bakersfield College’s mandatory DEIA training to be eligible   
   to serve on a faculty screening committee, and it does not apply to   
   official speech as a faculty screening committee member.”   
      
   “As Johnson adamantly maintains that he will not take the DEIA training   
   that is a prerequisite for service on a faculty screening committee, he   
   fails to show a likelihood that he would serve on such a committee,” the   
   Joe Biden appointee wrote.   
      
   https://www.courthousenews.com/bakersfield-college-cant-fire-professor-   
   for-anti-dei-beliefs/   
      
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